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

[AngelsLakersFan]

5 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

But I'm not sure why you think he WILL spend time out there.  Like, why would he?  He's played one game in the OF in his professional career.

I could just be giving Perry the benefit of the doubt, and maybe he doesn’t deserve that.

[totdprods]

Pretty sure Perry already said Urshela would see time at 1B, SS, and corner outfield in addition to his usual 2B/3B.

[Angel Oracle]

15 minutes ago, Taylor said:

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

Platoonstones?

[Inside Pitch]

2 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Not a bad move, really.  Just a redundant one.  As Warfarin said, unless there's a trade, it pretty much assures that Rengifo and/or Fletcher will be the SS in '23, with a bunch of guys fighting for time between 1B/2B/3B.

People always talk about what happened in Atlanta and Toronto and what Perry saw those GMs do while working there.  I've long believed that Alex Tamin is a bigger power broker than people realize.  Since Maddon's ouster we have heard how his insertion into the clubhouse was a cause of friction for Maddon, that his BP algorithms and the use or non use was a factor in the Maddon ouster.  Tamin was part of the Dodger's brain trust that created a ton of redundancy and positional/platoon options.  This season minus Maddon seems very much in line with what I'd have bet on an Alex Tamin driven front office doing player wise.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Good signing for when Trout and Ohtani get season ending injuries in the WBC. 

[Lazorko Saves]

1 minute ago, totdprods said:

Sure is nice to see this offense something like this as of now.

Yeah, I like that the days of Matt Duffy hitting cleanup will be long gone after what Perry has done here.

But I agree, late inning defense in a close game feels really iffy right now...

[AngelsLakersFan]

Just now, totdprods said:

Pretty sure Perry already said Urshela would see time at 1B, SS, and corner outfield in addition to his usual 2B/3B.

I thought I remembered him saying that but people seemed surprised by the idea. Either way one of these guys is slotted for a lot of at bats in the outfield.

[jsnpritchett]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Pretty sure Perry already said Urshela would see time at 1B, SS, and corner outfield in addition to his usual 2B/3B.

Happy to be shown those quotes if they exist, but I haven't seen them.  In this article, Urshela himself says he'd be willing to play the OF, while acknowledging he has very limited experience there.  But the quotes I've seen from Minasian seem to talk about him as a possibility at multiple IF positions.

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/11/21/new-angels-infielder-gio-urshela-is-ready-for-utility-role/

[Angel Oracle]

I can see the Halos having Rengifo playing both 2B and SS, Drury getting the rest of the 2B starts in addition to being 4th OFer, and Fletcher becoming part-time at SS?

Also remember that Urshela is a FA after 2023, opening up some 1B snd 3B starts for Drury in 2024?

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Angel Oracle

[jsnpritchett]

 

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

People always talk about what happened in Atlanta and Toronto and what Perry saw those GMs do while working there.  I've long believed that Alex Tamin is a bigger power broker than people realize.  Since Maddon's ouster we have heard how his insertion into the clubhouse was a cause of friction for Maddon, that his BP algorithms and the use or non use was a factor in the Maddon ouster.  Tamin was part of the Dodger's brain trust that created a ton of redundancy and positional/platoon options.  This season minus Maddon seems very much in line with what I'd have bet on an Alex Tamin driven front office doing player wise.

Definitely banking on this.

Count me as someone who was leaning more Team Maddon and not too enthused with Perry, but this offseason has me ready to eat crow. These are exactly the sorts of moves I’ve wanted the Angels to make for years and it’s making me start to think Perry and Tamin were being handcuffed a bit by Arte and Maddon’s choices for roster construction.

I don’t know how many times I’ve said good teams have good depth and seemingly redundant moves like this are how you create that depth. 

[mmc]

 

[Docwaukee]

[totdprods]

4 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Happy to be shown those quotes if they exist, but I haven't seen them.  In this article, Urshela himself says he'd be willing to play the OF, while acknowledging he has very limited experience there.  But the quotes I've seen from Minasian seem to talk about him as a possibility at multiple IF positions.

