12:43pm : On the Baseball Insiders podcast, Robert Murray of FanSided says the Angels are not in fact close to trading an outfielder (hat tip to ) 9:28am : Yesterday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com ( ) reported that the Angels seemed to be close to trading an outfielder. Nothing has come together yet but its po sible that talks are still ongoing. It wasnt specified which outfielder they were about to trade but Feinsand suggested that would make sense since there have been rumors of other clubs being interested in him. However, Wards agent Joel Wolfe told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register ( ) that he hadnt heard anything about trade talks involving his client. That doesnt nece sarily mean that there arent discu sions happening but members of the Atlanta beat like David OBrien of The Athletic ( ) and Mark Bowman of MLB.com ( ) both report that, if there is an imminent Ward trade, it wont be to Atlanta. Ward has seemed like a logical trade candidate for a while now. As the Angels have struggled to compete in recent years, there has been natural speculation about the veteran players on the roster with shrinking windows of club control. Ward will be celebrating his 31st birthday this Saturday and can be retained via arbitration for two more seasons. If the Angels were pivoting towards a sort of reset, it would make sense to trade Ward for younger and more controllable players. However, despite just losing 99 games in the most recent season, the Halos are clearly trying to contend in 2025. Both owner Arte Moreno and general manager Perry Minasian made it clear that was the plan for this winter and they have backed that up, acquiring , , , and others already. In that context, trading Ward becomes a bit more difficult to see. The outfield is already a fairly thin part of the roster, consisting of Ward, , , and perhaps Soler. Trout has become increasingly injury prone in recent years, having not played 120 games in a season since 2019. Soler is a poor defender and best suited to be the designated hitter more often than not. Adell and Moniak still have poor offensive track records overall. Subtracting Ward from that group would make it even flimsier but clubs would certainly be interested if he were available. He has Kyle Stowers Jersey hit .259/.338/.440 over the past four years for a wRC+ of 118, indicating hes been 18% better than the league average hitter in that time. His defense has also been graded around league average or above, allowing him to play at a pace of about two to four wins above replacement per year, according to FanGraphs. projects Ward for a $9.2MM salary in 2025, a notable sum but still a bargain for a player like Ward. Free agent corner outfielders like and are likely to command multi-year contracts with average annual values double that. Ward would be in line for a raise in 2026, his final season before free agency, but that figure would still be a good deal if he continues to produce at his usual rates. A trade coming together would naturally depend on what other clubs are willing to offer. Perhaps the Angels get offered some big league pitching or infield help that they feel is worth taking, but they would then have to pivot to replacing Ward in the outfield mix. The Pirates and Royals were both connected to Ward at the trade deadline with Kansas City reportedly still interested in him as of last month, though the Angels havent let go of him yet. Some fans might hear about the Angels potentially trading an outfielder and jump to Trout but its hard to imagine a trade like that coming out of the blue. He has a full no-trade clause and has repeatedly said that he wants to stay and win with the Angels. Its po sible that he changes his mind at some point but theres hasnt been any public suggestion that has happened. His contract is also hard to move from a financial perspective. Trout is paid at superstar rates but hasnt been able to provide that production in a while. Hes always good when hes on the field but hasnt been out there enough to accrue counting stats at his previous levels. Hes set to make $35.45MM annually for another six seasons. Even for a marquee name like Trout, thats a lot of money for a guy whos now 33 years old with mounting injury concerns. Even if Trout wanted to be traded, it would be a tricky spot for the Halos since they would likely have to settle for a middling return on a franchise player or eat money just to get a notable package, which isnt a great P.R. position either way. Its also po sible Moniak or Adell are the ones being discu sed, though neither would have huge value right now. Moniak has stepped to the plate 908 times in the majors thus far with a .230/.272/.402 batting line and 32.3% strikeout rate. Adell has hit .211/.268/.381 in his career with a 32.2% strikeout rate. Its po sible to see some improvement from Adell in 2024, as he popped 24 home runs while lowering his strikeout rate to 27.9%. His overall production was still subpar but his .244 batting average on balls in play was well below league average. Its po sible he took a meaningful step forward this past year and will break out with better luck in 2025 but hes floundered so many times that teams might be reluctant to bet on that. Valente Bellozo Jersey