Minasian believes this team can be a winner. So what will it take?

[angelsnationtalk]

Perry Minasian at the GM meetings yesterday stated that he believes this team can be a winner. Obviously they need to win or else Ohtani is gone. 
So in your opinion, what/who do the Angels need to acquire to become a "winner"

Here's a list of possible quick needs/question marks for the Angels:
1B
SS
LF
#2 rotation arm
Bullpen closer

To start, I think it starts with adding Turner or Correa and then looking for a solid arm behind Ohtani. 

[jsnpritchett]

There is virtually no chance that the Angels will sign either Correa or Turner.

[Stradling]

I’d probably start with adding depth pieces like Drury or Profar. See if any of the SS work into the budget.  Sign Bassit. Hope for health and rebound years from relievers. 

[Taylor]

It will take Trout and Rendon staying healthy, and Rendon being able to at least come close to the numbers we expected when we signed him.

It will take Rengifo continuing his 2022 breakout.

It will take Fletcher at least not looking clueless at the plate all the time.

[bruin5]

I’d let SS be a competition between Soto, Fletcher, Rengifo, and whatever utility guy they bring in. I think Neto will be a good one, and I don’t see us affording the top tier SS’s or the need to pay someone for 3 to 5 years. 

I would spend on a good corner OF, to give flexibility to Ward to play 1B against lefties if needed. With the removal of the shift, and better health, Walsh should have a much better year. 

A number 2 or 3 starter is badly needed, and I would sign a good relief pitcher. I wouldn’t pay for a closer because I think they are overvalued.  

These moves are all based on the owner wanting to stay within the salary cap and re-signing Ohtani. 

[BTH]

Multiple trades for undervalued players who are breakout candidates

The Angels can’t fill all their needs in free agency, so they’re gonna have to make some shrewd trades and help those players reach their potential.

[Erstad Grit]

I'd rather add a CF and move Trout to LF. 

I think the roster absolutely could be a WC team but dammit Rendon need to not suck

Edited November 8, 2022 by Erstad Grit

[BTH]

6 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

I'd rather add a CF and move Trout to LF. 

Perry already said they aren’t doing that.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Trendon

[Erstad Grit]

27 minutes ago, Trendon said:

Perry already said they aren’t doing that.

Yes I know......which is why I said I'd rather add a CF and move Trout to LF. 

[ukyah]

1 hour ago, Trendon said:

Multiple trades for undervalued players who are breakout candidates

The Angels can’t fill all their needs in free agency, so they’re gonna have to make some shrewd trades and help those players reach their potential.

 

[Erstad Grit]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

I’d probably start with adding depth pieces like Drury or Profar. See if any of the SS work into the budget.  Sign Bassit. Hope for health and rebound years from relievers. 

Drury would be a great add

[Stradling]

2 hours ago, Trendon said:

Perry already said they aren’t doing that.

He said that last year. Trout as a centerfielder should be a year by year discussion. 

[Stradling]

56 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

Drury would be a great add

Protects against injuries and a good platoon partner with Walsh. 

[Docwaukee]

15-20 win improvements are extremely rare.  Particularly when your budget isn't likely to go up and you likely have about 20-30 mil to spend on top of having several holes to fill.  

Not to mention you've got a team built for another 100 win season in your division and another that won 90 games that could be pretty aggressive in going after improvements.  

It can be done but there's a fair amount of work to do and they're also gonna need a bit of luck.  

[Second Base]

The Angels aren't improving by 20 wins in the middle of a sale.

[jsnpritchett]

2 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

Drury would be a great add

 

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Protects against injuries and a good platoon partner with Walsh. 

He seems like a prime candidate to completely flop next year.  He had negative career bWAR (and barely above fWAR) coming into the 2022 season.  Even after his "big" year, his career OPS+ is 93--and he's not a particularly good defender, either.

[Blarg]

5 hours ago, Trendon said:

Multiple trades for undervalued players who are breakout candidates

Got that list handy? 

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, Docwaukee said:

15-20 win improvements are extremely rare.  Particularly when your budget isn't likely to go up and you likely have about 20-30 mil to spend on top of having several holes to fill.  

Not to mention you've got a team built for another 100 win season in your division and another that won 90 games that could be pretty aggressive in going after improvements.  

It can be done but there's a fair amount of work to do and they're also gonna need a bit of luck.  

 

40 minutes ago, Second Base said:

The Angels aren't improving by 20 wins in the middle of a sale.

The funny thing is, as unlikely as we are to improve by 20 games.....

 

... after the past few years, would anyone be shocked if we were 20 games shittier?

[Angelsjunky]

Y'all are Debbie Downers. Fuck it, I'm saying this team improves by 10 wins without any changes. Or rather, the changes from real suckitude already happened within the season. The Angels were 21-16 over the last 37 games...that extrapolates to 92 wins over a full season. That at least tells us that the team as-is is capable of being better than 73-89.

