Post-Ohtani era changes: 3 Los Angeles Angels free agents who won't be back in 2025 and why

The Los Angeles Angels are in one of the worst possible situations across all of professional sports.

They have one of the greatest players of all time in Mike Trout, but Trout just can't stay healthy. After him, they really don't have anything of note besides Anthony Rendon. And Rendon isn't noteworthy for being good. Rendon is noteworthy for being one of the worst contracts in sports. He never plays due to injuries, and he's being paid millions of dollars to sit and watch.

The team is now in the "post-Ohtani era" and they could be facing a very long rebuild. Their rebuild continues on in free agency this Winter, where there are three players that absolutely won't be returning to the team in 2025.

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3. LHP Matt Moore

The Angels were paying a lot of money to struggling, expiring veterans this season. There were multiple expiring players on their roster that they should have dealt away at the trade deadline, but opted not to. A lot of those players are set to walk in free agency this Winter.

But there are also the expiring players who struggled so badly that the Angels won't want to bring them back in the first place. The team is heading in the direction of building around a new young core of talent rather than trying to squeeze every ounce of success out of aging veterans.

One player that won't be back next season is the veteran pitcher, Matt Moore.

Moore, 35, made 51 appearances while posting an ERA over 5.00 out of the Angels bullpen. He walked more batters than ever before and his strikeout numbers were down. Moore was getting hit harder than he was expected to get hit.

With him entering a contract year, there's no way that Los Angeles is even considering the idea of bringing him back, especially since he ended the year injured and on the IL. The Angels would be better off playing their young, unproven prospect arms rather than letting Moore continue to trot out there for nearly $10 million a year.

2. RHP Adam Cimber

Out of the three players on this list, this one might be the most obvious. While the other two players are entering free agency coming off a bad 2024 season, this player is coming off back-to-back unplayable seasons where he posted ERAs north of 7.00.

It's the reliever Adam Cimber, who was once a notoriously consistent and dominant piece in successful bullpens. However, those days seem to be long gone for the veteran righty, who's coming off a season in which he walked 14 batters and gave up 19 earned runs in just 24.1 innings.

During each of his 50 appearances over the last two seasons, he's been completely unreliable, easy to hit and disastrous.

As he enters free agency, the Angels are going to be perfectly fine with him trying his luck out somewhere else. There are enough cheap pitchers in free agency or prospects in the farm system that could come up to the big league level and do what Cimber did in 2024. As the Angels find their identity in the post-Ohtani era, it's going to be crucial that they're not rostering pitchers who lose games for them as consistently as somebody like Cimber would.

1. UTL Brandon Drury

The Angels decided to bring in utility man Brandon Drury after he came off a Silver Slugger year where he slashed .263/.320/.492 in 2022. Drury continued his success in the big leagues in year one with the Angels, slashing .262/.306/.497 with an OPS over .800. But as Drury entered his contract season this year, he underperformed tremendously.

During the 2024 season, Drury slashed a horrendous .169/.242/.228 with 11 extra-base hits in 97 games. It was by far the worst statistical season of Drury's professional career. Now, with him entering free agency, there's no way that the Angels would want to bring him back for another season.

If Drury had continued at the .800 OPS clip that he had been at for two years, this would have been a completely different story. But he didn't. Top prospect Christian Moore will be up to the big leagues next season to play some infield, taking potential opportunities away from a veteran like Drury.

The team has a new direction heading into the future and it doesn't include a struggling veteran like Drury. He may be able to find himself a cheap contract in a "prove it" year with another team, but that team likely won't be the Angels.