Angels GM Perry Minasian will make the trek to San Antonio, Texas, for the GM meetings this week. He’s coming off overseeing the worst season in franchise history. But he’s also entering an offseason that appears to be the most stable during his tenure in Anaheim.
Every November or December has been defined by coaching changes, a potential sale of the team, a lockout and Shohei Ohtani’s free agency, etc. This year, there’s continuity with the staff and the organizational structure, but still many question marks.
He’s pledged to be aggressive, and that the Angels will look to be competitive in 2025. It’s a yearly promise, followed by yearly on-field failures. But the work Minasian does over the next week, he hopes, will establish the framework to turn this around.
Here’s where the Angels’ roster stands, and a look at how the team will need to weigh its decision-making this offseason.
Major team needs
Any team that finishes with a 63-99 record will have many offseason needs to address.
This team, in particular, will need some help on the infield. Yes, the Angels have Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Luis Rengifo. But they have an open question mark at either second or third base and don’t have much depth to effectively back up any of their starters. Christian Moore will compete for a job in spring, but there’s no guarantee he’s ready for a call-up.
There are some promising trends in the starting rotation, but it’s far from complete. The front office cannot rely on Reid Detmers to be effective after posting a 6.70 ERA in 2024. Tyler Anderson regressed at the end of the season. Griffin Canning was just traded. José Soriano maxed out at 113 innings, and Jack Kochanowicz is too unproven to rely on.
There is potential for a good rotation — particularly when you account for Caden Dana, George Klassen and Sam Aldegheri. But there are far too many unknowns. The Angels could use two established additions to their rotation.
Once again, the team is operating in somewhat of an in-between space. They are actively trying to compete in 2025, but the reality would suggest building toward 2026 might be smarter.
It could lead to the team trading some of its top minor-league talent in the name of improving the 2025 roster.
Free agent roster decisions
Last year, the Angels had the most famous pending free agent in baseball history. This year, they don’t really have anyone who’ll require a very difficult decision.
Brandon Drury is their most expensive free-agent-to-be. But he was arguably the sport’s worst everyday player last year. He was worth minus-2 WAR, despite having played in just 97 games, and had an OPS+ of 35. The Angels will not be itching to bring him back.
They could offer contracts to relievers Hunter Strickland and Carson Fulmer on minor-league deals. Lefty reliever Matt Moore has been with the team the past two years, and, if he plays another, could be a candidate for a contract. After that, there’s outfielder Kevin Pillar, who strongly intimated he would retire.
There’s a lot of drama over whom the Angels might trade, but very little on whom they might bring back next year. There were no Shohei Ohtanis in Anaheim this year.
Arbitration/non-tender decisions
This is where things get interesting. Perhaps their most interesting case, Canning, was shipped off to the Atlanta Braves last week.
Next in line is Patrick Sandoval. He’ll be owed a projected $6 million in arbitration. But he won’t be able to come back until late next season, if at all, because of Tommy John surgery. So, if you tender him a contract, it’s more for 2026 than next season. The Angels will need to weigh how valuable that $6 million is for next season.
The only other fringe case would be José Suarez, who will likely be owed around $1 million. He was so bad early last season that the Angels DFA’d him, and he went unclaimed. But he came back in September and was really good. So it’s more likely than not that the Angels keep him.
The Angels will very likely tender contracts to Jo Adell, Mickey Moniak, Reid Detmers, Matt Thaiss, Brock Burke, José Quijada, Taylor Ward and Luis Rengifo.
Rule 5 protection decisions
The Angels got out in front of this late in the season, when they added pitcher Samuel Aldegheri, reliever Ryan Zeferjahn and first baseman Niko Kavadas to the big-league roster. They would have had to be protected, which played into why they got called up when they did.
The team is also set on adding Matthew Lugo to their 40-man roster before the deadline. He was the prize in the deadline trade with the Red Sox that netted Zeferjahn and Kavadas. But Lugo was hurt and only appeared in one game with the Angels organization.
They’ll still need to make decisions on seven more players, all pitchers: Eric Torres, Brett Kerry, Mason Erla, Nick Jones, Hayden Seig, Kenyon Yovan and Ryan Costeiu.
Costeiu is the highest-rated prospect on that list, though he hasn’t pitched above High A in his career. The front office will need to ask themselves if they believe any of those pitchers would be of value to a different big-league roster. If the answer is no, then don’t expect them to get protected.
(Top photo of Perry Minasian: Elsa / Getty Images)
