30 Teams In 30 Days: The Los Angeles Angels Remain A Loathsome Organization
For a team that doesn’t win shit, I sure seem to care a lot about the Los Angeles Angels. Outside of the Detroit Tigers, they are the team that I’ve written the most blogs about. The Angels haven’t had a good squad in a long time, but they’ve at least been somewhat interesting with how bad they are. I mean, how the hell do you waste two of the greatest players of all time in the prime of their careers? They will never recover from that. But Shohei Ohtani is gone, and Mike Trout is dealing with a nagging back problem. The Los Angeles Angels in 2024 will cease being interesting. They’re just going to be a boring loath some baseball team. People consistently ask me who my least favorite baseball team is, and in general, I don’t hate any team. I root for my group but don’t have many allegiances beyond that. The Los Angeles Angels are the exception. I’ve talked about it before. I feel like they have made the game of baseball worse with their ineptitude.
The only real reason to pay attention to the Angels is to see if Mike Trout can stay healthy. If he does, he should demand a trade. I think it’s lame that he hasn’t already. I understand and appreciate loyalty for what it is, but at this point, he’s hurting his legacy. If he goes in an entire career playing three playoff games, it doesn’t matter what his overall totals are. He will be viewed less favorably than some other great players in his era, and that’s coming from a guy who fully acknowledges that he’s one of the most talented baseball players, whoever live.
Per usual, I think the Angels will do just enough to avoid being truly terrible. At this point, I don’t think you can rely on Anthony Rendon to do anything. It doesn’t even seem like he cares at this point. This team probably would’ve been better off. Trading Otani last season would’ve been the best move, and at least it would have given them something to work with. It’s pretty sad to say that their window has closed when you can make a strong argument that it was never open to begin with, but they are the definition of a team that is very much stuck in neutral.