jordan

Damn. He's got the money, let's go! 

I gotta think that any new owner would want to keep Ohtani.  Only makes sense to keep him.  

That's why I think they're fast-tracking the sale. It's also why I think there's a 90% chance (imo) Ohtani isn't going anywhere. Unless Ohtani is dead set on leaving - which I'd think Moreno would know by now, in which case they wouldn't be fast-tracking the sale - any new owners wouldn't want their first move to be to let Ohtani go. They must be aware of roughly how much it'll take and all potential owners must be willing to pay it or they wouldn't be rushing the sale. 

I gotta think that any new owner would want to keep Ohtani.  Only makes sense to keep him.  

Dude is legit. Rosenthal and numerous other writers follow him. Susan Slusser retweeted this. He later posted more info in an article:
https://undertheknife.substack.com/p/utk-short-123122?sd=pf
Relevant info:
"The Angels have several bidders. Patrick Seong-Shoon, who owns a piece of the Lakers, a hospital system, and the LA Times is leading one group. A Japanese consortium is funding another and wants a good front man. At least one group from minority Dodgers owners is circling a bid, if not actually making one. There’s some smaller characters around, but this is following the typical pattern. They’d like to select one ownership group well ahead of the season due to the unique Shohei Ohtani situation. Sign him, trade him, it needs to be dealt with relatively quickly."
And later, 
"We’ll see how both these situations play out, but I expect the Angels to be first, perhaps getting to a preferred bidder ahead of spring training."

Keep him in AAA if you can. One year in AAA will likely clear all this uncertainty up. 
1. He hits the dogsnot out of the ball and boosts his value high enough so that next year that the Angels can trade him. 
2. He makes the adjustments and the Angels feel comfortable putting him in LF again next year. 
3. He delivers more "meh" results in AAA and needs a change of scenery. 
4. He flounders in AAA like he did last year, and you know he's busted. 
-------
Either way, unless some team still values him as a prospect, the best course of action is to keep him and let him show you what he's going to become next year with his performance. 
I will say this for him, there's absolutely no reason why Jo Adell shouldn't destroy AAA pitching. He's a power hitter and the ball flies in the PCL, and breaking balls, have a hard time breaking there as well. And whatever defensive issues that are plaguing him in the corner outfield, he can start making drastic changes, because it's pretty clear that despite all his talent, he's not a good fielder right now. 

The previous 3 years, payroll has hovered around 180m.  Granted there were a couple of trades or it would have been a bit higher but for the sake of argument, let's call it that.  
It sure has been nice to see what a GM can do with an extra 26m (and maybe more) in his pocket.  
It's almost exactly Drury+Urshela+Estevez.  I would not like this team as much at all right now if we stopped at Renfroe and Anderson.  Or if they'd had reallocated the 25m spent on Renfroe and Anderson to other players.  
I tried to avoid the next comment, but I can't help myself.  Imagine how much different if a situation this franchise would have been in had they been able to spend an additional 10-15% over the last 7 years.  
Maybe it's just a coincidence that Arte opens the coffers in his final year as owner.  But I doubt any of us really think that.  

I just saw that and 🤯🤯.  That’s truly insane to have a core like that locked up for nearly 5+ years on average.  

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. 

Yes and no.  I think some players probably do want to test the market and will refuse the kinds of contracts the Braves offer players early on.
That said, I think SS tend to age somewhat poorly, at least in terms of their ability to remain there and play at an exceptional level.  As @Second Base mentioned, the Braves and Dodgers are the gold standard.  Neither of them have signed SS to huge deals. Notably, the Dodgers have had 3 star SS over a few years, and they let all of them go - Machado, Seager, Turner.  All 3 signed what, 300mil+ deals?
I think there is something to that, which is why I wasn't too bummed about not seeing us sign one.

