ThisismineScios

I was just looking at the names and they actually have a lot to choose from. It's not like they will have an elite bullpen, but I can see Slegers and Sandoval getting pushed out (like R Bollinger has). I think this is the best way to build a bullpen: bring in a bunch of guys with a lot of potential and keep the best. I am curious to see what Rivera and Reyes can do. Also around this time a lot of guys get DFA'd. This year there will be surprises because teams are being very cost conscious. I could see some big name guys get released or teams prefer adding a younger guy to the 40-man and looking to quickly trade a guy.

Yeah, I don't mean to say Trout is 34-year old Torii. Like I said I think he is very capable and hasn't quite showed signs of slowing down. But I think that Marsh will pass him in CF defense fairly soon. I share your feeling about Adams, but it seems he will be the odd man out.

Bullpens are not successfully built through FA. The Brewers have the two most dominant relievers in baseball, and they developed them both. They are built through reclamations, a bit of development, and taking some chances. Dodgers last year had a collection of trade/developed/project guys last year. Their big FA signing was Treinen, who had a negative WAR and was awful in the NLCS and WS. Tampa, 2nd best bullpen, was the same deal. No major FA signings. The point is not that they shouldn't have gone after a guy, but that bullpen construction is not a science. They could very well have a great bullpen this year with some of the unknown guys like Reyes, Rivera, Reed, Faria, etc.

I think he's capable of it as we haven't seen any noticeable decline in his athleticism. It's more positioning and timing. That said, I'd still like this to be his last year in CF. 30 seems like the right time for him to move to LF and Marsh to move to CF.

Nothing we predict has any sway over what actually happens. But being able to trade Upton and pick up even 80-90% of his salary only increase the amount of spending/flexibility for 2022. If he has a decent start to the year, I think they should try and find a Fowler type of deal with somebody that has an absolutely awful corner OF situation.

The best part is he mentions he's "very worried about what's to come between the PA and owners"...and this video, these quotes from a team CEO will be used in such negotiations to dismantle a ton of owner arguments.

Agree ^^^^^ Your interview with Maddon was awesome. I hope he learns Junior Guerra's first name at camp! Keep up the good work.

Oh, neat. 1. The rotation clocks in 6th in the AL, 11th in MLB in terms of WAR (not ERA). 2. Ohtani stays healthy all year. 120 IP, 3.70 ERA, 10 K/9; 20 HR, 75 RBI, .850 OPS. 3. Detmers sails through AA and skips AAA altogether, coming up first to do long relief in August. Rodriguez goes slowly, but comes up in September to the bullpen. 4. The Angels trade for a catcher in season. 5. The Angels trade for an Jon Gray for a playoff push, giving up Aaron Hernandez and Livan Soto. AW message boards go nuts about how much potential Soto had. 6. The Angels have a top 5 AL bullpen. 7. Walsh, Trout, Rendon, Upton, and Ohtani all hit 20+ HR 8. Brandon Marsh gets promoted first as Adell's K's are a little too high. He begins playing every other day. 9. Jordyn Adams turns a lot of heads and is a mid-season Top 100 prospect. 10. The Angels win the division.

It’s ok. Jerry DiPoto will fix it. Just give him 5 years and the freedom to do whatever he needs to do. Really though this is awful. Somehow managing to insult their two best prospects at once among a bevy of other disasters.

Ok I’m probably overstating it. It’s just been my perception from the way he handled the blisters and partial elbow tear. As well as his connection with Doug White. I remember several comments about knowing his body and him knowing what was best, not really seeking input. My point is I’m glad he allowed somebody like the people at Driveline to help him In addition, I think the way Eppler handled him was a combination of being protective and wanting to make Ohtani comfortable. Like keeping his same routine from Japan, not pushing him, etc. Maddon seems to have recognized how competitive he is and wants to challenge him to not hold back. Also I’m just an adult fan who thinks he knows what he’s talking about, so there’s that.

We can make fun of the Cobb mechanics/Driveline thing all we want, but Shohei doing this is a big deal. He's always been pretty set in his ways and stubborn about his mechanics. I've always felt they handled him with kid gloves and it caused him to be a little careless. He's a phenomenal athlete, but it hasn't always connected. Excited to see how his dedication to becoming great pays off.

Some of it is deferred, so the immediate cost is less. Either way, how can anyone not be more motivated playing for a playoff contender than a rebuilding team that has to play the Rays, Yankees, Sox, and Blue Jays 75 times a year?

When the pandemic hit, it’s pretty clear he didn’t continue his routine. He got hurt and his timing was way off all year.

You started this whole thing by saying people shouldn't be excited we have $70 million free because we have 10 spots to fill. The implication being we have to use $70 million (FA or trade) to fill 10 spots. Maybe that's not what you meant but that's what you said. I was simply saying it's not true.

A little confused by these facts. It's a "fact" that Walsh is already a bust and Stassi isn't the answer at catcher? It's a "fact" that only Griffin Canning is pitching in 2022? A "fact" that Ohtani, Detmers, Barria, Sandoval, Rodriguez, and Suarez will not be in the rotation, and therefore we have 4 spots to fill? You've stated these as fact, meaning it's a done deal. Where are the factual holes besides SS and 1-2 SP? It can't be fact if we don't know yet.

