The Angels' 2 remaining roster holes that desperately need attention

Perry Minasian and company have been emphatic that the Angels want to be a contender in 2025 on the heels of an embarrassingly dreadful 99-loss campaign in 2024. To his credit, the team opened the offseason with a bang and early on stood as one of the most improved teams in baseball.

However, like a bear with winter approaching the team has gone into a long slumber, laying mostly dormant after the initial strikes save for a few minor league signings.

Internal improvements from the young core will help the team, however, several key holes still reside on the roster. Some of these deficiencies are nearly fatal, while others are less severe and perhaps some can be pushed to the side.

With that said, the team still has a lot of work to do, and fortunately, there are both time and pieces left on the market to fill needs and improve. At this point, it makes sense to look at the remaining needs in order of most to least severe.

1. The Angels desperately need to add another front line starting pitcher

Pitching, especially starting pitching, has long been a bugaboo for the Halos who to their credit have already made moves to address the rotation this offseason. Yusei Kikuchi was a nice get, even if he may disappoint relative to his projections. On top of that Kyle Hendricks is a low-cost flier on a one-year $2.5 million deal, but his 5.92 ERA last season isn't necessarily comforting.

It's tough to look at this group and feel enthused. Jose Soriano and his 59.7% ground ball rate projects well as a mid-rotation arm, but he's only made 20 starts in his career, all of which came last year. Tyler Anderson, 35, had a nice year last year with a 3.81 ERA, but he posted the worst season of his career in 2023 with an inflated 5.43 ERA which makes you wonder how much he can really be counted on.

Most of what the Angels have done in the rotation, aside from the Kikuchi addition, is addition by subtraction. Gone are Patrick Sandoval and Griffin Canning, both of whom were perennial disappointments, and in their stead a pathway has opened for the next wave of Halo hurlers.

Maybe you believe Reid Detmers can bounce back and reach his full potential after a nightmarish 2024. Maybe you salivate at the proposition of the likes of Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, George Klassen, Chase Silseth, and other youngsters coming up and dominating en route to leading the rotation for the next half-decade or more.

That's a risky proposition, however, and one doesn't have to look too far into the past to see how banking almost entirely on prospects can pan out poorly. Just a few years back, the likes of Sandoval and Canning were the next great hope, and now everyone is glad that they're gone.

The Angels can have their cake and eat it too here. There is no such thing as too much starting pitching, just look at the cross-town Dodgers, and with that competition, the Halos can bring out the best in their collection of arms.

Jack Flaherty makes a ton of sense for the Angels as an option to lead the rotation. With him at the head, Kikuchi sliding into the number-two spot, Soriano fitting as the third, and the remaining contenders fighting to fill out the back-end spots, suddenly this is a group that could be formidable.

The pair of 35-year-olds, Hendricks and Anderson, can easily be moved on from if they struggle and the Halos would then have a plethora of young options with potential to fill in and eventually take the reins.

However, if the Angels stand pat here they risk allowing the question marks in the rotation to mount and potentially derail any positive movement on the offensive side of the ball leading to another disappointing campaign in 2025.

2. The Angels have a serious need to add a lefty power bat

The projected starting lineup features seven right-handed hitters, a switch hitter in Luis Rengifo, and a lefty in Nolan Schanuel. While there's a decent amount of pop from the right side, Schanuel slugged an anemic .362 last season, and Rengifo taps into his power significantly more when batting righty to the tune of a .449 SLG versus .370 when batting left- handed.

Outside of those two players, the only other player currently on the roster who may be able to bring some thunder from the left side is Mickey Moniak who posted a dreadful 79 wRC+ in 418 plate appearances last season.

All told the Angels have a potentially potent lineup with ten hitters projected to post a 100 wRC+ or better in 2025, according to Steamer. Still, that lack of a lefty thumper sticks out like a sore thumb.

In an ideal world, the Angels could kill two birds with one stone, filling their greatest positional need (which we'll talk about later) with a left-handed power bat. However, that player, an infielder with power that bats from the left side, doesn't exist on the open market which will force the Halos to get creative.

The unfortunate thing for the Halos is that in order to fill this whole, a corresponding move would need to be made meaning a quality player would likely be on his way out in order to rebalance the roster.

Still, upgrading the overall power in the lineup and getting that production from a left-handed bat is important. A switch hitter would work in order to balance the lineup, and fortunately for the Halos an option still exists at this late stage in free agency.

Anthony Santander is the player who would fill the role beautifully. Author of a 44-home-run season last year, he could slot into the middle of the lineup to give Mike Trout and Jorge Soler the protection they would greatly benefit from.

As a switch hitter who posted a .513 SLG while batting from the left side last season, he fits this need to a tee and would make the Halos' lineup one of the most potent in the league.

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