The Athletic determined the Angels as one of the best fits for these 4 free agents

With free agency upon us, every outlet is determining which teams could use the available players on the market. The Angels, as Perry Minasian noted, could use anybody and everybody. They are reevaluating the entire roster and not ruling out anything in terms of upgrading the roster that lost 99 games last season.

The Athletic rightfully placed the Angels as a team that will aggressively target starting pitching, which the club proved correct when they swiftly signed Kyle Hendricks on a one year, $2.5 million deal. Jim Bowden, Tim Britton, Aaron Gleeman, Chad Jennings and Keith Law ranked their top 40 free agents in order, and included in their analysis was which teams would be the players' best fits based on their position/skillset and teams' area of need heading into 2025.

Despite needing upgrades all over the place, the Angels appeared as a "best fit" only for these four free agents: José Quintana, Tomoyuki Sugano, Jack Flaherty, Blake Snell. The aggregate ranking placed Snell as their fifth best free agent overall, Flaherty 10th, Sugano 35th, and Quintana 37th.

The Angels currently sport Hendricks, Tyler Anderson, José Soriano, Jack Kochanowicz, and Reid Detmers in their starting rotation. They could potentially pencil in José Suarez, Chase Silseth, Sam Aldegheri, Davis Daniel, or Caden Dana as well. In order to bring in another starting pitcher, they would need to make a decision on either Anderson or Detmers. The safe move is to utilize one of the two remaining minor league options on Detmers if/when they bring in another starter. Many are calling for Anderson to get traded, as it seems implausible for a contending team in 2025 to roll out two starters who possess the slowest fastballs in the sport. The issue is this: Anderson is making $13 million in 2025, and the Angels need to convince teams that he is worth giving up a prospect or two on top of paying him that salary. They could not move him at the trade deadline in exchange for a desirable return package, and it is unlikely they can do so this time around.

Does signing Snell, Flaherty, Sugano, or Quintana make sense for either the Angels or those pitchers?

Snell is projected as making over $100 million on his next deal. The Angels could not secure his services last offseason, and he made $23.5 million before opting opt of a deal that would have netted him another $38.5 million with the Giants in 2025. Snell had serious interest in joining the team last season, the Angels desperately need a bona fide ace, and the market could be in the Angels' favor here. All good signs. However, the Angels' owner is Arte Moreno. He vowed to increase spending, but he rarely shells out giant contracts to pitchers and is eternally scarred by the Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon contracts already. Snell might be too big of a fish for Moreno, unfortunately.

Here are the Dodgers' viable starting pitching options for 2025, subtracting their three free agents: Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gavin Stone, Tony Gonsolin, River Ryan, Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, Landon Knack, Dustin May, and Justin Wrobleski. Flaherty, World Series hero Walker Buehler, and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw are on the market and all want to return. Bullpen days were highly effective for them last season. How can the Dodgers retain ALL of those players?? While Flaherty might be deemed more valuable by non-Dodgers organizations, it seems highly unlikely that Flaherty would pull a reverse-Ohtani this offseason even if LAA offered him the more money than LAD.

Tomoyuki Sugano will be a 35-year-old rookie next season, but is coming off one of the best NPB seasons of his career. The Athletic projects Sugano will make around $11 million per year before factoring in the posting fee. Bowden interestingly ranked Sugano as the 14th best available free agent, while Britton and Jennings left him outside the top 40. Sugano has a ton of hardware in the NPB, but does not project as a frontline starter in MLB due to his age and 90-94mph fastball.

Bringing José Quintana back seems unlikely. Even though he would be cheap, his dominant stretch at the end of last season seemed like a flash in the pan. Factor in Steve Cohen's deep, deep pockets and the city's abiding adoration for the 2024 roster, and Quintana will assuredly resign with the Mets. Plus, would the Angels really spend tens of millions of dollars on a mid-30s Quintana, or Sugano, while also retaining Anderson and Hendricks? That's a lot of age and not a lot of fastball velocity.