Free Agency fun (or not)

[N-From-OC]

Basically an “if I were the Angels’ GM” post.

Just a hypothetical question. I posted it on Bleacher report earlier as well. If Ohtani leaves, and again that’s an “if he leaves”, who would be the most realistic players to take over? I’m talking 2:1 since Ohtani is basically two players. For example top of the line minus Ohtani so Nola/Bellinger.

[Chuck]

@N-From-OC I don't think the Angels can afford Bellinger but if Ohtani does leave I think you'll see the Angels sign a Jorge Soler type to DH. I think they're good in the OF with Ward, Rengifo, Trout, Moniak and Adell. Having a DH that can occasionally play the OF like Soler allows them to DH Mike Trout more as well. 

As far as the starting pitching, I'd like them to go after Blake Snell, Sonny Gray or Jordan Montgomery over Aaron Nola. Wouldn't mind Nola, but that's my order of preference. 

[N-From-OC]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

@N-From-OC I don't think the Angels can afford Bellinger but if Ohtani does leave I think you'll see the Angels sign a Jorge Soler type to DH. I think they're good in the OF with Ward, Rengifo, Trout, Moniak and Adell. Having a DH that can occasionally play the OF like Soler allows them to DH Mike Trout more as well. 

As far as the starting pitching, I'd like them to go after Blake Snell, Sonny Gray or Jordan Montgomery over Aaron Nola. Wouldn't mind Nola, but that's my order of preference. 

Awesome! Thank you for your input. Think we could also try for one of the NPB starters being posted/coming over? I feel they could also substitute in for one of those guys. (Yamamoto at least is, I’ve seen that Imanaga could be in that conversation as well but lesser so)

[Erstad Grit]

I think Nola/Bellinger would cost less than Ohtani and although two players, would come close to being as effective. 

Considering Ohtani has some serious pitching health concerns and Bellinger is a lot more than a DH I could be convinced Nola and Bellinger is a better path 

It just sucks. I really wanted to win with trout and Ohtani.

[Angel Oracle]

9 minutes ago, N-From-OC said:

Awesome! Thank you for your input. Think we could also try for one of the NPB starters being posted/coming over? I feel they could also substitute in for one of those guys. (Yamamoto at least is, I’ve seen that Imanaga could be in that conversation as well but lesser so)

How about the closer in Japan who is posting, Matsui?    Great all around stats and still only age 28

[N-From-OC]

Just now, Erstad Grit said:

I think Nola/Bellinger would cost less than Ohtani and although two players, would come close to being as effective. 

Considering Ohtani has some serious pitching health concerns and Bellinger is a lot more than a DH I could be convinced Nola and Bellinger is a better path 

It just sucks. I really wanted to win with trout and Ohtani.

Yes! That was exactly my thinking here, Ohtani does two jobs and it would take a lot to replace/replicate it. So if we got like Soler and Nola or to take a wild example Yamamoto (who I know we have a minuscule chance at getting) and  Teoscar Hernandez

[N-From-OC]

3 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

How about the closer in Japan who is posting, Matsui?    Great all around stats and still only age 28

He’s one of my top wants! I guess I’m just looking at SP/Hitter for this to replace/replicate the two things Ohtani does for us.

[Angel Oracle]

As for the two players to replace Ohtani, it’s a tough call.    

Doesn’t sound like they are in on Yamamoto.

As good as Snell is, isn’t he basically a 5 and sometimes 6 inning pitcher due to high pitch counts?   Not a fan of big money ($200 million) for that, unless you have a totally deep bullpen

Already have 3 lefties, is it smart having a 4th lefty (Montgomery)?  Although they could trade Anderson plus half his salary.   Montgomery had been pretty steady before the late season breakthrough in Texas.   Will that push his value too high?

Bellinger’s value could be all over the board due to the two subpar years (2021-22) sandwiched between All-Star caliber seasons.

Sonny Gray could be a good short term option (3 year deal?).

Edited November 14, 2023 by Angel Oracle

[N-From-OC]

1 minute ago, Angel Oracle said:

As for the two players to replace Ohtani, it’s a tough call.    

