Creating Roster Space

[Revad]

Interesting and useful MLBTrade Rumors list for roster maneuvering this offseason (by Jason Martinez again).  I’m sure Eppler has a plan that includes grabbing a few players from other teams but meanwhile he has plenty of decisions to make on existing players.  How would you do it?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/10/mlb-offseason-40-man-rosters-free-agents.html

 

[greginpsca]

Going to be quite a bit of DFA's. Hopefully, the ones that Eppler would want to keep don't get claimed and can go to AAA. With 5 coming off the DL, there is 5 roster spots that have to be cleared.  Then if they sign 2 sp and 2 rp, there is 4 more. Not to mention i think there is 5-6 guys available for rule 5. Outside of Marte, the pitching side should account for almost all of those roster spots.

[eaterfan]

1 hour ago, Revad said:

Interesting and useful MLBTrade Rumors list for roster maneuvering this offseason (by Jason Martinez again).  I’m sure Eppler has a plan that includes grabbing a few players from other teams but meanwhile he has plenty of decisions to make on existing players.  How would you do it?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/10/mlb-offseason-40-man-rosters-free-agents.html

 

Pujols, Marte, and Cowart are gone to create extra room.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

3 hours ago, eaterfan said:

Pujols, Marte, and Cowart are gone to create extra room.

Pujols? Bedrosian maybe...

[Docwaukee]

They're gonna have some very interesting decisions to make.  

In addition to the 40 man roster, we've got 11 guys on the 60 day DL.  Of those 51 players, 
There are 6 free agents as listed - C.Young, EY, Richards, Johnson, Tazawa, Wood
Bringing the total to 45.  8 of which are on the 60 day DL
Pujols, Cozart, Lamb, Meyer, JC Ramirez, Trop, Jewell, Middleton.  

There's also a bunch of guys that have to be added to the 40 man or else be exposed to the rule 5 draft
Tier 1 - Jared Walsh, Luis Rengifo, Jose Suarez, Luis Pena
Tier 2 -  Joe Gatto, Connor Lillis- White, Adam Hofacket, Hutton Moyer, Roberto Baldoquin, Zach Houchins, Bo Way, Osmer Morales (cleared earlier this year so not on the 40), Akeel Morris, Dayan Diaz.  

To keep the first tier safe as well as the all 8 on the 60 day DL, they'll have to create 9 roster spots.  

likely off - Blash, Sherman Johnson, Joe Hudson, Miguel Almonte, Odrisamer Despaigne, Parker Bridwell (6)
possibly off - Jefry Marte, Noe Ramirez, Deck McGuire, Luke Farrell, Eduardo Paredes, Jesus Castillo, John Lamb, JC Ramirez (8)
likely safe - Jake Jewell, Matt Shoemaker, Cam Bedrosian, Taylor Cole, Jose Briceno, Francisco Arcia.  (6)

In addition to the 6 in the likely off list, I think Jesus Castillo, Luke Farrell and Marte will be DFA'd and I think John Lamb and JC Ramirez will as well but will re-sign with the halos while they rehab.  

So that's 11 spots to include the 5 on the DL and 4 in tier 1.  Leaving two spots open.  They might add Lillis-White as he had a solid season and could be vulnerable as relievers often are.  But I doubt it because there is about 15 days of free agency prior to the 40 man roster deadline which is usually around nov 20th.  The other nit is that the non-tender deadline isn't until dec2.  Which means decisions on Shoe, JC Ramirez, Bedrosian, and a few others likely won't be made until then.  

And then the rule 5 isn't till Dec14th which isn't till well into free agency so we'll have to move other guys off assuming we make some additional moves.  

We could literally turn over about 15+ players on our 40 man this winter.  

[totdprods]

Thanks @Dochalo! Great summary. 

Yeah, this is going to be a significant offseason one way or another simply due to the volume of fringe guys who will be on the DFA bubble and the number of actual prospects we'll have to protect. We haven't seen this happen in many moons. 

Coupled with a new manager, leading to perhaps a renewed vision on a long-term plan, I still think that 2019 can wind up being treated as a transition year - a lot of playing time and success banking on things like Ward getting significant playing time at 3B, Fletcher at 2B, Barria, Suarez, and Canning logging MLB innings, Thaiss/Walsh/Fernandez being counted on to replace Valbuena/Marte, Hermosillo replacing Chris Young and platooning with Kole...how those guys perform could really dictate 2020 and beyond, so why not start that assessment now? 

