2018 Hot Stove League

[Rico]

4 hours ago, Blarg said:

That would be a disastrous move for the Mariners. 

Jerry Dipoto

[jordan]

Some average Joe reporting this. But might be more accurate. 

[DMVol]

14 minutes ago, jordan said:

Some average Joe reporting this. But might be more accurate. 

[Troll Daddy]

 

[Angel Oracle]

Do your magic, Doug White.

[Vlad27Trout27]

just noticed this, but our Bp has the chance to be pretty filthy next year, with Anderson, Ty, Key when he returns and Robles.......thats 4 innings of upper 90s and  wipe out sliders and changeup

 

[Chuck]

Speaking of Robles:

"The move to the west coast agreed with Robles as be registered a 2.97 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in 36.1 frames for the Halos, serving up just a pair of long balls. Robles had another short stint on the disabled list in mid-August, this time for a shoulder impingement. He returned to cruise down the stretch, finishing with a 1.46 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 14 strikeouts in his final 12.1 stanzas. A 96-mph fastball that touches 98 and 24 K% are late-game worthy."

[WeatherWonk]

18 hours ago, Lou said:

I guarantee you this would be of ZERO concern if we were to sign Machado 

Obviously. Otherwise we wouldn't have signed him at all.

But it could be a concern that would prevent us FROM signing him. 

We certainly appear to be in a strategy where we don't spend big (or long term) in areas where we have perceived strength in the minors. Especially if they are only 1-2 years away.

This is a very wait-and-see year, IMO. That, and hope that MINN, OAK and TB are on a par with us and we can compete for that 2nd WC.

[Stradling]

We don’t have perceived strength in the minors at 3rd base.  We have Taylor Ward.

[UndertheHalo]

I had pretty much given up on Ward, especially after they moved him off of catcher.  But he had such a spectacular year last year that I think you had to take notice of it.  I think if you just looked at his stat line last year once he got called up it’s easy enough to just shrug and suspect he won’t amount to much.  On the other hand though, I think that if you watched the ABs he had for the Angels and if you read about all the work he’s done to create a major league swing.  Also, hearing him talk about it.  I think that you start to be a little more hopeful.  I’m cautiously optimistic for Taylor.  I felt that he put good AB’s together last year.  I like his disciplined approach a lot.   And I think that the power is legit.  And while he definitely struggled at times.  I think that he also showed often enough that he was not overwhelmed.  Which is a thing that I think is easy enough to see.  I thought he responded well when it wasn’t going great.  Even if it didn’t immediately result in a big hit.  It often resulted in a strong disciplined AB.  Which is very important IMO. 

Anyway, if they don’t get Machado (we probably won’t obviously) I want to see Taylor get long, long look.  And I think he’s got a shot to be a pretty good player.   

[GoodTimesGoneBad]

I'd like to see the Angels sign or trade for a lefty reliever and sign Moustakes. 

[WeatherWonk]

29 minutes ago, Stradling said:

We don’t have perceived strength in the minors at 3rd base.  We have Taylor Ward.

Well, that's your perception. Until any player pans out, it's only a perception.

It wasnt that long  ago that Ward was a perceived strength at catcher. Things dont pan out, sometimes.

We have had perceived strength at 3rd base before. It continue to be a bit of a black hole for us since Glaus left, excepting maybe one season with Figgins.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, WeatherWonk said:

Well, that's your perception. Until any player pans out, it's only a perception.

It wasnt that long  ago that Ward was a perceived strength at catcher. Things dont pan out, sometimes.

We have had perceived strength at 3rd base before. It continue to be a bit of a black hole for us since Glaus left, excepting maybe one season with Figgins.

Yea ok.  Common sense says the more depth you have at a position the better chance you have of that position being covered by that depth.  We haven’t had the prototypical 3rd baseman but we have had some pretty good production more than simply one year of Figgins.  Lately it has sucked.  Figgins had a 3.4 and a 7.7 WAR season both as the 3rd baseman.  Callaspo had a 3.4 and a 3.5 season as the 3rd baseman.  All of those seasons would have been top 10 last year for 3rd baseman.  It’s been shit since Callaspo went to shit in his 4th year here.  

[Stradling]

20 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

I had pretty much given up on Ward, especially after they moved him off of catcher.  But he had such a spectacular year last year that I think you had to take notice of it.  I think if you just looked at his stat line last year once he got called up it’s easy enough to just shrug and suspect he won’t amount to much.  On the other hand though, I think that if you watched the ABs he had for the Angels and if you read about all the work he’s done to create a major league swing.  Also, hearing him talk about it.  I think that you start to be a little more hopeful.  I’m cautiously optimistic for Taylor.  I felt that he put good AB’s together last year.  I like his disciplined approach a lot.   And I think that the power is legit.  And while he definitely struggled at times.  I think that he also showed often enough that he was not overwhelmed.  Which is a thing that I think is easy enough to see.  I thought he responded well when it wasn’t going great.  Even if it didn’t immediately result in a big hit.  It often resulted in a strong disciplined AB.  Which is very important IMO. 

Anyway, if they don’t get Machado (we probably won’t obviously) I want to see Taylor get long, long look.  And I think he’s got a shot to be a pretty good player.   

