Lock up Andrelton Simmons

[Chuck]

Approaching a .300 average, walks, steals bases, hits home runs and don't get me started on that defense. 

Braves got bent over. 

Thanks, Eppy! 

[ettin]

This will be a topic of conversation in the Primer Series in late September....

[disarcina]

I agree,

He has very quickly become one of my favorite Halos of All Time.

He's a fantastic player, great D, great instinct, good attitude --and he's really hitting this year as well !!!

I think he's a tremendous ballplayer.

[Chuck]

I honestly watch the game because of Trout and Simmons. 

I'm just hoping a youth movement starts soon. I'd love to see more of Cowart, Bridwell, Meyer (Due back soon) and perhaps some kids up from AAA/AA.

[disarcina]

might change my Angelswin.com name to Andrelton (is that how it's spelled?) or ASimmons next year..........

[ettin]

The nice thing about Simmons is that he is so gifted defensively that I could easily see him maintaining high quality defense into his mid, even late, 30's. The bat might be a different story but if Andrelton is willing lock him up for an additional 5 years (or more). He could always move to 2B if he loses a step for some reason.

[disarcina]

see that tag at 2B tonight nabbing the runner when Maldonado threw to the wrong side of the bag?

Simmons back handed the throw and brought the tag right down on the runner who was called OUT.

the Indians reviewed the play and it was close, but he was still OUT.

the runner had the base stolen, the throw was to the wrong side of the bag............Simmons is the one who STOLE the OUT on that play.

it's little stuff like that that Simmons does day in, day out.........makes a difference.........

[Chuck]

8 minutes ago, ettin said:

The nice thing about Simmons is that he is so gifted defensively that I could easily see him maintaining high quality defense into his mid, even late, 30's. The bat might be a different story but if Andrelton is willing lock him up for an additional 5 years (or more). He could always move to 2B if he loses a step for some reason.

I thought after watching Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel, Roberto Alomar and even more recently, Robinson Cano that nobody could be smoother than these cats around the diamond. 

I was wrong. 

[ettin]

4 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I thought after watching Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel, Roberto Alomar and even more recently, Robinson Cano that nobody could be smoother than these cats around the diamond. 

I was wrong. 

What is even more impressive beyond the range, footwork, glove, rocket arm, and ability to go back or laterally on any flare to the outfield are his baseball instincts. Andrelton's ability to be "in the game" and fully aware of his surroundings is what helps set him apart from even the other great SS's in history. His back picks and baseball acumen is absolutely tremendous, otherworldly. Great baseball player!

[JAHV76]

Agreed on locking up Simmons. I would also be in favor of signing Maldonado to a extension in the off-season.

[Chuck]

3 minutes ago, ettin said:

What is even more impressive beyond the range, footwork, glove, rocket arm, and ability to go back or laterally on any flare to the outfield are his baseball instincts. Andrelton's ability to be "in the game" and fully aware of his surroundings is what helps set him apart from even the other great SS's in history. His back picks and baseball acumen is absolutely tremendous, otherworldly. Great baseball player!

+1

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, JAHV76 said:

Agreed on locking up Simmons. I would also be in favor of signing Maldonado to a extension in the off-season.

Same here. 

If you take Maldonado and Simmons off this roster, even if Trout is 100% healthy, we're in way worst shape in the standings. 

[ettin]

2 minutes ago, JAHV76 said:

Agreed on locking up Simmons. I would also be in favor of signing Maldonado to a extension in the off-season.

This will be an off-season of extensions and arbitration buy-outs by the way.

Maldonado, Simmons, Bedrosian (who is a Super Two), Parker (who is entering his 1st year but the Angels could buy-out his arbitration years), Richards, Skaggs, and Shoemaker could all be extension/arbitration buy-out candidates.

[Angelsjunky]

Yeah, Simmons is a pleasant surprise - easily the second best Angels position player, and it isn't particularly close. I remember the general view on him when the Angels traded for him was that he was a mediocre hitter with amazing defense, making an overall good player (3 WAR a year), but there was hope that he'd take a step with the bat at some point, making him a true star. Last year he didn't take that step forward, but this year he has. .297/.348/.454, with 3.6 fWAR and projected to finish the year at 5+ fWAR. Who would have thought he'd be 12th in the majors in WAR in late July?

Here's a bit of trivia. If Simmons reaches 5 fWAR this year he'll be the first and only Angel shortstop to surpass 5 since Jim Fregosi, who did it five times (Fregosi was really, really good). At 3.6, he's already #16 on the list of all-time best Angels shortstop seasons, right behind Dick Schofield's best year (1986). Even if he leaves after 2020, he'll still challenge Erick Aybar for the second best Angels shortstop in franchise history. Right now he's at 6.7, with Aybar at 19.9. If he extends beyond that, he'll definitely be 2nd. I can't quite seem him reaching Fregosi (42.6), but you never know.

If Simmons has truly become a .300/.350/.450 hitter, he's a true star. If he manages to hit something like .315/.370/.480, he's an MVP candidate.

