Jeff Passan confirms Angels are finally approaching this trade deadline the right way

Eric Cole

Los Angeles Angels v Texas Rangers / Richard Rodriguez/GettyImages

Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Angels 2024 season has largely go down the toilet, the organization has remained remarkably stubborn in their unwillingness to entertain an actual rebuild (based on what we've mostly heard). Sweeping the slumping Mariners was sweet and all, but the Angels are still far out of the playoff chase and desperately need more young talent to build their future upon.

Until recently, LA has had little appetite for doing that and instead focused on moving players who are pending free agents. Despite being one of the few actual sellers at the deadline, which will be a prime sellers market, there was a reasonable chance that the Angels were going to let the opportunity pass them by despite being at least a couple years away from contention.

Fortunately, it does appear as though the Angels' stance is softening quite a bit. According to ESPN's Jeff Passan in his latest trade deadline preview, the Angels are making more players available for trades, including those who have team control beyond this season.

Angels finally figure out that they need to control their own destiny at trade deadline

Instead of just shopping pending free agent Carlos Estevez and some semi-interesting relievers and bench pieces, Passan reports that guys like Tyler Anderson, Luis Rengifo, and Taylor Ward are all fair game. Assuming that is true, it is absolutely the right decision to make.

There is certainly some talent in the Angels' farm system, including Caden Dana, Nelson Rada, and now Christian Moore. LA also has some highly-touted young guys in the big leagues like Nolan Schanuel, Ben Joyce, and Zach Neto. However, the organization's lack of commitment to pitching development, combined with some crappy draft picks, has the future honestly looking pretty grim.

This trade deadline could change all of that. LA doesn't have a trade chip like Shohei Ohtani this year, which could have instantly rebuilt the farm system (although that is still sad to think about in hindsight), but they have multiple guys who contenders want in a market where such players are few and far between. A sell-off this year might not solve every deficiency in the Angels' organization, but it would go a long way even if it makes watching the team even more painful the rest of the way.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.