The other side of it is the Angels could start cashing in on some young players..turn 1, 2, or three of these guys into a legit, young MLB pitcher or hitter and clean up the 40-man number crunch in the process. Or deal Alvarez/Bedrosian for a near MLB-ready prospect. 

A lot might change this offseason, and that even applies to sticking with the kids and not pursuing stopgaps. 

For instance...we could look like:
Line-up: 2B Cozart, RF Calhoun, CF Trout, DH Ohtani, LF Upton, 1B Pujols, SS Simmons, C Arcia/Briceno, 3B Ward
Bench: C Briceno/Arcia C, UT IF Rengifo/Fletcher, IF Walsh/Thaiss/Fernandez, OF Hermosillo/Way
They could just go with an all-internal field for the line-up and honestly, I don't think it'd bother me one bit, provided they brought in some pitching.

[Lou]

4 hours ago, totdprods said:

Yeah, this is going to be a significant offseason one way or another simply due to the volume of fringe guys who will be on the DFA bubble

adiós 

[greginpsca]

14 hours ago, Dochalo said:

They're gonna have some very interesting decisions to make.  

In addition to the 40 man roster, we've got 11 guys on the 60 day DL.  Of those 51 players, 
There are 6 free agents as listed - C.Young, EY, Richards, Johnson, Tazawa, Wood
Bringing the total to 45.  8 of which are on the 60 day DL
Pujols, Cozart, Lamb, Meyer, JC Ramirez, Trop, Jewell, Middleton.  

There's also a bunch of guys that have to be added to the 40 man or else be exposed to the rule 5 draft
Tier 1 - Jared Walsh, Luis Rengifo, Jose Suarez, Luis Pena
Tier 2 -  Joe Gatto, Connor Lillis- White, Adam Hofacket, Hutton Moyer, Roberto Baldoquin, Zach Houchins, Bo Way, Osmer Morales (cleared earlier this year so not on the 40), Akeel Morris, Dayan Diaz.  

To keep the first tier safe as well as the all 8 on the 60 day DL, they'll have to create 9 roster spots.  

likely off - Blash, Sherman Johnson, Joe Hudson, Miguel Almonte, Odrisamer Despaigne, Parker Bridwell (6)
possibly off - Jefry Marte, Noe Ramirez, Deck McGuire, Luke Farrell, Eduardo Paredes, Jesus Castillo, John Lamb, JC Ramirez (8)
likely safe - Jake Jewell, Matt Shoemaker, Cam Bedrosian, Taylor Cole, Jose Briceno, Francisco Arcia.  (6)

In addition to the 6 in the likely off list, I think Jesus Castillo, Luke Farrell and Marte will be DFA'd and I think John Lamb and JC Ramirez will as well but will re-sign with the halos while they rehab.  

So that's 11 spots to include the 5 on the DL and 4 in tier 1.  Leaving two spots open.  They might add Lillis-White as he had a solid season and could be vulnerable as relievers often are.  But I doubt it because there is about 15 days of free agency prior to the 40 man roster deadline which is usually around nov 20th.  The other nit is that the non-tender deadline isn't until dec2.  Which means decisions on Shoe, JC Ramirez, Bedrosian, and a few others likely won't be made until then.  

And then the rule 5 isn't till Dec14th which isn't till well into free agency so we'll have to move other guys off assuming we make some additional moves.  

We could literally turn over about 15+ players on our 40 man this winter.  

Cowart could be on the dfa list too.

[Docwaukee]

2 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Cowart could be on the dfa list too.

can't believe I forgot about him.  Yeah.  so that's a 12th spot available as I think they'll let him go considering he has no options left. 

[Docwaukee]

5 hours ago, totdprods said:

Thanks @Dochalo! Great summary. 

Yeah, this is going to be a significant offseason one way or another simply due to the volume of fringe guys who will be on the DFA bubble and the number of actual prospects we'll have to protect. We haven't seen this happen in many moons. 

