The Eppler shopping list? :)

[floplag]

Came across this, it fits a lot of the discussions weve had here.
https://fancredsports.com/articles/inside-baseball-35-under-the-radar-free-agents-t

 

[Angel Oracle]

Jesse Chavez?

He is versatile, but have to think his finish in 2017 was a fluke.

[AngelsLakersFan]

Peter Bourjos, CHECK!

[jsnpritchett]

43 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Jesse Chavez?

He is versatile, but have to think his finish in 2017 was a fluke.

I assume you meant 2018?  But, yeah, he had 3.2 WAR this past season--and he now has 3.0 career WAR...

[totdprods]

Josh Harrison feels like a real likely target.

[totdprods]

FWIW, Chavez was fantastic for the Halos when they put him in the pen the last month or so, and great again for the Cubs this last end of season.

[jsnpritchett]

1 minute ago, totdprods said:

FWIW, Chavez was fantastic for the Halos when they put him in the pen the last month or so, and great again for the Cubs this last end of season.

In 2017 after the Angels moved him to the bullpen, he had a 4.94 ERA and a WHIP over 1.50.  His K rate went up, too, but that was about the only positive for him.

[Docwaukee]

Chavez had a velo spike this year and talked about how he made some adjustments to his mechanics that helped him.  If he maintains that, I'd consider bringing him back.  

He only had 1.2 fWAR. Sometimes bWAR can get out of whack for pitchers relative to the adjustments which can be very extreme.  But even still, he was very good and could be a cheap option as a multi-inning pen guy which we could use.  

 

[totdprods]

28 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

In 2017 after the Angels moved him to the bullpen, he had a 4.94 ERA and a WHIP over 1.50.  His K rate went up, too, but that was about the only positive for him.

Sample size is a little too small to judge just on the WHIP and ERA...

Last two months as a reliever, 16 games..3 of them, he was tagged for 3 or 4 runs, but the other 13 he was lights out. 21 IP, 12 H, 5 BB, 27 K, 1.75 ERA, .163. BAA.

He just had a bad 2.2 IP in those other three games where he got rocked. And considering how good he was in relief with the Cubs this year, seems safe to say his best results were closer to the truth than the three bad appearances.

[Docwaukee]

would love to be able to offload Cozart's salary to a team in need of a SS.  Gotta wonder if Philly will stick with Crawford much longer.  If they sign Machado, I presume it solves their problem but then the Yankees could probably use a SS.  I don't think the halos anticipated David Fletcher being an option.  He's not gonna be a star or anything, but he does make Cozart expendable.  I doubt the yanks would give up Gray for him though.  

I am sure though, that any team looking for a SS could just as easily go with Jed Lowrie or even Jose Iglesias for cheaper.  

So we'd probably have to pay down his salary a bit and not really expect much in return.  

[Second Base]

Haven't I already traveled back in time just to tell you what's going to happen? We're signing Kikuchi, Lynn, Moustakas and Suzuki. 

[stormngt]

3 hours ago, totdprods said:

FWIW, Chavez was fantastic for the Halos when they put him in the pen the last month or so, and great again for the Cubs this last end of season.

Wasnt Jesse pretty good as a starter until the third time round in the lineup and then jets get shelled?

That may explain why he is having success as a reliever

[TroutField]

53 minutes ago, Second Base said:

Haven't I already traveled back in time just to tell you what's going to happen? We're signing Kikuchi, Lynn, Moustakas and Suzuki. 

That would make a nice 3rd place club 

[Second Base]

53 minutes ago, TroutField said:

That would make a nice 3rd place club 

Oh I don't know....Kikuchi and Lynn would be a great improvement over our #4/5 starters last year. Lynn has been brilliant his entire career until last year when he missed Spring Training, which is valuable for a pitcher. His second half numbers mirrored that of his career, which meant he was a good #3 starter. Not too often can those be had on a team friendly, 1-2 year pact.

And as for Kikuchi, not too many lefties reach back into the mid-90's, are in their prime, are as proven as he is, don't cost a draft pick or prospects, or would be as affordable as he is. Not to mention, there aren't many teams fielding a former teammate of his, that are geographically as close to home as the Angels are, and already have a strong Japanese contingent in the fan base thanks to a Ohtani. The infrastructure is already in place to succeed, you know Eppler will have scouted him in Japan, and we have an opening. It's a match made in heaven, pun intended.

Plus, this newfound pitching depth would also result in potentially slotting Shoemaker and Pena in the pen, where we'd suddenly add two pitchers with major league success AND the ability to go 2-3 innings. We'd have a ton of depth, saving both our late inning relievers and starters. And if there is an injury, no problem, we've got a couple options on standby in the bullpen.

Moustakas is the lefty power bat this lineup needs. He'd slot in quite nicely behind Upton in the #5 spot of the lineup, he'd be able to split time between 1B and 3B, allow Cozart to play 2B mostly where he looked brilliant defensively, and would slot Fletcher in the utility spot which he is well suited for. And whenever Moose is at 1B, it means Cozart moves to 3B and Fletcher at 2B which means we improve defensively with that alignment. He doesn't cost a draft pick, and is a local product with various reports suggesting that he wants to play for the Angels. 

According the FanGraphs, this team is already better than the .500 record they posted last year. The A's aren't going away, not with Luzardo and Puk breaking into that rotation soon, but the Angels could very much contend with them with those moves I laid out. And if for some reason, they don't work out, Eppler could still trade Calhoun, Lynn and Moustakas at the deadline for more prospects which only brighten an already bright future. It sets up a future rotation of Ohtani, Kikuchi, Canning, Skaggs and Heaney which is just dreamy, and allows prospects like Thaiss, Rengifo and Ward one more critical year to develop and break into the majors. It doesn't cost a single prospect or draft pick, remains within the budget, allows them the potential freedom to extend Trout, and outs a quality product on the field. 

