ettin

Is Marsh your half-brother?

Well here, you can at least look at the changes in wRC+ over the years: https://www.fangraphs.com/guts.aspx?type=pfh&season=2020&teamid=1 Not sure when the RF change was made, but looking at HR's, above, it seems like HR's have been steadily climbing since 2013 with a sharper jump in the 2017-2018 timeframe. This could be a combination of factors, too, with MLB messing with the ball composition, increased strikeouts (harder throwers, thus harder contact), etc.

I must be oozing with positivity this week. Yes the bartender took a knife and scraped the cream (Adell, Marsh) off the top of the Angels beer, but I think in 2-3 years we will be praising the development of guys like Vera, Bachman, Jackson, Paris, Quero, Guzman, Placencia, Seminaris, et al, I agree with Blarg that there is a lot of raw talent here and when you consider the Major League team has a more settled roster for the next couple of seasons, they will have that time to continue and/or finish developing to provide additional depth to the Major League club.

All joking aside, we may have had the big mushroom tip surgically removed by Major League playing time, but there are still a lot of prospects on the list with the "plus" sign attached and, yes, FanGraphs, I think rightfully, takes a more conservative approach as a lot of evaluators do, so I am personally not as down on this list as some may be.

According to FanGraphs, we have added length AND girth!

Ace, it was simply a comment about resource allocation. I clearly said at the beginning of that statement that re-signing Iglesias is a smart move. But when you spend resources (money and prospects) you invariably end up having to make a choice of where and why to spend it. At no point did I suggest it was a bad move, simply that the Angels will make a choice that could potentially leave one area, not as strong, and another stronger.

Update with Iglesias signing and Selman DFA: Approximately $10M left in open payroll with an approximate $10M margin reserve and assumption that Player Benefits are not included in an estimated Moreno payroll number of $190M team Actual Club Payroll. Enough for a trade, still, and/or a late offseason signing of a target of opportunity that did not sign pre-lockout. Notably that approximate open payroll could still land a frontline starter, in trade, such as Luis Castillo, Tyler Glasnow, Shane Bieber, Tyler Mahle, Sonny Gray, et. al., presuming the Angels matchup with one of those team in players/prospects.

Canning is young and still developing, I feel pretty confident he'll find his footing in the next year or so, he has good stuff.

In fact I did argue that we should trade for him, last year: Disregard the straight-up Rengifo for Mahle idea, but at the time Mahle hadn't really broken out quite yet, so it seemed more reasonable in that particular snapshot-in-time. EDIT: Notably I was right about that split-fingered pitch, it was his bread and butter in 2021.

Exhilaration!

And you know this how? I've found most of the posts I've seen from Stroman to be positive, so I am not sure which specific posts you think are "actionable" or deserve "consequences"?

I actually told @failos, but yeah I got burnt!

Quite possible Greg. I went higher simply because the tone coming out of the front office sounded more aggressive. Iglesias could very well be the last move the Angels make, possibly.

@Lou Of course you can presume what the actual payroll number is (I used $190M) and you can also make an assumption of how much, if any, the Angels will keep in reserve for in-season Trade Deadline moves (I used about $10M), which will leave X amount of $ for Minasian. By my reckoning this deal leaves us at about no more than $6-$7M with a $10M margin reserve under a $190M payroll number (also presuming that the $190M number does not include Player Benefits).

Thankfully there is a guideline:

There was an easy case that he could have made more, based on past FA relief signings for guys of his caliber, so the $14.5M AAV feels like a slight "hometown" discount because Raisel likely wanted to stay as originally reported by @Jeff Fletcher. Excellent deal for a reliever of his caliber and our bullpen now has real potential to be a weapon in 2022. Personally, I am happy with all of the moves to-date. If the Angels can squeeze another front-of-the-rotation type pitcher for no more than about $8M in a trade, they will have a tremendously successful offseason. As of now they have a good offseason in my humble opinion.

@Chuckster70 $58M over 4 years is a good deal for the team, too. Really happy to see this one go down!

Got that one in under the wire, FFS!

Oops! I'm not good at math. However, 60 years is even more reason to celebrate! New update with Lorenzen: Approximately $20M left to spend, give or take. EDIT: Adjusted after reporting shows Lorenzen making $6.75M.

