The Angels Next Moves (Post-Lockout)

[BTH]

Once the lockout is over, what do you anticipate them doing?

According to FanGraphs/Roster Resource, the Angels have $10M left in their 2022 projected payroll before they reach their 2021 payroll levels.

So, assuming they at least spend that much, how do you see them utilizing it?

[BTH]

I think they make a trade for a mid/back-end SP that we don't see coming (similar to last year's Cobb trade) and then sign a reliever or two to a short-term deal with their remaining money.

[Lazorko Saves]

[Taylor]

[greginpsca]

With $ 10 mil left, i think they will spend 1 mil on a backup catcher. Then maybe spent another $ 1 mil on a reliever. Then wait it out till the end of Spring Training to find one or 2 guys who gets roster crunched. And then, they will probably save about $5mil for the trade deadline. New season, same old story.

[Angelsjunky]

Who knows. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they're basically done, maybe picking up two or three role players - possibly a veteran reliever, backup catcher, middle infielder, etc. I also wouldn't be totally shocked if Arte got splash-happy and opened up the vault for Carlos Correa, or giving the green-light on Rodon.

But another way to approach the question is to ask: Where are the team's holes and/or weaknesses? As I see it:

SS: They've got a host of options, but none scream "major league regular." I mean, who do you start on opening day among Rengifo, Wade, Mayfield, Velazquez, Davis, Stefanic?

Catcher depth: After Stassi, you've got Thaiss and then...Wallach? 

Bullpen: They've got Raisel back but other than Loup, it is basically the same guys as last year, minus Cishek, Claudio and Slegers. Are they confident in Mayers, Warren, Guerra, Herget, Quijada, etc?

I think the OF, corner infield, and rotation are basically set - with the possible exception of one more starter, be it the lone remaining big fish (Rodon) or a depth piece. But SS, C, and the bullpen are all a bit wobbly.

Edited December 15, 2021 by Angelsjunky

[Second Base]

Short hand prediction....I think they'll spend around 20 million more in payroll, and that's it. No breaking the bank, but a modest 10 million increase in payroll from one of the wealthiest owners in baseball.

1. They'll sign Ryan Tepera for 2 years, 12 million. He came up with the Blue Jays when Perry was there and he's fashioned himself into a pretty consistent, decent reliever. Solid 6th or 7th inning option. 

2. They'll trade Brandon Marsh, Jaime Barria and Jack Kochanowicz to Cincy for Sonny Gray + 5 million dollars. It says a lot that Minasian was dangling Marsh at the deadline for pitching, and with Barria out of options and able to step into the Reds rotation, and Kochanowicz's upside, it's a no brainer for the Reds. They'll kick in 5 million to basically make Gray's next two seasons 10 million even. 

Rotation lines up as Ohtani, Syndergaard, Gray, Lorenzen, Sandoval and Suarez. 

Detmers and Canning in AAA. 

3. They'll trade Orlando Martinez and Oliver Ortega to Toronto for Reese McGuire, who will backup Max Stassi behind the dish while Thaiss develops in AAA. 

4. They'll sign Tommy Pham for one year, 4 million. 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Second Base

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

6 hours ago, Lazorko Saves said:

Magic 8 Ball knows everything....

[Stradling]

It would be awful to trade Marsh for Gray. 

[greginpsca]

Stupid to trade that much for one year of Gray.

[Blarg]

Sometimes people fixate on players and forget valuation. 

[Dtwncbad]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

It would be awful to trade Marsh for Gray. 

It also would be awful to trade Ohtani for a bad of sunflower seeds.

Let’s all worry about unrealistic hypotheticals that would never happen.

[Blarg]

If you look at Gray's career he is a 32 year old journeyman mid rotation pitcher. This is not a guy you package your stud center fielder with 6 years of control for. 

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

It also would be awful to trade Ohtani for a bad of sunflower seeds.

Let’s all worry about unrealistic hypotheticals that would never happen.

Ok.  Someone suggested it, I responded to that.  Take issue with that person and not the logical one responding.

[Dtwncbad]

21 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Ok.  Someone suggested it, I responded to that.  Take issue with that person and not the logical one responding.

You read me wrong.  I joined you in your opinion.

[BTH]

13 hours ago, greginpsca said:

With $ 10 mil left, i think they will spend 1 mil on a backup catcher. Then maybe spent another $ 1 mil on a reliever. Then wait it out till the end of Spring Training to find one or 2 guys who gets roster crunched. And then, they will probably save about $5mil for the trade deadline. New season, same old story.

I'm not so sure they save that $5M for the deadline because they'd be below 2021 payroll levels. The Angels will get flamed if their 2022 payroll begins at less than it did in 2021.

[BTH]

12 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Who knows. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they're basically done, maybe picking up two or three role players - possibly a veteran reliever, backup catcher, middle infielder, etc. I also wouldn't be totally shocked if Arte got splash-happy and opened up the vault for Carlos Correa, or giving the green-light on Rodon.

But another way to approach the question is to ask: Where are the team's holes and/or weaknesses? As I see it:

SS: They've got a host of options, but none scream "major league regular." I mean, who do you start on opening day among Rengifo, Wade, Mayfield, Velazquez, Davis, Stefanic?

Catcher depth: After Stassi, you've got Thaiss and then...Wallach? 

Bullpen: They've got Raisel back but other than Loup, it is basically the same guys as last year, minus Cishek, Claudio and Slegers. Are they confident in Mayers, Warren, Guerra, Herget, Quijada, etc?

