Get ready folks as we go back in time to revisit the great pieces the Angels selected to build around their generational players
2018
Shohei Ohtani rookie year, no other starting pitchers signed(They give Justin Upton 106 million to come back)
2019
With a clear never ending need for top starting pitching, the Angels decide to finally get back into the starting pitching market and get their guys early
Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill signed
Combined Salary: $20 million
Combined WAR: -.6
2020
The Angels make their intentions clear that they want Gerrit Cole and will do whatever it takes to get him..
…well.
Julio Teheran signed, Dylan Bundy acquired in trade
Combined Salary: $14 million
Combined War: .7
I kinda don’t care too much about this season since 2020 was some fever dream year where nothing made sense.
2021
Dylan Bundy breaks out a bit in that 2020 “season”, so maybe they have a piece to work with here, but are in desperate need of a top starter to pair with Shohei
Jose Quintana signed, Alex Cobb acquired in trade
Combined Salary: $23million
Combined War: .8
2022
Alex Cobb was a nice addition, so of course let’s let him walk(he signs with the Giants for 2 years $18 million 5.3 war in 2022-23)
Also Bundy(Salary: $8.3 million, War -.3) implodes at the right time and the Angels don’t explore bringing him back
The Angels start the free agency period aggressively acquiring the once dominating Noah Syndergaard and reliever now turned starter Michael Lorenzen. The team jumps out to a great start before it all comes crashing down with a 14 game losing streak from May to June. The Angels never recover.
Combined salary: $20.6 million(Angels covered 13 million of Syndergaard’s 1 year deal)
Combined war: 2.3
2023
Another aggressive opening for the Angels as they get their guy to open free agency
Tyler Anderson signed
Salary: 13 million
War: .2
Also Lucas Giolito is traded for in season and provides a -.5 War at $1.9 million dollars paid
From 2018-2023
Total spent on starting pitching acquired: $92.5 million
Combined War for starting pitching acquired: 2.9
They paid Shohei Ohtani in that time
Total: $39.6 million
If I am missing information or am off on some items here please feel free to correct or add to the abysmal history here. If WAR is the wrong metric then someone can provide a much better way to weigh the impact these moves made. Just wanted to highlight the monumental organizational failure and one we as fans will always feel, while the owner and his associates reaped all the financial benefits that came with it.
