With MLB Opening Day only 18 days away and spring training games steadily underway, baseball season is right around the corner. Over the next month, we will preview all 30 MLB teams for the 2020 season leading up to Opening Day on March 26th. Next up, the Los Angeles Angels 2020 preview. Check out the preview for the Kansas City Royals here.
The Los Angeles Angels finished 72-90 in 2019 and found that disappointing enough to fire manager Brad Ausmus after only one season with the team. The Angels hired Joe Maddon to replace him and will look to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
When talking about the Angels, the conversation has to start with Mike Trout. There isn’t much to say about Trout that hasn’t already been said but here goes. The consensus best player in baseball won his third MVP award in 2019 at the age of 27. Almost as impressive are his four-second place finishes and he has never been outside of the top four. Recently, however, the Angels have not given Trout much help. That changes in 2020. Anthony Rendon signed a seven-year deal with the Angels in the offseason and will provide more help than the aging Albert Pujols ever did.
Justin Upton should return from an injury-plagued 2019 star prospect Jo Adell is expected to make his debut in 2020. Adell is a five-tool player that would man center field for almost any other team in the MLB if not for the presence of Trout. Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani should return to the mound in 2020 after only hitting in 2019 due to an elbow injury.
Anything Ohtani can contribute on the mound will be welcome in LA. Andrew Heaney and Griffin Canning appear to be the lone holdovers for the rotation in 2020. The Angels went out and signed veteran Julio Teheran and traded for Dylan Bundy and Matt Andriese. Young lefty Patrick Sandoval will get a chance to win a rotation spot out of Spring Training as the Angels attempt to field a competent rotation to complement a deadly offense.
Hansel Robles returns as the closer after converting 23 saves with a 2.48 ERA in 2019. Ty Buttery and Cam Bedrosian will form the bridge from the rotation to Robles as the Angels seek their first winning season since 2015.
Year after year, Mike Trout continues on the path of becoming the greatest baseball player of all time. The main argument against him is his playoff stats. In only three career playoff games, Trout is 1 for 12 and the Angels were swept out of the playoffs. Joe Maddon was brought in to bring a winning culture to the Angels and the signing of Anthony Rendon shows how serious the Angels are about competing for the playoffs. 2020 brings hope for the Angels, but unless Trout and the lineup can carry the starting rotation on their back, the Angels will continue to spin their wheels and waste Trout’s prime years on an average team.
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