As you can see, I've thought this out. We totally could finish third just like you said though, but even if we did, this plan doesn't sacrifice the future, at all, and has just as good of a chance or succeeding as failing. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

@Second Base

Mentioning how moustakas is the lefty bat we need, and hitting 5th behind upton. You thinking trout second, and ohtani 3rd?

Personally, I was all about moustakas last year. This yesr not so much. But IP put it best, if his market isnt all that this winter, I wouldnt be crushed if we signed him.

I wouldnt expect a whole lot from him. But hed be better than anything else we have in house...pending not signing a 2B, and cozart moving there.

Ward could either come back this spring a changed man, or need more time in the minors.

[Second Base]

41 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

@Second Base

Mentioning how moustakas is the lefty bat we need, and hitting 5th behind upton. You thinking trout second, and ohtani 3rd?

Personally, I was all about moustakas last year. This yesr not so much. But IP put it best, if his market isnt all that this winter, I wouldnt be crushed if we signed him.

I wouldnt expect a whole lot from him. But hed be better than anything else we have in house...pending not signing a 2B, and cozart moving there.

Ward could either come back this spring a changed man, or need more time in the minors.

Yeah that's pretty much what I envision. Eppler is a man of metrics and most indicate that the most advantageous position for your best hitter to bat in would be the #2 spot, though they also semi delineate from that by indicating that batting order isn't actually of consequence, or at least as much as we seem to think it is. 

But I picture 2-3-4 being Trout, Ohtani and Upton. Leadoff at this point will likely be some combination of Simmons, Cozart, Fletcher or even Calhoun or Fernandez. We really don't know how that will shake out until we have a more defined look at the roster, I think. 

[TroutField]

2 hours ago, Second Base said:

Oh I don't know....Kikuchi and Lynn would be a great improvement over our #4/5 starters last year. Lynn has been brilliant his entire career until last year when he missed Spring Training, which is valuable for a pitcher. His second half numbers mirrored that of his career, which meant he was a good #3 starter. Not too often can those be had on a team friendly, 1-2 year pact.

And as for Kikuchi, not too many lefties reach back into the mid-90's, are in their prime, are as proven as he is, don't cost a draft pick or prospects, or would be as affordable as he is. Not to mention, there aren't many teams fielding a former teammate of his, that are geographically as close to home as the Angels are, and already have a strong Japanese contingent in the fan base thanks to a Ohtani. The infrastructure is already in place to succeed, you know Eppler will have scouted him in Japan, and we have an opening. It's a match made in heaven, pun intended.

Plus, this newfound pitching depth would also result in potentially slotting Shoemaker and Pena in the pen, where we'd suddenly add two pitchers with major league success AND the ability to go 2-3 innings. We'd have a ton of depth, saving both our late inning relievers and starters. And if there is an injury, no problem, we've got a couple options on standby in the bullpen.

Moustakas is the lefty power bat this lineup needs. He'd slot in quite nicely behind Upton in the #5 spot of the lineup, he'd be able to split time between 1B and 3B, allow Cozart to play 2B mostly where he looked brilliant defensively, and would slot Fletcher in the utility spot which he is well suited for. And whenever Moose is at 1B, it means Cozart moves to 3B and Fletcher at 2B which means we improve defensively with that alignment. He doesn't cost a draft pick, and is a local product with various reports suggesting that he wants to play for the Angels. 

According the FanGraphs, this team is already better than the .500 record they posted last year. The A's aren't going away, not with Luzardo and Puk breaking into that rotation soon, but the Angels could very much contend with them with those moves I laid out. And if for some reason, they don't work out, Eppler could still trade Calhoun, Lynn and Moustakas at the deadline for more prospects which only brighten an already bright future. It sets up a future rotation of Ohtani, Kikuchi, Canning, Skaggs and Heaney which is just dreamy, and allows prospects like Thaiss, Rengifo and Ward one more critical year to develop and break into the majors. It doesn't cost a single prospect or draft pick, remains within the budget, allows them the potential freedom to extend Trout, and outs a quality product on the field. 

As you can see, I've thought this out. We totally could finish third just like you said though, but even if we did, this plan doesn't sacrifice the future, at all, and has just as good of a chance or succeeding as failing. 

Hey hard to argue with any of that. You changed my mind.  I like it, it give us a chance to win now and keeps the prospects. 

 

Although  I do want them to make a run for Sonny Gray. I think he would do really well here and we could find that ace we so desperately need for minimal cost. 

[floplag]

10 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

@Second Base

Mentioning how moustakas is the lefty bat we need, and hitting 5th behind upton. You thinking trout second, and ohtani 3rd?

Personally, I was all about moustakas last year. This yesr not so much. But IP put it best, if his market isnt all that this winter, I wouldnt be crushed if we signed him.

I wouldnt expect a whole lot from him. But hed be better than anything else we have in house...pending not signing a 2B, and cozart moving there.

Ward could either come back this spring a changed man, or need more time in the minors.

I think theres more to it than that in terms of 2B vs 3B.   We have a number of 2B options, few true at 3B aside from converted 2B.  That doenst mean they cant play it of course but having a true 3B might not be such a terrible thing as opposed to extended someone who was slotted into 2B typically for a reason such as lesser arm strength or reflex timing.