I think the OF, corner infield, and rotation are basically set - with the possible exception of one more starter, be it the lone remaining big fish (Rodon) or a depth piece. But SS, C, and the bullpen are all a bit wobbly.

I think SS is the biggest hole they have right now. They could end up getting below replacement-level production. The problem is that the remaining FA SS market is go-big or go-home with Correa and Story at the top and two Angels retreads (Simmons and Iglesias) at the bottom.

That's why someone like DeJong could work, as his salary is $6.67M, but you'd have to give up something for him.

[BTH]

11 hours ago, Second Base said:

Short hand prediction....I think they'll spend around 20 million more in payroll, and that's it. No breaking the bank, but a modest 10 million increase in payroll from one of the wealthiest owners in baseball.

1. They'll sign Ryan Tepera for 2 years, 12 million. He came up with the Blue Jays when Perry was there and he's fashioned himself into a pretty consistent, decent reliever. Solid 6th or 7th inning option. 

2. They'll trade Brandon Marsh, Jaime Barria and Jack Kochanowicz to Cincy for Sonny Gray + 5 million dollars. It says a lot that Minasian was dangling Marsh at the deadline for pitching, and with Barria out of options and able to step into the Reds rotation, and Kochanowicz's upside, it's a no brainer for the Reds. They'll kick in 5 million to basically make Gray's next two seasons 10 million even. 

Rotation lines up as Ohtani, Syndergaard, Gray, Lorenzen, Sandoval and Suarez. 

Detmers and Canning in AAA. 

3. They'll trade Orlando Martinez and Oliver Ortega to Toronto for Reese McGuire, who will backup Max Stassi behind the dish while Thaiss develops in AAA. 

4. They'll sign Tommy Pham for one year, 4 million. 

 

1. Tepera makes sense, considering the Toronto connection and that the Angels could use another setup type reliever. I wonder if he costs closer to 2/$16M than 2/$12M.

3. McGuire makes a ton of sense as a backup C option, but I worry that the price might be higher than that considering the league-wide lack of catching options.

4. I think Pham gets more than that, but I'd be all for that signing at that price (or even for a couple million more). I think he gets closer to $10-$12M from the Red Sox or Guardians.

[Angelsjunky]

12 hours ago, Second Base said:

It says a lot that Minasian was dangling Marsh at the deadline for pitching

It also says a lot that Marsh wasn't traded. At this point, I think Brandon is virtually untradable - with Upton washed up, Adell still being a question mark, and Adams having a bad year, they really need Marsh. He's their best bet for a future above average regular - and one that will be very cheap for the next half decade. You just don't trade those guys, especially when they don't absolutely need Gray.

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

It also says a lot that Marsh wasn't traded. At this point, I think Brandon is virtually untradable - with Upton washed up, Adell still being a question mark, and Adams having a bad year, they really need Marsh. He's their best bet for a future above average regular - and one that will be very cheap for the next half decade. You just don't trade those guys, especially when they don't absolutely need Gray.

The defense remains the biggest question mark and Marsh can only help on that front.  I do believe they benefit by adding someone to fill the role they were chasing last year with Quintana (and failed), a reliable innings guy.  They obviously chose Syndergaard to be their front of the rotation help and I really have no idea what the reasoning behind Lorenzen is but, unless they have bought into Barria and the other depth guys as good enough, they seem to be lacking.

As far as Gray goes -- Marsh would be an overpay, 

[Dtwncbad]

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

It also says a lot that Marsh wasn't traded. At this point, I think Brandon is virtually untradable - with Upton washed up, Adell still being a question mark, and Adams having a bad year, they really need Marsh. He's their best bet for a future above average regular - and one that will be very cheap for the next half decade. You just don't trade those guys, especially when they don't absolutely need Gray.

I just don’t get the analysis that Marsh is the better bet than Adell at this point.

Slashes:

Marsh .254/.317/.356

Adell .245/.295/.408

The big difference I see is in BABIP.

Marsh .403

Adell .298

 

Seems to me that Marsh probably had some help with that BABIP and you could reasonably expect Adell to get luckier than he was.

The biggest difference is power.  There is no question Adell has the more powerful bat.  Yes people can say that Marsh’s power can improve, but Adell is still younger and HIS power could also improve as he ages.

Adell is fast.  Marsh is more of a natural center fielder but somebody still has to play the corners.

Personally, I covet the more pure power bat going forward.  His strikeout rate went from 42% in 2020 to 23% in 2021.

This guy could be ripe to absolutely explode offensively.

I think people are way undervaluing Adell compared to Marsh.  He made big strides and that power is legit.

If there is more trade value in Marsh right now, he is the guy I would move in taking advantage of that inflated value (compared to Adell at this point being way undervalued).

 

[tdawg87]

I think Adell still has more value than Marsh on the trade market. Like, quite a bit more. 

[greginpsca]

2 hours ago, Trendon said:

I'm not so sure they save that $5M for the deadline because they'd be below 2021 payroll levels. The Angels will get flamed if their 2022 payroll begins at less than it did in 2021.

Their yearly payroll is the number at the end of the year, not opening day.

[Inside Pitch]

23 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

I think Adell still has more value than Marsh on the trade market. Like, quite a bit more. 

More upside.  Sabermetric teams will view Marsh are the better value, but Adell's breakout potential is head and shoulders above that of Marsh's.

[Dtwncbad]

20 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Their yearly payroll is the number at the end of the year, not opening day.

What does that have to do with saying the Angels will get flamed if their payroll begins they year lower than the year before?

People expect this team to push forward in acquiring the players they need, not play it safe and start the season with less money committed than last year.