Could Minasian be Smarter than We Think

[totdprods]

Still think there’s a pretty sizable chance the Angels mostly just buy too. Keep Cobb, keep Iglesias, maybe ‘sell’ or dump a guy to clear some salary or open playing time. 

[Revad]

I’m wondering about some of these responses, frankly.  In the first place we are smarter than any Angels GM (Stoneman excluded, hell maybe Eppler too), and in the second case: yes Minasain is smarter than us but is he smarter than us?

[Second Base]

7 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

^^^^
^^^^
^^^^
 

Did you guys see Alex Colome pitching the 6th inning of a game the Twins were losing last night?

i suggest one of you do a search of the 10 relievers who got the biggest deals and see how many of them are good. 
 

I wrote this story a few years ago.

I'll include @ThisismineScios in this response. I'm leery of spending big on a bullpen as well. Cody Allen cost 8 million and didn't last long. I remember 2016 when the Rockies spent big on their bullpen. And by big I mean they spent 16 million on three back end relievers, which for five years ago, was a lot of money to spend.

Jake McGee ended up with a 4.72 ERA, Jason Motte had a 4.94 ERA, and Chad Qualls had a 5.23 ERA. 

Totally backfired. 

But this year's bullpen is just so bad, and without the advantage of getting a closer look at internal options like Wantz, Ortega and Hernandez in pressure situations, there's not a lot of certainty in building a good bullpen. 

Unless they see something others can't (the Eppler regime really seemed to have an uncanny ability to spot these buy low candidates), I just don't see many other options other than overspending on proven options, such as Raisel Iglesias. 

[Second Base]

10 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Still think there’s a pretty sizable chance the Angels mostly just buy too. Keep Cobb, keep Iglesias, maybe ‘sell’ or dump a guy to clear some salary or open playing time. 

Especially if they're intent on extending Cobb and both Iglesias, they might just surprise the heck out of everyone and start buying for 2022 and beyond. Maybe go after Max Scherzer (reportedly only willing to accept trade on the condition of an extension) or Luis Castillo. 

[Jason]

He’s a GM of a major league club so he didn’t get there by being stupid 

[ThisismineScios]

4 hours ago, Second Base said:

I'll include @ThisismineScios in this response. I'm leery of spending big on a bullpen as well. Cody Allen cost 8 million and didn't last long. I remember 2016 when the Rockies spent big on their bullpen. And by big I mean they spent 16 million on three back end relievers, which for five years ago, was a lot of money to spend.

Jake McGee ended up with a 4.72 ERA, Jason Motte had a 4.94 ERA, and Chad Qualls had a 5.23 ERA. 

Totally backfired. 

But this year's bullpen is just so bad, and without the advantage of getting a closer look at internal options like Wantz, Ortega and Hernandez in pressure situations, there's not a lot of certainty in building a good bullpen. 

Unless they see something others can't (the Eppler regime really seemed to have an uncanny ability to spot these buy low candidates), I just don't see many other options other than overspending on proven options, such as Raisel Iglesias. 

Yeah I get it. But spend wisely. Alex Claudio was available for $1 mil because he stinks. Don’t sign name guys just because. The last two name guys I really wanted them to sign were Rosenthal and Ottav*no. Filthy stuff. But now look at both. You just never know. 

Also don’t underestimate how important it is to have an actual ML pitching coach. 

[Second Base]

15 minutes ago, ThisismineScios said:

Yeah I get it. But spend wisely. Alex Claudio was available for $1 mil because he stinks. Don’t sign name guys just because. The last two name guys I really wanted them to sign were Rosenthal and Ottav*no. Filthy stuff. But now look at both. You just never know. 

Also don’t underestimate how important it is to have an actual ML pitching coach. 

Yeah losing Callaway hurt, no doubt about that. And Ottavino is still pretty lethal. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

lf the Angels could trade for quality bullpen help, we could still make a run at the wildcard. Our SP consisting of Ohtani, Cobb, Sandoval, Suarez, Heaney, and now Barria gives us decent chance a a sustained wining streak. Detmers has been impressive in AA, and now in AAA, and Chris Rodriguez is AAA working his way back to Anaheim. Once Trout returns l think we have a shot to make the playoffs. I'm an optimist though. Our offense has played above .500 since Trout, Rendone, and Upton went down with injuries. Fletch has been great, and Ohtani is in the middle of the greatest season anyone has ever seen. Mayfield has filled in admirable at 3B saving many runs in Minneapolis. Stassi has been incredible both at and behind the plate. Jose Iglesias has been good on both sides of the game. FIX THE BULLPEN PLEASE.

