Angels sign Brandon Drury (2 years, $17 million), DFA Oliver Ortega

[mmc]

 

[Inside Pitch]

Just now, mmc said:

 

@Erstad Grit,  Grats dude, they finally signed someone you wanted.

[Warfarin]

Boom!  That is likely the bench depth.  2B/3B mainly, but has played 1B too and some OF.

[greginpsca]

Lot of money for a utility guy.

[halonatic13]

[jsnpritchett]

I had a feeling this was coming, even though I'm not crazy about Drury.  I'm still slightly confused as to what the overall strategy is at this point, as the Angels continue to deepen the roster, but they're now at the point of creating redundancies. With this signing, plus the Urshela deal, and the continued presence of Rengifo and Fletcher, there's not really enough ABs to go around for everyone.  I get that you want to prepare for the worst, but I'm still concerned that while the "floor has been raised," the ceiling really hasn't been.

[Taylor]

[m0nkey]

Division title baby!

[Taylor]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

I had a feeling this was coming, even though I'm not crazy about Drury.  I'm still slightly confused as to what the overall strategy is at this point, as the Angels continue to deepen the roster, but they're now at the point of creating redundancies. With this signing, plus the Urshela deal, and the continued presence of Rengifo and Fletcher, there's not really enough ABs to go around for everyone.  I get that you want to prepare for the worst, but I'm still concerned that while the "floor has been raised," the ceiling really hasn't been.

It'll be an epic Spring Training battle of the mediocre infielders.

[ScottM]

What a weird offseason. I actually like all of this?

[greginpsca]

See.s like a trade forthcoming.

[Warfarin]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

I had a feeling this was coming, even though I'm not crazy about Drury.  I'm still slightly confused as to what the overall strategy is at this point, as the Angels continue to deepen the roster, but they're now at the point of creating redundancies. With this signing, plus the Urshela deal, and the continued presence of Rengifo and Fletcher, there's not really enough ABs to go around for everyone.  I get that you want to prepare for the worst, but I'm still concerned that while the "floor has been raised," the ceiling really hasn't been.

Have to somewhat wonder if there's another corresponding move to come.  Urshela will likely get regular playing time, and you'd think Drury too.  That, combined with Rendon, Walsh, Rengifo, and Fletcher .. the infield is rather crowded.

[mmc]

From 2022 to 2023 will go from having Opening Day infields with Rojas, Mayfield, and Wade to Rengifo, Urshela, and Drury, and that's all that matters to me

[ScottM]

Just now, Warfarin said:

Have to somewhat wonder if there's another corresponding move to come.  Urshela will likely get regular playing time, and you'd think Drury too.  That, combined with Rendon, Walsh, Rengifo, and Fletcher .. the infield is rather crowded.

For whatever reason, this organization has tried to trade Rengifo for like 4 offseasons straight. 

[CanadianHalo]

Yikes. That’s a lot of money for someone as boom or bust as Drury is

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

I had a feeling this was coming, even though I'm not crazy about Drury.  I'm still slightly confused as to what the overall strategy is at this point, as the Angels continue to deepen the roster, but they're now at the point of creating redundancies. With this signing, plus the Urshela deal, and the continued presence of Rengifo and Fletcher, there's not really enough ABs to go around for everyone.  I get that you want to prepare for the worst, but I'm still concerned that while the "floor has been raised," the ceiling really hasn't been.

Well they definitely needed another guy who they weren’t afraid to play everyday, and the team was missing a real shortstop. Whether or not this guy solves those problems is another question.

[Inside Pitch]

18 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

I had a feeling this was coming, even though I'm not crazy about Drury.  I'm still slightly confused as to what the overall strategy is at this point, as the Angels continue to deepen the roster, but they're now at the point of creating redundancies. With this signing, plus the Urshela deal, and the continued presence of Rengifo and Fletcher, there's not really enough ABs to go around for everyone.  I get that you want to prepare for the worst, but I'm still concerned that while the "floor has been raised," the ceiling really hasn't been.

Seems pretty clear they punted on raising the ceiling in favor of the floor.  An argument can be made that it makes sense, they have enough star level players but almost zero room for error.

Now they have a ton of room for error, hopefully they didn't "error" in their decision making.

[jsnpritchett]

1 minute ago, Warfarin said:

Have to somewhat wonder if there's another corresponding move to come.  Urshela will likely get regular playing time, and you'd think Drury too.  That, combined with Rendon, Walsh, Rengifo, and Fletcher .. the infield is rather crowded.

Yeah, unless there's another move in the works, it doesn't make much sense to spend (presumably) limited resources on multiple guys who more or less overlap.

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

Have to somewhat wonder if there's another corresponding move to come.  Urshela will likely get regular playing time, and you'd think Drury too.  That, combined with Rendon, Walsh, Rengifo, and Fletcher .. the infield is rather crowded.

I don’t think so. Urshela and Walsh will cover the corner outfield as well, and Fletcher is perma benched now.

[Warfarin]

Just now, jsnpritchett said:

Yeah, unless there's another move in the works, it doesn't make much sense to spend (presumably) limited resources on multiple guys who more or less overlap.

Maybe Rengifo will be used in a trade?  No idea.  Fletcher has negative trade value.  Urshela was just acquired.  Walsh has no trade value.  Rendon obviously isn't going anywhere.  So .. 

[Taylor]

Angels going for the record for most platoon players in a lineup. Honoring Scioscia's legacy.

[ScottM]

1 minute ago, Inside Pitch said:

Seems pretty clear they punted on raising the ceiling in favor of floor.  An argument can be made that it makes sense, they have enough star level players but almost zero room for error.

Now they have a ton of room for error, hopefully they didn't "error" in their decision making.

I've long thought this was the way to go. Just surround Trout, Ohtani, and Detmers with decent players. The Rendon signing messed everything up. 

[Warfarin]

Just now, AngelsLakersFan said:

I don’t think so. Urshela and Walsh will cover the corner outfield as well, and Fletcher is perma benched now.

Maybe Walsh, and maybe Rengifo.  Hard to see Urshela playing OF.  Maybe he'll play SS more than we thought?  He appears to rate as average there, so .. maybe?

[beatlesrule]

3 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Yeah, unless there's another move in the works, it doesn't make much sense to spend (presumably) limited resources on multiple guys who more or less overlap.

Things in life don't need to make sense.

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Seems pretty clear they punted on raising the ceiling in favor of floor.  An argument can be made that it makes sense, they have enough star level players but almost zero room for error.

Now they have a ton of room for error, hopefully they didn't "error" in their decision making.

I think the issue here is that the team focused on covering for when Trout and Rendon are out of the lineup, but they forgot this team won’t win anyway without those guys in the lineup.