Coupled with a new manager, leading to perhaps a renewed vision on a long-term plan, I still think that 2019 can wind up being treated as a transition year - a lot of playing time and success banking on things like Ward getting significant playing time at 3B, Fletcher at 2B, Barria, Suarez, and Canning logging MLB innings, Thaiss/Walsh/Fernandez being counted on to replace Valbuena/Marte, Hermosillo replacing Chris Young and platooning with Kole...how those guys perform could really dictate 2020 and beyond, so why not start that assessment now? 

The other side of it is the Angels could start cashing in on some young players..turn 1, 2, or three of these guys into a legit, young MLB pitcher or hitter and clean up the 40-man number crunch in the process. Or deal Alvarez/Bedrosian for a near MLB-ready prospect. 

A lot might change this offseason, and that even applies to sticking with the kids and not pursuing stopgaps. 

For instance...we could look like:
Line-up: 2B Cozart, RF Calhoun, CF Trout, DH Ohtani, LF Upton, 1B Pujols, SS Simmons, C Arcia/Briceno, 3B Ward
Bench: C Briceno/Arcia C, UT IF Rengifo/Fletcher, IF Walsh/Thaiss/Fernandez, OF Hermosillo/Way
They could just go with an all-internal field for the line-up and honestly, I don't think it'd bother me one bit, provided they brought in some pitching.

yeah.  we're finally in a position to back fill the vast majority of our 40-man with in house options.  

[Second Base]

One of the advantages to having a bad team is that you find a lot of expendable parts on the 40 man. 

We have a lot of fat to cut. 

It really isn't that big of a loss if we lose Almonte, Bedrosian, Bridwell, Castillo, Despaigne, McGurie, Noe Ramirez, Tazawa, Hudson, Cowart, Marte, Young, Lamb and Wood. 

Don't get me wrong, there are some major leaguers and there, but none so good that they couldn't be replaced by anyone else off the scrap heap.  That's 14 players you can get rid of.  The Angels really don't have any roster crunches. 

[Chris]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Cozart at 3B, Fletcher at 2B, Rengifo as bench MIF, with Ward at AAA for more seasoning to open 2019.

I think Fletcher is a bit ahead of Ward at this point.

 

[TroutAdell]

8 hours ago, totdprods said:

Thanks @Dochalo! Great summary. 

Yeah, this is going to be a significant offseason one way or another simply due to the volume of fringe guys who will be on the DFA bubble and the number of actual prospects we'll have to protect. We haven't seen this happen in many moons. 

Coupled with a new manager, leading to perhaps a renewed vision on a long-term plan, I still think that 2019 can wind up being treated as a transition year - a lot of playing time and success banking on things like Ward getting significant playing time at 3B, Fletcher at 2B, Barria, Suarez, and Canning logging MLB innings, Thaiss/Walsh/Fernandez being counted on to replace Valbuena/Marte, Hermosillo replacing Chris Young and platooning with Kole...how those guys perform could really dictate 2020 and beyond, so why not start that assessment now? 

The other side of it is the Angels could start cashing in on some young players..turn 1, 2, or three of these guys into a legit, young MLB pitcher or hitter and clean up the 40-man number crunch in the process. Or deal Alvarez/Bedrosian for a near MLB-ready prospect. 

A lot might change this offseason, and that even applies to sticking with the kids and not pursuing stopgaps. 

For instance...we could look like:
Line-up: 2B Cozart, RF Calhoun, CF Trout, DH Ohtani, LF Upton, 1B Pujols, SS Simmons, C Arcia/Briceno, 3B Ward
Bench: C Briceno/Arcia C, UT IF Rengifo/Fletcher, IF Walsh/Thaiss/Fernandez, OF Hermosillo/Way
They could just go with an all-internal field for the line-up and honestly, I don't think it'd bother me one bit, provided they brought in some pitching.

I like Fletcher starting at second base better. Cozart starting at third or as utility guy. If Hermosillo can platoon with Calhoun that is a big plus. Resign Maldonado to catch, spend the rest of the money on pitching. Build the staff from the backend forward. Fanilia would be a good get for 8-9 innings. Keep Alvarez, Anderson, and Robles. If Pena doesn’t start then he can be the multiple innings guy in the pen. Dump Noe, Bedrosian and trade Parker. 

Of course nothing good can happen as long as Pujols is around. Arte needs to approach Albert about a buyout, probably not going to happen.