THE Official 2019-2020 Hot Stove Thread

[Billy_Ball]

49 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

Also, Ohtani is back. Innings will be limited, and Eppler didn't acquire him

Eppler didn't acquire Ohtani?

[Lou]

13 minutes ago, Billy_Ball said:

Eppler didn't acquire Ohtani?

[Pancake Bear]

45 minutes ago, Billy_Ball said:

Eppler didn't acquire Ohtani?

Not in the last twelve months, which is what I was responding to. 

[mmc]

 

[mmc]

 

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, mymerlincat said:

I like Castro more than Chirinos, and would prefer McHugh over Harris, but I don't think I'd be opposed to the Angels signing either of those guys at this point. Two years kinda sucks but it is what it is. 

Hopefully the Astros lose every FA they had this winter (aside from Smith who they already re-signed) just so it causes them to replace more players. 

[mulwin444]

5 hours ago, Billy_Ball said:

Eppler didn't acquire Ohtani?

I think he was trying to say "he wasn't acquired as a pitcher this offseason but will impact the rotation since he is now healed from Tommy John surgery"...yeah, I had to take a 2nd look as well

[Stradling]

To say Eppler hasn’t improved the rotation from 12 months ago is just stupid.  Are we really going to pretend that Bundy and Teheran who are both under 30 aren’t better than Cahill and Harvey?  Bullshit.  They may not be 1-3 starters but they’ll be much better than what those two gave us. 

[mmc]

 

[mmc]

 

[angelsnationtalk]

57 minutes ago, Stradling said:

To say Eppler hasn’t improved the rotation from 12 months ago is just stupid.  Are we really going to pretend that Bundy and Teheran who are both under 30 aren’t better than Cahill and Harvey?  Bullshit.  They may not be 1-3 starters but they’ll be much better than what those two gave us. 

They absolutely are better. They aren't the ace that we still need, but they are the depth and inning-eating pitching we've been dying to have.
Trading for an ace suddenly gives us a ridiculous depth chart on the mound in my opinion. 

Ace, Ohtani, Heaney, Teheran, Canning, Bundy, Sandoval, Pena, Barria, Suarez, Peters. That's pretty damn solid with the offense we will have. 

[angelsnationtalk]

56 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

 

Rockies in 2019: We want an All-Star we can build around. Nolan Arenado is that guy as will be a Rockie for many years to come.

Rockies in 2020: Yeah, trade him.

[totdprods]

6 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

They absolutely are better. They aren't the ace that we still need, but they are the depth and inning-eating pitching we've been dying to have.
Trading for an ace suddenly gives us a ridiculous depth chart on the mound in my opinion. 

Ace, Ohtani, Heaney, Teheran, Canning, Bundy, Sandoval, Pena, Barria, Suarez, Peters. That's pretty damn solid with the offense we will have. 

Like every year, it comes down to health. 

Literally all of Eppler's seasons have been marked by significant injuries. If we had been able to avoid that bug, this team would have been a legit WC/playoff team every single season. They almost have been anyways.

[Jay]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

To say Eppler hasn’t improved the rotation from 12 months ago is just stupid.  Are we really going to pretend that Bundy and Teheran who are both under 30 aren’t better than Cahill and Harvey?  Bullshit.  They may not be 1-3 starters but they’ll be much better than what those two gave us. 

On the other hand, to say the rotation is substantially improved would also be stupid.

[Chuck]

19 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

They absolutely are better. They aren't the ace that we still need, but they are the depth and inning-eating pitching we've been dying to have.
Trading for an ace suddenly gives us a ridiculous depth chart on the mound in my opinion. 

Ace, Ohtani, Heaney, Teheran, Canning, Bundy, Sandoval, Pena, Barria, Suarez, Peters. That's pretty damn solid with the offense we will have. 

Yep. I believe one more guy that's more of a #2 behind Ohtani and before Teheran, Bundy and gang would really bump our rotation into the above average realm. 

With our offense,  the Angels would go far with that type of rotation. I believe we'll add a catcher soon too.

