The Official Angels Hot Stove - Winter Meetings - Rumors thread

[totdprods]

9 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

I believe our 5th rotation spot is up for grabs in ST ... as planned by Eppler.

He have three potential closers signed ... unti that gets sorted out I don't see Eppler adding to the bullpen. 

I don't see why Bedrosian, Street, and Bailey can't hold down the 7th-9th inning roles no matter how they shake out. 

No reason to not look at a cheap vet for the other roles. 

[Stradling]

22 hours ago, SlappyUtilityMIF said:

signed Dec 8 2011.... MT#27 was playing in 2011

 

http://losangeles.sbnation.com/los-angeles-angels/2011/12/8/2622757/los-angeles-angels-tv-deal-3-billion-20-years-albert-pujols-c-j-wilson-arte-moreno

 

Same Day the Halos signed AP#5 to the Albatross! .....

Sorry I should have said it predates Mike Trout being Mike Trout.  As someone pointed out Trout hit about .220 in 2011.  No one is giving a team $3 billion TV contract because of a 19 year old that hits .220.  

[mtangelsfan]

11 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I don't see why Bedrosian, Street, and Bailey can't hold down the 7th-9th inning roles no matter how they shake out. 

No reason to not look at a cheap vet for the other roles. 

Because two out of those three were not great last season (to put it nicely)/

[totdprods]

6 minutes ago, mtangelsfan said:

Because two out of those three were not great last season (to put it nicely)/

So why would that prevent them from signing another reliever?

[mtangelsfan]

I was referring to the notion that they should be able to hold down the 7-9 innings.  I don't have that confidence.

[Troll Daddy]

8 hours ago, totdprods said:

I don't see why Bedrosian, Street, and Bailey can't hold down the 7th-9th inning roles no matter how they shake out. 

No reason to not look at a cheap vet for the other roles. 

You have a point ... although, I have faith in our current depth in the bullpen. Why spend more dollars taking a roster spot of a potentially better reliever. I feel there's plenty of time to shore up the pen if needed down the road.

i guess we'll find out ... Cahill is gone now and more real soon. 

[totdprods]

6 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

You have a point ... although, I have faith in the in our current depth in the bullpen. Why spend more dollars taking a roster spot of a potentially better reliever. I feel there's plenty of time to shore up the pen if needed down the road.

i guess we'll find out ... Cahill is gone now and more real soon. 

To me, it really boils down to depth and my belief that they're much better off adding depth right now than trying to do so midseason. Either you're relying on waiver claim cast-offs throughout the year, or you're spending prospects. Last year was a perfect example - we got lucky with Ramirez, and possibly Guerra, but our other midseason pitching acquisitions were pretty awful. I'd rather be the team casting off pitchers in May than the one buying up the cast-offs.

No harm in plucking a cheap vet arm or two right now. If it bumps Morin, Alvarez, Guerra, or Ramirez into SLC (or off the roster) to start the year, so be it. 

[AngelStew43]

2 hours ago, totdprods said:

I still think JP Howell and Jim Henderson would be great cheap buys - they'll either be cheap enough to jettison if they suck or great bargain buys if they perform well. Not necessarily the best buys, but the best cheap buys. 

Boone Logan is still pretty appealing to me, but the fact that there has been basically no murmurs on him this offseason is concerning.

Have a hard time seeing a #1-2 starter being affordable at the deadline. We won't have the prospects for that. I'd rather buy one in the offseason than deal for one.

Would any of you be interested if the Tigers fell out of contention and Verlander became available?

[totdprods]

The thing about the MLB offseason is that it is constantly changing even if nothing is happening. We're 30 some odd days away from ST and there is an abnormally high amount of FAs remaining. Most aren't that good, most carry a lot of risk, yes yes. But one huge difference this offseason is, closers aside, no one has really overpaid, in years or in money. If anything, we've seen some potentially significant underpays. Ivan Nova could be a steal at 3/$26, where Reddick's 4/$52, which seemed reasonable at the time, now looks fairly high. 

Eppler is in a position to take advantage of the market. We have up to $20m to spend and there are going to be a lot of vets taking cheap one-year deals. No, they aren't very appealing, but depth is depth. If we can't build a good AAA team in a month, we could reverse-engineer one by signing some cheap vets and bumping some arms, Perez, possibly Marte down to AAA to start the year. We can bring them back in short order. Eppler just needs to keep a short leash and cut these guys quickly rather than run them out into June.

[totdprods]

22 minutes ago, AngelStew43 said:

Would any of you be interested if the Tigers fell out of contention and Verlander became available?

