Angels sign Scott Schebler to a minor league deal

[mmc]

 

[Second Base]

[Second Base]

And by unlimited power, I really mean a nice little power bat off the bench.

[Docwaukee]

[mmc]

Always been a fan of his, wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up getting a lot of PT

[Warfarin]

I like this.

We need a platoon corner LHH OF, and Schebler can fill that role really cheaply.

If we can find 2B and corner LHH OF for very little, we can essentially allocate most of our financial resources to pitching.

This is a great, low-risk move to create depth.  I would not be surprised to see him play a decent amount of time.

[tdawg87]

So Minasian is obviously familiar with this guy. 

[Second Base]

Maybe platoon him with Ward in RF while Adell and Marsh develop in AAA. 

[Angels 1961]

I HAPP en to like this deal that's your cheap platoon for OF. Speakoing of Happ he seems to be on halos radar. I say 1 year 6 to 9 mill.

[Revad]

11 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

So Minasian is obviously familiar with this guy. 

Looks like a good deal to me- what has Minasian done so far- minor league deals for potentially useful players?

[failos]

Can’t wait to call him Scheitbler

[Warfarin]

Kean Wong and Scott Schebler are the kind of "improve the margins" type of moves I expect to see from Minasian. 

Not necessarily exciting, but if he can find value on small contracts, it'll enable him to spend more resources on pitching.

Agree with @Second Basein that I think this sets up a Schebler/Ward tandem in RF to hold the place warm for either Adell or Marsh, whenever one of them is ready.

[Taylor]

He's played 31 total MLB games in the last two seasons, and before that had a marginally better than average OPS. Does he have an upside that he hasn't tapped into yet?

[DMVol]

11 minutes ago, Taylor said:

He's played 31 total MLB games in the last two seasons, and before that had a marginally better than average OPS. Does he have an upside that he hasn't tapped into yet?

4th OF’ers don’t have great upside generally....

[Angelsjunky]

Don't think he has upside beyond what he's shown so far, but he'll hit a few dingers. No walks or BA, though. Clearly a place-holding platoon with Ward until Adell or Marsh is ready.

[Warfarin]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

He's played 31 total MLB games in the last two seasons, and before that had a marginally better than average OPS. Does he have an upside that he hasn't tapped into yet?

I don't think it's really upside so much as what he's already shown.  He's probably a poor man's Joc Pederson.  What he is, though, is an average to above average corner OF.  Minasian appears to be trying to improve this team on the margins through a flurry of minor acquisitions.  

[T.G.]

Is it a "flurry" or a "plethora?"

[ukyah]

25 minutes ago, T.G. said:

Is it a "flurry" or a "plethora?"

we're definitely not at a flurry or a plethora with three moves.

but, obligatory because i know other people are thinking it...

[Taylor]

1 hour ago, T.G. said:

Is it a "flurry" or a "plethora?"

A cacophony.

[Duren, Duren]

Depth at a good price. Power potential off the bench, or occasional outfield/ platoon piece on the roster.

You see how important depth is in the playoffs. A pinch hitter or platoon player can make a big difference. 

One of the things a new gm or coach does is try and acquire under the radar type players that they are familiar with. Low key fringe move, but a small roster tweak that can help.

[tdawg87]

There's no "upside", but definitely a guy with MLB experience who can at worst provide a decent power bat off the bench.

He also looks like Napoli so that should win over some fans.

[Lou]

3 hours ago, Taylor said:

He's played 31 total MLB games in the last two seasons, and before that had a marginally better than average OPS. Does he have an upside that he hasn't tapped into yet?

No

[Warfarin]

8 hours ago, ukyah said:

we're definitely not at a flurry or a plethora with three moves.

but, obligatory because i know other people are thinking it...

We have signed 11 since he took over:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/transactions/#month=11&year=2020&team_id=108

So I'd say that qualifies for a flurry.  Sure, a number of those guys probably won't see the MLB, but if you read up on their profiles, a number of them seem to be AAAA or MLB bench-type qualify players.  While that's certainly not exciting, we've had problem spots before due to not having MLB-quality talent at certain positions, so I appreciate the attempt to at least improve our floor.

[Warfarin]

7 hours ago, Duren, Duren said:

Depth at a good price. Power potential off the bench, or occasional outfield/ platoon piece on the roster.

You see how important depth is in the playoffs. A pinch hitter or platoon player can make a big difference. 

One of the things a new gm or coach does is try and acquire under the radar type players that they are familiar with. Low key fringe move, but a small roster tweak that can help.

Exactly.  This is what Minasian is doing.  Schebler is unlikely to suddenly go out and be a 3 WAR player, but if he can be an MLB average-corner OF, or a slightly above average platoon OF, then that's likely better than having Hermosillo man the OF or throwing Adell, who clearly needs more developmental time, out there.

Little moves like that on the fringes are what help "steal" a few wins per year.  The Dodgers, for example. literally have no below average players anywhere.  Their guys get hurt, but they replace them with MLB average or above average depth, which they have loads of.  Minasian is trying to build the same thing here - have guys in AAA who can be MLB-average players, such that if/when we need them, we can use them.

[Angels 1961]

12 hours ago, T.G. said:

Is it a "flurry" or a "plethora?"

It's flurry until we get a few more deals then and only then will it be plethora