Let's say Dave Dombrowski becomes the next Angels GM

[totdprods]

7 minutes ago, DMVol said:

^^^  I don't think it is a given, as some seem to think, that Dombrowski guts the farm in a scorched earth win now approach.  Most importantly, he may not have the budget to do it.  Unless Arte changes course, we have too much on the books to bring in a significant amount of big, new contracts...there will be limits to what Dombromski could do unless Arte is willing to blow past the luxury tax...if there are limits, then Dombrowski will need to get creative.....and trading away our best prospects wouldn't work, if it adds a lot of payroll (the usual result of trading away prospects).....I won't be easy, if that is the scenario, but honestly, I'd rather have Dombromski with those limits than Eppler....

It’s ironic, Eppler’s base he’s built is really starting to look good. The virus and the lack of a minor league season really effed his future here, not that his failures didn’t also play a part, but I think this is easily a .500 team that would just not be starting to sort the question marks on the roster out, and would be gearing up for a strong summer with a bevy of prospects to deal for deadline help. 

Highly doubt Arte can look beyond W/L though. I doubt he’ll care that Stassi has halved his strikeouts and upped his BB% and is looking like a steal, doubt he’ll care Andriese and Pena could be effective relievers now, or that Rengifo and Ward have hints of promise. 

I do like Dombrowski, but there is a part of me that cringes a bit thinking we are rebooting the system again at the wrong time. Right when we are starting to see some of Eppler’s process start to work, we’re changing direction again.

Edited September 24, 2020 by totdprods

[angelsnationtalk]

8 hours ago, Second Base said:

I think Dombrowski would be make his mark on the roster like any GM would and should.

Stoneman was hired in 99, but his mark on the team was ultimately that core of Erstad, Anderson, Salmon, Glaus and Eckstein, and then signing Vladdy. The way he operated was to build a strong farm, don't do anything to take away from that, and grab large sums of inning eating pitchers. He left his mark.

Man I miss the early 2000's. 

Reagins is brought in and from the get go, he wants up the middle talent. He tried it with GMJ and it didn't work, so he brought in Hunter which worked quite well. And like him or not, Reagins was at least partially responsible for Kendrick, Aybar, Morales and Napoli as the player development coordinator before taking the GM job. And he also oversaw the 2009 draft, which is likely the single greatest collection of picks in team history. Reagins approach was mostly to wait out the market to find value.

Dipoto comes in, and immediately he starts spending Arte's money, starts trading anything not nailed to the floor, completely ignores international markets, and drafts a bunch of low ceiling collegiate pitchers. The end result is a bloated payroll and decimated farm system. But that's what his approach was, and every GM needs that autonomy.

Eppler is hired and he's big into run prevention/defense, so he gets Simmons. He also loves velocity and spin rate and is able to bring in a constant stream of relievers that breakout. He loves drafting exceptional athletes and gambling big, and for the most part it pays off. Tons of potential on the farm. But he fails at drafting pitchers to the worst degree and his free agent expenditures have been embarrassingly bad. Still, he'll be remembered for Ohtani, Simmons, the Trout extension, Adell, and Canning. 

If Dombrowski is hired, my guess is he will trade upside that isn't immediately impacting the major league team and get the Angels to the playoffs. So he'd trade Brandon Marsh and Jordyn Adams for a solid Dan Haren-type that pitches at it near the front of the rotation. And he'd probably sign someone like Bauer. And despite not being responsible for getting him, if Ohtani got healthy, he'd have an ace there too. But long run, he'd probably hurt the organization like Dipoto did. The only difference between is he'd have a lot more success than Jerry did before getting canned.

I Understand the Dipoto side, but how is that his approach when he's building an incredible farm system over in Seattle?
All the GMs have their own direction but can we really say Dipoto spent all of Arte's money? Arte was the one to bring in Pujols and Hamilton. It just falls on Dipoto and handicaps him with what he can do. 

