New GM Claims Angels Really Do Have ‘Resources’

Bob McCulloughTue, Jul 7, 2026·2 min read

The Los Angeles Angels have a new GM, and John Mozeliak has been making the media rounds and talking about his plans for the team, including how he plans to handle the draft and the trade deadline. Anthony Franco of MLBTradeRumors.com offered a report on some of his comments, including one that stated that “did not believe the Angels needed a complete rebuild,” according to the writer.

“I don’t think in this market you need to do that. I think what you need to do is understand what those arbitrages look like. You need to understand what the future free agent market looks like,” he told The Athletic on Tuesday. “This team has resources. Now it’s just making sure we deploy them correctly.”

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The use of the word “arbitrage” certainly is different, and so is the news that the Angels actually have resources. Mozeliak still hasn’t met owner Arte Moreno, supposedly, but the GM also struck what Franco called a similar tone with Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.

“The one thing you have to realize about the Los Angeles Angels is they do have resources,” he said. “From (owner Arte Moreno) to the market size, this is a place that could be a very, very special place. … There are many franchises in the game of baseball that cannot do that. They have tradeoffs. They have to make a decision: If I’m going to give you $20MM for your infrastructure, that’s $20MM less for your payroll. This place is different.”

Different barely begins to describe how Moreno typically operates when it comes to money. If he gets $20 million from a trade—and Moreno came close in the deal for Grayson Rodriguez in which the Angels sent Taylor Ward’s $13 million salary out the door—it seemingly goes back in his pocket.

The website’s payroll tracker has the Halos being a mid-pack team in that department, but that’s because of bad spending that could include the writeoff after the Angels sent former third baseman Anthony Rendon.

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Mozeliak also indicated that the team may take a different approach to drafting high school players, which the Angeles have been reluctant to do, especially in the first round. “I’m not wedded to a high school player or a college player. I want the best player,” he told Shaikin.

Every team says that, of course, but as Franco noted, the Angels haven’t selected a high schooler in the first round since they took Jordyn Adams in 2018.