Angels Signed Nobody, Despite Mike Trout’s Pleas, And It Already Shows

Opening Day of the 2024 season is here, and for some teams, it's a time of fun, anticipation and excitement. For the Los Angeles Angels and their fans though, it's…well, it's the opposite. 

The Angels were tangentially one of the unwitting stories of the 2023-2024 offseason, as Shohei Ohtani, the game's most prominent superstar, publicly spurned his only organization in favor of their most direct rivals. The Angels, already effectively a two-man team with Ohtani and Mike Trout, suddenly lost the other half of their two-headed monster.

Trout, still one of baseball's best players, when healthy anyway, essentially begged his front office to get him help for the 2024 season and beyond. In a rare move for the generally quiet Trout, he told the media he was "pushing, pushing, pushing" the team to bring in new players. In response, the Angels biggest offseason acquisition was, uh…Aaron Hicks.

And boy did it show in their first game against the Baltimore Orioles. 

Trout launched a first inning home run off starter Corbin Burnes, providing an early highlight.

The Angels didn't have another hit until the 8th inning. Oh, and they gave up 11 straight runs after Trout's homer. Sounds about right.

Mar 28, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout (27) rounds the bases after connecting on a solo home run in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

Angels GM Defends Inaction, Lack Of Spending

The Angels do have Anthony Rendon, who led off the season with a strikeout, perhaps as a result of not particularly caring about the sport he plays professionally. 

READ: Well-Paid MLBer Anthony Rendon Says Baseball Isn't 'Top Priority'

But don't tell the team's General Manager Perry Minasian.

Minasian sat for an interview with The Athletic and defended the team's lack of inaction, saying that while they were discussing trades, they like their roster too much to part with some players.

"I guess I would say the moves we made might not be headliners per se," Minasian explained. "I think some of the moves we made, and some of the players have seen, at least what they’ve communicated, they’re pretty excited about the year. All our players — and that’s what I love about this group — it’s a really competitive group. They want to get better."

When asked if team owner Arte Moreno would ever authorize signing another big name, high dollar free agent, Minasian gave a short, direct, obvious answer: "That would be a question for him."

Trout, when reached by The Athletic didn't hide his disappointment.

"For me, I can say as much as I want to the front office, to Arte," Trout said. "It’s ultimately his decision. I haven’t talked to him since to find out what the situation was. But I’m sure he had a reasoning for it, and felt strongly about it."

The reasoning for it is that Moreno is one of the game's cheapest owners. He renamed his franchise to associate it with Los Angeles despite playing in a different county 30 miles away, in order to justify charging higher advertising rates and get more marketing dollars. In response, he's built an organization that's made the posteason one time during Trout's Hall-of-Fame career. And on Thursday, the group that Minasian said was "excited" about the year, got blown out 11-3.

Patrick Sandoval, Opening Day starter, went just 1.2 innings and allowed five runs. The first three pitchers to enter the game gave up at least three runs each.

Oh, and prized free agent Aaron Hicks went 0-3 with two strikeouts and a walk. Classic Angels.