Angels acquire Ian Kinsler from Tigers for prospects

Ian Kinsler might be an angel. Well, an Angel. He might also be an angel as a person, but we can’t confirm that fully at this point. The Tigers traded the second baseman to Anaheim, both teams announced on Wednesday night.

The trade was first reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

In return, the Angels are sending RHP Wilkel Hernandez and CF Troy Montgomery. Those are both perfectly serviceable prospects — ranked 24th and 20th in the Angels’ system, respectively -— that also don’t move the needle in any major way. So this is a massive money dump on the Tigers’ part.

The Mets were also supposedly in on Kinsler as discussions took shape, but the second baseman waived his no-trade clause to end up in Los Angeles. Ending up on the same team as Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani? That’s something worthy of waiving your no-trade clause for, if this deal is happening.

Detroit drops more of its payroll from its roster with this move, something it has been doing since this season’s trade deadline. It’s rebuild time in Michigan, and it was expected that the Tigers would continue making moves in the offseason to further their rebuilding efforts.

The Angels, on the other hand, have now kept Justin Upton in their outfield as well as securing Ohtani, and the acquisition of Kinsler provides them with a not-insignificant upgrade at second base. Phillies insider Jim Salisbury reports that they were also interested in Cesar Hernandez but wouldn’t meet Philadelphia’s asking price.

Kinsler is in the last season of his contract, is set to make $11 million next season, and will turn 36 in June. He hit .236/.313./.412 in 2017, hitting 22 home runs and driving in 52. That’s down from the year before but more than acceptable for what the Angels need.

Compared to free agent Brandon Phillips, who the Angels acquired from the Braves midseason, he’s on-par offensively. But compared to all Angels second basemen last year — who hit .206/.274/.327 and were last in the league in OPS — he’s a gosh darn savior. He’s also reliable defensively and an improvement at the position from what they had before.

Add to that his #veteranintangibles and this should work out for the Angels.