BTH

The problem with Walker is he's really only had 3 full seasons in his 8 years in the big leagues. Granted, he pitched all of last season but it was a shortened season. He's only made more than 12 starts 3 times in his career.

I think Pillar might get more than people think because he's the next best CF option on the FA market after Bradley Jr and at least 3 teams could use CF's: BOS, HOU, and NYM. But, I'd be thrilled with those moves if they did them to finish off the offseason, pending Odorizzi's contract.

I also think it's worth noting that almost all of the free agent pitchers who've signed so far have only signed one year deals. Only Mike Minor and Chris Flexen have gotten two year deals. Morton, Smyly, Kluber, Richards, Happ, Quintana, Ray, DeSclafani, Perez, Lester, Urena, Chatwood, Wacha, and Wood all got one year deals. I'd imagine teams are just offering Odorizzi, Paxton, and Tanaka one year deals. Paxton may actually want a one year deal so he can rebuild his value and hit the FA market again, but he likely wants a high AAV which would be why he hasn't signed yet.

I think those guys either want more AAV or another year or two on their contract and are waiting to sign until someone goes there. If not, they can always take the offer they have now, but they're probably hoping that teams will get desperate and meet that ask once the upper part of the market gets moving more. I think Bauer signing could help them, but I think one of the second tier arms signing and limiting team's options could have a greater impact.

Yeah I saw that. I looked through some of the FA starters who played for Maddon, and there are a few of them. (Anderson/Archer/Arrieta/Moore/Odorizzi) I haven't looked into it, but I'd assume there are also a number of relievers and outfielders who played for Maddon.

I'd love that as well. I think, to finish off the offseason, they add: - a mid-tier FA starter (Archer/Odorizzi/Paxton/Porcello/Tanaka/Walker) - 1-2 mid-tier relievers maybe one closer to the high-end and one closer to the low-end (Alvarez/Chafin/Clippard/Colome/Doolittle/O'Day/Hunter/Jeffress/Kela/Kintzler/McGee/Melancon/Petit/Rosenthal/Soria/Tepera/Watson/Wilson/Workman) - a defensive first OF who can back CF and split RF with Ward or Schebler (Almora Jr/DeShields/Dyson/Gamel/Goodwin/Marisnick/Maybin)

While a lefty would be nice, I think the quality of the reliever comes first and foremost. They need someone they can slot in behind Iglesias to be a setup guy along with everyone they already have. Ideally, they could get a lefty in the pen of good quality. Justin Wilson?

The only reason I question the Odorizzi fit is that until he actually does it, I'm not sure that Minasian wants to sign any mid-tier free agent to a multi-year deal. At least this offseason.

Yeah, I'd say most fans don't expect the Angels to sign Bauer. I think most expect them to go with a SP besides Bauer. I'm fine with them not signing Bauer, as long as they add another starter and continue to upgrade the bullpen.

Dipoto ain't trading with the Angels. Oakland isn't trading a starter to the Angels. Duffy's too expensive, contract wise. Hudson had TJ in late September. Not sure the Marlins will want to deal their pitchers and I doubt Arizona wants to deal Gallen. The only plausible names left from that list would be Newcomb and Lindblom, with Newcomb being likelier than Lindblom, who is mayyybbbbe average at best.

Yeah, I think this is the biggest thing. The availability of guys like Darvish, Musgrove, and Snell and the rumored availability of Castillo and Gray made fans, myself included, become enamored with one of those guys. In all likelihood, it was likely never a real focus for the Angels. I'm sure they checked in, but they just don't have the farm system other teams do.

Who do you all think will be the Angels new TV PBP guy? I think it'll either be Terry Smith or Jeff Levering.

I'm guessing Rosenthal's going to make significantly more than Hand. I'd say he's the top reliever on the market, now that Hendriks is off the market. He has elite stuff, while Hand's velocity has dropped recently. I'd be scared of McGee regressing. It just seems like it's hard for him to be so successful when he's throwing the same exact pitch 95% of the time. 19/20 times, he's throwing a four-seam fastball.

I hope/think that Arte knows that whoever they hire is essentially a face of Angels baseball. So I'd imagine he's going to be smart and try and get someone of real good quality.

After years of Eppler picking up many players on waivers, Minasian still hasn't picked up a single player on waivers this offseason.

I wonder if Minasian has begun pivoting to the plan where they add a couple average starters and try and really bulk up the bullpen. He already added Quintana, and the rumors of the Angels being interested in Brad Hand came out the next day. If you could add an averge starter and two high-leverage relievers, that'd be way better pitching than they've had in recent years.

Interesting point. I think it's something that may affect the baseball payroll in the long-term, but probably not in the short-term.

I dug deeper into Paxton's stats and data today and had the same thoughts. However, I'm significantly concerned about his velocity dip in 2020. 1. It's an indication he may not be fully healthy and 2. I think he needs that velocity in order to be as good as he has been in the past.

True

According to this story, Gary Thorne was let go by the Orioles. I wonder if he becomes an option for the Angels PBP job https://theathletic.com/2340440/2021/01/22/sources-masn-planning-major-programming-and-personnel-cuts-for-2021-season/

For me, I'd categorize it: 1. Syndergaard/Kershaw/Scherzer 2. Lynn/Greinke/Verlander 3. Gausman/Rodriguez/Stroman/Bundy/Davies/Heaney/Gray

Yeah, I'm not sure why it's taking so long. They have 40-man roster space, so that shouldn't be the issue. It's possible there could be an issue with the physical, or they may just be hashing some technicalities in the deal out. Or, perhaps Quintana's a bit delayed in getting to Anaheim for a physical.

I mean, Bauer is basically a hypocrite himself. He called out other people for using foreign substances to improve their spin rate and then his spin rate "randomly" spiked this season. It's pretty clear that he started using foreign substances as well.

The biggest problem with having Bauer pitch every 4 days is that you just don't know how that impacts his health. He claims that his own data and measurements say it would work and actually be beneficial, but we don't really know until someone does it. And it's gonna be hard for a team committing $100M+ to let him experiment with that.

I saw this tweet the other day. I haven't had the time to dig in and see if it's actually true, but if it is that might be a sign of the approach Minasian's going to take with the Angels since he worked for Anthopolous.