No matter who the next GM is... Eppler, Dombrowski, someone else... It's ultimately up to Arte to say "whatever YOU want we can get it, but I'll let you do your job".
No matter who the GM is it's up to Arte to step away. Which he won't do. 

[DMVol]

25 minutes ago, totdprods said:

....I do like Dombrowski, but there is a part of me that cringes a bit thinking we are rebooting the system again at the wrong time. Right when we are starting to see some of Eppler’s process start to work, we’re changing direction again.

Eppler has done some good things, for sure....and I am torn about a change right now...but I'm not sure that Eppler has done enough to get us in the hunt for a playoff spot next year...Most of all, I am not comfortable with where the pitching is....and I'm not crazy about giving Eppler another off season to improve things....

[angelsnationtalk]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

Dombrowski is smart, experienced, and skilled enough to realize that this team has a really, really good baseline to work with. And a farm that, especially with a year off, would be far undervalued. I do not think he would scorch earth things this winter. I would expect a major trade involving one big name - maybe Marsh, sure maybe Adell - but likelier with some guys that are redundant like Rengifo or far away, like Adams, Vera, etc., meaning, I don’t think there’s a flurry of farm-destroying moves happening, at least yet. Midseason or next winter, once he gets a better sense of what we have both to trade and to keep for the big league club, then perhaps more moves start to happen. But the team could also be playing well on the strength of those prospects - in that case, he won’t have to burn down the farm to win. He can give it a year or two, let Pujols and Upton come off the books, draft and develop, and start trading away come late ‘22 or ‘23 should the Angels still be floundering. That will be the start of our next little ‘window’ of win-now before Trout starts getting actually ‘old’ and guys like Ohtani, Fletcher, Barria, Stassi, Walsh start going through arb, getting closer to FA, etc.

If Dombrowski might stand pat for a season to get a feel for the farm and wait till Pujols and Upton are off then might as well keep Eppler. He's likely waiting for Pujols to come off the books too. 

[Warfarin]

I can warm up to the idea of Dombrowski taking over, but I do hope he ends up taking the President role, and in turn hires a strong player development person to serve as his GM - again, someone from the Dodgers, Rays, etc.

As others have said, he has generated winners wherever he has gone.  I would prefer that he hire a strong player development person, though, to serve as his GM to help create a better overall balance.  Dombrowski will obviously call the shots, and perhaps in the end, that would create the best tandem approach.  As much praise as Friedman and his crew get for doing what they do (building winners for both today and tomorrow), neither the Dodgers, Rays, or A's have won it all just yet.  So maybe having a team that's partly built like the Dodgers/Rays/As, with a "push the chips to the center" President like Dombrowski, would create an ideal approach overall.

We'll see, but I would bet on Dombrowski being the head of player personnel next year more than Eppler at this point.

[angelsnationtalk]

36 minutes ago, totdprods said:

It’s ironic, Eppler’s base he’s built is really starting to look good. The virus and the lack of a minor league season really effed his future here, not that his failures didn’t also play a part, but I think this is easily a .500 team that would just not be starting to sort the question marks on the roster out, and would be gearing up for a strong summer with a bevy of prospects to deal for deadline help. 

Highly doubt Arte can look beyond W/L though. I doubt he’ll care that Stassi has halved his strikeouts and upped his BB% and is looking like a steal, doubt he’ll care Andriese and Pena could be effective relievers now, or that Rengifo and Ward have hints of promise. 

I do like Dombrowski, but there is a part of me that cringes a bit thinking we are rebooting the system again at the wrong time. Right when we are starting to see some of Eppler’s process start to work, we’re changing direction again.

Does Arte view Andriese/Pena/Mayers/Bundy as a good Eppler choice? Or does his selfish mentality view it as a "I hired Maddon who chose Callaway and made our pitching good" thing? 

[Redondo]

13 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I can warm up to the idea of Dombrowski taking over, but I do hope he ends up taking the President role, and in turn hires a strong player development person to serve as his GM - again, someone from the Dodgers, Rays, etc.

