BTH

The Braves are already stacked in the OF for the future. In addition to Acuña, they have Pache and Waters.

It would be great on multiple levels if Bundy and Heaney could perform well in 2020. Not only because it would help the Angels in 2020, but also because it increases the chances the Angels could offer both of them the QO and receive draft compensation in return if they signed elsewhere.

If Minasian wins and the team is successful while he's GM, he's going to win over Moreno. It's as simple as that. Even though that foundation was built by other GM's before him, Arte will give him the credit for that. I'm sure his people skills will help, and it's good to hear that he is so highly thought of, but it's really going to come down to the success of the team in Arte's mind.

Yes, player development comes first and foremost in the minor leagues, but is it troubling that the Angels minor league teams haven't been successful in recent years? The lack of success may just stem from the fact that their minor league system was horrible, but it seems like a problem that Angels players coming up through the organization have no experience winning, even at the minor league level. Just for reference: An Angels AAA team hasn't made the playoffs since 2013. An Angels AA team hasn't made the playoffs since 2015. An Angels High-A team hasn't made the playoffs since 2014. An Angels Low-A team hasn't made the playoffs since 2014. An Angels Advanced Rookie team hasn't made the playoffs since 2017. An Angels AZL team hasn't made the playoffs since 2016.

Minasian has mentioned game-planning and defensive positioning as an avenue to improve the pitching, and Tamin seems to have been the Braves mastermind behind game-planning and defensive positioning. It seems like he's a great hire. Hopefully Maddon and the coaching staff will listen and implement what Tamin has in mind, because it sure seems like he knows what he's doing.

From a host of the Locked On Atlanta Braves podcast.

Yeah, I'd imagine he wouldn't hire another executive from Atlanta to be the other AGM. Maybe he hires someone who he was with in Toronto?

It will be interesting to see if the Angels do hire another AGM, and if it will be an external hire or an internal promotion. I think it'd be an internal promotion, but an outside hire would make sense since Minasian might just want to bring in another one of his own hires.

2/16 seems WAY too steep. I'm not guaranteeing him 2 years when he's going to be pitching at age 39. For me, if it's a one year deal to be a back-end starter for under $5 million, I think it's alright. It can't be their only move though.

I can see the logic in making one of those trades, but I don't see the logic in making both of those trades. The idea behind trading one of Marsh/Adell is you may only have room for 1. However, trading both of them would then leave you 1 outfielder short.

Lol. Perry's picking up his Atlanta guys.

I'm not that keen on signing him. It seemed like an Angels type move, which is why I predicted it, and they apparently already have interest in him.

I am also interested to see if Minasian makes any trades/waiver claims today. The Angels have two open 40-man roster spots and plenty of expendable guys on the 40-man roster, so they have that flexibility available if the right player is out there.

I was a little surprised that Naughton wasn't protected, but I don't think it's a big deal. Teams only add players if they think that the player has a good chance of getting taken in the R5 draft and staying on the other team's roster for the entire season. Since Minasian just came from another organization, he'd have a good idea of whether a team besides the Angels would pick a player and keep them on their roster for the whole season.

My prediction for what the Angels do: Non-tender Middleton, Ramirez, and Robles. MLB Deals: Tyler Flowers- 1/$4M, Enrique Hernandez- 2/$12M, JA Happ- 1/$6M, Shane Greene- 2/$12M. MiLB Deals: Scott Schebler, Joe Biagini, and Adam Morgan. Acquire Carlos Carrasco (12M) from CLE for Jordyn Adams, Luis Rengifo, and Jose Suarez. Lineup: Fletcher SS, Trout CF, Rendon 3B, Ohtani DH, Upton LF, Walsh 1B, Hernandez 2B, Ward RF, Flowers C. Bench: Stassi, Barreto, Schebler, Pujols. SP: Carrasco, Bundy, Heaney, Canning, Happ. RP: Greene, Mayers, Peña, Buttrey, Andriese, Biagini, Morgan, Barria

I'm hoping that he's leaving the organization via trade and the Angels can get something for him, but I can see how he'd have little to no value.

Teams will just have a rookie ball team at their spring training complex. In previous seasons, the Angels had 2 rookie ball teams: the Orem Owlz and the AZL Angels (who played at the Angels spring training complex). Now, they will just have the AZL Angels.

