John Mozeliak made his first trade as Los Angeles Angels interim general manager Wednesday night, but bigger tests lie ahead.As head of the St. Louis Cardinals’ baseball operations, Mozeliak hardly ever traded players who were under multiple years of club control, in part because he acted as a seller only twice during his 18-year tenure.Right-handed reliever Chase Silseth and catcher Logan O’Hoppe, the two veterans Mozeliak sent to the Texas Rangers for unheralded Class-A shortstop Angel Arredondo, meet that criteria; Silseth is under control for four additional seasons, O’Hoppe two.But much as Silseth, in particular, might help the Rangers, he doesn’t carry the same weight as the more prized pieces Mozeliak might move — left-hander Reid Detmers and righty José Soriano, both of whom come with two additional years of club control, and shortstop Zach Neto, who comes with three.Reid Detmers on his sliderEno SarrisThen there is the backdrop to all this: Mozeliak’s uncertain status.Executives in contact with Mozeliak are convinced that, after his six-month contract expires, he wants to keep running the Angels. What is the best way for him to achieve that goal? By winning over the team’s mercurial owner, Arte Moreno.One of Mozeliak’s accomplishments in St. Louis was cultivating a strong relationship with Cardinals ownership. Former Angels executives, however, can recite chapter and verse the difficulty of pleasing Moreno.Mozeliak already has said the Angels do not need to rebuild, which seemingly puts him in line with Moreno’s annual ill-fated attempt to put together a patchwork contender, but Mozeliak also has said the Angels need change. If he strikes it big with, say, a trade for Detmers, he might not just impress Moreno, but also a potential future owner.Moreno, 79, previously has explored a sale of the club, only to pull it off the market in Jan. 2023. He almost certainly is one of the owners pushing for a salary cap, which would enhance the value of the franchise. That way, he would be in a better position to get his desired price.If you’re Mozeliak, you might be dreaming of what it would be like to run the Angels under a new owner who would more aggressively seek to exploit the size of the team’s market. So, do you go nuts and trade all of your coveted players? Probably not. You make select moves, trying to appease the fan base, inject a top 100 prospect or two into the organization and make yourself look as good as possible.“It’s not an easy decision. Obviously, moving controllable players is going to be the challenge in this whole exercise, because it’s mostly what we have,” Mozeliak told reporters Wednesday night. “But we’re just going to try and pick and choose our spots for where we can create that change, create that different trajectory for the organization.”In that sense, Arredondo, 19, was a curious first acquisition. He did not appear on Keith Law’s list of the Rangers’ top 20 prospects, nor on the top 30 lists compiled by Baseball America or MLB Pipeline.Mozeliak told reporters Arredondo is better than those publications say and should rank among the Angels’ top 10 prospects. Fair enough; with these things, beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder. And again, bigger tests lie ahead.For Orioles, a complicated pictureThe Baltimore Orioles are a classic example of a team working both buy and sell angles, unsure what to make of their club.The Orioles, after making three errors, rallied from a 7-0 deficit Wednesday to beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-9, in 12 innings. They’re three games under .500. They’ve alternated wins and losses for the last eight games. Yet, they remain only two and a half games back in the AL wild-card race, with playoff odds of just under 25 percent.So, just to cover their bases, they’re pricing their players on expiring contracts — left-hander Trevor Rogers, left fielder Taylor Ward and reliever Andrew Kittredge — along with catcher Adley Rutschman, who is under club control for only one more season.Even if they trade one or more of those veterans, they could seek other upgrades that would help them stay in contention. Their situation, as one person briefed on their maneuverings put it, is “complicated.” Given the closeness of both wild-card races, they hardly are the only team in that position.Ward and Rogers, even as rentals, could fetch sizable returns.Ward’s season has been bizarre — his home-run total has decreased from 36 to seven while his on-base percentage has increased from .317 to .383. Even with his different profile, the shortage of available right-handed hitters makes him a valued commodity. The problem with trading him is that the Orioles have no way of replacing him internally.Rogers, after slumping for about six weeks, has a 2.21 ERA in his last 10 starts. The Orioles likely would be more inclined to make him a qualifying offer than Ward, so that will figure into their calculus. After reaching a five-year, $90 million deal with righty Kyle Bradish, they