Plan B: What do you think the best option for the Angels is now?

[Stradling]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

What are the chances they stand pat again and fill the voids from within? Somehow I think that is going to be the case again

zero chance they aren't spending money with either free agents or trading for players under contract

[Jason]

4 minutes ago, Stradling said:

zero chance they aren't spending money with either free agents or trading for players under contract

Unless other clubs get the FAs first and the trade prices are too high

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Unless other clubs get the FAs first and the trade prices are too high

I think there is a greater chance we over pay for mediocrity than try to solve it in house.

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

Unless other clubs get the FAs first and the trade prices are too high

There’s no way they’re standing pat. Eppler probably has a number of contingencies he started moving on last night when this went down. Wouldn’t be surprised if we saw something addressed today. They’re being aggressive and flexible. 

[hangin n wangin]

31 minutes ago, totdprods said:

There’s endless combos...

• If they do get Rendon, Bumgarner and Ryu perhaps become unaffordable, so maybe they turn to the next tier and trade market
• If they get Donaldson, they can probably splurge a bit more easily on Ryu/Bumgarner, and the higher end of the next tier down, such as Keuchel
• David Price opens up a ton of possibilities - they can take on all salary and get something good back, perhaps Benintendi or Chavis, daresay Mookie, maybe flipping one for another pitcher or catcher
• They could explore any number of options with the Cubs for Bryant, Contreras, and/or their pitching 
• They could loop in a third team like San Diego or Cleveland who also needs to move salary and has pitching and/or catching to spare 

Frankly, I’m kind of excited to see what happens. With the freed up salary the Angels have a ton of money to work with and Eppler has all sorts of creative avenues to go down to improve the team in many, many ways. This offseason could very well shape the next core. 

Eppler being creative with major leagues signings has been pretty disastrous. He’s literally signed a bunch of shit holes.

[hangin n wangin]

14 minutes ago, Stradling said:

zero chance they aren't spending money with either free agents or trading for players under contract

You seem pretty confident again. I don’t disagree with you necessarily, but this 0 chance thing doesn’t leave you much leeway.

[Tyler]

Rendon, Boyd, Ray, and Salvador Perez. 

[AngelsFaninGA]

1 minute ago, hangin n wangin said:

You seem pretty confident again. I don’t disagree with you necessarily, but this 0 chance thing doesn’t leave you much leeway.

I mean we spent a nonzero amount of money on Holby Milner and Arizmendy Alcantara so it's not wrong

[Stradling]

Just now, hangin n wangin said:

You seem pretty confident again. I don’t disagree with you necessarily, but this 0 chance thing doesn’t leave you much leeway.

I mean unless I misunderstand the question then yea I am pretty confident we aren't going with a rotation of Heaney, Ohtani, Bundy, Barria, Canning and Suarez/Sandoval.  I am fairly certain we aren't going into next year with Bemboom and Stassi as our catchers.  I am fairly sure they didn't trade Will Wilson so Arte can get the payroll down to $150 million going into 2020.  Could that happen?  Sure.  Will it?  No.  

[hangin n wangin]

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I think there is a greater chance we over pay for mediocrity than try to solve it in house.

Which would suck. That’s the last thing we need. More average stuff for big money. At some point Eppler will have to pay for his sins. I appreciate the minor league stuff but our major league team looks like it’s going to be underwhelming.... again.

[Keener]

6 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

But (pun intended) you cant get pregnant getting it in the butt.

But i read multiple threads about Jesus on the old espn boards  You telling me those weren't real?

[halonatic13]

I'd go with Chuck's idea.  

Trade for Darvish/Contreras

Sign Rendon

Sign Madbum

 

We get enough offense to offset the pitching.  Darvish & Madbum are much better than Harvey/Cahill.

 

Ohtani

Madbum - 2.5 WAR

Darvish - 3.3 WAR

Heaney

Bundy - 2.3 WAR

Canning

 

1B - La Stella

2B - Fletch

CF - Trout

DH - Ohtani

3B - Rendon - 6.3 WAR

LF - Upton

C - Contreras - 3.1 WAR

RF - Adell

SS - Simmons

That is a solid team.  

 

[Stradling]

Just now, halonatic13 said:

I'd go with Chuck's idea.  

Trade for Darvish/Contreras

Sign Rendon

Sign Madbum

 

We get enough offense to offset the pitching.  Darvish & Madbum are much better than Harvey/Cahill.

 

Ohtani

Madbum - 2.5 WAR

Darvish - 3.3 WAR

Heaney

Bundy - 2.3 WAR

Canning

 

1B - La Stella

2B - Fletch

CF - Trout

DH - Ohtani

3B - Rendon - 6.3 WAR

LF - Upton

C - Contreras - 3.1 WAR

RF - Adell

SS - Simmons

That is a solid team.  

 

I really don't hate it at all.  Objectively no one can look at that team and say it doesn't have a chance to compete for a playoff spot.  Plus if the team is performing mid season make more moves to strengthen it.  

[floplag]

OK, slept on it, nothing has really changed.  We can still get some good arms, but probably not the ace we want and I for one am not wild about taking on someone elses cast off (see David Price) unless the deal benefits us in some other way.  

I think this is a good article from Alden Gonzales although i dont think it quite goes far enough, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28272124.  In that article he mentions 3 options, give me #2 (or some variation on it) all day long.   #1 doesnt do enough, and #3 would likely gut the farm, #2 makes a ton of sense even with other names penciled in.

