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Luxury Tax 2018


Dtwncbad

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The Red Sox will pay about $12.7m in luxury tax for 2018.

That is real money but I doubt they have any regrets.

Nobody expects the Angels to have a $233m payroll like the Red Sox, but I find it very annoying that prime Mike Trout years are passing with the owner trying to not pay anything in luxury tax when the team has needs that can be addressed in free agency.

For example, there is really no excuse to not be extremely aggressive in landing a Patrick Corbin. . .maybe he ultimately chooses to sign elsewhere but the Angels should be in that sweepstakes to win it.

 

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Just now, Dtwncbad said:

For example, there is really no excuse to not be extremely aggressive in landing a Patrick Corbin. . .maybe he ultimately chooses to sign elsewhere but the Angels should be in that sweepstakes to win it.

  

A good excuse is that he probably isn’t worth the 5/$100m deal he’s going to get after a career of mostly average production.

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24 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

The Red Sox will pay about $12.7m in luxury tax for 2018.

That is real money but I doubt they have any regrets.

Nobody expects the Angels to have a $233m payroll like the Red Sox, but I find it very annoying that prime Mike Trout years are passing with the owner trying to not pay anything in luxury tax when the team has needs that can be addressed in free agency.

For example, there is really no excuse to not be extremely aggressive in landing a Patrick Corbin. . .maybe he ultimately chooses to sign elsewhere but the Angels should be in that sweepstakes to win it.

 

A great excuse would be that Corbin has been vocal about his desire to pitch for the Yankees.  That means, not only will it cost 100 million + to buy him away from New York, it'll also cost the Angels their second round draft pick and international money.  The only reason why your beloved team has a farm system in because their GM has specifically NOT signed guys like Pat Corbin. 

So I won't say signing Corbin is stupid.  I don't think it is.  But it's far from the best possible solution. 

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Both he and Keuchel feel like they’d be CJ Wilson all over again. Solid for a couple years but not the ace we hoped for, eventually breaking down or becoming average, overpaid, and someone were anxiously waiting to drop from payroll. 

Sign lesser pitchers on short deals (Hellickson, Gio, Happ, Sanchez, Shields) and if you have to fill a spot at the front of the rotation, either swing a trade for someone cheap and with control (Syndergaard, Taillon, Bauer, Fulmer, Stroman, Ray, Bundy) or assume a good bit of money on less years (Bumgarner, Greinke, Kluber, Scherzer), or something a little in between (Gray, Carrasco, Roark, Teheran) as there are plenty of options across the spectrum that are just as appealing as Corbin, Keuchel, and Eovaldi.

The only way those three become legitimate options is if their money or years come way down as a result of so many other SPs being available in trade and it clogs the market.

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I am now coming around to realizing that it's not necessarily the luxury tax keeping Arte Moreno from spending a lot more, as he has often said that he would go over it for the right player.   

Two thoughts:

There aren't many right players, and many times it is better to try to develop your own superstar instead of being burned like Arte was during 2011-2013.

He could be keeping his yearly budget at a certain max, knowing that Trout and Simba are due big contracts soon.   

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1 minute ago, Angel Oracle said:

I am now coming around to realizing that it's not necessarily the luxury tax keeping Arte Moreno from spending a lot more, as he has often said that he would go over it for the right player.   

Two thoughts:

There aren't many right players, and many times it is better to try to develop your own superstar instead of being burned like Arte was during 2011-2013.

He could be keeping his yearly budget at a certain max, knowing that Trout and Simba are due big contracts soon.   

Though I definitely agree, but this makes me think of Harper. Wouldn’t he be great protection in the 4 hole behind Trout?  Harper, Trout, Ohtani would be pretty special. And then throw Upton and Simmons in that mix and the offense would be amazing. But with that said, we still need an Ace.  That is probably the biggest need. Trading for Bumgarner should be high on the list for the Angels.  I think Harper and Bumgarner would help Angels contend with the Astros without a doubt. 

