oater

Angels have exercised the option. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/11/angels-to-exercise-club-option-over-yunel-escobar.html

Thank you to everyone for the further explanation on the AAV rules. In prior years, the Angels were very bad at managing payroll which, I believe, led to a number of missed opportunities. I think Eppler intends to maintain payroll flexibility going forward, and I approve.

I saw that. LOL. His injury history is concerning, but he might be in the starting rotation before the end of 2017.

Can you explain why the AAV is $5.5MM? I have read that team options are treated as one year contracts when exercised. I am not sure how the $1MM buyout is handled where the trade occurs before the option is exercised, but I don't see how the AAV for the 2017 contract is less than $8MM. Regardless, I think this is a great trade. Good value for Alcantara who profiles very similarly to Jose Valdez who was acquired from (. . .drum roll . . .) the Tigers for cash!

yeah, Pennington is probably not a good comparison. The projections I have seen for SRod is 2yrs/$10M, which I could live with. I do think SRod is a far better option than either Pennington or Petit and Cowart hasn't shown that he can hit MLB pitching. I would rather bring back JohnnyG than go with what is on the current roster.

Am I the only one that thinks it would be a good idea to bring S Rodriguez back on a Pennington-like deal? Poor man's version of Ben Zobrist.

No. Presumably Oakland offered three years and got nowhere.

Eppler intends to be opportunistic, so focusing on any one player is counterproductive. I am confident he will address LF and there will be at least a half-dozen free agents on the market that will be an upgrade over what we had in 2016. My under-the-radar candidate is Eric Thames. But on the right contract, I would be fine with Reddick, or Jay, or Holliday, or Fowler, or . . .

I stand corrected. I failed to include the time Bailey accrued after he was designated for assignment. This would add another 10 days of service time, which would be enough to qualify for free agency. Anyway, I agree that with his injury history, the Angels would not risk having to pay arbitration award even if they had that option.

It is close, but I don't think Bailey is a free agent. Coming into 2016, Bailey had 5 yrs and 34 days of MLB service time. He wasn't added to the Phillies roster until late April and missed another month after being designated for assignment. So he presumably earned somewhere around 130 days of MLB service time in 2016, which would put him around 5 years and 164 days. That puts him about 8 days shy of becoming a free agent (172 days = 1 year of MLB service time). If the Phillies had not designated him for assignment, he would be a free agent.

To follow up, Sam Pastrone pitched 6 perfect innings to start the Pioneer League finals! One more game to go. GO OWLZ! http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20160914&content_id=201454256&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

Unless he is replacing an injured player. What are the odds?

So THATS why we drafted Matt Thaiss!

BA likes the hire. http://www.baseballamerica.com/news/angels-hire-matt-swanson-scouting-director/#yGwO3CovRUCJezTf.97V

Elvin Rodriguez threw 5 innings of no-hit ball tonight in the AZL. Rodriguez and De Los Santos combined for a no-hitter earlier this year in the DSL.

I get a different sense of his power. From the MLB synopsis: Teams interested in Kirilloff will be buying the bat. While there is a little length to his swing, he's shown the ability to barrel the ball consistently and has considerable raw power, which he put to use while winning the Perfect Game All-American Classic home run derby over the summer. He's more athletic than one would think given his size and plays center field for his high school team. He'll have to move to a corner spot at the next level, but moves more than well enough to stay there. He has a strong arm, one that fires 87-90 mph fastballs from the mound.

If there is a consensus, the most likely pick is Alex Kirilloff, a HS outfielder from Pennsylvania.

IMO, adding Chacin was a stroke of genius by Eppler. If he can stay healthy (knock on wood), he will be a key to whether the Angels can compete this year..

? re Ruxer: The Bees have been using him in relief this year. Is there a plan to switch him back to starting?

I concur that Shoe deserves more time to show whether he should stay in the rotation. At the same time, I would have no problem testing Nate Smith in the starting rotation. Yes, Smith got roughed up when he was first promoted to Salt Lake--but this should be expected. When Shoe was first promoted to Salt Lake he did even worse than Smith (in 2011, he went from a 2.48 ERA at Arkansas to 8.14 ERA at Salt Lake). While it is a small sample size, Smith appears to have already made the necessary adjustments to succeed at Salt Lake. Currently, 1.75 ERA, 8.4 SO/9 and 0.985 WHIP. Arguably, Shoe never made that adjustment.

Baldoquin to DL--pulled hamstring. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/baldoquin-712174-season-tracy.html

Trout is hitting 200. Is it time to trade the bum?

It looks like Jared Ruxer also had an outstanding game for Burlington. 2 IP, 1 H, 3 SO and 0 BB. Faced 6 hitters in two innings and picked up the win. He is at the top of my sleeper list.

I assume (but don't know) that Skaggs will rehab at IE rather than Salt Lake.

Haven't you heard? The Angels have no farm system. j/k I like Bandy, but his hitting is the question. I think he benefits from another year at AAA.