I have taken it upon myself to solve the Angel's problems.

[AngelFan75]

I am fairly new to this website and I know that I am opening myself up to critique, but her goes anyway.

 

First:  Sign Daniel Murphy to be our new thirdbasemen. No I am not caught up with his playoff perfomance. His career numbers are better than Freese in almost every category and he is 3 years younger and bats left-handed, even with his power surge during the playoffs he will be more affordable than Freese.

 

Second: Sign Doug Fister for somewhere around 5 year 65-75 Million

 

Third: Sign Alex Avila for 3-4 years at 20-25 Million

 

Now this is where it gets fun. Trade CJ Wilson and Matt Shoemaker and a player to be named later to the Colorado Rockies for Carlos Gonzelez. Plus we will eat $10 Million of Wilson's contract.

 

This will give us a lineup that consists of:

Aybar SS (Switch)

Murphy 3B (Left)

Trout CF (Right)

Gonzalez LF (Left)

Pujols DH (Right)

Calhoun RF (Left)

Cron 1B (Right)

Avila C (Left)

Giavotella 2B (Right)

 

Our Pitching staff will consist of:

Fister ®

Heaney (L)

Richards ®

Skaggs (L)

Weaver ®

 

With Troepano and Santiago ready if any of them go down. Also, after the 2016 season, Weaver's $20 will be coming off the books and it will be time to bring up Newcomb. Also, even with these moves and the money that I said we will be nearly $10 million under the luxur tax.

 

Let the comments begin!

[Schildog]

throw some magic beans in for gonzalez too and i think the rockies are game.

[gotbeer]

Murphy has only played 86 games at 3B in 7 MLB seasons, and looking at the numbers is on par with Freese's defense.  So if you are going to overpay for Murphy, might as well keep the pick and sign Freese.  

 

I think the Rockies can get better for Gonzalez than CJ and Shoemaker.  There is just no value in it for the Rockies, since even aces look like #3 pitchers there.  

 

Fister might be a good buy low candidate.  But IMO, the Angels need a bona fide ace more than a 2/3 type pitcher.  

 

Avila could be a buy low.  But you would have to make sure that he can play C still.  Not sure what his injury situation was this year.  His downward numbers is concerning, and I'm not sure if this would be a place to spend money on.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I would avoid cargo, and not sure murphy would be the best idea for 3rd, but thats a well thought out and within reason first post. Welcome aboard.

[greginpsca]

I would rather Hanigan @ c than Avila. I think Avila is toast. What might be telling is what the Tigers do regarding Avila, as his dad is the GM there.

[AngelFan75]

Thank you all for your comments. However, according to the Mets and Murphy himself, he is considered by all to be better at 3B than at 2B, he just happens to have David Wright over there at third.

The Rockies have already said that Cargo can be had. He is still owed 37 million for the next 2 years and if we pick up his salary, throw in at least $10 million of Wilson's salary and give them Shoemaker who made less than $600,000 last year and  is still under control for at least 2 more years before arbitration. Also, throw in one more player to be named later and this is exactly what Colorado could go for.

Avilia will be a backup to Perez. I made the mistake in my post by not having Perez be the primary catcher. He would give us a quality backup as well as another veteren left handed bat off the bench.

Fister, IMO is considered by most if not all to be a number one pitcher. He was young and just coming into his own is Seattle and guess what, he was behind "King" Felix. He goes over to Detroit where he is behind Verlander, and Scherzer. He gets traded to Washington and is behind Zimmerman, Strausberg, and Scherzer again. So, put him on just about any other team in the majors and he there ACE.

[Blarg]

If your entire hot stove master plan involves Aybar leading off you have completely failed at roster building.

[nikkachez]

Those are too big of contracts for reclamation projects like Fister and Avila. Waaaayyy too much. I'm not against Avila, but I still like Hanigan for the backup spot.

[Blarg]

Fister's career is spottier than Wilsons. This is obviously a fan pick and not one based on anything more than thinking the guy is a better solution.

 

The same with David Murphy that has never hit more than 14 home runs and has a career OPS of .755. That is neither an impact bat nor a true defensive replacement. So he is just there because nothing better is standing by that bag.

