The Angels showed interest in Anthony Santander on a potential three- or four-year deal, writes Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It’s not clear precisely what they proposed, but it seems their reported interest in the outfielder was genuine enough to consider multi-year offers.
Santander ended up with the Blue Jays on a five-year pact. That was initially reported as a $92.5MM contract, though extreme deferrals dramatically cut the net present value. The MLB Players Association valued Santander’s deal with Toronto just below $68.6MM. He can opt out of that contract after three seasons, though the Jays could override that by preemptively exercising a 2030 club option.
It’s not known if Toronto was the only team willing to stretch to five years. Rosenthal reported last week that the Royals made a three-year offer that included an opt-out after the second season. That came with a $66MM guarantee on the surface, though it reportedly also included deferrals that would have dropped the NPV to some extent.
Assuming the Halos use Jorge Soler more or less as a full-time designated hitter, they’ve yet to do anything of note in the outfield. Late last season, they floated the idea of moving Mike Trout into a corner in an effort to keep him healthier. A free agent class led by Harrison Bader didn’t provide many options to step into center field. It has been similarly quiet on the trade front at the position. It looks like the Halos will stick with Trout in center for another season.
Taylor Ward was the subject of some trade speculation, but it seems he’ll return in left field. Santander would have been a major upgrade in right, where the Angels project to run it back with a Mickey Moniak/Jo Adell platoon. Neither one-time top prospect has been a consistent offensive threat in their major league careers. Angels right fielders hit .210/.287/.368 last season. Only the Royals got a lower on-base mark at the position, while their slugging percentage was fourth from the bottom.
At this stage of the offseason, the Angels are unlikely to find a significant outfield upgrade in free agency. There’d been some speculation that the Halos could make a push for Pete Alonso to play first base, allowing them to move Nolan Schanuel to the corner outfield. That’s theoretically still on the table as long as Alonso is unsigned, but it’d probably make for a very poor outfield defense. That’d also be true if the Angels signed Alonso as a designated hitter and put Soler back in right field.
If an outfield splash probably isn’t happening, the Santander pursuit suggests there could be money for a late-offseason move in another area. The Angels were the most active team within the opening weeks of the offseason. They acquired Soler, Kyle Hendricks, Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Newman and Yusei Kikuchi before Thanksgiving. They haven’t made a single MLB free agent signing or trade of note since the Kikuchi pickup.
The Angels could still upgrade on the pitching staff. Rosenthal reported last week that the Halos were in contact with free agent relievers and could make multiple bullpen acquisitions. They could certainly accommodate someone like Nick Pivetta, Jose Quintana or Andrew Heaney in the rotation. RosterResource calculates their competitive balance tax number around $206MM, putting them about $35MM below next year’s luxury tax threshold.
Who cares
You do. Clearly.
I’m just waiting for better headlines instead of these. What if scenarios.
I care Karen. Yankees fan? Sound like one..or Phillies..maybe Mets. Those teams attract a mood mindset that fit’s your arbitrary ” I need to make a negative post” approach to being edgy
mlb – I find it interesting, that’s why I’m commenting here.
Why comment on something you have no interest in?
These types of rumors interest me depending on the source. Kenny is pretty reliable, so I believe him.
exactly. who cares. Angels had their chance to kick start an amazing rebuild by trading Ohtani at the deadline before his contract expired. If they had any sense they would have traded both him and Trout. Would have been a tough pill to swallow for their true fans but at least it would be the smart baseball move to build a winning team.
False narrative he was already experiencing arm issues prior to the trade deadline.
Trout said he would not accept a trade. He likes it in Anaheim and wants to finish his career there.
Ohtani is another story and I think they should have traded him at the deadline in 2022 when it was clear that they were not going to give him the long term deal that it would take to keep him. I can also understand the hesitation from other teams after he gave up 14 runs in 16 innings in his 3 starts to start July of 2023. Turns out they were right as he didn’t pitch a single inning in 2024 and won’t until May of 2025 according to Roberts in his “sounds about right” comment, which probably means after the ASB.
