SURPRISE: Angels Listed as Kazuma Okamoto’s TOP Choice | Can They SIGN the Japanese Star?

SURPRISE: Angels Listed as Kazuma Okamoto’s TOP Choice | Can They SIGN the Japanese Star?

The Angels are linked to a player from Japan not named Miraami and the rumor is he actually wants to sign with the Halos. You are Locked on Angels, your daily Los Angeles Angels podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Thanks for making Locked on Angels your first listen of the day. part of the Locked On podcast network where it’s your team every day and now the number one sports podcast network in all the land. Now, Kazuma Okamoto is linked to the Halos. So, who is this guy and will he work in Anaheim? We’re going to discuss that today. Plus, the Bleacher Report released their predictions on where free agents will sign. So, who’ they connect to the Angels? And of the bigname free agents, they did link some of them to the Angels. and we’re going to ask the question, are they actually going to sign with the Halos? Before we talk our about our favorite team, we want to thank our sponsor, Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use our promo code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Thanks for being here for this episode of Lockdown Angels, where it’s your team every day. You’ve got the first brothers here with you, aka the Super Halo Bros. My name is John, and that’s my brother Mike. And my name is Mike, and that’s my brother John. Hey, we’ve been discussing Angels baseball here on Locked on Angels with you for the last four years. We’re entering into an exciting off season hopefully. Hopefully, but no matter what happens with the Angels, it’s our intention for you to leave here a a smarter and more informed baseball fan and fan of the Angels. Mike, there’s been a lot of discussion about Cosma Okamoto. Now, I believe it’s Cosma. I want to make sure I get that right. Now, if there’s anything I know from watching AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, it’s that sometimes that U in the second syllable is is silent. So, I believe it’s Cosma, you know, they don’t come to WWE and have their names changed, uh, you know, to Bill Stevenson or whatever. They they get to keep their names in AW because AW is superior to WWE. I’m just going to throw that out there. I know you’re I know you’re a big fan. That’s great. Uh, I’m notorious about mispronouncing names, so I’m I’m I’m willing to be corrected here if I do mess this up. But 29-year-old Cosma Okamoto is eligible to sign with any team this off season. And there have been some rumors, John, that they’re linking him and the Angels together. Now, Taylor Blake Ward said on his podcast that this was a reality. And then there was another mention on the Angels win podcast and the rumor is that the Angels are Okamoto’s first choice and he’s advised his represent representation to try to make that happen. We’ve also heard that he won’t be posted until the beginning of December or maybe a week or so before the annual meeting. So, no signing in the next couple of weeks. And this one is kind of interesting. He has Scott Boris as his agent. Now, question to you, John. Scott Boris is notorious for linking the Angels to everybody, right? And using it as leverage to maybe drive up the price. So, do you think that maybe this is the case here or is there more going on? I was excited about this until you said Scott Boris will be his agent. And now now my the the air in my tires is gone. No, I I I think it’s fine. Here’s the thing, though. You’re right. Scott Boris loves to play his free agents uh that he represents off of other teams. So, he might be telling the Tigers, you know, Okamoto would be a great fit for you guys. However, the Angels are really interested. And then he’s saying to the Angels, you know, he’d be a great fit for you guys, but the Tigers are really interested. The funny thing is is like the last time the Angels signed a big free agent was Anthony Rendone. Yeah. for a lot of money. And speaking of third baseman, right? Um at least at least uh Okamoto, you know, the rumors are more exciting that he’s going to be here versus where’s Randone? Where is he? Is he still do you have a hip replacement yet? What’s going on there? But that’s the thing. It’s like Boris, you’re still doing you’re still doing this because you know because we haven’t signed anybody big in a very long time. So I I I understand that that is always a factor. But Mike, let me tell you why I think it’s exciting for Cosmo Okamoto to potentially join the Angels. Last year, he slashed 322, a 411 on base percentage, a 581 uh uh slugging percentage. That’s a 992 OPS, 15 home runs in 77 games in 2025. 277 home runs across 11 seasons in NPB. Now, in 2025, this is key, he played 52 games at third base, 27 games at first base, and 15 games in left field back in 2024. Now, there is a scouting report from the Athletic on Okamoto. And here’s what they had to say. They said, first, he may end up being a safer pick in terms of immediate results than Murakami. Okamoto is a powerhitting corner type. He homered up Kyle Freeland to help Japan beat Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Now, unlike Murakami, Okamoto has better bat-to ball skills, he’s improved his performance against velocity, an 84% contact rate against 94 mph pitches and above. In 2025 per fan graphs, he has a better chance to stick at third base even if first base could still be his ultimate home. So, that’s the scouting report from the Athletic. That’s encouraging to me, Mike. Especially that VO of 94 and above because yeah, there’s not a lot of guys who