The Angels on Thursday agreed to one-year contracts with outfielders Taylor Ward and Jo Adell and pitchers Reid Detmers, Brock Burke and José Suarez, avoiding arbitration with all five players.
The Angels will have arbitration hearings with utility man Luis Rengifo, outfielder Mickey Moniak and left-handed pitcher Jose Quijada to finalize their contracts for the 2025 season.
Thursday was the deadline for teams to reach agreements with arbitration-eligible players before exchanging figures for hearings to be held next month. Although negotiations can continue up until the start of the hearing, most teams have recently adopted a “file and trial” policy that ends negotiations past the point when figures are exchanged.
Ward agreed to a deal for $7.825 million, Adell agreed at $2.1 million, Detmers agreed for $1.825 million, Burke agreed at $1.15 million and Suarez agreed at $1.1 million.
Rengifo, who made $4.4 million in 2024 is projected to make $5.8 million by MLB trade rumors. Moniak, who made $770,000 in 2024, is projected at $1.8 million and Quijada, who made $840,000 in 2024, is projected at $1.1 million.
Ward, 31, earned $4.8 million last season when the left fielder hit a career-high 25 home runs and finished with a .749 OPS in 156 games.
Adell, who made $770,000 in 2024, is coming off his first full season as the starting right fielder for the Angels after years as a promising prospect. The 25-year-old made a mechanical adjustment at the plate to remove his leg kick. Before the change, Adell slashed .192/.265/.384 with 15 homers and 46 RBIs in 96 games. After making the change in July, he slashed .248/.320/.451 with five homers and 16 RBIs in 34 games while cutting down on his strikeout rate.
Detmers, 25, authored a 12-strikeout performance in his final start of a frustrating 2024 season. He went 4-9 with a 6.70 ERA in 17 outings with 109 strikeouts and 38 walks in 87⅓ innings while spending much of the summer with Triple-A Salt Lake.
Burke, 28, joined the Angels in August as a waiver claim from the Texas Rangers and had a 3.54 ERA in 20⅓ innings out of the bullpen.
Suarez, 27, made $925,000 in 2024, when he had a 6.02 ERA and had his best success as a long reliever later in the season.