Junkballer

Congrats to @Robrock30

So does this pretty much guarantee Gosselin being moved?

1 hour ago, Revad said:

 

Angels may take a similar approach and wait to see how the SS market plays out.  Velazquez is on the 40 man as a glove first fall back option, but I’d prefer a more established player.  And don’t forget catcher, what was a thin market has about played out.  Either SS or catcher is likely going to be an “inexpensive” hole not adequately filled, and you get what you pay for.  
 

The Angels need to dump or get off the pot in re: their catcher of the future.  Stassi is FA after this season.  If he's their guy, extend him soon.  Given Stassi not having a history of being able to catch 90 games in any season they  need to have that backup C really be a legitimate starter that they'd feel comfortable with down the stretch of a playoff race.

The Angels have too many needs to re-sign Iglesias, not the least of which is to improve the defense.  Unless of course they blow up the budget which isn't going to happen, Iglesias fills one hole but blocks others.  Perhaps if they could get him to drastically back-load his contract it might happen but again, highly doubtful.  They need, at minimum, a mid-range starter with a history of health/innings, a closer, setup arm, SS  and backup C.

I'd sign Kendall Graveman, and another late innings arm.  You can possibly pay for Graveman and the setup arm for the price of Iglesias.

I still think Jon Gray is a good bet.  He won't be a Stroman, but there is a good chance that outside of Colorado he can adjust to the AL and succeed here.  Perhaps it may take the first portion of the season to get his legs under him but he can be had at a reasonable price and likely needs only a 3-year commitment.

Trade for a solid defensive SS.  He can have a below league average bat. See if there is a reasonable trade market for Fletcher and if yes, plug in Rengifo at 2B.

I feel the Angels should seriously explore aiming higher than for a run of the mill backup C.  Stassi likely won't start 100 games, possibly significantly less than that, and he seems to get run down towards the end of the season even with a moderate workload.  This is an area where I wouldn't mind them overpaying for the purposes of insurance and just pencil in Stassi and the acquisition at 81 games each.

29 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

I assume he means Arte, Minasian and Maddon. 

Meh.

Minasian and Maddon have yachts too?

3 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

This why we need a Snoop Dogg reaction icon. @Chuckster70?

2021 could've really used a Ruh Roh icon.  Hopefully it won't be needed for 2022

1 hour ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

I would also like to see them grab Luis Castillo after stroman and trade a marsh or adell. Ultimately the prospect capital is needed because you’ll need that money that theoretically would go to 1 of them to cover the next contract for Castillo. You lose 3-4 years of arb but gain instant upgrade to the staff. 

I like the idea of saving Marsh and Adell until at least the trade deadline.  1) their trade values, assuming their continued improvement, will increase by then, particularly with Adell.  2) To get an impact player at the deadline either to fill holes or just take a step towards playoff legitimacy, you'll need one of Marsh/Adell.  We don't know what the team's trade deadline needs will be now, as you can't predict injuries or unexpected underperformance, but there will undoubtedly be an area that requires a significant move in order to finish a playoff race.  If the club is healthy and they don't need a type of player that commands a Marsh/Adell, then better to keep them both for when Upton is gone.

1 hour ago, Angels 1961 said:

Artie has been burned by long term deals plus he does not go over lux tax limit. They need money to sign Ohtani. Sho sells tickets.

You don't even know what the lux tax is going to be next year.  If they strike a deal with MLBPA that includes the initial lux tax proposal they are over the threshold with no payroll increase from last year.

21 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

Big arms on short terms could mean Scherzer. Doubt the Angels want to sign 2 arms coming off major injury. 

Safer route might be Stroman. 

Gotta say, Stroman seems to be a fantastic teammate as well as a dependable, just shy of ace material arm.  If the clubhouse vibe narrative is still as strong as it seemed to be, he is definitely an asset.  5-7 years though.  Oof.

3 minutes ago, stormngt said:

Than Minasian should be fired for not trading Iglesias at deadline.

According to @Jeff Fletcher

Quote

The only explanation I got was that they didn’t want to give up entirely at that time. If there’s more to it (which seems likely) no one has admitted it to me

This appears to imply that it was not solely a Minasian decision.  Even if it was, to make any single GM personnel move a cause for firing, outside the body of his work is dubious, particularly in their freshman GM year.

9 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

So if Thor is getting $21M I can't Imagine the Angels being done. Ohtani/Thor make a solid 2/3 pairing. 

Are they spending more this offseason? Or will a trade come next? 

To me, they still need that true Ace. 