are doing what like Ben Joyce does over here in America versus uh in Japan. So, for him to be able to hit high VO is going to be really key for him to have success over here in the States. Another scout said that he’s going to have an easier path uh to the major leagues because he’s got simpler mechanics and he puts the ball in play more. It’s more of a basic swing and it’s more of a major league ready type of swing. Now, multiple evaluators have said that his swing is kind of in between Miraami’s power approach and Yoshida’s contact style. And so, that’s kind of where he fits. He slots in right in between those guys. Another scout for National League team said that he has power, but he’s more of a pure hitter compared to Mirakami. He has a chance to have a higher batting average than Mirakami does. But Mirakami, if he stays healthy and so does Okamoto, they believe that Makami will have more home runs. But what the Angels don’t need is more home runs. What they need is more contact and a better batting average. Yeah, they need on base percentage. They need contact. They need batting average. They need somebody to put the ball in play. Now, this article finishes by saying Okamoto is already approaching the tail end of his prime. something that’s going to result in him getting a much smaller deal than Murakami. But there is still reason to believe he could become a solid everyday player with some club officials pointing to a two or three-year window where he’s quite productive. ESPN’s Kylie McDaniel projects Okamoto to get a three-year $36 million MLB contract. Mike, that’s Tyler Anderson money right there. That’s that’s how much Tyler Anderson costs for an everyday guy over at third base. That sounds like a good fit, but are the Angels going to make this work? What do you think? I mean, that money and those years sound exactly what the Angels want and what they’re what they’re searching for. Not long-term deals, not a whole lot of money, trying to stay within a certain type of budget playing in Arty’s, you know, playground, his his sand sandbox, right? And because they’re the Fiscal Angels, a $12 million guy added to this payroll, and he’s going to be at third base. and he could play first base if Nolan Showell takes a day off, right? And he could play the outfield. He could be a roaming guy. Th this feels like a perfect fit for the Angels. Yeah. And so we just hope that they don’t mess this up, right? And especially if he is interested in coming to Anaheim. Other reports say he’s he’s really fallen in love with the Angels because of Otani and when Otani was here and he would love to be here and build upon that and do well. And so having a new third baseman who’s going to play every day who is quite productive, John, I don’t care if he’s 29. You sign him for three years, you get him in some of his prime years, right? 29, 30, 31, 32, like you’re getting him in those years. I think a three-year deal would be great. I would even throw a fourth year at him because he’s somebody who can be flexible and move around the infield for you. And I I like I like what I’m seeing here. Am I am I drinking too much hopeium and thinking that the Angels are actually going to go and get this guy? That’s the hard part, right? And that’s the discussion we circle every single off seasonason is, you know, who’s who’s going to want to be here? Um who who would want to sign with the Angels given how bad they’ve been, given the circumstances of the club. Look, it it really comes down to and I know that everybody believes that Garrett Cole was the biggest Yankee fan and that’s why he signed there. It comes down to money, comes down to where you want to live, and it comes down to lifestyle. And if he wants to live in at the beach and, you know, live in sunny Southern California and do all that, more power to him, right? I think the big thing here is, you know, we heard it first on the Angels Win Pod. Of course, those are our friends over there, Jeff and Chuck. And um then we heard it from Taylor Blake Ward on the Wings on Catella podcast. So, it was like doubling down on it and it was like, okay, there’s something to this. There’s some wheels to this. So, that’s what was really exciting to hear. But again, Mike, it just kind of makes you wonder, is this a Boris play? Is is he, you know, kind of setting up is he teeing up this whole discussion. Look, if it happens, it’s a smart move. It makes a ton of sense. Yes. And it fit it fits what the Angels need. It fits their timeline. It fits all of that stuff. Now, will they screw it up and not make it happen? Well, it’s one thing to screw it up. It’s another thing to not make it happen. Right? To me, I’m almost like he’s not going to the Dodgers, right? And because that’s what we’ve come to expect over the last couple years, and the Dodgers has, you know, re-uped Max. They took that player option like you and I discussed, right? It was like a $10 million player option. You take that every day. But we still thought, yeah, but they could probably still get a third baseman and, you know, have Maxy play every now and then. All that to say, it’s it’s it’s going to be interesting that wherever he lands that the Angels were in that discussion, and that’s not something that we’re used to, but it is something that’s very, very exciting. Thanks for making Lockdown Angels your first listen of the day. Coming up, Bleacher Report has linked a few players to Anaheim. We’ll share if it’s just a rumor or reality, and we’ll have that conversation in just a minute. Basketball fans, the NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on all of the NBA action