The Los Angeles Angels are desperate to become a winning team.
It looks, however, that desperation often takes over and makes them take shortcuts that end up making them worse over the long haul.
Years of incompetence have led to the team currently having the longest playoff drought (they haven’t made it since 2014) in baseball, and that’s with Mike Trout playing like an MVP since 2012 and Shohei Ohtani doing the same since 2018.
Now that Ohtani is a free agent and unlikely to return, the franchise is trying to make desperation moves.
“The Angels are reportedly ‘expressing strong interest’ in Tim Anderson, per @BNightengale,” MLB on FOX tweeted.
The Angels are reportedly “expressing strong interest” in Tim Anderson, per @BNightengale pic.twitter.com/yQd0koBfVw
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 13, 2023
Only the Angels would consider bringing in a high-priced veteran who had a .582 OPS last year in 524 plate appearances to take Zach Neto’s position: shortstop.
Neto, in his first year in the majors, had a .685 OPS with nine homers.
Those aren’t overly impressive numbers, but he was decidedly better than Anderson, is just 22 years old with limited minors experience, and has something that the former Chicago White Sox infielder doesn’t have at this point: potential.
As it always happens, if the move materializes, time will tell if it was good or bad.
If it’s a cheap deal and Anderson is willing to play at second, then it doesn’t look so bad.
But this could go south in a hurry for the Angels if they don’t know how to play their cards.
Having Trout essentially forces them to compete, but ultimately, their chances just don’t look very good unless things start to really change and they build from within.
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Ron Washington Is Joining A Special Group Of Managers