Predicting the Angels lineup following their blockbuster trade

With the Los Angeles Angels pulling Shohei Ohtani off of the trade block and following it up with the trade for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, it was only a matter of time until they continued to add to their roster. With the Angels lineup currently battered by injuries, including losing Taylor Ward after being hit in the head by a pitch, they really needed some extra depth for this last push. Sunday evening the Angels trade for CJ Cron and Randal Grichuk in exchange for two minor league pitchers.

Since making the mid-season trade for Mike Moustakas he has taken over the everyday duties at first base. With Brandon Drury on the IL still, Mike has been the only player playing first base consistently, so it was essential the Angels acquire another person to play the position. It is only perfect that CJ Cron returns back to Los Angeles. Batting .259 with 11 HR's and 32 RBI's, Cron will be a perfect bat to insert right into the lineup. In addition to him, Randall Grichuk will fill a perfect role with both Trout and Ward on the IL until at least the middle of August. Grichuk has demonstrated really consistent hitting this season with a .312 average and 27 RBI.

Since the Angels have a lot of current players out of the lineup, once they arrive that lineup will look different from when Drury, Ward, and Trout return. Here is my projected lineup for the Angels right now:

Like I mentioned that lineup is a current projection assuming none of the current players on the injured list were to come back. With those players slotted to return sometime in the next few weeks, the projected healthy Angels lineup looks really dangerous.

Without even seeing statistics this lineup is ready to compete against any of the top teams in the league. This doesn't even show the depth the Angels have at each position either. Randall Grichuk, Mike Moustakas, Luis Rengifo, Andrew Velazquez, and Chad Wallach will all make serious contributions interchanging into the lineup if healthy.

This trade seems to come at a point where the Angels need serious players at each position to win some of these critical games in the coming weeks before the Angels are expected to get a lot of these players back. When healthy the Angels clearly have more than enough depth in the outfield, some may even say too much. There is an only a few days left until the deadline hits, but I still think the Angels aren't done yet.