halosfan1970

Del Taco is overrated.

Grant Green and Josh Rutledge are both still available.

Gentry has a projected salary of $1.6m while Cowgill projects at $1.0m Is Gentry a significant upgrade justifying the added cost as a 4th OF?

Wienerschnitzel is truly underappreciated.

Pennington looks like a .225 hitter. Compared to McDonald and Featherston that's a 50 point improvement.

Two years seems reasonable. Pennington is signed for his age 32-33 seasons. McDonald only signed for one year, but he was 39 not 32. The Angels will have Simmons/Pennington for about $500,000 per year more than Aybar/Featherston (AAV)

I'm surprised you and Stradling are willing to give up Kubitza. Some sources suggest he has magical gap power.

If the Angels are going to bust the CBT, they might as well do it in style. It will only be for one year and two at most. Adding four pieces: (1) Heyward/Upton/Cespedes to the OF, (2) Zobrist to the IF, (3) Cueto to the SP, and (4) Soria/Clippard to the RP would be huge. LF has to be addressed. (2) - (4) can only make the team better compared to 2015. A 2016 Angels that has Simmons in addition to Upton, Zobrist, and Clippard would be a far superior team to the 2015 product.

The Big A and that right field scoreboard wall will knock any left handed power hitter's HR count down. If Davis hit 30-32 HR instead of 45 but hit 50 doubles while maintaining a .370 OBP, life would be good. Unfortunately, he won't manage to maintain that (doubles or OBP) in to his mid-30's. The last 3 years of a Davis deal would be painful. However, the 2016 results would be fun. I think you and I agree.

More or less brittle than Choo (emotionally and physically)?

Depends on how you want to balance a 25 man roster. You could go with Cowart at 3B and Perez/Bandy at C. Signing Heyward for LF and signing Davis to split 1B/DH with Pujols would be fascinating. It would also be insanely expensive.

We don't have the minor league prospects any longer to trade for starting pitching or LF, but... We do have assets like Santiago, Bedrosian, Gott, Kubitza, and Cron who each have value. Some combination (not all of them clearly) should be sufficient to find solid help at 2B or 3B if that is the direction the Front Office wants to go. Relief pitching is fungible. Players like Clippard and Soria are available on the FA market for nothing more other than dollars.

No judgements... Just onfield performance.... I'm sure Jose Reyes is hoping for that approach too.

Or play Baez at SS in the first year. Trade Aybar's contract year, like Kendrick was last year, for prospect(s). The return for Aybar could be used in either a Baez trade or to restock the farm.

Sign Desmond.

Asdrubal Cabrera has played 3B as a major leaguer for one game in 2007. For all we know, Freese is a better fielding 3B.

If you want to move on from Aybar, he should be traded now with one year left on his contract. A lot like Kendrick last year. Maximize the return.

With Bedrosian as the centerpiece and not Santiago? That would make a lot more sense.

Why would Freese at $9-10m per season prevent signing a LF (Heyward, Upton, Cespedes, etc.)? He made $6.5m last year, so the incremental increase would only be $2.5m - $3.5m. Declining the options on David Murphy and David DeJesus saved $12m already.

That's better than that swollen lymph node in his groin exploding before our eyes.

Longer answer... He's going in to his age 33 season. At this point, the Angels know what to expect from him. You probably get 130-135 games per year over the course of a 2-3 year deal. I don't think David Freese is an injury prone player who can't stay off the DL. I do think he is heading in to his age 33-35 seasons with a history of back issues. He simply won't provide 152 games per year. I think it's a durability issue over an injury prone issue. Defensively you get average/competent: solid glove and foot work, average but accurate arm, and a range that seem painfully limited. Offensively you get slight above average: .260/.325/.415 (OPS+ 100-105) I think a decision on the direction at 3B is entirely dependent on what other moves are made at 2B, C, and LF. There are multiple moving parts. If you go young and platoon Perez and Bandy at C, going with Kubitza at 3B seems like a second risk. Whether you stick with Giavotella at 2B or try to sign Zobrist or Murphy also factors in. I'm completely undecided on whether it's a good idea to bring Freese back or not. Cost and risk tolerance in other area of the roster seems key. At the right price, he is a safe choice. I don't know if he is the right choice.

Yep. This sounds like a monthlong delay of wishful thinking. It reminds me of pitchers who try to avoid TJ surgery with rehab and rest.

Navarro has no value other than as a late inning defensive replacement. He's the Daniel Robertson of 1st base.

It looks like Freese played in 134 games in 2014 and 121 games in 2015. He's averaged 134 games over the last four years. He went on the 15-Day Disabled List once each in 2014 and 2015. Both DL stints were for a fractured finger following being hit by a pitch. The narrative that Freese is injury prone is nice but completely unsupported by fact.

I also agree that over 162 games, you need more than 5 legitimate starters. Organizational depth is important. However, stashing pitchers like Skaggs and Tropeano in AAA as insurance can have negative impacts too. They aren't going to develop further at AAA, and you are still using their young/prime, controllable years.