BTH

It will be interesting to see who replaces him. I hope they try and go with an up-and-comer who can be a long-term option. Like how the Dodgers went with Joe Davis once Vin Scully retired.

Considering that the Angels seem to always disappoint us, I think the most likely move is that they move Terry Smith to TV PBP and have Jose Mota (or maybe Trent Rush) take over as Radio PBP.
I'd prefer that they bring in someone new to replace Victor. I'd first try to poach some of the top up guys like Brian Anderson and Joe Davis, but I doubt that happens.
After that, I would then turn to guys like Aaron Goldsmith in Seattle who have a part time gig, but not a full 162 game schedule. Those people might be attainable because they'd be the #1 guy instead of the backup/fill-in guy.
If that goes nowhere, I think you then turn to former full time PBP guys who don't currently have full time PBP gigs. Such as Mario Impemba, Matt Vasgersian, and Rich Waltz.

Yeah, Jays or Mets would be the best case scenario if the Angels don't sign him. Might be the best regardless. 

Even if the Angels don't sign Sugano, it's probably in their best interest that Sugano signs with an MLB team because that would help eliminate a rotation need for another team.

Even if the Angels don't sign Sugano, it's probably in their best interest that Sugano signs with an MLB team because that would help eliminate a rotation need for another team.

I for sure would be if one or two of those starters was acquired via trade. It would make very little sense to trade prospects for a starter on a one year deal.
If they were both free agents, I wouldn't be as upset, but I'd still be concerned. That would leave you with 4 starters scheduled to hit free agency after the season.

That could be so but what @Second Basemakes sense. Keep in mind the Angels are as quiet as can be and we only hear about them when the actual player signs. 
All the buzz has been for the Mets, Blue Jays, Red Sox and so on. Not a peep about the Angels other than the fact that we need pitching which means we're in the rumor for him. 
I think he'd be stupid to not sign this year. He'll be 32 next year and who knows if he gets hurt or regresses with stats. His value is high now.
If reports are true that he's in So-Cal then it's 2 options. 
A: Hopping on ANA to go back to Japan 
B: Finalizing deal tonight with Angels, pending physical (tomorrow), to then make official Thursday. 

My guess is Sugano knows what he wants at this point. The media will find out soon enough. Probably by this time tomorrow at the latest.

I'm starting to get my hopes up, which means the Angels aren't gonna sign him because that's the way it seems to work.

I'm starting to get my hopes up, which means the Angels aren't gonna sign him because that's the way it seems to work.

Very true. I wonder if Sugano fits in their budget with the recent report of offering George Springer a fat contract.

Maybe I'm wrong, I just have a hard time picturing the FA climate being more favorable to a 32 year old with high miles on his arm than a 31 year old. I think it's also making an assumption that owners will be more willing to spend, and early reports on the vaccine and a different strand of the virus aren't the most promising.
Him returning to Japan for a greater contract next year would be banking on him not only performing at an elite level again, not getting injured and the world in general improving.

good point - when that trade was announced - I thought it was a good one for us -- was not that excited about Joe Peterson who strikes out a lot but the rotation guy - Stripling - I thought was better than the guys we had (and he was). Now Stripling has been exiled to Toronto.  I still fail to understand why an impatient Arte let that good deal for the Halos go by the wayside just because he got impatient. I think the Dodgers were trying to clear some salary space with other deals and that's why the trade took some time -- but when the deal is in your favor you can wait all day IMO. I've long been a fan of Arte's but that move made ZERO sense to me. Stripling probably would have won 10-12 games for us. Better than our fourth /fifth rotation guys - heck Strpling IMO would have been a third starter day one and may have gone up from there.Oh well, Water under the bridge.....

YES. The Angels have to make the playoffs in 2021.
The fact that they haven't been to the playoffs since 2014 and have only been once since 2009 is pathetic. It only gets more pathetic with the fact that they've had the best player in baseball since 2012 and that their payroll is always in the upper echelon.

Yes, this is probably it, although it may be less about the size of the drop-off as the number of very good starters available. If I were to rank the free agent starters from the last two years, I'd order them like so, with 2020 in bold:
Cole
Bauer
Wheeler
Ryu
Tanaka
Sugano
Bumgarner
Odorizzi
Keuchel
Quintana
Paxton
Walker
etc.
I think the early departures of Stroman and Gausman, two pitchers that the Angels seemed interested in, also is a factor. Morton, too. Stroman was probably as desireable as Ryu or Tanaka, Gausman and Morton just a bit below.

I'd also like to see one or two of those type guys as well. Typically, the time to add those types is after the season when teams are clearing out their 40-man roster, but the Angels didn't have a GM in place so that's likely why they weren't active in that area at the time.
Once the free agent market gets fully moving, team's 40-man rosters will get full and more of those "Eppler specials" will become available.

I think the Angels still need to add at least 1-2 more quality bullpen arms.
Last season, it seemed like they had a solid back-end with Robles, Buttrey, Middleton, and Bedrosian. Then Bedrosian got hurt and the other 3 collapsed. There's a strength in numbers, and I think the Angels still lack numbers. If you have 6 quality bullpen arms and 3 regress but 1-2 show improvement (like Mayers and Peña did last season), you are still in decent shape.

I voted for mid-February. I really think he's going to drag it out as much as possible, but I do think he's going to want to be able to sign knowing that he can have a full spring training. He seems like the type of player who values the spring training prep time. If the season/spring training gets delayed a bit, that makes it easier for him to wait longer till he signs. Dragging the process out allows him to milk out the experience more and gives him more attention. For example, he may drag it out to the point where he's the only top free agent left. That would give him the sole spotlight, which he enjoys.

the one thing we don't really know is if the Angels will continue to be as aggressive with promotions as they were under Eppler.  Considering how the Angels were probably of the most aggressive teams in baseball, they probably won't.  
I not arguing for it one way or another frankly.  I think it could easily end up exactly how you mentioned.  Maybe with fewer levels to conquer there will be a slower roll on promotions going forward.   There's definitely going to be some strategy employed by various teams in anticipation of how the new minor league system is going to work along with fewer drafted players.  Who knows.  

Hopefully there is a full minor league season so that we can see how it plays out.

I think the players who were at the alternate site have a greater chance of skipping levels. Martinez wasn't among those at the alternate site, so it's hard for me to see him skipping a level. For someone like Rodriguez, skipping a level seems more likely because he was facing AAA/MLB caliber players at the alternate site.

In English, please.

I totally agree with you all that Ohtani isn't in a place to be making those kind of requests. The Angels should be in on Sugano, but I haven't seen any reports linking them to him. Maybe they are just keeping things under wraps.

I think the Angels still need to add at least 1-2 more quality bullpen arms.
Last season, it seemed like they had a solid back-end with Robles, Buttrey, Middleton, and Bedrosian. Then Bedrosian got hurt and the other 3 collapsed. There's a strength in numbers, and I think the Angels still lack numbers. If you have 6 quality bullpen arms and 3 regress but 1-2 show improvement (like Mayers and Peña did last season), you are still in decent shape.

Why are you just making up information? 
You literally said 40 minutes ago that he "Has meetings with Angels." Then you just backtrack it.
The way you word your posts makes it sound like you know things for a fact and then you just say "who knows."