Any crazy trade the farm for an ace ideas are to me counter productive and make little sense so im not looking at any of those at all.  We are going to need a more balanced attack that isnt relying on pitching at this point, and allow the kids we have to become the help we need. 

Right now, in my view we still need 1-2 SP, and 1-2 bats.   The solution in three steps:
#1 Try to sign 2 of the remaining SP.  The list includes Madbum, Ryu, Keuchel, Teheran, Miley, Roark,   No there isnt a lot of sexyness there, but there is a lot of durable innings eaters which is what this club needs. 
#2 Sign Rendon or Donaldson.  
#3 Make the trade for Contreras.  Or expand it to try to get Bryant and or Darvish/Chatwoood and skip step 2 above.

Bottom line here is that there are still all kinds of combinations out there, it just means Eppler is going to have to work for it.

[popo85]

What if they sign 3 arms and trade for a bat - Ryu 3yrs 50 -Keuchel 3 yrs 50 -Teheran 2yrs 18 then trade Heaney,Barria, Jones, for Contreras.

[Broad Street]

5 minutes ago, floplag said:

OK, slept on it, nothing has really changed.  We can still get some good arms, but probably not the ace we want and I for one am not wild about taking on someone elses cast off (see David Price) unless the deal benefits us in some other way.  

I think this is a good article from Alden Gonzales although i dont think it quite goes far enough, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28272124.  In that article he mentions 3 options, give me #2 (or some variation on it) all day long.   #1 doesnt do enough, and #3 would likely gut the farm, #2 makes a ton of sense even with other names penciled in.

Any crazy trade the farm for an ace ideas are to me counter productive and make little sense so im not looking at any of those at all.  We are going to need a more balanced attack that isnt relying on pitching at this point, and allow the kids we have to become the help we need. 

Right now, in my view we still need 1-2 SP, and 1-2 bats.   The solution in three steps:
#1 Try to sign 2 of the remaining SP.  The list includes Madbum, Ryu, Keuchel, Teheran, Hamels, Miley, Roark,   No there isnt a lot of sexyness there, but there is a lot of durable innings eaters which is what this club needs. 
#2 Sign Rendon or Donaldson.  
#3 Make the trade for Contreras.  Or expand it to try to get Bryant and or Darvish/Chatwoood and skip step 2 above.

Bottom line here is that there are still all kinds of combinations out there, it just means Eppler is going to have to work for it.

Hamels already signed

[CanadianHalo]

Who would the Red Sox need to throw in or do for you to actually feel good about taking on the David Price contract?

[floplag]

1 minute ago, Broad Street said:

Hamels already signed

My bad, thanks for pointing that out he want really anyone i wanted just there for a list anyway

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

Who would the Red Sox need to throw in or do for you to actually feel good about taking on the David Price contract?

They'd have to eat about half of the contract or they would have to throw in Devers which they won't do.  

[floplag]

Just now, Stradling said:

They'd have to eat about half of the contract or they would have to throw in Devers which they won't do.  

Exactly what i was going to say, about half the money.  

[eligrba]

10 hours ago, Sean-Regan said:

I’d like to hear anyone who genuinely thinks we can be competitive without Cole outline what player or combination of players will accomplish that - not only regular season, but playoffs, because to my eye unless we get absurdly lucky this team has no future the next 2-3 years at this point. 

Sure, they might be an okay regular season team, might even make the Wild Card every year. But I don’t see a way this team becomes a legitimate contender before 2022 at this point. 

A trash can and a bat can compete against Cole.

[hangin n wangin]

If the Red Sox threw in Devers I would die of a permanent boner.

[jsnpritchett]

8 minutes ago, popo85 said:

What if they sign 3 arms and trade for a bat - Ryu 3yrs 50 -Keuchel 3 yrs 50 -Teheran 2yrs 18 then trade Heaney,Barria, Jones, for Contreras.

I doubt Heaney has much value as a trade piece.  Injury-prone and mediocre results when he's actually healthy.  He's got, what, 2 years of control left?  Don't see a ton of value there.

[totdprods]

17 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

Who would the Red Sox need to throw in or do for you to actually feel good about taking on the David Price contract?

Chris Cotillo, a Sox beat writer, speculated someone like Benintendi or Chavis could be added in if the acquiring team took all of the salary. 

In my mind, they could turn around and try to flip either player for more pitching.

[floplag]

10 hours ago, Sean-Regan said:

I’d like to hear anyone who genuinely thinks we can be competitive without Cole outline what player or combination of players will accomplish that - not only regular season, but playoffs, because to my eye unless we get absurdly lucky this team has no future the next 2-3 years at this point. 

Sure, they might be an okay regular season team, might even make the Wild Card every year. But I don’t see a way this team becomes a legitimate contender before 2022 at this point. 

Its actually quite simple,  but it involves seeing more than the pitchers mound.  Even with Cole we werent going to outpitch teams for entire series.
At this point we need 3 things:
A catcher than can hit, make the trade for Contreras, 
Another offensive upgrade, Sign Rendon or Donaldson.
Fill out the rotation with durable mid tier arms.  Maybe you try to get Madbum and Kuechel or one of the other guys out there that fit the good, not great, options that will eat innings and keep the club in ballgames 
Now, you tell me that isnt a wild card or better team?  Maybe more if some of the kids take the next step. 
Right now, thats the reality of it.   It was always the reality of it.. Cole just made it a little better