The Chicago White Sox are looking at all of the teams in the American League and trying to figure out who to worry about. The LA Angels could be one.
The Chicago White Sox observed as there was a pretty big shift in Major League Baseball on Tuesday night. It came out that a big blockbuster three-team trade was made between the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Minnesota Twins. Two prospects went to the Red Sox, Kenta Maeda went to the Twins, and David Price and Mookie Betts went to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a big day in the MLB offseason for all parties involved.
In order to make this trade work for the Dodgers, they made a semi-big separate deal that was definitely overshadowed by the fact that they acquired Mookie Betts from the Red Sox. They sent Joc Pederson to the Los Angeles Angels in a little crosstown trade. The Dodgers and Angels both got better. Does the question now become how good can this Angels team be?
They certainly can be very good. They have the best player on planet earth in Mike Trout accompanied by some other really good players like Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani. They play in the same division as the Houston Astros who just won the American League, along with the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers who were either good last year or made upgrades to their team this year. It is a pretty competitive division which could be a problem for the White Sox.
Obviously, the goal for the Sox is to win the American League Central. But, if the Minnesota Twins win it there will still be two chances at a Wild Card berth. The Red Sox weakened themselves this offseason but the Angels got better. They could be a team that White Sox fans find rooting against by the time September rolls around. They could also just be average again which would be good for the White Sox. The good news for the White Sox is that their fans are taking note of the other teams in the league because that means there are expectations.