This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger's Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ANAHEIM -- The continued development of the club’s young core is the biggest priority for the Angels going forward.
But instead of adding to that mix by looking to sell veteran players at the Trade Deadline, general manager Perry Minasian opted to keep that group in place in hopes that they can learn what it’s like to be in contention in August and September.
It’s a calculated risk, as the Angels could’ve received young players in return for veterans such as Kenley Jansen, Tyler Anderson, Luis Rengifo, Yoán Moncada, Kyle Hendricks or even Taylor Ward (who isn’t a free agent until after 2026). But instead, they’re hoping that the additions of relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis García and infielder Oswald Peraza will help keep the club afloat the rest of the way. But much like in 2023 when they went for it at the Trade Deadline, they’re off to a slow start in August after losing a series at home to the last-place White Sox.
“The development of our core is obviously very, very important going forward, so we explored everything,” Minasian said Thursday. “We explored buying, we explored selling, all those things. But being competitive in August and September is really, really important for this group, not only for the now, but for the future. Playing meaningful games, understanding there's an expectation to win, showing up to the ballpark every day, feeling like you have a chance to win over a six-month period. It's hard to quantify, right? But I felt like it was very important for this group to go through that and to see what playing in August and what playing in September is like.”
Things don’t get much easier for the Angels, however, as they host the Rays for three games, head to Detroit to face the first-place Tigers for three games and host the first-place Dodgers for a three-game set at Angel Stadium. But the Angels are trying not to think too far ahead and are embracing being in contention after being out of it early last season when they lost 99 games.
“I think we’re taking every game day by day,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “We’ve talked about it in Spring Training. We’ve talked about it at the beginning of the season. Now we’re in August, which is kind of cool that we’re still talking about it. So my mentality to the guys and theirs back to me has always been, ‘Let’s just play today and let the outside noise be the outside noise.’”
Hendricks, who won a World Series with the Cubs in 2016, echoed his manager’s sentiment, as he believes it’s a good experience for the club’s younger players, but that the focus is on taking it day by day. But he was pleased to see that Minasian didn’t tear down the club and said there’s a different feeling in the clubhouse playing games that matter down the stretch.
“It’s right where you want to be,” Hendricks said. “You want to be playing meaningful games late in the season, going all the way through September, and that's where we're at. So obviously, we're not in must-win territory, but we're pretty much there. We need to win a lot of ballgames, and we know that. But if we play good fundamental baseball and don't make mistakes, we can beat anybody. So it's still just the one day at a time and no panic.”
The Angels are 5.5 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot, which means they’re still hanging on to contention despite their recent scuffles. Minasian said it’s hard to project how the Angels will play the rest of the way, but that he’s hopeful the club can learn from their upcoming stretch.
“I don't make predictions,” Minasian said. “I go day by day. Obviously, we're better today than we were yesterday. The ability to acquire a couple of relievers should help this club. And my goal and our goal is we worry about today. But being in a competitive environment, a lot of these players haven't experienced that. And to continue to experience that over the course of the season is really, really important to me and important to us as an organization.”