I find it difficult to believe that they couldn’t convince him to accept a trade to a good team. But, if true then Trout has no one to blame but himself. He’s an incredible player but he clearly values comfort over the desire to win. There’s nothing wrong with that. To each his own. Orange County is a wonderful place. Especially if you live in Laguna beach or whatever high end area he’s in. I just think he has zero right to ever complain about not winning because he could have made it happen to give himself a chance if he wanted to. Anyone with half a brain can see that the Angels don’t currently know how to put together a complete team. So he’s either an idiot or just doesn’t really care about winning.
Speaking as a true Angels fan since 1975, I would cheer if they blew it all up.
Angels didn’t pursue anything. When guys are getting four and five year deals and they offer three– they’re not being competitive. According to them they’re in on everyone. They did what they do every year– go sign some bargains early and then sell how they are just getting started to the fans.
I do!
This is a rumors site, but clearly you didn’t know that.
Is there anyone left in free agency that would be an upgrade for them? I hope they get Pivetta and/or Quintana but I don’t know how much that would move the needle.
Isn’t Verdugo still kicking around?
Grichuk
I think he meant move the needle up. Ahahahaha!
Pivetta is hardly worth a second round pick and one million in International money. With pitching at a premium why hasn’t he signed yet? The same goes for Verdugo, he doesn’t move the needle. I agree with the “blow it up” crowd. Of course, Arte will never do that.
Did they try to sign Jack Flaherty?
Probably not, Arte doesn’t really sign pitchers to long term deals, even if Jack did sign for a short-term deal.
Yeah, Flaherty and Profar would have been the ticket.
Seems as if we’re stuck in limbo somewhere … what’s the rebuilding plan (which Arte refuses to give in to) with no plan to spend long-term on free agents (thankfully given our past deeds).
Maybe the youngsters will surprise us and we’ll finish near .500.
That’s really the Halos’ problem: stuck in limbo somewhere. It seems like Arte has finally learned how to not spend for the big “splash,” but he hasn’t learned how to spend where it counts: on higher-level free agents and on investing in the farm system. Hard to believe we’re going with an Adell / Moniak platoon, again. How’d that work out last year?!!! A finish near .500 would be an over achievement for this team…
Probably didn’t help that Angel Stadium is a tough place to hit in.
Lots of parks on the west coast are. Giants, Mariners, Oakland (RIP) even dodger stadium
Dodger Stadium is heaven for fly ball hitters, but groundball hitters hate that park.
“Anaheim fans deserve better. We’ve proven time and again that we’ll pack the stadium(just like the Dodgers and Padres)whenever Arte puts out a representative, competitive team.
Arte, for the love of God, please sell this team.”. ..Signed, a little boy who grew up watching his all-time hero, Nolan Ryan, pitch for the California Angels.
Angels should trade for Stowers and Norby
No. Fans don’t deserve better. You chose to follow the team, you weren’t forced to follow them.
We’ve been around since before Arte bought the team and if you abandon your team you’re not a fan since the 80s, you’re not a fan at all.
It’s always ironic to me that people complain about fans who complain their team sucks. The whole point of being a fan is to root for your team to win.
I think this exemplifies the mediocrity pervading throughout society today. Contentment in losing is antithetical to sports fandom, imho. It’s also a primary reason certain teams continue to operate losing organizations and never change.
So, to tell MLB fan how he should feel about the Angels losing seasons is to tell him not to be a true fan, or that his fandom should be in name only, not in their competition results.
Please sell the team Arte Moreno you don’t need it plus you really don’t wanna win
Giving up the 46th pick in the draft to sign a veteran bat is a very Arte thing to do.
This club needs to focus on 2027 on
Missing out on Santander might actually be a win for the Angels. Their front office throwing big money at a free agent is like giving your grandma an iPhone—it’s only a matter of time before something goes horribly wrong. They probably dodged a future “why are we paying this guy $20M to hit .220 and DH twice a week?” situation.
“Giving your grandma an iphone”…My grandmother is 86 and does have an iphone which she uses fairly well. She also still drives herself grocery shopping and to church every week.
I do understand she’s the exception and not the rule necessarily. Anyway, I found your post hysterically funny(I laughed out loud)and if this internet gig doesn’t pay off for you, you may have a future in online comedy, lol.
@mlb fan
Thank you. I get paid $0.01 per post. That’s why I have to work at Walmart as a greeter as well…
Better lay off the grannies then.
I know an 81 year old who was the most technological person in the world 20 years ago, but now takes her laptop everywhere on trips and scrolls on the iPhone with the best of them.