than with FanDuel. They are the official sports betting partner of the NBA. And even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at even a bigger payout. It just keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making a late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com and sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. This is the Locked On Network, where it’s your team every day. And thanks for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network out there. It’s official. All everyone wants to do is listen to Locked On podcast network and we’re part of that and you’re part of that as our every day. So check us out wherever you listen to podcast. You can watch us. You can listen to us. You can get in on the conversation by coming over to YouTube and getting in the comments section. Hit us up on social media locked on angels at superhobal bros. We would love to continue today’s discussion there with you. The Mike Bleacher report predicts that the Halos are a good landing spot for a nice handful of players. Who do we got? Yeah, Zack Gallon is one of the names that was mentioned. One of the four writers in uh this article for Bleacher Report said that Zack Gallon will end up with the Halos. They’re marking him right now at four years $80 million. Feels kind of out of the Angels price range. That feels very expensive for a pitcher. We’ll get into the details of that. Trent Gisham, two of the four riders, predicted that he’s going to head to Anaheim. Four years, $66 million. A lot of the everydayers hated when I picked him, and I get it. I understand that. But we were, but it’s a realistic move. It’s something the Angels would do, right? Tried to tried to be very realistic with Arty Sandbox. Uh Shota Imanaga, one of the one of four writers said he’ll end up in Anaheim. A lot of our everydayers would like to see him. Three years, 45 million is what they’re predicting. Mel Kelly, John, is on the list. One of four writers said that he could end up in Anaheim. Two years, 36 million. Harrison Bader, that’s an interesting move. One of four writers, two years, 26 million. Uh, Zack Latell, he is two of four writers uh, said that he would come to Anaheim 2 years 24 million. And then Ryan Helsley, one of four writers, said two years, 24 million. John, any of these guys make sense for the Halos? And why do you think that they make sense? Yeah, there’s a couple of guys here that to me need a bounce back and I could definitely see that with Zack Gallen. I could see that with Shota Ianaga. We we discussed uh on the episode where our everydayers brought forth their GM picks for the off season and Ianaga was a favorite among among our everydayers in terms of who the Angels should sign. To me, Mike, the money that he’s going to be worth is complicated considering Imanaga did not have a great season this year. He was hurt, granted, but also there were a lot of five inning outings, right? And we already have a former Cub who gave us a lot of five inning outings in Kyle Hendris. Now, is Ianaga a much more effective pitcher than Kyle Hendris? Yes. But when you look at this rotation, first of all, we have three signed up for the rotation so far. That’s Kikuchi and Soraniano and Detmers. Kikuchi is the only one so far who’s thrown somewhat close to 180 innings in his career. Yeah. Having said that, I imanaga would be tough because he hasn’t thrown that many innings, but also he’s been hurt and he needs a bounceback. So perhaps a bounceback in Anaheim would be a good thing for him. Perhaps uh being with his compatriots Kikuchi and potentially Cosmo Okamoto, that would be a good thing for him. Like that there’s some there’s some benefits there. But again, only one of four Bleacher Report writers said that that was a thing that could happen. Harrison Bader’s interesting to me. Not somebody that I had considered, but could play a nice center field for the Angels and be a good starter. Mel Kelly, I think, you know, on the older end, um, would be effective. Zack Latell is somebody that I, you know, tossed around in my head about my GM episode. The one thing is that he’s got some, uh, long relief risk and he also doesn’t throw very hard. Yeah, I mean obviously he’s got good pitching VO, but to me it was another kind of soft contact Tyler Anderson type. Now, is he more effective than Tyler Anderson? For sure. But to me, I was like in my GM episode, I was like, I want to get like a real dude, not, you know, not somebody that we’ve had before. So, those are just my thoughts there. Um, Trent Gisham kind of backs up what you had to say in your GM episode. What do you think of that? Well, and the reason why I selected him, John, was because he’s a left-handed bat and he can play the outfield and the Angels need a good center fielder. And the reality is is that Bryce Teodosio is not going to be the guy or at least hasn’t proven to be the guy yet. And I get that you have to have reps. I get that you have to have opportunity to prove yourself. I think he did somewhat good. Yeah. Especially on defense while he played at the end of the year. But to start the season, opening day and having Bryce Teodosio out there, it just feels incomplete for what the Angels try to do every single season. They try to compete. It feels incomplete for a competitive team. Now, if they were a team that was like, “Hey, we’re going to build. We’re going to build for the future and we’re going to rebuild this thing and we’re going to refresh our roster and all of those things, then it would make sense to have Teodosio out there.” I I compare Teodosio to Peter Borges. I remember when Peter