also could view Rogers as an extension candidate.Rutschman, dealing with left wrist inflammation, is on the injured list for the third time this season, but he still could be traded, with the catching market growing thinner by the day.The Athletics’ Shea Langeliers is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers seems likely to stay put with the Twins in contention. And Colorado’s Hunter Goodman, well …How badly do you want him?The staring contest between the Rockies and teams seeking to trade for Goodman is on.Three AL East clubs — the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees — are among the teams expressing varying interest in Goodman, according to people briefed on the Rockies’ conversations but granted anonymity to speak freely.The Rockies, however, face no urgency to move Goodman, who is under club control for three additional seasons. So, they’re asking for multi-player packages led by teams’ No. 1 prospects — outfielder Theo Gillen from the Rays, Franklin Arias from the Red Sox and so on.With four days to go until the deadline, why not?It’s the usual dance. The Rockies expect the clubs interested in Goodman to increase their offers. The clubs interested in Goodman expect the Rockies to lower their price, and Colorado’s long-term choices are numerous: Sign him to an extension, trade him in a future window or ride it out.Goodman, 26, is not simply a Coors Field creation. He is tied for third in the majors with 31 homers, 18 of which have come on the road. His road OPS entering Wednesday ranked fifth. While some rival officials express concern about his defense, he is a rarity in this market in two ways.He is a right-handed power hitter. And he is a catcher.Reds’ Greene intriguing rival clubsWhile it’s difficult to imagine a package that would entice the Cincinnati Reds to trade shortstop Elly De La Cruz, right-hander Hunter Greene might be a different story.Emphasis on “might.”The Reds are drawing significant interest in Greene, according to a person briefed on their discussions who spoke anonymously so they could speak freely. They aren’t particularly motivated to trade him, but barring a trade of De La Cruz, a move involving Greene might be their best chance to make an impact at the deadline.The club’s best trade candidates on expiring contracts — right-hander Brady Singer and catcher Tyler Stephenson; first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, third baseman Eugenio Suárez and reliever Brock Burke — are unlikely to yield significant returns.Greene — under contract for $15 million next season, $16 million in 2028 with a $21 million club option for ’29 — is the type of controllable starting pitcher teams covet. He has been inconsistent in four starts since returning from arthroscopic elbow surgery. Despite injury troubles, a pitcher whose fastball is again averaging 98.4 mph is valuable to other teams.The Reds, of course, value Greene, too. Over the past two seasons, his ERA is 2.29 in 13 starts at hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark, 5.33 in 10 starts on the road. But Cincinnati is in last place in the NL Central, trailing three teams — Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and St. Louis — in comparably small markets.De La Cruz, under club control for three additional seasons, almost certainly is not going anywhere, at least not yet. Depending upon the return, a trade of Greene could jumpstart the franchise. In a thin market for starting pitchers beyond Tarik Skubal, perhaps the Reds will be tempted into such a move.Blue Jays about to get weird?The Toronto Blue Jays, five and a half games out in the AL wild-card race but trailing five clubs, figure to be sellers. With so much money coming off their books, though, they also are pondering buy scenarios as they seek to retool, according to people briefed on their intentions.The specifics of the Jays’ pursuits are not known, but they will shed a combined $72.25 million when the contracts of designated hitter George Springer, center fielder Daulton Varsho and right-handers Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber expire. Reliever Jeff Hoffman, another player Toronto might trade, is under contract for next season at $11 million.So, if the Jays want to take on money for 2027 and beyond, they should have the flexibility to do so.One player the Jays no longer can move without restriction is right-hander José Berríos, who on Thursday gained full no-trade protection as a player with 10 years of major-league service, five consecutive with the same club.Berríos, who underwent Tommy John surgery on May 20, is not expected back until the second half of 2027. The Jays owe him the balance of his $18 million salary this season, plus $48 million over the next two years. Trading him before his 10-and-5 rights kicked in would have been difficult, even if the Jays took on a bad contract in return.The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon, Sam Blum, Will Sammon and Katie Woo contributed to this story.