nikkachez

I like your thought process, but the 2014 draft is supposed to loaded with good young talent. Pickup two college arms with their 1st and 2nd round picks, have Green and Sappington continue to develop, and build up the farm system with tons of pitching. Imagine if the Angels were able to pull a 2009 type of draft when they drafted Trout, Skaggs, Corbin, Richards, and Grichuk, I miss seeing young talent contribute on the major league team in big ways like Trout, Weaver, Howie, Calhoun, Trumbo, Bourjos, etc.

While an infield/DH bat makes more sense, especially with Pujols and Freese's health concerns, I don't think Reynolds is quite the answer. The market for DH's is really limited but I don't think any speculation or other possibilities are going to matter, I think the Halos will sign Ibanez

Don't really see a matchup here, Yanks need pitching like us. Hold onto Howie now, let Lindsey continue to develop, and use Howie as trade bait at the trade deadline if we need something or the off-season and have Lindsey ready to take the position. After Bourjos and Trumbo were traded I didn't think Howie would get traded and I'm just fine with that

I don't think anyone on here believed he was one of the best, but top 10 definitely in a thin position. Also Carpenter is playing third for the Cards next year and Ackley is playing center for Seattle

Saw this on mlbtraderumors and thought the same thing, need a better starter than him though, if he somehow make the bullpen as a swingman I'd like it

Skaggs gets the fifth spot if he dominates in spring training by fixing his mechanics otherwise he goes down to Salt Lake. Santiago goes to the pen, Richards has earned himself a spot in the rotation if you ask me, let him start the year in the rotation. Weaver, Wilson, Garza, Richards, Skaggs, and Santiago as a 6th starter has the potential to be lights out. Pretty young rotation too, CJ's the oldest at 33 which isn't even that old. Weaver's 31, Wilson's 33, Garza just turned 30, Richards is still only 25, Skaggs turned 22 at the end of the year, and Santiago is 26. Good to see some youth

I see the Angels signing another starting pitcher, having Skaggs start the year in AAA (maybe), Santiago start in the rotation, and Blanton as the long relief man. After about a month, I think Blanton gets released due to his "suckiness", Skaggs is promoted to the rotation, and Santiago moves to the bullpen. I really really like the flexibility that Santiago gives us, a starter or two will inevitably get hurt at some point in the season and having Santiago who can start and be effective as one is a necessity for a championship caliber team. Shoemaker, Moran, Morin, Sappington, Alvarez, and Maronde really need to step up to give us the quality depth we need.

Best player in the game and these are only the highlights, we get to see him everyday!

I'd prefer Chavez too for the reasons you stated, however, I think he'll end up being too expensive for our budgetary flexibility if the Angels want to sign Garza or Tanaka. If they're able to squeeze in Chavez along with Garza or Tanaka, then yes do it.

I certainly don't wanna trade Howie, try to keep the lineup as intact as possible. Howie hitting lower in the lineup could be a good thing for him too, a 3-4-5-6-7 of Pujols, Hamilton, Trumbo, Freese, and Kendrick has the potential to be straight up deadly. If Howie doesn't get the Halos what they want then it wouldn't make sense to just create that hole in the lineup. I like Lindsey but having Howie at second and Green on the bench gives us organizational depth and options which teams like the Cardinals and Red Sox have to: fill in when someone's hurt, maybe play other positions or lengthen the bench, or gives us trade options. Although the idea of trading Trumbo still sounds painful, I think he has the potentially to net us something a little better than Howie. Sign someone who can replace Trumbo's thump, take a chance on Hart or get a guy that essentially does what Trumbo is doing in Mark Reynolds. I know the Angels don't need another first baseman or shouldn't focus on spending money on another bat but I would be pretty happy if the Angels signed Cory Hart or, surprise here, James Loney to play first with "Question Mark Pujols" and get some time at DH. I would like a Loney signing very much actually in the event that Trumbo is traded

