Arte Moreno once said the number one thing Angels fans want is affordability, and that winning isn’t even in their top five. He said that out loud. With his mouth.
The Angels are 32-47.
Per Bob Nightengale at USA Today, Moreno has directed GM Perry Minasian to hold onto Reid Detmers, Jose Soriano, and Jo Adell at the August 3 deadline. No trades. Keep the core intact. Act like this is a team worth keeping intact.
The #Angels are not planning to move their key players at the trade deadline this year, as owner Arte Moreno does not want the team to trade Reid Detmers, Jose Soriano, or Jo Adell, per @BNightengale pic.twitter.com/0CcRqzrHVA
— MLB Deadline News (@MLBDeadlineNews) June 21, 2026
You want to know how we got here? Last August, Minasian stood at the deadline with a 53-56 club, a -66 run differential, and a choice. He chose to keep the group together, saying at the time: “We’re obviously really competitive. I wanted to keep this group together.” That team finished with yet another losing record. Now it’s 2026, they’re six games worse through the same stretch, and the front office apparently learned absolutely nothing.
Reid Detmers is currently one of the most valuable trade chips in all of baseball. His ERA is 3.68, but the underlying numbers at Fangraphs tell the real story: 2.91 FIP, 2.92 xERA, 2.2 WAR that ranks tied-fifth among all qualified starters. He’s struck out 100 batters in 88 innings. Over his last five starts he posted a 1.36 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 35 innings. He makes $2.625 million and is under team control through 2028. The Braves want him. The Brewers want him. The Guardians want him. MLB insiders have said every GM in baseball would trade for him right now.
The Angels are going to keep him on a 32-47 team with a 28th-ranked farm system.
The farm is the part that should end the debate entirely. They have one Top 100 prospect. One. The rebuild clock isn’t just running — it’s already years behind. Trading Detmers right now, at peak value, to a contender that needs him, could return the kind of package that actually moves the needle. Insiders who covered the Tarik Skubal trade say Detmers’ package could exceed it given the controllability and salary.
Instead, Arte wants to hold onto him. To compete. With this team.
We have seen this movie. In 2023, Tampa Bay offered Junior Caminero and Carson Williams for half a season of Shohei Ohtani — two premium prospects for a rental. The Angels passed. Caminero is leading All-Star voting this year. Williams is a blue-chip shortstop. Ohtani signed a $700 million deal with the Dodgers, and the Angels received a draft pick. A draft pick. For Shohei Ohtani. That is what “keeping the core together” costs you when the owner is the one making the calls.
Moreno’s answer to that disaster was “unfinished business” — his actual words when he pulled the team off the sale market in January 2023. The unfinished business was apparently two more losing seasons and a 63-99 record in 2024 that was a franchise low.
Detmers deserves better than this. More urgently, Angels fans do. The stadium protests are happening. The “sell the team” chants are on the broadcast. A hundred people showed up outside Angel Stadium in May just to say out loud what everyone watching already knows.
Arte, you blocked the Caminero deal. You got nothing for Ohtani. You called that “unfinished business” and came back for more of the same. If you block the Detmers trade now, at least own what you’re doing: choosing your own comfort over a real rebuild, for the eleventh consecutive year.
Mike Trout is on the IL. The farm is barren. The record is 32-47. There is no argument for holding Detmers that isn’t just an excuse for standing still.
