Angels made 'worst trade' of MLB deadline in deal with Rangers

The Los Angeles Angels were unexpected sellers, not in the sense that they traded players at the deadline, but that they shipped out a lot of players with years of control left on their deals.

Jose Soriano, Ryan Zeferjahn, and Jo Adell were all under club control beyond 2026. But the Angels traded them. The returns for those players were fairly strong, but their first big move before the deadline was not well-received.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic, a former MLB GM, blasted the Angels for what he called the "Worst trade" of the deadline. This now infamous deal was the Logan O'Hoppe and Chase Silseth deal with the Texas Rangers.

Angels trade of Logan O'Hoppe called 'worst' of MLB deadline

"Worst trade... Los Angeles Angels trade RHP Chase Silseth and C Logan O'Hoppe to the Texas Rangers for INF Angel Arredondo," Bowden writes. "Most organizations evaluated Arredondo as either a fringe prospect or an org player. The Angels should have been able to get a better return for Silseth and O'Hoppe."

Bowden was not a fan of this trade, not in the sense that the Angels actually traded Silseth and O'Hoppe, but the incredibly lackluster return they got for the duo.

Silseth alone should've netted the Angels a fairly decent prospect in return as a 26-year-old reliever who is under club control through 2030 and had a 2.72 ERA in 47 games with the Angels before this trade.

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It was unexpected that the Angels got so little for him and O'Hoppe, and that is why Bowden called this deal the "worst trade" of the 2026 MLB trade deadline.

While the Detroit Tigers were critiqued for their trade return in the Tarik Skubal deal, and the Baltimore Orioles received some criticism for their Taylor Ward and Adley Rutschman trades, this Angels deal was arguably the worst of the bunch.

They gave up two fairly young, controllable players who surely could've gone for more. Maybe the Angels see something in Arredondo that others do not, as otherwise, this deal might turn into a major mistake, especially with an AL West rival.

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