totdprods

Mike Butcher. Maddon brought him to Tampa as his pitching coach in '06. Think I saw the org recently hired him back for small role this summer too...

I think I read somewhere that DeSclafani was crushed by the Dodgers repeatedly this year, but had something like a 2.20 ERA against every other team. It's hard to say that's just a benefit of being NL West/SF. A factor? Sure, but still very good. He pitched well in Cincy's bandbox for years too, and was a Toronto draftee in the Minasian days. I think he might fly under the radar a bit this winter, and the Lance Lynn/Kyle Gibson 3/$30m deal feels like a good offer for both him and the team. Rodriguez is sort of like Heaney in that there's always been elements to dream on but nothing all clicking at once. He's still young, left-handed, should do better away from AL East...you're banking on him turning that corner. I mostly like that neither should cost a fortune and hopefully won't have a QO. Aiming higher is great, but personally I think I would rather aim higher via trade this deadline or next winter...Upton's contract comes off the books, we'll have a clearer idea of if we need Adell and Marsh, Adams will have another year to turn a corner, we'll have full seasons from the pitching-heavy (pitching = trade currency) recent draft classes, we'll have about legitimate MIF/SS prospects making their marks...acquiring someone like Flaherty, Castillo, Marquez, friggin' Giolito, Fried, or whomever the next ace to hit the trade market is honestly the smartest way to go, because you're still capturing him at a point where he's not making $30m+ annually, and you have a better shot at getting an arm in their prime while healthy as opposed when you want him, as opposed to free agency when they're available because they've hit the end of control.

I'd have to think the Angels success with a two-way player, him being from Anaheim (or near?), and the flexibility of a 6-man rotation would give him some opportunity to start. Of all the players I hope the Angels pursue this winter, he's one of the tops. I think he'd fit the team's various needs really well, and they might have a bit of an advantage in signing him over other clubs, maybe even lessening that 'I'm only signing as a SP' notion.

Don't forget traaaaaades. It's a good way to get around spending so much. They can't do a lot, but they have the pieces to address one or two of those needs. The Athletics are probably going to trade a big name or two this winter, and swapping the cheaper salary/control of someone like Suarez or Canning for Sean Manaea could make some sense depending on who all is involved and other moves made.

Syndergaard, Stroman, DeSclafani...I think all three were drafted by Toronto when Perry was there.

If you look at the Braves FO, they have for the most part stayed away from spending big, but not afraid of spending. They've done really well in free agency in recent years, and I hope Perry brings that with him. If the Angels can successfully start shopping in the mid-range of the free agent market, look the fuck out. We're thinking similarly in terms of ideal offseason...I think committing to a lot of mid-tier talent is the way to go, simply to maintain spending flexibility. Having the ability to extend Ohtani and lock up potentially Adell, Marsh, others like the Braves did with their young talent is a smart way to go - even if they have to wait until the new CBA - and the big $100m+ contract guys are going to make that very difficult. You alluded to it a bit, but we should run into a surplus of prospects sooner or later that almost forces some trades. We've drafted too many pitchers for there not to be a surplus in 2-3 years, and you can argue we have the OF/SS/5th SP surplus to deal from right now. I still think guys like Barria, Ward, Rengifo, Rojas, Thaiss, fringe guys like Stefanic, Soto, MacKinnon, Knowles, and even the recent crop of Tyler, Ortega, Pina, Yan, Wantz, Warren, Criswell, Marte, Peguero, Naughton, provide more than enough value and surplus to be turned into a couple useful MLBers. No one fancy. But a more budget-conscious team like Miami or Minnesota or Baltimore (especially with their love of acquiring our pitching) could take one or three of those names for guys like Caleb Thielbar, Dylan Floro, Garrett Cooper, Jorge Alfaro, Tanner Scott, Paul Fry, etc...guys starting to earn a mil or three in arb. Helps free up 40-man space for the Halos to be opportunistic on waiver wires and depthy adds for guys like Fowler, or fliers on rebound candidates like Aaron Sanchez.

I'd like to think around the Cozart 3/$39m, but he's playing well enough in the postseason to get a good bit more than that. In my mind if you can get him for around 3 years and $10m-$15m AAV, you have to try just purely on the versatility he offers.