Borges was starting for us and I was unsettled by that and I know he had one really good year and then he proved to be who we all thought he was, right? He wasn’t that great and I have a sense that Teodosio can kind of go in that direction. Now, I can’t predict that. I haven’t seen enough from him. I do love his defense, but what I love about Trent Gisham coming to Anaheim is that it makes Joe Adele play right field where he is the best. Yeah, he was not good in center field last year and he wasn’t great in right field last year because he was bouncing back and forth. You you put him in right field, let him focus on his defense, not move him from that spot. It allows him to grow. This also allows a Mike Trout to perhaps move to left field, which is why we talked about trading a Taylor Ward. Now, I don’t know how wise it would be to bring in a Trent Gisham if you’re not going to make a move to get somebody out of your outfield that is clogging it up. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just mean that you have a lot of you have a lot of hitters out there. You’ve got Solair, you’ve got Trout, who obviously they both cannot play the field every single day. They’re going to need to DH. And so, you’re going to need a platoon. And I just don’t know if you can unload a Solair. And it doesn’t seem like they’re going to want to unload a Mike Trout. And it doesn’t seem like Mike Trout would want to go anywhere. Some everydayers brought that up in our comments, John, and they talked about instead of trading Taylor Ward to Philadelphia, what if they traded Mike Trout? I like that what if and I like those questions. I’m a fan of Trout. I’m past the no, never, don’t ever trade him. However, I just don’t think you can because of where his contract is at, how expensive it is. He is the most expensive. I think they put him in center field when he plays mostly according to I think it was fan graphs that that tweeted that he is the most expensive center fielder right now because of his contract and he’s not even playing center field anymore. Yeah. So I don’t know if you can move that. I don’t know if you’re going to get another team to accept that outside of some of those bigger teams. But I I would I would estimate that it’s going to be somebody else that they move. But if the Angels do sign a Trent Gisham, they are going to have to make a move. And so I would see that. Here’s why I would lean in that direction of signing a Trent Gisham. It means that the Angels are going to make a secondary move. There’s going to be pieces that are going to be moved around and it’s probably going to be somebody that we love and that we adore, Taylor Ward or Joe Adele. Obviously, we prefer Taylor Ward over Joe Adele because of the longevity of contract. But if we’re going to get somebody who’s going to be consistent, you probably want to lean in the Taylor Ward area. But a signing of Trent Gisham says the Angels are moving some pieces. the Angels are going to do a secondary and maybe a third layer move to try to get some roster flexibility here. It’s interesting because with Harrison Bader kind of brings up that same train of thought, right? You get yourself a true center fielder, you know, with a decent bat and I know he struggled. I think he went from the Cardinals to the Yankees and kind of struggled, but he’s kind of found himself again. So, that’s going to be an interesting conversation as well. Ryan Helley. Don’t know if I’m I’m interested in that move. I think I would rather pick somebody on purpose. Yeah, I’d rather see somebody else. But again, Gallon um could be due for a bounceback. Mel Kelly a little bit older, but could get a short-term deal and obviously be somewhat serviceable for the Angels. I would I would not be bummed if if Gallon and Kelly were the two guys that they signed. Yeah. I I think that they fill out the rotation better than what we had last year. I think that there’s five guys in the rotation that we can go, okay, we have a really good shot at winning. Yeah. Is it is it favorable? Is it what I want most? No, absolutely not. But again, thinking in RD Sandbox and thinking fiscal angels, they’re getting cheap, reliable veterans that could come in and perhaps keep you in the game, right? Go five, six innings. I think that there’s some logic in in signing some of those guys because they’re guys that again will help solidify this starting rotation. Allow Kikuchi to still be your quote unquote ace. Give Soraniano the opportunity to be the second starter. You have some flexibility then with Reed Detmer. He doesn’t have to be number three. Reed could be number four. And I would just say, John, if you if you frontload this starting rotation and surround Reed Demmer’s with two veterans, I would say watch out for Reed. I think Reed maybe is going to shift into a a a better gear this season because he’s got a lot to prove. He lost a full year because he was in the minor leagues the previous year, right? And and so he was a bit frustrated about that. Didn’t talk about it. Said I’m not going to make a comment about that. I think he’s frustrated that way. I think he was frustrated with himself at the beginning of last year when he struggled in the bullpen and then he found it. I He’s got a lot to prove and I think giving Mike Maddox an opportunity to really shape and mold Reed Demer would be great and I think you’re wise in surrounding him and not putting too much pressure on him. Yeah. But just enough pressure to say we need you to hold down the fourth spot. I think you’re wise in surrounding him with two really quality veteran guys. And you brought up Mike