What is the current Pen?

[Hubs]

Estevez (R)

Stephenson (R)

Garcia (R)

Soriano (R)

Joyce (R)

Cimber (R)

Suarez (L)

Looks like they need another lefty...Moore come on down. Or perhaps they have confidence in Ingram to be a lefty option in the pen? Or if they sign a starter one of their lefty rotation arms likely goes to the pen. Does Anderson end up there? Sandoval / Detmers / Canning and Silseth are in the rotation, right?

 

 

Edited January 22 by Hubs

[BTH]

Yeah, they need another lefty.

Not really a fan of any of the internal options (Ingram, Kolarek, Suarez).

18 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Or if they sign a starter one of their lefty rotation arms likely goes to the pen. Does Anderson end up there? Sandoval / Detmers / Canning and Silseth are in the rotation, right?

Anderson could end up there I guess if they add a SP. I think they want to keep Silseth in the rotation, whether in AAA or the majors. Sandy, Detmers, and Canning are locks, yes.

Edited January 22 by BTH

[Hubs]

1 minute ago, BTH said:

Yeah, they need another lefty.

Not really a fan of any of the internal options (Ingram, Kolarek, Suarez).

Anderson could end up there I guess if they add a SP. I think they want to keep Silseth in the pen, whether in AAA or the majors. Sandy, Detmers, and Canning are locks, yes.

You mean rotation, for Silseth, right?

[BTH]

6 minutes ago, Hubs said:

You mean rotation, for Silseth, right?

Yes.

My bad.

[Vlad27Trout27]

Honesty I would round this the BP by signing Robertson. Bring in that veteran experiences and a guy that can close. 

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

They could add a Mont Blanc and take things up a notch. 

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

Honesty I would round this the BP by signing Robertson. Bring in that veteran experiences and a guy that can close. 

Having Robertson and Robert Stephenson in the same bullpen would be confusing.

[tdawg87]

Quintana.

But yes, I would also like them to get Matt Moore.

[Angels 1961]

I wonder what negative affect if any by Angels DFA Moore with 6 weeks to go in season.

[happybat4]

59 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

I wonder what negative affect if any by Angels DFA Moore with 6 weeks to go in season.

He probably appreciated being able to go to a contender.

[Tank]

On 1/22/2024 at 2:57 PM, The Ghost of Bob Starr said:

They could add a Mont Blanc and take things up a notch. 

i'm not sure how this would help, but i'm in favor of anything that would improve our bullpen, whether i understand it or not.

[Chuck]

Why aren't we talking more about signing Hector Neris? 71 appearances, 1.71 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 77 K's in 68.2 IP for the Astros.

Neris' 28.0% hard hit rate was a career-best and -16.7 percent difference from 2022's career-worst mark. This correlated with an 86.5 mph average exit velocity allowed that was in the top 9% of the league. Neris also had the highest WPA for a non-closer at 3.82, which was tied for 5th overall among qualified relievers.

Thoughts?

[Angelsfan1984]

3 hours ago, Chuck said:

Why aren't we talking more about signing Hector Neris? 71 appearances, 1.71 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 77 K's in 68.2 IP for the Astros.

Neris' 28.0% hard hit rate was a career-best and -16.7 percent difference from 2022's career-worst mark. This correlated with an 86.5 mph average exit velocity allowed that was in the top 9% of the league. Neris also had the highest WPA for a non-closer at 3.82, which was tied for 5th overall among qualified relievers.

Thoughts?

I’d still look into neris after Moore.

[Pancake Bear]

12 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

I’d still look into neris after Moore.

Would be nice, but still need 1-2 more position players and a starter. We'll have a hard enough job filling those holes with the money available without spending more on the pen. 

[Angelsfan1984]

22 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

Would be nice, but still need 1-2 more position players and a starter. We'll have a hard enough job filling those holes with the money available without spending more on the pen. 

Inf will be either Anderson or merrifield. If the angels are after a starter then I can see duvall being the OF piece. If they go after bellinger I can see a trade for Bieber. There are so many options that will improve this team. 

[Dtwncbad]

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if someone other than Estevez is the closer by August.

[ShotimeDynasty]

11 hours ago, Chuck said:

Why aren't we talking more about signing Hector Neris? 71 appearances, 1.71 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 77 K's in 68.2 IP for the Astros.

Neris' 28.0% hard hit rate was a career-best and -16.7 percent difference from 2022's career-worst mark. This correlated with an 86.5 mph average exit velocity allowed that was in the top 9% of the league. Neris also had the highest WPA for a non-closer at 3.82, which was tied for 5th overall among qualified relievers.

Thoughts?

Neris is looking to break the bank I don’t think he’s a good target. More so after the Moore signing but wouldn’t think he was ever a real consideration 

[totdprods]

FWIW, I would build the pen to look sort of like this, in no order:

• Estevez
• Stephenson
• Moore
• Garcia
• Cimber
• Suarez
• Wantz/Herget/Mederos
• Soriano/Joyce/Caceres

I think having a righty like Herget or Wantz who can give them multiple innings or additional mop-up coverage, so it’s not all on Suarez and his shoulder, would be wise, especially since Suarez is also our second lefty in the pen in the event he’s needed when Moore is unavailable or already used. 

