These 'out of it' teams could contend in '20

[Chuck]

https://www.mlb.com/news/five-mlb-turnaround-teams-for-2020

Angels

We could cynically assume that Mike Trout will play every game the rest of his career on a team generally in the vicinity of .500 without ever getting meaningfully over that hump. And having another $59 million committed to Albert Pujols from 2020-21 is a real drag on the Halos' payroll.

But it forever bears repeating that a Trout-led team has a high floor, at the least. And the return of the two-way version of Shohei Ohtani and the likely promotion of touted prospect Jo Adell (No. 4 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100) could further improve the Angels’ outlook.

Where they need help -- and stop me if you’ve heard this before -- is in the rotation, all the more after the devastating death of Tyler Skaggs. Rookie Griffin Canning might be their best pitcher, and he's done for the year because of elbow inflammation. But there is an expectation in the industry that the Angels could be the team that steps up and pays for Newport Beach, Calif., native Gerrit Cole, and the great work that general manager Billy Eppler has done to remake the farm system could pay dividends in the trade market.

[Angelsjunky]

 

[Stradling]

In before this thread gets ruined by the usuals. 

[mulwin444]

37 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/five-mlb-turnaround-teams-for-2020

Angels

We could cynically assume that Mike Trout will play every game the rest of his career on a team generally in the vicinity of .500 without ever getting meaningfully over that hump. And having another $59 million committed to Albert Pujols from 2020-21 is a real drag on the Halos' payroll.

But it forever bears repeating that a Trout-led team has a high floor, at the least. And the return of the two-way version of Shohei Ohtani and the likely promotion of touted prospect Jo Adell (No. 4 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100) could further improve the Angels’ outlook.

Where they need help -- and stop me if you’ve heard this before -- is in the rotation, all the more after the devastating death of Tyler Skaggs. Rookie Griffin Canning might be their best pitcher, and he's done for the year because of elbow inflammation. But there is an expectation in the industry that the Angels could be the team that steps up and pays for Newport Beach, Calif., native Gerrit Cole, and the great work that general manager Billy Eppler has done to remake the farm system could pay dividends in the trade market.

"SoMeoNe sAid TheIR fArM iS RanKeD 21St"

[Angelsjunky]

16 minutes ago, Baghdad Strad said:

In before this thread gets ruined by the usuals. 

[cysomeawfulpitcher]

32 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

 

 

 

[cysomeawfulpitcher]

6 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

Thank u Ausmus.  Thank u Eppler.  Thank u for another 80-82 season.

[Stradling]

“But it never really began, 6 months is a long time”

[tdawg87]

Just imagine this rotation for a second:

Cole, Ohtani, Odorizzi, Heaney, Canning, and a revolving door of Barria, Suarez, and Sandoval. Plus another "flyer" pick up to be the main swingman. 

Is that the best rotation in baseball? Absolutely not. But it's very good on paper, with a chance to be great if Heaney stays healthy and Canning takes a big step forward. Lots of "Ifs" here but that's the best we've got right now. Having a young core of starters who aren't quite ready yet but have all had significant MLB experience is a big deal. Barria will get better. Sandoval will get better. Suarez is a question mark, but he can't be much worse than he has been this year. That's exactly the position the Angels need to be in: Having a rotation of good pitchers with a ton of upside and 3 young guys as depth. We haven't had "depth" in quite some time. But adding Cole, Ohtani and Odorizzi (or Hamels or Bumgarner or Wheeler) pushes everyone back and gives us some nice depth. That's 9 pitchers deep. That's about where they should be.

Remember, Ohtani is seen as a legit frontline starter. He may be on an innings limit in 2020 but to use an old cliche, it's as if the Angels have signed a #1/#2 starter already. Cole is an unquestionable #1 who can throw 200 innings. Odorizzi (again, he's just a placeholder for now) would be a solid 3 starter who can give them 150-160 innings. 

Adding, essentially, 3 starting pitchers, two of which are frontline guys, is a significant bump.

