Angels likely not done before Deadline after trading O'Hoppe, Silseth

This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger’s Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ANAHEIM -- The Angels have been hesitant to be full-blown sellers at the Trade Deadline in recent years, but under interim general manager John Mozeliak things appear to be different ahead of Monday’s Trade Deadline.

The Angels already made one surprising trade, sending catcher Logan O’Hoppe and reliever Chase Silseth to the Rangers in exchange for third base prospect Angel Arrendondo on Wednesday. It marked a shift for the Angels, as O’Hoppe isn’t a free agent until after the ’28 season and Silseth isn’t one until after ’30. But the Angels’ internal model liked Arredondo, who is now ranked as their No. 27 prospect by MLB Pipeline, because of his high contact skills and plus defense, while they believe he can develop some power.

“We know we have to start shaking up this roster,” Mozeliak said. “Being here and what our group is trying to accomplish, we are looking at change.”

The big question is whether that trade means they’re willing to trade shortstop Zach Neto, who has three more years of control beyond this season, or starting pitchers Reid Detmers or José Soriano, who are both free agents after next year. Soriano was scratched from his start on Saturday, which indicates he could be moved.

Right fielder Jo Adell is also a trade candidate, and has one more year of control after ’26. They also have impending free agents such as designated hitter Jorge Soler, and veteran relievers Kirby Yates and Brent Suter but none of the three are expected to yield much of a return. There’s also a chance they could move another reliever like Ryan Zeferjahn or Sam Bachman, who are also not free agents until 2031, like Silseth.

But all of their top trade chips are under control beyond this year, which is something that Mozeliak will have to weigh. He doesn’t want to make a trade just for the sake of it, as the Angels will be looking for a haul if they move players like Neto, Detmers or Soriano.

“Obviously moving controllable players is going to be the challenge in this whole exercise, because that's mostly what we have,” Mozeliak said. “But we're just going to try to pick and choose our spots where we can create that change, create a different trajectory for the organization.”

The Angels are looking for a left-handed power bat and also are in the market for a young catcher, especially after trading O’Hoppe. The Angels have a pitching-heavy farm system and their top-hitting prospects such as No. 2 Hayden Alvarez, No. 5 Gabriel Davalillo, No. 6 Joswa Lugo and No. 13 Raudi Rodriguez are right-handed or offer little power like No. 3 prospect Nelson Rada.

They have two catchers ranked among their Top 30 prospects in No. 16 Juan Flores and No. 24 Marlon Quintero. But Flores is 20 years old at Double-A Rocket City and Quintero is 19 at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, so they’re both considered not close to the Majors just yet.

“The answer right now we think to the future, that might be something that we have to do outside the organization on the short view and we'll obviously be open to that,” Mozeliak said. “When we look at the next few days, and if there's the ability to try to add some depth to that, I think would be in our best interest.”

The Angels also went with youth in their trade for Arredondo, who is just 19 years old and was assigned to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. But Mozeliak wouldn’t rule out acquiring players considered closer to the big leagues in future trades. They just simply liked Arredondo, who went 1-for-4 with a double in his organizational debut on Friday.

“Not in this particular deal but I think that will be part of the calculus in potentially other transactions we make,” Mozeliak said. “This one just happened to be finding the right fit for the right people, and so age was not necessarily driving this.”