OC Register: Eppler open to trading youngsters for pitching

[AngelsWin.com]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — For all the talk about the free-agent starting pitching market, Billy Eppler believes the Angels are well positioned to make some noise in the trade market too.

As he left the GM Meetings on Thursday morning, the Angels’ general manager said he’d made progress in terms of realizing what acquisitions were realistic and which ones weren’t.

He also said he believes the Angels have valuable commodities to trade if the right deal is there. He’s talking about young players, obviously, but not just the minor-league prospects most associate with trades.

“We have probably the most valuable type of players you can trade,” Eppler said. “They are 0-to-3 (service time) players that we’ve stripped out a lot of the risk because they are pretty much there.”

Pitchers like Griffin Canning, Patrick Sandoval, José Suarez, Jaime Barría, Dillon Peters and Félix Peña, and position players like David Fletcher, Luís Rengifo, Taylor Ward, Matt Thaiss and Jared Walsh, have all touched down in the big leagues, to varying extents. They also have two top prospects – Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh – who have yet to make their debuts.

To varying degrees, all of those players could be attractive to other clubs. Eppler had said a day earlier that he didn’t consider any player to be “untouchable.” That being said, it would be stunning if the Angels traded Adell, considering he’s the best prospect they’ve had since Mike Trout and has a big-league spot waiting for him.

“I think we can match up in deals, just about any deal,” Eppler said. “If clubs are willing to engage, we can engage.”

The starting pitching trade market includes Detroit’s Matt Boyd, who has three years left; Colorado’s Jon Gray, who has two years left; and Arizona’s Robby Ray and the Cubs’ José Quintana, each with one year left.

The Angels also could entertain trades for higher-priced pitchers, who would essentially be salary dumps from their current teams, like Pittsburgh’s Chris Archer or San Francisco’s Jeff Samardzija. The prospect cost for a player like that would be minimal, unless the Angels also wanted the other team to pay down some salary.

CALLAWAY’S IMPACT

The Angels’ hopes for upgrading their pitching hinge not only on getting some new pitchers, but also on new pitching coach Mickey Callaway.

Callaway enjoyed a five-year run of success as the Cleveland Indians’ pitching coach before his two-year stint as the New York Mets’ manager.

Eppler said he was sold on Callaway in part because of how well they clicked during an early phone conversation.

“I like to look down at the phone and look at how long I’ve been on, and if I’m thinking in my mind it’s been 30 minutes and I look down and its been an hour 45, that’s usually a really good sign,” Eppler said. “We connected very well.”

WHO’S ON FIRST?

Albert Pujols started 98 games at first base in 2019, leaving 64 for other players. Considering Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching will provide more DH availability for Pujols, who will turn 40, it’s reasonable to assume the Angels are going to need to fill an increased number of games at first from other players in 2020.

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Eppler said he’s comfortable that Walsh or Thaiss can take the next step to be productive enough to fill in those gaps.

“Those guys had some pretty good moments and showed that they were taking that first step and competing and they are at that age and experience level where it’s reasonable to expect growth and improvement,” Eppler said. “I’d like to see how those guys respond to more at-bats and see how they go from there.”

Tommy La Stella also worked out at first last year, and could see some time there in 2020.

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[jsnpritchett]

 

[Second Base]

You better freakin not, Billy.

[floplag]

Intriguing.    Im glad hes open to at least having conversations, its the responsible thing to do, but i wonder how far hes willing to go.
Im assuming hes talking more about position player type guys  over pitchers, like Fletcher or Rengifo from the read as i cant really see him trading a young SP unless its for a controllable stud.  I kinda doubt hes talking about Adell or even Marsh as he seemed focused more on guys with some service time in the comment, but perhaps its just how i read it.
Bottom line he needs to be talking about anything, anyhow, to improve this club, but he needs to do it intelligently. 

[Docwaukee]

if he can find a way to get a solid, controllable starter for guys who's names are not Fletcher, Rengifo, or Canning, then I would be thrilled.  I wouldn't be opposed to including someone like Suarez or Barria in a Boyd deal.  I'm sure there would have to be a sweetener or two from the minors that we wouldn't like to lose.  

