Five Player the Angels Should Consider Trading Early This Season

The Angels are having another tough open to the season here in 2024.  With Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon both going down with injuries, the Angels will likely finish below .500 for the 9th year in a row. With all that said, here are some potential early trades the Angels could consider.

Five Potential Trades the Angels Should Consider

Tyler Anderson

Tyler Anderson, 34, is having an amazing start to his 2024 campaign. Through his first six games of the season, Anderson has had a stellar 2.23 ERA to go along with an 18.5% strikeout rate, and 8% walk rate. Both of these numbers are right in line with his career norms, so don’t expect much regression in that aspect either. The give and take with that though, is a lot of his production is via batted ball luck. So far this season, he’s been limiting batters to a .194 BABIP, which is probably unsustainable.

The projections say that Anderson is likely going to be about a league-average pitcher the rest of the way, but, it wouldn’t be totally surprising if he’s closer to his peak 2022 form, rather than what he was in 2023. In either case, Anderson will offer some value to teams with him being under team control for another season at a fairly reasonable price tag of $13 million.

Carlos Estévez

Carlos Estévez, 31, isn’t having the best start to his season, but should still bring solid value back to the Angels if traded. So far in 2024, Estévez has gotten into nine games and recorded five saves. To go along with that, he has an unsightly 6.23 ERA. The good news is he’s been pretty unlucky. As of writing, Estévez has a 29.4% strikeout rate, which is the highest in his career. On top of that, he’s yet to walk a batter. While that obviously won’t be sustainable at all, it is somewhat supported by the fact batters are chasing his pitches at the highest rate of his career, sitting at an even 37%.

For the team that would be picking up Estévez, they’d only guarantee his services for this year, as he’s set to hit the open market at the end of the 2024 season. However, they’d be getting a fairly reliable closer at a reasonable price point.

Brandon Drury

Brandon Drury, 31 isn’t having a good season so far. There’s no way to sugarcoat that. With that said, there is still some hope that his bat will turn around. Drury as of writing has a slash line of .176/.245/.235. While it’s true that having an on-base percentage higher than the slugging is a bad sign, there is a little optimism to be had here. Drury is carrying a 19.1% strikeout rate, the lowest since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and the lowest since he became a regular back in 2016. He’s also still hitting the ball as hard as he normally would, with exit velocities within a mile of normal.