Bullpen Arms: A review of the Market

[ScruffytheJanitor]

As many others have noted, with the 2nd base hole filled, it appears that the Angels list of "Absolutely have to Fill needs" is down to one: Bullpen arm. As far as I am concerned, we have four options for filling this need:

1. Neftali Feliz

Pros: Young (28 Years Old), Decent track record, blessed with the "Randy Searage" juice, High Velocity (96 MPH), coming off a good year

Con: Results aren't SUPER SPECTACULAR, only good; had some injury and consistency problems in his past

2. Greg Holland

Pros: Was a top-tier reliever before injury, Tommy John Surgery slightly less concerning for a reliever, Looked good in his major workout; Could be relatively cheap

Cons: Coming off a TJ; Recent workout was good... except his Velo was pretty low; may not be as cheap as though because of dearth of options on the market.

3. Brad Ziegler

Pros: Ground ball machine would be in front of the best MIF defense in baseball; could serve in a number of roles; veteran leadership (if you are into that sort of thing), long track record of success, Not a Velocity pitcher, so age isn't *that* much of a concern.

Cons: OOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDD

4. Trade

Pros: Surprising Number of decent trade options; might be the best way to get a cheap and/or long-term answer; 

Cons: Angels don't have much depth to trade from; definitely a sellers market; not sure who is willing to deal late-inning options

 

My vote: I kind of like any of these free agent options. Holland makes the least sense, probably, since it might take a while for him to find his sea legs, and the Angels are desperate for a quality pitcher. Any trade for a reliever would almost have to be part of a larger deal, since we just don't have much to work with. If the value for Feliz and Ziegler is similar, Feliz runs away with it. However, Ziegler is an interesting option because his skill set fits so well with what should be an excellent fielding club. Since his commitment in terms or years and dollars should be much less than Feliz, I am going to say Ziegler is the way the Angels go. 

Now if we could only get another starter and another bench piece or two....

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

Storen, Feliz and Ziegler in order.....

[totdprods]

Hochevar, Blevins, Dunn, Tazawa...

[nikkachez]

Blevins and Ziegler. Howell if you can't get Blevins. 

[John Smith]

Jeff Passan Verified account ‏@JeffPassan

Sources: The middle-relief market is starting to sort itself out. There should be a number of signings within the next week.

[tdawg87]

10 minutes ago, John Smith said:

Jeff Passan Verified account ‏@JeffPassan

Sources: The middle-relief market is starting to sort itself out. There should be a number of signings within the next week.

And none of them by the Angels because they're trying their best.

[nikkachez]

There goes Tazawa, sounds like Ziegler's about to sign soon too.

[ukyah]

wtf angels?

we can't afford good middle relievers now? 

go sign like three of them assholes, assholes.

[AngelsLakersFan]

We can only afford good peanuts

[SigBaby]

We really just need 1 reliable reliever in the pen, as it stands now each of our relievers comes with a question mark. Was Bedrosian for real? Is Street salvageable? Has Andrew Bailey found his form?  Ziegler would be good for a high 2 low 3 era which is stability that this team's pen needs. 

[ukyah]

ziegler and feliz would be fine. the angels definitely need another good reliever, i think they need at least two.

[tdawg87]

Last year the team needed a LF and despite such a deep class of free agent outfielders, we went with none of them.

This year, the team needs at least 1 reliever, and it seems we'll be taking the same route. 

Arte really is an asshole.

[nikkachez]

10 hours ago, ukyah said:

ziegler and feliz would be fine. the angels definitely need another good reliever, i think they need at least two.

Definitely, if it's two, I'd really like to see a lefty added

[Jason]

They need someone that is "safe". They don't have that with the current roster and would be gambling if they go with what they already have. Hopefully they get lucky and the pen arms play well.

[Billy_Ball]

Sign Ziegler, so that we can have three former Oakland closers on our team.

[Angel Oracle]

Feliz is probably the best choice.

[wopphil]

We need two free agent pen arms and need to cut ties with Morin and Alvarez.

[totdprods]

30 minutes ago, wopphil said:

We need two free agent pen arms and need to cut ties with Morin and Alvarez.

Morin and Alvarez aren't that bad, but yes, I want two more arms. 
Are Morin and Alvarez both out of options? I'd prefer to have guys like Guerra, Alvarez, and Morin shuttling between LAA and SLC all season instead of Achter, Huff, etc.

One of Blevins, Logan, or Howell, and one of Ziegler, Hochevar, Romo, Henderson and I'd be ecstatic.
Cahill, Wood, or even Feldman would be great in a Chavez role too. 

[DMVol]

4 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Morin and Alvarez aren't that bad, but yes, I want two more arms.....

Alvarez has been inconsistent but Morin has been bad the last two years...

[nikkachez]

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

Feliz is probably the best choice.

I don't know why I can't get on board with Feliz. 

 

He's still really young, throws hard, K's people (10.23 K/9 with Pittsburgh). I do have questions about the HUGE spike in homeruns given up and the amount of hard contact he gave up (career average of Hard Contact % is 28.5%, it went as high as 37% in 2016). The 1.68HR/9 is a bit alarming. But the BABIP's so low, weird year for his strand rate as well. Peripherals didn't like him either. 

 

Just an off year? I'm not sure, but I'm surprised more teams are chomping at the bit for a 28-year old, hard-throwing reliever. 

[totdprods]

9 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Alvarez has been inconsistent but Morin has been bad the last two years...

Both of them have been a little better than their numbers show, and both have been inconsistent. If either were bumped from the pen for FAs I wouldn't be upset in the slightest. Alvarez has been great when used more against lefties and had a great second half. Morin has caught some bad breaks and has been let down by defense some. As depth, I'd think he'd be great bumped all the way to the bottom of the depth chart, used in blowouts, shuttling between AAA whenever a reliever down there gets hot, etc.

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, nikkachez said:

I don't know why I can't get on board with Feliz. 

 

He's still really young, throws hard, K's people (10.23 K/9 with Pittsburgh). I do have questions about the HUGE spike in homeruns given up and the amount of hard contact he gave up (career average of Hard Contact % is 28.5%, it went as high as 37% in 2016). The 1.68HR/9 is a bit alarming. But the BABIP's so low, weird year for his strand rate as well. Peripherals didn't like him either. 

 

Just an off year? I'm not sure, but I'm surprised more teams are chomping at the bit for a 28-year old, hard-throwing reliever. 

Yeah I brought it up in another thread. Very leery of Feliz. On a one year deal? Sure, why not. But he's gonna get more years and money than I'm comfortable with. He had some luck last year and was his first time in the NL. Last time he had comparable trends was his rookie season. The AL West in particular is quite familiar with him and he was very mediocre last few seasons. And he has conditioning/makeup issues.

[Make Angels Great Again]

14 hours ago, ukyah said:

ziegler and feliz would be fine. the angels definitely need another good reliever, i think they need at least two.

 

Totally agree.

[AngelsLakersFan]

41 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Both of them have been a little better than their numbers show, and both have been inconsistent. 

'Inconsistent' is just a euphemism for 'shitty'

[nikkachez]

Welp, there goes Ziegler. 

 

Have a feeling Eppler isn't going to do much in the FA relief market.