This is true except for the fact that it's not. They will have a gaping hole at SS. Possibly 1B if Walsh doesn't work out. It'd be nice to have a better catcher. So I'll give you 3 so far if Stassi plateaus and isn't the answer. 4 rotation spots? They have Ohtani, Sandoval, Barria, and Canning right now. They will spend the year evaluating Detmers, Suarez, and Rodriguez. So you project 7 possible candidates for your rotation next year. All 7 of them are young and have a really good chance to improve. Of course not all of them will, but all 7 of your candidates for 2022 (unlike Heaney, Quintana, Bundy, Cobb...Bauer, Odorizzi, Walker, Paxton, Happ, Lester, Ray, Minor, Morton, Smyly, or Richards) are young and likely to be better next year. You can afford to trade for improvements once your prospects reestablish their value this year. So you probably are looking at 1-2 spots to fill depending on what you want. Bullpen? You lose Igelsias and Claudio. You also have young guys who can possibly fill that role in 2022 like Rivera, Yan, or Reyes that should improve this year. They will likely easily replicate Claudio's production. So you have 1 spot to fill with Iglesias. Being generous you are looking at 6 spots to fill. That includes Walsh being a bust, Stassi not working out, and only 2-3 of the young starter taking a leap forward; meaning Ohtani can't pitch, Suarez stinks, Sandoval doesn't figure it out, and Rodriguez isn't ready ALL happening. Canning and Detmers are safe bets. We know what Barria is. If nobody else hits, then we still have 2-3 spots to fill.

I think we should not read anything into Ohtani's spring. I remember following his first major pitching exhibition against the Brewers scrubs, and he got shellacked. I thought he was going to be a dud. Turns out he doesn't really care about anything except getting himself where he knows he needs to be. As it should be in spring, but we're going to see similar scrutinization this spring.

There is optimism they will allow some fans in stadiums in CA by opening day according to Boob Nightengale. Which probably means they will ban fans the entire year. It's a State decision, unfortunately. If it was up to the city/county, they'd likely allow limited capacity. But the governor is going to do anything possible to make people happy the next few months so I could see him allowing it.

Trout will only be in CF a few more years if there is some clause in his contract that says they can't move him until he's 32. He's not good in CF now, sorry to say. You can check any defensive metrics you want, he's lost a step defensively. However, I think moving him to LF sooner rather than later would immediately make him a great LF. Marsh and Adams are both Gold Glove caliber CF, so it makes no sense to leave Trout there just because. Especially if you want to preserve him for as long as possible. There is 0 chance Marsh moves to 1B long-term when they can always put Walsh there, Thaiss there (agree with @Second Base about his beautiful swing) or even Ohtani if needed. 1B is a pretty easy position to learn. You would be wasting Marsh's incredible defensive ability by putting him at 1st. Adell's fielding tools were highly rated before last year's debacle. He was fine in AAA, and I think long-term he will play good RF defense. As for Ward, part of this is figuring out which guys you want to keep going forward. If Ward can play C, OF, and 1B/3B, he's incredibly valuable hitting league average (like he did last year) on a playoff roster. As for his catching ability, he has a canon and a good glove. It's more his ability to think the position at the major league level that didn't seem sustainable, as well as his ability to hit from the catching spot. As soon as they moved him his bat took off.

I wasn't big on Walker because I think some of his peripheral numbers (Whiff, K%, xERA, xBA, xwOBA, xSLG) were pretty bad last year. Teams were fighting over him because he's 28 and had a 2.70 ERA last year even though his xERA was 4.87. He will likely be not better than Quintana or Happ next year.

A and AA start on May 4th.

I actually think a lot of the writers unnecessarily phrased it as "topped out at 90". Not to say they were trying to mislead, but there are better ways to provide context. Like that Fletcher got Haren, Gubi and Braden to respond. Most fans know the first time your throw in Spring Training you don't care about your mph. And in the video he's clearly not working very hard. Also nobody would care if Gungho Joe hadn't gushed about him hitting 95.

And Slegers for 5 years of control and pennies. He is a solid 5th-6th reliever to add depth to the bullpen.

It's hilarious that anyone would think this is a bad thing. I've been on this train for years. Eppler's frame of reference was about Ward being THE man at catcher. No, defensively he cannot be that guy. But why not allow him to continue getting work there? He's not going to have a spot in the outfield after this year. Teams have also asked the Angels about Ward's catching abilities, being interested in trading for him if he were to have that option. It also does make him more valuable to include in a trade as an additional piece.

He actually started out asking for 4 years. Crazy. Passan said other teams had multi-year offers but he wanted "saves" and high AAV. Meaning he (and his agent) want to go into next offseason waving their Save numbers around to get teams to bite. Not as much flash/money for setup men who have 3 saves, 50 appearances, a 2-3 ERA, and 30 holds. Smart for him. He'll get 18 saves against the M's and Rangers alone. The A's are going to play in a lot of close games and don't have a closer. No way the Angels should have paid $11 million for him to setup--and I wanted him. Of course if they did, people on here would ask why they didn't spend $11 million on a starter. Sounds like they're still talking to Odorizzi and Walker, maybe also Greene and Jeffers. I don't think they'd sign another #5 guy, but Walker or Odorizzi slot in the middle and move guys like Cobb and Quintana down a spot.