I'm not trading Conger if I'm the Angels, Iannetta if he receives any interesting offers maybe, but definitely not Conger. I could see Iannetta packaged with Howie or Trumbo because I do not think Iannetta alone fetches anything worth trading him for unless someone overpays for him. If you trade Iannetta with Howie/Trumbo you get about $15 million off the books for Iannetta/Howie or around $10 million with Trumbo/Iannetta, Angels should be able to get at least two promising prospects with a third piece included. Get the prospects and depth options from a trade, clear some payroll space, sign a veteran starter (Arroyo/Colon/Garza/Feldman) for the other rotation spot, and sign a defensive first catcher like Kurt Suzuki. But all in all, I'm okay with a Conger and Iannetta duo at catcher, especially if Conger improves offensively

I would love Tanaka and Hughes, I think Richards pitches better than people think he will and becomes a very dependable 3-4 type starter, Hughes would slide in nicely to the 4-5 spot and pitch decently in Anaheim (he'll have the benefit of pitching in parks like Anaheim, Safeco, and Oakland as opposed to launching pads like NY, Fenway, Baltimore, and Toronto.) Rotation would start the year out with Weaver, Wilson, Tanaka, Hughes, and Richards and end the year with Weaver, Tanaka, Wilson, Richards, and Hughes. Hughes alone will consume almost all, if not all, of the remaining $8 million the Angels have left to spend so even if they trade Howie Tanaka will more than likely push the Angels over the tax threshold. Jerry and Arte will have to get very creative

Sign Trout long term, priority number one. I don't know, pitchers contracts are starting to get bonkers, build a rotation like Cardinals (through drafting and developing pitching.) Don't solve one of our problems by throwing a tooooon of money at it (Kershaw turned down a $300 million dollar last year keep in mind)

Why couldn't Howie? His OBP last season was .335 and he was playing very well before he got hurt, the others I agree. If Trumbo had a .340 OBP would we even be considering trading him? Haha

I'm gonna guess Trumbo and possibly Iannetta for Butler and a couple unknown players

Could be a Daniel Nava type of story!

Danny Duffy and Tim Collins/Aaron Crow

Think I still have a few good swings in me

That's what scares me too, I know they'll tender him a contract because "he has such a high upside!" but he's been given a chance for 6 seasons, time to put the experiment to rest

I would non-tender all of them, Williams is intriguing but he's also expected to make the most (tied with Hanson) but I could see them non-tendering everyone except Jepsen for some reason. Smith takes Gutierrez's roster spot, the two starters we get replace Hanson and probably Williams, Berg can take Jepsen's spot, and anyone can take Nelson's spot maybe even Lindsey on the 40-man

It's the only thing we can be somewhat excited about until we see some GD pitching moves! Haha

I don't think anyone is saying that our lineup will compensate with the pitching staff we have no, in fact, I'm pretty sure everyone's on the same page that we need pitching still

I see the Angels signing Arroyo AND Colon for a combined price range of around $20 million, once they have the starters, they'll non-tender Hanson, Williams, Nelson, and Gutierrez and save themselves around $10 million in that process. So with the estimated $8 million left and the $10 million from the non-tenders, they'll be about $2 million over the threshold where they'll trade Howie for a pitching prospect or two who can give us depth in case of injuries or a Colon suspension shedding another $9 million of the payroll. So that's about $7 million left over, maybe sign Jeff Baker to play against lefties at second and left field to give Josh a break until Lindsey's ready (he's pretty close) then have a Baker/Lindsey platoon at second for the season. Or they could sign another lefty for the pen, I like Howell but O'flaherty could be a nice pickup as long as he doesn't pull a Madson.

I'd like to see someone take my favorite number (18.) Don't know what it is about that number, I just really like it. Maybe Freese could take it

Only reason Trout hit third last season was because Pujols got hurt. I agree that Trout will eventually move down to the third spot when his speed regresses a little, but he should be lead-off right now. Shuck and especially Aybar shouldn't even be close to the top of the lineup. Lineup should be: 1. Trout CF 2. Calhoun RF 3. Pujols 1B 4. Hamilton LF 5. Trumbo DH 6. Freese 3B 7. Kendrick 2B 8. Iannetta/Conger C 9. Aybar SS As of now but If Kendrick is traded, you bump the catchers and Aybar up a spot and have Green/eventually Lindsey hit 9th. I don't think the Angels will trade Trumbo though, even though they probably should, but they'd need a bat to replace him IMO