Angels acquire Danny Espinosa from Nats for Kyle McGowin and Austin Adams

[ukyah]

being that i have made the point, as well as others, that the easiest road for the angels to make the playoffs is by building a pitching and defense first team, i find it difficult to react harshly or with much surprise. i was hoping for a better bat, but he's elite defensively and he has some breakout potential. to be fair, these are the kinds of major league players we should be trading for with our limited trade equity, other than prospects of course.

i'd feel a lot better about this trade if the angels were spending money on some better pitching, but few things happen in a vacuum.

[Chuck]

We could totally use his power and defense at 2B. His speed will turn some of those singles into doubles. 

Also, who knows. Maybe after working with our hitting coach they help him cut down on his whiffs which will improve his BA and OBP a bit. 

Seriously, if the Padres were trying to rape us for one of their 2B and the Cardinals wanted one or two of our best prospects for Wong, forgettaboutit. 

Losing Adams and McGowin does not hurt our farm system.

[Chuck]

Now... If we can somehow sign Justin Turner and trade Escobar for a prospect. That would be one hell of an offseason. If not, I'm still liking our team, but I know Eppy's not done. I'm sure he'll get some more peanuts and do something else, whether an arm or get Turner. 

[totdprods]

Believe Espinosa also gets high marks for his baserunning, and I remember reading on the LA Times/Fangraphs the Angels were one of the worst teams on the basepaths last year.

[ukyah]

15 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

We could totally use his power and defense at 2B. His speed will turn some of those singles into doubles. 

Also, who knows. Maybe after working with our hitting coach they help him cut down on his whiffs which will improve his BA and OBP a bit. 

Seriously, if the Padres were trying to rape us for one of their 2B and the Cardinals wanted one or two of our best prospects for Wong, forgettaboutit. 

Losing Adams and McGowin does not hurt our farm system.

i was already starting to forget their names.

[Chuck]

PointAfter | Graphiq

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[ukyah]

16 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Now... If we can somehow sign Justin Turner and trade Escobar for a prospect. That would be one hell of an offseason. If not, I'm still liking our team, but I know Eppy's not done. I'm sure he'll get some more peanuts and do something else, whether an arm or get Turner. 

we have to significantly improve our starting pitching and bullpen, somehow. if arte would just spend some god damned money, this team could make the division interesting with a modicum of health.

[beatlesrule]

23 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Now... If we can somehow sign Justin Turner and trade Escobar for a prospect. That would be one hell of an offseason. If not, I'm still liking our team, but I know Eppy's not done. I'm sure he'll get some more peanuts and do something else, whether an arm or get Turner. 

You are obsessed with Turner. Why torture yourself?  He's simply too expensive.  Arte won't go over the tax or close to it.  

[eligrba4ever]

Espinosa looks like a solid defender who may have some occasional pop with the bat. If he's a 9-hole hitter withe potential to jack 20 bombs, I'm good with it. Even at sub-.230. He probably won't make anybody who actually remembers Grich forget Grich, but he'll be easier on the Pepto than Giavotella in the field and the 4A Cowart in a lineup.

[Hubs]

If you look at his monthly splits you'll sour pretty quick on him as an every day guy. As a right handed platoon? Sure. He usually has one good month and then three or four awful ones. I know it's a defensive upgrade but unless he turns into Dozier 2016 with the bat this is not an upgrade. It didn't cost much sure but neither does Kaleb Cowart. 

[Hubs]

Honestly I was hoping for a Low strikeout high Obp guy and we got the opposite. Espinosa was 2nd in the NL in strikeouts. That's why we need to platoon him. If he hits bottom third he'll likely be less of a rally killer but 200 SO? From your second baseman? That's way too many.

[tdawg87]

2 minutes ago, Hubs said:

If you look at his monthly splits you'll sour pretty quick on him as an every day guy. As a right handed platoon? Sure. He usually has one good month and then three or four awful ones. I know it's a defensive upgrade but unless he turns into Dozier 2016 with the bat this is not an upgrade. It didn't cost much sure but neither does Kaleb Cowart. 

Do you even realize the offensive "production" this team got from 2B in 2016? Why in the world would he need to hit like Dozier to be an upgrade? That's absurd. He needs to hit like Gia did, which won't be hard.

[Chuck]

Home Run Power - Check

Good Baserunning - Check

Great defense - Check

These three alone provide a tremendous BOOST to our overall bottom line in terms of production and wins.

[Chuck]

33 minutes ago, calscuf said:

We're going to hate him by July and this is going to be another "I told you so" old thread brought back by Bruin.  

Chuck will admit he was wrong and maybe a few other guys, but there will still be a few denying it because he has 9 home runs.

Like I admitted I was wrong about Andrelton Simmons.

Nope! I liked the trade at the time and still do. 

