5 future free agents the Angels could be saving their money for

4) Gerrit Cole

This one is very unlikely, but still not impossible. Cole spurned the Angels to sign a massive nine-year deal worth $324 million with the Yankees in the 2019 offseason. He's proven to have deserved every penny since signing the deal, and just won his first Cy Young Award.

What makes his contract interesting is the fact that Cole can opt out at the end of this season and become a free agent. If he has another great year, he'll presumably do that. While opting out would theoretically give the Angels a chance to redeem themselves by signing him, the Yankees have a clause in the contract that allows them to add on an extra year which would lock Cole in and help him avoid free agency. Chances are if Cole has another great year, the Yankees will tack on that extra year and keep him around.

While it's unlikely Cole enters free agency, it's not impossible. It wouldn't be unlike the Angels to make an unlikely run at a free agent. They just did that with Shohei Ohtani.

Like Burnes, Cole is another Southern California guy who grew up very close to Angel Stadium. The Angels were in on him last offseason and Cole said he considered them. The Angels were reportedly New York's biggest competition. It's very hard to imagine Cole leaving New York or even hitting free agency, but it's hard to imagine that he's not on Arte Moreno's mind, at least a little bit.