TNAngelsFan71

Percival as the pitching coach? That would bring some grit to the staff. Would still like to see Salmon as a coach not just a spring training instructor. Nostalgia? Yeah, but I think they have a lot to offer as coaches.

I also see Atlanta as a good fit for him if SF doesn't make him a career Giant. I just think he may be someone to keep an eye on if his market is slow. Cole is obviously the first choice and the best fit for the Angels pitching wise in a long while. It's been nice to have a bit of a debate on this with both sides having some compelling views and it not becoming a group snark fest.

I would still have to take him at his step back level... 1.13WHIP..... Cole has a .89WHIP and he could/should be the AL CY Young award winner this year. As a side note... Cole did not face the Astros beast of a lineup where Bumgarner faced the dodgers multiple times I believe. I may be willing to pay a bit more for him if he can pass on some grit to these kids the Angels have on the edges of the Show.

You posted that as I was typing mine out. lol

I could be way off base here but I think Bumgarner may get under valued this off season. He may get a 4 -5 year deal (4 more likely than 5). I think clubs will look at 6 or so pitchers before him. He is only a year older than Cole and after a 4 year deal would still be a year younger than Hammels is now and his WHIP of 1.13 and K/BB 4.72 and 207.2 IP are still really solid.

So what is your projection for Yrs/$$$ for Bumgarner and Hamels?

A declining Bumgarner was still pretty good last year.... possible to get him on 2-3 year deal ?

Assuming the Angels want to go big after signing Maddon …. What do you think it would cost for Cole and MadBum? Could we spend some prospect resources to get a SP by trade as well and really have a killer rotation?

I second that.

We need starters that are not afraid to attack the strike zone. Every one of our starters seemed to nibble especially once ahead in the count. Is that a reflection of the pitching coach? the philosophy as put forth by Eppler / Ausmus? or just pitchers not being allowed to trust their stuff and seeing what happens? I miss the attitude pitchers like Percival had of here's my best pitch … hit it if you can.... if you do I tip my cap, if you don't go have a seat.

I would love to see the following happen... Sign Cole ---- 212.1 IP 13.82 K/9 best fit I have seen for this club pitching wise in a long time. Sign MadBum ---- 207.2 IP 8.80 K/9 the man is a bulldog and will hopefully be able to pass some of that on to the kids. Trade for Ray---- 174.1 IP 12.13 K/9 (Trade some combination of our infield depth and MiLB pitching or Barria / Suarez) Ohtani ---- expect 100 IP 10.97 K/9 in 2018 Heaney ---- 180 IP in 2018 11.14 K/9 Canning ---- expect 100 IP 9.56 K/9 (I expect him to take a step forward this season... he was looking really good till Skaggs passing) and sign Grandal to fill the void at catcher.

Maybe Upton stubs his toe again and Walsh bats .450 and they move Trout to left. I've seen stranger things happen with this club.

I would like to see this same graphic with a side by side of the angels opening day and end of season payrolls for comparison if anyone out there has that info.

Here is my hope for the rotation. Sign Cole (best fit for us on the market in years), Yes he will be pricey. Sign MadBum (the man is a bulldog and can teach that to our young pitchers). Yes he will be pricey as well. Make a trade for Ray (it will cost some of our depth but I would not touch Adell or Marsh. I expect we could see both Adell and Marsh up and productive by midseason.). That would give us a rotation of Cole, MadBum, Ohtani, Ray, Heaney, and the kids (Canning, Sandoval, etc). That rotation would compete with any team in the league. I also would say we need to pony up Arte's money and pay for Grandal.

I think the OF prospects we have coming up fairly quickly will out perform Goodwin in short order. Calhoun (while I love his play) is almost assuredly not having his 14M option picked up and Lucroy is not in the plan beyond this season. If we can acquire virtually any SP with control beyond this year that can win 4-5 starts from here on out is a huge addition to winning this year and beyond.

I see we are thinking along the same lines here. lol

You sell off the assets that are not in the long term plans.... Lucroy, Goodwin, some of the AAA middle IF depth, possibly Calhoun ( kind of hesitant on this one)…. and target players that can help both short and long term by either being controllable beyond this season or by being added to the pot to go after the SP we need so desperately. I would have zero issues trading Goodwin and Lucroy to get a player that can be added to a deal to get Ray/Greinke, Boyd, etc.

I have seen much worse Angel rotations than what a Greinke, Otani, Bumgarner, Heaney, Canning, Suarez rotation would look like.

Will we need him after that year of control? With the young arms we have coming up that should(could) be ready for the 2021 season would we need that level of pitching per cost or be better served then to have the kids step in. Would Az go for a A+ level package that would give them more depth with good upside?

I see something in his stuff/starts that tells me there is more still to come with the right coaching. Based on this years staff I would be fairly happy with 5.5 good innings per start.

It looks like the market may be heating up for Robbie Ray. How well do we match up with the D-Backs on this? We have a history of working well with this organization on trades anything else we could pair up with it?

Not that I think this is either the way to go or the best choice and I really don't want to give up a pick especially to Houston, but... at what dollar amount and time frame would an offer to Keuchel be something the Angels would pull the trigger on? He has a history of eating innings which it seems we have a full buffet of now and he has a history with our new pitching coach. Is there a value play to be had here?

I think the A's did it with Ricky Henderson as well back in the 80's - 90's.

McCutchen 2/24M -- use Calhoun as 4th OF and platoon at 1B/Pujols Donaldson 1/15M -- Cozart/ Fletcher are 2B and Util... let Ward get the time in AAA and use as needed. Maldonado 2/8M -- Go after Realmuto when he hits FA in 2 yrs. Kikuchi 6/42M Richards 1/at league min w/player option at 10M Kikuchi/Heaney/Skaggs/Barria/Canning -- nontender Shoemaker, Bedrosian and Tropeano (saves estimated 7.4M arb costs) so AAV's of 12 + 15 + 4 + 7 = 38 M - 7.4 = 30.6M 1. McCutchen - RF 2. Trout - CF 3. Otani - DH 4. Donaldson - 3B 5. Upton - LF 6. Simmons - SS 7. Pujols/Calhoun -1B 8. Cozart/Fletcher - 2B 9. Maldonado - C

I agree on McCutchen... at the right price... he would loose a bit on the HR side playing in Anaheim but batting in front of Trout will get him nice pitches to hit. Use Calhoun as the 4th outfielder and lefty option at 1B to spell Pujols this last year of his contract and next year one (or more) of the kids will be ready for the role.