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Eric I think you have confused our billboards with Dodger stadium.

Well Stroman does throw meat balls so I guess you could call him "The Sausage King of Toronto?"

To be honest I find it mind-boggling that the Tigers are even considering a trade of Scherzer. The owner wants to win before he dies and there is absolutely no reason they couldn't see the postseason again if they kept Scherzer for 2014. Perhaps they see a regression coming and want to sell high? Seems odd. Glen we need your "It's a trap!" clip!

Just for the record Doc I'm not trying to actively prognosticate, I'm simply trying to point out that there are multiple avenues that the Angels might be able to improve through. This whole series is just pointing out targets of possible interest to the casual readers. Not everyone has heard of Matthew Wisler or Marcus Stroman for instance.

I would say Bourjos' defense is superior. Their offense is probably in the same ballpark to be honest and Jay might have a very slight edge there. You also have to realize that the Cardinals could simply turn around and trade Jay for something else they might need to contend (bullpen maybe?) or simply flip him for prospects and make their farm system even richer? I get your point but Jay would become a tradeable asset. In fact the Cards could simply have a Jon Jay trade lined up once they have consummated an Angels deal. Or it simply could not happen because, like you said, the Cards don't see the added value.

Max Scherzer for Howie Kendrick straight up? Not really a great idea for our long term health but....

Well done ladies and gentlemen! *CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!!!!*

Yeah his Minor League numbers follow a similar trend, it is a Monday morning Toby, give me a break! He's still a possible option though, particularly against RHP. I do like Jimenez's defense enough to sway me over to his side instead.

Every team needs a clubhouse leader, Doc, thanks.

Can't you just look up the day they were added to the 25-man until the time that they were taken off and just add up the days?

This is why we might ultimately have a platoon at third base. A Jimenez/Green platoon at 3rd would have Jimenez vs. RHP and Green vs. LHP. I still think that Chris Nelson might be the answer, period, at third base from an offensive standpoint. Nelson's Minor League numbers are pretty impressive (2011-2013:.325/.361/.532/.893) and he has not played consistently yet at the Major League level. In 2012 he hit .301/.352/.458/.810 over 377 at-bats, albeit with a slightly inflated BABIP? Defensively it wouldn't be ideal but there are options that can be figured out by the end of Spring Training.

As tdawg stated the speculated trade was Aybar and Bourjos as part of a Miller based trade. Aybar straight up for Miller is lunacy. Bourjos, however, adds enough sufficient value to make the conversation more realistic.

What I find more fascinating is how we all spend our 3pm-4pm Sunday evening time.

Oregon this isn't a weird homosexual proposal but would you like to split a tub of buttered popcorn while we watch this drama unfold?

Determining rookie status: A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b ) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list). Luis Jimenez: 104 At-bats total Grant Green: 153 At-bats total (between A's and Angels) Michael Roth: 20 IP It would appear Green is most definitely not rookie elgibile unless I am missing something else.

Everyone has their opinions Scotty. I thought the Bourjos trade was reasonable and said that. As far as what others think I try to put down my real thoughts and feelings and valuations in my articles. Clearly I have a group and niche that doesn't agree with me either and that is fine as long as the comments stay thoughtful and friendly. My only thought was that Kendrick's value seems higher than a 29 year old RHP who has a K/9 in the 6 1/2 range. I just think we can get a much better pitching prospect back than Gonzalez. Beyond that a lot of what you wrote in there might turn out to be reality.

I have to agree to an extent, the Kendrick trade in particular seems like a real under sell. The Bourjos trade is reasonable.

I didn't realize AO was a lefty.

You don't have to be sorry I'm just trying to paint a picture that there are options out there one of which may or may not be Shelby Miller. Regarding Aybar he is better offensively than Kozma that is for sure. Defensively Aybar is still above average but Kozma is better in that department. In these cases I think every team has to evaluate their weaknesses and it may be that St. Louis thinks that they need more offense out of that position? I'm not privy to that thought process and they may well be satisfied having good defense and no offense out of the position, meaning Kozma would stay. However I would say that some teams prefer to have veteran players over younger, more inexperienced players. Aybar has taken the reins in the Angels clubhouse as a team leader so perhaps that is something that the Cardinals would like more of? Generally it seems like most teams prefer to have a good mix of younger and older players to provide a mixture of leadership and energy. In regards to Bourjos I think he is an approximately equal offensive player to Jon Jay and is clearly a superior defender, so there is an upgrade there in my opinion. Some will disagree with that assessment which is perfectly fine. Is all of this enough to pull Shelby Miller? I think so but there is certainly room for debate. Perhaps it takes the addition of a prospect or two? Maybe the Cardinals don't want to move Miller in the first place (also quite possible). Maybe like you said they don't believe the price is worth the upgrades?

