AngelsWin.com Today: 2020 AngelsWin.com Primer Series - Eppler's Strategy

[Pancake Bear]

21 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Why didn't you just say release, then,  given that you do seem to realize that the term buyout has specific connotations? Anyway, we do seem to be on the same page, so let's just move on..:)

Because it virtually always means the same thing? 

[Angelsjunky]

The way I see the 2B/SS/3B situation unfolding is like so:

We can say with 100% certainty that Simmons is pencilled in as the everyday shortstop. He might get a day off every couple weeks, but he'll start 90-95% of games at short.

Fletcher has earned full-time status, so will probably start 90% of games - mostly at 2B, but some at 3B and maybe occasionally at SS.

La Stella should also be pencilled in as a full-time player, but maybe more like "almost full-time" - starting 80% of games, mostly at 3B but also at 2B, and maybe occasionally DH - especially if Rengifo plays well enough to warrant more playing time.

Rengifo is the default UT player. He'll pick up the slack of the other three, maybe starting 30-40% of games until the inevitable injury happens, then starting for whoever gets hurt. As I mentioned above, if he plays really well, he could warrant La Stella getting some DH--or even 1B--starts, so in a way Rengifo is competing less with Fletcher and La Stella, and more with the non-Ohtani 1B/DH corps of Pujols, Thaiss, Ward, and Walsh.

Which leaves no place for Cozart. I mean, even if he looks healthy in ST, do you send Rengifo back to AAA? Maybe temporarily, but then only to try to unload Cozart. Cozart doesn't have a future on the Angels, and regardless of how much he's owed, he has to play at least as good--if not better--than Rengifo to keep a player who does have a future in AAA. 

So the best-case scenario for the Angels is that Cozart looks healthy in ST, has a good April on the big league club, and then is traded, if only as a salary dump. But more likely he doesn't look good in ST and/or April and is released by May, with Rengifo back on the big league club.

As for 2021, my guess is that the Angels extend one of Simmons or La Stella but not both, then have some combination of Fletcher-Rengifo-Jones for the other two positions. If they're not competing in July of 2020, one or both of Simmons and La Stella might be traded. 

[Tank]

cozart and his shoulder: