The Los Angeles Angels had an exciting weekend. It started by destroying the Rockies in a 25-1 blowout. They then made two trades to fill the holes in the lineup due to injuries and roster changes. Finally, in the most Angels stat of all time, losing 2-out-of-3 to the Rockies even though they outscored them 32 to 12. Now that the 1-4 week is behind them, were all the Angels’ transactions over the weekend smart or desperate?
A Deep Dive Into The Angels’ Transactions
Eduardo Escobar to Replace Gio Urshela
Reactionary moves usually get looked at with a microscope since they are just a reaction to a situation that must be addressed. Eduardo Escobar‘s acquisition had interesting timing for a couple of reasons. On the surface, he is just a better-quality reserve infielder to replace the loss of Gio Urshela. The second interesting part is the injury to Anthony Rendon since he has been prone to extended periods on the Injured List since joining the Angels.
Escobar had a rough start to the season with the Mets. In the first month of the season, Escobar hit an underwhelming .158. After that month, he turned the corner, and his number are recovering from that start. He is now hitting .240. He is still a serviceable bat with power and should be able to handle the hot corner until the return of Rendon.
This trade came out of nowhere on Friday. Before the Angels’ transactions, they were content going with the hot hand as it were to be a stop-gap for the short term. It is worth mentioning that following the season-ending injury last year to Rendon, the Angels ran a combination of players who failed to match the production as a unit. This trade is smart. Escobar is getting hot at the right time and could have been losing playing time with the Mets. The Angels did lose 2 top-30 (numbers 17 & 20, respectively) prospects in the deal, but they both project as back-end starters.
Eduardo Escobar singles in his first AB as a member of the Angels pic.twitter.com/06qxwwEUo1
— Amazin' Army (@WE_ARE_MET_FANS) June 25, 2023
Mike Moustakas Comes Home
Following the franchise night the Angels had on Saturday night, they added a veteran left-handed bat in Mike Moustakas. Moustakas has been injured for the better part of two seasons. This ultimately led to the Reds releasing him in January. Then he signed on with the Rockies and made the team out of spring training.
He has had a decent amount of success in limited time with the Rockies. In 136 at-bats, he had a slash line of .270/.360/.435. Also, Moustakas is a better hitter away from Coors Field. At his former home field, he only had an average of .212 in 21 games at home compared to a .371 in his 24 away games. More importantly, he can hit both righties and lefties. He sports an average of .264 versus right-handers to go along with a .294 average against lefties. The difference in at-bats is 20, so there is a marginal difference between the two.
This Angels transaction adds more flexibility even when Rendon and Jared Walsh return. At worst, he is a buy-low player they could release but that won’t be the case. Moustakas can be another infielder since they won’t have to carry three players that play the same two spots. This trade is more of a future outlook than a desperate move to replace Walsh. The roster needs a bit of change since they were forced to use the trio from last year that led to a league-worst bottom of the order.
Vision Casting
The moves made over the weekend were incredibly aggressive. They demoted Walsh, who was only 2 years removed from an All-Star appearance in 2021. This will allow him a chance to fix his swing, get another opinion from another coach, and, most importantly, fewer intense games on a daily base. Looking at the demotion as a reset could yield better results during the stretch run in September [metabet_core_dynamic_odds market=”bbm/mlb_make_playoffs” query=”bbm/los_angeles_angels” site_id=”lastwordonsports”] for the Angels.
At a point, the Angels wanted to return to the failed experiment from last year. Making the call to get to guys that add to the lineup and keep it at the same level during this bump is a win. The two teams above the Angels aren’t doing as well, so going out and getting ahead of the curve is a good thing. Not losing ground with these injuries will benefit the Angels later on.
We are about a month from the trade deadline; there is still time to fix this team’s issues. The key is to make intelligent moves, not knee-jerk desperation moves, just to go back on them in a couple of weeks. These first two additions are clever moves. They both fill holes that were created by injuries and inconsistencies. If both players fail in the long term, so be it. The return of Walsh and Rendon might do that, but based on the players, they will still be around for the long term.
Photo Credit- Jon Leyba-USA TODAY Sports
Players Mentioned- Eduardo Escobar, Gio Urshela, Anthony Rendon, Mike Moustakas, Jared Walsh
