The Official Angels Hot Stove - Winter Meetings - Rumors thread

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, nikkachez said:

A Heyman tweet about "checking in" on Turner (which could literally mean anything, they do background work on everyone) and Olney said what we've known this entire time (what, that they need a second baseman and pitching?)

Seriously, riveting stuff. I should probably sit down for when I see the tweet about "the Angels wanting to get better". Might not be able to contain my excitement. 

Well, what do you expect? Not much happening yet. Hearing they're looking at 2B, pitching, and outfield, and have looked into Turner is better than hearing nothing at all, or that Eppler hasn't arrived yet. 

[Docwaukee]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

I think Bach's orchestra of stuff is a little out of tune.  

[Homebrewer]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I created a Twitter account just for following baseball rumors and followed all the Angels/LA area beat writers - Fletcher, Shaikin, DiGiovanni, Moura, etc. and then all the big MLB writers - Rosenthal, Olney, Heyman, Chris Cotillo, etc., as well as a couple other longtime writers from big baseball markets Adam Rubin, Nick Piecoro, what's his face in Boston. Taylor Blake Ward and Matt Eddy are great for Angels minor league and minor league news respectively. 

Likewise...my twitter account is just for following baseball news....there is somewhat of a competition between all of these guys to get the info first, and get it right too. Rumors are marked as such.

Great resource.

[totdprods]

Astros claimed Ashur Tolliver off waivers. 

Wonder if the Angels were trying to get him off the 40 to make room for someone...we're now at 39.

[totdprods]

Jon Heyman‏ @JonHeyman

The angels have emerged as 2B possibility for Chase Utley, who's from long beach, UCLA and did well with dodgers.

[bloodbrother]

Don't really see the point of Utley.  Gotta think that's a fallback option if other possibilities(trades) don't quite materialize

[DMVol]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Jon Heyman‏ @JonHeyman

The angels have emerged as 2B possibility for Chase Utley, who's from long beach, UCLA and did well with dodgers.

Kind of thought this is where we'd end up.... 

[Stradling]

Left handed bat, local guy, veteran, decent fielder, low cost, one year deal.  Seems pretty logical since we don't have anyone better nor do we have the prospects it will take to get a young guy with upside.  Kind of makes sense to me.  

[ettin]

1 hour ago, Cdaniel said:

Who do you guys follow on twitter to get the latest news?

Follow MLBTradeRumors on Twitter and you'll get pretty timely updates. Ken Rosenthal, Jon Heyman, Bob Nightengale are some of the bigger names that get the inside scoops and tweet them first.

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

Left handed bat, local guy, veteran, decent fielder, low cost, one year deal.  Seems pretty logical since we don't have anyone better nor do we have the prospects it will take to get a young guy with upside.  Kind of makes sense to me.  

Yeah, it may not be that bad depending on what other moves materialize. If they shore up the pen and hold off trading anyone, we're still in good shape. Utley still could be a big improvement over the last two years. He's also struggled enough against lefties that another bench piece could be brought into the fold.

[DMVol]

 

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

.....He's also struggled enough against lefties that another bench piece could be brought into the fold.

I think that piece is already under contract:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pennicl01.shtml

Hard to get excited about either....

[nando714]

The angel way 

38 year old has been getting regular at bats 

[totdprods]

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Left handed bat, local guy, veteran, decent fielder, low cost, one year deal.  Seems pretty logical since we don't have anyone better nor do we have the prospects it will take to get a young guy with upside.  Kind of makes sense to me.  

He was great away from Dodger Stadium too. Over .800 OPS.

[Billy_Ball]

4 minutes ago, nando714 said:

The angel way 

38 year old has been getting regular at bats 

Steve Finley!  Never mind, he was 40 as an Angel.

[totdprods]

LAA 2B '16: .235/.275/.345/.620
Chase '16: .252/.319/.396/.716

Not great but still could be a decent improvement. Away from Dodger Stadium, he hit .281/.343/.466/.809

[HaloNArizona]

Utley faded in the second half of last year.  As a platoon player, he was solid against RHP last year, with a pretty decent OBP.

[Ohtaniland]

29 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Kind of thought this is where we'd end up.... 

Come on, we are talking about Pujols and Utley playing on the right side of the infield together. That's 32 years of combined experience so there's no way a ball gets through there. 

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, HaloNArizona said:

Utley faded in the second half of last year.  As a platoon player, he was solid against RHP last year, with a pretty decent OBP.

His worst months came in June and September though. He was still alright in July and August. Got a little HR happy, swung out a little more often and drew a few less walks.

 

[totdprods]

21 minutes ago, DMVol said:

 

I think that piece is already under contract:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pennicl01.shtml

Hard to get excited about either....

Cliff's been worse against lefties his entire career, and rarely got any ABs against them last year. Doubt he's who they're envisioning being a platoon partner. Shame Pearce is off the board, he would have been a great guy to pair with Utley.

[DMVol]

6 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Cliff's been worse against lefties his entire career, and rarely got any ABs against them last year. Doubt he's who they're envisioning being a platoon partner. Shame Pearce is off the board, he would have been a great guy to pair with Utley.

You wouldn't keep Pennington if you're going to sign a platoon partner for Utley....you would need to either trade him (good luck with that) or eat his contract....

[totdprods]

Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo  5m5 minutes ago

Angels casting wide net in 2B search, source tells SBN. Utley an option. Nothing appears imminent, though things change quickly at WMs.

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, DMVol said:

You wouldn't keep Pennington if you're going to sign a platoon partner for Utley....you would need to either trade him (good luck with that) or eat his contract....

Pennington isn't hard to cut or trade for a no-name minor leaguer. He's still a capable defensive UT IF. Teams need those.

I'm thinking someone who is more of a 2B/LF bench player anyways, someone who wouldn't mean Pennington has to be dealt. Someone like Descalso.

[Stradling]

25 minutes ago, nando714 said:

The angel way 

38 year old has been getting regular at bats 

Yea, because in the last ten years there have been so many of those.  Let's see we had Abreu get 8 games as a 38 year old.  Victorino?  I guess you can pretend McDonald got regular at bats.  Who else?  I'm sure there are a couple of others, but to claim this is the Angel way is just you wanting to see something that isn't there.  

[DMVol]

1 minute ago, totdprods said:

Pennington isn't hard to cut or trade for a no-name minor leaguer. He's still a capable defensive UT IF. Teams need those....

Tony Reagins isn't around to make that trade....don't think you're going to find a taker for his 2.25 million price tag....we'll see....

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Tony Reagins isn't around to make that trade....don't think you're going to find a taker for his 2.25 million price tag....we'll see....

You mean Bill Stoneman or Matt Klentak?
Those guys made basically the same trade in 2015 - three times. That's such a minimal amount of money it's easy for either team to find a way to divy it up. Not saying it will happen, but it isn't impossible.