Reid Detmers continues to make a strong case for Angels to pivot regarding his future

Heading into the trade deadline, there were some folks who believed that Reid Detmers was an even more valuable commodity than Tarik Skubal. That may have been true, but even so, the Los Angeles Angels didn't have the urgency to move the 27-year-old southpaw for much the same reason that his value was sky-high: the two additional years of team control he carries beyond 2026.

Some might find that questionable. Uncertainty in the labor market lies ahead, making it seem like the time to strike was now, rather than later. Still, that doesn't tarnish the fact that the Angels had a very solid deadline performance.

With a lot of youth infused into the system, Los Angeles's future is looking bright for the first time in a long time. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the steps forward with the draft and the deadline are encouraging.

The Halos could still decide that their best path forward is trading Detmers. Theoretically, that could come this winter, at next year's deadline, or at any point before the 2028 trade deadline. With all that said, maybe there's a different course of action the club should consider.

After holding on to Reid Detmers at the trade deadline, the Angels need to think long and hard about extending him

The way the season began for Detmers was frustrating. Over the first two months of the season, he pitched to a 4.63 ERA but recorded a 2.97 FIP and 3.05 xERA. Basically, the lefty was bitten by bad luck.

As the season has progressed, Detmers' luck has evened out. Since June 1, he has a 3.00 ERA while striking out 29.2% of batters faced while posting a superb 7.2% walk rate.

The results are finally matching up with what his performance has indicated, and after many starts and stops, he's finally maximizing his talent and reaching his ceiling, looking like a frontline starter in the process.

The Angels have struggled to develop pitching talent for so long that trading away the first homegrown starter in years to begin to realize his potential is a bitter pill. Fortunately, Detmers is not alone in Los Angeles's rotation.

We've also seen Walbert Urena emerge as a quality arm, and the 22-year-old is just getting started. If George Klassen can show positive signs down the stretch, the Angels will really have something to work with.

There's also Ryan Johnson, whom the Angels have mismanaged to an egregious degree to this point. He's still only 24, though, and if given consistency in his development and expectations under this new regime, he could develop into another quality piece. Down on the farm, Tyler Bremner is waiting as well and could eventually become a factor.

The seeds of a quality rotation are there. They need to be nurtured, but for the first time in a long time, there's hope.

But there's also a problem. Detmers is significantly older than the other developing hurlers, and his timeline is much different than theirs. By the time Tyler Bremner comes up, for example, Detmers could be on his way out.

There's logic in still trading him and acquiring more assets for the build, but there might be even more logic in extending him and keeping him around past 2028. For one thing, it would give the younger arms a mentor who knows what it's like to come up in the Angels' system.

More importantly, it might be the only way to have a fully-fledged, effective starting rotation. The truth of the matter is that Arte Moreno, after being bitten by free-agent starters in the past like CJ Wilson and Matt Harvey, has been reluctant to spend big on free-agent rotation solutions.

Eventually, the Angels will need a veteran to lead the young guns, so why not go with the one they already know? Detmers is here, so he presents less risk than an outsider. Perhaps that could convince Moreno to open up the checkbook for an extension.

It would be the best-case scenario after not moving the rising star while his value was at its peak. At some point, the Angels are going to have to choose to build around something. That something might as well be Reid Detmers.

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