 

In the interest of holding down payroll to afford a better player, put Cowart in the position and focus on getting a true leadoff hitter, preferably one that plays left field.

[halomatt]

Thanks for posting and defending your ideas!  They show a great deal of creativity and definitely show some thought.  

[mtangelsfan]

I have no idea why there is any concern at all regarding the back up catcher position.  By definition this is a position that should be filled internally and Bandy will do just fine at league minimum.

[Chuck]

I have no idea why there is any concern at all regarding the back up catcher position.  By definition this is a position that should be filled internally and Bandy will do just fine at league minimum.

 

 

Yeah Bandy and Carlos Perez should be able to handle the load just fine, with Perez getting the majority of the starts. 

[yk9001]

My problems?  What problems?

[ten ocho recon scout]

If your entire hot stove master plan involves Aybar leading off you have completely failed at roster building.

i really want upton, but i think span might be the better idea.

The problem is i still want someone in the lineup besides trout who can break a game open. If pujols from 2012 was still an angel it wouldnt be an issue. Still not sold on cron. Not saying i dont think he can be good, just that im not sure i can bank on it yet.

A real question for next year is what do we expect from aybar and cron. Whatever moves we make are going to depend on the rest of the lineup doing its job, or else we can add babe ruth and not much will change.

I like the prado idea. I like the nei walker idea. Would love to do that and then sign span. Add chris davis and holy sh*t. Obviously its unrealistic, but i can dream.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

I'm LOL'ing at Fister and $70 million in the same sentence.

[yk9001]

How about chill for a few years, collect and draft some first round studs, and have a real f*cking team in five years, instead of this Freeze/Price/Fister yesterday's news bullshit that's always advocated here?

[Angel Oracle]

At least find 2-3 college player hidden gems 

[yk9001]

At least find 2-3 college player hidden gems 

 

And to echo AO, get on some planes and go international and throw $60 million on someone under 30.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

I think your plan is decent. I'm not sure on the Fister side as his #'s with Detroit started screaming arm issues coming and then he blew up in Washington this year even though he had a good record wise his first season there his K's have disappeared and his hits/innings have bumped. He looked over worked his last year in Detroit also.

 

I just wouldn't throw all my eggs in the potential of Doug Fister as you could be looking at shoulder or worse TJ soon.

[Guest]

Fister?

Avila?

 

Are you related to Dave Dombrowski?

 

Those are all awful ideas. 

[totdprods]

I have no idea why there is any concern at all regarding the back up catcher position.  By definition this is a position that should be filled internally and Bandy will do just fine at league minimum.

 

I think they should go a route similar to last year; sign a back-up vet catcher, stick Bandy in AAA to get full-time reps for a month or two, then promote him mid-season. 

 

Bandy won't benefit much from sitting most of the games. It's a long season, we have no options beyond Perez and Bandy at this point, so it'd be best to space out the first half of the season with a vet to keep the kids fresh as the year goes on.

[halomatt]

How about chill for a few years, collect and draft some first round studs, and have a real f*cking team in five years, instead of this Freeze/Price/Fister yesterday's news bullshit that's always advocated here?

This is definitely a good idea.  

[laagamer]

We need players that are actually good.

[HaloNArizona]

_{If Avila can back up, I like that addition, not thanks to Fister.  Heck, I'd even take Murphy at 2nd base.} 

 

_{I don't think CJ gets moved in the offseason, we would have better luck at a trade involving Santiago and maybe Tropeano.  I know Santiago sucked it in the 2nd half, but controllable pitchers are good assets.} 

 

_{We need a lead off hitter, and a power bat......options to fill those spots in our line up is at 2nd, LF and 3B.}

 

_{I think we go after one FA and one trade and fill 3B with an in house option.}

[greginpsca]

I still like the idea of trading Santiago for Trevor Plouffe. Trevor is projected to get about $7mil in arb. Santiago should get a little less than that,so we add only a little payroll there. With Freese gone we will actually save a few dollars.  Then get a lf'er/ leadoff hitter. Then as much pitching as we can afford with the remaining $.

Edited October 21, 2015 by greginpsca