Troll Daddy

1 hour ago, Second Base said:

If he's not traded, this is the way I see it working out.

2020: Trout starts in CF as usual. Upton is in LF to start the year. Goodwin has a piss poor Spring, Ward and Adell have a great spring. Hermosillo and Marsh have a slow Spring. We open the season with Goodwin and Ward splitting time in RF. Goodwin plays well enough to put Ward in the rearview mirror, while both Adell and Marsh tear up AAA to start the year. Around mid-May, Upton goes back on the DL with lingering knee issues, and Adell is promoted to start in RF, Goodwin moves to LF. Hermosillo replaces Ward. Adell is off to a slow start and moves back to AAA in June when Upton comes off the DL. Goodwin's performance continues to underwhelm until the all-star break. Adell is promoted again to play RF, and this time doesn't look back. Upton goes back on the DL in mid July and Marsh is promoted, moved to RF (Adell to LF) and does well immediately. Upton comes back in mid August, but spends a lot of time at DH. By this time, Albert will be moved to almost strict bench duty as he's thoroughly outperformed by Thaiss or some other veteran they sign. Come September, The Adell-Trout-Marsh outfield is a thing of beauty. Jordyn Adams continues to develop in Advanced A Ball. The Angels make the wild card game.

2021: Albert retires after the 2020 season. Upton has off-season knee surgery, and misses the first month of the year as the Adell-Trout-Marsh outfield does it's thing. Marsh does get some reps at 1B in the Spring, for when Upton returns. Once Upton comes back, he spends his time at DH when Ohtani isn't, with Marsh in RF, and Thaiss at 1B. When Ohtani is DHing, Upton spend his time in LF, Adell in RF, and Marsh at 1B. Upton does moderately well, but the defensive value of Marsh in the outfield is too great to ignore, so Upton sees diminished playing time. Jordyn Adams is in AA. The Angels win the division and are ousted in the ALCS.

2022: Upton is traded over the off-season and accepts the trade because he would otherwise be relegated to part time DH duty. It's Adell in LF, Trout in CF, Marsh in RF. Jordyn Adams is in AAA. Angels win the World Series..... Because this is my scenario and I want them to. Trout, Adell and Marsh all make the all-star team.

2023: In a selfless move, Trout volunteers to move to 1B for his age 32 season to make way for Jordyn Adams in CF. Trout still plays the corner outfield regularly, but also gets time at 1B and DH. The bat is still elite and while he does not run as well as he used to, he still moves extremely well for a first baseman. Adams does decently well in his first taste of pro ball but like many rookies, will go through some rough patches. That's when Marsh moves to CF, Trout to RF. Angels win the pennant but fail to repeat as world champions.

2024: Ohtani gets a long term contract extension. Adams figures it out, and now the Angels have Ohtani, Trout, Adams, Adell and Marsh, all in the all star game. The Angels make their third collective World Series and win their second of the decade on the strength of dominant pitching performances from Ohtani, Canning and Jack Kochanowicz. Memories of Trout not playing in October are now distant, like when they used to say Payton Manning wouldn't win a Super Bowl 

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

Can someone please explain to me, why some on here think Marsh won't be a regular here until 2022?

A talent like his is not going to be wasted as a 4th OF in parts of 2020 and all of 2021.  

Upton can move to 1B/DH after 2020, getting some 70 DH starts and 70 1B starts in 2021 and 2022.

Jo Adell ... it’s possible Marsh is brought up before Adell. Justin will be in LF unless injured imo. 

3 hours ago, VariousCrap said:

If the Dodgers wanted him, they would have already made an offer.  In fact, during the Winter Meetings, Ryu was quoted as saying that his people haven't heard from the Dodgers even once.

https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/1908385/amp

2 hours ago, VariousCrap said:

 

Ryu is also an injury waiting to happen.  Just like Jeff Fletcher mentioned, there has to be a reason the Dodgers haven't resigned him.  They always do for their own free agents they like.

Dodgers are interested in Ryu ... now that the big fish have been signed. Both Ryu and Keuchel are Boras clients and might not be signed until after the holidays. I hope something happens soon. 

