Angels Offseason Needs Are Biggest In Baseball, Hands Down

Every team in basball is currently deep into reviewing their offseason needs, but the Los Angeles Angels lap the field in this category and then some. Jim Bowden of The Athletic did a rundown on the needs of all 30 teams, and it was almost comical to see what the Halos will be looking for compared to every other team in MLB.

Needs: A new leadership team and a major-league coaching staff, left-handed bats, a center fielder and bullpen upgrades

Bowden got most of his assessment right, but this isn’t exactly rocket science here. When you’re coming off a 100-loss season, it would almost be simpler to start what the Angels don’t need and go from there. 

Some clarification is needed, however. Bowden did throw out a few names to run the baseball operation for new owner Stan Kroenke and his sports group, including Theo Epstein, who's a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox, along with Brandon Gomes or Farhan Zaidi from the Dodgers. 

This is just the beginning when it comes to the names. Most of them are just slop from insider’s lists that don’t have much meaning, especially given how quickly Kroenke punted on having interim GM John Mozeliak to stick around and run the operation. 

There may or may not be genuine signals coming out of all this, as the timing of this situation with Kroenke not taking over until after Jan. 1 makes the whole show an absolute mess. 

On the baseball side, though, here’s what Bowden missed. 

The back end of the rotation is going to be huge for the Halos. They have a boatload of young prospects who could be ready to step up, with the best being Ryan Johnson. Who makes it and how the Angels handle their prospects will define a lot of this team’s success or failure going forward. 

Then there’s the infield, where the Angels could theoretically use an upgrade at three of the four positions. Shortstop Zach Neto is a stud if the Angels decide to keep him and they can solidify his approach to cut down on strikeouts, but second and third base are an absolute mystery at this point. There are a couple of current players who might be backups and depth options right now, but that's about it. 

So is first base, for that matter. Vaughn Grissom did a nice job of filling in and providing a little power here and there, but he’s not a regular on a winning team. The other big need would be catcher, where the Angels don’t have anything close to an answer after trading Logan O’Hoppe.