Tradeable Assets

[Jim]

 

I know. I was sort of kidding. I do think that the Angels could pursue that package. Taking on that salary is one way to get a legit hitter. And Reyes has not been good for several seasons. It would be a salary dump, basically.

And either Reyes or Aybar moves to second, because as bad as Reyes was defensively last year, he or Aybar would be better than Giavotella that's for sure. And they might catch lightning in a bottle.

 

 

BTW, I'm not super high on those three, even though I may sound it. I'm not delusional in thinking we could get a top player for spare pieces.

 

You are completely right in the fact that the Angels need to add a significant bat or two or three to compete with Texas and Houston…If they can do that by trading one of their top arms I'm all for it. If they had to trade two or three? It had better be someone good.

 

Is this a selling point?

[Adam]

I'm shocked that people don't think it's an issue. They had a SP ERA of 3.98, which is quite a bit below the league average. This is despite having the lowest SP BABIP in the majors, so in reality they were a bit on the lucky side. Weaver and Wilson are both another year older as well.

 

I think there is a lot of hope with Richards, Heaney, Newcomb (possibly next year) and Skaggs. They can completely miss on one of those guys and still be pretty good. 

[Hubs]

I like Gonzalez because he fills a need. He should be platooned against tough lefties though. He kills righties. He's a lefty. He makes a lot of money and is certainly a trade candidate.

 

Cespedes had three iffy years in Oakland. He had an outstanding stretch in New York, but he's not a high OBP guy.

 

Seeing as they should be looking to get a MOTO bat that slots between Trout and Pujols, Cespedes is not that type of guy. 

 

The only way the Angels can trade 1 or 2 of their young SPs is if they sign 1 or 2 FA SPs. They'd have to get Price. 

 

And I agree, they can afford to move one if they don't sign a FA starter, and if they move two or more they would likely need to sign one. Signing Price makes them expendable.

 

They have seven starters right now for five spots. That's Weaver, Wilson, Skaggs, Richards, Heaney, Santiago, and Shoemaker. Tropeano is eight and Newcomb would be nine. Chris Ellis, Nate Smith and Tyler DeLoach are likely 10-12 on the depth chart.

 

Most of those guys have some questions, but it is the only area of depth on the team.

[Inside Pitch]

I'm shocked that people don't think it's an issue. They had a SP ERA of 3.98, which is quite a bit below the league average. This is despite having the lowest SP BABIP in the majors, so in reality they were a bit on the lucky side. Weaver and Wilson are both another year older as well.

 

Angels road ERA -- 4.68, second to last in the AL ahead of only Detroit, and 27th in MLB.    

 

Wilson - 4.20

Weaver - 6.01

Richards - 4.58

Shoemaker - 5.04

Santiago - 4.70

 

Heaney did well coming in at 2.70 but he has all of 8 road starts in his career in the AL.

 

 

 

This pitching staff needs help, a lot of it.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Inside Pitch

[HaloCory22]

Completely agree with T-Dawg. How people aren't more worried about the rotation is beyond me. Sure, we have young guys in Richards, Heaney, Skaggs, (Newbomb in the waiting) Not something I want to fully commit to without 1 true proven anchor in the rotation. This is the time to go out there and pay for Price. Have him at the top of the rotation. Seriously explore trading Santiago, Richards, and Shoe (In that order). Richards obviously has the stuff and sure I might be jumping the gun due to his very mediocre 2015, but I can't see him coming anywhere near 2014 again. 2015 is right around what he'll give us and I'm not particularly thrilled about that. If we can ship him out for a bat I say do it.

 

Same thing as Adam said though. If we trade 1 or 2 of our young arms, we definitely need to bring in a few veteran arms in their place.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Cory

[Adam]

Hopefully Arte is willing to open the checkbook and get all Dodgers on the luxury tax.

 

I'd try to sign Price, Zimmerman and Zobrist. Then I'd try to trade 2 young SPs for young bats

[Angel Oracle]

Carlos Gonzalez is not good away from Coors Canaveral, and sunk to a .530 OPS vs lefties in 2015.

Defensively he is good, but you don't trade Newcomb and 3 others for just defense.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Angel Oracle

[Hubs]

I'm shocked that people don't think it's an issue. They had a SP ERA of 3.98, which is quite a bit below the league average. This is despite having the lowest SP BABIP in the majors, so in reality they were a bit on the lucky side. Weaver and Wilson are both another year older as well.

 

They were at 3.94 overall and league average was 4.01. 

 

Weaver and Shoemaker had bad years. They bring down the average significantly. Everyone else was better than the league average mark. 

[HaloCory22]

I got it! Salas for Grichuk.

[tdawg87]

They were at 3.94 overall and league average was 4.01. 

 

Weaver and Shoemaker had bad years. They bring down the average significantly. Everyone else was better than the league average mark. 

 

That's not how the league average works. The team ERA+ was 95, which was 6 points below the league average of 101. An ERA of 3.50 for a guy who pitches half of his games in Angels' stadium and probably most of his starts in the AL West isn't going to be the same as a guy with an ERA of 3.50 who pitches for the Yankees.

 

CJ Wilson was below average, with a 96 ERA+.

Edited October 5, 2015 by tdawg87

[Hubs]

I just made a suggestion, Oracle. He's not as bad away from Coors or against lefties as 2015 show.

