Angels acquire Jose Iglesias from the Orioles for Garrett Stallings and Jean Pinto

[ScottM]

4 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

His OPS+ was lower in 2019 than in 2018.  His slash numbers look "better" because he was playing in Cincy, which is a hitters' park.

Gotcha. 

[gotbeer]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/iglesjo01.shtml

Always a plus war player. Dwar is mostly on the plus side.  of course last year, offensively was definitely more of a fluke. But for $3.5 million.  Definitely worth it.  

Also, it plays well with what is available in 2021 offseason.  Lindor, Story, Baez, Correa, Seager if we want to go for the splash then.

[rafibomb]

José Iglesias, Orioles
+76 points, from 84 wRC+ to 160 wRC+

Iglesias had spent nearly a decade being the archetype of the light-hitting smooth-fielding shortstop; in nearly 3,000 plate appearances entering 2020, his career line had been .273/.315/.371 (83 wRC+). So when a guy like that hits .373/.400/.556 in a shortened version of a shortened season -- he played in only 39 games due to several injuries -- it's very easy to write it off as an unrepeatable fluke. (Especially since he walked just three times all year, and had a .407 batting average on balls in play, literally the highest in Baltimore history for players with as many plate appearances as he had.)

That's probably true, and we'll take the hard under on a repeat in 2021, because we're not going to let 150 plate appearances matter more than nearly 3,000. But we'll at least point out this, which is that while Iglesias managed to maintain his elite contact rate -- his 11.3% strikeout rate is in the top 2% of the league -- he managed to increase a routinely poor hard-hit rate to nearly league average.

That probably also doesn't meaningfully change our view of Iglesias. It at least helps us think his 2020 was not all "luck," though.

Verdict: Probably a fluke, but at least somewhat interesting.

https://www.mlb.com/news/analyzing-2020-mlb-breakout-hitters

[Stradling]

The best part of this is it moves Fletcher back to 2nd base.

[Angels 1961]

INF is now set

[mmc]

Love the acquisition.  Exactly what we needed and doubt it costs much.

[rafibomb]

3 minutes ago, Trendon said:

I'm going to guess that the return is Stallings and Hernandez

Stallings would be tough to give up. I know a lot of guys in the prospects thread were fairly high on him. 

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, floplag said:

Like or hate wil depend entirely on the return to the Os.
Im way over these one year stop gap deals, but it buys time for the farm and other guys to develop i guess. 

These one year stop gaps aren’t really on the offensive sides of things.  Iglesias is the only stop gap possible starter right this minute on the offensive side of things.

[Angels 1961]

I had a feeling something was going to happen

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

I had a feeling something was going to happen

I’d like to thank you.

[Mark68]

I like it--depending on return to O's (can't imagine more than a couple Rondons). Run prevention is still important. 

[Chuck]

 

[Angels in 2030]

Blah/whatever

I love that we acquired a SS that only costs us $3.5M for 2021.  Beyond that great fact, not a fan.  Really depends on what we gave -- it should not be much at all imo (Stallings+ would be bad).  maybe a AAAA guy + a low ceiling high floor type top 25-40 guy.  

 

[JAHV76]

Nice pickup if the return is not too costly. Now starting pitchers please.

[rafibomb]

2 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

 

That funky beat though

[Hubs]

Story after 21 would be a great fit. Iglesias is a good risk on a one year deal.

They gave up very little I’m sure.

[gotbeer]

So now Bauer?  They really did save a lot of money at a position of need.  

[jsnpritchett]

1 minute ago, Hubs said:

Story after 21 would be a great fit. Iglesias is a good risk on a one year deal.

They gave up very little I’m sure.

I'm really curious.  I mean, if we all seem to think that this is a pretty good get at a very reasonable cost, why would the Orioles have given him up for nothing?

[Warfarin]

2 minutes ago, Fourts said:

Blah/whatever

I love that we acquired a SS that only costs us $3.5M for 2021.  Beyond that great fact, not a fan.  Really depends on what we gave -- it should not be much at all imo (Stallings+ would be bad).  maybe a AAAA guy + a low ceiling high floor type top 25-40 guy.  

 

I think this is the key thing.

We acquired a strong defensive SS for 3.5mil.  We were discussing either signing Wong/Hernandez for ~6mil/yr at 2B, or possibly Semien at 10mil+.

What this does is it keeps us very strong defensively at both 2B AND SS (since Fletcher will now stay at 2B), and at a cost that is less than what we would have had to pay on the open market.

Iglesias + Fletcher is better defensively than Fletcher + Wong/Hernandez, and the cost was cheaper, too.

I suspect the savings will go towards SP (obviously) and catching, given the McCann, Molina, etc rumors.

[Warfarin]

3 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Story after 21 would be a great fit. Iglesias is a good risk on a one year deal.

They gave up very little I’m sure.

Yeah - so this move also keeps SS open for next year, should they decide to pursue one of the multiple elite SSs that will be available.  Solid move by Minasian today to plug up a weakness at a very low cost.

[mmc]

 

[halonatic13]

14 minutes ago, Stradling said:

These one year stop gaps aren’t really on the offensive sides of things.  Iglesias is the only stop gap possible starter right this minute on the offensive side of things.

Sets up getting Lindor next season.

[halonatic13]

11 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I’d like to thank you.

I was a few days off.  

[rafibomb]

1 minute ago, mmc said:

 

Damn Stallings. Oh well I'll probably get over this in an hour or so.

[mmc]