[angelsnationtalk]

14 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Like every year, it comes down to health. 

Literally all of Eppler's seasons have been marked by significant injuries. If we had been able to avoid that bug, this team would have been a legit WC/playoff team every single season. They almost have been anyways.

Totally, which is why Bundy and Teheran are huge to the rotation.

[angelsnationtalk]

6 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yep. I believe one more guy that's more of a #2 behind Ohtani and before Teheran, Bundy and gang would really bump our rotation into the above average realm. 

With our offense,  the Angels would go far with that type of rotation. I believe we'll add a catcher soon too.

Here's what I think:

The Angels clearly love Matt Boyd. They checked in on him back in July and in December last year. Tigers want Marsh which I think is way too much and I think the Angels do as well. The Angels really want him and I think once the Tigers ask for something below Marsh like one of Adams, Knowles or Deveaux or someone else, then I think the Angels will jump all over it. Boyd has played on a terrible team and I think that a pitching coach like Callaway can really help his development. I don't think Boyd is an Ace, but to you point, I think he has the potential to slot in that #2 spot. 

I'm all in for the right price. Marsh isn't the price, however. 

[Vlad27Trout27]

i actually do like what we did in free agency, Our offense became a top 5 offense, an improved defense .

Pitching was a bit lackluster as we did not get the guys we wanted, but i am happy with the piece we brought in.  

Ohtani is back and he is 1/2, Canning has  2/3 potential. Heaney is a wildcard. 

I would still take a risk with Walker and Sanchez.

By the trade deadline, i expect us to get one of Grich, Ray and Bauer. 

[Stradling]

31 minutes ago, Jay said:

On the other hand, to say the rotation is substantially improved would also be stupid.

The starters pitched less than 700 innings, which was partly caused by the use of the “opener”.  The team used an opener 27 times by my count, which is more than once a week.  I liked the occasional use of an opener, I understand the idea behind it, but having to depend on it week in and week out is not great.  Eppler got two guys that will pitch close to 350 innings in the middle and back of the rotation.  It’s improved.  

[Inside Pitch]

50 minutes ago, Jay said:

On the other hand, to say the rotation is substantially improved would also be stupid.

Can't bank on projections as being facts but last year's rotation had a combined ERA over 5.50, next year's rotation is projecting to 4.35 and that's with Teheran over 5.00. If you extend the projections to include Barria, Peters, and Suarez, the number rises to 4.45.  Would a drop in ERA of a run per game quality as substantially improved or would that be stupid?

Obviously they have to do it first, but year to year based on last season's projections to this year's projections the numbers there are substantially better.   There is also little denying that Bundy and Teheran have a substantially better health record than either Harvey and Cahill.

They need one more guy imo, they should be looking for a guy that can be more than a back end guy, but the rotation appears to be an improvement over what they had even if the names leave a lot to be desired.

[Chuck]

30 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

Here's what I think:

The Angels clearly love Matt Boyd. They checked in on him back in July and in December last year. Tigers want Marsh which I think is way too much and I think the Angels do as well. The Angels really want him and I think once the Tigers ask for something below Marsh like one of Adams, Knowles or Deveaux or someone else, then I think the Angels will jump all over it. Boyd has played on a terrible team and I think that a pitching coach like Callaway can really help his development. I don't think Boyd is an Ace, but to you point, I think he has the potential to slot in that #2 spot. 

I'm all in for the right price. Marsh isn't the price, however. 

I agree. I'd be pretty bummed if we traded Marsh for Boyd unless we also added a guy like Barria and they kicked back Tarik Skubel. 

[totdprods]

12 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yep. I believe one more guy that's more of a #2 behind Ohtani and before Teheran, Bundy and gang would really bump our rotation into the above average realm. 

With our offense,  the Angels would go far with that type of rotation. I believe we'll add a catcher soon too.

And if we go by the list that MLBExecBurner account on Twitter posted, there's still plenty of guys available who fit that mold. 

I truly believe the silence right now is due to everyone asking for Adell, Marsh, or Canning, and Eppler holding off until someone blinks. 