He’ll also hit 30 bombs and 90 RBI’s as clean up. Not sure why you purposely left that out.
@OilCanLloyd
You can see the future? What are the lottery numbers?
You think his value is in his batting AVG? He wasn’t acquired to be lead off and steal bases. Dude is legit switch hitting power. Rare. He moves the needle as clean up. Jays got him from age 30-34yrs. Still power years. Angles missed out.
At this point the strategy looks like smoke and mirrors until most of the big contracts are off the book.
Plus, early in the off season make the fans believe they will compete.
Sell fans that they are trying to field a competitive team.
I’m fine with a rebuild, just tell us there is a legit plan to win in 3-5 years.
Artie sell the team.
As long as Trout is still suiting up to play, the Angels are never going to do a full rebuild.
They are trying to be decent by rebuilding. They are failing, but at least they are trying to do so.
11 players making a combined $105 million per year fall off the books over the next two seasons. Kikuchi drops the following year.
Perry has established an interesting collection of arms at the AA level that are starting to make their way to MLB. I’m sure picks 2 and 46 in this year’s draft will be advanced college players.
Perry is trying to make the best of a bad situation, however Arte Moreno will keep meddling for as long as he owns the team. Moreno isn’t going to simply punt away 3+ years while Trout is still a good player (when healthy), his ego won’t let that happen. They’re most likely still going to keep signing free agents and swinging some trades for veterans so they can prop up the team and say to the fans and Trout that they’re trying not to waste his career. Once the current batch of highly paid players come off the books they’ll sign another batch.
None of those free agent pitchers project to be anything but marginally better than the stable of young pitchers the Angels have put together.
Hopefully the Angels are going to stick Trout in one of the corners preferably left field. The only way the Angels have an outside chance of postseason contention is to have Trout available for like 140 games. Moving him out of center and into the LF/DH role will help them a lot.
I think most people agree with you, which is why I think the Halos are hanging on to Adell – to possibly play CF.
Would have been a solid move by the Halos.
Gm alway low ball player there never going win
I would have been good with it.
Breaking News: Team that offered player unfavorable deal didn’t land him
More at 11.
I also was interested in signing major league baseball player Anthony Santander on a short term deal for my major league baseball team.
I still have some hope that Adell can figure it out. His defense was unwatchable, and then he was a finalist for a Gold Glove. He had decent power last year with a low BABIP. You can’t say the guy doesn’t work hard.
Moniak is terrible. And he got $2M. A better 4th OF (or a 3/4) would be a great idea.
Adell is a 20/20 hitter. 20+ HR, 20+ SB, and .220 AVG. Athletic and naturally talented but too many bonehead mistakes on the field. I used to have hope that Adell would figure things out, but I’ve practically given up.
Once Trout gets injured (only a question of when), then the OF becomes very thin with Ward, Adell, and Moniak… this is why I was really hoping they’d sign Santander. An outfield of Trout, Santander and Ward is very solid.
I’d rather have Moniak play everyday than Adell. Adell is a trainwreck with a hole in his swing the size of Jupiter.
Moniak can’t hit lefties
Where was Perry on Jack Flaherty? Burbank kid already making that Kikuchi deal look like a head scratcher. J Flare would’ve been the ace on that staff.
Takes two to tango in free agency. How do we know for sure if Anaheim didn’t make an offer that was as good or better than what Flaherty signed for, and he simply just wanted to pitch somewhere else instead?
“How do we know for sure if Anaheim didn’t make an offer…”
Because Flaherty said last week that nobody had made him any offers, just teams ‘checking in’ on him during the offseason.
They still have a team in Anaheim?
Albert Pujols
Josh Hamilton
Anthony Rendon
And fans wonder why Moreno doesn’t want to sign any top free agents lol.
Add
Gary Mathews Jr.
CJ Wilson
To that list.
Is it supposed to make me feel better? They try to sign them. Nobody cares turn the page.
The biggest move the Angels could make would be to send Rendon home, addition by subtraction…
TBH, I don’t think Santander makes sense for them. He’s not going to be playing CF, so he’ll be competing against Trout, Ward and Adell. He’d be useful against righties, but I wouldn’t spend my allowance on him, and it might make more sense to go with the kids.