The differences were: Playing time from Velazquez, Wade, Mayfield etc, replaced by Fletcher, Rengifo, Soto. Healthy Trout and Ward. Detmers and Suarez improving in the second half, as befits their age development. Bullpen regressing (positively) to the mean.

The key is depth, depth, and more depth. Pick up a handful of solid position players - a one-year deal for Conforto or Brantley, a solid infielder or two, another decent starter, a reliever or two - and then also hope that some of the minor league pitchers provide depth for the pitching staff throughout the season.

Meaning, the team as-is can win 80-85 games. With some good depth pieces, it is 85-90 wins, which puts you in contention for the wildcard. With a bit of luck and good health, 90+.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Angelsjunky

[Inside Pitch]

18 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

Drury would be a great add

Why? Because he had a hot half season in a severe hitter's park?  I don't hate the guy but I think people are overrating him. 

Drury for his career through age 28 (2021), owned a career OPS+ of 84.  If one needs to put that into perspective, Matt Thaiss' 640 OPS was good for a 84 OPS+ last season.  Walsh's awful season was good for an 81 OPS+, and in Drury's case were are talking about his entire career prior to last year.  Defensively, he's been bad to mediocre everywhere he plays.  He is basically a better version of Matt Duffy and even he managed an OPS+ of 98 through age 28 and he was at worst a league average defender most seasons.

I believe Drury would be useful as a depth piece, but I can't envision using the word great to describe him and my guess is his power surge last year likely drives his price up.  It's also worth noting that power surge dried up the second he left Cinci.  I'm betting Drury waits out Profar to try to get the best deal he can.

[Angelsjunky]

So here's my 2023 team:

Catchers: Stassi, O'Hoppe

Infielders: Rendon, Walsh, Rengifo, Fletcher, New Guy

Outfielders: Trout, Ward, Conforto/Brantley, Moniak

Rotation: Ohtani, Sandoval, Detmers, Suarez, New Guy, Young Guy

Bullpen: Quijada, Herget, Loup, Tepera, Wantz, New Guy, Young Guy, Young Guy

That's just five new guys - an infielder, an outfielder (Conforto or Brantley), a decent starter, a decent reliever. That's it.

The "young guy" spot in the rotation can be either Canning, Rodriguez, or Silseth, or someone like Junk, Davidson, or Daniel until one of the first three is deemed ready after a month or so in AAA. The rest--plus Bush, Erla, Seminaris, Crow, and Bachman--are depth. Plus you have Murphy, Torres, and Pina as potential bullpen call-ups, in addition to the starters. Meaning, pitching depth comes from the high minors - there's a fair bit of it. You don't even need the new guys on the pitching staff to be more than inning eaters, due to the upside of some of the minor leaguers. Meaning, place-holders until one or more of C-Rod, Silseth, etc are ready.

But again, the biggest problem with the 2022 Angels was lineup depth: Stars and scrubs, which didn't work because some of the stars were injured and lots of other performed worse than hoped (especially Marsh and Adell). Too many PA to busted prospects and mediocre infielders. Some of that has already been solved. The rest of it can be solved with a solid outfielder and a good bench player or two.

[Inside Pitch]

54 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

He seems like a prime candidate to completely flop next year.  He had negative career bWAR (and barely above fWAR) coming into the 2022 season.  Even after his "big" year, his career OPS+ is 93--and he's not a particularly good defender, either.

Bro..  this is the second time this has happened.  Good call.

[Docwaukee]

19 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

Y'all are Debbie Downers. Fuck it, I'm saying this team improves by 10 wins without any changes. Or rather, the changes from real suckitude already happened within the season. The Angels were 21-16 over the last 37 games...that extrapolates to 92 wins over a full season. That at least tells us that the team as-is is capable of being better than 73-89.

The differences were: Playing time from Velazquez, Wade, Mayfield etc, replaced by Fletcher, Rengifo, Soto. Healthy Trout and Ward. Detmers and Suarez improving in the second half, as befits their age development. Bullpen regressing (positively) to the mean.

The key is depth, depth, and more depth. Pick up a handful of solid position players - a one-year deal for Conforto or Brantley, a solid infielder or two, another decent starter, a reliever or two - and then also hope that some of the minor league pitchers provide depth for the pitching staff throughout the season.

Meaning, the team as-is can win 80-85 games. With some good depth pieces, it is 85-90 wins, which puts you in contention for the wildcard. With a bit of luck and good health, 90+.

[Angelsjunky]

Just now, Docwaukee said:

[jsnpritchett]

14 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Bro..  this is the second time this has happened.  Good call.

Yeah, it drives me crazy when people jump on guys like him as some sort of solution.  Someone out there will probably give him a deal worth somewhere between $7-10M AAV.  Given all the holes the Angels still need to fill and the likelihood that there won't be much of a budget to fill those holes, spending so much money on Matt Duffy 2.0 (good comp, btw) doesn't seem very smart.