As others have said, he has generated winners wherever he has gone.  I would prefer that he hire a strong player development person, though, to serve as his GM to help create a better overall balance.  Dombrowski will obviously call the shots, and perhaps in the end, that would create the best tandem approach.  As much praise as Friedman and his crew get for doing what they do (building winners for both today and tomorrow), neither the Dodgers, Rays, or A's have won it all just yet.  So maybe having a team that's partly built like the Dodgers/Rays/As, with a "push the chips to the center" President like Dombrowski, would create an ideal approach overall.

We'll see, but I would bet on Dombrowski being the head of player personnel next year more than Eppler at this point.

@Angel Oracle has brought up the name Logan White from the Padres. He is a strong farm building guy.

[Warfarin]

2 minutes ago, Redondo said:

@Angel Oracle has brought up the name Logan White from the Padres. He is a strong farm building guy.

Sure - him too.  There are some pretty good candidates out there who I'd be comfortable seeing for us as a GM.

The key thing, of course, is Arte.  He needs to realize that the best use of his money, moving forward, is to invest heavily in his baseball operations infrastructure.  There is no luxury tax associated with paying front office executives who will, in turn, find good players at great value.  If he ever buys into that approach, then we're set.  If. . . 

[eligrba]

It looks to me as if Joe is quietly redirecting and reorganizing the organizational philosophy from the players up.  Before Joe, it looked to me like the organizational philosophy was top down which brought lots of frustrating results.  I know Joe is maddening with some of his moves, but he has the experience and credibility to change the Angels in spite of Arte's wishes.  I would love to know what the heck Tony LaRussa is doing. 

It makes sense to me for Joe to continue the Angel overhaul without distractions from the front office.  I suspect that Joe might eventually transition into the Angels front office to continue his work.  I like having a manager committed to the organization from the player's perspective.  I can live with "Crazy Genius Joe" if can continue to improve players that are already in the system.

Even though this season has been a train wreck, it feels much different than the end of last season.  I think the Angels would catch the Astros if there were 10 more games.....it seems like more role players are improving almost to the point of being reliable.

[Warfarin]

10 minutes ago, eligrba said:

It looks to me as if Joe is quietly redirecting and reorganizing the organizational philosophy from the players up.  Before Joe, it looked to me like the organizational philosophy was top down which brought lots of frustrating results.  I know Joe is maddening with some of his moves, but he has the experience and credibility to change the Angels in spite of Arte's wishes.  I would love to know what the heck Tony LaRussa is doing. 

It makes sense to me for Joe to continue the Angel overhaul without distractions from the front office.  I suspect that Joe might eventually transition into the Angels front office to continue his work.  I like having a manager committed to the organization from the player's perspective.  I can live with "Crazy Genius Joe" if can continue to improve players that are already in the system.

Even though this season has been a train wreck, it feels much different than the end of last season.  I think the Angels would catch the Astros if there were 10 more games.....it seems like more role players are improving almost to the point of being reliable.

It's hard to say what exactly is going on behind the curtain, but it is interesting to speculate upon.  Obviously, with Eppler in charge, there has been organizational tendencies and focus on certain ways of playing, emphasizing certain things (such as spin rate, launch angle, etc).

Maddon's comment about going against an "online book" of sorts, specifically de-emphasizing launch angle, is somewhat telling.  It's hard to argue with the results we have seen on the individual level, in that a lot of young players are showing significant improvements ~2 months into this very abbreviated season.

If Maddon can generate positive changes, then I am all for him continuing on and playing a significant role moving forward.  While not a member of their FO, Maddon has extensive history working with Friedman in TB, and then went on to Chicago and worked with Epstein.  It's likely he has learned a lot working with them, and perhaps he is bringing that approach and knowledge to his role as manager here.

