The first post-Shohei Ohtani season of Angels baseball was a difficult one for fans, as the Halos finished dead last in a weak AL West division with a 63-99 record that just barely kept them from posting the first 100-loss season in franchise history.
With Ohtani no longer in the fold and the team just having finished up its worst season yet, speculation regarding a potential rebuild as swirled around the team but owner Arte Moreno put any such rumors to bed during a phone interview with reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) earlier today. During the interview, Moreno made clear that the goal he’s laying out for the organization is to contend for a playoff spot in 2025. It’s a lofty goal considering the fact that only the lowly White Sox finished with fewer wins than Anaheim this season, but Moreno added that payroll is “going to go up” to accommodate his dreams of contention next year.
With that being said, it doesn’t appear a major increase in payroll is expected. After payroll dropped significant from 2023 to 2024, Moreno now suggests that the club’s budget for 2025 figures to fall somewhere in between the (per RosterResource) $176MM the team put forward this year and the $215MM the club spent during Ohtani’s final season with the organization. It’s not exactly clear where Moreno’s target payroll lands in between those two figures, but the Angels should have some room to maneuver this winter regardless. After all, the club’s 2025 books have just over $109MM in guaranteed contracts for 2025. That doesn’t include salaries for the Halos’ rather large arbitration class, but even if each player is tendered a contract in line with the projections by MLBTR Contributor Matt Swartz they’d still be sitting at a tidy $147MM for 2025, or nearly $30MM below last year’s payroll.
That could leave the club with as much as $50MM in payroll flexibility, should Moreno cap the club’s payroll just below $200MM. What’s more, Moreno also suggested that this offseason’s payroll increase should be sustainable for the club, though he cautioned that if payroll were to creep back to 2023 levels in the future it would have to face similar cuts to what it did last winter, with Moreno indicating that the budget for 2023 wasn’t sustainable.
“It’s just an automatic loss,” Moreno said of the club’s $215MM payroll in 2023, as relayed by Fletcher. “If I start piling up (financial) losses, then the next year I’m going to cut.”
Of course, even a relatively hefty financial investment is unlikely to drag the Angels out of the basement of the AL without significant internal improvements to their core group of players. The biggest boost would surely come from a healthy and effective season for Mike Trout, the club’s future Hall of Famer who has never been anything less than elite with the bat but has been limited to just 266 games over the past four seasons. A healthy season from Trout, even if he is no longer the perennial 8-win player he was at his peak, would be a game changer for the club’s offense. So too would steps forward from the club’s young core, including catcher Logan O’Hoppe, first baseman Nolan Schanuel, shortstop Zach Neto, and southpaw Reid Detmers.
2024 was a mixed bag for the quartet overall, with Detmers struggling badly throughout the year to the point that he spent most of the season in Triple-A while Neto enjoyed a breakout season that saw him combine 30 stolen bases with a 114 wRC+ as he locked down the the shortstop position for the Angels. Meanwhile, O’Hoppe and Schanuel both posted perfectly solid seasons, though with only average offense from both players and a step backward defensively from O’Hoppe there’s still plenty of room for both youngster to improve next year.
With Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward among the other complementary pieces set to return to the club next year, it seems likely the Angels’ major obstacle this season will be patching up a pitching staff that ranked bottom five in the majors this year with a 4.57 ERA and ahead of only the lowly Rockies with a 4.68 FIP. Veteran lefty Tyler Anderson turned in a solid mid-rotation performance this year (3.81 ERA in 31 starts) and Detmers’s combination of strong pedigree and past success leave him likely to earn another shot as a starter next year, but a lackluster 2024 performance from Griffin Canning and midseason elbow surgery for lefty Patrick Sandoval both leave the club with few solid answers in the rotation for 2025.
The Angels have been notoriously hesitant to shop at the top of the starting pitching market throughout Moreno’s tenure as owner, so it would be a shock to see the club pursue a top arm such as Max Fried or Corbin Burnes this winter. Even so, playing in the mid-tier of free agency this winter could help the club add more certainty to its rotation with options like Luis Severino, Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea, and former Angel Andrew Heaney among those expected to be available.
gojira15
This organization has no idea what it’s doing.
