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Non-tender Andriese and Robles. Get two above average starters, either via trade, free agency, or a combination. Sign an above average reliever. Sign 1-2 late-inning options for the bullpen. (There are gonna be a flood of guys bc of non-tenders, so they should come somewhat cheaply). Try to shore up the rotation depth, bullpen depth, and bench depth. Maybe flip guys like Buttrey, Middleton, Suarez, and Jones for more proven options. Wait out the market for a cheap platoon C. Wait out the market for a cheap 2B/SS option.

Just quickly looking at it, if the Angels carry 13 pitchers next season, the Angels figure to have 7 playoff team caliber pitchers in Bundy, Heaney, Canning, Bedrosian, Mayers, Pena, and Ramirez. They may not be at the top tier of a playoff team, but they'd be part of the middle/back end of the rotation and bullpen at least. That'd leave them needing 6 new pitchers at max. That number could decrease through internal improvements from guys who have been good before like Barria, Buttrey, Ohtani, and Middleton. I'd say a fair assessment is they need to add a combination of 3-4 quality pitche

No offense to Joel, but I think it's just his own ignorance. If you actually look at the Angels roster, you'd realize they don't need 6-8 pitchers, but I don't think he actually looked at it. He just knows the Angels need is pitching (as everyone knows) and exaggerated the number to make his point or didn't put the effort in to realize that wasn't the case.

Well, he wasn't throwing in the high 90's when he was drafted. From MLB Pipeline in 2016: "May threw in the low 80s as a sophomore but has added significant velocity as his 6-foot-6 frame has started to fill out. He dealt at 90-93 mph and reached 95 at the outset of his senior season."

I get the impression that Arte is just gonna interfere with baseball ops, and fans unfortunately have to accept that fact. That means he isn't gonna hire an experienced GM because those guys won't want to take a job where they get interfered with. It also means that the best person they can hire is someone who is good at scouting and player development. All of these guys seem to fit that mold. Arte's gonna call the shots on all the big free agent signings, and the GM will be left to make good scouting and development decisions, so they might as well get someone who excels in that ar

I actually think this news makes it less likely that they go with that model. I don't think it will be Dombrowski and one of these guys, but instead just one of these guys. As much as Arte may want Dombrowski, having input in baseball ops seems like a priority for Arte. Dombrowski isn't gonna take the job unless Arte stays away, and I don't think Arte is going to do that. So that means Arte will just hire another first time GM who Arte can interfere with.

The Angels definitely need to upgrade at 2B, but I wonder if they wait out the market to see who falls to them. With money being tight, there may be a lot non-tenders and there could be more options available at 2B than initially anticipated. Hernandez would be good, but they need to be careful with their allocation of resources. They can't be giving Hernandez a ton of money when pitching is the clear need.

Yeah. Josh Brynes from the Dodgers and Peter Bendix from the Rays seem like the top available candidates from those two teams.

Yeah, that seems to make a lot of sense. Appreciate your effort in trying to find whatever you can.

The Dodgers and Rays are two of the top teams to poach executives from, so maybe them still being in the playoffs is a main factor in the silence. If they are waiting until after the World Series to interview executives from those teams, then it makes sense why he haven't seen any names leaked.

I know Fletcher reported the other day that they aren't gonna hire someone until after the World Series, but it seems like we should be hearing about some people interviewing for the job. I haven't seen any reports of someone interviewing for the job or really anything at all. Are they just keeping it really close to the vest, or are they just taking the search really slowly?

I saw a White Sox writer suggest that this is just a front. The writer suggested that fans will be so upset with the idea of La Russa being the manager that they will be totally fine with Hinch or Cora when the White Sox hire them. I could see this being the case, because La Russa just doesn't make sense as a manager in this day and age.

Facts. It's SO QUIET. I've seen nothing. No mentions of interviews or even rumors. It's incredibly quiet.

The team that "wins the Winter Meetings" is never good the following season. I think at best Arte spends at a similar level to what he did this past season.