ThisismineScios

I've always heard that the "animosity" between team and player is overrated. But something to be said about agreeing to terms. Also, I wonder how properly rated the idea that trades will open up once salaries are settled is. We always hear that after arbitration numbers are settled teams will trade.

1. Denzer Guzman -- turns into a legitimate top 100 SS 2. David Calabrese -- came on late and could turn into a useful player 3. Jose Soriano -- he'll be in the MLB bullpen by the end of the year

It was pretty apparent as he made quite a few nice plays in the second half. Which makes it seem like there wasn't AS much energy devoted to it in that time as in the minors, perhaps. Also, major leaguers hit the ball harder and parks are bigger. He always had plus fielding potential and his arm was always plus plus. In fact, according to Statcast, the arm still was last year.

None of us should presume to know what Ohtani wants. Everyone thought they knew what Trout wanted, and all indications are they are wired similarly. Meaning we don't know what they will prioritize. With Trout, it was the "direction". Not the prospects for 2019. The direction of the franchise. And, mind you, he was actually wrong. The team was not built for success in 19, 20, 21, or 22. Billy was fired. I don't think Ohtani is going to look at Pablo Lopez, Carlos Correa, and Andrew Chafin and say, "DONE! Sign me up!" Likewise, I don't think he's going to watch us hit an exact number of wins and say, "We hit our mark! Sign me up!" He'll stay if he wants to stay and none of us know what exactly it is that will make him stay.

This is why I'm ok trading him. Either pair him and Rengifo to upgrade at SS or SP, or include prospects for a bigger deal. He's fine, but he's going to be an innings eater that has average numbers across that board. There's a lot of value in that, but we have a handful of guys coming up with higher ceilings than him.

There's a lot of smoke with them adding a starter and a reliever. Gubi, Vasgerian, and a lot of speculation. I wonder if they are truly content pursuing Archer, Wacha, or Ross (think Cueto goes somewhere else) or if they will bring in someone on a Cobb-like deal. I personally think you can lose Rengifo so long as you get something more valuable in return (SP, RP, 1B). Fletcher, Drury, Urshela could theoretically hold down the MIF. However, I think the only way we trade Rengifo is if we A) Bring a SS back and Fletcher becomes our super utility or B) we follow it up with a Andrus-type signing. I'm skeptical of these. Most likely we enter as is. One thing I've been wondering--don't the Angels and CWS line up pretty well for a trade? They really need a 2B and Rengifo is a good fit for them. They may or may not be happy with Hendriks contract, and also have Joe Kelly and Graveman. In order to make the money work more logically, what if it was Rengifo and Tepera for Hendriks? Get out of a year of Hendriks, get cheap years with Rengifo, and heck maybe they like Tepera still. It leaves us thin at SS, but if that was followed by a move for a different SS, is that reasonable?

I doubt he actually talked to every front office. But you can get info from agents and other teams--for instance, if someone from CLE "the Angels called about Ahmed Rosario" indicates to him they're looking for a SS. He's been beating the SS drum all offseason though--since his preview piece. I don't think Perry is convinced Fletcher and Rengifo are good enough, but there may not be a sensible option for them otherwise.

Adell's numbers are actually the worst against FB's, 4-seamers to be precise. This has always been his problem. He chases them out of the zone or is late on them--especially with 2 strikes. His put away % last year was far worse on 4SFB and Sinkers than any other pitch. Pitchers would just throw him a 2-strike FB and he would chase it. Don't get me wrong, he was bad in terms of whiff and K % against every pitch. But the FB seems to be his bugaboo. Last year he started swinging at the first pitch a lot less (42% in 2021, 28% in 2022). But his whiff % overall went up from '21 to '22. I (little league hero myself) believe he has very poor pitch recognition; perhaps Driveline could help him with that. Also...ask Mr. Trout? Mike has been getting hurt by FBs lately but is annihilating everything else. Wouldn't hurt to check in there to see how he handles that.