This gives me some hope that when Arte looks to make a move in the FO, he will consult Maddon's experiences and, perhaps, pluck from one of those FOs.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, angelsnationtalk said:

I Understand the Dipoto side, but how is that his approach when he's building an incredible farm system over in Seattle?
All the GMs have their own direction but can we really say Dipoto spent all of Arte's money? Arte was the one to bring in Pujols and Hamilton. It just falls on Dipoto and handicaps him with what he can do. 

No matter who the next GM is... Eppler, Dombrowski, someone else... It's ultimately up to Arte to say "whatever YOU want we can get it, but I'll let you do your job".
No matter who the GM is it's up to Arte to step away. Which he won't do. 

You can’t simply say it was all Arte with Albert and Josh.  Dipoto has a responsibility to be a voice of reason to the owner.  Also Dipoto certainly didn’t mind taking some of the credit for those signings when they happened.  

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, totdprods said:

It’s ironic, Eppler’s base he’s built is really starting to look good. The virus and the lack of a minor league season really effed his future here, not that his failures didn’t also play a part, but I think this is easily a .500 team that would just not be starting to sort the question marks on the roster out, and would be gearing up for a strong summer with a bevy of prospects to deal for deadline help. 

Highly doubt Arte can look beyond W/L though. I doubt he’ll care that Stassi has halved his strikeouts and upped his BB% and is looking like a steal, doubt he’ll care Andriese and Pena could be effective relievers now, or that Rengifo and Ward have hints of promise. 

I do like Dombrowski, but there is a part of me that cringes a bit thinking we are rebooting the system again at the wrong time. Right when we are starting to see some of Eppler’s process start to work, we’re changing direction again.

Reading today that Sandy Alderson will be taking the job as president of Baseball ops for the Met's.  I know he's had that job previously, but he would have actually been the perfect guy to install in that capacity above Eppler.  Dude was playing moneyball games and teaching Beane how to GM before it was trendy.  He was always forward thinking and an early advocate of analytics.   Alderson/Eppler would have been a good marriage IMO.

[Angel Oracle]

2 hours ago, Redondo said:

@Angel Oracle has brought up the name Logan White from the Padres. He is a strong farm building guy.

And also built the Dogs farm before going to the Padres.

He’s familiar with the head of baseball ops/GM combination, having seen it up the 5 freeway.

I am intrigued now with a Dombrowski/White combo.

One thing for sure: Carpino isn’t qualified to be in Dombrowski’s spot.   Time to move into the new age of Ops/GM combo! 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Angel Oracle

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, angelsnationtalk said:

I Understand the Dipoto side, but how is that his approach when he's building an incredible farm system over in Seattle?
All the GMs have their own direction but can we really say Dipoto spent all of Arte's money? Arte was the one to bring in Pujols and Hamilton. It just falls on Dipoto and handicaps him with what he can do. 

No matter who the next GM is... Eppler, Dombrowski, someone else... It's ultimately up to Arte to say "whatever YOU want we can get it, but I'll let you do your job".
No matter who the GM is it's up to Arte to step away. Which he won't do. 

EPSN did a massive piece on JD and how he handled the AP situation.  It went on and on about how they did all kinds of secret agent stuff, used work elevators to get the agent to his floor -- blah blah.   Yes Arte met with AP directly.  he's had direct contact with just about every big time FA the Angels have signed but the whole Arte signed AP and JD was just a passenger along for the ride only became a talking point when the deal went bad.  Dude was all over that one, and Wilson, and every bad RP money he spent.

[Stradling]

32 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

And also built the Dogs farm before going to the Padres.

He’s familiar with the head of baseball ops/GM combination, having seen it up the 5 freeway.

I am intrigued now with a Dombrowski/White combo.

One thing for sure: Carpino isn’t qualified to be in Dombrowski’s spot.   Time to move into the new age of Ops/GM combo! 

I can't imagine that White would leave the Padres to work along side or under Dombrowski.  My guess is if you get White, he would be the President of Baseball Operations guy and he would bring in a GM.  At least that is what makes sense to me.  

