Colorado Rockies: Are the Los Angeles Angels a trade fit for Trevor Story?

Recently, betting odds were released on possible teams that Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story could be traded to this offseason and the Los Angeles Angels were at the top of the list.

The Colorado Rockies may be entertaining trade offers this offseason for shortstop Trevor Story since he only has one year of team control left before he is slated to become a free agent next offseason.

Story, who turns 28 today, along with Francisco Lindor and Kris Bryant, could be traded this offseason and as a result, betting odds have been placed on where Story (and the others) could be traded to. We discussed that in this article on Saturday.

At the top of the list is the Los Angeles Angels. For the Angels, they are a team that Story would definitely fit on. Andrelton Simmons, their everyday shortstop, is a free agent this offseason so they have an obvious need. Simmons is a phenomenal defender but he is league average or worse at the plate so Story would be an obvious upgrade for them, even if just for a season. They also have a brand new GM, Perry Minasian, that will likely want to make some moves to put himself on the map.

The Angels would likely have enough money to secure Story long-term, in theory, but they have a humongous problem that Story wouldn’t fix: they have no pitching. And I mean, no pitching. They haven’t had a healthy starting pitcher that is consistent year-in and year-out since Jered Weaver and he last pitched well for them in 2014, which is the last time the Angels made the playoffs.

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For the Rockies, they also would have a problem on the prospect front. None of the Angels top five prospects have played above A-ball. They do, however, have outfielder Jo Adell, who was MLB.com’s #6 overall prospect before losing his rookie status after making his debut in 2020. He had a big learning curve in the majors, though, as he had an fWAR of -1.3.

Since the Angels would only be getting one guaranteed year with Story, they likely wouldn’t want to part with Adell in a one-for-one swap. The Rockies would also likely want more than just Adell quantity-wise. In other words, both teams would likely have to part with more quantity to have either player in the deal.

Frankly, the Rockies probably wouldn’t be interested in much of their MLB or MLB-ready talent due to what they have already. The Rockies could be interested in infielder David Fletcher, who is young and versatile, but the Rockies already have a lot of young, versatile, infielders that don’t hit for much power (Fletcher is a career .292 hitter but his career slugging percentage is less than .400).

Perhaps, Story could be the centerpiece of a deal along with some other pieces (probably pitching) and then they could get Adell and/or others in return but the Angels probably shouldn’t be at the top of the list of teams that could be getting Story this offseason.