BTH

I just checked out Yu Darvish's deal and although he's 34, it's very reasonable. He's owed $59 million over the next 3 seasons. $22M in 2021, $19M in 2022, and $18M in 2023. If the Cubs are open to dealing him, the Angels need to be all over this. Build a package around Adell or Marsh.

During Perry Minasian's press conference, it seemed apparent that addressing the defense is a priority, as he said: “With pitching comes run prevention. I think we can’t lose sight of that either. That entails defense. We have to play quality defense. We have to catch the ball. Game calling, game planning, positioning … all the things that entail run prevention, we’re going to attack.” The positions the Angels may look to shore up figure to be C, 2B/SS, and OF. With that in mind, here's a look at some of the top defensive players at those positions in 2020 that are free agents, per Fangraphs. C- Among all catchers, James McCann and Jeff Mathis tied for 4th in DRS. For "Def," Yadier Molina tied for 9th and James McCann was 12th. 2B- Among all second basemen, Enrique Hernandez tied for 1st in DRS, while Cesar Hernandez and Kolten Wong tied for 2nd in DRS. For "Def," Enrique Hernandez was 1st, Kolten Wong was 2nd, and Jonathan Schoop was 3rd. SS- Among all shortstops, Marcus Semien was 5th in "Def", while Gregorius was tied for 12th in "Def." OF- Among all outfielders, Jackie Bradley Jr and Michael Brantley tied for 12th in DRS. Among all right fielders, Kevin Pillar was 4th in "Def."

Yeah, they probably will do that. Though, they do need to fill out a roster at AAA and AA if there is a season.

It shows that they will be, as Billy Eppler liked to say, "opportunistic." I'm not sure that the Angels have a similar scenario to the Braves one with Donaldson this season, but going forward it's nice to know that he's just looking to get the best player out there.

I'm surprised Noe Ramirez wasn't listed as a candidate, especially since Anderson and Middleton were listed. Yes, Ramirez has been better than them, but he's also out of options and will be making more than either of them. I'm most interested in the decision of whether or not they tender Andriese a contract. He's projected to make a decent amount, which may be why they would move on from him, but he seemed to be one of Joe Maddon's most trusted relievers at the end of the season and he had a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings last season once he was exclusively pitching in short stints out of the bullpen.

I'm interested to see if Minasian stocks up on upper-level minor league free agents. The Angels only have 6 non-40 man roster position players in the entire organization who have played more than 10 games at or above AA. Even if some guys get promoted from High-A to AA and some people on the 40-man roster get sent down to AAA, they still need more players to fill out a roster.

One thing we didn't find out is whether or not all the coaches are returning next season. I'd expect most of them to return, but I do wonder if some of the coaches that were Eppler hires (Gallego/Reed/Feliciano/Sorrento) don't return.

Austin Barnes isn't a free agent

Same. When Eppler was hired, he brought in Martone from NYY to be his AGM and promoted Strangio internally to be the other AGM. So I wonder if Minasian follows the same path where he brings in his own executive as one AGM and promotes someone internally (Andrew Ball?) to be the other AGM. It actually seems like a decent strategy, since you have one AGM who you have been close with and one AGM who already knows the organization.

I hope we find out how much Arte is planning on spending at the Minasian introductory zoom conference on Tuesday.

If the Angels are going to use some of their money to get a middle infielder, they need to get someone that is proven and not use it on an unknown commodity. Kim could be good, but he could also flop. At that point, you might as well go with Barreto/Jones/Rengifo and use the money towards pitching since all those guys have the same boom/bust potential that Kim has.

Goodwin's gonna get non-tendered by Cincinatti. To get arm depth and a top 15 organizational prospect in Packy Naughton is a huge win, especially since the Angels would've non-tendered Goodwin as well. They could use an outfielder, but there are better options than Goodwin.

It's awesome that she got hired, but how can you say that the Angels may have "missed out" on her? What moves has she made in the last 24 hours since Minasian was hired as GM makes you think that the Angels missed out on her? The Angels hired the person they thought was best suited for their job, and the Marlins hired the person they thought was best suited for their job. Both haven't been on the job for more than a day. You can't say that the Angels may have "missed out" on her.

I'd say that, right now, the best are probably Chris Antonetti/Mike Chernoff with Cleveland, Andrew Friedman with Los Angeles, Derek Falvey/Thad Levine with Minnesota, Billy Beane/David Forst with Oakland, Brian Cashman with New York, and Matthew Silverman/Erik Neander with Tampa Bay.

Antonetti and Neander and at the top of the baseball operations department for their respective teams, so I think it's fair for them to decline the Angels request to interview them. However, David Forst is only the A's GM. Unless Beane is truly leaving and they are elevating Forst to PBO, I think it's an classless move by the A's.

who said that?

Apparently Arte Moreno was on The Sports Lodge on AM830 this afternoon. Did anyone hear this interview and know what Arte said? https://twitter.com/TheSportsLodge/status/1326295203825688576?s=20

Do y'all think Noe Ramirez gets nontendered? He's projected to make 1M-1.2M in arbitration. In 21 innings this season, his ERA was 3.00, but his FIP was 4.52 and his xFIP was 5.49. His K/9 went from 10.51 to 6.00 and his BB/9 went from 2.66 to 3.86. Also, his fastball velocity went down 0.4 mph, his changeup velocity went down 0.8 mph, and his curveball velocity went down 0.9 mph as he enters his age 31 season.

LaCava makes tons of sense. I would say he is the favorite except for the fact that he hasn't been confirmed as a candidate for the job. (I know he's been speculated about, but he isn't among the 14 confirmed interviewees.) If he was one of the candidates that they interviewed, he is likely one of the most likely candidates because of the reasons you said.

I hope we get confirmation on the three candidates, but I'm skeptical as to whether we find out.

My guess for the 3 candidates is Michael Hill, Jared Porter, and Jason McLeod. EDIT: and I predict that Porter ends up getting the job.

Switching gears, I wonder if it's been so quiet of late on the GM search front because the Angels have little-to-no people who could be sources for reporters. Information was leaking about the search before Oct. 31, then Strangio and Martone (the two AGM's) moved on and it's been quiet ever since.

If you can find one person that does both well, then yes, just hire one. But if they can't find someone who can do both, that's the next best option.

Lead the baseball operations department. One benefit of having both a PBO and GM is that they can supplement each other in areas where the other lacks knowledge/experience. One guy can be an analytical guy, while the other could be a traditional scouting/player development guy.

If the Angels are left without quality starting pitching options, they need to pivot to another plan. The optimal plan to pivot to would seem to be strengthening the bullpen so that you only need 5 innings out of your starters. If the Angels went out and signed 2 top tier relievers and added 1-2 more mid-relief relivers, they could join Mayers, Pena, and Ramirez to form a quality bullpen.