Maddox, too. And that’s going to be a huge key part of this Angels rotation and and pitching uh roster in the bullpen and all of that. It’s going to be very interesting. Right. You know what’s interesting is I didn’t see anybody connect Tyler Molly to the Angels. I saw him connected to other teams. And so I I’ I’d love to know the details as to why. There’s been a lot of connection because of the Mike Maddox connection. Had his best erra under Mike Maddox last year. Kind of figured some things out. is a free agent and I think his numbers would probably land around where like a Zack Latell or maybe a a Murrell Kelly would land with maybe getting 12 to 15 million a year and that might even be too much for Tyler Molly but he feels like a guy that would fit this rotation really well and of course these are just predictions and they’re from Bleacher Report but I wouldn’t be mad at any of these honestly. Zach Allen, Trent Gisham, Shota, Melro Kelly, Harrison Bader, Zack Latell, Ryan Hley. Again, I I think that we could do better in terms of closers and back of the bullpen guys. But again, for the rest of those six, I I I wouldn’t hate it. I I wouldn’t hate it. I wouldn’t be mad. And I think that that’s uh probably one of the most important talking points of this conversation is eh wouldn’t hate it. We’re right in the middle of the NFL season and honestly there’s nothing better than going and seeing a game live. In fact, I had some friends that went to last night’s game. Chargers, Steelers, they were Steeler fans, so it turned out kind of ugly for them. But going to a game is fun. Getting tickets for a game is awful. There’s the cues, login screens, prices that jump at checkout. Super frustrating. That’s why I love Game Time. It’s the app that gives the advantage back to you, the fan. Game time is fast, easy, and backed by the Game Time guarantee. You’re always going to get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included, so the price you see is the price you pay. And honestly, it’s faster and cheaper and less stressful than any other way that I’ve bought tickets. And we want to invite you to use Game Time. Download it right now. Create an account. Use our promo code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. There are some terms that do apply. Again, promo code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Swipe, tap, ticket, and go. Download Game Time today. Now, the Angels are mentioned as suitors for the following players. And Mike, we’re going to do a uh thumbs up and a thumbs down. Okay. If you think they will actually sign any of the following names. You ready? Mhm. Kyle Tucker. Thumbs down. Thumbs down. Thumbs down. Dylan CE, thumbs down. Yeah, thumbs down for me. I wanted to think about it and I knew that it was probably if I think about it too much, my hopium is going to take over, right? Uh, Munitaka Makami. To me, that’s thumbs down. He mentioned something about Seattle. There was a rumor he wanted to play on the on the West Coast in a press conference. He said, “I would love to play on the West Coast.” And everybody went, “Well, obviously the Dodgers.” But there’s been some rumors about him ending up in Seattle and some predictions that he’ll end up playing third base in Seattle. Yeah. Uh play for Ichiro’s team. There you go. And the fact is is that when when the Mariners offense goes quiet, um you could use a big bopper like Mirakami up there. Um Alex Bregman, do you think the Angels would actually sign him? What do you think? I I say thumbs down. You say thumbs down. You say thumbs down as well. Uh, Framber Valdez. I don’t see that happening. I don’t see it happening, but I do think that of this list, he might be somebody that would be near the top of potentials. And and I know that he had some issues with the Astros and I know that he’s got some Yeah. Right. He’s got some, you know, there’s some headcase issues and all of that, but I think if we’re going to put anybody near the top, Framber would be near the top, but I would still say, especially at the price that they’re suggesting, five years, 150 million, I would say thumbs down. You know, did did anybody ever consider the fact that maybe the catcher kind of deserved it? I don’t know. I have no idea if he did or not. I’m just saying maybe there’s something we don’t know where it’s like, bro, you’re driving me. You’re killing me. And so Frober did that. Yeah. No, there was no excuse for that. I’m just kidding, but only a little bit. Okay. Pete Alonzo. Pete Alonzo. John, this this feels like an angel’s move. And so I would say that there is a likely there’s a likelihood cuz he was in discussions. The rumor was he was in discussions last year to potentially come here. I could see them bringing him to play first base and I could see them just trying to figure out what they’re going to do with Shaunell. It’s again fiscal angels and you’re like well then what happens here and what happens there? They’re not thinking that far ahead. They’re like Pete Alonzo big bat. We need we need uh another big bat in this lineup first base. That’s what we want, right? I I I would lean in the direction of I could potentially seeing that happen. Yeah. Can I just say and I’m gonna just try to reiterate a point that I made last year. Now, I was not opposed to the Angels signing Pete Alonzo. However, there was a lot of push back and the push back was ah he’s regressing, he’s getting older, all this stuff. And I had to take a moment to really define what regression is. Now, it’s not having a bad year. It’s the underlying metrics. When you go on Statcast and you see the power dropped a little bit year