The Angels are not addressing their biggest areas of need enough this offseason

Baseball is incredibly complicated in a lot of ways, but in other ways it is the most facile sport. For example, if a team is able to strike hitters out and hit home runs then they win a lot games. The 2024 Los Angeles Angels did not strike many hitters out and did not hit many home runs, and ended up losing 99 games. Last year's club was a disaster on the basepaths, not good enough defensively, and had a bullpen that blew games...but the crux of their issues boil down to not having enough power.

Teams with both power pitching and power hitting are the standard in MLB. Look at the Rangers and what they have done this offseason! Pitchers and hitters with power are the hottest of commodities and truly the linchpin of successful teams. The Angels are well-aware of their lack of power arms and bats, that's why they brought in Jorge Soler and Yusei Kikuchi. Those were no-brainer moves for the ballclub, but it is simply not enough at the moment.

The Angels still lack the power needed from both pitchers and hitters to contend in 2025

ESPN's David Schoenfield summed up the Angels' pitchers and their low K% succinctly: "only the Rockies had a lower strikeout rate from their pitching staff in 2024 than the Angels -- and L.A. doesn't get to use the altitude as an excuse. Where will the strikeouts come from in 2025?" Other than Kikuchi and a theoretical version of Reid Detmers, the Angels' starters do not have strikeout stuff. José Soriano and Jack Kochanowicz have upper-90s turbo-sinkers, but they are groundball pitches -- not strikeout pitches. Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks have never been power pitchers, relying instead on soft contact and deception, and are now in their mid-30s. Out of the bullpen, even Ben Joyce's 100+mph fastballs do not translate to strikeouts yet.

The Angels' position players' low SLG last season looks like it could have a bigger turnaround then the Angels' pitchers' low K%. The Soler trade helps a lot, Mike Trout being back helps a ton, and Taylor Ward's emergence at the end of 2024 looks like it could spill over into '25. Other than that, who knows? The catching duo has pop, but an over-reliance on catchers' bats is a dangerous game. Zach Neto is set to miss time, and possible lingering effects from his shoulder injury could affect his performance for all we know. Nolan Schanuel is training this offseason to increase his bat-speed, but he is still a contact-first player. Like with Detmers, a theoretical version of Jo Adell helps here. Niko Kavadas needs to crack the Opening Day roster solely because he can hit tanks.

Again, the beauty of baseball is in its simplicity. The Angels have a simple task -- add more power. They started down the path but have a long journey to travel still if they hope to keep up with the rest of the American League.

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