In the days leading up to the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Angels made two decisions.
One, they wouldn’t trade generational talent Shohei Ohtani.
And two, they would give him more tools to succeed.
They went out and acquired Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk, and Dominic Leone to bolster the squad and show Ohtani they can and are willing to make sacrifices to compete.
Unfortunately, those acquisitions haven’t yet translated to wins.
The Angels haven’t won since the deadline passed, and have an ongoing six-game losing streak.
Pressure is mounting, as they are getting further and further away from the postseason spots.
Angels insider Sam Blum talked to manager Phil Nevin about the current rut.
“Phil Nevin: ‘I know everybody is now done with us and counted us out. That’s fine. We’ve got 26 guys in there plus staff that know we have it. They know we’re still there. They know what’s in front of us,'” Blum tweeted.
Phil Nevin:
"I know everybody is now done with us and counted us out. That's fine. We've got 26 guys in there plus staff that know we have it. They know we're still there. They know what's in front of us."
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) August 6, 2023
At least Nevin is staying positive, but the Angels have a huge challenge ahead of them.
Their two best players are either injured (Mike Trout) or dealing with relatively minor physical issues that can affect performance (Ohtani).
Giolito hasn’t panned out yet, too.
However, it’s still too early to count the Angels out.
They are 56-57, 10.5 games behind the AL West lead but seven away from a postseason spot, via the last Wild Card spot.
It’s a significant deficit, but not one that is impossible to overcome.
At this point, the team has to take it one game at a time hoping to accumulate as many wins as possible.
It’s a tall task, but it is plausible.
NEXT: The Angels' Slump Continues To Get Worse
