MLB Trade Deadline 2017: 5 best spots for Matt Carpenter
By John Buhler
Los Angeles Angels
AL, West
What are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim besides the place where Mike Trout puts up MVP seasons and Albert Pujols gets paid? Though they might be the second-best team in the AL West, the Angels are only hovering around .500 and the Houston Astros are a total juggernaut that will destroy any team in comes across.
In short, the Angels are one of those teams that needs to pick a direction soon. Do they want to rebuild or do they want to continue playing second fiddle in Los Angeles to a team that doesn’t get its games shown on television? If they do try to keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers, maybe trading for Carpenter on the cheap isn’t a bad idea.
Ideally, he’d play on one of Andrelton Simmons’ sides while he covers everything and then some at shortstop. Carpenter is decent defensively, so he could play off Simmons’ infield brilliance quite well at second or third. At the plate, he’s a guy that could take some of the loathsome burden off Trout’s plate at the dish.
Carpenter is one of those players that can’t be the best player on a good team, but he can be a good player on a great team. The Angels are far from being great, but he’s the type of player that could thrive in a secondary role to Trout in the lineup. Being that he’s a lefty at the plate only helps protect Trout in the Angels batting order.