ANAHEIM — The Angels are enduring a miserable season, even by their standards during their current decade of losing.
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That’s obviously angered many fans, which has made the calls for owner Arte Moreno to sell the team even louder.
As expected, the questions you asked start there.
Q: Do the Sell the Team chants have any effect on Arte’s decision to sell the team? The value of the team is down from a couple years ago so is Arte going to wait until it increases again? — @mattyball71
A: I asked Moreno in 2023 about the way fans viewed him, and his answer was that you will “always have a vocal minority that are just not going to be happy, no matter what.” The latest protests might be louder, but they aren’t new. Also, there are plenty of other owners in baseball and other sports who get the same treatment. They just consider it a cost of being in the public eye.
So I doubt it has any impact on what he wants to do with the team. Besides, even if Moreno wanted to sell the Angels, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to do it before there’s a new collective bargaining agreement. If MLB ends up with a salary cap, the value of all franchises will go up.
After the new CBA is settled, there’s also likely to be expansion, which means that all the owners are going to get a nice big check for the expansion fee paid by owners of the new franchises.
At this point there is no question that Moreno has made decisions that have hurt the Angels on-field product, but there’s no indication that he’s interested in selling right now.
Q: What do you think about the young core of the team? None of them seem built out to stay here for the long term — @casualhalofan
A: You’ve hit on the main problem the Angels have. It’s not that they aren’t acquiring enough good players. It’s that the young players they already have aren’t getting better the way you’d hope.
Over the past few years the Angels have had a number of players break into the majors and have starts to their careers that indicated they could become All-Star-caliber players who were the core of a winning team.
But so far they’re plateaued or gotten worse.
Shortstop Zach Neto, 25, and right-hander José Soriano, 27, are having similar seasons to ones they’ve had in the past, but the Angels had hoped for both to take significant steps forward.
Look at first baseman Nolan Schanuel, outfielder Jo Adell, catcher Logan O’Hoppe and left-hander Reid Detmers. They’ve all had better seasons in the past than they’re having now, and that’s not how it should work considering that all are 27 or younger.
It’s not too late for any of them. Detmers, for example, might be turning the corner right now. There is still a ton of talent among the group. Taylor Ward still had a negative career WAR through his age-27 season, and his breakout came when he was 28.
Until the Angels can get more out of that core, or start a new core with players like right-hander Walbert Ureña and third baseman Denzer Guzman, it’s going to be tough.
Q: Do you see the Angels trading someone like Soriano or Detmers? Or only expiring contracts? — @HaloFanChris112
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A: This is a good follow-up to the previous question. At some point the Angels are going to have to decide if the core they have now is the right core. If it’s not, they need to trade away some of these players are start over with new, younger ones.
If they’re hopelessly out of it at the deadline, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do move one or two of the current young players. Based on their history, I also wouldn’t be surprised if they hang on to all of them, though.
If they’re only going to trade expiring contracts, they aren’t going to get much. That group would be DH Jorge Soler, right-hander Kirby Yates and left-hander Drew Pomeranz.
Q: Between the last two drafts and several international signing periods, the farm system has looked the most promising in a long time. A lot of really good SP depth and emerging positional prospects like (Jake) Munroe, Hayden (Alvarez), Raudi (Rodriguez) and Gabriel Davalillo. What is your assessment? — @cuscus85
A: I’m not a scout, but when I talk to scouts from other teams, they genuinely see potential in the Angels’ group of minor-league pitchers. The Angels clearly have more depth of pitching than they have at any time in the past decade.
However, the position player group is thin. One scout who had seen the whole system said there was a big drop-off from Guzman to the second-best hitting prospect. It certainly doesn’t look like they have anyone who profiles as a middle-of-the-order bat.
Based on that, I’d say at some point the Angels are going to be a team with an above-average pitching staff and not enough offense. At that point they’re going to have to either trade some pitchers or go to free agency to get some bats.
Q: What has happened to Tyler Bremner? Given he was the second choice in the draft you would think that he would move up through the minor leagues and be given a chance to pitch at the major league level. All other major league teams who have a top-10 pick have given them a chance to pitch with the team. Paul Skenes is a great example of a draftee who did this albeit he has better tools than Bremner. Here go the Angels and their “ugly” farm system. — Frank Pangborn
A: So far there have been zero players from the 2025 draft to play in the major leagues. Skenes is a generational talent, so you shouldn’t compare anyone to him.
Bremner is pitching at Class-A. He was out for about a month because he got sick and the Angels wanted to ease him back slowly. They’ve been criticized for rushing minor leaguers, and they don’t seem to be doing that with Bremner. He has a 1.61 ERA in seven starts. I’d be surprised if he’s not moved up to Double-A once he’s built back up to throwing five or six innings (per start). He threw 2⅔ innings in his last start.
Q: With Jack Kochanowicz out for the season and rotation depth kind of thin, do you see a scenario where the Angels call up Joel Hurtado? — @montirow
A: Hurtado has been one of the best performers so far this season, with a 2.52 ERA at Double-A. The right-hander has allowed three runs in his last 30⅓ innings.
I have talked to scouts who like him. The Angels clearly like him, because he was in big league camp during spring training. He also needs to be added to the 40-man roster this winter, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the majors at some point later this season.
UP NEXT
Rays (LHP Shane McClanahan, 6-3, 2.85 ERA) at Angels (LHP Sam Aldegheri, 1-1, 2.25 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM
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