What some may not realize is that by locking up that core of good players, it allows Atlanta to use a larger portion of it's resources on scouting and acquiring young talent, who will in turn replace these studs, and it'll grows into a self sustaining system.
And that's the way you do it. Grow internally, sign them long term and focus your assets on developing the next gen. 

Dear Perry, please emulate your former boss.  Thanks!

The Braves have mastered the art of signing players early and buying out free agency years.  I would love for us to emulate them.  Let's do this with Sandoval.

Again, that Tyler Anderson deal looks better everyday. 

There goes another pitcher. I’m kinda glad. Didn’t want to lose another draft pick.  

Guys with upside and durability issues should be avoided by teams with shallow rotations. They make sense for teams with solid depth. We have an excellent 1-5, so we can afford to gamble on upside where teams with murkier situations in their 4-5 pitchers shouldn't.  

This is why I don’t report this stuff. It creates the illusion that you know more than you do. There are guys I know the Angels have “discussed” but if I don’t know how serious it was, then there’s no point. Teams discuss everyone. Even in the case of making an offer, that can be misleading (as in Contreras). 
 
As far as I’m concerned, until there is an agreement, there is nothing. 

This is why I am generally a fan of how Passan reports things.  He only Tweets when the deal is essentially complete.  He doesn't spray tons of rumors around.  Appreciate those, like yourself, that avoid doing that.

I think the decision on whether to keep the current group will answer itself by the end of the season.
If the new acquisitions flop, the Angels miss the playoffs, and the system regresses or is stagnant, then the current group is gone.
If the new acquisitions succeed, the Angels make the playoffs, and the system improves, then the current group stays.
If it falls somewhere in-between, the new group is gone unless they make the playoffs.

Add Eovaldi and Hendriks, then we can start talking about an 88-90 win team and playoff contender. 

I think we can contend with more modest version of the above.  If we added someone like Hill, Wacha, etc for the 6th spot, and found another reliever that's superior to some of the last guys in our pen, I think that would help continue to raise the floor.
Adding Eovaldi and Hendriks would add another 30-35mil to the payroll, which probably is not in the cards for us this offseason.

I think we can be a 90 win team with a couple more modest moves personally.  In fact, I think we're pretty close now.  The only reason I'm not co-signing that in ink is because of the bullpen.  It could be very good or very bad.  

Most people are going to clutch their pearls here and say hell no hes a pervert etc... but does any of that really matter?
Lets not forget, no charges were brought and he was not convicted of anything, by definition that means hes innocent.   Our opinion of him as a person means nothing to that.  Its a virtual lock that there are many sexual defiant in the league and other types of people that have had drug issues, domestic issues etc... 
Baurs suspension was in my opinion a gross overstep by the league, guys that were charged or convicted got far less, even for the same type of offense. 
Wining and losing, thats all that does, and he would certainly help in that regard. 
I dont think Perry or Arte will kick that tire, it isnt their style, but someone will you can bank on that. 

at one point he said he wanted to pitch every 4th day prior to signing with the dogs.  plus, he was in the middle of the pine tar thing where he claimed he wouldn't use it because he had morals.  Then he started a movement to convince mlb to legalize it.  All the while proclaiming that he'd been researching and investigating on how to increase spin rate for years and his conclusion was that you can't without pine tar.  Then his spin rate magically went up.  Then mlb banned the substances and it went down again.  Anyway, the guy is a hot mess.  A very good pitcher, but a hot mess.  

Yes - the pro-rated version counts towards their tax.  So, since he is having 50 games of pay withheld, that means they are being charged 112/162 = 69% of his pay (that can't be a coincidence lol).  Think his AAV was 34mil/yr, so that means they are on the hook for roughly 23mil this year.
I am going to assume that Manfred or someone informed them of the decision coming a few weeks ago.  They were very quiet all winter, then suddenly signed both Syndergaard and JD Martinez to contracts that, when combined with the above figure, takes them literally right underneath the luxury tax.
The Dodgers weren't blindsided by this decision, they have known for weeks.