 

You do remember that the Angels played 12 left fielders in 2015 and that combined, they had the worst production from left field in the league. Right?

 

They need offense. If they had been able to score 100 runs more, they'd have been easily in first place in this division. 

 

They sucked at driving runners in. They need a leadoff guy and a MOTO bat if they let Freese leave (Freese was the Angels fourth best hitter arguably). They also need at least one bench bat.

[Hubs]

That's not how the league average works. The team ERA+ was 95, which was 6 points below the league average of 101. An ERA of 3.50 for a guy who pitches half of his games in Angels' stadium and probably most of his starts in the AL West isn't going to be the same as a guy with an ERA of 3.50 who pitches for the Yankees.

 

CJ Wilson was below average, with a 96 ERA+.

 

I think you are overstating park factor. I don't see as big of an issue with the rotation as I do with the pen and the lineup. There are huge holes in the lineup they need to address.

[tdawg87]

I think you are overstating park factor. I don't see as big of an issue with the rotation as I do with the pen and the lineup. There are huge holes in the lineup they need to address.

 

You are certainly correct that there are huge holes in the lineup that need addressing. But I'm not overstating anything. Those are the stats based on park factors, which are incredibly important. IP earlier posted the team road ERA from the staff and it is atrocious.

 

Again, you are absolutely correct that the lineup needs a lot of work. But I don't agree that the rotation is fine.

[Tyler]

The rotation is not fine when guys max out at 5/6 innings a game.

[Hubs]

The rotation is not fine when guys max out at 5/6 innings a game.

 

I think Scioscia had a quick hook this year. The BP was overworked. 

 

Richards should've started the 7th on Sunday.

[beatlesrule]

It wouldn't have mattered if Richards started the 7th.  Angels only scored 2 runs. Hamels was dealing after the first.

[Blarg]

You both are completely off tangent.

[beatlesrule]

The only highly tradeable asset the Angels have is Trout. He could fetch Moreno the players that would take care of all his teams needs. Not going to happen but it's the easiest solution. Unless certain players retire, he will need to spend a lot to get his team back to a division title.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I got it! Salas for Grichuk.

lol!

As far as the pit hing, i think everyone agrees it needs help...its just that the offense is the bigger issue. We could sign price, snatch grienke away from the dodgers, and were losing 1-0 instead of 5-0.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Jeff Mathis is a free agent.

Please, no.

[AngelsLakersFan]

There are a lot of good takes in this thread - a lot of ideas that could make this team better next year.

 

Looking at the roster the most glaring weakness is a lack of young talent. There are few guys that look like they can be counted on to hold down a position for the next 3 to 5 seasons. The only area this is not true, is in the starting pitching category. Heaney / Richards / Skaggs / Newcomb could be a great young, cheap rotation as early as late next year.

 

Keeping these guys around allows us to use our rotations depth to address the bullpen. Wilson, Tropiano, Shoemaker and Santiago could all be useful out of the pen. 

 

We then need to look towards solving some lineup positions for next few seasons. I understand the pitching issues from last year, so I would like to see them focus on a defensive oriented lineup, with guys who can get on base. 

 

This is why I think Hayward is an ideal fit. Young, great defender, gets on base. Exactly the type of player we should be looking for. I'm not against signing a top flight pitcher and trading one of our young guys, but we have to get a great return on the deal. We can't lose value there.

 

Freese, Giavoltella, and Cron should all be replaced by someone who can catch the ball better, and hopefully not make too many outs. 

 

Perez has certainly made the need for another catcher look like a luxury at this point, but I'm not sure we should get ahead of ourselves. Perez has had a great month+ of play but the league will make adjustments. I'm still a fan of Matt Weiters or another FA catcher who can split time with Perez. It's something of a safety net to hedge against the likely regression we'll see from Perez next year, but I'm very happy with his performance the last couple of months.

[Jim]

I think Wieters is more than just a safety net. Not that I disagree. Also, with the glaring needs that we have, why would it be such a bad idea to attempt a deal with Freese and Gio, and keep Aybar in his contract year?

[totdprods]

Any good shortstops out there? Move Aybar to third? 

Off the wall...

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

Well, to be honest. I don't believe our lineup can compete with either the Rangers or Astros until we draft some players and we can't lose games or seasons as our time with Trout is limited. And Albert's time is limited also.

 

We would need to go full Doggs this next season just to get into the Race with either of them.. And then hope for production!

 

1. Calhoun- RF

2. Desmond- SS---Free Agent

3. Trout- CF

4. Davis- 1B---Free Agent

5. Pujols- DH

6. Cespedes- LF---Free Agent

7. Zobrist- 3B---Free Agent

8. Wieters- C---Free Agent

9. Panik- 2B---Trade

 

 

SP:

1. Price---Free Agent

2. Zimmerman---Free Agent

3. Richards

4. Heaney

5. Leake/Iwakuma---Free Agent

 

Bullpen:

6th/7th: Benoit---Free Agent & Smith

8th; Wade Davis---Free Agent?

9th: Street

Edited October 6, 2015 by SlappyUtilityGuy

[Homebrewer]

I like your list there SUGuy...

 

Who do we trade for Panik, and why would SF trade him?