[Angelsfan1984]

I read that as Fletcher, Barria, Rengifo. I think its too soon to trade away Canning.  I'd be most reluctant to give up on trading fletcher but I think he brings the biggest return. I'd rather trade Simba and hand over short to Fletcher.

[kevinb]

20 minutes ago, Second Base said:

You better freakin not, Billy.

Why not? Why would you not want to trade players to make the major league roster better. Not every single young piece in our system is going to make it or is going to be on the Angels long term. Hoarding everything isn’t realistic. 

[Chuck]

I soured on Matthew Boyd as his season progressed. While he struck out some guys, he also got hit hard after his dominate first two months of the season.

I would only trade someone like Rengifo, Jones, Suarez or Barria or some package of two of those four. I guess I would include Thaiss, Ward or Walsh too.

[T.G.]

Eppler is in the last year of his contract....

[Hubs]

21 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

if he can find a way to get a solid, controllable starter for guys who's names are not Fletcher, Rengifo, or Canning, then I would be thrilled.  I wouldn't be opposed to including someone like Suarez or Barria in a Boyd deal.  I'm sure there would have to be a sweetener or two from the minors that we wouldn't like to lose.  

You wouldn't trade like Rengifo, Suarez, and a prospect for a good young controllable starter? He's not currently a starter and they have depth in the infield.

[Dick B Back]

Hold ‘em!

Sincerely,

Brandon Wood

[Chuck]

6 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Eppler is in the last year of his contract....

I just had a scary thought about that. 

What if Eppler just dumps the farm that he built like Dipoto because he knows he won't be back next year. 

[floplag]

10 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Eppler is in the last year of his contract....

This is the key, this team MUST show huge improvements this year for him to get re-upped so, hes gonna do what he has to do to make that happen. 
I dont think he does anything stupid as i think he wants to stay, but i do think he might do a couple things that will make some here a little uncomfortable. 

[kevinb]

7 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I just had a scary thought about that. 

What if Eppler just dumps the farm that he built like Dipoto because he knows he won't be back next year. 

Well if he gets the Angels to the postseason or they have a terrific start with a better roster it’s more likely that he will be back for more years than not. 

[Docwaukee]

13 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I just had a scary thought about that. 

What if Eppler just dumps the farm that he built like Dipoto because he knows he won't be back next year. 

he's gotta build the team as if he's going to be around more than this year or if he does get extend but uses all of his resources this year, he'll be in a bad way.  

[totdprods]

18 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I soured on Matthew Boyd as his season progressed. While he struck out some guys, he also got hit hard after his dominate first two months of the season.

I would only trade someone like Rengifo, Jones, Suarez or Barria or some package of two of those four. I guess I would include Thaiss, Ward or Walsh too.

I think Boyd is a great target still, depending on the price. He was still striking guys out at a great pace, and no real huge deviation in his BB/H rates - the only problem for him is the HRs spiked like crazy for several weeks. 

HRs can be fluky - the fact that he maintained consistent H, BB, and K rates all year long plus comes with a reasonable arb price and multiple years of control make him check a lot of boxes still for me. In fact, ideally, his price tag was dinged a bit, so maybe the Angels can nab him for a better deal now. 

If he gives us 30+ GS, 180 IP, and bottoms out at 4.50 ERA, that's still a massive improvement at the backend, better than we've had in several seasons. If he finds that first-half dominance, he's a legit #2 in a rotation with ideally Cole and Ohtani. If he lands somewhere in the middle, most likely scenario, he's another Heaney/Skaggs. If the cost is Marsh + Sandoval, hellllllll no. If it's something like Rengifo + Adams, you think about it. If it's Suarez + Knowles and lower-level guys/fringe guys, it's a no-brainer.

The biggest positive to me is the reasonable $6.5m arb. he's projected to get. That gives the Angels so much room to work with other needs on the club for 2020. Yeah, sucks losing youngsters, but the financial flexibility he allows Eppler this year gives him a chance at setting things up nicely for a couple years while whatever farm was dealt recovers.

[T.G.]

