LA Angels rumors: Halos finally may sign one of the best starting pitchers in MLB

Evan Desai

Sep 20, 2021; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Carlos Rodon (55) throws / Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

The LA Angels have whiffed on many top starting pitching options so far this offseason, but Carlos Rodon is still on the market.

Rodon had a career season last year, and the Angels missed the playoffs for the seventh straight year due to poor pitching (both in the rotation and in the bullpen). Clearly, it seems like Rodon would be a perfect fit for the Halos.

Thankfully, the Angels seem to understand this. We know what their plans will be once the lockout ends.

Red Sox are one of the teams interested in SP free agent Carlos Rodon, according to @dailyherald

Yankees, Angels, Mariners and Dodgers are also interested

Rodon pitched 132.2 innings with an ERA of 2.37 #RedSox #DirtyWater pic.twitter.com/yj87QKx4vL
— Jake “Iggy” Ignaszewski (@JakeIggy) December 13, 2021

Carlos Rodon would be arguably the best starting pitcher on the Angels if he signed here.

Carlos Rodon was a top five AL Cy Young candidate last year, and if he signs with the LA Angels it's possible we'd have three all on the same team next year. That's because Shohei Ohtani is also one of the best pitchers in baseball, and Noah Syndergaard has been one of the best before.

Now, Rodon has some issues as far as staying healthy goes. He's never started more than 28 games in a season, and only started 24 this year. But, he came back for the end of the season this year as well as the playoffs, so I'm not too discouraged by his health right now.

If the Halos can go and get a pitcher like Rodon, who has one of the highest ceilings of any pitcher on the free market this year (taken already or not), they need to make it happen. He was electric this season, going 13-5 with a 2.37 ERA and an insane 183 ERA+. Striking out a wild 12.6 batters per nine innings, his strikeout to walk ratio was 5.14.

He allowed essentially nobody to have quality at-bats against him. He only walked 2.4 batters every nine innings, only gave up 6.2 hits per nine frames, and gave up just 0.9 homers per nine. His 0.957 WHIP goes to show just how lights out he was.

We'll have other big market teams to compete with for sure, as the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox are reportedly in on him too. Arte Moreno and Perry Minasian were always rumored to go after one OR two impact starting arms this offseason, however, and they've only picked up one so far. Rodon looks like he can be that second guy.

Evan Desai

Evan Desai has covered MLB with FanSided for 3 years, first as a contributor for FanSided's New York sports publication--Empire Writes Back--and now as the expert at Halo Hangout, the Angels publication for the network. He also runs Reign Of Troy, the USC FanSided publication, and has covered college sports since 2019--most notably USC and UCLA for the Pac-12 Network, University of Arizona and Grand Canyon University for Arizona PBS, and Arizona State University for Sports Illustrated's ASU publication. He has also run the Clippers FanSided publication in the past, Clipperholics, and has made two stops at NBC Sports.