jsnpritchett

Avila is now gone. Angels need to act relatively soon, I would think.

1 year, $4.25M

Btw, I don't know why, but I started thinking about Jordan Zimmermann's contract this morning. It was roughly similar to Wheeler's: 5 for $110M, back in the 2015 off-season. I had honestly just sort of forgotten Zimmermann existed, but holy cow, that contract has turned out to be a disaster. So far, he's 25-41 with a 5.61 ERA. Somehow, that has amounted to 0.8 bWAR (I thought it'd be even worse). He was roughly the same age as Wheeler when he was a free agent and had significantly better career stats up until that point. There's really no point to this post other than to once again reinforce that big-dollar free agent pitching contracts (even more so than positional player contracts) are a total crapshoot.

Well, sure, that would be fine--but the whole point of this thread is predicated on us not signing Cole.

Sure, he's pretty good--but, realistically, he's only had one "very good" year so far in his career. He can definitely improve a rotation, but if he's the best you've got, you're probably not going to the playoffs. (Side note: yes, I know we'll have Ohtani back--but I remain conservative on him until I see what he can do in a full season)

If the Angels don't significantly improve their starting pitching through free agency this year, it's not going to happen that way next year, either (they could obviously make trades, though). Here's the projected list of starting pitchers who'll be free agents after next season. Not exactly a lot of difference-makers in this batch: Chase Anderson (33) – $9.5MM club option with a $500K buyout Chris Archer (32) – $11MM club option with a $250K buyout Jake Arrieta (35) Trevor Bauer (30) Tyler Chatwood (31) Anthony DeSclafani (31) Michael Fiers (36) Cole Hamels (37) J.A. Happ (38) – $17MM vesting option Merrill Kelly (32) – $4.25MM club option with a $500K buyout Corey Kluber (35) – $17.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout Mike Leake (33) – $18MM mutual option with a $5MM buyout Jon Lester (37) – $25MM mutual/vesting option with a $10MM buyout Mike Minor (33) Charlie Morton (37) – $15MM vesting option James Paxton (32) Jose Quintana (32) Robbie Ray (29) Garrett Richards (33) Jeff Samardzija (36) Anibal Sanchez (37) – $12MM club option with a $2MM buyout Marcus Stroman (30) Masahiro Tanaka (32) Jordan Zimmermann (35)