Ranking the five Angels trade chips by likelihood of being dealt

The Los Angeles Angels have been incredibly quiet this offseason so far, doing nothing more than signing a trio of middle relievers to cheap one-year deals. It's safe to say that this team that went 73-89 last season and just lost Shohei Ohtani is going to have to do a whole lot more than take risks on middle relievers to be competitive in 2024.

While the Halos would love to do most of their damage in the free agency market, the reality is the class is just weak from top to bottom. There're some big names still left like Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, and Josh Hader, but even those free agents come with massive question marks.

With that in mind, the trade market has been a place teams have been turning to, and the Angels don't appear to be an exception there. Perry Minasian has not made a trade yet, but has been receiving interest in these five players in particular according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required). While it's possible the Angels do trade all five of these players, some appear to be more likely than others. Let's rank them from least likely to most.

5) Mickey Moniak

Mickey Moniak finally broke out and showed why he was selected first overall in the 2016 Draft this past season for the Angels. In a season that began with him in the minor leagues, Moniak finally got his chance in the majors in May and what was supposed to be a short stint turned out to be a season-long look for the young outfielder.

Moniak simply never allowed the Angels to send him down thanks to his play. He slashed .280/.307/.495 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI in 85 games played. Impressive numbers for sure for a guy who had never found his footing in the majors prior to this season, but there are causes for concern as well.

Moniak fanned 113 times in 323 plate appearances and drew a grand total of nine walks. Plate discipline was an issue, especially as the season progressed. He's going to have to be much better in that regard. Moniak also had an absurd .397 BAbip. The league average is .300. He was getting incredibly lucky on balls in play. Additionally, his numbers against lefties left a lot to be desired when it comes to him being a full-time outfielder.

His weaknesses are very glaring, but Moniak did display impressive power, speed, and defense in the outfield. If he can improve on the weaknesses, he can easily be this team's center fielder of the future. The reason I think it's highly unlikely Moniak goes anywhere is he has four years of team control. The Angels would need to get back more than they'd realistically be able to get in order to give him up at this point.