Was Raisel Iglesias a One-Off, Elite Closer for the Angels? The Angels started the 2021 season with what could only be described as a questionable bullpen with two exceptions, in the form of Raisel Iglesias, an established, premium arm, and Chris Rodriguez, a young, promising prospect from the farm system. As the team limped past the Trade Deadline, the front office shook things up and made a series of promotions from the farm system to audition some new, young arms in anticipation of rebuilding the 2022 bullpen. Realistically, if Minasian focuses most of the available payroll and resources for one or more starting pitchers, a shortstop, etc., that will leave little left for relief help, thus relying heavily on that aforementioned bastion of young arms. The signing of Aaron Loup did not come without a cost, so barring a Moreno financial flex, it is quite possible the Angels front office may be done in this area, despite a potential desire to retain Raisel. Certainly, the Halos did extend Iglesias a Qualifying Offer, but he did not accept, increasing the likelihood he will play for another team in 2022. Also a Raisel extension would likely fall in the $15M-$18M per year range, maybe more, so allocating for this will be very burdensome on team payroll, unless Arte intercedes. Finding someone to replace Raisel will be made more difficult, because, although there is a fairly large pool of relievers available in free agency, there is a dearth of top-end talent to pick from this offseason. Minasian will be forced to either retain the increasingly expensive Iglesias or find a similar type of arm in trade, again (Loup was a good target!). In fact here is Raisel Iglesias’ Statcast player similarity for reference on how few pitchers there are that even come close in quality to the Angels reliever: Raisel Iglesias 2021 Statcast Player Similarity (R = .80) That is a trio of elite names. This fact may lead the Halos to seriously consider a contract, just on the principle of how good he is, but again, if he accepts, they will be pigeon-holed financially. If you branch out and look at Cole, Glasnow, and Kopech, the closest similarity of relievers you find are free agent Ryan Tepera and Rays reliever Diego Castillo, so if Moreno wants to significantly open the wallet, retaining Iglesias could, still, be a worthwhile and, as the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher reported, possibly mutual goal. If the Angels move on from Raisel, they will still need to acquire 1-2 more relievers this offseason, to build proper depth. Loup may be our new closer, but he could also be a set-up guy, too. Either way, he is a nice arm to add to the back-end of the bullpen Names that may be of real interest in a back-end role could include Ryan Tepera, Archie Bradley, Oliver Drake, Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Corey Knebel, Darren O’Day, Adam Ottavino, Trevor Rosenthal, Joakim Soria, Andrew Chafin, Brad Hand, and Kwang Hyun Kim, among a host of other candidates. Of course the trade market holds a vast number of names that the front office could focus on, including guys like Tim Mayza, Luis Medina, Shane Baz, Scott Barlow, Tanner Scott, Michael Fulmer, Richard Bleier, Scott Alexander, and Richard Rodriguez, among other potential targets. Adding Aaron Loup to the team's current internal options (40-man), yields the following, probable list of 2022 bullpen candidates: Aaron Loup Jaime Barria Jimmy Herget Jose Marte Mike Mayers Oliver Ortega Elvis Peguero Jose Quijada Chris Rodriguez (Injured, may return by end of 2022) Sam Selman Kyle Tyler Andrew Wantz Austin Warren That is a good group of arms, in principle, yet it still feels incomplete and could use another closer option. If Chris Rodriguez had not been injured it would have felt more “full”, perhaps even finished to a degree. Although the Halos probably want a top-tier closer, they may be priced out of that market, unless they go the trade route or, once again, Moreno opens the pocketbook. As it stands, this is probably our Opening Day 2022 bullpen (generally the team starts the year with eight relievers in order to stretch out the rotation): Aaron Loup Austin Warren Mike Mayers Jose Quijada Sam Selman Jose Marte Jimmy Herget Jaime Barria (Long relief) On paper that is a fairly solid relief corps. Were you to add another back-end arm to that list, it would likely be well inside the Top 15 in MLB, i.e. a real asset to team production. However, as it is currently constituted, this bullpen may be slightly above average, at best, barring multiple breakout performances. Basically, outside of Loup and Mayers, there is a lot of uncertainty and risk, for good or bad, with this group of arms. This variability adds risk. Reducing uncertainty and risk is GM Perry Minasian’s job, which is why the Halos would be best served finding another back-end reliever, particularly a guy who can close games, preferably, to help reduce the bullpen’s variability. If that is re-signing Raisel, one of the best they can likely acquire, or signing an alternate free agent or, more probable, trading for a preferred arm, that could reduce the variability in performance for our 2022 relief corps. The 2021 Los Angeles Angels were spoiled with the likes of Raisel Iglesias and now Minasian is tasked to try and fill that gap, whether it is re-signing Raisel, plugging it with Loup, or finding another solution.

I find this interesting, because they just extended Miguel Rojas and they have interesting prospects (Chisolm for example), so I wonder if they plan to flip a younger guy or perhaps they are just building depth.

I doubt it is a stretch to say that he would not have signed the contract if Miami was so off-putting to him that he would want to leave soon after. By your own argument you said his contract is pretty nice at that price, so why would the Marlins want to move him? If both parties wanted him out of Florida, then why even go through the motions of signing an extension and simply trade his 3 arbitration years to a team that wants him and let them extend him at this fantastic deal? Respectfully, you are trying to create a scenario that really does not make sense for either party. If Sandy was unsure, he could ask for an opt-out, right? Players and teams do not go through the mechanics of signing a guaranteed contract for millions of dollars if they both don't agree. This is just not realistic in any form or fashion, sorry.

Did not read the article but I have noted that the Rangers see an opportunity to compete in the A.L. West which has greater parity heading into 2022, i.e. all of the teams, except, perhaps, the Athletics are relatively equal and Texas sees an opportunity to sneak into the playoffs. Additionally, if the new CBA implements these expanded playoffs being discussed, that, too, could make it easier for the Rangers to get in as well.

Jaw drop. I mean Bard had a good season, but that seems high to me. Then again I am not calling agents and asking them what their FA RPs are asking so....

Correct.