Angels nearing multiyear deal with Luis Valbuena

[John Smith]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/0px-741664-text-margin.html

[Stradling]

Wow

[tdawg87]

Interesting. This has to mean they have a trade in mind, right? 

[Stradling]

If so, then Maybin will be the lead off hitter.

[totdprods]

Excellent news. Doesn't mean they need to trade anyone, he just assumes Marte's position.

This checks off one of our many needs for next offseason too. 

I love Marte, but totally fine with him starting the year in SLC. Good teams have good depth like that in AAA.

[ettin]

Incoming Doc hard-on!

[totdprods]

12 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Interesting. This has to mean they have a trade in mind, right? 

Don't think so - not yet at least. He will see plenty of time platooning or playing match-ups. Could also mean Pujols is looking iffy to start the year. Gives us the flexibility to deal any of the Escobar, Espinosa, Marte, Cron, or even theoretically Revere/Maybin at any point of the year if the right offer comes in. Also can cut Cliff now without batting an eye. Espinosa can be the back-up SS.

If by some bizarre string of events they wind up adding Wieters and another MLB-tested reliever, this team is looking vastly improved, and different. And all for relatively little money.

[Chuck]

How is Valbuena's defense at 3B vs. Escobar's?

[Stradling]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

How is Valbuena's defense at 3B vs. Escobar's?

Can it be worse?  

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

How is Valbuena's defense at 3B vs. Escobar's?

Significantly better. Very good at drawing walks and has surprising pop. He's the only FA that I wouldn't have griped about bumping Marte. He does a lot of the same things Marte does, obviously less pop, but has many other decent to good skills  that Marte doesn't possess, at least not yet.

[Stradling]

The only third baseman I have seen worse at third that I can remember is Trumbo. 

[tdawg87]

7 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Don't think so - not yet at least. He will see plenty of time platooning or playing match-ups. Could also mean Pujols is looking iffy to start the year. Gives us the flexibility to deal any of the Escobar, Espinosa, Marte, Cron, or even theoretically Revere/Maybin at any point of the year if the right offer comes in. Also can cut Cliff now without batting an eye. Espinosa can be the back-up SS.

If by some bizarre string of events they wind up adding Wieters and another MLB-tested reliever, this team is looking vastly improved, and different. And all for relatively little money.

I think it depends on the deal. I don't think they're going to pay Valbuena significant money to be a platoon player. 

Regardless, it gives the team more options.

[Chuck]

Marte could use some seasoning in LF if they envision him improving there.

We only have Maybin for one season right? We need a future LF.

[ukyah]

as i've said before and understanding the concept of AAA depth, i think sending marte down would be a mistake. he showed that he should be given a shot to continue his major league growth not only by his season overall, but also by his adjustment in the second half after the league made their adjustment to him.

that's not to say he needs to be a starter at a set position, but rather a rover getting starts all over. i'd like to see what he could do in his sophomore season at the major league level.

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, ukyah said:

as i've said before and understanding the concept of AAA depth, i think sending marte down would be a mistake. he showed that he should be given a shot to continue his major league growth not only by his season overall, but also by his adjustment in the second half after the league made their adjustment to him.

that's not to say he needs to be a starter at a set position, but rather a rover getting starts all over. i'd like to see what he could do in his sophomore season at the major league level.

Maybe the FO feels it'd be best for his development to get full-time ABs in SLC. He can get more time at specific positions if they want to toy with him in the OF still. He's just as likely to see no significant or regular time in Anaheim as he is to see sufficient playing time, and if you get a solid improvement like Valbuena falling into your lap on a great contract, you have to pull that trigger. Marte is still plenty young and under plenty of control. He'll still see time in Anaheim this year and he could be a full-time regular by the Deadline if we wind up sellers.

[ukyah]

24 minutes ago, John Smith said:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/0px-741664-text-margin.html

how did you get norwegian in there, avansert medlem?

[ukyah]

5 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Maybe the FO feels it'd be best for his development to get full-time ABs in SLC. He can get more time at specific positions if they want to toy with him in the OF still. He's just as likely to see no significant or regular time in Anaheim as he is to see sufficient playing time, and if you get a solid improvement like Valbuena falling into your lap on a great contract, you have to pull that trigger. Marte is still plenty young and under plenty of control. He'll still see time in Anaheim this year and he could be a full-time regular by the Deadline if we wind up sellers.

 

i'm all for valbuena and i hope he's the 3b. i'm just saying i think it's better for marte to continue at the major league level, at least until he proves he can't make the adjustment. i'm not blowing my load over him, but those are my thoughts on how this particular stage of development should be handled.

[aznhockeyguy]

I'm not a huge fan of Luis Valbuena.  He does have good pop and draws walks. If he's signed for something like 2 year/10 mil total, I think is a fair deal for both parties.  

[Troll Daddy]

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

The only third baseman I have seen worse at third that I can remember is Trumbo. 

Seriously, you have to get over your infatuation with Escobar.

[ettin]

3 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Excellent news. Doesn't mean they need to trade anyone, he just assumes Marte's position.

This checks off one of our many needs for next offseason too. 

I love Marte, but totally fine with him starting the year in SLC. Good teams have good depth like that in AAA.

There is more than one possibility here to be honest. I agree he could easily take Marte's place on the roster and that is the likely outcome where he can split time at 3B and 2B with the lefty killers Escobar and Espinosa. However I will point out that over the last three years he has run a wRC+ vs. RHP of 126 which is 7 points higher than Cron with a better OBP (.344 OBP). Both have been bad against LHP as well with Cron at 91 wRC+ and Valbuena at 76 wRC+. Could a Cron trade be a possibility? Certainly but who knows.

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, ukyah said:

 

i'm all for valbuena and i hope he's the 3b. i'm just saying i think it's better for marte to continue at the major league level, at least until he proves he can't make the adjustment. i'm not blowing my load over him, but those are my thoughts on how this particular stage of development should be handled.

Robb Quinlan looked like a badass too for awhile. Not trying to be snarky, just trying to weigh both sides. I imagine Valbuena will be relatively cheap at this point, and it gives us a lot of depth for next year too, which gives Eppler a lot of freedom and flexibility when it comes to making deals over the next year. More than Marte offered.

[DMVol]

Depth is a good thing....

[Troll Daddy]

Does Pennington get traded?

[Oz27]

Hard to judge this one until we see the terms. Valbuena is a pretty decent player but I could see a multi-year deal turning bad. There is obvious reason to be nervous about how a LHH with primarily pull power will fare at Angel Stadium too.

But if this means less Escobar and it isn't too expensive, that is probably a good thing.

[ettin]

 

1 minute ago, Troll Daddy said:

Does Pennington get traded?

This is a potential outcome with Espinosa at 2B who could replace Simmons if an injury occurs.