Hubs

I feel better about the Ohtani, Syndergaard, Sandoval, Suarez, Lorenzen, Barria, Detmers, Canning, Junk, Naughton, Daniel group
and the Iglesias, Loup, Mayers, Warren, Cishek, Quijada, Ortega, Wantz, Tyler, Herget group
than I do the Fletcher, Wade, Rengifo, Mayfield, Davis, Velazquez, Stefanic group.

I feel better about the Ohtani, Syndergaard, Sandoval, Suarez, Lorenzen, Barria, Detmers, Canning, Junk, Naughton, Daniel group
and the Iglesias, Loup, Mayers, Warren, Cishek, Quijada, Ortega, Wantz, Tyler, Herget group
than I do the Fletcher, Wade, Rengifo, Mayfield, Davis, Velazquez, Stefanic group.

Yes if they can find a taker. We got rid of 500k of Pujols' contract some of Heaney's and Quintana's this way. 
They had 46,663,119 in retained salaries in 2021, meaning players who didn't finish the season with the organization and weren't on injured reserve according to Spotrac.
We paid Pujols 29,573,687 of his $30M contract. Quintana $6,537,626 of his $8M figure, Heaney 4,391,150 of his 6,750,000, and there were others too.
The total value of these salaries was around $50M, and we paid $46.6M.
So the opening day payroll of $181 ish, went to 177, and the luxury tax was similarly affected.
 

I actually think he's the opening day LF even if they don't trade either of the kids. 🙂
I just think now that two years of an elite starter might be worth 5 of Adell, at 7.5M per.
I'd rather see them in on Story than Bryant, but they must feel like they have SS solid. Either they think a lot of Rengifo, Wade, or Davis, cuz I just don't see it.
 
 
 

The two sides aren't individuals but conglomerates that have disparate priorities and imperatives within their members.  Add the pressure of the fact that each negotiation sets precedence for subsequent negotiations and you have drama that drags out until both parties suffer more from the delay than by compromise.   It is typical for most collective bargaining settings.  Some are more comfortable with brinksmanship than others.

Cishek just seemed worse than he was because he was overused (74 appearances) and the team was bad.
He has had a 2.18 ERA in 2018, 2.95 in 2019, 5.40 in limited 2020, and 3.42 with the Angels last year. He's a good reliever.
He had a career high in walks per 9 last year and his WHIP was too high. But he had a decent FIP. 
He suffered with a .304 BABIP, as opposed to two seasons in the .240's with the Cubs before the COVID season. 
He allowed 26/61 runners to score, but I think most of these were in the first half, and he was quite good in the second half.
He also had the 5th most appearances in baseball.
Essentially he and Mayers shared the 8th inning role last season, and with Loup/Warren/Etc., they get bumped down to 6th and 7th.
He's a veteran presence at a very affordable rate, and he and Mayers should be retained. 

Bryant is a career .880 OPS hitter with a .835 OPS last year. He's not average.

Cishek just seemed worse than he was because he was overused (74 appearances) and the team was bad.
He has had a 2.18 ERA in 2018, 2.95 in 2019, 5.40 in limited 2020, and 3.42 with the Angels last year. He's a good reliever.
He had a career high in walks per 9 last year and his WHIP was too high. But he had a decent FIP. 
He suffered with a .304 BABIP, as opposed to two seasons in the .240's with the Cubs before the COVID season. 
He allowed 26/61 runners to score, but I think most of these were in the first half, and he was quite good in the second half.
He also had the 5th most appearances in baseball.
Essentially he and Mayers shared the 8th inning role last season, and with Loup/Warren/Etc., they get bumped down to 6th and 7th.
He's a veteran presence at a very affordable rate, and he and Mayers should be retained. 

Absolutely ridiculous Angels didn’t match that. Has to be Arte’s meddling again… 

Remaining pivot options include Kershaw and Rodon who could be had at short term deals, but let’s see if Arte will really increase payroll 

Overused, and overexposed.  Some of it was weird scheduling, but when a RP faces the same team four times in a week it's not uncommon to see them get torched.  

Cishek just seemed worse than he was because he was overused (74 appearances) and the team was bad.
He has had a 2.18 ERA in 2018, 2.95 in 2019, 5.40 in limited 2020, and 3.42 with the Angels last year. He's a good reliever.
He had a career high in walks per 9 last year and his WHIP was too high. But he had a decent FIP. 
He suffered with a .304 BABIP, as opposed to two seasons in the .240's with the Cubs before the COVID season. 
He allowed 26/61 runners to score, but I think most of these were in the first half, and he was quite good in the second half.
He also had the 5th most appearances in baseball.
Essentially he and Mayers shared the 8th inning role last season, and with Loup/Warren/Etc., they get bumped down to 6th and 7th.
He's a veteran presence at a very affordable rate, and he and Mayers should be retained. 