[nate]

lets not

[Vlad27Trout27]

With the way we are playing now, the developmen some guys have made, plus the 60 game season. Could there still be a  strong possibilty of Eppler coming back for atleast another year? 

[Second Base]

3 hours ago, angelsnationtalk said:

I Understand the Dipoto side, but how is that his approach when he's building an incredible farm system over in Seattle?
All the GMs have their own direction but can we really say Dipoto spent all of Arte's money? Arte was the one to bring in Pujols and Hamilton. It just falls on Dipoto and handicaps him with what he can do. 

No matter who the next GM is... Eppler, Dombrowski, someone else... It's ultimately up to Arte to say "whatever YOU want we can get it, but I'll let you do your job".
No matter who the GM is it's up to Arte to step away. Which he won't do. 

I remember when we all be thought Dipoto was building a great farm system, until it was too late and ranked dead last. Now obviously he'll learn from his mistakes and do better in Seattle but this zebra hasn't changed its stripes.

First off he sold off actual major league talent, something he never had the freedom to do here, which is cool why he's had the chance to get prospects.

Secondly, the ownership in Seattle has outright refused to allow him to get involved in major free agents that cost draft picks, so they've been protecting him from himself, and third, the "amazing" prospects he's brought in, haven't actually been amazing yet. We think Kelenic, Rodriguez, Gilbert and Hancock will be good but that's yet to be determined. 

If we are looking at the prospects that he specifically traded for that have made their debut, you're looking at Dunn, Sheffield, Shed Long, JP Crawford, Dan Vogelbach and Erik Swanson. 

In other words, Dipoto had produced a bucket full of mediocrity so far, and his team is no closer to winning now than they were when he was hired. 

And if we look at what he had with the Angels. Dipoto inherited a farm system with Mike Trout, Garret Richards, Kole Calhoun, Jean Segura, CJ Cron, Randal Grichuk, Matt Shoemaker and Mike Clevinger. 

By the time he left, he had Sean Newcombe, Bobby Baldoquin, Kyle Kubitza, Fabio Martinez, etc....

And he took his ideological twin Scott Servais with him to Seattle. 

I can't guarantee it, but it seems more likely than not that Dipoto has and will continue to destroy the Seattle organization and they won't make the playoffs while he is employed as their GM.

 

[Warfarin]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

I can't imagine that White would leave the Padres to work along side or under Dombrowski.  My guess is if you get White, he would be the President of Baseball Operations guy and he would bring in a GM.  At least that is what makes sense to me.  

Logan White is the senior advisor, I currently believe.  I'm not positive, but I believe if he were to become GM here, that would be a promotion of his current duties.  He might be willing to leave for a promotion and additional pay, especially given that he likely won't have to uproot his life and move, etc.

[greginpsca]

1 hour ago, Game 6 said:

I still think they should extend Eppler for two years. One year makes him a lame duck.

Bringing in another guy, any guy, right now could set us back in the short term.

Pretty sure he's gone but sometimes the best move is no move.

Considering the state of the org, when Eppler took over, everything was in disarray. We had the worst farm in baseball. Some thought it was the worst all time for any org. He never had much if any payroll flexibility. Every year he has had the Luxury tax staring him in the face, which forced him to go the clean peanut route with relief pitching and position players. Like Nava, Gentry, Johnny G, etc. The farm is finally starting to show promise. We currently have a pretty strong nucleus. Not sure how much spending ability there is this winter, but by adding 1-2 SP'ers, 2-3 RP'ers the team should be able to compete. Because of these things, i think Eppler should have the opportunity to see this out. I feel he has put the org on the right track. So he should get at least one more season. I am not a fan of org's that change philosophy of how to compete every few years.  This causes turmoil  and too much front office turnover. The org needs to have their own philosophy and stick to it. The top teams that have that , seem to have the ability to compete most of the time. The org is in much better shape than it was 5 years ago, because Eppler has stuck to his plan, even without the payroll flexibility.

