Angels Pursuing Ohtani

[UndertheHalo]

And how do we know Otani is a “legit number 1 starter” 

that seems like pretty incredible speculation. 

[tdawg87]

He's a better bet than any prospects we might get.

[Make Angels Great Again]

 

[Angelsfan1984]

6 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Probably not.. .plus I promised the wife to unplug during our vacation. 

I could always break the rules though and sneak off somewhere and check the site.

 

Just tell her you have to take a shit. That's what I did on my honeymoon lol! "oh man this Thai food gave me the squirts, brb..." Come back to both legs asleep 30 minutes later.

[UndertheHalo]

10 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Fletcher literally said they are going after Ohtani.

Jeff Fletcher is awesome.  He’s also in the business of getting people to read his articles. Otani is a big  exciting name that attracts eye balls. I didn’t read anything in his write up that suggested the Angels were in a position to make serious run at him.  Sure they have a better shot now. 

Im sure the Angels will have inquiries on Otani.  But let’s be real here.  The Angels are getting this money because there’s an opportunity to pump talent into the system more rapidly.  If they somehow come up with Otani.  Cool. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by UndertheHalo

[Dick Enberg]

8 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Jeff Fletcher is awesome.  He’s also in the business of getting people to read his articles. Otani is a big  exciting name that attracts eye balls. I didn’t read anything in his write up that suggested the Angels were in a position to make serious run at him.  Sure they have a better shot now. 

Im sure the Angels will have inquiries on Otani.  But let’s be real here.  The Angels are getting this money because there’s an opportunity to pump talent into the system more rapidly.  If they somehow come up with Otani.  Cool. 

My oh my, I think we used to call this "quit being such a Debbie Downer!!"

This is excitement, this is winter baseball!

 

[totdprods]

Even if the money doesn't wind up being used for Ohtani or Maitan, the Angels could still make use of it to replace any prospects they trade away this winter to fill holes, be it for Stanton, Gordon, Cesar, Abreu, Profar, etc. 

Keep that in mind whenever Eppler pulls a trade off using the farm this offseason. He'll have something of a safety net to use to restock.

[tdawg87]

7 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Jeff Fletcher is awesome.  He’s also in the business of getting people to read his articles. Otani is a big name that will attract eye balls. I didn’t read anything in his write up that suggested the Angels were in a position to make serious run at him.  Sure they have a better shot now. 

Im sure the Angels will have inquiries on Otani.  But let’s be real here.  The Angels are getting this money because there’s an opportunity to pump talent into the system more rapidly.  If they somehow come up with Otani.  Cool. 

You might be right. But I trust Fletcher more than the average beat writer. I don't think he says things just to get hits.

Will the Angels get Ohtani? Probably not. But I do believe they will make a serious play at him.

[AngelsLakersFan]

21 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Seriously, I don’t buy this as money for Otani at all.  There are literally 3 teams almost 4 who can offer double the money.  One of those teams being the Yankees.  It’s just not realistic imo.  

That said, I think this is a very deft move to try and sweep up some of the nice adrift Braves prospects.  Perhaps others.

The money isn't really a big deal to Ohtani, you just need enough to get yourself in the game. The real money will come later.

[Dave Saltzer]

Just now, tdawg87 said:

You might be right. But I trust Fletcher more than the average beat writer. I don't think he says things just to get hits.

Will the Angels get Ohtani? Probably not. But I do believe they will make a serious play at him.

I agree. Fletcher does a very good job and doesn't do click bait. He's not that kind of guy, and I respect him for that. We will make a serious play for him, and hopefully we can land him.

[totdprods]

Just now, Dave Saltzer said:

I agree. Fletcher does a very good job and doesn't do click bait. He's not that kind of guy, and I respect him for that. We will make a serious play for him, and hopefully we can land him.

Great. Fletcher is so good at pouring cold water on our half-brained ideas that I'm expecting him to chime in any minute now and say "hey guys, sorry that was total click bait."

[Hubs]

36 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

Keep in mind, Ohtani is still going to get mega-money. The international bonus money just gets you in the game, along with the 20 million posting fee. Once a team signs him, they'll immediately begin discussing parameters for an extension.

For example, lets say the Angels offer him a 1.3 million bonus on top of the 20 million posting fee. After that, they are free to sign him to an extension that would buy out his arb and a couple free agent years. Something like 7 years 150 million.

Scotty,

You know this is completely 100% against the rules correct? No team will sign him to an extension that quickly because they will be accused by MLB of offering the extension before he signed. So they cannot extend him until at least the season starts. This was one of the issues the MLBPA was arguing about. Plus IMHO, he's not worth that kind of money. No way. Tanaka had a lot of seasons of success in Japan before he came over. Darvish only made like $55M over 7 seasons.