I liked how he seem to go with the pitch when he was first called up.  I am hopeful that he carves out a nice career.  He also seemed to be able to draw a walk but I could be looking at that with rose colored glasses as I haven’t looked up his OBP versus his average.  

[UndertheHalo]

13 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I liked how he seem to go with the pitch when he was first called up.  I am hopeful that he carves out a nice career.  He also seemed to be able to draw a walk but I could be looking at that with rose colored glasses as I haven’t looked up his OBP versus his average.  

Ya it’s not great.  He walked 9 times in like 140 something AB’s.  Good for a .245 OBP.  You pretty much can’t look at his stat line if you want to convince yourself that he’ll be alright.  It’s definitley a sense thing if you buy it. 

[beatlesrule]

Cody Allen deal official and

Shaun Kelley is drawing interest from roughly 10 teams, including the Reds, per Jon Heyman of Fancred.

[Hubs]

I bet award has a better OPS line than Fletcher in 2019. Fletcher will hit to a .690 OPS while ward will be closer to .790. Something like .350/.440./.790 where as Fletcher will be .325/.365/.690.

 

[floplag]

1 hour ago, WeatherWonk said:

Well, that's your perception. Until any player pans out, it's only a perception.

It wasnt that long  ago that Ward was a perceived strength at catcher. Things dont pan out, sometimes.

We have had perceived strength at 3rd base before. It continue to be a bit of a black hole for us since Glaus left, excepting maybe one season with Figgins.

I have to say that Strad is right, we do not have depth at 3B.

Ward is it, he the only person on the depth chart and hes not even a natural 3B.  We have a lot of 2B guys, maybe they can play SS, but the transition to 3B isnt just an assumed thing.  Yes, Fletcher can play 3B,  so can Cozart, but neither is that their primary or best position.   We havent had a legit major league 3B in some time now actually.   Ward showed a few flashes, might develop, but in comparison for example to Fletcher didnt show that much in his limited cup of coffee and Fletcher was younger. 

The same is true of C.  

There are the main reasons ive pushed for and was hopeful we might make more significant signings in that area, they certainly wouldn't have been blocking anyone's development as we have no one of note for them to block. 

[Stradling]

If we aren’t getting a Machado type I have no problem with them giving Ward another year to see what he can do.  If he isn’t doing well or the combination of Fletcher, Ward, LaStella and Cozart aren’t cutting it at 2nd and 3rd AND the team is in contention, they can trade for a guy at the deadline.  

[jsnpritchett]

Angels are apparently still in on Josh Harrison.  Hope someone else gets him first...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/01/latest-on-josh-harrisons-market.html

"The Dodgers, Giants, Angels, Phillies and Rays are all in on free agent Josh Harrison at the moment, according to Jon Heyman of Fancred.

Reported interest from the Giants and Angels isn’t anything new for Harrison, but this is the first time the Dodgers, Phillies and Rays have been connected to him in any major way this offseason. The 31-year-old Harrison is available on the heels of a below-average season with the Pirates, who declined his $10.5MM club option in favor of a $1MM buyout afterward, but has typically been a decent offensive player and a solid, versatile defender during his career. Consequently, Harrison has drawn widespread interest on the open market."

[Docwaukee]

I think I mentioned in another thread that Ward has actually made steady progress with the bat over his minor league career.  He was a rookie ball stud as most college picks are from the first couple rounds.  He had a poor 2016, good 2017 and took off in 2018.  

The tough thing about Ward is that he's a much different player than people expected and on top of that, he's got that war room hoopla BS attached to him.  

He's very athletic and is a much better contact guy than he's given credit for.  He's got great plate discipline.  It's actually the in game power that hasn't shown up as much.  Yet he's got 20+hr raw power potential.  He's also fast.  Not blazing by any means but 15-20 sb. fast.  And he's obviously athletic.  

We cut Jam Jones a ton of slack because he transitioned from OF to 2b this year and his bat clearly suffered.  Maybe because of that and maybe not.  

Taylor Ward suddenly because a 3bman after never seeing time there in a game and ended the season with a .977 ops in AA/AAA with 12 total errors at his new position.  And in a short span in the majors showed major league avg defense.  That's a pretty damn impressive learning curve.  

 

[ukyah]

16 hours ago, BackUpTheTruck said:

I'm starting to think Harper and Machado enjoy reading about themselves in the news every day.

That's probably what is taking so long for them to sign. It's how they get their kicks.

nobody's giving them what they want. they've been told a number for so long, and it's not happening.

[Docwaukee]

As far as our org depth at 3b, I think we'll see that gap filled in the A/A+/AA levels this year with Maitan and Jackson.  

[Docwaukee]

Also, watch out for double secret sleeper Jose Rojas who's a little long in the tooth for a prospect because he started his pro career at age 23, but had a .935 ops at AA last year and put up an .870 ops in the Venezuelan winter league this year.    

[beatlesrule]

The Angels are inept at drafting 3rd baseman. They need to trade for one or sign one. They are apparently inept at doing that too. Freese was the closest they've gotten to an actual 3rd baseman since Glaus left. It's pathetic.