[totdprods]

Ironically, I think most of ideal offseason plan this winter (at least to me) is pretty in line with what Eppler usually does.

My shopping list:

• Get a cheap, stopgap defense-first vet 4th OF to a one year
• sign a 2B/SS/3B vet to a one year deal
• wait our the FA C market and sign the best vet to a cheap deal in January/February to platoon with Stassi
• hoard as many interesting waiver claim/minor league free agent RPs you can find

I will note that Eppler isn’t always particularly successful with the moves above - but generally, he does well.

The big deviation from a typical Eppler offseason that I would add includes:

• a significant trade involving actual prospects for a SP
• signing a FA SP that is actually productive 

Should Dombrowski get the job, I hope he still follows a list similar to above. Maybe he convinces Arte to put a little more $$$ up for one-year deal vets to fill some of those needs - 4th OF, MIF, vet C, #5 SP - with the intent of flipping them as the season continues on and they get pushed by prospects. In turn, those vets bring back some more prospects...for Dombrowski to inevitably deal away for bigger moves in the near-future.

[Docwaukee]

11 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Considering the state of the org, when Eppler took over, everything was in disarray. We had the worst farm in baseball. Some thought it was the worst all time for any org. He never had much if any payroll flexibility. Every year he has had the Luxury tax staring him in the face, which forced him to go the clean peanut route with relief pitching and position players. Like Nava, Gentry, Johnny G, etc. The farm is finally starting to show promise. We currently have a pretty strong nucleus. Not sure how much spending ability there is this winter, but by adding 1-2 SP'ers, 2-3 RP'ers the team should be able to compete. Because of these things, i think Eppler should have the opportunity to see this out. I feel he has put the org on the right track. So he should get at least one more season. I am not a fan of org's that change philosophy of how to compete every few years.  This causes turmoil  and too much front office turnover. The org needs to have their own philosophy and stick to it. The top teams that have that , seem to have the ability to compete most of the time. The org is in much better shape than it was 5 years ago, because Eppler has stuck to his plan, even without the payroll flexibility.

It's really been Eppler's missteps in free agency that will likely cause him to lose his job.  Only now are we seeing some semblance of the major league team being better than they've been as a result of his efforts.  Which makes sense considering what he started with.  But that likely doesn't sit well with Arte.  At the end of the day it's really only last year's debacle for the most part as a true stain on what he's done.  Throw Cozart and Teheran in there.  Upton is still indeterminate.  I hope Arte sees that while he's made some questionable move in the FA market, the franchise is not worse for wear because of it.  Even if those moves all worked out, we'd still be about where we are now.  Just that we'd have won a few more games over the past few years yet still unlikely to have made the playoffs.  

Arte has put all of his GMs in a position where they have to be better than pretty much every other GM in the game.  Yet I wonder if he realized that.  It might seem fairly obvious to us and many outside the org, I wonder if there is anyone inside the org that's gonna come to his defense.  And that is unfortunate because I would prefer he stay.  

[Warfarin]

42 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Ironically, I think most of ideal offseason plan this winter (at least to me) is pretty in line with what Eppler usually does.

My shopping list:

• Get a cheap, stopgap defense-first vet 4th OF to a one year
• sign a 2B/SS/3B vet to a one year deal
• wait our the FA C market and sign the best vet to a cheap deal in January/February to platoon with Stassi
• hoard as many interesting waiver claim/minor league free agent RPs you can find

I will note that Eppler isn’t always particularly successful with the moves above - but generally, he does well.

The big deviation from a typical Eppler offseason that I would add includes:

• a significant trade involving actual prospects for a SP
• signing a FA SP that is actually productive 

Should Dombrowski get the job, I hope he still follows a list similar to above. Maybe he convinces Arte to put a little more $$$ up for one-year deal vets to fill some of those needs - 4th OF, MIF, vet C, #5 SP - with the intent of flipping them as the season continues on and they get pushed by prospects. In turn, those vets bring back some more prospects...for Dombrowski to inevitably deal away for bigger moves in the near-future.