[NrM]

52 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Approaching a .300 average, walks, steals bases, hits home runs and don't get me started on that defense. 

Braves got bent over. 

Thanks, Eppy! 

they need to trade him now. His value will never be higher.

[Angelsjunky]

I'd love to see Eppler and Moreno sit down with Simmons and Trout together and say, "This is your club now. We've got great things happening, with tons of young talent coming up over the next few years and we want you to lead them into the 2020s and be here for the rest of your careers. Here's what we'd like to offer you..."

A hypothetical Trout extension is a bit easier to speculate about. Right now he'll be paid $34MM a year for 2018, or 3/$112MM. I think you start by upping his base salarly to $40MM for the first five years of the extention, then add an another five years at $45MM, then to sweeten the overall deal, a couple more at $50MM...so 12/$525MM. I know, but he's Trout. Harper is probably going to get at least 10/$400MM, if not 12/$450MM.

Simmons is trickier, because we don't know if he'll maintain this level, and there's also a question that his defense will decline. After 2017 he's signed at 3/$39MM, which at today's standards is highway robbery. I'd probably offer something like 10/$200MM, which would be hard for him to refuse and while somewhat risky if he's hitting .270/.700 with only solid defense in six, seven years, is at least palatable.

[wopphil]

3 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

I'd love to see Eppler and Moreno sit down with Simmons and Trout together and say, "This is your club now. We've got great things happening, with tons of young talent coming up over the next few years and we want you to lead them into the 2020s and be here for the rest of your careers. Here's what we'd like to offer you..."

A hypothetical Trout extension is a bit easier to speculate about. Right now he'll be paid $34MM a year for 2018, or 3/$112MM. I think you start by upping his base salarly to $40MM for the first five years of the extention, then add an another five years at $45MM, then to sweeten the overall deal, a couple more at $50MM...so 12/$525MM. I know, but he's Trout. Harper is probably going to get at least 10/$400MM, if not 12/$450MM.

Sadly, I don't think your numbers on Trout are unrealistic. Were he to sign an extension right now, there is no way it would be under $400,000,000, and could easily approach 13 or 14 years and $500,000,000.

[Ohtaniland]

10 minutes ago, wopphil said:

Sadly, I don't think your numbers on Trout are unrealistic. Were he to sign an extension right now, there is no way it would be under $400,000,000, and could easily approach 13 or 14 years and $500,000,000.

I think Arte is going to have to wait it out and see what Trout wants to do. We all know that MLB money for Trout won't be an issue. He can get that from a number of teams. Locking up Trout right now may not even be an option. His mentor hit the FA market so there's that. 

[JustATroutFan]

Simmons has played like an All Star this season. There's plenty of players from the past that I know of that people consider stars even though their OPS is lower than Simmons after this game.

[arch stanton]

You can see the difference in his approach. Last year he looked like he wanted to try to go the other way and slap the ball around. This year he looks like he just wants to get a good hack

[CanadianHalo]

He's under contract for another 3 seasons... why the hell would Eppler extend that at the moment?

[Angel Oracle]

Simmons is a centerpiece player.   You just don't trade those.   Same thing with Trout

Now, Eppler's job is to start filling in players around those two.   Maldonado is a good start.   Calhoun needs to revert back to the Calhoun we saw before 2017. Cowart needs to play the majority of the time to see if he's truly another piece.

[disarcina]

Yeah - A. Simmons is under contract for three more seasons, it's a least a year or may be even two away from discussing extension.

As for his finding his offense game this year -- it would be great if that level of performance at the plate will continue from him, but don't count on it -- at some point he comes back to his career average level -- perhaps a bit above that.  But his presence on D at SS is such is that, like Ozzie Smith at the outset of Smith's career, if Simmons bats .245 -- he's worth having out there -- I think Ozzie Smith hit .199 one year - have to look it up --  perhaps he was under .200 for much of the year and was able to finish above it. I do know that another great fielding SS - Eddie Brinkman of the old Washington Senators (among others) hit .199 one year and played close to 162 games with 400 plus ABs. Game was different then -- defense apparently meant more than it does now.

Who wins gold glove at SS this year? 

[disarcina]

going to be tough to top the media favorite Francisco Lindor of Cleveland at SS for gold glove -- but the NL gold glove winner for 2013 and 2014 with the Atlanta Braves (Adrelton Simmons) sure deserves strong consideration for the 2017 SS Gold Glove award.

But these are the same folks who voted Buster Posey as NL gold glove catcher last year over Yadier Molina in the NL despite Yadier catching (and starting more games at C) than any other MLB catcher in 2016 -- so I don't hold out much hope.

BTW -- this season only ONE catcher has PLAYED (not started, but played) more games at Catcher than Yadier Molina (as of last week)......who is that?

HINT: he plays for the Los Angeles Angels and is having a stellar year.

[disarcina]

Trivia -- three Angels have won AL Gold Gloves at SS over the years -- who are they?