For sure but he's gonna cost a fortune if he's even performing remotely close to his year last year.

[totdprods]

Looks like Ji-man Choi has signed with the Yankees.

[nikkachez]

Angels claimed Juan Graterol back off of waivers after designating him for assignment, getting claimed by Cincinnati, claimed by Arizona, and now back to Anaheim. Blake Parker was designated again to make room for Graterol. Tony Sanchez and Graterol in Salt Lake isn't too shabby at all. 

 

Although, I imagine Graterol will be the odd man out when they sign Wieters. 

 

 

[Docwaukee]

26 minutes ago, nikkachez said:

Angels claimed Juan Graterol back off of waivers after designating him for assignment, getting claimed by Cincinnati, claimed by Arizona, and now back to Anaheim. Blake Parker was designated again to make room for Graterol. Tony Sanchez and Graterol in Salt Lake isn't too shabby at all. 

 

Although, I imagine Graterol will be the odd man out when they sign Wieters. 

 

 

not that the presence of Graterol would be a determining factor, but I get this weird suspicion the halos are pursuing Holland as opposed to Wieters.  

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

not that the presence of Graterol would be a determining factor, but I get this weird suspicion the halos are pursuing Holland as opposed to Wieters.  

Alternately, they could be shopping Perez for a pitcher and close to signing Wieters. Instead of relegating Perez to AAA, they move him off to another big-league club for a young reliever with potential.

[totdprods]

Gregorio Petit signs a minor league deal with the Jays.

Graterol DFAed again, claimed by Jays. Making room for Valbuena.

[Troll Daddy]

CJ Wilson pitching showcase

 

 

[SigBaby]

On 1/13/2017 at 1:17 PM, totdprods said:

To me, it really boils down to depth and my belief that they're much better off adding depth right now than trying to do so midseason. Either you're relying on waiver claim cast-offs throughout the year, or you're spending prospects. Last year was a perfect example - we got lucky with Ramirez, and possibly Guerra, but our other midseason pitching acquisitions were pretty awful. I'd rather be the team casting off pitchers in May than the one buying up the cast-offs.

No harm in plucking a cheap vet arm or two right now. If it bumps Morin, Alvarez, Guerra, or Ramirez into SLC (or off the roster) to start the year, so be it. 

I'm a big fan of the low price and potential of Aaron Barrett. I think he could come in and if given an opportunity could hold down the setup role. There's also a lot of cheap starter reliever hybrid pitchers left who could potentially be had on minor league deals given that there's a decent chance of making this teams pen/ 5 spot: Jorge De la Rosa, Edwin Jackson, Kris Medlen, Vance Worley, Williams Perez. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

http://rayscoloredglasses.com/2017/01/25/tampa-bay-rays-explore-doable-options/

A new interest for the Rays could be Los Angeles Angels first baseman C.J. Cron, who could be dealt for the right piece, which would be starter Jake Odorizzi. Luis Valbuena was just signed to a two-year deal and GM Billy Eppler via a conference call to reporters (Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times), said that Valbuena will play at good chunk of the season at first base and Cron will have to fight for playing time.

Cron is not going to knock down the fences like Carter or Napoli would, but he does fit the Rays mold, as he has not reached arbitration and is under team control for four more years before reaching free agency – more importantly, he is very affordable (less than $600,000).

Offensively, he is not your home run hitter but he does have the ability to hit 20-25 four-baggers and drive in runs. In 2016, he hit .278/.325/.467 (all career-highs) with 16 home runs, 69 RBIs in 445 plate appearances.

On the other side, Cron is defensively sound as a first baseman, having committed just six errors in 818.2 innings (815 chances) in 2016, with a (DRS 3). Career wise; in 176 starts at first (1471 chances in 1530 innings, 191 games), he has committed just 13 errors, though his defensive runs saved sits at -7.

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, SigBaby said:

I'm a big fan of the low price and potential of Aaron Barrett. I think he could come in and if given an opportunity could hold down the setup role. There's also a lot of cheap starter reliever hybrid pitchers left who could potentially be had on minor league deals given that there's a decent chance of making this teams pen/ 5 spot: Jorge De la Rosa, Edwin Jackson, Kris Medlen, Vance Worley, Williams Perez. 

Yeah there's plenty of interesting pitching out there still, and it's a crop of guys who are going to have start settling for MILB deals with ST invites. Good relief market too - Blevins, Logan, Wood, Howell on the left side all could be of interest. 

Jon Niese and Jorge de la Rosa could be interesting, as would be Wood, because they're lefties and our rotation is a little righty-heavy at the moment. All three of them could work out of the pen as well. 

