Next Steps After Rendon?

[Warfarin]

YESSS!  Rendon will make a huge difference.  Yeah, he is not a SP,  but the dude's a 5+ WAR player and will help transform the lineup.

With Rendon aboard, and with probably about 25-30mil or so of money left to spend - what should be the next moves?

[UndertheHalo]

Durrrrr get pitching ?!?

[gotbeer]

SP, SP, C

 

[UndertheHalo]

My dream is Contreras and Darvish but that does seem farfetched.  How about Keuchel and Grey.  I’d be pretty happy to see what Calloway might be able to do with Grey.  

[yamsi12]

See if Rendon can pitch.

[UndertheHalo]

What if we get Castro, Grey and Keuchel.  That would be pretty good. 

[Brandon]

Call it an offseason

[Erstad Grit]

Sign Madbum or Ryu asap

Sign a decent catcher.

Look at Kluber, Darvish, orrrrrrrrrrrrr even Kershaw. 

[Angels_Fan]

Darvish, Gray and a catcher? I think Eppler should seriously look into trading for Gray (cheap, groundballs galore, good K/BB numbers, etc. and would probably be way better away from Coors)

[Angelsjunky]

1) Get a starter. One is probably enough. I like the idea of Corey Kluber, if he doesn't cost us Marsh. I can live with Fletcher/Suarez/Knowles, or something similar. If not Kluber, then see what Ryu wants, possibly Keuchel.

2) Get a catcher. No great free agent options, but still a handful of decent ones. Eppler's looking into trades.

 

The rest are worth considering, but not "needs:"
 

3) Add another starter. Kluber + Keuchel sounds pretty good.

4) Further offensive upgrade. Nick Castellanos?

5) A bullpen piece.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, UndertheHalo said:

My dream is Contreras and Darvish but that does seem farfetched.  How about Keuchel and Grey.  I’d be pretty happy to see what Calloway might be able to do with Grey.  

If we had an off season with Bundy, Rendon, Contreras and Darvish, that is a great off season.  Despite losing out on Cole.

[BackUpTheTruck]

Free agent pitching, trade for pitching, sign or trade for a catcher.

Maldonado would be great for us now that we have a juggernaut offense.

[Biergott]

Keuchel, Gray, Maldy would be sick IMO.  But really two of Kluber, Keuchel, Darvish, Gray, Miley, Ryu, Madbum plus Maldonado, Castro or Romine would be awesome.

salary gurus, can we afford any of that?  It ain’t my money so I never dig into it lol

but wow, this offseason didn’t simmer or boil, it erupted....going to make opening day feel so far away!!!!

[Angelsjunky]

There's also the question of 2B/UT. The Angels simply don't need all three of La Stella, Fletcher and Rengifo. I suppose the default right now would be to platoon La Stella and Fletcher, and send Rengifo to AAA, but I fully expect one of the three to be part of a trade for either a catcher or starter. The Angels can throw in one of Thaiss, Ward or Walsh, and possibly second tier minor leaguers and still not need to trade Adell/Marsh/Adams.

[popo85]

Sign Keuchel, Teheran and trade for Contreras

[Biergott]

3 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

There's also the question of 2B/UT. The Angels simply don't need all three of La Stella, Fletcher and Rengifo. I suppose the default right now would be to platoon La Stella and Fletcher, and send Rengifo to AAA, but I fully expect one of the three to be part of a trade for either a catcher or starter. The Angels can throw in one of Thaiss, Ward or Walsh, and possibly second tier minor leaguers and still not need to trade Adell/Marsh/Adams.

Trade rainfro, keep fletch and la Stella.   Thaiss, ward, Walsh, Jones, rainfro should all be fair game to get pitching right now.  I’d even consider Adams for the right arm. (not all these names at once of course but a combo of 2-3)

I wouldn’t trade canning, Sandoval, adell or marsh though.  Not now. 

[RedEyeBleed]

Trade for Jon Gray add Ryu and Maldy. Let’s go!!!

[Angelsjunky]

Next step: Run the train on anyone doubting Lord Eppler.

[gotbeer]

Looking at some teams, and 2021 FA's.  What do people think about Zunino?  28 YO.  Downward trend on his hitting.  Like straight down tanking trend.  .544 OPS, .669 OPS, but year before that .840.  Big thing that stands out to me though is his Dwar.  1.1, 1.7, 0.9.  contract is $4.5 and an option of $4.5.  

And if we can, Morton, but that may be too much of an ask.  Zunino on the other hand might be gotten for cheap.

[failos]

Plan the parade

[angelsnationtalk]

Keuchel is priority #1 right now I think especially being a ground ball pitcher with Rendon and Simmons on left side. But they also need to swing a trade for a second starter.
The Angels have an interesting situation coming up. They have a new infielder that will make around $35M/yr and Simmons is due for a new extension. He should command  more than $15M/yr and that could handcuff the Angels. With Fletcher emerging as a very good defensive player I wonder if the Angels are thinking twice about Simmons. That's a lot of money that could be spread around the team for raises to Ohtani and others.  

[Second Base]

The infield alignment: Rendon at 3B, Simmons at short, Fletcher will be at 2B and Pujols at 1B with La Stella at UT.

This means....

1. Matt Thaiss and Luis Rengifo are expendable. Maybe one sticks around but that's a long shot from where we are standing. I think we can expect one or both to be traded soon. 

2. The Angels have lots of young pitching, and I think Eppler will hold onto Canning, Sandoval and Suarez, to see what Calloway can make of them. But Barria doesn't really fit what Eppler targets in others, and I think he's going to deal him away too.

3. The Angels are short on LHB... Again. So I don't think they are going to trade Marsh. I think it will be Jordyn Adams. 

4. We don't know for sure what they can spend, but after the Cozart trade, it was looking like it would be 55-60 million on next year alone. Rendon's contact is slightly backloaded, so I figure he's probably going to make 25 this next year, which opens up 35-40 to spend.

5. That infield defense is built for ground balls. So.... Without further adu, here is the plan for the remainder of the Angels off-season.

--------

A. Angels trade Luis Rengifo and Jordyn Adams to Cleveland for Corey Kluber.

B. Angels sign Hyun Jin Ryu for four years, 90 million. 

C. Angels trade Jaime Barria to San Diego in return for Austin Hedges. 

------

The rotation lines up as Kluber, Ryu, Ohtani, Heaney, Bundy and Canning.  You know the rest.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Second Base

[gotbeer]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2851196-each-mlb-teams-player-most-likely-to-be-traded-in-2019-20-offseason#slide6

Name that I don't see anyone mention, very last on the list in the link above.  Samardzija.  One year $19.5 million left.  Will be 35.  Had a down year in 2018.  But a 1.108 WHIP and 3.52 ERA last season.  181 IP.  Sounds like the Giants want to shed salary more than anything so might not cost us much.  

[Puget Sound Angel]

Can we force him to pitch?

[Pancake Bear]

Great backup move. Rendon is only 29 to start 2020 and is only under contract through his age 35 season. That’s a deal that should age very well. Rendon is a fantastic talent and a great guy by all accounts. Love this move.

Pitching is now hard to say. We have extra infielders and need to add pitching.  I don’t know what that looks like at this point. Free agents, my top two would be a Ryu and Maldy.