The Official 2020-2021 Hot Stove Offseason Thread

[tdawg87]

I believe Walsh had good, uh...what do you call "peripherals" for a position player? Yeah, those. 

Line drive rate and all that.

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, floplag said:

You are correct in that both are questions, but Walsh put up a 293/324/971 line last year with 9 HR, Ward was 277/333/716 with 0 HR and is not an actual RF bringing questions both with bat and glove into play.  They are the same age, yet one seems much further along in development.
I would much prefer to see Walsh at 1B with an upgrade in RF and Ward as a swing man of sorts.
plus lets be honest, Pujols is still going to be the primary 1B unless he absolutely tanks. 
 

How do you figure Albert will be the primary 1st baseman?  If Walsh is hitting he will absolutely get the majority of starts at 1st base.  Albert started 5 games at 1st base in the last month of last season.  Walsh got a vast majority of the starts the last month.  

[floplag]

14 minutes ago, Stradling said:

How do you figure Albert will be the primary 1st baseman?  If Walsh is hitting he will absolutely get the majority of starts at 1st base.  Albert started 5 games at 1st base in the last month of last season.  Walsh got a vast majority of the starts the last month.  

Overall Pujols got 100 ABs as 1B, Walsh 88.  Were all aware of the trend and i hope that continues, but until we actually see that over the season, im not making assumptions. 

[eligrba]

21 minutes ago, floplag said:

plus lets be honest, Pujols is still going to be the primary 1B unless he absolutely tanks. 

Wanna bet?

Pujols will not be the primary 1B regardless of what everyone else does.  He will end his career as a part-time DH and occasional 1B.  I would expect the Angels to be bringing up AAA players to play 1B if Walsh tanks......but I don't expect that to happen.  I am looking forward to seeing Walsh continue to improve.

[floplag]

38 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Wanna bet?

Pujols will not be the primary 1B regardless of what everyone else does.  He will end his career as a part-time DH and occasional 1B.  I would expect the Angels to be bringing up AAA players to play 1B if Walsh tanks......but I don't expect that to happen.  I am looking forward to seeing Walsh continue to improve.

AS i said, i would prefer Walsh to be the primary, but it will all depend on Pujols.  They are not going to savage the guy in his final year, we will be given his graceful exit.
Dont mistake me, if playoffs become an actual reality, and hes struggling while Walsh is not, Wlash will be in there, but dont expect it early on.
Thats all im saying. 

[Chuck]

Re: Jared Walsh here's MLB Network's segment on him. @Stradling

I am concerned with RF a little bit, but if we get another starting pitcher and a reliever, I'm good with going with what we have.

Hell, maybe even Marsh gets a crack at the position since he's a highly rated outfielder and Minasian is all about run prevention. 

[Second Base]

Not only do Walsh's adjustments appear to be able to yield sustainable success (though certainly not at the level he performed in September), but we have done depth at 1B. 

Let's not forget, last year the Angels own scouts and Maddon himself were so impressed with Thaiss' performance at the alt site that they tried to help him learn 2B on the fly so he could play there in Anaheim. 

If Walsh doesn't perform at 1B (I believe he will), then Thaiss would. If anything, it's possible the Angels don't sign a fully capable starting RF and Walsh moves to RF with Thaiss at 1B. 

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

Overall Pujols got 100 ABs as 1B, Walsh 88.  Were all aware of the trend and i hope that continues, but until we actually see that over the season, im not making assumptions. 

No but you are willfully manipulating stats to create a false narrative.  You should work for cnn.

Walsh was demoted because he hit poorly at the beginning.  Pujols got the majority of 1b starts at that time.

Once he was called up he replaced Pujols as primary 1b.  Any objective person would say Walsh took over the 1b job.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

Overall Pujols got 100 ABs as 1B, Walsh 88.  Were all aware of the trend and i hope that continues, but until we actually see that over the season, im not making assumptions. 

 

2 hours ago, floplag said:

You are correct in that both are questions, but Walsh put up a 293/324/971 line last year with 9 HR, Ward was 277/333/716 with 0 HR and is not an actual RF bringing questions both with bat and glove into play.  They are the same age, yet one seems much further along in development.
I would much prefer to see Walsh at 1B with an upgrade in RF and Ward as a swing man of sorts.
plus lets be honest, Pujols is still going to be the primary 1B unless he absolutely tanks. 
 

Ok

[Stradling]

13 minutes ago, Second Base said:

Not only do Walsh's adjustments appear to be able to yield sustainable success (though certainly not at the level he performed in September), but we have done depth at 1B. 

Let's not forget, last year the Angels own scouts and Maddon himself were so impressed with Thaiss' performance at the alt site that they tried to help him learn 2B on the fly so he could play there in Anaheim. 