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20 minutes ago, popo85 said:

Sox farm system has been great as well

-Betts

-Benitendi

-Bogarts

-Devers

-Bradley

and that doesn't take into account the guys they had around to trade for people like Sale, who was under club control at low $$.   Their farm system drive their success.

Edited by Inside Pitch
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25 minutes ago, jordan said:

Though I definitely agree, but this makes me think of Harper. Wouldn’t he be great protection in the 4 hole behind Trout?  Harper, Trout, Ohtani would be pretty special. And then throw Upton and Simmons in that mix and the offense would be amazing. But with that said, we still need an Ace.  That is probably the biggest need. Trading for Bumgarner should be high on the list for the Angels.  I think Harper and Bumgarner would help Angels contend with the Astros without a doubt. 

It's not exactly what I'd hope for, but pretty hard arguing against a trio of deals - signing Harper, dealing Adell+Suarez for deGrom, and spinning Calhoun off for a #5 SP - making the club an immediate WS contender, even without any other additions. 

Rotation: deGrom, Skaggs, Teheran, Heaney, Barria, Canning, Sandoval
Bullpen: Parker, Bedrosian, Robles, Anderson, Buttrey, Alvarez, Brice, Pena, Middleton, Peters, Jerez
Line-up: SS Simmons, RF Harper, CF Trout, DH Ohtani, LF Upton, 1B Pujols, 3B Cozart, C Briceno, 2B Fletcher
Bench: Smith, Thaiss/Walsh/Ward, Cowart/Rengifo/Jones, Hermosillo/Bourjos

That's really a pretty good team, despite being a little thin in spots, and you have plenty of prospects to still grow into everyday roles.
Losing Adell sucks, but adding a legit #1 and Harper to a team already with Trout and Ohtani would be incredible.

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2 hours ago, totdprods said:

It's not exactly what I'd hope for, but pretty hard arguing against a trio of deals - signing Harper, dealing Adell+Suarez for deGrom, and spinning Calhoun off for a #5 SP - making the club an immediate WS contender, even without any other additions. 

Rotation: deGrom, Skaggs, Teheran, Heaney, Barria, Canning, Sandoval
Bullpen: Parker, Bedrosian, Robles, Anderson, Buttrey, Alvarez, Brice, Pena, Middleton, Peters, Jerez
Line-up: SS Simmons, RF Harper, CF Trout, DH Ohtani, LF Upton, 1B Pujols, 3B Cozart, C Briceno, 2B Fletcher
Bench: Smith, Thaiss/Walsh/Ward, Cowart/Rengifo/Jones, Hermosillo/Bourjos

That's really a pretty good team, despite being a little thin in spots, and you have plenty of prospects to still grow into everyday roles.
Losing Adell sucks, but adding a legit #1 and Harper to a team already with Trout and Ohtani would be incredible.

I agree.  I think a Harper/deGrom or Harper/Bumgarner addition make the Angels instant World Series contenders.  The bullpen would definitely benefit from an Ottavino or Familia as well.  But the rest of the team would be solid enough to where there isn't an obvious week spot. 

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35 minutes ago, jordan said:

I agree.  I think a Harper/deGrom or Harper/Bumgarner addition make the Angels instant World Series contenders.  The bullpen would definitely benefit from an Ottavino or Familia as well.  But the rest of the team would be solid enough to where there isn't an obvious week spot. 

And while the money is ludicrous, while it's illogical, while there are warts to Harper's game and things we'd all rather do, I really don't think this scenario is an impossibility. 

Arte Era Angels have a penchant for bold, out-of-nowhere, eyebrow-raising acquisitions. They don't always work out - some may not seem that big in hindsight, sometimes they made sense, sometimes they didn't, but we've seen the Angels stun the world with the Vladimir signing (that whole offseason really), the Albert signing - and the CJ signing, the Hamilton signing, traded for Teixeira, traded for Greinke, even Haren was a big name when he was acquired, and it didn't end with Eppler, who traded for Simmons, traded for and signed Upton, signed Ohtani. That's 10 deals in 15 years that were all virtually bombshells where the Angels were, for the most part, darkhorse candidates at best. And you have a GM who originated in an org where big-name acquisitions, by way of trade and free agency, is the name of the game. 

