Angels news: 9th straight losing season, ESPN insider criticizes lack of talent

It's been brewing for a while, but it's now here: the Angels will finish below .500 in 2024. The Los Angeles Angels clinched their 9th straight losing year, continuing their franchise record.

After losing 3-1 against Texas, the Angels dropped to 58-82. Technically, the Angels are not eliminated from the postseason yet despite the fourth worst record in baseball. However, that is all but a certainty at this point, which would extend their playoff drought to 10 seasons. 10 straight seasons of missing the playoffs is tied for the 2nd longest dry spell in North American sports, trailing only the New York Jets and Buffalo Sabres. The Angels are tied with the Detroit Tigers (currently 5 games out of the last American League Wild Card spot) with 9 verging on 10 playoff-less seasons.

ESPN insider blasts Angels' lack of talent

A key contributing factor to the losing seasons streak is a dearth of on-field talent. ESPN's Baseball Insider, Kiley McDaniel, ranked the Angels' core talent 28th in MLB. In his third annual talent evaluation column, McDaniel attempts to project out players under contract with their respective team based on whether they will continue to be elite, plus, or solid contributors.

McDaniel dropped the Angels in his ranking even further, as they slotted in at 21st in 2022 and 27th in 2023. Most notably, McDaniel moved Mike Trout from the elite column into the plus, rightfully citing his inability to stay on the field. The only other player joining Trout in the plus category was Zach Neto, currently amidst a season where he's posted 20 HRs, 27 SBs, and a team-high 3.1 fWAR.

Anybody who watches the Angels even semi-regularly knows they need more skilled position players and dominant pitchers, it's a given. One of the most concerning aspects of the Angels' woeful season is the baserunning. The Los Angeles Angels are a franchise that pride themselves in running the bases aggressively, causing controlled chaos, and forcing the defense to make hard decisions. Whether it's taking the extra base, tagging up from 1st and taking 2nd on a fly out, attempting safety/suicide squeezes, or picking the right time to steal 3rd base, the Angels have a storied history of running the bases intelligently and voraciously.

FanGraphs ranks the Angels's baserunning runs above average 29th in MLB, and last season they ranked 28th. The Angels have the 3rd most base runners caught stealing in the league with 45. During these 9 straight losing seasons, the Angels' baserunning still ranked in the top half of the league until the past couple of years. The Angels' core position player group has some plus athletes, and it is imperative that they learn how to harness their athleticism positively on the basepaths moving forward.

In short, it's bad now and it does not look to be getting much better anytime soon.