Doesn’t sound like they are in on Yamamoto.

As good as Snell is, isn’t he basically a 5 and sometimes 6 inning pitcher due to high pitch counts?   Not a fan of big money ($200 million) for that, unless you have a totally deep bullpen

Already have 3 lefties, is it smart having a 4th lefty (Montgomery)?  Although they could trade Anderson plus half his salary.   Montgomery had been pretty steady before the late season breakthrough in Texas.   Will that push his value too high?

Bellinger’s value could be all over the board due to the two subpar years (2021-22) sandwiched between All-Star caliber seasons.

Yeah, I mean they’re all questionable, even Nola has had a couple “clunker” (4+ ERA) seasons lately. Especially since Nola and Snell are 30 now and it’s taking into account later career struggles too.

[totdprods]

25 minutes ago, N-From-OC said:

Yeah, I mean they’re all questionable, even Nola has had a couple “clunker” (4+ ERA) seasons lately. Especially since Nola and Snell are 30 now and it’s taking into account later career struggles too.

It’s why I don’t want to see any mega-deals this winter. Ohtani would be the one exception though that deal itself would be supremely risky. 

I like next winter’s SP crop for a mega-deal far more. I’d love to get Sonny Gray for the Chris Bassitt 3/$63m deal or thereabouts but imagine he’s gonna get quite a bit more than that. 

It’s very Eppler-esque, but I would do a one-year deal for a Severino, Montas, Giolito type and hope for the best, and then a 2-3 year deal for a Wacha, Lugo, Lorenzen, Flaherty, and hope that at least one of those two turns into a good trade sell at a deadline, then go for a big arm next winter.

 

[totdprods]

40 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Montgomery had been pretty steady before the late season breakthrough in Texas.   Will that push his value too high?

Reminds me of Patrick Corbin’s free agency too much. Have a feeling he’ll get an outrageous amount of money and wind up going south real fast. 

Eduardo Rodriguez is more interesting to me as an upper-end non-Snell lefty. Pretty apparent his recent struggles were from some personal instability that seemingly resolved, and the Angels were in on him a couple winters back.

Edited November 14, 2023 by totdprods

[Chuck]

59 minutes ago, N-From-OC said:

Awesome! Thank you for your input. Think we could also try for one of the NPB starters being posted/coming over? I feel they could also substitute in for one of those guys. (Yamamoto at least is, I’ve seen that Imanaga could be in that conversation as well but lesser so)

Absolutely. In fact, I mentioned Yamamoto in another post as my preferred #1 target for SP, totally forgot to add him in my post above. So Nola would be my fifth choice of the SP's mentioned above. 

[Pancake Bear]

12 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Having a DH that can occasionally play the OF like Soler allows them to DH Mike Trout more as well. 

I keep seeing people talk about having Trout DH more. Is no one else aware that Trout is like replacement level as a hitter when he DH's? His career numbers at DH are really mediocre to bad (a .207 avg and a at best okay 110 wRC+). His career pinch hitting numbers are about the same. I can't remember ever seeing him have a good game at the plate as a DH. Dude just doesn't hit well when he's not in the rest of the game. Sitting on the bench makes him worse. Are the sample sizes small? Relatively, sure, but the fact remains that in a dozen years, you'd expect that sample to start to even out and...it just doesn't. 

[3pitchwalk]

i wouldn't do anything extra to try and replace him at all. whether or not he's re-signed, the team still needs a tor pitcher an ofer so i don't think much changes.

this might just be copium but i think the team would actually be lucky to not have to deal with the long term consequences and even the immediate question marks of ohtani if he chooses to play elsewhere, unicorn or not.

targets would be yamamoto and ofer lee jung ho from the kbo. idk how smooth or rough their transition would be but if the goal is to try and compete while also building for something that might be more sustainable then these kind of players from different leagues are the easiest and quickest way to try and do that. i'd much rather that than going after snell or bellinger.

problem is how bad the team has been during ohtani's tenure and how international that exposure's been. idk if the angels can attract players with that degree of self-inflicted negative pr.