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The Angels are done squandering Mike Trout's prime

Josh Lefkowitz / Getty Images Sport / Getty

In 2014, a few weeks before he was named American League MVP for the first time, Mike Trout floundered in his first-ever trip to the postseason, going just 1-for-12 (.083) - albeit with a solo homer - as his Los Angeles Angels were swept out of the league division series by the Kansas City Royals. Through no fault of his own, Trout hasn't gotten a shot to redeem himself in the three years since.

Excepting that season, the Angels have done a spectacular job squandering the prime years of this generation's best player, with improvident spending and poor drafting and/or player development barring Trout from the postseason despite his consistently exemplary play. Imagine if Paul McCartney went on tour with a backing band comprised entirely of grade-schoolers with flutes up their noses. That's more or less what the Angels have been for the last half-decade.

In 2018, however, things are going to be different. Billy Eppler, who inherited a veritable tire fire when he took over as general manager two winters ago, is making sure of that.

On Friday, following a frenzied (and successful) pursuit of Shohei Ohtani and fruitful winter meetings, Eppler finalized a three-year deal with Zack Cozart, signing the newly minted All-Star to play third base - the last glaringly obvious weakness in his team's 2018 lineup. That Cozart has never played a professional inning at third base was, evidently, irrelevant to Eppler, who had actually first approached Cozart about playing second base earlier this week but had to tweak his sales pitch after acquiring Ian Kinsler on Wednesday.

It's foolish to anoint an offseason champion, and especially so in December, and especially especially so when virtually every marquee free agent - domestic, that is - is still on the board. Still, it's highly doubtful that any general manager will have as outstanding an offseason as Eppler, whose prudent and cost-effective but still impactful tinkering has the Angels poised to vie for at least a wild-card spot in 2018 despite the fact that this was their Opening Day lineup last year:

POS Player WAR OPS
3B Yunel Escobar 0.8 .730
RF Kole Calhoun 2.2 .725
CF Mike Trout 6.9 1.071
DH Albert Pujols -2.0 .672
1B C.J. Cron 0.5 .741
LF Cameron Maybin* 1.2 .683
SS Andrelton Simmons 4.9 .752
2B Danny Espinosa** -1.0 .513
C Martin Maldonado 1.1 .645

*Claimed on waivers by Houston on Aug. 31
**Released on July 20

That team - a star-and-scrubs group that ended up on the periphery of the playoff picture largely because of a career-year from Andrelton Simmons - managed 80 wins, finishing five games back of the second wild-card spot. Even if Trout hadn't spent six weeks on the disabled list, they still, in all likelihood, miss the postseason. This team, you see, was bad.

Fast-forward eight months and, well, the Angels are decidedly not bad. They're barely even the same team.

POS Player Projected WAR (Steamer)
2B Ian Kinsler 2.5
CF Mike Trout 8.7
LF Justin Upton 2.1
DH Shohei Ohtani -
1B Albert Pujols -0.1
RF Kole Calhoun 2.6
SS Andrelton Simmons 3.6
3B Zack Cozart 2.8
C Martin Maldonado 1.4

This is the kind of offseason overhaul that will have people calling Eppler "William" instead of "Billy." The Angels' revamped lineup, before factoring in Ohtani's offensive contributions, projects for nine more marginal wins than last year's Opening Day nine collectively accrued. Essentially, with the moves he's made over the past few months, Billy Eppler has added, in the aggregate, another Mike Trout - and that's if Ohtani is a non-factor, offensively. (Obviously, that's a crude calculation, so let's take it to Fangraphs.)

Fangraphs' 2018 projections

Team W L W% RDif
Astros 98 64 .603 170
Indians 93 69 .574 118
Yankees 91 71 .562 102
Red Sox 91 71 .560 97
Angels 85 77 .527 44
Blue Jays 82 80 .509 15
Rays 82 80 .506 9
Twins 82 80 .504 7
Mariners 82 80 .504 6

Clearly, the gulf between the Angels and the league's elite is still significant - and they have virtually no shot of winning their division in 2018 - but they've already put considerable distance between themselves and the true middle class of the AL, and, again, it's not even Christmas yet. Eppler still has lots of time to improve his rotation, and with Josh Hamilton's cumbersome contact finally off the books, he has plenty of financial wiggle room left, too - their projected payroll, even after all the recent additions, is still about $45 million shy of the $197-million luxury-tax threshold.

Even if the Angels don't make the postseason this year, it's encouraging to see the club headed in the right direction, helmed by a general manager who's both motivated to make the playoffs in 2018 and astute enough not to compromise a potentially very bright future to make that happen. The only people who can reasonably quibble with any of the moves Eppler has made this winter are his fellow American League general managers.

Even if his wonky elbow does end up blowing at some point, Ohtani - having signed for the low, low cost of $22.3 million - is still going to provide boatloads of surplus value for the Angels over the next six years. Sure, Kinsler is old and coming off his worst season in a decade, but the Angels gave up virtually nothing to get him, and he's only under contract for one more season. Cozart, again, has never played third base, and has only once in his career sustained above-average offensive performance over the course of a full season, but he's a huge steal even if he's half as good as he was in 2017 (and his deal could look especially shrewd when you see what Mike Moustakas gets).

It's kind of hard to believe, but the Angels finally have cause to be optimistic. Seeing as they've had the best player on the planet in their employ since 2012, it's about damn time.

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