I'm Rhett Bollinger coming to you from the lobby of
the 2023 winter meetings in Nashville. And here's what
we are tracking for the Angels. The big news
is that Mike Trout will not be traded. General
Manager Perry Manas and met with the media on Tuesday
here in Nashville and said 100% Mike Trout will not
be traded. I know early in the off season
, there were some reports that trout could be moved
or the dog, a team that we certainly talked
about as being interested, but the Angels never really
had any interest in moving Mike Trout. He has
a full no trade clause and he's under contract until
2030 making$37 million a year. So it would
be a tough contract to move. He's a superstar
. The owner, Artie Moreno loves him, has
no interest in moving him today. Definitively was said
that Mike Trout will not be moved, so he
will be an angel in 24 and most likely be
on that as well. And of course, secondly
, the big thing here at the winter meetings is
shoe Otani. The sweepstakes with shoe might be coming
to a close here pretty soon. Shoe Otani,
obviously, every team in major league baseball is interested
, but right now he's really narrowed it down to
only a few teams. Uh, the Angels are
still very much in that mix. Um, the
Blue Jays are kind of a surprise team in that
mix as well. Uh, the Dodgers are,
of course in that mix. Uh, you know
, the Braves were for a little bit. It
looks like they're not as much anymore. The Giants
are a wild card. Um It seems like there's
been a lot more action in that recently, Otani
didn't meet with the Blue Jays contingent in Florida.
Uh But the Angels are still very much in that
mix. The Angels would love to bring him back
and resign him. Obviously, he can't pitch next
year. Uh You know, and after that,
you can get back to pitching in 2025. So
his contract is likely to look very, very intriguing
and very unique. I think there's gonna be likely
going to be some opt outs in there, likely
a lot of escalators and incentives based on his pitching
. Uh So there's a chance that maybe he signs
with the Angels, but he could opt out after
a few years and hit free agency once he's fully
healthy again because right now we know he's a free
agent, but he's not fully healthy. And finally
, the Angels have a lot of needs in general
. Obviously, Otani is their number one target.
He's a big, big piece for them, but
this is a team that only won 73 games last
year and has a lot more to improve. So
when we talk to the general manager, Perry Manas
, and he said, truthfully, they, they're
looking to improve everywhere. They're looking at the rotation
, looking to get one or two arms there.
Same with the bullpen. They're likely set at closer
. Carlos Estevez is gonna be their closer, but
they could obviously use some, some set up men
added Adam Kerrick a left hander to that mix.
And on the infield, you know, corner infield
is gonna be a, a position of, you
know, need for them. Anth Rendon is a
guy that has been going through a lot of injuries
the last three seasons, they can't really count on
him to play that many games, so they've got
to have some depth there. Same with the outfield
as well. Uh, you know, Mike Trout
, same thing is coming off a year that he
only played in 82 games because of injuries. So
they had Mickey Moni and, and Taylor Ward and
, and Joe Odell in that mix as well.
They need to add to their outfield. So the
Angels still have a lot of needs. And the
big question is gonna be if they sign Otani,
how much more can they add? And if they
don't, how much are they going to add?
But I think no matter what the angels have said
, they're going to be aggressive this off season and
they have no plans to rebuild. So they will
have Mike Trout and we'll know soon if they'll have
Joy Otani as well.