Pancake Bear

Everybody says Trout to DH, but it's like they ignore the fact that he rarely gets a hit when he DH's. Edit:

Sure, I'm mostly commenting on long term. But just out of curiosity, would your buddy have known if the deal happened like the Baltimore sale? The reason I ask is that the Angels went on the market and then off again without any reporters getting a whiff of it, so it seems like unless your guy is really well connected that it could be progressing without his knowledge. But that's just me speculating since I obviously have no experience buying or selling a franchise.

It's inevitable at some point. He's getting up there and afaik nothing has changed with his family wanting to run the team. He's stopped showing up to team stuff, Ohtani has gone, and the budget seems to have dropped a solid bit. Since allegedly the reason he pulled the team off the market was he still wanted to take another shot at winning, he's not operating like a guy who is in much of a hurry to do that unless he's planning on sticking around for a partial rebuild, which seems unlikely at his age.

If Trout and Rendon were healthy and between having a great manager and a step forward from the young guys, it's not hard to see how this team could be the Rangers of 2024. I just have zero faith in them staying healthy at this point. It's been the same offseason song and dance every year, so it comes down to the rest of the team, which is probably not good enough at this point to be more than a fringe wild card contender if things fell right. I'm not sure Bellinger or Lorenzen moves the needle enough to matter.

Nah. It was possible until they said Cuban. 1) Dude already said no on the previous sale. 2) If Arte was gonna sell without a big production this time, it would be to someone he was already in contact with from the last time. 3) I don't think Cuban cares about baseball. He's a huge basketball fan, but I've never heard of him being particularly into baseball. Feels like a completely made up story using Cuban's name because he's super well known and already owns a sports franchise.

Chiefs probably my most disliked team at the moment, so, sure: Go Purdy.

Wouldn't be shocked if they moved someone. Let's face it, based on current history, when your OF3-4 are Moniak and Adell, your outfield isn't in great shape. Also wouldn't necessarily assume Bellinger is out, although I'm not expecting us to sign him. At league minimum, Hicks easily functions as a fourth outfield guy, and could also pretty easily be dropped. Signing him gives us more options. I would be pretty surprised if we still pursued Duvall, though.

If they ever decide to spend money.

Evan Grant thinks the Rangers are likely out on Montogomery also. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/01/rangers-notes-scherzer-montgomery-garcia.html

Montgomery doesn't have the ace upside of Snell, but he's been a lot more consistent and he eats innings at a high level.

You're right, that's about as underwhelming a rest of the offseason as I can imagine. I'd maybe be okay with two of those if we go big on the third.

I think we're either going to sign Bellinger and trade an outfielder or sign one of Snell or Montgomery. I'd be surprised at this point if we didn't go with any of them. If it's one of the pitchers, I'd expect us to go for another cheaper infielder. If it's Belli, we might sign someone like Lorenzen. I hope we grab Montgomery and Bellinger (as long as he isn't over $150m), but I don't see that happening.

Can't really blame Perry on that one. It's pretty well established that Arte was the one insisting we push all the chips in.

Orbital bone surgery. According to Ward, though, his injury and repair was basically the same as Giancarlo Stanton had with Miami. Assuming that comparison is accurate, it suggests he has a strong chance to be fine, but it's hard to be sure.

With what exactly?

Unless he knows something we don't.

Robert Murray is one of the more plugged in Angels guys and he said it first, although I thought he floated it more as a hypothetical. Heyman saying he thinks they're interested makes me more concerned that there might be more than smoke there.

Votto and Schanuel both lefties. I just don't see what Votto provides that makes sense for us. He's not a platoon fit for Schanuel and he would clog up the DH slot. He doesn't hit well enough to even guarantee him regular at bats. I just don't see how that kind of moves makes any sense at all. I get the leadership aspect, but there have to be better options out there that provide other value as well.

Would be nice, but still need 1-2 more position players and a starter. We'll have a hard enough job filling those holes with the money available without spending more on the pen.

So, does all this money to the pen mean: - We're going all in! Let's sign Belli and Snell! - We're cheaping out on the rotation (Lorenzen or comparable) and masking it with a high end bullpen (hopefully). - Arte is worried about long-term contracts with the tv money in jeopardy post 2023 so he's spending money...but not on long term deals.

Lot of people are pushing this stupid narrative. If he was performing well or if the team was winning, people would be like, "That's just Rendon being Rendon." But since it isn't, they want to use it to blame everything on. Even the Angelswin podcast was doing this. Love Victor, but sometimes he says really stupid shit. I saw Geoff pushing this baloney on Twitter today too. It's really shallow and makes them look like dumb. Clearly the offseason has been slow because this shit is all anyone is talking about on here, on Reddit, on Twitter, and it's a non story.

Nothing says we're not competing like bringing in Joey Votto.

The most hilarious thing about this Rendon firestorm that's erupted? People want athletes to be honest and not give canned answers, but when they do they get blasted for it. And then people twist their words to mean something they never said: Like, "Rendon isn't trying because he got paid", when this has always been his attitude and we have no idea what kind of teammate he is aside from Papelbon who is a little shit himself that nobody likes. Nobody gave a shit when the Nats were winning and Rendon was playing well, but now that the Angels suck and Rendon hasn't lived up to the contract, suddenly it's a problem. Nah, that's bs, regardless of who says it.

If the Stephenson move does mean Arte finally decided to spend... Bellinger kinda scares me, but lefty impact bats are scarce and he plays elite outfield and could spell Trout as well as provide flexibility at 1B. I'd prefer Montgomery to Snell, but I doubt we could get him. Would love to bring Matt Moore back, but he'll probably cost too much. If we're looking infield, Turner would be a guy I'd target. Mostly DH, but could probably cover corner infield occasionally.

People freaking out over this like it's news. When has Rendon ever in his career suggested that baseball is his passion in life? I love how everyone is acting like he just spilled the beans on this deep, dark secret.