The Angels\u2019 two most attractive trade chips are starting pitchers Reid Detmers and Jos\u00e9 Soriano<\/a>. Because both are under club control for two more seasons, there is a sense that the Angels could get a haul of prospects for either or both of them.<\/p>\nHowever, the Angels also don\u2019t need to trade them.<\/p>\n
Mozeliak was asked flatly if the Angels would be willing to make the kind of \u201caggressive\u201d trades that might lead to taking a step back in order to take two steps forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly,\u201d Mozeliak said. \u201cBut the real answer is what are we getting in returns, right? We could be presented with lots of deals that we just do not feel are in the best interest of this franchise. But my responsibility is to really understand what that looks like. Once we get there, I think we have to do what\u2019s best for the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other question hanging over all of this is how much autonomy Mozeliak will even have to make deals. In the past, owner Arte Moreno prevented his GMs from depleting the major league roster of controllable players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely feel like Mr. Moreno is entrusting me to get this right,\u201d Mozeliak said, \u201cand so that\u2019s what I\u2019m certainly going to try to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Angels began play on Monday with a 39-61 record that was the worst in the major leagues.<\/p>\n
When asked if he could get the Angels turned around to be contenders in 2027, he said: \u201cThat, I think, is a challenging task. Can I answer that in a week and a half? I\u2019m working through some things to sort of understand how to get there. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mozeliak went on to say there are ways the Angels can improve on the margins.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving patience in regard to what we\u2019re trying to accomplish is going to be needed, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t win a few more baseball games,\u201d Mozeliak said. \u201cEven if you just dissect this year, what\u2019s the one-run won-loss record?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 11-17.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take much to just change that,\u201d Mozeliak continued. \u201cIf your run differential is -100 at this point, well you probably have more than just one thing to fix.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Angels\u2019 run differential is -62.<\/p>\n
Mozeliak said improving the bullpen and adding some \u201cleft-handed thump\u201d to the lineup could make a difference.<\/p>\n
He also said the farm system is \u201cstronger than maybe public perception. But it\u2019s still not top 10 in baseball. Ultimately I felt like we had a really good draft. I think we added some exciting depth. But in the end we\u2019ve got to keep doing that. One draft doesn\u2019t change the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTES<\/p>\n
Manager Kurt Suzuki said he had a talk with outfielder Wade Meckler to encourage him to stay sharp even though he\u2019s not getting regular playing time. \u201cI\u2019ve got a job to do of mixing and matching and putting him in when I can,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cI just explained to him that he\u2019s doing a great job. I know there\u2019s going to be times where he doesn\u2019t play for a coupe games. I don\u2019t want him to get stale.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n
Outfielder Jo Adell is hitless in his last 24 at-bats. \u201cHe\u2019s grinding and he\u2019s putting in the work,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cHe\u2019s working every day in the cage and and trying to get that feeling back. I think hitting\u2019s a lot feel, and Jo\u2019s trying to get that feeling. You see him take BP and it\u2019s pretty awesome watching him hit BP. Now he\u2019s just trying to keep that feeling going into the game.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi is scheduled to face hitters on Tuesday. It will be the first time he\u2019s done that since he went on the injured list in May. \u2026<\/p>\n
Right-hander George Klassen struck out 11 in six innings at Triple-A on Sunday. Klassen has a 2.67 ERA in his last 10 starts at Triple-A.<\/p>\n
UP NEXT<\/p>\n
Cardinals (LHP Matthew Liberatore, 5-6, 5.00 ERA) at Angels (RHP Walbert Ure\u00f1a, 5-7, 2.88 ERA), Tuesday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM \u2014 John Mozeliak still doesn\u2019t have the answer to the question that will nag all Angels fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,19950,7677,154,2053],"class_list":["post-380519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}