At this early stage, it’s difficult to discover many favorable aspects about Angels pitching. Yusei Kikuchi has started more often in the middle of the rotation and less as an ace. Jose Soriano’s performance has fluctuated greatly. Jack Kochanowicz may have secured the fifth starter place, but how long he’ll hang on to it is an open issue. It appears like Kyle Hendricks has been cooked. In the meanwhile, the faltering rotation has received no help from the bullpen.
Tyler Anderson’s performance may have been overlooked in the swirl of mediocrity. With a 2.68 ERA over 40.1 innings pitched in his first seven starts, the cunning lefty has excelled while most others have faltered.
The 35-year-old’s successful start to 2025 is the most recent step in a late-career flowering. Only twice did Anderson make more than 30 starts, and only once, in his rookie season, did he record an ERA below 4.00. Anderson didn’t make his debut until he was 26 years old, and he failed to take the mound consistently and succeed during his first five seasons.
But since then, Anderson has been selected to the All-Star team twice in the previous three seasons, and it appears like he will be selected again this year. Since last year’s trade deadline, he has been a prominent figure in trade speculations and will be a free agency at the conclusion of the season.
With predictions about potential landing locations beginning to surface just before the season began, rumors have begun to circulate that Anderson would once again be a top trade prospect at this year’s deadline.
The Angels would be wise to trade Tyler Anderson well before the trade deadline
It has been argued that clubs need to begin negotiating earlier in the season, particularly if they are certain of their position as a pretender or contender. Moving Anderson would simply be a wise baseball move, even though in some situations it may entail raising the white flag, as a hypothetical deal including Jorge Soler would suggest.
First of all, unlike Soler, Anderson is unlikely to be re-signed, therefore the Angels will need to trade him to receive anything of worth. However, why not transfer him now instead of in July, when the majority of significant moves are made?
The answer to such question depends on Anderson’s previous past as well as the environment surrounding the league.
Numerous teams with hopes of winning the World Series have suffered serious rotational injuries. With Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell on the disabled list for the foreseeable future, the Crosstown Dodgers have been severely weakened at the top of their rotation.
As their rotation has been held together with duct tape, the New York Yankees have seen players like last year’s AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, and Marcus Stroman miss time due to injury, and until recently, Carlos Carrasco. They also lost their ace Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery during spring training.
The Chicago Cubs will be without Shota Imanaga for some time after losing their star player, Justin Steele, for the season. Despite missing out on important free-agent signees Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas for the whole season, the New York Mets have managed to make it work with players like Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill putting up surprising performances.
All of those teams know that if they want to reach the summit of the mountain by the end of October, winning games in May and June is just as crucial as winning games in August and September. After all, you need an invitation to dance, and those divisions may be very competitive.
Tyler Anderson, meanwhile, may be in for a second-half meltdown based on his recent performance. The veteran pitched to a terrible 5.43 ERA in the latter half of the season after posting a brilliant 2.97 ERA in the first half.
The Angels would benefit from Anderson’s worth and some frantic competitors who could be prepared to overpay if they moved him soon. In the midst of a rotation, Anderson’s consistency would be quite helpful to some of those clubs, even though they may have their sights set on greater prizes by the end of July.
Perry Minasian ought to be on the phone all the time if he’s intelligent, attempting to play these teams off one another in the hopes that one would make a snap choice and overpay. Although the market usually heats up in the middle of summer, Anderson may be facing the fiercest competition for his services right now.
