The Angels acquired a pair of veteran relief pitchers from the Washington Nationals, and a former major league general manager questioned the deal.
Veteran right-hander Luis Garcia and left-hander Andrew Chafin will go from the Washington Nationals to Anaheim in exchange for two minor leaguers.
The trade is now official: LHP Andrew Chafin and RHP Luis Garcia to the Angels for LHP Jake Eder and 1B Sam Brown. RHP Zach Brzykcy recalled from Triple-A. Nats will play 1 man down today here in Houston.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) July 30, 2025
It was a somewhat curious move for a team that has plenty of work to do before they’re in position to think about the postseason.
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Five teams — the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals — separate the Angels from the final American League Wild Card berth.
Former Boston Red Sox and New York Mets executive Zack Scott panned the move.
“Make it stop,” Scott wrote on Twitter/X. “There have been so many blown opportunities to build a farm system over the last several years, while still being bad at the big league level. What are we doing?!”
Make it stop. There have been so many blown opportunities to build a farm system over the last several years, while still being bad at the big league level. What are we doing?! https://t.co/IcoMtr8DwF
— Zack Scott (@ZackScottSports) July 30, 2025
The Angels still have time to make major league deals before the MLB trade deadline Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. But if the trade for Garcia and Chafin is any indication of their postseason aspirations, it isn’t the first time the Angels have loaded up on big league talent despite slim odds.
Through Tuesday’s games, the Angels had a 5.3 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs.
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In 2023, Angels general manager Perry Minasian swung trades for C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk, Eduardo Escobar, Mike Moustakas, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dominic Leone.
Whatever chance they made of reaching the postseason on July 31, when they were five games over .500, were wiped out by losing seven consecutive games to begin the month of August.
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Not only did the Angels not capitalize on the trade value of star Shohei Ohtani in his final season in Anaheim, they couldn’t capitalize on the talents of the veterans they did acquire.
Many were released in an effort to save money. The prospects they traded away — including Edgar Quero, now the starting catcher for the White Sox at age 22 — have gone on to climb the ranks with their new organizations.
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It’s questionable whether pitcher Jake Eder (whom the Angels acquired in a cash trade in March) or first baseman Sam Brown (who wasn’t on the team’s Top-30 prospect list) will make an impact in the majors with the Nationals.
But Scott, the Mets’ general manager from January to September 2021, is hardly the first to criticize the Angels’ team-building strategy.
The Angels’ postseason drought is the longest in baseball. Their next playoff appearance will be their first since 2014, their next postseason win will be their first since 2009.
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