Warfarin

Yeah, there is a lot of payroll space that could be made available. There aren't a lot of compelling free agents, but I think we'd see Minasian employ a "spread the money around" philosophy. While this team is going through a rough patch right now, they do look like a better team with more depth than they were just a year ago. I would expect to see more signings like Drury, Estevez, etc - guys signed to fairly short-term deals. They don't all pan out (Anderson, Loup, Tepera), but some have been rather good. The key to all of this, though, is to keep developing internal talent. Again though, this is probably why it makes sense to trade Ohtani now. They could ship him to the Dodgers and probably get at least a really solid hitter (Busch?) and probably a solid mid-rotation SP (any of their SP prospects not named Miller). That would seem to be a good start, and then you sprinkle it in with some calculated gambles and good prospect development (this is the key part), and we could contend fairly quickly.

None of us can really know, but I feel like Arte effectively trusted Minasian enough to not force him to sign Turner. I also don't think there is really anyone of note to sign this offseason either, or at least anyone in the same stratosphere as Ohtani is. I think Perry would strongly advise against signing a pitcher to a long-term contract. We'll see what happens.

Having read parts of this thread, I think there is a general anxiety with this team in terms of "we have to win this year, or Ohtani is gone and this franchise is screwed." I think losing Ohtani would hurt, but I think the organization can recover. There are a lot of signs for optimism. Their farm system is growing and looking stronger. Minasian seems to have a good idea of how to build an organization. @Trendon you mentioned that the Angels will probably just go right out and sign someone else to a stupid contract, but I actually don't think that's true. I remember a quote this spring about how Arte wanted to go sign Trea Turner, feeling he was the missing piece, but Minasian effectively told him we need a lot more than just Turner and instead to spread the money (and risk) around. I think he would do the same this offseason, if he had some money (which he will, if Ohtani does not re-sign). Neto was drafted, came up, and looked good. O'Hoppe looked good in his cameo appearance. Moniak has been recalled and is performing surprisingly well. I see what appears to be an overall strong organizational development process occurring. It may not be in time to retain Ohtani, but we can still be a good, successful organization even if he moves on, and I feel like Minasian is helping us head in that direction.

Yeah, it's hard to say. I believe Dana got a record last year for the round he was drafted in, and he got around a 1.5mil bonus. I believe Nolan will sign for somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5mil underslot (maybe 3.5mil ish, whereas our allowance is 5.2mil for the 11th pick). Should have plenty of money to offer Kent. I think we also signed a few senior sign guys at the end of the second day, which means we'll probably largely pocket those bonuses too. I think we'll see two significant overslots, with one of them being Kent.

Rendon's bat currently doesn't really play at 1B, or 3B for that matter. I kind of feel like if he doesn't start to perform at least decently, next year might be his last, if the farm can develop and churn some talent to help push him off the club. Next year would be year 5 of 7, and if he looks like he's still a sunk cost, it might be time just to move on.

Right, and they used the same idea with Albright, too. It seems to be a solid overall approach - drafting a good amount of players you can accelerate through the farm system, but complementing that with some high-risk guys that you want to take a shot on and sign for overslot. In 2021, they drafted a ton of pitchers, several of which have accelerated through the farm. They did the same last year with Neto, and both Joyce and Mederos have made cameo appearances. Would not be surprised to see several of the 2023 draft picks play by the first half of next year.

Probably. That's why it's best to reserve judgment of individual picks and instead look at the entire draft on the whole. I think they'll have a chunk of money to offer on their 11th or 12th round pick, too, so probably two significant overslot options to complement Schanuel's underslot.

Courtesy of MLB.com:

I think it's probably safe to assume that Rendon will play only half a season at best moving forward, so it's a good idea to have multiple guys who can help cover the inevitable injury absences.

Hard to say, but there's time to figure that out. Good teams seem to help make players passable at certain positions. I think though that this belies the fact that more than anything else, this team needs offense, which is effectively what we saw them prioritize at the top of this draft - guys who can hit, regardless of position.

Oh yeah, I know. I was just saying that the only way we could expect to extract that large of a return for Ohtani would only be if the acquiring team could guarantee that Ohtani would be staying there long-term. Otherwise, no team will give up that kind of bounty for 2 months of a player, even if it's the best player in the game.

I think the only way we can get the moon from the Dodgers (or any team) is if we granted a negotiation window for that team to come to a long-term contract extension with Ohtani. If we did and that transpired, I imagine we could get a better trade package, as the acquiring team would be guaranteeing Ohtani's long-term stay. I think that is the only way we could get a package like Miller, Cartaya, etc .. those are top 20 prospects in the game.

