The Official Los Angeles Angels 2023-2024 Hot Stove Offseason Thread

[tdawg87]

33 minutes ago, Chuck said:

So the boss of Sam Blum is so butthurt that his beat reporter got rejected by Arte for an interview that he resorts to this Mike Trout is unhappy horse shit. 

Ken Rosenthal?

[Chuck]

4 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Ken Rosenthal?

Yeah... actually the New York Times now owns it (back in 2022), but Ken Rosenthal is the Senior Baseball Editor for the Athletic. 

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, Chuck said:

Yeah... actually the New York Times now owns it (back in 2022), but Ken Rosenthal is the Senior Baseball Editor for the Athletic. 

He's the senior baseball writer, not editor. 

[Blarg]

3 hours ago, Chuck said:

Cody Bellinger's next team odds from Bookies.com

Cody Bellinger 2024 Team Odds

Chicago Cubs  +175 (36.4%)

Los Angeles Angels +350 (22.2%)

San Francisco Giants  +550 (15.4%)

Toronto Blue Jays  +600 (14.3%)

Seattle Mariners  +750 (11.8%)

The Field  +450 (18.2%)

Moreno said he wasn't adding to the payroll so whoever wrote this is trying to sell Bellinger for Boras and has the Angels listed to up the bids. But he isn't coming to Anaheim unless he's wearing a different uniform. 

[Stradling]

14 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Moreno said he wasn't adding to the payroll so whoever wrote this is trying to sell Bellinger for Boras and has the Angels listed to up the bids. But he isn't coming to Anaheim unless he's wearing a different uniform. 

He didn’t say that.  He said that the budget would decrease from last year. But I do agree Bellinger isn’t coming here, but I doubt they will go into the season without adding more payroll to the rotation.

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

Moreno said he wasn't adding to the payroll so whoever wrote this is trying to sell Bellinger for Boras and has the Angels listed to up the bids. But he isn't coming to Anaheim unless he's wearing a different uniform. 

He said he wasn't going to add to payroll unless the player would substantially make the team better. 

Honestly I think Montgomery and JD Martinez would do that, but that's just me. 

[Erstad Grit]

1 minute ago, Chuck said:

He said he wasn't going to add to payroll unless the player would substantially make the team better. 

Honestly I think Montgomery and JD Martinez would do that, but that's just me. 

With our new pen, if we landed Montgomery or Snell and JD and maybe Urshella I'd be pumped

[Chuck]

3 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

With our new pen, if we landed Montgomery or Snell and JD and maybe Urshella I'd be pumped

and to me, it would make the team substantially better. 

But I don't know man, the baseball people in the front office wouldn't trade Ohtani because they thought they had a chance to make the postseason and liked their chances at retaining the superstar, yet most of the players knew all along he was gone. 

The disconnected from the people down on the ground and those in the front office is mind boggling.

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Chuck said:

and to me, it would make the team substantially better. 

But I don't know man, the baseball people in the front office wouldn't trade Ohtani because they thought they had a chance to make the postseason and liked their chances at retaining the superstar, yet most of the players knew all along he was gone. 

The disconnected from the people down on the ground and those in the front office is mind boggling.

In hindsight they should have traded him obviously but when they made the Giolito/Lopez move (which I believe was the last of several moves) they were 1/2 game out of the playoffs. It’s tough to sell at that point.  

[Dtwncbad]

17 minutes ago, Stradling said:

In hindsight they should have traded him obviously but when they made the Giolito/Lopez move (which I believe was the last of several moves) they were 1/2 game out of the playoffs. It’s tough to sell at that point.  

Even in hindsight, I still vote for go for it and try to keep him, knowing the downside is where we sit today.

The opposite hindsight of “we were only a 1/2 game out and all we had to do was improve a little to make the playoffs, and that would really help Ohtani want to stay and instead we chickened out, punted and traded away a legend” would have been cemented as the crowning moment for why it is terrible to be an Angel fan.

[totdprods]

25 minutes ago, Stradling said:

In hindsight they should have traded him obviously but when they made the Giolito/Lopez move (which I believe was the last of several moves) they were 1/2 game out of the playoffs. It’s tough to sell at that point.  

And it should also be emphasized it was the first time in Ohtani's time with the Halos where they actually had at least a somewhat viable shot (even if minimal) at the playoffs at the deadline, and that is why they show up and play games. 

I've said elsewhere, it was a bad decision to keep him from a long-term/baseball ops sense, but the world doesn't exist solely in that vacuum. They had their best shot in years, and in Ohtani's entire Angel tenure, to try and accomplish what they'd been trying to do. Why not go for it? It was the first time that door was open to them - even if just a crack - but it's the whole point of why they've played these games. And had it worked, even if the team fell short of a WS, or even the playoffs and they had just played competitive ball up until the end of the year, or even just the WC game, it would've looked bold and perhaps even brilliant, and would have fit a thrilling narrative for fans and pundits alike. 

It didn't work out. It sucks. Hindsight. All that. Losing Ohtani for nothing* also does not exist in a vacuum. 29 other teams 'lost' out on Ohtani too. The WS winner has never had Ohtani. It's Perry's job to build a winning team, Ohtani or not, just like almost every other GM. It can be done. 

* given Perry's track record with drafting in the first few picks, whoever they 'get' for Ohtani this summer could be contributing to the team in '25, which probably isn't really that far-off from what we would've gotten in a trade, to be honest. Most other similar deadline deals for stars have hardly yielded a clutch of prospect wins.

[Pancake Bear]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

and to me, it would make the team substantially better. 

But I don't know man, the baseball people in the front office wouldn't trade Ohtani because they thought they had a chance to make the postseason and liked their chances at retaining the superstar, yet most of the players knew all along he was gone. 

The disconnected from the people down on the ground and those in the front office is mind boggling.

Thought it was Arte that said we weren't trading him and Minasian wanted to move him? Did I hear incorrectly?

[mmc]

 

[tdawg87]

Addition by subtraction.

[Billy_Ball]

12 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

https://thehaloway.mlblogs.com/2024-spring-training-day-1-6c94ea3c3173

Neat source of Angels pics.... 

Looks like Kurt Suzuki is a guest instructor early in camp.

[Erstad Grit]

24 minutes ago, Billy_Ball said:

Looks like Kurt Suzuki is a guest instructor early in camp.

Random memory

In a game thread here there was a poster adamant he knew more about catching than Suzuki. In went on throughout several innings lol

[jsnpritchett]

 

 

[jsnpritchett]

11 hours ago, mmc said:

 

 

 

[BTH]

10 hours ago, Billy_Ball said:

Looks like Kurt Suzuki is a guest instructor early in camp.

He works for the team as a special assistant

[Erstad Grit]

Angels sign Ehire Adrianza?  

[jsnpritchett]

5 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

Angels sign Ehire Adrianza?  

 

12 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

 

[Chuck]

3 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

 

Great. The Angels have their new Andrew Velazquez. 

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, Chuck said:

Great. The Angels have their new Andrew Velazquez. 

Yup! Looking forward to his 200+ PA in 2024 filling in for Neto after his 11th HBP breaks a bone in his hand.

[James]

13 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

 

Was this guy an Indeed hire? 

[Angel Oracle]

59 minutes ago, James said:

Was this guy an Indeed hire?