If Skaggs winds up hurt or ineffective, we're pretty much devoid of LHP SP unless Nate Smith, Manny Banuelos, or John Lamb step up in a big way.

[totdprods]

Another big plus with acquiring Odorizzi (or another controllable young SP) is it sets Eppler up again for having some tradeable surplus. 

If the team is stumbling around the deadline, he could look at cashing in and selling one of Skaggs, Shoemaker, Odorizzi*, or even Richards, and still likely have enough SP depth going into 2018 with Heaney and Trop returning to at least form something resembling a MLB-caliber rotation. 

Or, he holds onto everybody, gets Heaney and Trop back, and goes into next offseason with a heavy surplus of SP again. Which may result in a similar offseason to this year, where we devote all of our spending money mostly on bats to cover our many IF/OF holes. 

All of these moves he has been making are rippling depth out in so many ways. Even if the efforts don't translate to on-field success, it's pretty hard to argue against the fact that Eppler has done a fantastic job or stopping the bleeding this org was enduring.

[Troll Daddy]

11 hours ago, totdprods said:

Another big plus with acquiring Odorizzi (or another controllable young SP) is it sets Eppler up again for having some tradeable surplus. 

If the team is stumbling around the deadline, he could look at cashing in and selling one of Skaggs, Shoemaker, Odorizzi*, or even Richards, and still likely have enough SP depth going into 2018 with Heaney and Trop returning to at least form something resembling a MLB-caliber rotation. 

Or, he holds onto everybody, gets Heaney and Trop back, and goes into next offseason with a heavy surplus of SP again. Which may result in a similar offseason to this year, where we devote all of our spending money mostly on bats to cover our many IF/OF holes. 

All of these moves he has been making are rippling depth out in so many ways. Even if the efforts don't translate to on-field success, it's pretty hard to argue against the fact that Eppler has done a fantastic job or stopping the bleeding this org was enduring.

Trading good pitching at the deadline in hopes of a Heaney/Tropeano comeback isn't your best idea. 

[Mark68]

12 hours ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

http://rayscoloredglasses.com/2017/01/25/tampa-bay-rays-explore-doable-options/

A new interest for the Rays could be Los Angeles Angels first baseman C.J. Cron, who could be dealt for the right piece, which would be starter Jake Odorizzi. Luis Valbuena was just signed to a two-year deal and GM Billy Eppler via a conference call to reporters (Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times), said that Valbuena will play at good chunk of the season at first base and Cron will have to fight for playing time.

Cron is not going to knock down the fences like Carter or Napoli would, but he does fit the Rays mold, as he has not reached arbitration and is under team control for four more years before reaching free agency – more importantly, he is very affordable (less than $600,000).

Offensively, he is not your home run hitter but he does have the ability to hit 20-25 four-baggers and drive in runs. In 2016, he hit .278/.325/.467 (all career-highs) with 16 home runs, 69 RBIs in 445 plate appearances.

On the other side, Cron is defensively sound as a first baseman, having committed just six errors in 818.2 innings (815 chances) in 2016, with a (DRS 3). Career wise; in 176 starts at first (1471 chances in 1530 innings, 191 games), he has committed just 13 errors, though his defensive runs saved sits at -7.

If Odorizzi could be had for Cron, I would do this deal.

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, Troll Daddy said:

Trading good pitching at the deadline in hopes of a Heaney/Tropeano comeback isn't your best idea. 

If the team is sucking (or heck even just middling) at the deadline and someone offered a huge package of MLB-ready talent for one of Shoe, Skaggs, Odorizzi, or Richards, I would absolutely pull the trigger.

In no way do I expect Trop or Heaney to come back and immediately fill the void left by whomever we deal, but they don't need to, they just need to come back, and we need to hope for continued improvement and stability from our other arms. A 2018 rotation featuring three of Shoe/Skaggs/Richards/Odorizzi and rounded out with Heaney, Trop, Smith, Nolasco, etc isn't any worse than what we have now.

There's loads of FA SP next offseason, but the position players are a little thin. We could conceivably need a LF, a 3B, a 2B, C, 4th OF, and UT IF still next offseason. A well-executed trade of one of our top SPs this summer could go a long way to crossing off some needs.

[Jeff Fletcher]

9 hours ago, Mark68 said:

If Odorizzi could be had for Cron, I would do this deal.

Seems a little over optimistic. Cron-plus for Odorizzi. 

[wopphil]

10 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Seems a little over optimistic. Cron-plus for Odorizzi. 

And the plus would probably have to be Thaiss and Jones. I assume Odorizzi's trade value is vastly higher than Cron's (though I do think Cron is underrated).