4 free agents the Angels should not bother getting into a bidding war over

3) Josh Hader

Josh Hader is very clearly one of, if not the best reliever in all of baseball. I think it's definitely fair to proclaim him the best left-handed reliever in the game right now. He's that dominant.

This past season with the Padres, he posted a 1.28 ERA in 61 appearances and 56.1 innings pitched, converting 33 saves in the process. He was one posititve on a very disappointing San Diego team. He's a five-time all-star and one of the more dominant closers we've seen in recent memory. All of this is true, but there are some concerns that'd come with signing him.

Relievers in general are extremely volatile. We've even seen that with Hader who had a prolonged stretch of being unusable in 2022. He did not allow a single earned run in his first 19 appearances of the season, spanning over two months. He then blew a save and finished the year out with an 8.07 ERA in 37 appearances. Most of those came after a midseason trade that sent him to San Diego where he was dreadful for much of the time.

Many consider Edwin Diaz the best closer in the game. He's been dominant for most of his career, but had a 5.59 ERA in 2019 and allowed 15 home runs in 58 innings pitched. Even the best ones can lose their feel at any given moment which is frightening.

Hader could easily surpass the record deal Diaz signed with the Mets by earning more than the five years and $102 million that Diaz got last offseason. The Angels committing that kind of money to a closer would be pretty crazy when the rest of their team needs a lot of work. The Angels should want Hader, as he's a dominant reliever when right. They should not want him badly enough to swim in the waters of a nine-figure contract, or anything remotely close.