Castillo would've been the #2 or #3 starter on the free agent market ahead of Stroman and Gausman and behind Scherzer, maybe Ray. Sonny Gray or Tyler Mahle aren't the quality arm that Castillo is.
Let's not pretend like he's not the same. Now you can say it opens up holes if you trade for him, sure, but they'd have money to address those holes, as they would not have if they had signed Ray or Gausman or Scherzer.
 

Yeah, I mean I guess he'd be in the OF mix, and that frees up someone for a trade, but Rendon may be able to play some 2nd and Bryant some third. He'd also likely play in the OF and at 1st. But I doubt he'd come here.

140 innings in AAA? Sure. 
 
But he needs to start in AAA until he command/control his pitches. 

Bryant is a career .880 OPS hitter with a .835 OPS last year. He's not average.

Bryant is a career .880 OPS hitter with a .835 OPS last year. He's not average.

I believe that is, in fact, literally the only position other than catcher or pitcher that he's never played an inning at.
F it, let's go get him and put him there.

Most estimates have the Angels somewhere between 168 million and 178 million. My personal calculations put them at 172, not that it's any more accurate than anything else. Either way, the Angels have some wiggle room before they're up against any luxury tax line, if it even exists after the new CBA. 

I think Tim Salmon would be a good coach, and probably Erstad as well. I like that the Angels are bringing back players from Maddon's time with the Angels to be coaches. 
Even Callaway was with us in 2002, and Wise was with us for several years, even though they weren't on the World Series Roster.
Any other names that would make good coaches? I mean, Mathis jumps out as a catching coach if his playing days are done. 

I'm pretty sure they can't. But if you're going with the "it's OK if no one finds out" policy, then all sorts of things could be OK.

I agree with:
- Moving Davis to Group A.
- Moving Mayfield down to Group A.
- Moving Ward up to the Active Roster.
- Swapping Ortega and Selman.
 
I wouldn't swap Tyler and Wantz though.

Upton at 1st? 
For the Record, Ward's 2021 Splits vs. Lefties .303 AVG / .395 OBP / .455 SLG 
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=wardta01&year=2021&t=b#plato
and Walsh's 2021. vs. Lefties .170 / .208 OBP / .357 SLG
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=wardta01&year=2021&t=b#plato
Forgive me if I see a natural fit. 

I agree with this, Gray or Castillo or Mahle helps the rotation, and I don't want to trade a bat, as it opens a spot that is currently filled cheaply and they don't have a lot of depth still.
But I disagree with the bottom of the lineup being good. Fletcher was pretty terrible with the bat outside of a few weeks in the middle of the season, and Adell and Marsh are unproven with near .300 OBP's. To say nothing about the black hole offensively that is shortstop unless Fletcher plays there and they sign Taylor or Davis breaksout in ST and takes one of the MINF jobs.
We have 4 suspect lineup spots (Fletcher, Rengifo, Adell, Marsh), with 5 extremely productive spots (Trout, Ohtani, Rendon, Walsh, and Stassi, assuming Ward gets the start at 1st against tough lefties).
That's why they need to add a MINF via FA (preferably Taylor as he is the cheapest, but Story also makes sense).

I don't disagree that there will be 4 OF on Opening Day, the 4th will be Taylor Ward. Who is also your primary backup at 1st, seeing as he is the only right handed bench bat besides Rengifo.
I would like them to carry 5, with Trout, the young guys, Upton and Ward, but with the uncertainty in the MINF, Fletcher certainly having one spot, but the other manned by Rengifo and Wade as of now, unless they go with 7 arms in the pen, they won't carry 6 IF and 5 OF and 2 C.
So I'll make due with a bench of an OF (Upton or Adell), Ward, Wade, and Thaiss.

Adell hit .246 with a .295 OBP and Marsh hit .254 with a .317 OBP. If you think they're not gonna bounce up and down in 2021, you're mistaken.
I still really believe in these guys and hope they start the majority of games in the OF (along with Trout) in 2022, but they're not gonna start 145+ games each on a team yearning to reach the playoffs and carrying a high 190M's payroll, and likely exceeding the tax. 
In 2023 yes, but not in 2022. I'd bet one will start in the majors and one in the minors. By June or July they will be the full time OF...but not in April.