It is evident that Perry Minasian and the front office did not quite do enough to give this team a fighting shot at the postseason, even though the Angels’ trade deadline has worked out in terms of the players they acquired. The terrible moves that opponents made around the deadline, however, still make Halo aficionados giggle.
Angels fans laughing at these AL West trade deadline disasters
The Seattle Mariners’ acquisition of Eugenio Suárez is the most significant of these. One of the few Diamondbacks who was doing well enough for teams to consider bidding on them before the deadline, Suárez was maybe the best hitter in baseball during the first half of the season. The Mariners obviously did, and Suárez has done very little to help them. Since joining the squad, he has only hit two home runs and is only hitting.181. It is wonderful to watch a competitor collapse like this, even while Halo supporters would have enjoyed this much more if the Angels had been able to leapfrog the Mariners in the standings.
The Astros acquired Carlos Correa and Ramon Urias, who have been mainly reliable since the deadline, in an effort to reclaim the AL West. However, the Astros have been terrible since the deadline, even though they sacrificed a lot of prospects for Jesus Sanchez. Following his arrival in Houston, Sanchez has mostly been an automatic out, hitting just.164 and struck out almost four times as frequently as he has walked. Despite being a bench player, he has been disappointing given the resources they sacrificed for him. Additionally, they will reconsider throwing Sanchez to the plate in the postseason.
The Angels and the Texas Rangers were tied for the AL Wild Card at the trade deadline. They acquired three players, the most notable of them was Merrill Kelly, who at the time of the transaction had a 3.22 ERA and was probably a target for the Halos. Kelly has given up eight runs in 16 innings over his three starts with the Rangers, and the team has lost two of those three games. Relievers Danny Coulombe and Phil Maton, the other two guys recruited, have been terrible. Together, they have given up 12 runs in their 15 games together. Prior to the deadline, both were outstanding, but the Rangers’ attempts to turn their bullpen into a top-tier unit have fallen short very fast.
Even if the Angels didn’t win this season, at least the supporters may enjoy themselves while mocking their competitors and the inadequacies of the newest players in the AL West.