Seth Etherton Dallas McPherson Kendrys Bourjos. They moved Torii to RF for Bourjos and he just never took it and ran with it. Kaleb Cowart, our big 3B of the future (to be paired with Trout)

The problem with Davidson is his control. His slider is awesome, but he can't control it. He had an insane amount of BB last year. The FB would be fine if he could locate it really well. Without any movement, he's gotta paint the corners with it or stay up in the zone. Then finish with his slider. But his control sucks. Somebody mentioned he was going to Driveline. Where did we see that?

The Angels have the #1 OF WAR in the AL. Patrick Sandoval is an All-Star along with Trout, Ohtani, and Taylor Ward. The Angels make a "buy" move at the deadline for the first time since Upton.

I think the progress has been incremental. Last year, we signed 3 pitchers to multi-year contracts (no starters). This year, we signed a starter to a 3-year deal. Clearly more trust is being given to Perry--or Arte recognized that he wasn't going to be with the team long-term and allowed Perry to make all the decisions--save 1. I do think they are making a lot of these moves to convince Shohei there is a reason to stay. If the Angels win 88 games and grab a wild card spot, they will be just as much in the mix as other teams. In terms of ownership and the sale of the team, Arte's one rule is that he cannot be traded because as long as he is here (even if it's only 1 year), the revenue is very high. And new ownership will do everything in their power to keep him because duh. The thing I like about this is that it likely means spending, buying, and spending this year (once the sale goes through) to convince him. No doubt the new ownership group's 1st task will be to offer Shohei the world to keep him.

I'd love for them to add a high leverage guy via trade or FA. I think it's crucial. They are really missing a guy with a presence. I think those situations call for more than just stuff, you need a mentality also--not sure if Estevez has it. I actually feel really good about the middle part of the pen--guys like Loup, Tepera, Herget, Wantz, Barria, and Zack Weiss can get outs in the 5-6-7 perfectly fine. It's the 8th and 9th they need help with. I think one more guy, Estevez, C-Rod, and Quijada can handle those late innings/high leverage moments.

I think for a team in SD's position, a guy like Adell would be intriguing. He's a lotto ticket.

I like these options, but I think Perry could also take the Marsh route (I know there are differences, one sec). This guy may or may not figure it out, but someone out there values him enough to give up something. Instead of taking the chance he goes bust, find someone who is in love with his tools and get what you can before the value disappears. I do think there are differences--Marsh had a valuable skill in the present (defense) that Philly wanted. Also they clearly saw something in his swing, All that said, I really do believe there are ~ 5 clubs out there who believe Adell just needs a change of scenery, they can fix him, or that at 23 he has room to grow. It could be a change of scenery exchange (Ian Anderson, Nate Pearson, Sixto Sanchez?) or what might be considered selling low (Maeda, Carrasco (BILLY!), S Gray). However, I actually think if they really wanted to--or if they believe in Moniak--they could find a buyer. I really like Adell, so I'd like to keep him and watch him build some consistency. But I'd be willing to trade him also if someone offered something of value.

Adell, Rengifo, and more is a steep price for 2 years of Kim. There are at least 5-7 teams out there that think they can fix Adell and/or are fascinated by his tools. For all the poo pooing, he has absolutely elite Exit velo number and sprint speed. That's extremely rare to find. I personally believe he needs a change of scenery. But his value is not to the point of being a throw in to sweeten the pot to acquire a guy that is a 3-4 WAR player.

I think this might be a creep over the cap situation for the Angels. We've never seen it, so who knows. I think they get a cheap utility player with pop for 3 years. Who knows if they're interested--they'd probably prefer cheap pitching options considering Snell and Darvish's status.

I think Soriano is intriguing because of his velocity (mid-high 90s) and his wipeout curve. It's nasty. Here's an example of how the Angels feel about it: “You’re protecting a big arm,” Angels minor league pitching coordinator Buddy Carlyle said. “With that kind of fastball and breaking ball and feel, people aren’t scared to move guys up through the system. If somebody is throwing strikes with that kind of stuff, (a callup) could be any time." Sounds like they love his stuff. We know Perry loves guys with good stuff. With that curve and a slider they said they're working on, he could be a really good reliever. He's had two Tommy Johns, so there is no reason to try him as a starter anymore. Two TJ's...kind of like Eovaldi....

