Signing Shohei Ohtani, 3 other dream moves the Angels can make at the Winter Meetings

The Los Angeles Angels enter this week's Winter Meetings as a mystery. They're a team trying to compete in 2024 but could be losing Shohei Ohtani any day now. They hope to re-sign him, but the bevy of opportunities for Shohei to pursue elsewhere makes it unlikely that their dream will come true.

As far-fetched as it might seem, the Angels are still in the running for Shohei. The team might not have won anything with him in his first six years in Anaheim, but make no mistake. He's priority one.

Fortunately, not everything the Angels can do at the Winter Meetings has to revolve around Ohtani. They have to build a team whether he's here or not. There are other huge moves Perry Minasian can make to really make this fan base excited again.

1) Acquire a frontline starter

Whether the Angels get this done through free agency or via trade remains to be seen, but adding a frontline starter has to be at the front of Minasian's list of things to accomplish that doesn't include Shohei Ohtani. Even if the Angels bring Ohtani back, he can't pitch in 2024. What was a subpar rotation even with Ohtani becomes downright bad if they don't make an addition.

Fortunately, there are many directions in which Perry Minasian can go. The easiest one would be signing a free agent. Arms like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Jordan Montgomery are all there for the taking, and would all make a big impact if they came to Anaheim.

The Angels would have to throw a lot of money at a free agent starter. I mean, Lance Lynn got $10 million and was one of the worst starting pitchers in the league in 2023. Any starting pitching is expensive, but reliable frontline starting pitching is extremely expensive. As tough of a pill as that might be for Arte Moreno to swallow, finding a frontline starter is a must.

If the Angels are unable to land a starter in free agency, the trade market has some viable options. The Angels have already been linked to Dylan Cease, he'd be a huge difference maker. Even rentals like Tyler Glasnow and Corbin Burnes can possibly convince Shohei Ohtani to stay.

Just find a way. Assets are limited for the Angels to part with, but a trade is not impossible. Neither is spending the money to sign someone. Without a starting pitcher, it's hard to see this team getting remotely close to competing.

2) Sign at least one reliever

The biggest move the Angels have made this offseason thus far is signing Adam Kolarek to a one-year deal. Kolarek is fine depth, but is far from the difference-maker the Angels need to improve what was once again a very bad bullpen in 2023.

The team adding a lockdown closer like Josh Hader would be nice, but unrealistic. He's going to fetch a contract similar or maybe even larger than the $102 million Edwin Diaz got from the Mets last offseason, and with so many other needs on this team, paying Hader that plus the draft compensation due to him rejecting the qualifying offer just doesn't make sense.

While Hader is likely out of the question, the Angels have several other quality relievers to look at in free agency or maybe even on the trade market.

The only relievers on the team that should be absolute locks to be on the Opening Day roster are Carlos Estevez, Jose Soriano, and Ben Joyce. No, the Angels won't sign five relievers, but it does magnify the team's need to add at least two or three so then they are not heavily relying on guys like Jimmy Herget and Andrew Wantz. They don't have to sign everyone this week, but at least sign one arm.