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

[Angels 1961]

3 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

They could probably trade Ward or Rengifo now. Either has decent value. 

Could Ward bring back a SP?

[Warfarin]

Just now, Docwaukee said:

Reminds me of one more thing they probably have metrics on that we don't.  

Rest.  

Knicks and bump and bruises and tweaks add up.  Guys typically gut their way through minor injuries because they sort of have to.  Getting regular rest might be undervalued.  

 

A lot of the elite / best teams seem to be very aggressive when it comes to resting their starters.  I suspect a number even use phantom IL stints to give their starters time off.  They can do this because they are so deep that they can withstand effectively resting their best players for chunks of time.  They still make the playoffs and their best players can enter fairly healthy.

For more shallow teams, which we have been in the past, we likely couldn't really afford to rest regulars and they had to, in turn, "gut it out" as you said.  Creating the depth as we have should hopefully help ensure our best players can stay reasonable healthy.

[Inside Pitch]

24 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

 

Yeah..  But Mayfield, Wade, Duffy, and Velazquez ....that was pretty awesome too.

[Chuck]

7 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

They could probably trade Ward or Rengifo now. Either has decent value. 

I wonder if we could get Nico Hoerner for Rengifo and either: Jose Suarez or Ky Bush?

Was told we offered Ky Bush and Denzer Guzman for Hoerner a few weeks back, but the deal went nowhere. 

Fletcher and Soto are now our backup MI's. 

[Warfarin]

2 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

Could Ward bring back a SP?

This team needs Ward.  We are short on actual OFers.  Sure, Walsh and Rengifo (and I guess Urshela?) can occasionally play out there, but if we trade Ward, that means one of those guys would suddenly have to start there.  Or Moniak starts there.  All of those things are bad outcomes.

[Warfarin]

Of note:  our luxury tax estimate is just a touch over 220mil now, per Fangraphs.  If we are aiming to be below the luxury tax limit, and leaving some space available for a midseason acquisition potentially, I have to imagine we have around 7mil or so at most left to spend.

That should be enough for 1 SP.

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, Warfarin said:

This team needs Ward.  We are short on actual OFers.  Sure, Walsh and Rengifo (and I guess Urshela?) can occasionally play out there, but if we trade Ward, that means one of those guys would suddenly have to start there.  Or Moniak starts there.  All of those things are bad outcomes.

I agree. Our outfield depth is pretty bad. If we trade any of the two you have to trade Rengifo unless you get a Willy Adames type SS back.

[Inside Pitch]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

I agree. Our outfield depth is pretty bad. If we trade any of the two you have to trade Rengifo unless you get a Willy Adames type SS back.

I don't want to see them move any of the three starting OFers.  I'd much rather they sign Ben Gamel or Raimel Tapia to serve as the 4th OFer.  Most years they could be had for around 3-4 mil per.

[mmc]

 

[Angels 1961]

9 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

This team needs Ward.  We are short on actual OFers.  Sure, Walsh and Rengifo (and I guess Urshela?) can occasionally play out there, but if we trade Ward, that means one of those guys would suddenly have to start there.  Or Moniak starts there.  All of those things are bad outcomes.

Drury has played OF, what if you can get Pablo Lopez

[mmc]

4 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I don't want to see them move any of the three starting OFers.  I'd much rather they sign Ben Gamel or Raimel Tapia to serve as the 4th OFer.  Most years they could be had for around 3-4 mil per.

How about Adam Duvall?

[Angels 1961]

I wonder health of both Rendon and Walsh now.

[Angels 1961]

1 minute ago, mmc said:

How about Adam Duvall?

Or Ortega

 

[ukyah]

16 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I'm sure the Dodgers, Mets, and basically any team with a lot of money will come after Ohtani.  All we can do is match/beat his best offer and show him that this team is positioned to contend for many years.  With Ohtani, I doubt his top priority is money; it'll be which team is built to win and which team can help him maximize his legacy.

if he finishes this season on the angels and he doesn't have an extension already, then the angels are the biggest fools in mlb.

[AngelsLakersFan]

Just now, ukyah said:

if he finishes this season on the angels and he doesn't have an extension already, then the angels are the biggest fools in mlb.

This will 100% be the outcome

[ukyah]

4 minutes ago, mmc said:

How about Adam Duvall?

he's so bad though. like way worse than you think.

[Inside Pitch]

10 minutes ago, mmc said:

How about Adam Duvall?

Not a fan of his absolute lack of OBP, but I'm not really a fan of the other two guy so much as I think they fit as players who wouldn't be black holes.   

I think Duvall has had the most productive career of the three and would probably command the most money but he's also the oldes.  Again... it's about finding non-black holes who you could trust to start for two weeks if need be, so he likely fits too.

They just need better than Moniak and Adell needs to be in AAA.

[Inside Pitch]

6 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

I wonder health of both Rendon and Walsh now.

Birdie told me they are trading both those guys to the Rays for Vidal Brujan.

[Inside Pitch]

2 minutes ago, ukyah said:

he's so bad though. like way worse than you think.

It's nuts how even at his best he struggles to post a .290 OBP.

[Warfarin]

6 minutes ago, ukyah said:

if he finishes this season on the angels and he doesn't have an extension already, then the angels are the biggest fools in mlb.

If he refuses to sign an extension, there isn't much they can really do.  If this team is in contention and he refuses to sign an extension, you basically just keep him and have to hope you can convince him to stay.

[ukyah]

Just now, Inside Pitch said:

It's nuts how even at his best he struggles to post a .290 OBP.

yeah, i've looked at all his career numbers before and it's hard to paint any kind of rosy picture.

[Warfarin]

11 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

Drury has played OF, what if you can get Pablo Lopez

This team needs Ward more than Lopez.  If Ward is traded, we have Trout, Renfroe, and ??.  And if one of those gets hurt, then we will probably soon see Moniak and Adell starting regularly, which is a very bad outcome.

Keep Ward.  

[IheartLA]

I wouldn’t hit Rengifo lead off, even when he went on a relative heater power wise in the 2nd half his OBP was below .300.

As of right now hit him 6th or 7th and Ward lead off.

[ukyah]

1 minute ago, Warfarin said:

If he refuses to sign an extension, there isn't much they can really do.  If this team is in contention and he refuses to sign an extension, you basically just keep him and have to hope you can convince him to stay.

i understand, but i disagree. you can not just walk away from the package you would get for ohtani. contention doesn't matter in this case. you have to get the franchise altering value.

[Inside Pitch]

6 minutes ago, ukyah said:

yeah, i've looked at all his career numbers before and it's hard to paint any kind of rosy picture.

Agreed. His overall numbers are being propped up by some HR spurts. He's like a less consistent, poor man's version of Randal Grichuk who can also play 1B.