The Angels have been hesitant to trade away their star players in recent years, but there’s a suggestion that they might be sitting on a potential goldmine.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, if the Angels choose to trade left-hander Reid Detmers before the Aug. 3 deadline, they could stand to gain an even more lucrative return than what the Tigers received for ace Tarik Skubal.
“If the Angels change their minds and trade Detmers, the Tigers could ask for a larger package than what was given for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal,” Nightengale suggested. “Detmers has two additional years of control compared to Skubal, plus he costs only $2.7 million.”
This is quite a statement given that Skubal is well-regarded in baseball, having won the American League Cy Young Award twice. Still, Detmers offers several attractive traits for front offices—he’s young, affordable, has team control, and his performance has shown significant improvement.
At 26, Detmers has established himself as one of the more effective starters in the AL this season. As of this week, he had a 3.68 ERA, 100 strikeouts, and a 1.00 WHIP. Opponents are hitting just .207 against him, and advanced metrics indicate he might actually be performing better than those traditional stats suggest.
His recent outings have been nothing short of impressive. Nightengale highlighted that in Detmers’ last three games, he pitched 20 innings with a remarkable 0.45 ERA, giving up just one earned run while striking out 18 batters.
Data from MLB.com reinforces this, showing that Detmers had an expected ERA of 2.77, placing him among elite pitchers like Paul Skeens and Shohei Ohtani.
Although there’s been speculation about his future, it appears the Angels are likely to keep Detmers. Coach Nightengale reported that owner Arte Moreno doesn’t seem keen on trading away young talent, and Detmers is expected to stay with the team through 2028.
Nevertheless, with the Angels struggling near the bottom of the AL standings and another losing season on the horizon, there’s mounting pressure for change, which means rival executives will be closely monitoring the situation.
If the Angels do decide to pivot, Nightengale believes the competition for Detmers could rival or even surpass the interest in Skubal.
For now, it seems like the Angels are set on enduring the season. However, with his blend of strong performance, valuable contract, and years of control, Detmers could well be one of baseball’s most valuable commodities, whether the organization is ready to acknowledge it or not.