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, beatlesrule said:

You are obsessed with Turner. Why torture yourself?  He's simply too expensive.  Arte won't go over the tax or close to it.  

I agree he won't spend, but he was over the tax at one point last year. 

[Mark68]

I like it. Espinosa doesn't have to hit any higher than 8th in the lineup and we will now have vacuum cleaners up the middle. Any pop Espinosa provides will be gravy. And that hot month he had last year was REALLY hot...as in carry the team hot.

We gave up two nobodies for him, and if he hits .235, with his walks and power, as well as his D, this will have been an absolute steal.

[aznhockeyguy]

Espinosa was worth 3.6 WAR over the past two seasons.  He has a very good walk rate, though a lot of it is through getting HBP's and being walked intentionally as he was batting in the 8 spot to get to the pitcher.  As many has said, he needs to cut down on his strikeouts and make more contact.  When he does make contact, he hits it pretty hard as he has a .160 ISO for his career.  He has a very good glove at either middle infield position and that's where most of his value comes from.  Angels fans should be happy if he produces a .700 OPS with 10+ SB and 15+HR and he keeps up the excellent glove. 

[Angelsjunky]

There's really nothing to dislike here, except if you were hoping for a Solarte or Asuaje trade. But Espinosa--despite being mediocre at best with the bat--is an upgrade. At worst he's +1-2 WAR over what we've had the last couple seasons, and the Angels gave up filler.

This isn't exciting, but nothing to be upset about. Overall a pretty smart move - there really is no downside.

[Angelsjunky]

I can live with this:

LF Maybin

3B Escobar

RF Calhoun

CF Trout

DH Pujols

1B Cron

SS Simmons

2B Espinosa

C Bandy

 

Turner and/or Solarte would have improved it significantly, but there are no horrible players there.

[Glen]

This trade is like you had a GF who was a 2 and you dumped her and got a 5, and your buddies are complaining that you didn't get an 8. You still get to fuck someone three points higher than you were.

[Redondo]

Have to imagine Simmons is very happy right now having an upgraded double play partner to team with.

Not only Simmons, but the pitching staff has to be happy.

If his bat improves a bit and his OPS improves we really upgraded the MI.

[Oz27]

This is confirmation that we aren't spending big, right? At best we sign an Ivan Nova type but I'm thinking it's more likely we get a middle reliever and another fringe starter and call it a day. I'm expecting to head into the season as one of quite a few AL teams projected to win about 85 games. Sometimes teams at that level get a bit lucky, win way more games than their true talent and go on a playoff run. That level of talent isn't what we should aspire to (or what anyone should totally aspire to) but at least it gives us a chance, I guess. I see Houston as the best team in the division pretty comfortably, but we'll probably be somewhere in a wildcard battle with the likes of Seattle, Texas, Baltimore and New York (assuming Boston wins the east).

[ksangel]

7 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Home Run Power - Check

Good Baserunning - Check

Great defense - Check

These three alone provide a tremendous BOOST to our overall bottom line in terms of production and wins.

Agree, Agree, Agree

Plus Espinosa played SS for the team that won the NL East last year and will bring a winning attitude to the Angels.

I'm a Nats fan too (live in Virginia) and Angel fans are going to love the defense, grit and hustle Espinosa will bring to the field day in and day out.

Piss on it that he's not a top notch hitter.  Too much is being put on having all nine players be elite hitters. The Orioles won championship after championship with Mark Belanger at SS.

The Angels now have six of eight positions manned by excellent defenders.  Cron will improve at 1B as he did last year and maybe with a premium being put on defense it will rub off on Escobar.

 

[ksangel]

1 hour ago, Redondo said:

Have to imagine Simmons is very happy right now having an upgraded double play partner to team with.

Not only Simmons, but the pitching staff has to be happy.

If his bat improves a bit and his OPS improves we really upgraded the MI.

Angels upgraded MI even if Espinosa doesn't hit and LF too. 

[totdprods]

42 minutes ago, Oz27 said:

This is confirmation that we aren't spending big, right? 

Depends on definition of spending big. They've been far more willing to throw money at our needs this year than we've really noticed. $9m for Maybin, $5m for 2B, $6m for a spot starter/long-starter is much more notable than the $3m Nava/Gentry got, league minimum for Gia, and $1m for Chacin that we paid in comparison.

They still could sign two more arms - say a reliever and another Chavez-like hybrid - and a 4th OF and will have added something like $35m in AAV, which is almost exactly what we shed with Weaver/Wilson dropping off.

My biggest takeaway is Eppler is going big on a year-to-year payroll. Like Maybin, Bailey, and Chavez, Espinosa is under contract one more year. We are going to have a ton of players coming off next year without much internally to fill. How will that be addressed next offseason? More one year deals? Sink or swim time for Marte, Fletcher, AAA relievers in '18? Or will he start making some acquisitions to address the long-term.