Angels Pull Off Puzzling Trade

There Angels 2025 bullpen ultimately yielded some pleasant surprises. Kenley Jansen was the anchor the team hadn't had in years. Reid Detmers turned into a bulldog. And much quieter Brock Burke was consistently reliable.

Perhaps a better team defense would have helped a bottom rated Angels pitching staff. Jo Adell was brutal in center field and Jorge Soler really belongs in the batter's box.

In need of more pitching and a center fielder, the Angels today traded reliable reliever Brock Burke as part of a three way deal that landed them corner outfielder Josh Lowe. A move that further weakens a weakness while adding to an already redundant roster. All while likely providing little value on the field.

The trade itself.

Out goes reliever Brock Burke to Cincinatti. Burke is clearly the best player involved in this trade. The lefty reliever appeared in 69 games and put up 1.5 bWAR in 2025.

Cincinnati then flips the fading Gavin Lux to Tampa Bay who sends Josh Lowe to the Angels.

Josh Lowe is a corner outfielder who put up 0.1 bWAR last season and has combined for 0.8 bWAR over the last two years. Yes, that is half the WAR over twice the time. WAR is not a perfect statistic but it can be illuminating.

Last season Lowe's slash line was a weak .220/.283/.366. For his career the line is .250/.306/.414 which is boosted by a really great 2023 season. He's been well below average offensively the last two years and had a DRS of -3.

Really, the Angels could likely expect Matthew Lugo to match Lowe's recent production. 2023 is looking more and more like an outlier for Lowe and the Angels gave up one of their few quality relief arms to acquire him.

The Angels now have 4 corner outfielders and no center fielder.

Mike Trout has not played center field since early 2024 and has had meniscus surgery since then. The team moved him to right field last year in an effort to keep him healthy. Even then, he only played the field in 22 games and was rated as a below average defender.

Jo Adell was a Gold Glove finalist in right field in 2024 but rated near the bottom in all of baseball defensively as a center fielder in 2025. Of the 179 players who played center field last season, Adell's defensive runs saved of -13 was better than only 3. And he did that in 89 games while they each needed 125 or more to be worse.

And then there's Jorge Soler who really should be a DH at this point in his career. How he managed to rack up -5 defensive runs saved in only 315.2 innings is incredible. But not in a good way.

Any way you slice it, this is currently a poorly constructed roster. Perhaps this leads to a trade of Jo Adell to fill another need. But then the Angels will have shipped out 73 home runs. Most likely this means Jo Adell back in center with Lowe, Trout and Soler filling in corners. And Angels pitchers watching balls fall in for hits.