BTH

No he didn't. The games he played in were because he was called up from minor league camp. He was never invited to Spring Training. Here's the list from last year, as reference:

Like you mentioned in the other thread, it's very likely that it's because he got a NRI. While other things are possible, that seems the most reasonable.

oooh, that's a really good call. That's probably it. This is around the time when he'd find out, and it would be his first year as a NRI.

I mean, that'd be kind of insane and a huge blow to the Angels. I don't recall a high-profile prospect switching professional sports after playing a couple years professionally.

I'd imagine it's to create long-term payroll flexibility. Minasian comes from Atlanta, where they've loved to do that under AA.

NYY has a ton of injury questions with Severino, Kluber, and Taillon all coming back from injuries and Severino not starting the season on time. Outside of Ryu, TOR's rotation isn't that scary unless Pearson puts it all together. Outside of Glasnow, TB's rotation isn't that scary unless Patino puts it all together or Archer rebounds to his Tampa-level. MIN is good, but if Maeda isn't as good as he was in 2020, their rotation is less scary. CWS and CLE are obviously very good. BOS also has a ton of injury questions with their rotation, and Sale isn't even going to start the season on time. Montas was bad last season and Puk has major injury issues. HOU is good, but they could face regression from their young guys, Greinke is getting old, and McCullers had injury risk.

Probably because of the Maddon tie-in. There's no harm in claiming him now. They have the space and if they run out of space, they can just DFA him and see if he slips through waivers and then they can outright him to AAA.

He's an advisor for the White Sox. I believe La Russa wanted Duncan to be his pitching coach, as he was his pitching coach in OAK and STL, but Duncan didn't want to, I believe.

Yeah, and I think the easiest way would be through an addition in the outfield. An addition there covers RF until one of Adell or Marsh is ready and also provides insurance for Upton in LF.

I'd hope they're not done, although they might be. I'd think Barreto has the leg up Rengifo for the utility job since Barreto is out of options. I think they really could go a number of ways for the 4th OF'er. Way too early to predict it, as they have lots of options. Such as moving Walsh or Fletcher to RF at times. Same thing with the bullpen. Too early, and I'd also hope they make an addition or two. If Thaiss hits, they'll find a place for him. Either at 1B with Walsh in RF or at 2B or LF.

Man, that tweet is very puzzling. Both his dad and someone else said "congrats" to him. What are they congratulating him on?

Hmm. Not really sure what he means by that.

I wonder if the Callaway thing has had an impact on this. Whether it's because the Angels want to wait on announcing it because of the Callaway story or because MLB is too busy investigating Callaway to approve the Cobb deal. Also, MLB just had to approve the Arenado deal yesterday so the league office has been busy lately.

We should hopefully get a better idea once the trade is official and Minasian has a conference call with reporters to discuss the move. That should provide more clarity on what they think of Cobb and whether they believe they can get more out of him.

Time is a major factor in this, as ST is scheduled to start very soon. That's why Matt Wise may be the logical option since, as bullpen coach, he's been in communication with Angels pitchers throughout the offseason. I wouldn't be surprised to see Wise as pitching coach and Buddy Carlyle as bullpen coach.

One somewhat outside the box idea would be Dominic Chiti, who Perry Minasian brought in as a Special Assistant. Chiti was a bullpen coach for three major league teams in the past. Perhaps they just promote Matt Wise to pitching coach and move Chiti to bullpen coach.

I think that's a tough transition for him to make. Especially since ST literally starts in like two weeks.

I know. But that was also a different regime. It's probably going to be Maddon's hire, and Butcher has been Maddon's pitching coach before, so I'd assume he's an option.

Cuevas has been praised by Jaime Barria in the past, FWIW.

Obviously the Callaway situation has bigger implications and issues than this, but it will be something the Angels need to address. Perhaps they just promote Matt Wise, who is the bullpen coach. Another avenue could be Mike Butcher, who has a relationship with Joe Maddon and was rumored to be in the mix for the job previously. Regardless of who it is, they really need to vet the new PC and any future employees. What happened is unacceptable.

Good perspective on that deal in relation to this. I think that Jones' value may be lower than a 40+, but that's just speculation on my part. FanGraphs hasn't released their updated Angels 2021 prospect list, so we'll have to see. I'd also assume that the Angels internal projection system sees Cobb providing more than 0.8 fWAR.

Well, we still haven't seen the entirety of the trade and don't have all the details. We don't know for sure that it's just Cobb for Jones. We also don't know exactly how much money the Orioles are paying down. Also, it's possible that Perry Minasian is very smart and is actually smarter than the rest of us. Maybe they see something in Cobb that we don't. I'm not saying it's particularly likely, but he has a GM job and we don't so he's done something right.

Axisa is just a sportswriter. I wouldn't expect him to have any inside info. David Samson was the President for the Marlins from 2002-2017.

Not necessarily. Canning and Sandoval do have options, while Barria could be put in the bullpen. Also, there's no guarantee that the Angels make it through ST with all their starters healthy. Another aspect is COVID. Someone could report to camp and be forced to wait and join the team until they are fully clear, like numerous Angels were last season. Off the top of my head, Walsh, Thaiss, Sandoval, Rengifo, and Teheran were among those whose start to camp was delayed because they weren't fully clear. If one of those starters had to wait an extra 2-3 weeks to be fully cleared, that could mess up their availability for opening day.

Yeah, I could totally see this being the case. We should have a better idea once we know the amount of cash that Baltimore is sending and when the deal is officially announced. If they're only paying a minimal amount of Cobb's contract, then it's more reasonable that there's another SP move coming.