Since all of those last two lines are optionable I expect it to be pretty fluid based on usage, but I don’t know that I’d open the year without someone like Wantz or Herget occupying the last spot instead of Joyce/Soriano. I know those last two are better and have way more upside, but I’m trying to think about game scenarios and usage more so, especially when the SP are currently young, somewhat untested, operating on a 5-man staff, aren’t as stretched out to open the season, etc.

Wouldn’t even object to them adding someone like David Robertson or a Kenley Jansen salary dump to really deepen the pen, but it would make the bullpen a lot more fixed with only one ‘optionable’ slot in there at that point, unless they moved on from Suarez.

Honestly, one more decent bat - doesn’t have to be Bellinger, Merrifield, Sanchez, Turner, Rosario even Duvall maybe, and a stable innings eater type bumping Silseth to AAA would make for a decent team. Clevinger? Junis? Turnbull? Lorenzen? Not an exciting bunch on paper but I’d feel fine with that, albeit with lowered expectations.

Edited January 24 by totdprods

[Chuck]

I liked what I saw from Silseth as a starter this past season but if Anderson, Detmers, Sandoval, Canning are decent to good, and the Angels add one of Montgomery or Snell, Silseth could be a damn good late inning reliever/setup guy this season. 

[BTH]

12 minutes ago, Chuck said:

I liked what I saw from Silseth as a starter this past season but if Anderson, Detmers, Sandoval, Canning are decent to good, and the Angels add one of Montgomery or Snell, Silseth could be a damn good late inning reliever/setup guy this season. 

In that scenario, I’d rather leave him in AAA so he can stay stretched out and be SP depth.

Remember, he was experiencing a velo drop in the pen. He seems better suited to starting.

[BTH]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

Honestly, one more decent bat - doesn’t have to be Bellinger, Merrifield, Sanchez, Turner, Rosario even Duvall maybe, and a stable innings eater type bumping Silseth to AAA would make for a decent team. Clevinger? Junis? Turnbull? Lorenzen? Not an exciting bunch on paper but I’d feel fine with that, albeit with lowered expectations.

I’d like another bat in addition to that. Give me two bats.

[totdprods]

28 minutes ago, BTH said:

In that scenario, I’d rather leave him in AAA so he can stay stretched out and be SP depth.

Remember, he was experiencing a velo drop in the pen. He seems better suited to starting.

This is what I'd like too. I continue to think the Angels' best bet for 2024 is to take a breather and focus on development, rather than contention. Focus on maximizing the potential of our next young core. That means focus on guys like Silseth and Bachman as starters until proven otherwise. If Schanuel needs some AAA time to focus more on power or gain some positional flexibility, go for it. If it means Joyce or Soriano spend time in AAA refining things, do what needs to be done. That doesn't mean I doubt those guys, or don't think they should get MLB reps/on-the-job training, but don't leave these guys in the majors or in stopgap roles just to feign some attempt at snagging 3rd place or a second WC.

If August roles around and we're in the thick of it, sure, bring Silseth and Bachman up out of the pen. All hands on deck at that point. But let's not try to force the issue for the first time in a year, and see what it does.

Silseth looked great starting when he returned late last year. I'm not convinced either Bachman or Joyce will stay healthy enough to be counted on for any role. I'm comfortable with Neto and O'Hoppe and Schanuel, but would not be surprised if there were some growing pains that become apparent because they were 'rushed', and it would be wise of the Angels to have some contingency in place rather than stringing them along if they really hit a wall. Was part of why I liked Garver as he'd give them catcher and 1B coverage. 

Back to original point - I don't think the Angels should try to push MLB success out of the gate for our young guns in Soriano, Joyce, Bachman, Silseth, even Mederos, Koch, Caceres...keep the last two bullpen spots and last rotation spot somewhat fluid and be prepared to cycle guys through for the initial couple of months. Wantz and Herget still have utility and have shown success too, and they shouldn't be discounted simply because shinier toys are in reach.

[totdprods]

32 minutes ago, BTH said:

I’d like another bat in addition to that. Give me two bats.

I'm okay with that. I like the idea of someone with a lot of utility, such as Merrifield or Rosario, or Sanchez as a C/1B/DH, or Turner. A one-position/DH guy like Soler or Martinez isn't as palatable.

Part of me thinks a trade is still going to come about that solidifies a couple things.

[Ochocinco!]

Would it be irresponsible to pick up another lefty that can pitch high leverage innings to further bolster this pen? Whether it be trade or FA I think it would be smart to pick up another lefty to go with Moore so he doesn’t get overworked as he tended to be last year with us in the first half of the year. Maybe Peralta for 6-7mill (Peralta had a 2.15 era in innings 7-9 last year)

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Ochocinco! said:

Would it be irresponsible to pick up another lefty that can pitch high leverage innings to further bolster this pen?

I don’t think it’d be irresponsible, unless it prevents you from adding a more urgent need.