Should the Angels re-sign any of their free agents?

The Los Angeles Angels had an underwhelming 2022 campaign and missed the postseason despite rostering two of the best players in baseball.

If the Halos want to play meaningful games in October, they will have to make some upgrades.

Los Angeles has four players hitting the free agent market, should the club retain any of them?

1) LA Angels free agent: Michael Lorenzen

The Angels took a flyer on right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen this offseason, signing him on a one-year $6.75 million dollar deal. Lorenzen was going to be a full-time starter for the first time in his MLB career.

Lorenzen's first full season as a starter had its ups and downs. Lorenzen went 8-6 with a 4.24 ERA and a 4.31 FIP. He was solid enough to be the fifth starter on a handful of teams.

The problem is, Lorenzen only made 18 starts. In the starts he made, he only threw 97.2 innings. Lorenzen has thrown over 100 innings in a big league season once, and that was back in 2015.

If the Angels want to compete I believe Lorenzen is too big of an unnecessary risk. Lorenzen missed over two months with a shoulder strain. Lorenzen got a late start to his 2021 season thanks to a shoulder injury and missed more time because of a hamstring injury.

Lorenzen walked too many (4.1 BB/9) and didn't strike out many (7.8 K/9). I believe the Angels can find a more durable starter who can be a little more productive as well to round out what should be a good rotation.

3) LA Angels free agent: Matt Duffy

Matt Duffy is a player that had to play more than he probably should have because of the injuries to Anthony Rendon and David Fletcher. He's a versatile player who can be fine at the MLB level but is someone the Angels should look to move away from.

Duffy slashed .250/.308/.311 with just two home runs and 16 RBI in 77 games. Duffy had a 77 OPS+ in his 247 plate appearances.

The veteran infielder struggled defensively as well, as he had -3 DRS and was in the 29th percentile in outs above average according to baseball savant.

Duffy did grow up an Angels fan and would be cheap to re-sign but I'd rather the Angels just look to guys like Livan Soto and Michael Stefanic or perhaps a different veteran to be a backup.

Duffy in his career has performed much better than he did during his stint with the Angels and he did have a 101 OPS+ last season, but he's likely going to be closer to the player he was this season than in 2021.

Hopefully, the infielders can just stay healthy so the Halos won't have to turn to backups to play almost half the games.

4) LA Angels free agent: Mike Mayers

I thought the Angels had something in Mike Mayers after they claimed him off waivers in the 2019 offseason. During the shortened 2020 campaign, Mayers had a 2.10 ERA in 29 appearances with a 2.19 FIP. He was tied for third in all of baseball with those 29 appearances.

Mayers had a 12.9 K/9 and allowed just two home runs in 30 innings pitched. In 2021, Mayers was also an effective reliever, posting a 3.84 ERA and a 3.84 FIP. The strikeouts were still high (10.8 K/9) and he did a decent job limiting the long ball, allowing 11 home runs in 75 innings pitched.

Mayers began this season as a reliever for the Halos and despite a 5.40 ERA in his first 15 appearances, he really only had a couple of bad outings.

After allowing two runs in two innings on an outing on May 25, he was DFA'd and went unclaimed, and was sent down to AAA. He was probably unclaimed because he was making over $2 million dollars.

Despite Mayers being an effective reliever for the past couple of seasons, the Angels decided to have him stretched out and work as a starter in the minors.

Mayers did not perform well in his new role as an opener/long reliever for the Angels.

I wouldn't mind the Angels re-signing Mayers to a cheap deal as a one-inning reliever to help with depth. I think his stuff is good and he's still posting decent strikeout numbers. I wouldn't lose any sleep if they let him walk either.