Los Angeles Angels Essential Season Preview

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We will preview all thirty MLB teams. Please use the MLB 2024 Spring Training and Season Preview Index to access all of the team season previews indexed for you all in one spot.

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All of the Essential Team Season Previews build off of data that is presented in the "MLB League Season Preview Data." In this article I give the grading scale, the WAR data driving my season projections including the MLB heatmap, prospect source info, and payroll info.

In the MLB League Season Preview, I will provide you with the league wide data that will be referenced in the Essential Team Season Previews. You might find yourself referencing both as you look at these team previews.

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With all of that out of the way, here is the next of the Essential Team Season Previews- the Los Angeles Angels. Can the Angels get into the postseason this year? We will break it down for you here.

The Angels lost Ohtani. That is probably the biggest issue. They need a lot of surprises.

Shoutout to Fangraphs.com for providing most of the data behind our essential previews.

Here is the outline for the content here.

1. Batters

   1. Projected Lineup

   2. Bench

   3. Key Minor League Players

   4. Players on IL

   5. Critical Stats

   6. Player Grades

   7. Team Hitting Grades

2. Pitchers

   1. Starters

   2. Relievers

   3. Key Minor League Players

   4. Players on IL

   5. Critical Stats

   6. Player Grades

   7. Team Pitching Grades

3. Season Projection Data

   1. Projected team strengths and weaknesses

   2. Payroll Flexibility

   3. Season Projection

Batters

1. Projected Lineup

2. Bench

3. Key Minor League Players

4. Players on IL

5. Critical Stats

6. Player Grades

7. Team Hitting Grades

2024 Season Projections

I have put the batters in this table per what I expect the projected lineup to be. I then included who I think will be on the bench on opening day. Lastly, I included key players I expect will start in the minor leagues, but they project to get at least get some PAs.

The overall Hitting Grade for the 2024 Angels is B which is better than 2023. The WAR projected is up 4.1 from last year.

2023 Season Data

Given their talent, the Angels had a terrible year in 2023 offensively. This was caused mostly by an avalanche of injuries. The Angels were one of the teams most affected by injuries.

The Angels made multiple trades for bats hoping to replace injuries and upgrade poor performers. There has been massive turnover as Ohtani has left and all the players the Angels traded for- Grichuk, Urshela, Moustakas, Escobar, Cron- opted for free agency.

The projected WAR for 2024 reflects that the Angels have normal levels of injuries. With Trout the offense is slightly above average.

The offensive production somewhat rests on how many games the Angels lose to injuries.

Pitchers

1. Starters

2. Relievers

3. Key Minor League Players

4. Players on IL

5. Critical Stats

6. Player Grades

7. Team Pitching Grades
   

2024 Season Projections

Similarly to the batters, I have put the pitcher in this table per what I expect their projected roles to be. I added the injured pitchers. Lastly, I included key players I expect will start in the minor leagues, but they project to get at least get some IPs.

The overall Pitching Grade for the 2024 Angels is C-. This is down from their C grade in 2023. Their WAR projects to go up 2.0 WAR. The pitching has to contend with losing Ohtani too. The Angels rebuilt their bullpen with free agents.

Overall, the pitching projects to be very mediocre.

2023 Season Data

The Angels also traded for several pitchers in 2023 who also opted for free agency after the season. They went for it and failed.

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Season Projection Data

1. Projected team strengths and weaknesses

2. Payroll Flexibility

3. Season Projection

Projected team strengths and weaknesses

The projected heatmap reflects what we tend to think about the Angels. The WAR numbers here are adjusted to account the inflated projected WAR numbers.

When looking forward and using this kind of data, it is the relative ranks that are the most important data.

The Angels have truly one real STRENGTH- Trout. The rest of the positions are average projected WAR or below.

Payroll Flexibility

The Mariners are decreasing their real payroll cost in 2024 to $173M from $215M in 2023. The Angels are spending the 12th most in the MLB.

I think the Angels got burned going for it last year. It will be interesting if they commit to a rebuild when they have a generational talent like Trout.

Season Projection

Put all of this together and the Angels project to win 77 games. This is slightly better than 73 wins in 2003.

Vegas has the Angels at 71.5 to 72.5 wins. Moneymakers were told on JANUARY 27th to take the over when you could have gotten 70.5 wins at Ceasars. It pays to be a moneymaker.

It is my favorite time of the year. Let's get ready for opening day by checking out all of the MLB teams here. Hopefully, this Angels Essential Season Preview will be a resource for you all year long. Use this to remind you what we expected and to see how the team progresses this season.

You can see the kind of work we do for you at the site. Maybe you don't see is that I NEED your support to make it happen. The work I do is not easy because I strive to give you good content. To do that I need more support.

The Talkin' Baseball guys did a breakdown of the Angels.

Los Angeles Angels | 2024 Preview | 781 (youtube.com)

Support the Site

There are now three opportunities for you to support the

LarryTheGM.com website in 2024.

• Subscribe to Premium or MoneyMaker Content levels on the website. Details here

• https://www.larrythegm.com/post/new-premium-and-moneymaker-content-plans

• PayPal- Direct one time or monthly support

• https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QCD2LQFSNBTJL

• Patreon- become a member and get access to articles before those on the website.

• https://patreon.com/LarryTheGM?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

I give you the full url link, so you know this is not some scam link. It is legit. PLEASE help this site grow.

If you want the content that is planned, PLEASE step up and help the site.  If you don't care, then don't. Now let's get back to it.