Even if Cole doesn't sign here, the Angels have the option to add an Odorizzi and Hamels and maybe trade for another starter to supplement the entire rotation with quality AND quantity.

It's a domino effect: Add pitchers who can throw 160+ innings, and you see less of the bullpen. The pen isn't completely overworked and things are looking great for the long haul. 

I don't think the division is in reach, yet. But I think the Angels will win the WC in 2020. Eppler isn't dumb and neither is Arte. They know the time to compete is now and doing what they can to surround Trout with legitimate talent is now the number 1 priority. 

The 20's is going to be a far better decade than the past one. We have an owner who is willing to spend money and a GM who is concerned about building the farm system. Haven't seen that since 2004. 

Let's fuckin do this. 

 

[Pancake Bear]

36 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Remember, Ohtani is seen as a legit frontline starter. He may be on an innings limit in 2020 but to use an old cliche, it's as if the Angels have signed a #1/#2 starter already. Cole is an unquestionable #1 who can throw 200 innings. Odorizzi (again, he's just a placeholder for now) would be a solid 3 starter who can give them 150-160 innings.

Agreed, I just hope we don’t hear some bullshit in the offseason about “We already have our ace, so here’s Gio and Miley. If everything breaks right, we can win!” They need to get serious. If they do go cheap again, I’m done with Arte and Eppler. 

[tdawg87]

9 minutes ago, Sean-Regan said:

Agreed, I just hope we don’t hear some bullshit in the offseason about “We already have our ace, so here’s Gio and Miley. If everything breaks right, we can win!” They need to get serious. If they do go cheap again, I’m done with Arte and Eppler. 

Tbh Gio and Miley would be a decent alternative. 

Make no mistake, this team NEEDS Cole. But if they can't get him they could do far worse than that.

I actually thought Gio would be a nice 3rd starter if Eppler is bold enough to sign 3 pitchers this off-season.

[Pancake Bear]

17 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Tbh Gio and Miley would be a decent alternative. 

Make no mistake, this team NEEDS Cole. But if they can't get him they could do far worse than that.

I actually thought Gio would be a nice 3rd starter if Eppler is bold enough to sign 3 pitchers this off-season.

Sure. My point is just that we need a legit frontline guy, and Ohtani alone is too big a risk. Miley and Gio aren’t that guy. Heaney or Canning probably aren’t either. At least not yet. We need as close to a sure thing as we can get. If they go cheap again, I will be pissed. There were legit reasons for that this season, but not next.

[Glen]

 

[Docwaukee]

The biggest downside to not getting Cole is not just 2020, but 2021 and 2022 and 2023.  The other guys on the market are in that mid tier where they might give you a good year or two but you're gonna be looking again very soon unless you get really lucky and buck a pretty standard trend.  

I know the team needs pitching but they shouldn't give more years or money to guys that aren't going to live up to that 3 years from now.  

[stormngt]

2 hours ago, cysomeawfulpitcher said:

Thank u Ausmus.  Thank u Eppler.  Thank u for another 80-82 season.

I will be shocked if we win 80 games this year. 

[Stradling]

16 minutes ago, calscuf said:

Looks delicious. 

[Angelsjunky]

2020 Mike Trout = Adam Dunn.

.230/.350/.480, 35 HR, 100 walks, 200 Ks.

[eligrba]

Does this officially mean the Angels are out of it for 2019?

[UndertheHalo]

[mmc]

23 hours ago, Baghdad Strad said:

In before this thread gets ruined by the usuals. 

Usuals like yourself with posts like this?

[PattyD22]

23 hours ago, cysomeawfulpitcher said:

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

 

I can think of 10 other Smiths song titles we can put in this thread

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Usuals like yourself with posts like this?

No

[mmc]

Just now, Baghdad Strad said:

No

Yep.  You always have to come in every thread and make everything personal.  Attacking posters or groups of posters for their views.  

[Glen]

8 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

 

I can think of 10 other Smiths song titles we can put in this thread

Are you Mexican?

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Yep.  You always have to come in every thread and make everything personal.  Attacking posters or groups of posters for their views.  

Ok. You asked me a question I answered it.