AngelsWin Today: My 2024 Predictions

[AngelsWin.com]

By @CartiHalos, AngelsWin.com Columnist

With pitchers and catchers having reported, I like to think of the 2024 season as officially underway. While the angels won't play a game for another 9 days, the wheels of baseball are finally churning and as such, I'd like to give my predictions for the Angels and their players. While I'm not the most optimistic person in the world for this specific season, I think it's another season of Angels baseball and I'll never be too mad at getting to watch my Halos.

Starting with team predictions...

Record: 75-87, 4th in AL West

As much as I wanted to put us as a sneaky 80-85 win team, it's not realistic for a team that only won 73 games last year and lost the MVP.  While there's plenty of reason's to assume we'll be better than last year - primarily the ridiculously bad injury luck in 2023, the return of Trout/Rendon, and the further development of the young core of O'Hoppe/Schanuel/Neto/Moniak. Add on top of all of that Ron Washington taking the helm and I could see us propelled into the 80 win area. However, I think that an already faltering rotation that lost it's ace and an offense that would have to make a big jump to be elite makes it hard to project us in that range.

Miguel Sano Cracks the Opening Day Roster: For a while I thought we'd pick up Urshela or another infielder that could cover first if Schanuel has some growing pains. While still possible, I think we end up rolling with what we have and the slugger has an impressive spring, leading to a Opening Day Roster spot and *maybe* even an opening day start at DH. 

We Enter 2025 MUCH more confident: While this isn't exactly a hot take, this prediction is mostly that we have multiple major breakouts (you'll see who I think does in the next section), and the moves we made this offseason are supplemented well by moves next offseason that make our roster far more complete and make the Angels a competitive team next year. 

Now onto individual player predictions, with a few stipulations  

- I'm gonna be *mostly* optimistic, it's more fun that way.

- I'm predicting for the 26 players on the Opening Day Roster, projected by me.

- There's a good chance that a team that performed to my predictions would win more than 75 games, but I'm trying to predict each player, optimistically, in a vacuum. 

- No Injuries. Don't want to speak anything into existence.

 

Catchers:

C Logan O'Hoppe - .245 AVG, 31 HR, 74 RBI, 122 wRC+, 2.4 fWar

O'Hoppe puts his name out there in a big way with a 30 homer season and improves defensively, but his plate discipline and framing are still areas for improvement.

C Matt Thaiss - .220 AVG, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 93 wRC+, 0.1 fWAR

Thaiss gets less time to shine than hid did last year, but performs about the same in limited opportunity.

 

Infielders:

1B Nolan Schanuel - .278 AVG, 16 HR, 55 RBI, 130 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR

Schanuel's elite eye shines and his power comes through as he proves why he got called up so quickly.

1B Miguel Sano - .208 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 101 wRC+, 0.0 fWAR

Sano shows off his pop in limited time, but is ultimately a non factor. 

1B/2B/3B Brandon Drury - .258 AVG, 25 HR, 89 RBI, 110 wRC+, 2.4 fWAR

Drury builds on his impressive 2022 and 2023 and maybe even gets moved to a contender at the deadline.

SS Zach Neto - .250 AVG, 20 HR, 58 RBI, 105 wRC+ 2.7 fWAR

Neto makes a big jump from last year, and poises himself for a monster age-24 breakout 2025.

3B Anthony Rendon - .252 AVG, 17 HR, 74 RBI, 115 wRC+, 2.9 fWAR

This may come as a shock, but truthfully the last time Rendon was healthy and not absolutely outstanding was 2015. Assuming he isn't missing time, he could still very well put in some work for us.

2B/SS/3B Luis Rengifo - .243 AVG, 16 HR, 55 RBI, 98 wRC+, 1.4 fWAR

Rengifo's struggles against righties catches up to him, but he still provides value defensively through his versatility.

