The Los Angeles Angels were the busiest team this season. What is their plan for 2025?

If the early bird gets the worm, the Los Angeles Angels will have to open a bait shop.

So far this offseason, 12 free agents have signed MLB deals. Here they are:

Of the seven players who have found new teams, four are now looking for housing in Orange County, California. That’s because no baseball team has been more active this winter than the Los Angeles Angels, who are living in the basement, losing 99 games and having the longest playoff drought in the MLB.

On Monday, they landed the biggest free agency fish yet: left-handed starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi. The Japanese 33-year-old had a tough first half in Toronto in 2024 but shined after a deadline deal sent him to Houston. He has struggled to find consistent success throughout his six-year MLB career, but has shown the upside of being a true starter on the front line, something the Angels desperately need.

The Halos, who have not reached the postseason since an ALDS loss in 2014, are coming off their first season in the post-Shohei-Ohtani era. Unsurprisingly, things didn’t go well; their 99 losses represented the worst season in franchise history.

Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, the club’s two highest-paid players, were once again hampered by injuries. The fallen stars lined up alongside each other in the starting lineup just 19 times in 2024, despite making up 43% of the team’s $176 million payroll. Since the Angels signed Rendon prior to the 2020 season, he and Trout have started just 23% of the team’s games together.

Besides that injured duo, the 2024 Angels lacked depth, impact and direction. In late September, first-year manager Ron Washington told the LA Times that the team “forgot to bring real baseball players into the organization. Nothing against those guys here, but they’re not major league baseball players, and they certainly can’t help us win a championship.” He later walked back the comments, but the message was clear: the Angels were nowhere close to contention.

Why was the team active so early this winter? Why did GM Perry Minasian add $32 million to next season’s payroll before Thanksgiving? What exactly are the angels doing here?

The answer starts at the top, with owner Artie Moreno. The much-maligned business magnate, who has owned the club since 2003, has always shown a willingness to invest in the top division’s payroll. Under Moreno’s leadership, however, the Angels have developed a reputation for being stingy elsewhere in the organization, especially when it comes to player development.

Moreno, who turns 79 next year, has never been interested in a traditional, destructive reconstruction. Perhaps he deserves some credit for that. However, league insiders universally view the Angels as a shaky operation, one without a plan or destination, focused too much on the present and not enough on the future. The team’s recent track record of fast-paced top draft picks and rising up the minor league ladder at breakneck speed only reinforces this belief.

So when Moreno decided to extend Minasian, whose contract expired after the 2024 season, through 2026, the mandate was clear: keep the big league team competitive.

This questionable directive appears to be the primary reason behind the Angels’ recent flurry of signings. In just a few weeks, Minasian has signed a likely Opening Day starter (Kikuchi), a respected backup catcher with an underrated bat (d’Arnaud), a utility infielder who was secretly solid last year (Newman) and an experienced pitcher . who can make innings (Hendricks).

And there are reasons for optimism, even amid the catastrophe of 2024. A solid young core is forming around short stop Zach Neto and catcher Logan O’Hoppe. Flame-throwing reliever Ben Joyce reached 107 mph during an electrifying run in August. The Angeles’ top pick from the most recent draft, second baseman Christian Moore, set the minor leagues on fire last summer. There are a handful of encouraging starting pitching prospects in the upper minors.

Someone employed by the Angels might squint, pray and daydream about a relatively competitive roster in 2025. Minasian, Moreno and their new signings will surely point to the 2024 Royals, who, after a very aggressive offseason, improved by 30 games and sneak in the play-offs. And besides, it’s hard to criticize a team that ‘goes for it’. A few new additions to the coaching staff could improve the culture. The American League West looks weaker than it has in years; Even if the Angels are unlikely to capture the division crown, they will enjoy those extra wins against less formidable opponents.

Still, the consensus around baseball remains that the Angels will not be competitive next season. The selection is too superficial and too dependent on the health of two dilapidated cornerstones. The front office has not shown the ability to suck value from the hidden corners of the sport. Besides the Angels, only the Rays and White Sox finished awards season without a single player receiving a vote for Cy Young or MVP.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the 2025 Angels break their schneid and reach the promised land of the playoffs. Yet the Halos will continue to push into the darkness, armed with a handful of new players and the power of irrational self-confidence, hoping that there is a light out there somewhere.

Thank goodness.