[totdprods]

My biggest fear is that this hints that Eppler really is on a hot seat, and he feels he has to do something dramatic to keep his job. That doesn't help him or the Angels in the long-term. 

If he is confident that the deals will give him job security, than I'm confident he'll be able to navigate around losing whatever talent he's dealing.

[Chuck]

3 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I think Boyd is a great target still, depending on the price. He was still striking guys out at a great pace, and no real huge deviation in his BB/H rates - the only problem for him is the HRs spiked like crazy for several weeks. 

HRs can be fluky - the fact that he maintained consistent H, BB, and K rates all year long plus comes with a reasonable arb price and multiple years of control make him check a lot of boxes still for me. In fact, ideally, his price tag was dinged a bit, so maybe the Angels can nab him for a better deal now. 

If he gives us 30+ GS, 180 IP, and bottoms out at 4.50 ERA, that's still a massive improvement at the backend, better than we've had in several seasons. If he finds that first-half dominance, he's a legit #2 in a rotation with ideally Cole and Ohtani. If he lands somewhere in the middle, most likely scenario, he's another Heaney/Skaggs. If the cost is Marsh + Sandoval, hellllllll no. If it's something like Rengifo + Adams, you think about it. If it's Suarez + Knowles and lower-level guys/fringe guys, it's a no-brainer.

The biggest positive to me is the reasonable $6.5m arb. he's projected to get. That gives the Angels so much room to work with other needs on the club for 2020. Yeah, sucks losing youngsters, but the financial flexibility he allows Eppler this year gives him a chance at setting things up nicely for a couple years while whatever farm was dealt recovers.

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I still would like to have him as a third guy behind Cole and one of Wheeler/Odorizzi/Hamels/Bumgarner/Ryu, but not just the second guy if we only land Cole or Wheeler. 

Unless of course we sign Cole, trade for Boyd and then add a productive piece at C and/or 3B on offense. 

Cole, Ohtani, Boyd, Canning, Heaney, Sandoval wouldn't be bad, in fact it would be good (not great), but if we also added someone like Grandal or Donaldson/Moustakas (or both) I think I'd be OK. 

I think. 

[floplag]

5 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Why does it always go to extremes when this topic comes up?

[Chuck]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

My biggest fear is that this hints that Eppler really is on a hot seat, and he feels he has to do something dramatic to keep his job. That doesn't help him or the Angels in the long-term. 

If he is confident that the deals will give him job security, than I'm confident he'll be able to navigate around losing whatever talent he's dealing.

This was my first thought too.

I'm sorry, but with this FA class I don't think you need to trade one guy out of our top 10 prospects. 

[Hubs]

I doubt people would be upset if they say traded some of these youngsters in a deal for someone like Syndergaard or Ray, or even an offensive player like Lindor.

For me, I have my favorites on the Angels, and I wouldn't want to see certain players traded in a deal that brought them back little or nothing, but in a deal that brings back legit talent?

[floplag]

A thought... how much of this is possible posturing?  Suggesting well trade over overspending?    Probably not just something that occurred to me 

[T.G.]

5 minutes ago, floplag said:

Why does it always go to extremes when this topic comes up?

Because we can.

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

This was my first thought too.

I'm sorry, but with this FA class I don't think you need to trade one guy out of our top 10 prospects. 

 

3 minutes ago, Hubs said:

I doubt people would be upset if they say traded some of these youngsters in a deal for someone like Syndergaard or Ray, or even an offensive player like Lindor.

For me, I have my favorites on the Angels, and I wouldn't want to see certain players traded in a deal that brought them back little or nothing, but in a deal that brings back legit talent?

Bright side is Eppler is so stingy with prospects that I don't think he'll stupidly overpay. He's done a good job acquiring talent either on the cheap (Maybin, Kinsler, Maldonado, La Stella) or at a very fair price (Simmons, Upton) and he hasn't really ever overpaid. 

As such, if he does want to make something like up to one of Thaiss/Rengifo, one of Barria/Suarez, one of Marsh/Adams, one of Soriano/Yan/Jackson available...I'd feel very confident that he'd be making great use of that value.