Well, that was a bust, wasn't it? A day after triggering an Alberto Callaspo trade, the Angels seemed primed to move Howie Kendrick today.
NOPE.
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It turns out that the Angels decided to stand pat after they were unable to get the kind of return on Kendrick, Aybar, Trumbo or anyone else. That kind of sucks. Not because I wanted to see anyone specific get dealt but because it leaves the Angels with a lot of work to do still before next season. The biggest problem of all is that they failed to acquire the young, high-end starting pitcher they coveted in trade talks. Heck, they couldn't even get an upside veteran to gamble on.
That doesn't mean they are taking this roster into 2014, however. Fully expect Howie Kendrick to be heavily involved in trade talks this winter, especially as a consolation prize for the teams that pursue and fail to sign free agent Robinson Cano. Erick Aybar could be shopped heavily as well as more teams who need shortstops will be open to making acquisitions as many of those such teams were more sellers at the variety.
This also doesn't mean the Angels are done altogether either. Jason Vargas is nearing a return and thus could be moved via a deadline deal. Teams like Cleveland, Arizona and Pirates were all desperate to acquire pitching at the deadline and struck out completely. The Angels might prefer to keep him for next season as an insurance policy now that they failed to trade for a better #3 starter, so even that may not materialize.
Until then, the Angels will be moving fully into evaluation mode. Their one big acquisition, Grant Green, will surely be called up before long as will Cory Rasmus. Luis Jimenez should be in line for a call up once he recovers from injury and we might even see Efren Navarro and Andrew Romine. Please try and contain your excitement.
At the end of the day, Dipoto at least deserves credit for turning Callaspo into Grant Green, but it just feels like there was a plan here that he only executed the first few steps of.
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