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

[Jeff Fletcher]

8 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Jeff: Any thought that if Montgomery’s price has also cratered enough that the Angels might consider signing him? I don’t think that’s very likely but just asking….

Probably not. 
 

My last conversation didn’t lead me to believe they expected anyone’s price to fall enough to make a difference. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen or Arte couldn’t change his mind, but don’t hold your breath. 

[AngelStew43]

Rengifo can back up at SS if something happens to Neto anyway.  The Angels have some interchangeable parts in their infield, and Soto is just a phone call away. 

[BTH]

20 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

They also have position players they like at every spot. if you want to replace someone with a bona fide upgrade, that’s probably $15M at least. 

The type of guys I’m talking about are:

Garrett Cooper: milb deal

Amed Rosario: 1/$1.5M

Gio Urshela: 1/$1.5M

They couldn’t beat that? 
And I’m still not sold on their DH situation. Brandon Belt’s still out there and can’t be getting much at this point.

[BTH]

25 minutes ago, AngelStew43 said:

Rengifo can back up at SS if something happens to Neto anyway.  The Angels have some interchangeable parts in their infield, and Soto is just a phone call away. 

That’s not a good thing

[Jeff Fletcher]

51 minutes ago, BTH said:

The type of guys I’m talking about are:

Garrett Cooper: milb deal

Amed Rosario: 1/$1.5M

Gio Urshela: 1/$1.5M

They couldn’t beat that? 
And I’m still not sold on their DH situation. Brandon Belt’s still out there and can’t be getting much at this point.

As for Cooper, I suppose he'd be better than Sanó. The other guys still don't play shortstop as well as Luis Rengifo, so you're talking about a No. 3 shortstop and No. 6 infielder. Also, the player would have to want to come to a place where he's the No. 6 infielder. 

I'd call any of that hair-splitting. 

I do think Brandon Belt would be a decent addition at this point, but who know what he's still looking for. 

[AngelStew43]

Why?  He's better than Adrianza at this point in their careers, IMO.  He plays a great SS, and he can run.  

[BTH]

1 minute ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

As for Cooper, I suppose he'd be better than Sanó. The other guys still don't play shortstop as well as Luis Rengifo, so you're talking about a No. 3 shortstop and No. 6 infielder. Also, the player would have to want to come to a place where he's the No. 6 infielder. 

I'd call any of that hair-splitting. 

I do think Brandon Belt would be a decent addition at this point, but who know what he's still looking for. 

Right now, they’re the no. 3 SS and no. 6 INF, but we all know that the Angels are gonna have injuries.

They’ll have no problem getting ABs throughout the season.

Maybe it’s hair-splitting, but they made that type of move last year.

They had 6 infielders last year and then still wound up depleted. So to go with 5 infielders seems like you’re setting yourself up for an even bigger disaster.

[BTH]

3 minutes ago, AngelStew43 said:

Why?  He's better than Adrianza at this point in their careers, IMO.  He plays a great SS, and he can run.  

Adrianza is awful.

Being better than Adrianza is not the complement you think it is.

And, btw, the Angels seem to disagree with your statement considering that Soto got optioned and Adrianza’s still in camp.

[T.G.]

41 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I do think Brandon Belt would be a decent addition at this point, but who know what he's still looking for

He's busy with bass fishing tournaments.  No joke. The longer he stays unsigned, the more likely he is to grow his tournament trail.

[Erstad Grit]

2 hours ago, BTH said:

The type of guys I’m talking about are:

Garrett Cooper: milb deal

Amed Rosario: 1/$1.5M

Gio Urshela: 1/$1.5M

They couldn’t beat that? 
And I’m still not sold on their DH situation. Brandon Belt’s still out there and can’t be getting much at this point.

Belt or Andrus make sense considering Arte's reluctancy to spend? 

[BTH]

1 hour ago, Erstad Grit said:

Belt or Andrus make sense considering Arte's reluctancy to spend? 

They’d be improvements over the current options, but yeah, it’s up to Arte whether he wants to spend.

[Inside Pitch]

On 3/22/2024 at 3:48 PM, tdawg87 said:

That won't be a problem for anyone who pays to attend Angels games.

I like what you did here...

 

[Docwaukee]

7 hours ago, BTH said:

Right now, they’re the no. 3 SS and no. 6 INF, but we all know that the Angels are gonna have injuries.

They’ll have no problem getting ABs throughout the season.

Maybe it’s hair-splitting, but they made that type of move last year.

They had 6 infielders last year and then still wound up depleted. So to go with 5 infielders seems like you’re setting yourself up for an even bigger disaster.

Depth, Depth, Depth and more Depth.  

Not that it's a ton of stress, but there's also about 600 DH plate appearances being added to the current crew.  

Last year, Trout, Moniak, Ward, Renfroe and Grichuk handled the lion's share of OF AB.  This year it's Trout, Moniak, Ward, Hicks and Adell.  I can live with that.  

The IF was Drury, Rengifo, Neto, Moustakas, Urshela, Escobar, Rendon, Schaneul, Walsh getting the lion's share of PA. 

Moose, Urshela, Escobar, Rendon and Walsh took about 1000 of those at bats.  If Schaneul eats up a couple hundred of those then you're left with 800 PA.  But, there is another 400 that was given to 8 other guys.  

plus the DH PA.  

