Hubs

It's fun to see how much Second Base really loves his prospects.

#2 I agree, they should send back another player or prospect. But Price makes only $21M more in real salary than Upton, and Upton is more valuable. But the Angels have two stud OF ready in 2020 or 2021 for playing time. The reason Sherman said they'd be interested is that Price is due $31M per season and his luxury tax is the same. They are near the threshold and Upton's AAV is only $21M per, so they'd get a $10M luxury tax savings. #3 Kimbrel is due $16M in real salary, $14.3M in AAV for the next two seasons. He suggested trading Zack Cozart for Kimbrel and the Cubs sending us a prospect for the salary difference. I'd do this IMO. KImbrel may be down, but he's an elite arm when healthy and right, and for essentially Zack Cozarts money in 2020, plus yes, the same amount in 2021. Maybe you ask them to eat $6-8M of it in 2021. They still save $11-13M.

No trading Adell. I'm not enamored with trading Heaney after a down year, but I like all three of the return packages. (Who Wouldn't?) I also think that they don't need our top prospect to make one of these type deals, and that they could look at getting one of these guys for a deal based around a few prospects.

Any Contract is movable if you take on money. Exactly my point all week regarding Cozart. I don't want Craig Kimbrell really, but if it was in exchange for Zack Cozart and a lower tier prospect, who wouldn't take that gamble? And Upton for Price is actually intriguing. I'd prefer Sale obviously, over Price, but either works. Price actually has such a negative surplus value, that it probably costs them Benintendi to move him for Upton, and the Angels have to throw them a guy like say Knowles or Jones or something off the top ten list, but not an elite guy like Adell or Marsh. Can you imagine a scenario where they get Price, Cole, and a guy like Wheeler or Bumgarner? Plus Kimbrel, and Grandal? And yes it's doable financially. Trading Upton for Price and Benintendi adds like $15 in luxury tax dollars per season, but the real dollars are similar. Upton makes 72/3 and Price is at $93/3. Bientiendi is under arbitration. Assume Cole comes at $34 AAV, but lower in years one and two in real dollars. Assume Wheeler/Bumgarner comes at 21 AAV and is lower in years one and two in real dollars. Grandal is gonna be around 3/51. Kimbrel costing only Cozart and a prospect is only gonna cost $3-4 M. I'd send them Bedrosian in exchange. So that the deal is salary neutral. You have $140ish committed. Add the $15 for the Price/ Bientiendi deal, add $22 for Cole in his first year, add $14 for Wheeler in his first year, $14 for Grandal in his first. That brings the real payroll up to 206. Which is an increase of about 20M. You could ask for $5M in the Kimbrel deal and $3M in the Price deal per year, and probably get it. Then you'd be at $198. With a lineup of Fletcher INF Trout CF Ohtani DH Adell RF / Goodwin RF Grandal C Simmons SS Pujols 1B La Stella INF Benintendi LF / Marsh LF And a rotation of Cole, Wheeler, Price, Ohtani, Heaney, Canning With a pen of Kimbrel, Robles, Buttrey, Middelton, Anderson, Ramirez, Pena, Cole

I’m warming to the Upton deal Sherman mentioned. Price out of Boston could rebound. And Kimbrel for Cozart would be a no brainer.

Trade Upton for Price and re-sign Calhoun. This makes a lot more sense seeing as Upton isn’t gonna be as injured as you think. Calhoun also can play some 1st.

What if they threw in Bientiendi. Everyone says yes to that.

Isn’t this what Darren Oliver and others have done. A few unspectacular years as a starter, then transition to a relief role?

Actually in 2011, they didn’t have many injuries three pitchers pitched more than 30 starts and two others pitched 25 ish. Best staff the Angels had under Scioscia

I only meant as part of a package. He’d certainly cost more than just Cozart.

Probably around 13-15 starts. Some other fill ins here and there for the 6th guy. That gives Ohtani 25-26 starts, and the other 4 will be around 31 each. Maybe you slot in Cole and Wheeler/Bumgarner/Sale every 5 days and push them to 32 or 33. Giving Heaney and Canning closer to 27-28. That's assuming no pitcher is out for more than a week or two. Which would be a miracle.

Who the Twins are trying to resign and move to the pen. I literally just saw this in an mlbtraderumors post, and thought yeah a lefty who can work multiple innings and throw 95...ok

Martin Perez fits the bill as a lefty. I'd like a legit lefty reliever.

Is there an issue going after Sale and Cole? Like I realize Sale will cost $$$$. And Cole will cost $$$$. If the Sox took back Cozart in the deal for 2020...Then the $ for 2020 would be roughly a $17.5 M additional salary. They may also be interested in cost controllable pitching like Andrew Heaney or Cam Bedrosian, pitchers who cost more than the minimum. Sale is $30 M for three years, and 27.5 for the final two. Lets assume Cole costs $34 M over 7 years, at $238 M. Say that he gets a $28M signing bonus, payable 14M in 2020 and 2021. Then he'd have a $30M annual salary and a $34M AAV. Sale's AAV is $25.6. So yes, you'd be adding nearly $60M in AAV to the AAV salary. But they have the room under the Luxury Tax Line by unloading Cozart and maybe Cam. They may even have room to still add a catcher, and add some other stuff on the edges.

With the 26 man roster, I'd expect he and Fletcher to be the main guys at 2nd and 3rd, but Cozart if healthy and still on the team will get a some playing time, as will Rengifo and Thaiss who figure to get more. If you think Fletcher plays all but one day a week. 5 of 6 or 6 of 7. Simmons probably figures for a similar amount. Say Fletcher splits his time between 2nd, 3rd, and also plays a little short. That's gonna mean say 60 starts at 2nd and 60 at 3rd, with like 15-20 at SS. Pujols say gets 70 games at 1st and 60 as a DH. That leaves 90ish DH spots for Ohtani. That leaves 100 at 3rd, 100 at 2nd, and 90 at 1st. You'd have to figure that Thaiss gets the majority of the leftover 1st base starts and some at 3rd. Maybe 90 games total. He'll also be in the minors up and down unless he is raking. That means LaStella gets say 75 at 3rd, 40 at 2nd and 15 at 1st? That's 130 starts. I suppose we hope he increases the 1st base time, or Fletcher plays some OF, or that Thaiss plays less Rengifo then only gets 60 starts at 2nd unless this all happens. It will be a fluid situation in the INF.