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?

There are a lot of junk names on the 40. The first three candidates in my opinion are all relievers, in Quijada, Warren, and Herget. Two of these guys are out for 2024 with TJ, and havent been that successful in their major league careers so probably would clear waivers. If they add another reliever, they could also lose another one of these three or go with guys like Suarez or Rosenberg...who may be why they haven't signed another lefty pen arm, they could be envisioning one of them in that role. Suarez is out of options, so he is either cut or makes the major league team. They can shift guys to the 60-Day IL as soon as pitchers and catchers report, though the 60 days don't start until Opening Day.

No Moose fits for a low impact low dollar contract. They could sign Bellinger, Anderson, and Moose for instance. Adding a guy like Hoskins or JD AND Bellinger is gonna be tough financially. The only issue with Moustakas as a platoon bat at 1st and 3rd is that he is a lefty and while they need a lefty power bat, Schanuel is also a lefty.

Remember this is if they intend on being competitive, I doubt Arte will spend this much. But the key is the same, adding a vet Infielder preferably one who can play the corners, adding a power lefty bat for the middle of the lineup, and possibly a second vet infielder if they plan on having Rendon on a short leash or trading a guy like Rengifo.

After listening to the Angelswin.com Podcast this past weekend, I know the Angels haven't done much and aren't expected to, but then they signed Stephenson, so maybe they're still in the mix for some other free agents? Some of this is indeed Boras' mouthpiece, Heyman spouting random "rumors" but then Passan this AM echoed him. So I wondered what the Angels need to add to be in the playoff mix, if they're gonna add. Losing Ohtani hurts the pitching staff and saps some power from the middle of the lineup, and replacing him does need to happen. But this doesn't have to be a DH. The Angels have a few young guys that need to develop in O'Hoppe, Moniak, Neto, Schanuel and Adell. They have some younger role player veterans in Rengifo, Thaiss, and Ward. They have Drury, Rendon and Trout. So it's a good mix not great, if healthy, but if not, they are looking at unproven AAA guys or former major league guys on minor league deals like Marisnick, Calhoun, Dozier, Wallach, Mejia, Rivas, and White. Other AAA Depth includes Stefanic, Adams and Cabbage. With 13 hitters and likely 13 pitchers on the team, now that Ohtani is gone. They're gonna need two more hitters in addition to the guys above. They seem to have 4 OF, 5 INF, and 2 C with spots locked on the team, barring trades. So realistically, they need two more guys. They can add any sort of OF, corner or CF...with the four OF they have don't need a defensive first backup who can play CF as all of them likely are ok there. They need pop. At 1st, you have Schanuel and Drury, likely, but Drury is also your likely starter at DH or 2nd. At 2nd, you have Drury and Rengifo, and at SS it's Neto and Rengifo, and at 3rd it's Rendon and Rengifo. So they might add a guy who can play SS (as Rengifo is not a great SS) or a power guy who can play 1st as Schanuel doesn't have much power yet. They can add a DH type, but it's better if they add a guy who can play 1st and 3rd if needed. They also are very very right handed, as only Schanuel, Moniak, Thaiss and Rengifo have lefty or switch hitting bats, and only one of those guys is a "Starter" right now. I expect Thaiss to play mostly catcher, and only have a few AB's here and there at 1st. The free agent power guys left are DH types like Soler or Martinez, who are not positionally versatile or Hoskins, who is a bit more versatile but is also Right Handed. I don't mind one of these types, but it is not preferred. If they sign Hoskins, which is a good fit for a platoon guy in Left and at first... they still are very right handed. And if you're really trying to compete, one of these guys isn't really gonna make the competitive difference over Evan White (R) or Rivas (L)...Problem is there is not any really solid lefty veteran power bats except Bellinger. And even Bellinger doesn't make this team a contender by himself. So maybe you add Bellinger and Hoskins, and even a veteran infielder like Anderson or Merrifield too? But if they added a three different guys, they'd have a depth problem, as none of their 11 listed above have options except the young guys (O'Hoppe, Neto, and Schanuel). Still, I believe two bats is the way to go, three if they are planning on moving someone out via trade (or releasing a malcontent), and then adding one front of the line starter. If they want to be competitive this year and not hugely hamper their upcoming younger core.. And that's a big if. Bellinger 200/9 = 22 M per. Option after year 3 to leave. Snell or Montgomery = 200/8 = 24 per with club option / buyout year at 9... Slightly more than Aaron Nola got. Hoskins or Turner = 2/25 = 12.5 per. And Finally Anderson = 1/7.5. Bounce Back 1 year deal. Probably puts them just over the tax. So if they are over, then go get Moore too at 3/28.

12:05. We'll be done in plenty of time to head over to Four Peaks.

You're funny! LMAO. Also, are you taking my extra ticket for Saturday and joining @katie @BaseballMom and I at the Angels Guardians game on Sat or should I offer it up to whomever wants it?

I also like to plan and hate big menus.

19 starts, 70 more innings, ERA a point lower at least. He's significantly better. But Sandoval in the FA Market probably commands 16-20M per right now. And So for $5-7M more per year you get the reigning NL Cy Young winner.

He's light years better than Sandoval.

The 5.0 inning thing for Snell is overblown because he pitched 180 innings in 32 starts that's 5 2/3 innings average. 17 of his 32 starts last year were 6 inning starts, and 3 were 7 innings. In the other 12, he was pulled early from three. All early season starts. They were being cautious. He pitched 5 innings 9 times. Does he go deep into games? No, but he's not a 5 inning guy usually either. 2/3 of his starts were longer than 5 innings. Also his 2023, he allowed 0 runs in 13 starts. 1 run in 4. and 2 runs in 8 starts. He allowed 3 runs in 5 more. And more than 4 in just 2. He was the Cy Young winner and was flat out dominant. At the reported 9 years 270 I balk too, but 8 years at a 24-26 M a year average, is fine for your Ace. And you build up the pen and the rest of the rotation. Sign him.

This is virtually certain. I do not know if they'd be trading for Kim or Cronenworth or even a pitcher like Musgrove, but the two teams do actually line up well in a package.

Can I humbly ask the mods to include the byline so we know who wrote each blog? I appreciate it.

No.

Sorry, just need 1.

I also bought two tickets for the game in Goodyear on Saturday, March 9th.

Blarg, I'm in. +1

Cleveland might want a lefty who is cost controlled for the back end of their rotation. We'd likely sign Anderson or Rosario to one year deals to replace Rengifo in 2024 and in 2025 hope Kyren Paris is ready to be a big leaguer.

Gotta give to get. Getting rid of Anderson contract is more money for other players. Rengifo is a bad defender and very streaky. He has value cuz he hits.

Really No @mmc? You really wouldn’t do that? Why?

Rengifo and Anderson and Cash for Bieber?

I think trading one is ok if you sign two. Otherwise, no. I would trade Sandoval, but not Detmers.

Do they need a 1st Baseman/DH? Or depth?

Fixed

I highly doubt this is the team going into spring training. IT has been a sloooooow winter, but I agree with the majority of your projections. I disagree with two or three key points. 1) Rengifo as a starter. He's too versatile in that he's a bad defender at nearly every position, but seemingly can play them. Drury is the starter at 2nd as of now. As of now the DH will be a rotation between Trout, Adell, Rendon, Drury and Rengifo. So...he doesn't quite have that power or that number of games. 2) Moniak is better than you think and due to the open DH spot he will get into more games in the OF. 3) O'Hoppe is going to more be the guy he was for the 36 games you listed as good stats (the 16 game start and the 20 game finish). So I would bump him up to the Angels 2nd highest WAR player behind Trout.