Whether they acquire or sell off players before the July 31 trade deadline is merely an appetizer on the buffet of daunting and potentially franchise-altering moves facing the Angels in the coming months.
The contract of Mike Scioscia, baseball’s longest-tenured manager, expires after this season, and owner Arte Moreno and general manager Billy Eppler must decide whether to retain the only field boss to lead the Angels to a World Series title.
Mike Trout’s six-year, $144.5-million contract expires after 2020, and if the Angels are to have any hope of retaining baseball’s best player with a lucrative extension, they must make the moves necessary to build into a playoff contender by 2019 and a World Series contender by 2020.