I think they have one borderline ace in Ohtani, who would be considered an ace if he started every 5th day, but who would trade his offense for that?  Syndergaard has that potential, if healthy and can regain most of his pre-injury form.  Hopefully the Angels have done their homework on his rehab.  With Ohtani/Syndergaard as 1/2 and Sandoval and Suarez at the back end, a starter with #2 upside gives them a solid rotation to go along with a hopefully injury-free formidable offense.  Now solidify the bullpen, and the defense with a solid SS glove and they are looking much improved.

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Counter thought, they know they won’t re-sign Iglesias and will gain a pick there, cancelling this out.

I think they’re going to go win-now mode for next two-three years, and that pick wouldn’t have impacted that timeline anyways.

Considering that they could potentially sign a solid closer and setup man for the price of Iglesias, not re-signing him could potentially be the move that allows budget for significant TOR signings and still be considered win-now.

36 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

Yeah - I'll echo the sentiments of others in this thread in that I don't think anyone is really eager to trade them, but rather just recognize that if we acquire a young, good SP, we likely have to part with one of them in that process.

I personally would rather just hang onto both of them at this point.  There are enough FA SPs such that I think we can reasonably acquire 2 of them to fill out our rotation - Ohtani, FA SP, FA SP, Sandoval, Suarez, Barria, Detmers would be our top 6, and we'd have some depth options with Canning, Diaz, Junk, etc.

 

First, welcome back, haven't seen you post since around opening day.

I also think that the reason why people are including the two in trade scenarios are

-They have been used to having the Angels brought up as interested parties in FA arms so often, only for those deals to come to naught, as well as a history of FA arms crapping the bed on arrival.  Although Minasian is a second year GM and should be given the benefit of the doubt that he will be wiser than the choices made in the past, there is understandably some flashbacks to missing out on surer FA bets and the resulting signings.

-The Angels OF is one of their few areas of immediate surplus, and their top two trade pieces just so happen to be OFers.  Replacing an OF position is Geico Caveman easy compared to quality starting pitching.

With Upton gone after this year it would be ideal to not have to trade Marsh/Adell and have a Marsh/Trout/Adell OF.  We should admit though that the Angels are in a two-year window to make the leap from playoff pretenders to legitimate contenders.  Getting two quality starters by FA and/or a trade that does not include Marsh/Adell is certainly preferable, but until we start seeing Minasian have some success with pitching where his predecessors have not, our collective confidence level makes trading one of them a more acceptable outcome.

8 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

"Just so you know, we had a uh.... a drug, uh... a drug issue when I was with the Angels. I just want to throw that out there now" - Eppler

"Oh... yeah.... well.... i mean, these things happen. (Coughs)...

 

... anyway, we're thinking of bringing back some old timers for spring training. A sort of a reminder to the good old days around here. We've asked darryl strawberry, lenny dykstra and doc gooden to come out and meet and greet the fans this year....." - management

Just a tidbit.  Darryl is now a speaker on the Christian men's group circuit.  Pretty powerful testimony about the depths of his spiral and God's impact on his life/recovery and was a much better speaker than I'd have thought, considering that he didn't seem to have that in him when he was a youngster.  I saw him at a Victor Marx event and he briefly discussed Doc Gooden, their friendship and reaching out to him. 

10 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

And when Cohen first bought the team he was on the books for three years and 72 mil.  

https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-roster-depreciation-allowance-how-major-league-baseball-teams-turn-profits-into-losses/

 

Great read.

12 hours ago, Angels 1961 said:

If Angels sign Alex Wood and Noah Syndergaard would you be happy with that? Both would seem to fit in a 6 man rotation on shorter deals and less money. Sign a SS or spend money on bullpen. In today's game 5 or 6 inn out of starters is good.

I'd only consider them as either/or.  If they sign two starters, one of them have to be considered as being on the higher end of probability regarding being able to pitch to their apex.  That can't really be said about either of those two, at least at this point, both having come off serious injuries and significant downtime.

Since we aren't discussing that he's 32 and his contract will certainly be lengthy, impacting the roster in the re-signing Ohtani phase, I'll say that I'd prefer that Walsh be moved.  Walsh still has an outfield learning curve and may never be better than passable and the DH spot is already crowded.  I'd prefer sending a quantity package out with Walsh for a less substantial arm than trading Marsh or Adell at this point.  I feel that trading those two at this juncture will not bring back their true value.

1 hour ago, Angels 1961 said:

Need Ward for OF if Marsh goes. Give them Barria and Thaiss

8 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

The Angels will be in on pitchers.

The balk calls will be totally worth it.

12 hours ago, angelsnationtalk said:

Not sure when Ken Rosenthal talked about the Angels being especially interested in Stroman, Syndergaard or Alex Wood. But any news is cool.