Now that Shohei Ohtani is officially off the market, the Los Angeles Angels have to start building out their starting rotation. The front office understands that they won’t go anywhere next season if they don’t have pitching, so it’s been a priority this offseason.
MLB Insider Jim Bowden of The Athletic is predicting that the Angels land starting pitcher Michael Wacha in free agency.
“Wacha went 14-4 this year with a 3.22 ERA over 134 1/3 innings while allowing just 113 hits and striking out 124 batters. In 2022, he went 11-2 with a 3.32 ERA, so he has been consistently solid the past two years when healthy. The Angels always need pitching and if they sign him and he performs like he did last season, he’ll be a nice trade chip at the deadline, as they try to build up their farm system.”
Wacha was extremely solid for the Padres last season, and he would give the Angels a nice rotation piece. He earned himself a multi-year contract this offseason, so he’d likely be one of their top guys for the next few seasons.
The biggest thing with Wacha is that he always gave San Diego a chance to win the games that he started in.
His veteran presence would help this Angels' rotation out tremendously, and he could serve as somewhat of a mentor for their younger arms.
The Angels could greatly benefit from having someone like Wacha on their starting staff, and he would be relied upon heavily. This is the type of move that this franchise needs to make in order to start getting themselves back into a place of contention.
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