Angels strike big trade with Phillies as pressure mounted to rebuild farm system

The Los Angeles Angels have quickly become one of the most important teams in the days leading up to the trade deadline. While the Rays have gotten a lot of the headlines with the number of early moves they have made, the Angels are the team that has among the most players available on both sides of the ball, and have a really good chance to set the market.

While it is still somewhat unclear as to whether or not the Angels will actually trade players with team control, pending free agents like Carlos Estevez were a mortal lock to get shopped. With the lack of sellers on the market overall, Estevez has gotten a lot of attention from bullpen-needy teams.

Well, LA didn't wait around until the deadline to decide on the best offer. They agreed to send Estevez to the Phillies in exchange for a pair of really interesting pitching prospects on Saturday afternoon.

LA Angels News: Carlos Estevez traded to the Phillies for 2 top prospects

While Estevez is a rental bullpen arm, his effectiveness in high-leverage situations made his market unique in that the Angels could command more of a premium than they normally would for a guy with a couple months left before free agency. Outside of maybe Tanner Scott, Estevez is arguably the best bullpen arm on the market with his 2.38 ERA this season standing out for contenders.

The Phillies are one of the best teams in baseball this year and clearly felt as though they needed to rework how they were handling things in the late innings. Both Klassen and Aldegheri are legitimate starting pitching prospects with swing-and-miss stuff, with Aldegheri a little further along in his development. Rental relievers don't usually command that type of return, so this could bode well for Anaheim through the end of the deadline.

For an Angels organization that is starved for talent and pitching at the moment, this is how things get better. LAA doesn't have a home run trade chip that could command multiple top-100 prospects, but what they do have is a variety of in-demand trade targets at in-demand positions. If they can make a couple more moves like this one before the deadline, the Angels might be in pretty decent shape going into 2025.

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