2024 is the Los Angeles Angels' first season with Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani. Expectations were low entering the year, and the club, as predicted, is among the worst in the American League.

The team is 36-47 — 9.5 games back in the AL West and equally as far from the last Wild Card spot. LA owns the third-worst record in the AL. As the club struggles to gain traction, it looks like the Angels entered the MLB trade deadline as sellers again. Here is what a perfect 2024 MLB trade deadline looks like for the Angels.

Getting the most for players who are hot

Other than Mike Trout, the Angels do not have any real star players on their roster. Trout is on the IL and was unlikely to be a trade candidate. LA has a few players performing at a higher level than their advanced stats would suggest, most notably Kevin Pillar, Tyler Anderson, and Luis Rengifo. If the Angels can sell these players at their peak, it will be a successful trade deadline for Los Angeles.

Tyler Anderson

Tyler Anderson is a good pitcher, but not nearly as good as his ERA suggests. The left-hander carries a 3.03 ERA through 16 starts this season, contrasting his 4.78 expected ERA and 4.81 FIP. Anderson is also second in the league in walks and is striking out just 5.8 hitters per nine innings — easily a career-low. The 34-year-old also is also allowing just a .232 batting average on balls in play, one of the best in MLB and yet another sign of incoming regression.

The lefty is coming off a start in which he allowed a season-high six runs in four innings against the lowly Detroit Tigers, raising his ERA by 40 points. The Angels would be wise to maximize their return for Anderson before the incoming regression fully hits.

Kevin Pillar

Kevin Pillar has played for an astounding nine teams since the start of the 2019 season. But that has not stopped the veteran outfielder from playing some of his best baseball for the Angels in 2024. Pillar started the year on the Chicago White Sox, batting just .160 in 17 games for the struggling South Siders. The Sox released him, and the 35-year-old has found his stride on the West Coast.

Pillar is batting .317 in 114 at-bats with the Angels while posting a .911 OPS. He also has 26 runs driven in in just 39 games — a season pace of 108 RBI. Given his expected batting average of .254 (including .225 in June), Pillar's hot streak is unlikely to continue. LA should trade him now to get the maximum return for a player acquired off the waiver wire.

Luis Rengifo

Luis Rengifo trained in the offseason with two-time reigning batting champ Luis Arraez to shorten his swing and adopt a more contact-heavy approach. The results have shown. The Venezuelan, a career .244 hitter coming into this season, is batting a career-best .317.

Yet his expected batting is just .269 — nearly 50 points lower. Yet despite a 50-point increase in batting average from 2023 (.264) to 2024, Rengifo's on-base percentage only went up 23 points (.339 to .362), and his OPS is a modest  27 points higher (.783 to .810). A .351 BABIP is likely to decline soon, as is the versatile infielder's lofty batting average.

Rengifo also continues to be one of the worst fielders in the league, costing the Angels five runs already with his glove in just 67 games. As with Pillar and Anderson, the Angels should capitalize on Luis Rengifo's hot streak and trade the veteran infielder while he is overperforming.