I don't think we really need a stop gap 4th year OF vet currently.  Entering next year, we have Trout, Upton, and Ward, with Adell and Marsh waiting in the wings, and it appears on top of that, Walsh can play RF in a pinch.  We likely will also have Barreto, who projects as a good defensive OF, and Thaiss (who can play a little bit of LF).  So, I do think we have OF covered.

As for a 2B/SS/3B - again, my guess is we will roll with Fletcher at SS, Rengifo at 2B, and Barreto as their primary backup.  That said, I do think it's a good idea to wait out that market and look to sign a veteran in January/February, given that 2B looks fairly shaky.  Rengifo has options and, if he struggles again at the outset, we can play the veteran with Rengifo in AAA.

I'm cool with the Stassi/Bemboom combo we have.  Bemboom looks like a serviceable backup.

Agreed 100% on the RP claims.  Avoid any high priced reliever signings.  They're just so volatile, I'd rather save the money and apply it elsewhere.

I do feel fairly strongly that whoever is steering our ship will acquire a significant SP of some kind.  It likely won't be Bauer, but there are various options in the next tier that could fit our goals nicely.

Personally, I'd still absolutely love to explore an Adell + for Manning type deal, where we flip our top prospect for a FV60 type SP prospect on another team, but that's just more of a fantasy-type deal that'll never happen.

[totdprods]

15 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I don't think we really need a stop gap 4th year OF vet currently.  Entering next year, we have Trout, Upton, and Ward, with Adell and Marsh waiting in the wings, and it appears on top of that, Walsh can play RF in a pinch.  We likely will also have Barreto, who projects as a good defensive OF, and Thaiss (who can play a little bit of LF).  So, I do think we have OF covered.

As for a 2B/SS/3B - again, my guess is we will roll with Fletcher at SS, Rengifo at 2B, and Barreto as their primary backup.  That said, I do think it's a good idea to wait out that market and look to sign a veteran in January/February, given that 2B looks fairly shaky.  Rengifo has options and, if he struggles again at the outset, we can play the veteran with Rengifo in AAA.

I'm cool with the Stassi/Bemboom combo we have.  Bemboom looks like a serviceable backup.

While I don’t disagree with any of this, and would be fine with all of those scenarios, I simply think there’s good opportunity to add to all three of those pools. I want the club to stack the depth in every way possible. Good teams have good depth.

Regarding outfield, Upton will still be streaky and remains a defensive liability. Trout’s defense hasn’t been great. Adell was awful, Ward looks okay and can improve, but still isn’t a true outfielder - yet. Offensively, we can’t really put stock on Adell or Marsh yet, and neither should be given the job outright. I think someone like Jackie Bradley could be a good candidate, and Jeremy Reed seems to have a knack coaxing more power out of lefty hitters. He could platoon with Upton and Adell as needed, spot Trout in CF, should come cheap, and would be an easy trade candidate on the virtue of his defense alone anytime during the season. That could net you another prospect along the lines of what we received for recent rentals right there too. Let Adell and Marsh get regular playing time in SLC until they force the hand, with Ward and JBJ splitting RF. Joc, Pillar, Markakis, Souza, Grossman, Reddick, and Marisnick are all similarly capable options. 

Similar reasoning for an infielder - stack the depth. Fletcher gets SS, Rengifo heads to SLC for everyday SS work - I think this is important, in case Fletcher gets hurt, doesn’t handle SS defense as well as anticipated, or is needed elsewhere, such as a long-term sub for an injured Rendon or etc., plus he’ll have more trade value as a capable SS. Jones and Rengifo handle SLC, while Barreto, without options, gets the UT role in the bigs. Rengifo could benefit from everyday play and I’m not sure he’d get it here, or is quite ready for an everyday Opening Day gig. I like him a lot.