from from year, like the bat speed kind of fell year to year. Um, he’s not hitting the ball as hard year to year. That’s not what happened with Pete Alonzo. And I I look back, we had an episode where we went, “What? He only hit 34 home runs? What happened there?” And the truth is, Mike, he had a bad year in 2024. He’s back. He had he had 41 doubles, 38 home runs, 126 RBI’s, a 272 average, and an 871 OPS. The only time he’s ever been eight under 800 in terms of OPS in his career was 2024. Wow. And he bounced right back in 2025. So again, regression is not a bad year. regression is h he’s he’s getting a little slow, he’s getting a little older, that kind of thing. And that’s a great point. And who’s not on our list, we haven’t talked about um is uh Luis Srise uh from San Diego. He’s a free agent. John, all of his metrics, especially when it comes to like contact and when it comes to bat speed, they’re all really bad. Like 3 to 4% worse than what he’s been. And he had a great year, 291 batting average, and you know, was on base and led the league in hits and all of those things. But I I think we have to learn we have to learn from our lesson with Josh Hamilton when the Angels signed Josh Hamilton. His second half terrible and the Angels still gave him a big contract and everybody was like and those numbers don’t look good at all. Bat speed was slow, his contact was low and that came to fruition the season that the Angels had him on the team. If they had had Statcast in the year of 2012 to 2013, I don’t think that anybody would have been jumping at the chance to sign Josh Hamilton. Apologies. You mentioned uh Louisa Rise and my dog got upset. So, um continuing our our conversation here. Uh Josh Naylor. Mike, what do you think? Five years, 90 million? I say I say no, but I would love to have Josh Naylor on our team. He’s still he’s he’s hitting his prime years and I get that that messes up kind of what we’re trying to do, but I would rather have Josh Naylor at first base than than Nolan Shaell. Stop killing us every time we play him too. One of the reasons why you’d sign him, right? So you don’t have to pitch pitch to him anymore. So we got a couple closers here. Edwin Diaz and Devin Williams. To me, I could see them making a Williams move before Edwin Diaz. What about you? Yeah, I mean I would say no to both. I don’t think that they’re going to make those moves. I think they’re going to try to go back to the well with the Kenley Jansen. I can even see, you mentioned Rexella Glacius. I can even see them trying to make that move this off season. And then uh Au Heno Suarez, three years 63 million. That seems uh rather affordable. 21 million for AU Heno Suarez. Productive player. Every time he goes to Seattle, he sucks. So hopefully that doesn’t happen if he came to Anaheim. Third base. That kind of solves the problem right there, right? Yeah. 34 years old, signed him to a three-year deal. 37 years old when he’s done kind of past his prime. I think I would rather go with Okamoto than than Suarez. But uh I I wouldn’t be mad if he ends up signing and if he ends up signing at that price, three years 63. That that’s not it’s not too bad, right? I’m looking at uh his fielding his uh range according to outs above average. Uh ninth percentile at -6 last year. So maybe not the best third baseman. I think he’s kind of moving maybe towards first base and perhaps even DH. I think that that’s going to be the issue that would get in the way of the Angels. And the Angels don’t need another like clog in in this wheel, right? They need they need someone that’s flexible and agile and and that can play at different spots and you can count on and doesn’t need the DH. They have enough they have enough DHS, right? Well, man, and I was just looking over their defensive stats the other day. I got an article coming out on our Super Halo Bro sub stack pretty soon and uh the defensive numbers were very, very bad. So again, real quick, let’s run through it. Kyle Tucker, I say no. No. I would, as much as I would love it. Angel Killer on our team, I would love that. Dylan CE, I say no. Murakami, no. Bregman, no. No. From no. Then, you know, you kind of said said maybe. Uh, Alonzo, Naylor, Diaz, like yeah, it’s great they’re in the conversation, but I I really don’t see them making any of these moves in the offseason. Thanks for making Lockdown Angels your first listen of the day. Be sure to like and subscribe while you’re here. It’s the best way to stay updated on all things Angels throughout the offseason. Hey, be sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Lockdown Angels, and at Super Halo Bros on Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok. And get in the comment section on YouTube. We’d love to hear from you there. Mike, what do we have on deck for Tuesday’s show? We’re going to share why Mirakami is not a good fit for our favorite team. I get it. Left-handed bat, plays third base, lots of power, all of those things. But there’s a there’s a couple stats that indicate you’re getting the same guy you already have and we’ll talk about that tomorrow on Locked on Angels. All right, looking forward to that conversation and we hope you’ll come back and join us. Until then, my name is John and that’s my brother Mike and my name is Mike and that’s my brother John. All right, for the sickos who love this team and for our everydayers who love to watch and listen and make Locked on Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network out there, we’ll see you back here on Tuesday. I don’t watch WWE. The Angels are enough entertainment for me. Feels scripted. Feels entertaining.

