Projecting LA Angels' 2025 rotation after the Yusei Kikuchi signing

The Angels are going all-in for 2025, but even all their moves might not solve the organization's issues. In order to end their 10-year playoff drought, the Angels need to continue building out their rotation and their young starters have to make a jump. The Angels need to contend next season more than any other team in the league, and re-modeling the rotation could help them do just that.

Pitching, especially front-line pitching, has been a massive issue for the Angels in recent years. The Angels have been unable to find a non-Ohtani pitcher to stick for some time now. When a pitcher shows flashes one year, he regresses the next.

The Angels are the big winners of the offseason thus far, and they are 100% not finished adding new players. Projecting their starting rotation in late-November might be a fool's errand, but let's try!

Who is 100% in the rotation, and who might not be there?

The locks: Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Kyle Hendricks.

On the bubble: Tyler Anderson, Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz, Chase Silseth, José Suarez, Caden Dana, Davis Daniel, Sam Aldegheri.

The Anderson trade rumors are intensifying. It is abundantly clear that the Angels are going to add as much as possible this winter. Getting his $13 million off the books via a trade -- either in a salary dump or to off-set an incoming salary -- is essential, since the Angels are getting awfully close to the dreaded luxury tax threshold. Many Angels writers and fans are rightfully illuminating the notion that rostering two pitchers who throw their fastball in the mid-80s (Anderson and Hendricks) is non-sensical for a team trying to contend. The organization must realize this as well.

Trading Anderson would clear the way for Detmers and Kochanowicz, two starters with immense potential. It seems that the Kikuchi signing could pave the way for swapping Detmers for a power bat (or something along those lines), but it feels like Detmers learning from Kikuchi would highly benefit both the 25-year-old and the Angels. Kikuchi and Detmers' four-seam and slider metrics are similar, and the same goes for their arm angles. Kikuchi averages 95.5mph on his four-seam and 88.3mph on his slider. Detmers averages 93.8mph on his four-seam and 86.2mph on his slider. While Detmers' average velos are lower on those two pitches, he has more ride on his four-seam and depth on his slider. Detmers needs to follow Kikuchi's approach on how to locate the two pitches in order to stay out of the middle of the zone and avoid hard contact. He can walk back his curveball, thus boosting its effectiveness, if he can butter his bread with the four-seam and slider like Kikuchi does.

As for Kochanowicz, it is widely known that he does not strike many batters out. However, the Angels bolstered their infield defense by way of signing Kevin Newman. If they can continue to do so (Josh Rojas, anybody?), Kochanowicz and his elite ground ball% should be serious considered for the open rotation spot.

Who might the Angels add to the rotation?

FanSided's Robert Murray said he "expects to continue to make moves" but believes the Angels will not make a bigger splash in the rotation than the Kikuchi signing. They have already added Hendricks and Kikuchi, and are loosely linked to Jack Flaherty. Flaherty has a robust market (granted, Kikuchi did also), so the idea that they could lure him to Anaheim should be taken with a grain of salt. The Angels are out on Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes, Roki Sasaki, and Max Fried, it appears. They should be in on them, but the tea leaves are showing that there might not be traction with those guys.

Tomoyuki Sugano has been linked to the Angels as well, and he represents a pitcher who the Angels could buy-low on and extract high value. Nate Eovaldi would be a fun addition, and fits the Angels' model of a veteran with great makeup who has legitimate playoff chops. Alex Cobb is out there and could have a nice bounce-back year. Shane Bieber would be a great addition. Heck, they could re-sign Patrick Sandoval and he could potentially come back in the second half of 2025.

In terms of trade targets, who knows? The Angels could try for Garrett Crochet, but there are plenty of willing teams who could far surpass any offer the Angels put together. Sonny Gray could be moved, but the Angels will likely pass on adding Gray and his $65 million tag the next two years. Perhaps they buy-low on Jordan Montgomery, assuming the Diamondbacks eat the majority of his contract?

Final Projection

Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Kyle Hendricks, Reid Detmers, and one new face -- let's say Sugano. Jack Kochanowicz begins the year in AAA. Silseth and Bachman are moved to the bullpen.

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