I think it'd be hard to pry Miller from the Dodgers, given he's filling an immediate need for them right now too, but that's probably a fairly solid deal overall. The Renfroe part is a solid idea given their need for a RHH, but if the Dodgers did trade for Ohtani, consider that they already have JD Martinez, who is a full-time DH. They'd have to put him somewhere, and I'm guessing that'd be LF, so likely that mitigates the need for Renfroe for them. Alternatively, maybe they can look at some combination of Sheehan, Busch, etc. Busch would become the immediate DH to replace Ohtani, Sheehan looks like he might be a solid mid-rotation SP (although maybe there are better choices, I'm not really sure, I just know they have a lot of SP prospects). Busch also can capably play 1B/3B, so he can essentially become Rendon's backup and play 3B whenever he gets injured again.

Well, I guess the best case scenario is we go on a run, win the title this year, and so on.. But given injuries and the current condition of the team, then I think the above would be the next best case scenario - you add multiple top prospects for "loaning" Ohtani out for 2 months, then get him back for many years thereafter as well as the prospects you just acquired.

I referenced this before, but it'd actually be really awesome if the Angels have some kind of agreement with Ohtani such that they can flip him for some really good prospects, let him pursue a title this year, then re-sign him to a huge deal in the offseason (similar to the Yankees and Chapman). Then not only do you get to keep Ohtani, but you also get 1-2 top 100 prospects and a few other solid prospects too. Highly unlikely, but that'd be a pretty cool outcome.

I'm also interested in seeing how Tucker Flint progresses. He's had a subpar year, but he was aggressively promoted and the FO seems to view him highly.

If anything, I think he could have a future as a 4th OF. Strong CF defense, great speed, and some degree of plate discipline. I remember he was a very raw talent when drafted, and likely the time he missed due to injuries and the wiped out COVD MILB year had a further impact on his development. I think he could be added to the 40-man roster this offseason, as the FO sees how he can develop with more MILB reps.

You nailed it, and I think you hit the nail on the head with your analysis as well - Pending health, I think there's a strong probability that he'll be in the majors in 2024. If Ohtani does depart, this team has a huge LHH hole in the lineup, given Walsh's struggles and that Moniak's track record is obviously sparse at best. Schanuel seems like a high probability MOTO LHH that we can likely have in the lineup in less than a year from now, which fits the drafting style that Minasian has shown thus far.

Nobody wants to trade a superstar, but I suspect by now they probably have a pretty decent gauge on whether he intends to stay or not. If they feel he is indeed leaving, then I think you can still probably get 2 top 100 prospects for him in a trade. The Dodgers probably wouldn't part with Miller, but you can likely get their next best SP prospect, someone like Busch (who would probably immediately take Ohtani's DH role and can also play 1B/3B), and some other solid pieces as well. Not "fair' value, but several MLB-ready prospects is certainly better than a draft pick.

I think, so far, Minasian seems to be pretty good at building the organization on the whole. I know people are generally disappointed that this team didn't become a contender overnight, and likely Ohtani will be departing, but it seems that our minor league system has grown considerably more under Minasian than it has under his predecessors, and I think he (and the development team he has in place) has a pretty good eye for talent and developing players. We'll see how the rest of the draft pans out, but I agree that the 2022 draft seems to have been a rather good one thus far.

Perhaps. But they will clearly have a surplus of money to use in subsequent rounds, so they can use that surplus to take calculated shots. I think that Nolan is a high probability MLB player who will likely reach the MLB rather quickly (a la Neto), but I think this pick was also about having money available for future rounds as well.

This. It is hard to say how much of an emphasis Ohtani places on a variety of factors. Anecdotally, it seems that by far, his #1 preference is to play for a team who is winning consistently. Even if we went on a tear, made the playoffs, and got eliminated in the first round - would that be enough to convince Ohtani to stay? I don't know - I suspect not, given that this team has largely been a non-contender for quite a few years now. As much as I'd like to think that Ohtani would stay, I feel that by far the most likely outcome is he signs with the Dodgers, given that they are a west coast team (believed to be a strong preference of his when he first came over) and are a perennial contender. If the FO believes Ohtani is going to leave, then they really need to go ahead and trade him, because they can likely still get some rather good prospects in return for him, as opposed to letting him leave for just a draft pick.

As others have referenced on here, this likely will need to be looked at through the lens of an entire draft. This is rather clearly an underslot situation, which means the FO in turn will have more money to spend in later rounds, which means they can "take a shot" on guys later in the draft as well.

I think Minasian’s strategy has been fairly clear in terms of prioritizing players that will find their way to the majors fairly quickly. This team needs LHH, especially if this is Ohtani’s last season here.

I do think what I like about the Syndergaard / Moniak trade is that I think Minasian has a fairly good eye in terms of finding value. Moniak will not be a star, but I do think he has improved in the time he's been with our organization and has become a rather useful role player. A strong side platoon guy is a useful piece. His BABIP suggests that what we have seen is unsustainable (as well as the poor BB/K ratio that you have referenced), but I do think Minasian has done a good job of finding useful complementary players to help "raise the floor" for our team, so to speak.