The fall of the Los Angeles Angles continues to be one of the most surprising developments in the MLB.
They have an owner in Arte Moreno that is willing to spend money.
They have two of the best players in baseball, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
Yet, the team continues to lose.
There's down bad, and then there's whatever happened to the Angels in this inning pic.twitter.com/5kkTLrubO4
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 16, 2022
Whatever moves the Angels make just seemingly always go wrong.
Part of the issue is that they sign older players on the backend of their careers to big deals.
Some examples of that are when they signed C.J. Wilson, Josh Hamilton, and Albert Pujols.
Then even traded for Justin Upton who batted .232 in his five years in LA.
Now they are seemingly stuck with Anthony Rendon‘s contract, which is looking like a bust.
The former Washington National signed with the Angels before the 2020 season and has done nothing in LA.
Rendon has played in 155 games in three years and has hit 20 home runs with a .252 batting average in that time.
The only deals that have seemingly worked out for the Angels are Trout and Ohtani’s.
Trout has won three MVP awards during his time in LA with Ohtani winning the award last season.
Despite these two on the same team, the Angels have not had a winning season since 2015.
Also, they have not made the playoffs since 2014 when they got swept in the divisional round.
This team has had four different managers since 2015 with interim manager Phil Nevin currently having the role.
Assuming Nevin does not get the full-time job they will have five different managers in an eight-season span.
All you can say about that is the manager might not be the issue, it is time to try a new approach.
Trade The Stars
The best strategy for this franchise might be to trade the superstars, Trout and Ohtani.
That might sound crazy, but the Angels simply have not won with them.
The Angels need help everywhere, their starting pitching/bullpen is not very good.
Other than Trout and Ohtani their hitting is not very good either.
Trading these two would help jumpstart what could be a very quick rebuild.
The amount of prospects the Angels could get back in trades for those two is astounding.
According to OddsChecker, the Angels have the 27th-ranked farm system in baseball.
If they play their cards right there is a chance their farm system could be top 10 after those moves.
Los Angeles was exploring the idea of trading Ohtani this past trade deadline.
While no deal came to fruition it is eye-opening that the Angels listened to offers.
For any team to acquire an elite pitcher and hitter like Ohtani will be something the MLB has never seen.
With 8 Ks tonight, Shohei Ohtani is now tied for the 5th most strikeouts in MLB this season.
He is also tied for 10th in HRs this season. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jqkYeWg0QG
— theScore (@theScore) August 16, 2022
No player since Babe Ruth has done what Ohtani is doing, so the price tag is most likely something we have never seen.
For Trout, he is arguably the best hitter in baseball but he is getting paid a ton.
Moving his contract may be difficult because most teams may not be willing to pay part of the $426.5 million deal that Trout signed in 2019.
He would still be worth a great haul of top prospects and that is why the Angels should consider a deal.
Trout and Ohtani could go down as two of the best players in MLB history.
But, the Angels have not been able to put a winning team around them so it is finally time to start the rebuild.
NEXT: Shohei Ohtani Showed Off His Dedication Sunday