Why the Carlos Estévez trade could usher in a new era in Anaheim

Perry Minasian is no stranger to making trades with the Phillies. In separate trades, Minasian dealt both Noah Syndergaard and Brandon Marsh to Philadelphia for Logan O'Hoppe, former 1st overall draft pick Mickey Moniak, and Jadiel Sanchez during the 2022 trade deadline.

Minasian went back to the well during this season's trade deadline, as he sent closer Carlos Estévez to the City of Brotherly Love for George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri. While the Marsh and Syndergaard trades helped acquire the catcher of the future and a cornerstone outfielder, the Estévez trade helped address an area of greater need for the Angels organization.

Minasian has long coveted impact arms, and has a storied history of trading for pitchers, signing free agent pitchers, and drafting pitchers. Minasian famously drafted all pitchers in 2021, including Sam Bachman and Chase Silseth. He's traded for pitchers like Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Jesse Chavez, and Tucker Davidson. He's signed free agent pitchers like Tyler Anderson, Robert Stephenson, Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup, Matt Moore, and Estévez. There are copious other examples of Minasian's frantic pitcher acquisitions.

Klassen and Aldegheri were both top 10 prospects in the Phillies system, and are once again for the Angels. Klassen ranks 3rd and Aldegheri 8th in mlb.com's Angels prospect rankings. A 6th round pick last year, Klassen has struggled results-wise in his first 5 AA starts for Rocket City. At only 22-years-old, however, Angels fans should not worry much about his Minor League results this year. The stuff is clearly there. He has a 70 grade fastball, given that he sits in the upper 90s and touches 100 here and there. Whether he hones in his stuff in a starting rotation or bullpen remains unclear, but Angels fans should expect him sooner rather than later given how quickly Minasian promotes promising prospects.

Aldegheri earned his first career big league win against Texas on September 6th, donning an awesome Joker headband. Aldegheri, like Klassen, is only 22-years-old but is wise beyond his years on the mound. Aldegheri does not have the best stuff in the world, but he knows his strengths and pitches to them. The Italian born and raised pitcher knows how to compete and pick his spots to attack hitters. Get the ball to the Italian.

Estévez dominated while he was with the Angels, but the team's timeline for competing did not align with his peak years. Minasian is doing a great job of compiling a core group of position players, and is now complimenting them with a remodeled group of core pitchers. The Angels already had a solid core group of young pitchers in Caden Dana, José Soriano, Reid Detmers, and Jack Kochanowicz, but Klassen and Aldegheri are embellishing that group even more so. Perry Minasian clearly knows what he's doing.