I'm not saying it has a good chance of happening, nor am I saying it's the outcome I'd want to see happen, but history suggests it really isn't that crazy to imagine a Harper + ace trade result this offseason.

Pretty hard for anyone to then say Arte didn't try to make the Angels a winner before Trout's contract expired either, and about as good as an effort as you could give for '19-'20 without totally scorching the farm or payroll.

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3 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

I am now coming around to realizing that it's not necessarily the luxury tax keeping Arte Moreno from spending a lot more, as he has often said that he would go over it for the right player.   

Two thoughts:

There aren't many right players, and many times it is better to try to develop your own superstar instead of being burned like Arte was during 2011-2013.

He could be keeping his yearly budget at a certain max, knowing that Trout and Simba are due big contracts soon.   

Define right player(s)?
Honestly i no longer believe he means what he said.  The right player in ANY discussion is Trout, yet we seem to have a hard budget some 30-40M under the cap with Trout already on the team.   If the statement were still true we would spend and discount Trouts money.  

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33 minutes ago, totdprods said:

And while the money is ludicrous, while it's illogical, while there are warts to Harper's game and things we'd all rather do, I really don't think this scenario is an impossibility. 

Arte Era Angels have a penchant for bold, out-of-nowhere, eyebrow-raising acquisitions. They don't always work out - some may not seem that big in hindsight, sometimes they made sense, sometimes they didn't, but we've seen the Angels stun the world with the Vladimir signing (that whole offseason really), the Albert signing - and the CJ signing, the Hamilton signing, traded for Teixeira, traded for Greinke, even Haren was a big name when he was acquired, and it didn't end with Eppler, who traded for Simmons, traded for and signed Upton, signed Ohtani. That's 10 deals in 15 years that were all virtually bombshells where the Angels were, for the most part, darkhorse candidates at best. And you have a GM who originated in an org where big-name acquisitions, by way of trade and free agency, is the name of the game. 

I'm not saying it has a good chance of happening, nor am I saying it's the outcome I'd want to see happen, but history suggests it really isn't that crazy to imagine a Harper + ace trade result this offseason.

Pretty hard for anyone to then say Arte didn't try to make the Angels a winner before Trout's contract expired either, and about as good as an effort as you could give for '19-'20 without totally scorching the farm or payroll.

I agree.  I'm not 100% sold this is the way I'd prefer.  It would be sexy on paper for the 2019 season.  A huge Harper contract could be offset in 3 years when Pujols comes off the books and an increase in the annual luxury tax limit.  This would prove to Trout that Arte is committed to winning.  And as you mentioned, Arte does have a penchant for big, out of the blue splashes (despite their efficacy).  I do think the Angels will do something big this off season, but this would be really unexpected to get Harper and an ace.  I wouldn't discount it from happening at all however.

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3 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

I’m still concerned about Harper’s up and down seasons, and previous penchant for running into walls while chasing fly balls.

Even in those down years, he’s averaging .255/.370/.453/.823 - which is right on par with Upton’s average the last 6 seasons .260/.341/.480/.821, so even when he’s in a down year he’s still a solidly above-average major league hitter.

You’re paying for the potential of course, but he is still young, so I’d like to think he’ll find some consistency as he continues to mature. We’re spoiled watching Trout be consistently, robotically excellent. Most young players eventually learn to start backing off the wall-crashing plays too. 

And I still think hitting in a lineup with Trout and Ohtani, and to a lesser degree Upton and Pujols, will help take some superstar spotlight off him and allow him to find that consistency. An eventual move to 1st may help too. 

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2 hours ago, eligrba said:

We should just  consider Albert's salary as a luxury tax on the Angels. 

Truth
Ive said similar in that we could spend to a point where we  are above comfort or tax or whatever within the limits of his contract and let it balance when he drops off.
Between that and Trout being something else that should be considered outside the tax/comfort level.
Unfortunately both are being counted against our hard cap which is 30-40M under luxury.  
I cant say i like the implication of all this personally.

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