I'm very interested to see what the Angels do with Jose Suarez. He's in his last year of having options, which means he will need to be on the active roster or be DFA'd in 2022. He hasn't shown much of anything in the majors. Now might be the time to pull the plug on him, whether that's trading him or moving him to the bullpen. However, if I'm noticing that he only has 1 year left of options, surely other teams do, and that likely lowers his value.

Based on reading the tea leaves, I think we are starting to get a pretty good idea of who the Angels minor league teams will be going forward. Under MLB’s new format, there will only be 120 minor league teams. This will be 4 teams for all 30 franchises at AAA, AA, High-A, and Low-A. It seems like the Angels will retain having the Salt Lake Bees as their AAA affiliate and the Rocket City Trash Pandas as their AA affiliate. Their current High-A team, the Inland Empire 66ers, will likely become their Low-A team. This is because MLB is switching the California League (which the 66ers are part of) to the Low-A level. Their current Low-A team, the Burlington Bees, will likely be contracted. This means that the Angels will need likely need a new Low-A team. Rumor has it that the Northwest League will switch from the Rookie Level to the High-A level. If this is the case, I’d imagine that the 8 west teams (ARI/COL/LAA/LAD/OAK/SD/SF/SEA) will align with the 8 teams in the Northwest League (Boise/Eugene/Everett/Hillsboro/Salem-Keizer/Spokane/Tri-City/Vancouver). ARI is already with Hillsboro, COL is already with Boise, LAD will be with Spokane, SD is already with Tri-City, SF is already with Salem-Keizer, and SEA is already with Everett. That would leave two teams- Eugene and Vancouver- for two teams, the Angels and A’s. That means that the Angels High-A team will likely be either Eugene or Vancouver. TLDR: This is all just an educated guess, but rumors are starting to seep out, and it seems like the Angels MiLB affiliates will be: AAA: Salt Lake Bees. AA: Rocket City Trash Pandas High-A: Eugene Emeralds OR Vancouver Canadians. Low-A: Inland Empire 66ers.

Keynan regressed in 2020. Also in 2020, he started going after Angels fans on social media and was talking trash about them during the middle of the season when he was terrible. Also, the pandemic factors into how teams are evaluating what they pay players. A lot of players are going to get non-tendered so that there is a flood of free agents on the market and the players have to end up settling for league minimum or MiLB deals.

I have to imagine that Key's Twitter/social media comments got some attention from the organization. A number of fans were livid at him, and criticizing your fanbase isn't a good look, regardless of whether it's deserved or not (and in this case, I don't think it's deserved). Over 3 million Angels fans have showed up to the stadium to support the team for the past 17 straight seasons before 2020. Even when they were terrible from 2016-2019. Yet he still goes on social media and trashes the team's fans? He ended up deleting his twitter account, and I wonder if the Angels had input in that.

Often times, new GM's will end up bringing in players they were familiar with previously. Some guys with Atlanta/Toronto ties from when Minasian was with those organizations include: C- Tyler Flowers, Luke Maile*, Jeff Mathis, John Ryan Murphy*, Kurt Suzuki. 1B- Matt Adams*, Edwin Encarnacion, Eric Thames. 2B- Charlie Culberson*. 3B- Pablo Sandoval*. SS- Adeiny Hechavarria*. LF- Matt Joyce, Rafael Ortega*, Marcell Ozuna. CF- Billy Hamilton*, Kevin Pillar. RF- Nick Markakis, Scott Schebler*, Dwight Smith Jr*. SP- Brett Anderson, Jhoulys Chacin*, Mike Foltynewicz, Cole Hamels, JA Happ, Tommy Milone*, Aaron Sanchez, Anibal Sanchez, Julio Teheran. RP- Joe Biagini*, Jesse Chavez, Darren O'Day, Robbie Erlin*, Shane Greene, Liam Hendriks, Jeremy Jeffress, Aaron Loup, Mark Melancon, Chris Rusin*. *- probably minor-league deals

Chirinos is very interesting, but I doubt the Rays non-tender him. The only reason he's on the list is because he had TJ surgery and he plays for the Rays who are cheap. If anything, I'd imagine they trade him because he should have plenty of value. If the Rays do have him on the trade market, he's someone the Angels should pursue, despite the fact that he may be out for most of 2021.