Fansided

3 moves Angels fans can be jealous their AL West rivals made

By Zachary Rotman |
Spring Training
Spring Training / Ben Ludeman/Texas Rangers/GettyImages
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The Los Angeles Angels have had a very productive offseason. They've added seven new players to the MLB roster in an effort to improve a team that won just 73 games last season. The Halos have been needing depth for years and finally have it.

The chances of this team making the playoffs are as high as they've been in years. Unfortunately, they're forced to play in one of the toughest divisions in baseball which has four teams trying their hardest to win. That's something no other division can say.

Even with the good offseason the Angels have had, other teams in the division have improved. Some moves these AL West division rivals made should make Angels fans jealous.

1) LA Angels fans should be jealous of the Rangers signing Jacob deGrom

When healthy, Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball. He has the most dominant stuff I've ever seen, and has two Cy Youngs to prove it. The problem is, he hasn't been healthy over the last two seasons.

deGrom finished this past season healthy and looked like the deGrom of old. He did have tightness in the Spring, but that's considered to be very minor.

The deGrom contract is pretty insane, guaranteeing him five years and $185 million. With deGrom's injury history, it's unlikely that it'll age very well, but he's worth the risk. If deGrom is remotely healthy, the Rangers got a steal with this deal.

The Angels added Tyler Anderson who's a safer bet to take the ball every six days, but Angels fans can be jealous that a division rival got someone as good as deGrom as their ace. Choosing reliability over the upside makes a lot of sense with the injury concerns the Halos have on their roster, but Angels fans can only dream about a deGrom Ohtani one-two punch at the top of their rotation. Would be the best duo in the game.

2) LA Angels fans should be jealous of the Mariners trading for Teoscar Hernandez

The Mariners made a trade acquiring Teoscar Hernandez from the Blue Jays. They sent a reliever and a prospect to land a legitimate middle of the order bat in Hernandez.

The Angels came into this offseason with a need in the corner outfield and fill it with the Hunter Renfroe trade. While Renfroe was a great pickup, Hernandez is a scarier hitter.

He had a bit of a down year as he battled injury for a decent portion of the season, but was an elite hitter the season prior.

In 2021 Hernandez slashed .296/.346/.524 with 32 home runs and 116 RBI. He had a 131 OPS+, was an all-star, a Silver Slugger winner, and finished 19th in the AL MVP balloting. This was Hernandez's second straight silver slugger award.

Hernandez had an .870 OPS in 2021, 54 points higher than Renfroe's highest OPS mark in a full season. Renfroe is a great power hitter, Hernandez hits for the same power while tacking on more singles and doubles. He'd thrive hitting fourth or fifth in this Angels order, just like Renfroe will.

3) LA Angels fans should be jealous of the Astros signing Rafael Montero

The Angels have improved their bullpen drastically with the Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore additions. While both are coming off of great years, they come with questions.

Estevez should be good pitching away from Coors Field, but do we know that will happen? Matt Moore was on his way out of baseball before revitalizing his career last season, how sure are we that he can put up another productive season?

I'm confident in those two, but Rafael Montero would've been a good pickup for this Angels bullpen. He doesn't have a long track record of success either but is coming off a season where he was absolutely dominant, posting a 2.37 ERA in 71 appearances and 68.1 innings pitched.

While Montero's ERA numbers aren't great in his career, his FIP numbers have always been decent to good. He had a 6.89 ERA in 2021 but had a 3.86 FIP which suggests he was the victim of some of the worst luck in baseball. He's had four straight seasons of sub-4.00 FIPs which suggests he can be trusted to be good.

Montero pitched in high leverage serving as the set-up man for the World Champion Astros. I'm not jealous of the contract he got but am of the belief Montero will be a vital weapon in the bullpen once again for Houston.

Next. 15 worst Angels free agent signings in franchise history. dark

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