BTH

I think fans aren't necessarily upset about not acquiring Musgrove, but upset that he is yet another quality starting pitcher that they've failed to acquire.
Fans have started to realize that the Angels likely aren't going to spend the money necessary to sign Bauer, and Musgrove was one of the options that was realistic since he isn't making a ton of money. Now, the options seem very limited and that has fans in an uproar because it seems like they will fail to adequately address their starting pitching need again.

I'm very skeptical that the Angels will actually be in on Bauer. It just seems like he's out of their price range. I'd be happy to be wrong though.

So "hoping that free agency works" is really the only option the Angels have right now then. The question is are they actually going to do that? Their payroll is already up there, and they're going to have to pay up to get the starters that they need.
The thing is, there are some starters out there on the free agent market, but it doesn't seem like they'll have enough money to get what they need.

I think fans aren't necessarily upset about not acquiring Musgrove, but upset that he is yet another quality starting pitcher that they've failed to acquire.
Fans have started to realize that the Angels likely aren't going to spend the money necessary to sign Bauer, and Musgrove was one of the options that was realistic since he isn't making a ton of money. Now, the options seem very limited and that has fans in an uproar because it seems like they will fail to adequately address their starting pitching need again.

Yeah, but they're reportedly going to be using him out of the pen and it was only for $3M. So I doubt it affects their presence in the Bauer market.

Ruiz is a good target, but it's just so hard to match up with the Dodgers in a trade. They are so deep in every area and their farm system is loaded.
The one area it seems they may need some work on is their bullpen, and the Angels need to work on their own bullpen themselves.

Right.  And, reasonably, I still think it means the same - we likely have enough payroll to fit two SPs - likely one via trade, such as Musgrove, Grey, or Castillo, and then another mid-tier FA SP.  Likely, Bauer is not in the cards here, unless Arte has decided he wants to significantly increase payroll.
Still - a trade for Musgrove and signing someone like Paxton/Odorizzi/Quintana/etc would give us a very solid rotation, with Bundy, Musgrove, Heaney, Paxton/Odorizzi/Quintana, Canning, Ohtani.  

And this is why Roster Resource is the site to use..

"According to league sources, longtime Yankee Masahiro Tanaka is seeking a one-year deal at $15-20 million."
 
That seems a bit rich for the Angels, but I could see the Angels going after Tanaka on a 1 year deal at a lower salary.

Would fit nicely, along with a trade for Musgrove or Gray.....

Cots is a little inaccurate. They listed Trout's non-prorated salary as 38.5M and Upton's non-prorated salary as $22.7M but neither is correct. Trout's non-prorated 2020 salary was $37.67M and Upton's was $21M. So that $184 million number is really ~$2.5 million lower.
Also, in regards to that $71.2M number, it seems like they didn't pro-rate all player's salaries by exactly 37% because the numbers for all the players are a little bit off and it all adds up. For example, 37% of Pujols' $29M salary is 10,730,000 but Cots lists it as 10,740,741. It seems to be that way for all players, such as Teheran, as 37% of his $9M salary is $3,300,000 but Cots lists it as $3,333,333.
Edit: Ok, I did the math. I don't know why Cots didn't pro-rate player salaries by exactly 37%, but if you actually pro-rate the Angels salaries by 37%, you get $181,482,703. Maybe there's a reason why they didn't pro-rate it by exactly 37%, but $181.5M is the actual number if the Angels salaries were pro-rated by 37%.

"According to league sources, longtime Yankee Masahiro Tanaka is seeking a one-year deal at $15-20 million."
 
That seems a bit rich for the Angels, but I could see the Angels going after Tanaka on a 1 year deal at a lower salary.

Your numbers are getting mixed up. The Angels luxury tax number last year was $191 million. Not real payroll. The luxury tax is just an AAV calculation.
Real payroll is what matters to Arte. Last year was ~$180 million real payroll. Currently this year is ~$165 million. So real payroll is ~$15 million short of last year. But Arte could increase payroll from last year. And you can backload FA contracts so the real payroll stays lower this year.
The luxury tax is just AAV though. So backloading doesn't matter. Actual payroll doesn't matter. It's the AAVs of the team added up. Last year, again, $191 million, but currently at ~$180 million luxury tax. The first threshold is $210 million, so the Angels are ~$30 million short of the luxury tax.
We have heard from Jeff in the past that Arte is willing to exceed the luxury tax, but operates based on actual payroll. So the Angels will likely add $15 million of real payroll, but the luxury tax number will depend on the AAVs.
My sample Bauer contract had $15 million salary in 2021 and $30 million AAV.

Where are you getting that $191 million number from? From everything I've seen, last year's payroll was ~$180 million, not $191 million.

Roster Resource seems to be the closest. Their numbers are accurate (aside from arbitration estimates) and include pre-arb estimates as well.
https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/angels
The hardest part to account for seems to be pre-arb estimates, and Roster Resource at least provides an explanation for how they come up with their pre-arb estimates:
The "estimated salaries for players not yet eligible for arbitration" figure (which is included in luxury tax and "actual" payroll) presumes that, when factoring DL time, each team will need to pay for 33 player-seasons over the course of the regular season. This number is calculated by subtracting the number of guaranteed and arbitration-year contracts from 33(the number of player-seasons) and then multiplying the number that remains (typically around 10-15) by the league minimum salary.

All Arte said was that the payroll was "not going down." He didn't say it was going up.

Roster Resource seems to be the closest. Their numbers are accurate (aside from arbitration estimates) and include pre-arb estimates as well.
https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/angels
The hardest part to account for seems to be pre-arb estimates, and Roster Resource at least provides an explanation for how they come up with their pre-arb estimates:
The "estimated salaries for players not yet eligible for arbitration" figure (which is included in luxury tax and "actual" payroll) presumes that, when factoring DL time, each team will need to pay for 33 player-seasons over the course of the regular season. This number is calculated by subtracting the number of guaranteed and arbitration-year contracts from 33(the number of player-seasons) and then multiplying the number that remains (typically around 10-15) by the league minimum salary.

I'd prepare to be disappointed if you think they're going to spend at least 30-40 million. There's a chance they could if Arte opens up his wallet more, but that $151 million number isn't accurate.

The "actual" payroll right now is around $165 million. That includes players with guaranteed salaries, arb-eligible players, and pre-arb players.
That $151 million number you got doesn't account for the estimated salaries for pre-arb players (which is a little under 11M) and Ohtani's arbitration number (which will be 2.5M or 3M.)

The problem is that the actual payroll is only $15-$20 million below what it was at last year (before salaries were pro-rated).
So unless Arte gives Minasian more money to work with, they are somewhat limited.

My point is that OF depth isn't a huge priority. Starting pitching is. 

I'm not sure that the Reds "need to unload Gray." It sounds like they are open to dealing him in the right deal and are listening to offers, but it doesn't sound like they NEED to trade him.
I also think there are more teams out there that still need and will still spend/acquire pitching. The Twins come to mind as one team. I'm not quite sure that they are going to get a discount.

From Jon Morosi: "The Angels are looking to sign a starting pitcher, but Bauer and the team’s pitching coach, Mickey Callaway, had noted philosophical differences while together on the Indians. Bauer and Callaway have communicated since Callaway left the team to manage the Mets, but it’s unclear if the two have reached a point where they are enthusiastic about working with one another again."
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-free-agent-market-after-dj-lemahieu-deal

Id assume they would steer closer to the durability rather than the skills. 

he hadn't signed when you started the thread