The Official 2020-2021 Hot Stove Offseason Thread

[Inside Pitch]

Minasian terming the situation as decent is probably a good fit.  Decent to me translates to "meh" and it's a pretty "meh" group. 

They can say whatever they want but my guess is they are looking for a guy or two to have a breakout.  Whatever, even if that doesn't happen if they simply play to what seem to be reasonable projections at FG, things will be better.  Whether or not that's playoff capable remains to be seen.   Bullpen volatility is a thing, and the Angels BP has some guys that could go either way IMO.

The one thing that cannot happen again is the defense can't be the shit-show it was last year -- a "meh" pitching rotation paired with a bad defense is a sure fire way play your way out of contention.

 

 

[rafibomb]

 

[Pancake Bear]

16 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

We had the second worst SP ERA last year. The floor was raised, yes, but damn it's got a long way to go. Still could use the top pitcher added to balance it out better

Yes, but you cannot (and you've been particularly guilty of this, for the record) simply look at that as an overall number. You have to look at individual numbers to see where the problem is.

No one (except possibly Bundy) is raising the bar. Between Bundy, Heaney, Canning, and Barria (roughly 80% of our innings last year) we were a little above average. In other words: Those guys were not the problem. And since we aren't going to have a rotation of aces any time soon, we can accept that as a reasonable start for 2021. 

Our problem has been for several years the floor. Teheran and Sandoval were the vast majority of those innings. Teheran is gone. Sandoval is still developing and likely won't play a major role this year. 

So what's the solution? Overhaul the rotation? Impossible without major cost to payroll and/or trade capital. Bring in an ace? I wanted to, but they chose not to go that route. Add depth: If Quintana and Cobb put up numbers comparable to the guys last year (4-4.5 ERA across the board) and we avoid any disasters, we have a good chance of winning the division simply because Houston and Oakland aren't great either. 

Will the guys in the rotation manage that? I don't know. We hope for that every year, but there seem to be less red flags with these guys than past acquisitions. Ultimafely, though, we'll have to wait and see. 

I'm with you in wanting a TOR arm, but they're obviously unwilling to shell out for one. The front office invariably undervalues them comparable to the market (or other factors, like location preference, screws them over). In lieu of that, a 4-4.5 ERA rotation is still above average. It isn't sexy, but it's sneaky good in the sense that no one is terrible. At this point, that might be what we have to hope for.

[Angelsfan1984]

13 minutes ago, rafibomb said:

 

I’ll wait for someone other than boob to report it. I’ll be bummed if true and less than 5m

[Pancake Bear]

1 minute ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

I’ll wait for someone other than boob to report it. I’ll be bummed if true and less than 5m

Thing about signing more than one 'closer' is you can create internal problems in the pen. The Angels have a 'closer', which makes it a challenge to sign another player who also sees themselves in that role. 

[Angels in 2030]

51 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Hey raise your hand if you thought Chuck was comparing the Angels rotation to the Padres or Dodgers.  
 

 

 

Oh only one guy, ok. 

Me neither.  But hey -- English comprehension is difficult for some.  

[Angels 1961]

29 minutes ago, rafibomb said:

 

We need Petit and Jose Alvarez

[Angels 1961]

16 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

I’ll wait for someone other than boob to report it. I’ll be bummed if true and less than 5m

Colome wanted to close as Soria wants, helps with new contract in next off season. 

[mmc]

 

[mmc]

 

[BTH]

1 hour ago, mmc said:

Rotations of other top AL teams:

 

NYY - Cole-Severino-Kluber-Taillon-Montgomery

TOR - Ryu-Pearson-Roark-Matz-Ray

TB - Glasnow-Patino-Archer-Wacha-Yarbrough (with Honeywell-McClanahan-McKay in the pipeline)

CWS - Giolito-Keuchel-Lynn-Cease-Lopez-Rodon

MIN - Berrios-Maeda-Pineda-Happ-Dobnak

CLE - Bieber-Plesac-Civale-McKenzie-Plutko-Allen

BOS - Sale-Rodriguez-Richards-Eovaldi-Perez

OAK - Montas-Manaea-Luzardo-Bassitt-Puk

HOU - Greinke-Valdez-McCullers-Javier-Urquidy

 

I mean is what we have even close to most, if really any of these teams.  I don’t believe it is.  And the fact that 9 years into the Trout era, with no playoff wins, we’re still questioning this is absolutely negligent to me.  Something is seriously wrong with this organization’s philosophy about pitching.

NYY has a ton of injury questions with Severino, Kluber, and Taillon all coming back from injuries and Severino not starting the season on time.

Outside of Ryu, TOR's rotation isn't that scary unless Pearson puts it all together.

Outside of Glasnow, TB's rotation isn't that scary unless Patino puts it all together or Archer rebounds to his Tampa-level.

MIN is good, but if Maeda isn't as good as he was in 2020, their rotation is less scary.

CWS and CLE are obviously very good.

BOS also has a ton of injury questions with their rotation, and Sale isn't even going to start the season on time.

Montas was bad last season and Puk has major injury issues.

HOU is good, but they could face regression from their young guys, Greinke is getting old, and McCullers had injury risk.

[Second Base]

Some buzz around Jordyn Adams right now. Close friends are congratulating him. Says all he needs is a chance. 

[rafibomb]

1 minute ago, Second Base said:

Some buzz around Jordyn Adams right now. Close friends are congratulating him. Says all he needs is a chance. 

Congratulating him?

[T.G.]

LOL

[Second Base]

3 minutes ago, rafibomb said:

Congratulating him?

Yeah it's probably nothing, but it's winter time. We scrutinize everything.

[BTH]

Like you mentioned in the other thread, it's very likely that it's because he got a NRI.

While other things are possible, that seems the most reasonable.

[Chuck]

6 minutes ago, Trendon said:

Like you mentioned in the other thread, it's very likely that it's because he got a NRI.

While other things are possible, that seems the most reasonable.

He got a NRI last spring and played in a handful of games. 

[BTH]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

He got a NRI last spring and played in a handful of games. 

No he didn't. The games he played in were because he was called up from minor league camp. He was never invited to Spring Training.

Here's the list from last year, as reference:

 

 

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, Trendon said:

No he didn't. The games he played in were because he was called up from minor league camp. He was never invited to Spring Training.

Here's the list from last year, as reference:

 

 

I just remember seeing him play in a bunch of games. He looked lost at the plate. 

A NRI for a prospect is pretty standard. It's not something to go apeshit about on Twitter.

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

I just remember seeing him play in a bunch of games. He looked lost at the plate. 

A NRI for a prospect is pretty standard. It's not something to go apeshit about on Twitter.

I think some people are wildly overstating what's happening on Twitter.  He simply said "All I need is an opportunity."  A grand total of 3 people have replied to the tweet and 72 have liked it.  It's no big deal.

[T.G.]

[tdawg87]

Tr...tra..........traaaaadddeeessssssz

[Chuck]

20 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

I think some people are wildly overstating what's happening on Twitter.  He simply said "All I need is an opportunity."  A grand total of 3 people have replied to the tweet and 72 have liked it.  It's no big deal.

We're jonesning for some HUGE breaking news. lol

[Lou]

Kolten Wong got 2/$18M? 

Pass. 

[tdawg87]

I keep seeing "NRI" and think Adams needs surgery.

I am not very smart.