There are some legit high-impact, controlled arms out there still, who are likely getting Adell's name mentioned. 
I wouldn't part with Adell for any of them, but Marsh, perhaps. Just waiting for them to drop their price. 
Luis Castillo, Mike Clevinger, Noah Syndergaard, maybe guys like Foltynewicz, Taillon, and Michael Fulmer.

Take those options off the table, and there's a whole other tier worth looking at...expensive vets who should eat innings at a minimum, and maybe give you upper-tier production if lucky. 
They aren't worth elite prospects, and probably aren't worth good prospects, but there's no reason teams shouldn't ask for as much as they can right now. These prices will drop.
David Price, Jeff Samardzija, Jonny Cueto, Danny Duffy, J.A. Happ, Charlie Morton, Nate Eovaldi, Lance Lynn

Then you have a group of young arms who have some upside. Prospect cost here is real debatable. It's a big gamble for both sides. 
There's potential to overpay - teams could ask Marsh and it's not totally unreasonable given the control and potential they're giving up.
But there's hope to meet in the middle somewhere, and these guys could give you #2-3 production if they meet their ceiling.
Matt Boyd, Jon Gray, Caleb Smith, Eduardo Rodriguez, Trevor Williams, Steven Matz, Jake Junis, Ross Stripling, Nick Pivetta, Brad Keller, Trevor Richards, John Means, Daniel Norris, Jeff Hoffman, Joe Musgrove

The Braves seem to be offering up their young arms as well. With Marsh being from Georgia and a Braves draft target at the time, this could be that fabled prospect-for-prospect match-up that is often dreamt up but rarely realistic. Anderson, Wright Fried, Foltynewicz again. Should the Dodgers pull off a trade for Lindor/Clevinger, their OF/prospect depth might take a hit, and it could put May or Gonsolin on the table for this as well. 

And then there's a handful of buy-low's and rentals...any of whom could become available or affordable as soon as their club makes another move this winter that bumps them or causes a need to free salary. Jose Quintana, Robbie Ray, Mike Fiers, Mike Leake, Alex Cobb, Jose Urena, Tyler Anderson, Carlos Carrasco

Marcus Stroman fits a lot of these groups too. 

Another thing I've noticed is a lot of these arms are on teams that have holes in RF, and while that doesn't mean Marsh would be a 2020 factor to them, it could be that they're eying Ozuna, Castellanos, Puig, etc., and until they sign or don't sign those players, they'll keep asking for Marsh. 

Lot of time and a lot of options still.

[angelsnationtalk]

I think we can all agree that Trout was obviously a monster despite not having solid protection in the lineup in his career. Now with Rendon likely hitting behind him he's going to get pitches in the zone to hit. He's already going to be good. Assuming he's better with Rendon protecting him, I wonder how much better he could get. These are my predictions, not by Fangraph or anyone else...

2019: .291/.438/.645/1.083 with 45HR, 110R, 104RBI and 8.3WAR
2020: .302/.454/.652/1.106 with 52HR, 125R, 115RBI and (if healthy year) around a 9WAR 

If he stays healthy I think he can easily get his 4th MVP. He's now entered his prime. 

I think he would have been very close to those numbers with a healthy year in 2019 anyways so I wonder what a healthy Mike Trout with Rendon/Ohtani and a healthy Upton hitting behind him look like. 

[floplag]

45 minutes ago, Jay said:

On the other hand, to say the rotation is substantially improved would also be stupid.

Define substantially?
We've added 2 guys that pitched more than anyone we had and did so to solid enough numbers and will still probably add one more.
This will also make the bullpen better but not throwing their arms off by June.
@Inside Pitch beat me to the projections but yeah, a run a game is in fact substantial. 
 

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I agree. I'd be pretty bummed if we traded Marsh for Boyd unless we also added a guy like Barria and they kicked back Tarik Skubel. 

The only way Marsh/Boyd match up is if Marsh is literally the only player the Angels send, and even then, it's a hell of an overpay and risk.