32 minutes ago, Second Base said:

The Angels will need a 6 (well, 5 and a half) man rotation. And I'm confident in Ohtani, Heaney, Bundy and Canning all being productive members of this unit. 

The other guys, like Barria, Sandoval and Suarez will all get their chance next year too. You don't want to pencil them in as part of the rotation. But if the last few years have taught fans and front offices anything, it's that your rotation needs to be at minimum 8 deep. So their chances to pitch in the rotation will come organically and you don't need be making room for them. 

So it's pretty clear the Angels will be needing two more arms. And the identity, or quality of those two arms is largely dependent upon what's available, at what price and what the Angels have in hand. Working with Callaway is really going to help matters. But this is a pretty generic middle of the road expectation for each pitcher...that I have, which is probably too rosy for some, but I'm ok with that. Just innings and ERA, not the most compete picture, but again, just in general.

Ohtani - 125 innings and a 3.25 ERA

Canning - 125 innings and a 3.75 ERA

Heaney - 150 innings and a 4.00 ERA

Bundy - 170 innings and a 4.25 ERA

Or basically, I view Ohtani as a #2 starter, Canning as a low end #3 or high end #4. Heaney a standard 4th starter and Bundy a low end 4th starter or high end 5th starter. 

Sandoval and Barria I think will be on par with Bundy, just less durable at this stage of their development. Suarez, I'd need to see the velocity return before anything. He needs fixing for sure. 

The Angels, in my opinion need an ace, and need a #3 starter. If they get that, I believe they can legitimately catch the Astros and A's. If they get a couple mid rotation starters, I think it will be enough to make them a borderline playoff team. If they get a mid rotation starter and a back end starter, it will be enough to get them back into contention, but little else.

So if the goal is to win 84 games, then sure, get Keuchel and Boyd/Teharan. If the goal is 88-92 wins, then two of Keuchel, Price and Ray will be sufficient. If the Angels want to win 95-ish games, I think it needs to be Ryu/Gray and Price/Keuchel.

Now the fact that there likely 30-35 million to spend on the upcoming year and still needing a catcher shouldn't be an issue. Back-loading contracts is the norm, and quality defensive catchers are not expensive.

Personally, for me, I love the upside Ryu presents. He doesn't cost prospects or draft picks and he's shown he's fully capable of pitching at the front end of a rotation for extended periods of time. I also really like Price, and I don't believe his days as a #2/3 starter are done yet. 

Get Ryu done for 4/80 and offer the necessary prospects not named Marsh, Adell, Adams, Sandoval and Thaiss to get Price's salary down from 3/96 down to 3/60, with the Angels only owing about 15 million this year and 22 million thereafter. 

If you want to sub Price out for Keuchel, as long as he's coming in at c something like 3/50, I'd be ok with that too. Teams are desperate for pitching right now though, so I doubt Keuchel takes that sort of deal.

 

 

 

Ryu is the only true Ace left (based on last season) on the board. Angels need to sign him no matter what the cost. 

6 hours ago, Second Base said:

We're still talking about Will Wilson, the one piss poor pick that Eppler has made? 

Why was it a piss poor pick? 

It was reported that the Giants were thinking of drafting him with their 10th pick ... instead they get him for free and without paying the slot money. Even if Cozart doesn’t play it’s a win for the Giants. 

Unfortunately, It’s a trade the Angels had to make that leaves a sour taste in your 

59 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

We didn't trade Wilson for Rendon. We could have afforded him before Wilson. The next FA we sign will likely be in thanks to the Wilson trade. Plus, you can never be sure about prospects. When you have an overload of infield talent and the chance to capitalize on a situation to free up salary room to potentially take the Angels in a completely different (and better) direction, then you take it. Eppler clearly doesn't waste prospects in a trade. The Indians asked for Marsh, Sandoval and Deveaux for Kluber and Eppler is smart not to bite just because we need an ace. Eppler has my 100% trust in the trades he makes. 

We just signed our #1 pick a few months ago and gave him a check for $3.4M dollars. If Eppler was unsure about the prospect ... then he should of never picked him. Using your recent #1 draft pick to make Cozart away for the 1 year left on his contract is unsettling imo. 