Just too soon to tell… I’m still worried Perry is sort of like Reagins, not much authority, just an extension of an Arte+MGR’s wishes rather than having some independent authority…that doesn’t play into this move much, but it could just be replacing an Eppler hire with his own, whether or not that is good or not is unknown. Gotta say, the Braves FO is looking very efficient in recent years, and their deadline was incredible. I have to hope Perry has the ability to bring those systems and processes and talent into the Angels FO without too much interference from Arte and Joe. For the record, I’m not one of those ‘Sell the team Arte!’ guys either, so it’s not some bias towards Arte or old-school. I do think they have a little more influence than what is good, but winning and talent should overcome those obstacles. They’re just exacerbated and easy to point at as fault when the team is losing.

I was pleased with recent drafts, but I really can't get too caught up being bummed about anyone being let go at this point given the last decade of nothing really working.

If the Angels feel they need to spread money around, I like the idea of locking in someone like DeSclafani around 3/$30m and Rodriguez around the 4/$64m-5/$85m range. This gives them some room to re-sign Iglesias, a reliever or two, maybe some solid help at SS by way of Chris Taylor or Jonathan Villar. I know neither of them have quite the upside and could very well fall into mediocre contract pitching range, but both should be much better than the one-year rebound vet approach often taken. Either contract would be affordable enough that there's flexibility to trade them mid-deal (either as sellers or if there's need to clear room for a youngster) and would maintain overall payroll flexibility as we figure out future contracts for Ohtani, Adell, Marsh, Stassi, or other needs as they come up. Ray, Rodon, Gausman...all of that feels like Patrick Corbin all over again. Very good pitchers, would be huge adds, but there's not the track record there for me to feel comfortable if they approach the 6/$150m mark. That's a lot of money and a lot of time, especially when in 1-3 years we should see a lot of internal growth starting to cross the rotation threshold between Bush, Bachman, Marceaux, Daniel, Detmers, etc. We are closer than we realize to having the pipeline for young pitching, and blocking it up could be detrimental. In addition, as 2022 plays on, we should still continue to see development across the minors that boosts trade value...Jordyn Adams, Knowles, any of our shortstops, a lot of young arms...it's reasonable to think come deadline 2022, the Angels could offer up a really nice package for someone like a Luis Castillo, German Marquez, Jack Flaherty, or another arm that gives us #1-#2 production like a Ray, Rodon, Gausman, Scherzer, but without the $25m-$35m salary attached, and having that financial flexibility will be huge as Upton drops off next season and we weigh out what to do about Ohtani. The biggest issue with DeSclafani and Rodriguez is will they receive QOs. It's possible both do, and it's possible both accept, but if not, not sure either are quite worth losing a pick over, then I think someone like Stroman + Cobb becomes the next combo to consider. Should come out to around the same money, neither with a QO.

I think plucking one guy from the Alex Cobb, Drew Smyly, Steven Matz, Danny Duffy, Johnny Cueto, Zach Davies group, or even lesser guys like Michael Lorenzen (who I really like as a Swiss Army knife type), Aaron Sanchez, Vince Velasquez are good buy-low options to consider too. In many ways, should they hold onto most of their internal guys and not make any big trades, I'd rather take it a little more conservatively, sign one of the bigger arms (but maybe not the biggest, instead someone like Stroman, Rodriguez), sign one of these lesser names, re-up Iglesias, sign another solid reliever and maybe add a versatile bat/shortstop and see how things go with a healthy club.

Wonder if DiSarcina comes back now, since the Mets cut him loose from 3B coach over there.

Turned into pitching. It’s a joke! Relax.

Texas is nowhere close. Houston will be interesting because their farm and internal development has not been fantastic of late - but also not bad. They don’t spend big, but they spend very smart. Free agency is such a gamble, can they keep making the right shrewd moves to supplement? Oakland is gonna year down this winter. Seattle was lucky, but they still have talent and most worrisome, money. I think they’ll be big movers this winter, but not sure it will work out. I can see them having difficult attracting free agency because of some of the clubhouse tensions they have had with the FO and the culture and being trade pieces.

He’s never made it through a complete season. Even in COVID-shortened 2020. And he’s really only been good last year, maybe one other year. I’d have a hard time going over like, 3/$30m-$45m for him and I bet he gets way, way more than that.