TJECK109
Exactly. Increasing payroll doesn’t mean competing when it comes to this team
getrealgone2
Bozos
case
I’m assuming his usual strategy, a splashy signing of an overpriced position player supported by the usual collection of mid 4 era starting pitchers then hoping things will somehow be different this time.
Canuckleball
If it ain’t fixed, don’t break it?
HalosHeavenJJ
Making sure we lose a draft pick because prospects don’t matter.
Fever Pitch Guy
Case – What if he signs Soto?
hiflew
Then Soto will get 100 hits and 200 walks in 2025 and be left on base about 250 times. Soto’s skill set needs someone to drive him in and the Angels don’t have the Padres or Yankees mashers hitting behind him. It would be just as bad a signing as all the rest.
HalosHeavenJJ
“We have Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon hitting behind Soto”
– Arte
(Just don’t look at hitters 6 through 9 or our pitching staff)
i like al conin
Case, you nailed it. The same strategy for well over 10 years that has never worked. It’s like he wants to be baseline competitive to keep up the value of the franchise and anything more is a bonus.
Very Barry
Angels spending a bit of money was disappointing to hear as a White Sox fan. Was hoping that we were gonna be able to bring back Chris Flexen, who was solid at the back of the rotation. Definitely see the Angels making this cost more than it probably needs to.
mlb1225
“Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?”
YankeesBleacherCreature
Insanity is profitable in Anaheim.
UncleJesse
Arte NoBueno is looking to add another legendary albatross contract to his failing franchise.
HAVE MERCY!
Fever Pitch Guy
Jesse – Soto? It’s not a foregone conclusion he signs with a NY team.
larkraxm
It isn’t about “spending”, it’s about spending on the right players to compliment your developing players and creating chemistry with management and culture. They don’t give WS rings to the franchise that “spent” the most.
i like al conin
Right. I want to hear about their near-term strategic plan, lessons learned and what he plans to do differently.
mlb fan
Arte Moreno is one of those guys that never seems to learn from his mistakes. He should have stayed in the billboard business.
Rexhudler86
Last season aggressive meant a reliever that they knew was going to miss the season, and Aaron hicks. Plus a bunch of triple a players.
DevoPettis
He’s so full of it. They said they were going to be “competitive” this year. He was raking it in in Ohtani merch, the TV contract. He pays nothing in stadium improvements and gets the parking noney. The “losses” are imaginary.
.
DevoPettis
And ticket sales of course all go to him. They just drew 3 million again. So why would he spend more if he’s gonna make the same either way
jaybird 4
2.5 mill, but that for a 99 loss team with no Ohtani? Baseball heaven!
HalosHeavenJJ
Arte is delusional at best. Idiotic at worst.
This would be a good year to sign Bieber and let him recover while the young pitchers mature. Hopefully he’s a stud leading the rotation for the next 3 years.
Maybe pick up Moncada to cover third and make Rengifo available at the deadline.
Add some lottery ticket relievers and ficus on getting younger and the end of Rendon’s contract.
getrealgone2
Decent ideas. I was thinking the Braves should get Beiber. You should be the GM.
HalosHeavenJJ
The difference between me and Arte is I realize I’m not qualified to be a GM.
JoeBrady
$50M in flexibility won’t move the needle. 4 guys on offense that might be good, but probably none at an AS level. Maybe one good SP. Maybe 1-2 decent RPs. Weak farm.
Had they traded a couple more guys at the deadline, and finished 29th, they’d be a lot better off.
Moreno is lying.
urnuts
Not lying just has no clue.
ClevelandSteelEngines
Not really a great offseason to spend money. Notable free agents are limited and the Angels would be better off keeping their product homegrown.
