There is no question despite the Angels breaking out last season and winning the AL West on top of having the best record in baseball fans can only see this season as a failure with them being swept by the Royals. Changes can and seem to be already underway. As reported by Fox's Ken Rosenthal the Angels are looking to trade one if not both players. The team is looking for starting pitching as well as a left handed relief pitcher. Kendrick is owed $9.5 million this season while David is owed $5 million
Howie Kendrick hit .293 with 7 homers last season, in Kendrick's 9 year career he has failed to hit over .280 only once, and that was in 2010 at .279. The only problem i could see is if Kendrick is traded to a contender teams might look at his postseason numbers. in 16 career postseason games Howie is hitting just .186 with an under .200 OBP. Trading a player like Kendrick would obviously be a downgrade at that position, however the team would love another piece to that starting rotation.
As for David Freese in his first year in Anaheim it didn't go as planned he hit only .260 with 10 homers. David is the complete opposite when it comes to the postseason than Kendrick, in 51 career postseason games he is hitting .282 along with 8 home runs. Lets not forget his magical run with the Cardinals in 2011. Freese (31) and Kendrick (30) can certainly help a club looking for some hitting and decent fielding in the infield.
The question comes if they are able to trade both players are the pitchers they get in return worth it. Trading both players leaves Gordon Beckham and Grant Green as their replacements, and with no disrespect to those players given their track record it would be a downgrade. Which leaves them to costless agency; there are some very good 2nd basemen and 3rd basemen on the open market. Such as Emilio Bonifacio, Aramis Ramirez, Mark Ellis, Rafael Furcal, Chase Headley, and of course the possibly $100 million dollar man, Pablo Sandoval.
We will wait and see what the Angels decide to do, but what we do know is changes will be made to this roster and these two players may just be the beginning to an eventful offseason for the AL West champions.