The Angels Stink Because The Front Office Ignored the Obvious

The Los Angeles Angels have opened this year as disappointing owners of one of the worst records in baseball. The team is 8-18 through the first month of the season and are already 10 games back of the first-place Oakland A's.

This was not supposed to be the case as they were heralded as one of the offseason winners. Following the first 90-loss season in over two decades the front office made a slew of moves:

Wait, what was that last line again?

Yes. The Angels greatest need coming into the offseason was quality arms. As a collective, the Angels arms in 2019 finished with a 5.12 ERA, good (bad?) enough for 12th in the AL. It gave up the 14th most homeruns in the AL and the 10th most walks. None of those are good things.

The team flirted with several front line starters and ended up with none of them. Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg and Zack Wheeler all were wooed by the team.

Instead the Angels added Dylan Bundy -- who is having a solid enough start to the year that he may be traded -- Julio Teheran and Matt Andriese. That is all. The results follow suit.

Bundy is 3-2 with a 2.48 ERA, 181 ERA+, and a 38:7 strikeout to walk ratio.

Teheran and Andriese are not as impressive.

Teheran is 0-2 with a 10.38 ERA.
Andriese, 0-1 and a 7.47 ERA.

Collectively the group is still in the 12-spot in the league with a 5.27 ERA. It is 10th in homeruns allowed and 11th in walks.

The Angels are wasting Mike Trout. One of the best players in the history of the sport has been to the postseason once, in 2014.

It is a shame because it was clear what the team needed to do. It just didn't.