 

Outfielders:

LF Taylor Ward - .271 AVG, 19 HR, 68 RBI, 120 wRC+, 3.0 fWAR

I'm predicting a huge return to form for Ward, after an outstanding 2022 and a 2023 that was solid before being cut short by an Alek Manoah fastball, I think he bounces back big in an offense that needs him to badly.

CF Mike Trout - .268 AVG, 38 HR, 103 RBI, 157 wRC+, 5.5 fWAR

Mike Trout reminds everyone who he is and why he's the superstar in Anaheim with a monster season, aided partially by the DH position being opened up for him to rest and avoid injury.

RF Mickey Moniak - .262 AVG, 18 HR, 59 RBI, 106 wRC+ 1.3 fWAR

Mickey comes down to earth compared to his electric 2023 first half, but superb defense and good hard hit stats make for another solid season.

OF Aaron Hicks - .270 AVG, 6 HR, 30 RBI, 103 wRC+, 0.3 fWAR

Hicks offensive stats are boosted because he'll get a lot of chances against lefties, but he still doesn't get enough opportunity to make a major impact. 

OF Jo Adell - .225 AVG, 12 HR, 34 RBI, 94 wRC+, 0.2 fWAR

Adell gets some big hits, but his plate discipline struggles and inconsistency still bleed through.

 

Starting Pitchers:

LHP Reid Detmers - 167 IP, 116 ERA+, 181 K, 3.78 FIP, 3.5 fWAR

Detmers shines in a 5 man rotation, cuts back on mistake pitches en route to a career year.

RHP Griffin Canning - 145.2 IP, 103 ERA+, 166 K, 4.24 FIP, 2.0 fWAR

Canning nearly replicates his 2023 but at a higher volume.

LHP Patrick Sandoval - 135 IP, 108 ERA+, 141 K, 3.92 FIP, 2.7 fWAR

Sandy struggles a bit with his emotions on the mound, but a nice return to the solid #2/3 form we've seen in years past.

LHP Tyler Anderson - 111 IP, 96 ERA+, 124 K, 4.60 FIP, 1.3 fWAR

Anderson's struggles continue, but he still comes close to a league average season.

RHP Chase Silseth - 155 IP, 127 ERA+, 166 K, 3.75 FIP, 4.4 fWAR

Silseth is my top Angels breakout this year, proving he has real ability to not only be a starter, but a great one at that. 

 

Bullpen:

Carlos Estevez - 4.20 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 26 Saves.

Robert Stephenson - 2.13 ERA, 1.93 FIP, 10 Saves.

Matt Moore - 2.99 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 2 Saves

Jose Soriano - 3.23 ERA, 3.46 FIP

Luis Garcia - 4.66 ERA, 4.74 FIP

Adam Cimber - 3.63 ERA, 3.80 FIP

Jose Cisnero - 4.44 ERA, 4.23 FIP

Jose Suarez - 3.79 ERA, 4.21 FIP

The bullpen gets a review as a whole, should be the most improved position group, with the new additions pulling their weight and the returners (for the most part) improving. Could see Estevez, Moore, Garcia, Cimber, and Suarez all getting looks from contenders at the deadline.

To be completely honest, while this is probably the least optimistic I've been at the start of a season in a while, I like this teams core and I can't wait to watch the new additions get to work. Can't wait for another season of Angels baseball! Go Halos!

[Chuck]

Good stuff, @CartiHalos. 

I've been around baseball long enough to know that anything can happen in this great game. I'm pretty sure the Orioles and D-Backs going into last season were projected to win around 75-82 games, and alas, but of them were playoff teams. 

[CartiHalos]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Good stuff, @CartiHalos. 

I've been around baseball long enough to know that anything can happen in this great game. I'm pretty sure the Orioles and D-Backs going into last season were projected to win around 75-82 games, and alas, but of them were playoff teams. 

For sure, there's a lot of unrealized talent on this roster so with a couple big jumps we could be right in the thick of things.