Foregoing a much needed injection of talent into the farm system for the sake of MAYBE sneaking into a wildcard round and MAYBE playing three extra games if they get lucky is really, really shortsighted. We need depth.

It’s time to swallow the hard pill and accept that nothing short of a proper rebuild will get the Angels back into contention. If it’s done right we can reach rock bottom next year, land one of Cannarella, LaViolette, or Holliday in the draft, and start turning the corner as soon as 2026.

Rendon’s contract also conveniently goes away right about the time our competitive window can re-open so maybe we go after Vladdy Jr., Bo Bichette, or Luis Robert who are all free agents that year. No matter how you cut it though, this team HAS to be aggressively shopping guys at the deadline.