Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Los Angeles Angels fired GM Perry Minasian after six years without a winning record, clearing the path for a potential rebuild.
- Former Cardinals executive John Mozeliak will advise on baseball operations, bringing his experience with managing a franchise transition.
- With the Angels likely to pivot toward long-term development, several key players now face uncertain futures at the trade deadline.
The Los Angeles Angels are an embarrassment — still. The organization fired longtime GM Perry Minasian on Friday, with the Halos 15 games below .500 coming into the weekend. He served as the Angels' top executive for six years and never put together a winning team.
Former Cardinals exec John Mozeliak will oversee baseball operations as an advisor until a new GM is picked. Mozeliak was resistant to a rebuild in his final years with St. Louis, but he finally bit the bullet in 2025. He should guide the Angels on a similar journey of acceptance and rebirth. These players could end up on new teams as a result.
RHP Chase Silseth
Chase Silseth has less than two years of MLB service time under his belt and he's under club control through the 2030 season, so there's no pressure to trade him. In fact, one could argue that he should be part of Los Angeles' next chapter — not a casualty of it.
That said, Silseth is the Angels' best bullpen arm. Every contender wants relievers at the deadline and some will pay ungodly amounts for the crème de la crème. Silseth is not Mason Miller or Jhoan Durán, but his youth and contract situation could mean the Angels receive quite the batch of prospects in return, should he be made available.
The counterarguments are all valid, especially if you believe Silseth can eventually translate his success as a reliever into a starting role, but the Angels need to reset. The first step of resetting is beefing up your farm system.
OF Jo Adell
Jo Adell's name has already been rattling around in the rumor mill, but Minasian's exit puts the 27-year-old outfielder under an ever harsher microscope. He's still under contract through 2027, so the Angels could decide this is more of an offseason concern. But then again, why not extract maximum value now? Teams will pay more for two postseasons with Adell versus one.
Adell is a strong platoon bat, at the very least. His youth — plus his dramatic improvement on defense this season — should give the Angels plenty of suitors to choose from. There is a pressing need for playable right-handed bats all over the league. Even in a slumpy sort of season, Adell has an .825 OPS against southpaws and he has trimmed his strikeout percentage.
A defensively neutral right fielder with Adell's value in certain matchups can land the Angels a nice haul. It can also open the door for top prospect Nelson Rada, who's on the MLB fast track.
LHP Yusei Kikuchi
One of Minasian's final major moves was signing Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $63.7 million contract, which has aged poorly. He's currently on the IL and due $21.3 million in 2027, so the Angels will face an uphill battle to generate trade fervor. Then again, Kikuchi's midseason acquisition was a huge boon for the Astros in 2024. He has a history of thriving on a quick turnaround in a new environment.
Kikuchi is due back from a shoulder injury in the near future. If the Angels are willing to eat some of his remaining salary — a concession the Cardinals embraced in Mozeliak's final years — there should be a decent market. Like relievers, just about every contender can use insurance in their rotation. Kikuchi is an established vet with a solid résumé beyond his current struggles in a bad situation.
There has been a notable dip in the success of Kikuchi's fastball this season, but then again, he was hurt. The slider and splitter remain killer secondary pitches. He could become the steal of the deadline for a team that gets him on the cheap. For the Angels, it's valuable salary relief and a strong pivot toward the future.
LHP Reid Detmers
Reid Detmers in the Angels' prized asset at this trade deadline — a 27-year-old southpaw with two additional years of club control left on his contract, enjoying his best season to date. Detmers seamlessly made the transition (back) into the rotation, with a 3.93 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 16 starts. He has 104 strikeouts in 94.0 innings and the numbers don't even do full justice to how strong his stuff is. Detmers has a 2.92 expected ERA, per Baseball Savant.
Opponents are hitting .176 against Detmers' slider this season. It's one of the strongest secondary pitches in the majors. He's showing excellent command over the strike zone, able to limit hard contact and keep hitters in limbo with a dizzying mix of speeds and locations.
Detmers could net the Angels several top prospects if he's made available. He, right now, looks like the kind of pitcher who can carry his weight in October. The Angels won't be playing October baseball any time soon and should relish the chance to spruce up a barren farm system.
RHP José Soriano
José Soriano is another impactful starter who could net the Angels quite the collection of prospects, should he be made available, like Detmers, with two additional years left on his contract.
Soriano has a 3.32 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 95.0 innings. He's on a backslide after coming out of the gates looking damn near unhittable, and his metrics aren't quite as strong under the hood as Detmers. Still, 27-year-olds enjoying the type of success Soriano is, producing an elite mix of groundballs and swing-and-miss, will be coveted by teams hoping to reinforce their rotation for the current postseason run (and for future postseason runs).
Trading Soriano and Detmers would sink the Angels' rotation into a dark period, but such is the nature of a rebuild. The Angels can probably acquire multiple future cornerstones in the process and start embracing the five- or 10-year longview that successful front offices are guided by.
OF Mike Trout
Okay, look. Mike Trout has said on every occasion that he does not plan on waiving his no-trade clause or requesting a trade out of Anaheim. He clearly loves the city and the organization, despite spending the last decade of his career in relative obscurity on a noncompetitive team.
That said... one can't help but wonder if Minasian's exit is the straw that broke the camel's back. Or at least the straw that makes the camel question why he's holding that giant bundle of straw.
The Angels would almost certainly need to eat some of Trout's remaining $148 million in salary. His age and injury history does not make this an easy trade for any team, even those desperate for right-handed hitting outfielders, like his hometown Phillies (a long-speculated landing spot). That said, Trout still rips. He has an .866 OPS and 144 OPS+ with 17 homers and seven stolen bases on the year. A team will be willing to invest in his unique pedigree as one of the greatest players in recent history.
Should the Angels embark full-bore on a yearslong rebuild, that might force Trout to finally consider life beyond L.A. It's bad enough to lose on accident every year. To lose on purpose is probably a tough sell to a 34-year-old who hasn't played meaningful baseball for the majority of his career.
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