All total, there are about 1500 plate appearances that are for who?  

Rendon, Adrianza, Thaiss (outside of the C position), Sano?, Evan White?, Hunter Dozier?, Kyren Paris?, Livan Soto?  Mike Stefanic?

That's about a quarter of your plate appearances btw.  

To me, that's a big deal and shouldn't have been left to that above group.  

 

[Blarg]

9 hours ago, BTH said:

The type of guys I’m talking about are:

Garrett Cooper: milb deal

Amed Rosario: 1/$1.5M

Gio Urshela: 1/$1.5M

They couldn’t beat that? 
And I’m still not sold on their DH situation. Brandon Belt’s still out there and can’t be getting much at this point.

Gio Ushela was below replacement value for the Angels last season with the bat. Then he busted his pelvis so I doubt he is going to be any better this season on either side of the ball.

[Jeff Fletcher]

8 hours ago, BTH said:

Adrianza is awful.

Being better than Adrianza is not the complement you think it is.

And, btw, the Angels seem to disagree with your statement considering that Soto got optioned and Adrianza’s still in camp.

Washington said they sent down Soto because they want him to play and not sit on the bench. 
 

I definitely think they value him more than Adrianza in the big picture 

[Angels 1961]

17 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Washington said they sent down Soto because they want him to play and not sit on the bench. 
 

I definitely think they value him more than Adrianza in the big picture 

Jeff, 2 spots left in BP who makes it. Zuniga, Pomeranz or Strickland. I'm thinking and hoping Soriano goes to SLC as a starter.

[Pancake Bear]

59 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

Jeff, 2 spots left in BP who makes it. Zuniga, Pomeranz or Strickland. I'm thinking and hoping Soriano goes to SLC as a starter.

If results matter at all, Strickland earned a spot. 

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Blarg said:

Gio Ushela was below replacement value for the Angels last season with the bat. Then he busted his pelvis so I doubt he is going to be any better this season on either side of the ball.

0.8 bWAR and 0.4 fWAR last year, so I’m not sure where you’re getting “below replacement value” from.

[Jeff Fletcher]

2 hours ago, Angels 1961 said:

Jeff, 2 spots left in BP who makes it. Zuniga, Pomeranz or Strickland. I'm thinking and hoping Soriano goes to SLC as a starter.

My guess would be Strickland and Zuñiga with Soriano starting in the minors. 

[ThisismineScios]

36 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

My guess would be Strickland and Zuñiga with Soriano starting in the minors. 

Since this essentially has turned into Jeff Q&A...

Do you think there is some foresight into only signing a bunch of relievers to 1-year deals with the idea that they can trade them at the deadline? As in, we're not going to spend big until we see what we have, but we'll sign relievers because we can/probably will move them for prospects that replenish the system? Or is it strictly, "Our bullpen stunk and we wanted to focus only on that" ? 

[Docwaukee]

4 hours ago, Blarg said:

Gio Ushela was below replacement value for the Angels last season with the bat. Then he busted his pelvis so I doubt he is going to be any better this season on either side of the ball.

Urshela's 0.4 WAR in 228 PA is the definition of depth.  If he didn't get hurt  then he takes the PA away from Eduardo Escobar and Jared Walsh.  

That's a 2.5 win swing and the absolute perfect example of why guys like that are important.

How about another guy like him so you don't need moustakas or david fletcher or CJ cron?   Which is another 2 win swing

1 WAR players are important when they replace -2 WAR players.    

[Stradling]

8 hours ago, BTH said:

0.8 bWAR and 0.4 fWAR last year, so I’m not sure where you’re getting “below replacement value” from.

“With the bat” he had a 91 OPS+

[Blarg]

8 hours ago, BTH said:

0.8 bWAR and 0.4 fWAR last year, so I’m not sure where you’re getting “below replacement value” from.

91 OPS+ with the bat is about 10% below league average. So his value came from defense but breaking a pelvis is no small injury. My guess it will have an effect on the quality of his play going forward. That makes him easily replaceable with any toolsy middle infielder without losing any production. Urshela, like Moose, is more a fan infatuation than important part of the team. 

[Erstad Grit]

4 minutes ago, Blarg said:

91 OPS+ with the bat is about 10% below league average. So his value came from defense but breaking a pelvis is no small injury. My guess it will have an effect on the quality of his play going forward. That makes him easily replaceable with any toolsy middle infielder without losing any production. Urshela, like Moose, is more a fan infatuation than important part of the team. 

Man moose got cut from the white sox. That has to be a devastating blow to his ego, the bloody white sox.

[tdawg87]

22 minutes ago, Blarg said:

91 OPS+ with the bat is about 10% below league average. So his value came from defense but breaking a pelvis is no small injury. My guess it will have an effect on the quality of his play going forward. That makes him easily replaceable with any toolsy middle infielder without losing any production. Urshela, like Moose, is more a fan infatuation than important part of the team. 

I think you're misunderstanding. 

No one is saying Urshela is good. The point is improving the depth over last year. Doc explained it pretty well, I think. Urshela is better than what we had and what we currently have. If the depth we have puts up negative WAR, but Urshela puts up positive WAR....?????