Dtownwarrior78
No farm plus very little MLB talent and an owner that has no clue equals 2024 Angels! It’s so sad to see a star like Trout’s career get wasted away by an organization like the LAA. Reminds me of Barry Sanders career in Detroit really. A HOF player surrounded by meager talent and a team that puts nothing around him. Pretty good comparison IMO.
darkknight920
It is a pretty good comparison. Barry at least made it to the NFC title game, Trout has been near the MLB equivalent.
Lefty_Orioles_Fan
Sign more overpaid bums?
Guys that get injured from Dandruff
Pray to Saint Jude Arte for the Angels lost cause
I Will help you out
I will give you
Mike Elias
Ziggy the Super Computer
Brandon Hyde
For Mike Trout to DH and only DH
In a three 4 one trade
Saint Nick
Worst run team in baseball?
golfernut
Colorado-no contest.
johnsilver
That’s been true ever since the rock-ettes won like a zillion in a row, starting in September of ’07, all thru the post season, then got wiped 0-4 in the WS. Not recovered since. Bad FA signs, bad trades, bad drafts. It’s got to be hard being a fan of the franchise and not saying in a hateful way, just everything they have done since 10/07 has turned to crap.
HalosHeavenJJ
The Rockies have made both the playoffs and World Series more recently while spending far less money.
jorge78
I’ll believe it when I see it …..
tacohole
I plan to buy a house on the beach and have a fling with Riley Reid .
ShootyBabbit
God Arte is an idiot-the only hope halo fans such as myself has is that he sell, sell, sell the franchise to a successful person
DarrenDreifortsContract
The Jerry Jones of the MLB. The Angels could have prime Ruth, Mantle and Aaron with the worst pitching staff in baseball. But instead of signing Nolan Ryan in the offseason. He would sign Willie Mays.
solaris602
So the translation is he plans to sign Juan Soto and a motley crew of middling pitchers and AAAA position players. If Moreno says, “That’s crazy!”, the answer is, “Well that’s what you usually do.”
30 Parks
Announcing your team is going to “compete” is a bad sign – not trading Ohtani will haunt this franchise for a decade.
Rsox
Arte’s never met an over the hill bat he wouldn’t sign so I’m guessing we know at least one team that will be in contention for guys like Goldschmidt and Turner
urnuts
Insanity !!!!
Same old Sh!+
Please rebuild for at least the next two years and start fresh once Rendon contract is off the books. Plus maybe the core will be established and a few decent prospects from the next few drafts on the pipeline.
But for this to happen Arte and his clowns need to go.
I’m pissed and will not attend until we have a leader with a real plan.
cptitan10
As far as the Angels ever doing anything smart with their payroll, I’ll believe it when I see it. But the description the author gives of the rotation is incomplete information. Forget Canning and Sandoval. It’s going to be Anderson, Soriano, Kochanowicz, Silseth, and Aldegheri or Dana. If Minasian fills out the position player roster with competent major leaguers, there could be some hope. If he dumpster dives for 4A players again, expect another year like 2023.
₩arkMohlers
Arte Moreno looks like the child of Salvador Dali and Arthur Blank. In centuries passed such hideous creatures would be left in the woods for wildlife to take care of after birth, so as not to burden the village.
Ronk325
I plan to go on a date with Sydney Sweeney and make more money in 2025. Somehow, I think I have better chances at achieving my goals than Moreno
₩arkMohlers
I bet there are a couple dozen Sydney Sweeney’s in the world. And if you don’t earn more next year, I will Venmo you enough to take whatever Sydney Sweeney you find to Arby’s for a romantic date, so then technically you earned more than in 2024.
We all need to work together to take down Arte Moreno.
Drasco0366
I needed a good laugh this evening. Thanks Art!
James Midway
They need to have a plan with the increase in salary. I’m hoping they learned from the Rendon, Wilson, Hamilton contracts. I don’t include Pujols is the bad contracts because he did produce. Everyone knew he wouldn’t at the end but he was driving in runs for several years.
corrosive23
Who’s going to want to sign with this team?