I think that was the idea AO. My understanding was that Calhoun had some repetitions at 1B in the Minors in 2012 and 2013, although it was not a lot of games started at the position. Beyond actual game time he may have taken additional time in practice but I am not privy to that. Perhaps others like Inside Pitch or the Scotty's might know more about that.

Yeah Wisler is definitely an interesting pitcher. The Padres really have a lot of interesting pitchers including Luebke, Wieland, and of course Cashner. They really have the makings of a good rotation if they stop the merry-go-round of TMJ surgeries.

I think Cron is probably trade bait for the simple fact that he doesn't appear to have a spot on the Big League club. DH is of course a possibility but I think the team will commit to giving the DH spot to a group that includes Kole Calhoun, Hank Conger, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton on a rotating basis. More likely you'll see Calhoun and Conger hitting out of the DH spot, in my opinion. I actually like the idea of letting Conger DH, his bat needs more repetition and he hasn't really had the opportunity in the Majors to show what he can do from the right side of the plate. I could be completely wrong about Cron though. His power is real but I am not sure if he is truly ready for Major League pitching yet.

Maness will be good as long as he keeps his mechanics consistent. The two main things I think you have to worry about with him is 1) if he does get his mechanics out of whack he'll get hit harder, albeit more grounders through the middle, finding the holes, etc. and 2) Big league professional hitters will know that he throws a lot of pitches in the zone to induce grounders and the really good hitters will make higher quality contact which could result in poorer outcomes for a pitcher like Maness. However those walk rates are super sexy. Some of his Minor League numbers from 2011-2013: 52.5% GB rate, 1.8% BB rate!, 0.73 HR/9! and a whopping 9.56 K/BB ratio! Maness just really interests me as a pitcher. He was a starter in the Minors but the Cardinals used him out of the pen in 2013. If he sharpens his repetoire a little more (improved change up for instance) he is a starter for sure.

Maness is particularly interesting to me. I read a couple of the scouting reports on him and his control is nearly impeccable. Go look at his walk rates in the Minors and you'll blink a few times adjusting to the miniscule numbers. A pitcher like Maness who can really place his pitches on the corners would probably enjoy tremendous success with a catcher like Hank Conger who is already becoming well known as an excellent pitch framer. If Maness can spot the outside corners I'm sure that Conger could get more called strikes on those pitches with his framing techniques. Also Maness is a high groundball pitcher so having a good infield defense behind him, especially someone like Romine at shortstop, would increase his success in all likelihood.

Thanks Cory. One thing I'd like to point out is that when you read an article like the one above there is a tendency to see a name like Chase Headley and forget the fact that he only has one year of control (2014 only) before he hits free agency. Does he have real value? Yes he definitely does and in fact a straight up trade of one year of Headley for two years of Kendrick is about even, give or take. The takeaway is that years of control, projected salary, and quality of the player all have to be considered when making a valuation. There is even more beyond that (such as player leadership skills as an example) which cannot be easily measured that impacts the end value of a player. I don't pretend to have special scouting insight into a player. I'm just trying to paint a picture of possible avenues to improve the team that are within the realm of reality. I try to account for special factors (which admittedly I may not be fully capturing) such as player scarcity and whether or not a player will project to receive a Qualifying Offer when they hit free agency which increases their value a bit. It may very well be that St. Louis doesn't want to trade Shelby Miller. Chase Headley may not be available from the Padres! However the Cardinals do have needs to fill and starting pitching is an organizational strength. The Padres have a 3rd baseman in Gyorko that could move over to 3rd base since they seem to be struggling to extend Chase Headley. Bringing in Kendrick and Trumbo would strengthen their offense and with two of their high-end pitchers returning from the DL (Luebke and Wieland) they are moving towards serious contention in the NL West. As I write this response I'm realizing that perhaps the biggest problem is that we, as Angels fans, don't recognize the value of our own players. Erick Aybar is not a big name shortstop. Howie Kendrick is not considered a top 5 2nd baseman. Mark Trumbo is not viewed in the same light as Miguel Cabrera, Chris Davis, Jose Bautista, et. al. (nor will he ever be in all likelihood). Peter Bourjos is labeled as an offensively-inept, defensive center fielder who hits the DL too often. But when you compare their output, both offensively and defensively, to other players around the league they are productive players. Moreso they are all relatively inexpensive compared to a lot of those other players with similar output. That has real, significant value to a lot of teams and is worth a lot more than they are given credit for. The Angels have good trade chips and they can reinvent the starting rotation by moving one or more of those position players in trade. The above example was extreme (and I stated that in the article) to show how we could transform our roster and make it more balanced. If you like this series I'll continue it. Otherwise I may just stop it here. There are good players out there, especially in the upper levels of the Minors and I really wanted to make more of the casual readers aware of their existence and how we can improve next season and beyond.