Will the Yusei Kikuchi deal be the Angels’ final big free agency signing?

The Angels have made the most noise thus far in the offseason, but it is certainly going to cost them. They have committed over $100 million in total salaries, and it's not even December. How much deeper are they going to dive into this free agency class?

Many believed the Angels would be active, but not THIS active THIS early. The Angels were reported to be operating in the mid-tier starting pitching class, and they got the best of those mid-tier starters in Yusei Kikuchi. They wanted to upgrade their backup catcher position, and got Travis d'Arnaud and his second highest total fWAR across 2023-24 amongst the free agent catcher class (Kyle Higashioka's 2.9 fWAR nudges out d'Arnaud's 2.5). They wanted a power-bat (and still do), so they acquired Jorge Soler for a player they were going to DFA in Griffin Canning...then the Braves ended up DFAing him. They wanted to round out their organizational depth so they signed Kyle Hendricks and Kevin Newman, then traded cash for Scott Kingery, and claimed Ryan Noda off waivers.

The notoriously frugal Arte Moreno is certainly putting his money where his mouth is, and the Angels will continue to be aggressive this offseason. The Angels are currently projected for a 2025 payroll of $190 million, which is still some ways away from the luxury tax threshold. Moreno has previously voiced that his club will not surpass their 2023 payroll of $215 million, so there is still some wiggle room for Perry Minasian to operate. However, this Angels organization that is dead-set on competing next season will definitely need another splashy addition if they truly are going to meet their goals. How close to that 2023 payroll will Moreno want to get?

Will that splashy addition be in free agency yet again, or will they try and hold relatively pat on their $190 million payroll? Jack Flaherty is loosely tied to the Angels, and his projected AAV of $23 million would get the Angels right at the line Moreno said he would not cross. Tomoyuki Sugano is out there too for roughly $11 million. They need a power bat, and there are plenty mid-tier hitters around $10-$15 million AAV like Max Kepler and Michael Conforto. They have a whole lot of needs left to address in order to contend, and not much more financial room to make it all work.

In terms of trades, they have a Tyler Anderson expiring contract they could swap out. They could send out Taylor Ward or Luis Rengifo, and their projected salaries of $9.2 million and $5.8 million. It seems incredibly probable that the Angels will end up dumping Anderson, and perhaps they do so where they take on more money from a team looking to shed payroll (looking at you, Cubs). What they do before or after a potentially inevitable Anderson trade is up-in-the-air.

Of note, Kikuchi will make an AAV of $21 million in 2025, Soler $16 million, d'Arnaud $6 million, and both Newman and Hendricks will net $2.5 million.

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