[Docwaukee]

all of those big pen spends by the Rox have gone elsewhere and had success except Wade Davis.   Could that have been because they were in COL?   

Spending on relievers is tough.  Many claim it's the volatility that can get you in trouble and to some degree, that's correct.  Volatile implies, however that they are more likely to change for the worse and I'm not absolutely certain that's true any more so for relievers than it is for any other position.  By and large, spending on a FA is a pretty bad bet.  Anywhere.  And by and large, you get what you pay for.  Or at least you get more if you pay more.  

But here's the thing about relievers that's different from other spots and why they're considered 'volatile'.  You can find a really good one that comes out of nowhere and costs you almost nothing.  That's why it's hard to justify any sort of outlay.  But to me, there's a balance.  A guy you pay 8mil a year to over 3 years is much more likely to be good for 2 of those 3 years and probably just ok for the third than a guy like a Mike Mayers is going to be over that same three year period.  

You can't have 9 Mike Mayers in your bullpen all the time.  Just like you can't have 5 Alex Cobb's, Dylan Bundy's or Jose Quintana's in your rotation. 

Raisel Iglesias is a great template for how to spend money on a pen.  Take an existing contract for a still very good player on that another team doesn't need or want and give up very little because you're taking on that money.  Don't wait till spring is over and pick up the random leftovers for the 8 other spots.  Can you do that strategically and make it work?  Sure.  But you can live off of someone else's sloppy seconds all the time.  

Grab a couple of Raisel types.  Sign a couple guys who are likely to be somewhat consistent.  Develop a couple guys.  And pick up a few guys off waivers and stash them in AAA or start them out with less meaningful innings.  

And you've got to tailor your approach on how you build your bullpen to your expectations for your starters and your manager's tendencies.  

Joe tinkers and over manages so make it easier on him.  Have enough depth in the pen where it's more difficult to make a bad choice.  When 6 of the 8 are bad options then you've essentially made it impossible.  That was my biggest nit about why the later MS teams didn't succeed as much as they could have.  He got the saber pen and not one that was more conducive to his style.  Sometimes it would take him a couple months to figure things out.  

[robblin17]

On 7/23/2021 at 9:56 AM, Second Base said:

Minasian is smart. 

He acquired Raisel Iglesias for basically 6 million dollars and is going to flip him with 2 million remaining and get a nice prospect in return. Great move. 

He acquired Cobb, who has been a revelation. He shouldn't have parted with Jahmai Jones, but he is probably going to get equal value in return when he flips him at the deadline. 

He acquired Jose Iglesias for next to nothing and Iglesias is a decent starting SS in the major leagues. 

He was quick to pull trigger in putting Patrick Sandoval and Jose Suarez in the rotation when other staters underperformed. 

He signed Fletcher to a 25 million dollar extension that looks like an absolute steal right now. 

He at least recognized that the bullpen was a big frickin problem, and tried to address it by bringing in Cishek, Watson and Slegers, which didn't work but it makes it doesn't that he isn't naive to the issue. 

He cut ties with Pujols, who was not helping the team. 

He saw the lack of organizational depth in terms of pitching in A ball and High A, and drafted 19 collegiate starters to fix the issue. 

He drafted Sam Bachman instead of Kumar Rocker, effectively saving 3 million in a signing bonus for someone with just as much upside and less downside. This is despite experts thinking they should've gone with Rocker. 

He sent Rodriguez back down to AA to join Detmers in what figures to be a great SP tandem that will be major league ready sooner rather than later.

Really, my only issue with Minasian so far is that Jose Quintana was a crap signing from the start and his bullpen choices are equally garbage. But because Eppler was a better GM than most here even considered, now Minasian is going to have something insane like 50 million dollars to spend this winter, and all he needs is a shortstop, an upside SP and a new bullpen. 

He could re-up Iglesias, get an incredible SP for 25 million and still have 20 million left over to spend on relievers. 

So yeah, I do believe he's smart. 

Great post. I am very curious to see what he does at the deadline. I think we will be active. 

[robblin17]

On 7/23/2021 at 11:42 AM, Adam said:

He looks like he read a lot on Friday and Saturday nights so I would imagine he's smart

he definitely played MLB the Show GM Mode.