The Angels have a need at shortstop this offseason, and could look to fill it via the talented free agent market. However, with Trea Turner's huge 11-year, $300 million deal setting the market very high, and the Angels already being one of the long shots to sign one of the other big names, there's a good chance the Angels have to look elsewhere to fill that hole.
There are not a ton of great options in the free agent market outside of the remaining big three of Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson, but that doesn't mean the Angels don't have other places they can look.
Angels insider Jeff Fletcher gave some potential ideas for the Angels to fill that spot next season if some other teams make surprise moves.
"The Angels also could look to deal for an infielder who becomes surplus from one of the teams that signs one of the top shortstops. For example, if the White Sox sign one of them, the Angels might be able to get Tim Anderson from Chicago. If the Padres sign a marquee shortstop, perhaps they would trade Ha-Seong Kim."
However, if the team does make a splash for a top shortstop, Fletcher also gave a good idea of how they could then pivot to upgrade another position of need.
"If the Angels do make the plunge on one of the Big Four shortstops, it would free up Rengifo to be used in a trade to fill one of their other holes. Perhaps Rengifo could be used as part of a package to get closer David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates or closer Gregory Soto from the Detroit Tigers."
There has already been reported interest in a trade for Angels' utility man Luis Rengifo. He finished as a runner-up for both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Awards in 2022, and could fill a huge need for a lot of team's looking for depth.
The Angels have a lot of options at the shortstop position — their job will be to figure out which is the best one.
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