These Brewers Building Principles Could Be Applied To Angels

The Milwaukee Brewers just steamrolled through the National League playoffs, and in the process they eliminated the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers. Chad Jennings of The Athletic did an intriguing piece about ten basic moves that got the Brewers to where they are now, and they could easily be applied to the Los Angeles Angels going forward.  

Step 1: Build a foundation through the draft

Pretty basic, right? Jennings cited eight Brewers who are still foundational pieces, which is remarkable in today’s game when you think about it. 

The Angels have done some of this, albeit in a backwards sort of way. At one point late in 2025, they had nearly all of their top picks on the field at the same time, including shortstop Zach Neto, first baseman Nolan Schanuel, outfielder Jo Adell and fellow outfielder Mike Trout. 

Not all of them are good fits going forward, and Adell was moved to the Cleveland Guardians, where he’s currently starring in a postseason role. The Angels drafted college players who were considered MLB-ready or close when they were selected, which is a terrible way to build depth in the farm system. But combine doing this with a real GM, a farm system and a manager to go with a generous new owners, and the Halos might actually have something. 

Step 2: Find a kid to believe in

This one’s also basic, and Jennings used outfielder Jackson Chourio as his example. 

But how about rookie starter Walbert Urena? He’s an ace waiting to happen if he’s managed and developed properly, which is something a lot of teams don’t have. Get the offensive equivalent of that — Arjun Nimmala, anyone? — and it’s another step in the right direction. 

Step 3: Make the hard decision

The Angels have already done this to some extent by cleaning house at the deadline, and the result was a strong grade for the farm system. That’s just a grade, but the other call that should accompany this is moving on from players like starter Grayson Rodriguez and outfielder Josh Lowe that were acquired in trades. Waiting for players performing poorly to somehow turn things around is not a strategy to contend. 

Step 4: Build a bullpen

Yeah, this one was a major fail. The Angels played closer roulette throughout the season, and it became obvious very early that that there was no bullpen plan. This can be done immediately, and there are actually a couple of pitchers who might be part of the plan right now.