Los Angeles Angels eye Japan’s Kazuma Okamoto as a potential game-changer. Could his arrival finally boost Anaheim’s infield and offensive consistency while keeping the team within its budget? The Super Halo Bros., Mike Frisch and Jon Frisch, break down Okamoto’s impressive NPB stats, positional flexibility, and rumored preference for the Halos. They explore agent Scott Boras’s involvement, question whether this is a genuine fit or just leverage, and debate how Okamoto compares to big names like Munetaka Murakami.

The conversation heats up as Bleacher Report links the Angels to Zach Gallen, Trent Grisham, Shota Imanaga, Merrill Kelly, and Harrison Bader. The hosts examine the likelihood of these moves, potential impact on the Angels’ roster, and which players could shake up the outfield and rotation. Can the Angels avoid past offseason missteps and assemble a squad capable of making a run, or will familiar frustrations resurface?

#angels2025 #angels #angelsbaseball #gohalos #repthehalo

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00:00 Locked On Angels: Insights & Trials

05:34 Angels’ EAP Negligence Unveiled

09:58 Prescription Misuse and Pain Pills

16:57 Clubhouse Pranks, Drugs, Testimonies

20:05 Building Culture Requires Shared Responsibility

23:56 Trial Reveals Organizational Ugliness

27:13 MLB Leadership: Where’s the Line?

28:56 MLB Intervention: Lessons from McCourt

32:26 Angels Profit Despite Complaints