BTH

@Jeff Fletcher Anything more on this you can elaborate on? I know Cultice is in and Rowen is out. Not sure if Hinchcliffe worked with the game-planning staff, but he’s also out. Any other changes?

You probably could. You and Jon Morosi both yap about hundreds of players.

If they want Cody Bellinger, signing Aaron Hicks for the league minimum won't prevent them from doing so. Whether or not the Angels sign Bellinger (or any other top free agent) is totally dependent on Arte.

Unless the Angels add two more MLB position players, they have room to carry 5 outfielders on the active roster. So, at the moment, I don’t think this move means a trade is incoming. Moniak/Hicks platoon and Adell is stashed on the bench until someone inevitably gets hurt.

He can— and if I’m wrong, I’ll eat crow— but it doesn’t seem to be a priority or something that’ll happen.

He may not be done in general, but the catching market is pretty much picked through.

It’s kinda annoying how Perry cited a lack of a veteran catcher as a reason why the pitching was bad, then he trades away the one veteran catcher they have and doesn’t replace him. Like if you thought that was an issue, then why aren’t you fixing it? And why are you going out of your way to make the issue worse?

Duvall, Lorenzen, and Kiké. That feels underwhelming, but I’d rather underestimate and be wrong than overestimate and be wrong.

your post reads like they already signed Votto and they already said they'll use Schanuel in the outfield. Do you know something we don't?

They could also do way, way better than that.

I don’t think it’d be irresponsible, unless it prevents you from adding a more urgent need.

I don’t think Perry/Wash are into innings limits, even if they transition to a 5-man rotation. I think how deep they go will be purely performance based

I’d like another bat in addition to that. Give me two bats.

In that scenario, I’d rather leave him in AAA so he can stay stretched out and be SP depth. Remember, he was experiencing a velo drop in the pen. He seems better suited to starting.

lotta options still. I also wonder if Plesac could be an option, similar to Kolarek. Plesac doesn't have enough service time to reject an outright assignment and still keep the $1M, so they could likely just pass him through waivers and outright him like Kolarek.

Probably this. If Arte spends big, I think it'd be on Bellinger since his MO is to spend big on hitters.

Having Robertson and Robert Stephenson in the same bullpen would be confusing.

I feel like they might need to add someone who can play SS. Neto dealt with a few injuries and last year was his first full pro season + Rengifo isn’t great defensively at SS.

Yes. My bad.

He said “not rule out.” I mistyped it.

Yeah, they need another lefty. Not really a fan of any of the internal options (Ingram, Kolarek, Suarez). Anderson could end up there I guess if they add a SP. I think they want to keep Silseth in the rotation, whether in AAA or the majors. Sandy, Detmers, and Canning are locks, yes.

I wouldn’t go after Chapman, and I don’t think Perry will either. But I did list him because he is a free agent lefty who’ll land somewhere.

They’re not wrong, but let’s see how this season plays out. At least Stephenson has good stuff. If Stephenson is good and Anderson bounces back, things don’t look as bad. Clearly, the Angels pitching support staff didn’t help Anderson as much as the Dodgers did. Now working with Enright, I’m hopeful Anderson will be better. One thing Enright mentioned, and you can see it in the data, is that Anderson overexposed his changeup early in counts. With LA, he used his fastball to set up the changeup later in counts. With the Angels, he used the changeup more earlier in counts, chasing whiffs and overexposing the changeup. Same goes for using the changeup a lot early in the game and then not having an out pitch to use later in the game.

I think the Snell thing is dumb because, from the sounds of it, teams are all waiting for Snell’s price to drop. But then when it drops, all these teams are gonna come in, bid against each other, and raise his price back up. If you want the player, offer him the $180-$200M it’s gonna take and get him.