If Walsh doesn't perform at 1B (I believe he will), then Thaiss would. If anything, it's possible the Angels don't sign a fully capable starting RF and Walsh moves to RF with Thaiss at 1B. 

I think I had a stroke because I had totally forgot about the existence of Thaiss, which is weird because I think it is just you and me that have any faith in him on here.

[Bronson]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

AS i said, i would prefer Walsh to be the primary, but it will all depend on Pujols.  They are not going to savage the guy in his final year, we will be given his graceful exit.
Dont mistake me, if playoffs become an actual reality, and hes struggling while Walsh is not, Wlash will be in there, but dont expect it early on.
Thats all im saying. 

Strongly Disagree. Maddon doesn’t seem to blow Pujols like Soch did. If Walsh hits like he did last year he will start every game at first. Case closed.

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Bronson said:

Strongly Disagree. Maddon doesn’t seem to blow Pujols like Soch did. If Walsh hits like he did last year he will start every game at first. Case closed.

Well Maddon would have given Pujols all of the playing time, like Sosh did,  if he had him the first 7 years and not simply the last two, one of which was a 60 game season.

[floplag]

16 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Well Maddon would have given Pujols all of the playing time, like Sosh did,  if he had him the first 7 years and not simply the last two, one of which was a 60 game season.

All im saying is they arent going to ghost the guy, even if they should.
He will get a chance, if he produces at any level he will get more.
Its not what i want, its not what i would do, but its what i think they will do , especially early on.
If he doesnt produce, or if Walsh tears it up on his chances, that will hopefully change.
This idea that hes going to just get benched, i dont see as realistic, at least not in the first half. 

[Lou]

Case closed!

[Stradling]

I wonder if the Angels should take advantage of a strange situation with the short stops (Didi, Semien, Simmons) that are available this year.  None of them seem to be getting offers and none of them realistically should take a one year contract to re-enter the free agent market.  Next years free agent class of SS will be massive.  So this years guys are going to get to the point of being a bargain. 

[Lou]

3 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I wonder if the Angels should take advantage of a strange situation with the short stops (Didi, Semien, Simmons) that are available this year.  None of them seem to be getting offers and none of them realistically should take a one year contract to re-enter the free agent market.  Next years free agent class of SS will be massive.  So this years guys are going to get to the point of being a bargain. 

We don't need a shortstop.

[Junkballer]

11 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I wonder if the Angels should take advantage of a strange situation with the short stops (Didi, Semien, Simmons) that are available this year.  None of them seem to be getting offers and none of them realistically should take a one year contract to re-enter the free agent market.  Next years free agent class of SS will be massive.  So this years guys are going to get to the point of being a bargain. 

I suppose they could put Iglesias at 2B and have Fletcher platoon in LF and be a super-utility guy.  It could work but it doesn't address their primary needs unless they trade Fletcher, and works against those needs by taking payroll space away from them this year.

[Stradling]

5 minutes ago, Lou said:

We don't need a shortstop.

Correct this year we don’t need a SS, but value is value.  Plus it allows you to trade Rengifo or Fletcher if he gets you an ace. 

[Lou]

We could trade Rengifo or Fletcher now for an ace if we wanted. 

[Stradling]

Just now, Lou said:

We could trade Rengifo or Fletcher now for an ace if we wanted. 

Yes and have Barreto be the back up.   You ready for that?  

[Lou]

Just now, Stradling said:

Yes and have Barreto be the back up.   You ready for that?  

I wasn't aware we couldn't make any more transactions after we acquire an ace. 

[Stradling]

Just now, Lou said:

I wasn't aware we couldn't make any more transactions after we acquire an ace. 

So what your choosing to argue is the timing of transactions in a timeline.  My point is you can get one of the short stops and then make a trade.  Or you can trade then pick up one of the short stops.  Six in one hand... 

[Lou]

3 minutes ago, Stradling said:

So what your choosing to argue is the timing of transactions in a timeline.  My point is you can get one of the short stops and then make a trade.  Or you can trade then pick up one of the short stops.  Six in one hand... 

You're trade suggestion for an ace was based on timing.

I just don't think we should sign a more expensive shortstop when we don't have the need. I imagine Minasian would agree. 

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Lou said:

You're trade suggestion for an ace was based on timing.

I just don't think we should sign a more expensive shortstop when we don't have the need. I imagine Minasian would agree. 

No my trade of Fletcher for an ace was conditional.  You sign the more expensive SS to free up a guy like Fletcher to get a more affordable Ace. 

[Lou]

My acquiring a backup mif was conditional of us trading Rengifo or Fletcher for an ace.