I mean you have to kick the tires on this. He is what we wish Fletcher was--elite defense, doesn't strike out, actually walks, has some gap power, is actually fast. And he's cheap for two years. That sounds to me like a perfect timeline to match up with potential SS prospects. You would include either Rengifo or Fletcher in the deal. If it cost Rengifo and Suarez, I would do it. SD is going to have to save some money soon for Machado, Soto, and replacing or re-signing Snell and Darvish.

Probably Lower on Suarez than most. I don’t see a ton of room to grow—velo, low swing and miss, works slowly. Andrus to me is some combination of Fletcher and Rengifo. Not a good one per se. But I’m worried about Fletchers bat or Rengifo’s glove in the lineup frequently. Fletcher is essentially our starting SS at this point. Agree I’d be happy if that was all too. Just being picky.

I think I'd prefer, at this point, to sign a pitcher in the $8-10 million range, hope to get 20 starts out of him, and look to see what Rengifo and Suarez can get me, as @Second Base said. I think the right team could really value those two--Suarez in particular has a lot of value as a 24 year-old LHP whose had some success already. With Rengifo, you just need to find the right team to bite. No reason you can't get a solid #3 pitcher for that. The perfect scenario for me is this: -Sign Wacha or Greinke (#5) -Trade Rengifo+Suarez for a quality arm (low end 3, high end 4) -Sign Andrus (Fletcher then covers 2B and SS) -Sign 2-3 OF guys to minors deals -Sign 1 major league reliever (Britton-Knebel-Fulmer) -Sign 2-3 RP to minors deals -Dump Loup or Tepera for PTBNL if you can I think this gets you to Seattle and maybe above.

My understanding with Davidson is that he's essentially a two-pitch pitcher and one of those (his FB) has no movement. He can't throw his plus slider for strikes. I'm sure the Angels wanted to teach him a Change, I'm not entirely sure it would make a difference. He's a bullpen option but not a good one I don't think. I think the next few guys off the 40-man are as follows: Marte Davidson Thaiss Stefanic Velazquez One guy I am intrigued by is Zack Weiss. He had crazy spin on his FB last year (91st percentile) and his whiff % on his slider was 47.5 % (right above Scherzer, Snell, McClanahan) albeit on very, very small samples. No way to know if it will translate to a larger workload, but the Angels need more guys with quality stuff. I hope they DFA these 5 above before him as they acquire players. Other things that stood out looking at this: -Canning's off-speed stuff is very good. His fastball is really bad. Hoping the year off allowed him to fix it and work on his change a bit. It's only 3-4 MPH behind his terrible FB -Barria misses bats at an extremely low rate, gets barreled a ton, and doesn't have good velocity or movement. He's pure depth, that's all. -Chris Rodriguez...man. I hope he's healthy.

Suarez could barely get out of the 4th inning until something clicked in August. I think he's fine, but I don't like the idea of him as our #5 and counting on him consistently. Him as #6 changes the quality of our rotation

Also thinking that having a guy like Barria pitch 4 innings paired with Canning pitching 3 might be an outside the box type of plan. However, this is 2020-2021 type thinking. I think to raise the floor, you turn the guys you were counting on into guys you don't have to count on. If Silseth knocks the door down, bring him up. If Canning shows good stuff, him. If C-Rod proves healthy (although I hope they just put him in the bullpen), same. But having one of those to rely on as your #6 is not wise. I really hope they bring in one more starter, but I'm much more concerned about the bullpen. They need to add a couple top end guys to have a viable pen.

I think is the main reason I would be very happy with Eovaldi. He's not an elite, ace-type pitcher. However he is a very solid SP with potential to be a solid 3/4. We shouldn't expect 2021 Eovaldi, but also keep in mind that was only a year ago. He's had some injuries (to say the least), but a 6-man rotation served our guys well last year. I think he'd benefit. Slot him behind Anderson and you've suddenly got a very, very good rotation with Detmers and Suarez at the back of it. Detmers, who showed a great stretch last year and real improvement, as our #5.