5 free agents Perry Minasian must convince Arte Moreno to avoid this offseason

Last offseason it became public knowledge that Los Angeles Angels General Manager Perry Minasian had to go out of his way to convince owner Arte Moreno to not sign Trea Turner but instead focus on building a team with depth.

In a perfect world, the Angels would've been able to sign Turner while also fielding a team full of depth. This would be done by going over the luxury tax like most big market owners are fine doing. With Moreno's restrictions passing on Turner was the right call, even with his unbelievable second half and postseason in Philadelphia thus far.

With the Angels coming off another disappointing year, there's a good chance Arte Moreno is going to try and convince Minasian to sign other big names to try and get fans excited. Especially if Shohei Ohtani walks. Some big-name free agents would be great fits while others Perry should try and convince Moreno to back off from.

1) Blake Snell

Having Blake Snell on a list of free agents to avoid probably isn't expected considering the season he just had, but his 2023 season is exactly why the Angels should be avoiding him. Let me explain.

There's a good chance Blake Snell is going to win the second Cy Young Award of his career this season, after posting a 2.25 ERA in 32 starts and 180 innings pitched. He struck out a whopping 234 batters on the year, and allowed just 115 hits. Yes, 65 fewer hits than innings pitched. He had a microscopic 1.20 ERA in his last 23 starts of the year. Just pure dominance.

While that's great and all, his Cy Young-caliber season almost certainly means his value has gone up exponentially. That's well deserved and all, but to think Snell will be the 1.20 ERA pitcher he was down the stretch or anything close to it would be foolish.

The southpaw has struggled to even make his starts throughout his career. The only other time he's made 30 starts in a year was his other Cy Young season with the Rays back in 2018. Additionally, Snell led the league with 99 walks. Free passes don't mean much if you allow no hits, but do you really expect him to allow 65 fewer hits than innings pitched anytime soon?

Opponents had a .256 BAbip against him which is very far below the .300 average. I'd expect him to come crashing down to earth in 2024 and I expect him to do that while making a ton of money at age 31. The Angels need pitching help, and Snell would certainly provide that, but there're other pitchers that make more sense to me.