2020 record - 26-34, 4th place in AL West
Key Addition - Jose Quintana
Free agent Quintana signed for with the Angels on a one year $8m deal in January. The Angels have spent the majority of their time - and money - on building up their core of position players in recent years. But their pitching staff has been something of a weakness.
Signing SP Quintana acts as something a band aid to help in that department; it might only be a short term help. But it is a much needed help nonetheless.
Since switching Chicago teams in 2017, Quintana pitched in 4 seasons for the Cubs going 33-23 with a 4.24 ERA and 4.5 WAR. However, he was limited to just 10 innings last season due to a combination of a lat injury and thumb surgery after a truly bizarre "dishwashing injury".
If Quintana can get repeat a similar performance to the one he had in 2019, he'll be a marked improvement over some of the starting pitching the Angels used last season. The Angels initially attempted to go with an unorthodox 6 man rotation in 2020; partly to give Shohei Ohtani and other pitchers returning from injury an additional day of rest between starts. The idea wasn't a bad one in a shortened season but even then, bad luck with injuries soon halted that idea in it's tracks.
Dylan Bundy and Griffin Canning in particular pitched well and will likely remain towards the top of their rotation, with Quintana fitting in behind them. The return of Shohei to the mound will give them a massive boost too - especially after reports of him hitting triple digits on the radar gun in Spring Training. If Ohtani can pitch like he did in 2018, Angels fans will be very happy indeed.
We think that Quintana will likely finish around a .500 record for the 2021 season with an ERA in the mid-4's and around 8 K/9.
But for a team that has already locked up superstar Mike Trout to a long term contract and have made significant offensive additions, it would be understandable if Angels fans feel that this addition of Quintana is a little underwhelming. But with a somewhat depleted farm system, it was always going to be difficult to compete with teams like San Diego in trades.
Just missed out - Raisel Iglesias, Jose Iglesias, Dexter Fowler
Key Departure - Andrelton Simmons
Free agent shortstop Simmons signed a 1 year $10.5m contract with the Twins this offseason. Simmons has a reputation of being one of the best fielders in the game and the Angels will miss his glove this season.
Los Angeles picked up Jose Iglesias in a trade with Baltimore in December to be Simmons replacement. With Iglesias, they might see a slight increase in offensive production out of the shortstop position but not quite as many web gems as in previous years.
Iglesias is still a quality fielder though and has led the AL in fielding % twice, but he isn't quite at the same level as Simmons.
A season where he hits .280 with double digit home runs is certainly a possibility.
Notable rookie cards - Jo Adell
Jo Adell is the only Angels representative in the 2021 Topps Series 1 set.
Adell is a former #1 Angels prospect and was drafted in the first round of the 2017 draft. The outfielder hit close to .300 in his rapid ascent through the minor leagues but struggled in the majors when he got there in 2020.
He hit just .161 and struck out in over 40% of his at bats in 38 games. But that is by no means indicative of who Adell is as a player and we expect that he will settle down and show his true potential once he makes it back to the Angels.
We say "make it back" because we think that he will start the year at AAA Salt Lake and be promoted by the All Star game.
Adell has a ton of potential and we think Angels fans will enjoy watching him share the outfield with Mike Trout for a long time.
Predicted 2021 Team MVP - Mike Trout
That's a shocker. We picked the best player in the league - and in the conversation for best of all time - as the team MVP for the Angels.
There's not a lot which we can say here about Mike Trout that hasn't already been said before, so let's focus on just how good his numbers have been in his career.
Trout has played all 10 of his seasons in Los Angeles with the Angels and has a career 74.6 WAR. By comparison, Babe Ruth had a 75.9 WAR in his first 10 seasons (not including 1914 when he played in just 5 games).
Trout has won the MVP award 3 times, which puts him tied for 2nd place all time in most MVP's won. And it can easily be argued that he has been deserving of more. And he's only played 10 seasons.
In 2021, we predict that .290 with 45 home runs and an additional 7.5 WAR will be added to his total.
He really is a once in a generation talent and for him to have only played a single playoff series in his career is a travesty.
Now that they have extended his contract through 2030, there has never been a better time for the Angels to build around him and get him back to the postseason again.
Player to watch for the future - Brandon Marsh
Marsh is yet another player who missed out because of the cancellation of the minor league season in 2020. He likely would have started at AAA and been a September call up in any other year.
But he made a very good impression at the Angels' alternative training camp, particularly in terms of his power and ability to take a walk.
The Angels' top prospect and 53rd overall, according to MLB Pipeline, would be lined up to become a centerfielder in any other organisation. But with Mike Trout going nowhere, it's likely that he'll one of the corner outfield spots when he gets called up. But we think that his athleticism and arm play better in RF and that's where he'll end up.
We predict that Marsh plays either a full season at AAA Salt Lake and possibly gets called up to Los Angeles in September, depending of where the Angels are in the race to the postseason.
Storyline to keep an eye on - Can Shohei Ohtani return to being a two-way player?
Shohei Ohtani suffered an elbow injury last season which limited him to pitching just 1.2 innings in 2020. He continued to bat but his numbers were significantly down as he worked through his injury.
But in 2021, he is reported to be fully healthy and looks to return to the both the mound and batters box this time around.
Ohtani joined a very small list of two-way players in baseball when he made his debut in 2018. But he has only pitched 1.2 innings since his rookie season.
It has been reported that Ohtani is hitting triple digits with his fastball in spring training BP, so the signs appear to be very promising. If Ohtani can remain healthy then he'll be a very valuable piece for the Angels - on both sides of the ball.
We predict that he hits .270 with 25 home runs, and pitches 100 innings with an ERA below 4.
Prediction for 2021 - 2nd in the AL West
We think that the Angels will make big strides up the AL West standings in 2021, partly because be believe in their talent and partly because we don't think that the A's will be as strong as they were last season.
When you look at some of the names on the Angels roster, you have to wonder why they haven't performed collectively at the level some think that they should have.
We think that this will be the year that things start to click for them and that they have just enough pitching support to make them serious contenders for the wild card.
Do you agree with our predictions? Or have we got them horribly wrong?
Let us know in the comments or on twitter.
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