Zach Neto is trying his best to stick around, but the Angels should trade him anyway

It's not often teams get their franchise icon to stick around for their entire careers the way the Los Angeles Angels have had Mike Trout. Loyalty in professional sports has been waning for decades, on both the player and team side.

Most players will switch teams at least once during their career, so it's refreshing to hear a cornerstone-level player like Zach Neto openly admit that he wants to play for Angels for his entire Major League career.

That being said, Neto and Trout are in different places in their career. After Trout blitzed the league in his rookie year with a 10.5 bWAR, the Angels had just spent hundreds of millions to sign Albert Pujols, they had core pieces like Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick already in place, and would continue to try to add around a generational talent through the 2010s.

Neto is not on the level of Trout; no one is, but not many players put up back-to-back 5 WAR seasons at Neto's age, and especially not at shortstop. Even with a small step back in his third full season, not many players in baseball can say they've been so impactful in their first couple of years in the league. The Angels front office hasn't put the pieces around him, though.

The Angels aren't ready to compete, and that's why they should trade Zach Neto

Even with Neto proving he's a budding star, LA has continued its trend of rushing prospects before they are ready and giving veterans one last chance to prove they can be valuable, which they never fully are. There isn't a core of talent around Neto the Angels can point to, and that's why, even though he wants to be an Angel, they should trade him while the iron is hot.

Neto will play all of 2027 at 26 years old. He is under team control through 2029. The reason the rumor mill was swirling around him so much at the trade deadline is that his combo of age, production, and team control is extremely hard to find for a contender.

It sounded like John Mozeliak was being smart at the deadline, asking for the team's No. 1 prospect to even get the ball rolling on trade talks, and he was right to do so. Trading Neto could return a franchise-altering package. Not only could the Angels get multiple top-100 prospects, but they could get proven young talent at the major league level as well.

LA hasn't done what is necessary to the rest of the roster to keep Neto in his prime. Unlike with Trout at a similar age, there is a lack of proven MLB talent on the current roster. Instead of wasting Neto, utilize him to rebuild the farm and set up a true core for the future.

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