2016 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Primer

[ettin]

And if signing a LF and using Murphy's option, they could always deal him plus half of his option money to entice someone to give up a somewhat decent prospect. 

 

Yeah I'll talk about that more in the next section AO but the decisions on Murphy and DeJesus will both be driven, in small part, by teams expressing interest in their services.

[gotbeer]

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Yankees, Pirates, D’Backs

 

 

• Angels Win has a comprehensive Halos primer for 2016.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Plus the fact that the 2017 free agent class sucks.

exactly. This goes back to the beltre thing. Its one thing to see whos available, but you have to be smart enough to look down the road and see what the next few years market will be.

I wouldnt even say this years class is anything special to be honest. Yeah, grienke, price etc. If it was upton a few years back, sure. But all in all it looks more like "hes pretty good" vs "that guys a stud".

[ten ocho recon scout]

Lol I have to keep the tradition running! Once I change my avatar 2/3rds of you guys won't have a clue who I am. haha

know exactly what you mean, lol, been wanting to change my name forever because even i dont know how to shorten my stupid name, so its gotta suck for everyone else, haha

Took me a year to realize blarg didnt leave when he got rid of his calvin and hobbes pic

[AngelsLakersFan]

know exactly what you mean, lol, been wanting to change my name forever because even i dont know how to shorten my stupid name, so its gotta suck for everyone else, haha

Took me a year to realize blarg didnt leave when he got rid of his calvin and hobbes pic

 

lol - no way I couldn't notice that uniquely antagonistic writing style!

[ettin]

UPDATE: The Angels have not picked up Murphy's and DeJesus' options. 2016 payroll now stands at $163,349,955 and Average Annual Value (the one that matters) is now $173,471,032. This means the team is approximately (and remember that Hamilton's payouts are not known with absolute precision and benefits could be less than the maximum number I used) $15.5MM below the Luxury Tax threshold.

Some of the numbers being thrown around in print and on the Internet are using the 2016 actual not the AAV. Some sites that I've seen don't even fully account for all of the team players. This is not to say mine is the definitive number (it's not precise without inside front office knowledge) but I do believe the numbers in this article reflect a pretty accurate picture with a conservative slant, i.e. we may have slightly more money available (think $1MM-5MM) than the $15.5MM as my estimate is probably the "worst case".

The fact that the Angels only have $15.5MM currently reflects, in part, why the Angels didn't offer a QO to David Freese as $15MM is a lot of money and if the Angels DON'T get their "right player" as Arte mentioned then they may not exceed the Luxury Tax threshold and Freese would have crippled our financials if that (nightmare) scenario happens.

I still feel the Angels will be actively engaged with David on the free agent market (and Eppler has indicated that as well today) but the front office didn't want to commit to a QO with David without first knowing if they are able to sign a big name like Heyward, Upton, Price, or Greinke, making going over the Luxury Tax a guaranteed action rather than an optional one.

Edited November 6, 2015 by ettin