The Official 2017-2018 Hot Stove Thread

[greginpsca]

The Fat Lady will be singing tonight. So that means it is time to chop some logs, throw them into the stove, and light up the Hot Stove. 

[Stradling]

I love hot stove talk. 

[jordan]

I guess we'll know by Saturday what Upton decides to do.  Will be a big first step into what happens for the Angels' offseason plans.  Hopefully, it starts off well. 

[Ohtaniland]

Hot stove season....for starters Upton and Tanaka both have huge decisions to make. The Yankees weren’t quiet about declaring that they would not pursue Tanaka if he chooses to opt out. It will be interesting to see how Arte handles that situation if Upton opts out. 

 

 

[Chuck]

The good thing about stud outfielders JD Martinez and Stanton being available, along with Jay Bruce and Lorenzo Cain, is that it decreases the market for Upton. One of the reasons I believe he'll stay put. 

Here's the entire list of outfielders vying for jobs after the world series. 

Left Fielders

Cody Asche (28)
Peter Bourjos (31)
Michael Brantley (31) — $11MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Melky Cabrera (33)
Rajai Davis (37)
Daniel Descalso (31) — $2MM club option with a $150K buyout
Jarrod Dyson (33)
Andre Ethier (36) — $17.5MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout
Craig Gentry (34)
Curtis Granderson (37)
Franklin Gutierrez (35)
Chris Heisey (33)
Austin Jackson (31)
Jon Jay (33)
Howie Kendrick (34)
Hyun Soo Kim (30)
Adam Lind (34) — $5MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Cameron Maybin (31)
Tyler Moore (31)
Daniel Nava (35)
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Colby Rasmus (31)
Ben Revere (30)
Michael Saunders (31)
Ah-seop Son (30)
Justin Upton (30) — Can opt out of the remaining four years, $88MM on his contract
Scott Van Slyke (31)
Jayson Werth (39)
Chris B. Young (34)
Eric Young Jr. (33)

Center Fielders

Peter Bourjos (31)
Lorenzo Cain (32)
Rajai Davis (37)
Jaff Decker (28)
Jarrod Dyson (33)
Carlos Gomez (32)
Austin Jackson (31)
Jon Jay (33)
Cameron Maybin (31)
Andrew McCutchen (31) — $14.75MM club option with a $1MM buyout

Right Fielders

Jose Bautista (37) — $17MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Jay Bruce (31)
Melky Cabrera (33)
Craig Gentry (34)
Carlos Gonzalez (32)
Curtis Granderson (37)
Austin Jackson (31)
John Jaso (34)
Jon Jay (33)
J.D. Martinez (30)
Carlos Moncrief (29)
Tyler Moore (31)
Michael Saunders (31)
Seth Smith (35)
Ah-seop Son (30)
Scott Van Slyke (31)
Jayson Werth (39)

[totdprods]

It should be a busy offseason. Curious to see if Eppler changes his approach significantly in any way or acts a little more boldly, being that he's now a couple years away from his contract expiring.

[Chuck]

Also, I would look at Logan Morrison (38 HR, great OBP) for 1B on a 2-3 year contract for 1B. He can get the majority of the AB's at 1B and Cron can platoon with him. C.J. definitely hasn't earned a full time gig IMO. Let Thaiss get a couple more years in the minors to see if his power ever shows up.

For 3B, you can look at signing Eduardo Nunez who can also leadoff for us. Valbuena hasn't earned a full time job either, so he becomes our utility corner infielder, lefty bat off the bench if we can ship him somewhere else. 

2B I'd look at a Dee Gordon deal, or bring back BP on the cheap for a year. 

Potential lineup would be solid. Speed at the top, power in the middle with three, potentially 4 in a row that hit over 30 HR's over the course of the season.

2B Gordon

3B Nunez

CF Trout

LF Upton

1B Morrison

DH Pujols

RF Calhoun

SS Simmons

C Maldonado 

 

[Angel Oracle]

If Upton opts out and isn’t pursued, Austin Jackson might be an intriguing guy for LF.   Had a strong offensive year in 2017 (.869 OPS).

Cons: only played 85 games in 2017, hasn’t been a full time player in recent years, and struggled offensively from 2013-2016.

[jordan]

2 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

If Upton opts out and isn’t pursued, Austin Jackson might be an intriguing guy for LF.   Had a strong offensive year in 2017.

Austin Jackson already turned down coming to the Angels once before if I recall correctly.

[totdprods]

17 minutes ago, jordan111280 said:

Austin Jackson already turned down coming to the Angels once before if I recall correctly.

Only because it was either a platoon offer, or maybe a position switch - which he eventually had to do with CWS/CLE.

[m0nkey]

Potential target JD Martinez hires Scott Boras today

[Blarg]

And JD just fell off the radar.

[Ohtaniland]

[m0nkey]

After two disastrous World Series starts, any chance the price tag on darvish takes a hit and signs here?

[ukyah]

11 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

If Upton opts out and isn’t pursued, Austin Jackson might be an intriguing guy for LF.   Had a strong offensive year in 2017 (.869 OPS).

Cons: only played 85 games in 2017, hasn’t been a full time player in recent years, and struggled offensively from 2013-2016.

what's not to like? lol.

[Bull58]

Now we will see Eppler's power at hand, I would try to get at least Dee then go from there.

[Docwaukee]

everything is great.  everyone is gonna love what we're gonna do

seriously, you're all gonna love it.  

I can't believe how great it's gonna be.   

this off season.  so great.  

great

[Glen]

Realistically, we need a 2B and a 3B, and a 1B wouldn't hurt.  LF is TBD. Add some bullpen arms to that and EpPler has his work cut out.

[Glen]

He's already said we're going into next season with the starters we have. I don't think he's bluffing.

[Stradling]

There’s a ton more upside in our pitching if we do nothing than in our hitting if we do nothing.

[Stradling]

They certainly won’t win it all, but Eppler has a knack and an obvious system of grading out pitchers.  

[Stradling]

If it was Arte calling the shots we would end up with either Darvish or Tanaka to put some fans in seats.  

[wopphil]

1. Bring back Upton.

2. Acquire Stanton.

3. Acquire Cesar Hernandez.

4. Sign Alex Cobb.

5. Trade Calhoun for bullpen pieces.

[Mark68]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

If it was Arte calling the shots we would end up with either Darvish or Tanaka to put some fans in seats.  

You mean Asian fans?

[Ohtaniland]

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

If it was Arte calling the shots we would end up with either Darvish or Tanaka to put some fans in seats.  

Bring in Otani and they’ll fill the seats.