The Los Angeles Angels should continue to add pieces to their bottom-ranked pitching staff this offseason.
The Los Angeles Angels are giving their fans something to cheer for in an offseason that’s pivotal for the franchise’s future.
The Angels seem to always watch other teams make moves and get better as they pick at the scraps. But this offseason is different.
Angels general manager Perry Minasian has been a busy man, signing numerous former All-Star pitchers to help bolster one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball as well as making two big trades: acquiring high-upside right-hander Grayson Rodriguez from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for left fielder Taylor Ward and acquiring outfielder Josh Lowe from the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-team trade.
Most of these moves don’t involve the big-ticket free agents like Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman or Framber Valdez, but the players they added have made a big impact in Major League Baseball at some point in their careers.
Minasian and the Angels shouldn’t stop there, though. There are still plenty of free agents available that could make an instant impact for the club, including one of the league’s better strikeout pitchers.
Former Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star righty Zac Gallen is still on the open market and is perceived as a prime bounce-back candidate for 2026. Gallen had his worst season last year, going 13-15 with a 4.83 ERA and 1.26 WHIP across 192 innings (33 starts).
Gallen would fit the “reclamation project” theme that applies to most of Los Angeles’ signings to this point, but he was lights-out pretty much every season except for last year and would pair well with Rodriguez at the front of the starting rotation.
“Gallen’s body of work with the D-backs across 2020-24 was on par with some of the other top starters in this free-agent class,” MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan wrote Thursday. “He posted a 3.34 ERA and a 3.43 FIP with 789 strikeouts over 735 1/3 innings during that time -- peaking with consecutive top-five finishes in the National League Cy Young Award voting in ’22-23.”
Gallen was hit hard last year; he gave up 31 home runs which was tied for fifth-most in MLB, which is uncharacteristic of the 30-year-old.
Gallen seems like the perfect fit for the Halos and shouldn’t cost much, although the team would have to give up a compensatory draft pick to acquire his services. If Gallen can find the old version of himself, he would give any team ace potential on a cheaper contract than what Valdez will likely sign for.