Angels rumored to be engaged in trade talks for Rays pitching

The latest Angels rumors are a little underwhelming. According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, the Los Angeles Angels have checked in with the Rays about their available pitchers.

The Rays have young studs like Shane McClanahan and Tyler Glasnow on their roster. While McClanahan is probably out of the question, it's definitely possible they look into trading Glasnow.

Glasnow is 29 and returned from missing over a year after getting Tommy John Surgery. The Rays have been known to trade anyone away making serious money, and Glasnow is getting a shade over $15 million dollars annually over the next two seasons.

This Angels rumor makes sense as they need pitching.

Glasnow is really just a dream for Los Angeles. The Angels probably shouldn't be trading the few good prospects they have and I'm not even sure the Rays would be interested in trading him right now.

What makes these Angels rumors unappealing is the guys who were mentioned specifically by Morosi that the Rays are interested in trading include Ryan Yarbrough, Yonny Chirinos, and Shawn Armstrong.

Ryan Yarbrough is under team control through the 2024 season. He's projected to make $4.2 million dollars in 2023. With how much the Rays want to save money, it's not out of the question Yarbrough would be non-tendered if they can't trade him. I'd think the Angels could get him for very cheap.

Yarbrough isn't anything more than a fifth or sixth starter in my eyes, so I wouldn't really want the Angels to trade for him.

Yonny Chirinos has dealt with injuries and has made just five appearances in the past three seasons. He hasn't made more than 18 starts in a season, and that came back in 2019. Chirinos is probably a little bit better than Yarbrough but considering the fact that he's barely pitched in the last three seasons, I wouldn't want the Angels to give much up for him either.

Like Yarbrough, Chirinos is under team control through the 2024 season. Because he's barely pitched, he's only projected to make $1.6 million dollars in 2023 making it less likely the Rays non-tender him. The Angels should be inquiring, and Chirinos and Yarbrough would be upgrades, but they're not the arms I'd want to give much of anything up for.

Shawn Armstrong is a decent middle reliever with two years of team control left. The Angels do need bullpen help but shouldn't be making trades for relievers they can just sign on the free-agent market. There are plenty of pitchers who are just as good as Armstrong they can just sign without giving up prospects.

These Angels rumors can be seen as a positive thing because they really do need pitching and Perry Minasian appears to know that. The Morosi tweet doesn't say which pitchers the Angels called about, he just named those three pitchers that the Rays were looking to trade away.

Trading for pitching is a fine idea, but trading for back-end starters and middle relievers when you can just sign them in free agency doesn't make too much sense to me.