Also, the team that signs him will have him for 6 years of control, 3 at the club control dollars and 3 in arbitration just like every other player. And since they can't promise a big dollar buyout before they sign him, it's in exactly whose benefit to sign him to that kind of extension before he's played a single game?

The team will look to extend him maybe after year one, not before. What if he's a bust?

More likely it's after year two or three. He understands this and is coming now anyway, because he hopes to make big money in years 4-6 and beyond. If he waited two years in Japan, he risks injury, and the posting rules changing, so he wants to come now. He's going to be paid slightly over the minimum, but I'd say maybe $600k. He fits in the club control category, which is one of the reasons he's so big of an appeal.

 

 

 

[Angelsfan1984]

I think they make the sell as pitcher and 1b on off days or offer him 1b on days where its a righty pitching.

[Dick Enberg]

next thing we need to hear from Fletcher is

Angels hire Hideki Matsui as a bench coach!!

[UndertheHalo]

7 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Even if the money doesn't wind up being used for Ohtani or Maitan, the Angels could still make use of it to replace any prospects they trade away this winter to fill holes, be it for Stanton, Gordon, Cesar, Abreu, Profar, etc. 

Keep that in mind whenever Eppler pulls a trade off using the farm this offseason. He'll have something of a safety net to use to restock.

The idea that the international money could be used as trade currency is pretty exciting imo. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by UndertheHalo

[krAbs]

 

[totdprods]

4 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

The idea that the international money could be used as trade currency is pretty exciting imo. 

I mentioned it elsewhere, but another scenario...

If the Angels feel they have no chance at Ohtani, and that the Yankees and Rangers are both front-runners, they could trade their international money to New York to give them an advantage, and get some players back from the rich NYY farm system while making it more difficult for the rival Rangers to obtain Ohtani.

That'd be a little insane but sometimes that's what happens.

[UndertheHalo]

Well, Fletcher is sticking by his guns.  Still it seems so unlikely on the face of it.  

Maybe some deliberate misdirection here from the Angels ? Who knows. what do I know I guess. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by UndertheHalo

[Mark68]

[ettin]

1 hour ago, HaloNArizona said:

Trout, Upton and Simmons...not a bad group to be around.  

 

From the article:

The Angels bolstered their bullpen by acquiring veteran closer Jim Johnson from the Atlanta Braves on Thursday in exchange for a lightly regarded minor league pitcher, while also adding $1.21 million in intentional pool space that is earmarked to make a run at Japanese star Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani is expected to be posted on Friday, and subject to international signing pool limitations. The Angels had used up almost all of their money. The extra space from the Braves puts the Angels at $1.315 million, which is seventh in the majors among teams whose spending isn’t capped by penalties.

When I opened the link the story had not been updated properly. It happened about two minutes later.

[Ohtaniland]

Just a question. When and where did he ever play 1st base? I still think that the DH position is going to be crucial to attaining Ohtani.

Does his acquisition mean we are dumping Calhoun or Cron? Accommodating him is going to be the most important aspect to luring him. 

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, Calzone said:

Just a question. When and where did he ever play 1st base? I still think that the DH position is going to be crucial to attaining Ohtani.

Does his acquisition mean we are dumping Calhoun or Cron? Accommodating him is going to be the most important aspect to luring him. 

I think it's more just speculation that a MLB team will relegate him to 1B to preserve his health and his arm. And being that it's a 'simpler' position, they can ease him into it, which plays into the narrative of a team willing to give him opportunity to be a two-way player without shutting the door on him one way or another. 

I do agree that most MLB teams will probably have him be a SP and then just give him ABs where they can. It's going to be unlike anything we've seen. 

Could see the Angels signing someone like a platoon of Austin Jackson/Ben Revere and splitting him/them in OF, flipping Kole for a SP or a 2B/3B, leaving Cron/Valbuena at 1B, signing Ohtani as a SP, and then letting him steal ABs from OF/1B as available. A lot of moving parts.

[Gil]

I can't help but think that the Angels offered Ohtani the ability to DH 2-3 games a week in their questionnaire. It gives Pujols an opportunity to rest while also opening up AB's for Ohtani.  Pujols has also excelled in late and close situations with runners on. This would be a way to maximize that by pinch hitting with Pujols in those situations. 

 

[Jeff Fletcher]

Sorry for the confusion, but the story is developing. It will say different things depending when you read it.

After writing the initial version,  I was told by a source that the impetus for the deal is money for Ohtani. It's been continually updated throughout the day.

[krAbs]

Say we sign Otani. Do you think Scioscia still has a DH hit for him? I somehow have trouble seeing him breaking from tradition.