3 remaining free agents the Angels should sign and 2 they should avoid

2) LA Angels should not sign Cody Bellinger

Not only should the Angels avoid the best pitcher on the market, they should also avoid the best position player available. The reasons why are quite similar.

We all know how good Cody Bellinger is when he's going right. He won an MVP award back in 2019 and finished in the top ten this past season for the Cubs. His ceiling is phenominal, but his floor should terrify everyone. His seasons in 2021 and 2022 saw him slash .193/.256/.355 averaging 14 home runs and 52 RBI per season. He had a 66 OPS+ and was one of, if not the worst starting player in baseball.

His defense and base running made him a semi-decent player even when his bat was atrocious, but the Angels should not be paying anybody upwards of $150 million for decent play. It's simply too hard to rely on Bellinger to be the elite player we know he can be, and for a team that won't win a World Series even if he's at his best in 2024, that's reason enough to not do this.

Even a gamble on Snell makes more sense than Bellinger because the team desperately needs starting pitching. The Angels happen to have a solid outfield with Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, and Mickey Moniak, and have no need to take this kind of risk. It's all good if it pays off, but if the Angels wind up having another horrific contract on their hands, that makes things even harder for them to win down the line.