My lone concern with Stassi and Bemboom is that we have virtually no catcher depth and Stassi seems to be a bit fragile. I think Bemboom has what’s needed for an MLB back-up role, but he’d be the perfect fit as a third-stringer since he has options. Again, a vet catcher will always have trade value, so wait it out, sign someone late in winter, and stack the depth there. 

I love the idea of 2021 SLC having Adell, Marsh, and maybe Adams in the outfield, with an infield I’d say Thaiss, Jones, Rengifo, and Maitan? with Bemboom behind the plate. Ample talent to draw from, all virtually MLB-ready, all with options so we don’t have to keep DFAing depth, all playing hard with an eye on returning to Anaheim.

Edited September 24, 2020 by totdprods

[Warfarin]

1 minute ago, totdprods said:

While I don’t disagree with any of this, and would be fine with all of those scenarios, I simply think there’s good opportunity to add to all three of those pools.

Regarding outfield, Upton will still be streaky and remains a defensive liability. Trout’s defense hasn’t been great. Adell was awful, Ward looks okay and can improve, but still isn’t a true outfielder - yet. Offensively, we can’t really put stock on Adell or Marsh yet, and neither should be given the job outright. I think someone like Jackie Bradley could be a good candidate, and Jeremy Reed seems to have a knack coaxing more power out of lefty hitters. He could platoon with Upton and Adell as needed, spot Trout in CF, should come cheap, and would be an easy trade candidate on the virtue of his defense alone anytime during the season. That could net you another prospect along the lines of what we received for recent rentals right there too. Let Adell and Marsh get regular playing time in SLC until they force the hand, with Ward and JBJ splitting RF. Joc, Pillar, Markakis, Souza, Grossman, Reddick, and Marisnick are all similarly capable options. 

Similar reasoning for an infielder - stack the depth. Fletcher gets SS, Rengifo heads to SLC for everyday SS work - I think this is important, in case Fletcher gets hurt, doesn’t handle SS defense as well as anticipated, or is needed elsewhere, such as a long-term sub for an injured Rendon or etc., plus he’ll have more trade value as a capable SS. Jones and Rengifo handle SLC, while Barreto, without options, gets the UT role in the bigs. Rengifo could benefit from everyday play and I’m not sure he’d get it here, or is quite ready for an everyday Opening Day gig. I like him a lot.

My lone concern with Stassi and Bemboom is that we have virtually no catcher depth and Stassi seems to be a bit fragile. I think Bemboom has what’s needed for an MLB back-up role, but he’d be the perfect fit as a third-stringer since he has options. Again, a vet catcher will always have trade value, so wait it out, sign someone late in winter, and stack the depth there. 

I love the idea of 2021 SLC having Adell, Marsh, and maybe Adams in the outfield, with an infield I’d say Thaiss, Jones, Rengifo, and Maitan? with Bemboom behind the plate. Ample talent to draw from, all virtually MLB-ready, all with options so we don’t have to keep DFAing depth, all playing hard with an eye on returning to Anaheim.

In an ideal world, I think all of the above are great ideas, but I suspect we'll sink almost every last dollar we have into pitching.

That said, given the likely glut of talent on the free agency market, I do think there'll be some opportunities to sign some solid veterans for very modest one-year deals.

My point in terms of citing Upton isn't so much that we can 100% count on him, but given his contract, he's likely going to play a lot, whether he's hot or cold.  Trout obviously occupies CF as close to full-time as possible, which means that RF is "open" (with Ward the favorite to start there).  I didn't mention it in my initial post, but based on Maddon's comments, I think there's a decent chance we see Ohtani get some playing time in RF, given his athleticism and history of playing RF in Japan.

That said, if I were to prioritize the positions/categories you listed (not including pitching), I think I'd say:  

1. Veteran 2B/SS/3B to possibly start at 2B

2.  Backup catcher, which pushes Bemboom to SLC

3. Backup OF

As for the minors - I think Adams will likely start at hi-A, then get promoted to AA sometime mid-year.  He's very raw, I don't think we'll see him in AAA next year.