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/11/21/new-angels-infielder-gio-urshela-is-ready-for-utility-role/

“General manager Perry Minasian said he sees Urshela as an everyday player who can split time between third base and first base, while also seeing occasional time at shortstop, second base or the outfield.“

From an article on the official site…

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, mmc said:

 

[greginpsca]

5 minutes ago, totdprods said:

“General manager Perry Minasian said he sees Urshela as an everyday player who can split time between third base and first base, while also seeing occasional time at shortstop, second base or the outfield.“

From an article on the official site…

We are in trouble if Ursha or Drury ever play ss.

[T.G.]

Once upon a midnight Drury...

[Angels 1961]

40 minutes 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.

Trade coming?

[Angels 1961]

38 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

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

Zack Cozart

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

We are in trouble if Ursha or Drury ever play ss.

In trouble?  Probably not. They can play there when Ohtani starts 

[AngelsLakersFan]

Let’s not forget that for roughly a third of all plate appearances next year the shortstop may as well be picking his nose.

[Angels 1961]

Maybe Taylor Ward could be traded 

[Docwaukee]

I'd have preferred Profar but I love the mentality.  Just hope he doesn't become the 2019 version.  Even if he does, he's better than the the likelihood of significantly sub replacement production we'd be looking at without him.  

The number everyone should focus on is 2,571.  

That's the number of plate appearances for players with ZERO war or worse on the angels last year.  

The other number is -7.0

That the total WAR of those players.  

It might seem like redundancy and it might seem like there's not enough AB to go around but if Urshela and Renfroe and Drury get 724 PA's each (the most in the majors last year from Marcus Semian), there would still be 400 additional plate appearances left.  So in real terms, those three getting about 502 PA (minimum for a qualified hitter) leaves over 1000 still for someone else.  Granted, a hefty chunk of those are from C but even conservatively it's at least enough for one more player to get the min. qualified.  

Who do you want filling those 500 additional plate appearances?  Soto? Adell? Moniak? Thaiss? Wallach? Mike Stefanic?  Jordyn Adams?  Andrew Velazquez?  Jared Oliva?  Ryan Aguilar? Aaron Whitfield? Jeremiah Jackson?  Riley Unroe? Orlando Martinez? Bryce Teodosio? 

Because that's about the list of next up.  

So I can make a very strong argument that they shouldn't be done adding position players and I would very much like to see a legit 4th OFer.  

 

[jordan]

4 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

I'd have preferred Profar but I love the mentality.  Just hope he doesn't become the 2019 version.  Even if he does, he's better than the the likelihood of significantly sub replacement production we'd be looking at without him.  

The number everyone should focus on is 2,571.  

That's the number of plate appearances for players with ZERO war or worse on the angels last year.  

The other number is -7.0

That the total WAR of those players.  

It might seem like redundancy and it might seem like there's not enough AB to go around but if Urshela and Renfroe and Drury get 724 PA's each (the most in the majors last year from Marcus Semian), there would still be 400 additional plate appearances left.  So in real terms, those three getting about 502 PA (minimum for a qualified hitter) leaves over 1000 still for someone else.  Granted, a hefty chunk of those are from C but even conservatively it's at least enough for one more player to get the min. qualified.  

Who do you want filling those 500 additional plate appearances?  Soto? Adell? Moniak? Thaiss? Wallach? Mike Stefanic?  Jordyn Adams?  Andrew Velazquez?  Jared Oliva?  Ryan Aguilar? Aaron Whitfield? Jeremiah Jackson?  Riley Unroe? Orlando Martinez? Bryce Teodosio? 

Because that's about the list of next up.  

So I can make a very strong argument that they shouldn't be done adding position players and I would very much like to see a legit 4th OFer.  

 

[IheartLA]

Perry has done amazing this offseason given the limited resources we thought we had. The FA contracts have been good value compared to the market too. The trades didn't cost us anything. Let's be honest we can't count on Rendon, whatever he gives us we will take but we need to build a position player squad 13 deep and we have. 

Ward

Trout

Ohtani

Rendon

Renfroe

Rengifo

Drury

O'Hoppe

Fletcher

Bench:

Stassi - C

Walsh - 1B/LF

Urshela - IF

Moniak - OF