A slew of high-profile free agents have fared better than expected on the open market this winter, which has been the quickest-paced offseason we’ve seen in a while. Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, no doubt the most appealing unsigned starter remaining, could soon ink his own richer-than-anticipated contract. While MLBTR predicted a three-year, $54MM deal for Ryu when the offseason began, there’s now a belief across the industry that he’ll get at minimum a four-year pact worth better than $17MM per annum, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletictweets. On at least an annual basis, that type of accord would beat out the five-year, $85MM payday the Diamondbacks handed fellow lefty Madison Bumgarner on Sunday. Age (33 in March) and an extensive injury history could work against Ryu’s bid to cash in, but at the same time, there is no question he was one of the majors’ premier starters in 2019. The longtime Dodger fired 182 2/3 innings of 2.32 ERA/3.10 FIP ball with 8.03 K/9, 1.18 BB/9 and a 50.4 percent groundball rate. Ryu rode those numbers to a second-place finish the NL Cy Young balloting, and they could help him to a rich contract in the coming weeks.
 

traderumors.com

26 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

if we were to do that, I'd hope it would be for someone with more than two years of control.  That would be my main stipulation.  

I wonder if it's worth the risk to take on the Sale contract. 

No, I would go young with a few years of control. I do think Sale will bounce back next season ... but to expensive to find out. 

4 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

No they didn’t. 
 

Eppler said they could possibly acquire two, and if they did at least one would have to be a trade. 
 

I asked because everyone seems to think they need two more, but the more I’ve been thinking about it, I think they are really shooting for one and then maybe if they get a second it’ll be someone with upside or options or who can go to the pen. 
 

Either that or they trade Canning.

I believe now is the time to make a trade for a top tier pitcher ... even if it meant trading a couple of top 10 prospects. This is why a good farm is important ... what’s your thoughts  

1 hour ago, Dochalo said:

but not 9

Who cares about 9 ... the Angels would of won 3   WS titles by 7

Ohtani

Rengifo is expendable and not that special imo. I’ve read the DBacks are looking for controllable starting pitching in return. 

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Keuchel is a must. Ryu is a luxury. Adding Teheran would be nice in addition to Keuchel. 

Adding Keuchel and Ryu would be amazing. Like Rendon amazing.

Ryu had the lowest era in baseball ️ and was healthy all season. Keuchel is a innings eater and a ground ball specialist ... good call imo. We could do a lot worst. 

14 minutes ago, Stradling said:

This very well could be true.  I think you’ll see an overpay or a trade if those were the two options.  

Nothing wrong with a overpay as you mentioned ... as long as you get what you need. 

• The Angels were one of the teams known to have interest in Kluber, though Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (Twitter link) reports that the Indians wanted highly-touted outfield prospect Brandon Marsh and another top-10 prospect from the Halos’ farm system.  It was a significant ask, given how Marsh is widely considered to be the Angels’ second-best prospect (after Jo Adell) and is ranked by Fangraphs as the 74th-best prospect in all of baseball.  If Cleveland was seeking for such a return for Kluber from the various teams in the hunt, Fletcher notes that it could be a sign that “they have a much higher opinion of Clase than most of baseball.”
   
• trade rumors 

4 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Did we trade for Kluber yet?

Angels got weak in the end

Angels need pitching badly and the list of pitchers is dwindling ... yet, fans here are more worried about over paying for pitching  

9 minutes ago, floplag said:

of course, but priorities matter.    as said i may be off base but im just have no interest based on one good year when the 3 prior were not in line with that

Would you prefer 3 previous good years and last year pitching 60 innings because of injuries?

4 minutes ago, floplag said:

I want no part of Ryu, i could be wrong but it tells me a ton that the Dogs didnt want him back.  There is no reason they dont with the numbers he put up unless there are concerns. 

I’m okay with Ryu  ... he pitched close to 200 innings with a era of 2.32. What’s not to like? I think the Dodgers will sign him. 

4 minutes ago, eaterfan said:

For 5 years! 

He’s 30 years old!

12 minutes ago, Lou said:

I was told that Bumgarner wanted to stay the NL

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