Report: Angels discussed trade for Blue Jays' Manoah, didn't gain traction

It looks like Alek Manoah will begin next season with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Los Angeles Angels reached out about a potential trade involving the right-hander, but the discussions "didn't generate any traction," sources told The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya and Sam Blum.

The report comes after Manoah was mentioned in trade rumors earlier this week. However, Blue Jays manager John Schneider said at winter meetings that the hurler is part of the team's plans moving forward.

"We all know what Alek can do," Schneider said, according to The Athletic's Kaitlyn McGrath. "First and foremost, make sure he feels good, looks good, and everything's coming out normally. Hopefully, he's back to the form where he was in 2022. But I think Ross has said it, too, before. Alek is definitely part of our plans going forward, and he'll have every opportunity to win that spot."

Manoah struggled through a tough 2023 campaign, where he posted a 3-9 record with a 5.87 ERA and 6.02 FIP in 19 starts. The poor results led to him being optioned twice and a strange end to his season in which he was placed on the temporarily inactive list by Toronto's Triple-A affiliate before eventually being shut down because he felt like "he wasn't ready to compete."

Schneider said Manoah is already in a better head space as he prepares to compete for a rotation spot in 2024.

"For as competitive as he is, he was frustrated at times with being sent down and things like that, but I'm confident that that relationship is going to be strong," Schneider said. "As you're sitting after the season, you want to just not lose sight of that. I think that it's easy to do so, especially in your first year when you're dealing with a lot of different things. So, keeping those player relationships in the forefront is something I'm looking forward to doing."