Mark Trumbo reunion anyone?

[Chuck]

He's a FA at the end of the season...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/2016-17-mlb-free-agents.html

In looking at the free agent list in hopes of fixing our LF hole, here's some guys I'd look at:

Mark Trumbo
Yoenis Cespedes (if he opts out - doubtful)
Ian Desmond
Michael Saunders
Erick Thames (check out his stats the past three years in the KB0)
Dexter Fowler — $9MM mutual option with a $5MM buyout
Carlos Gomez
Cameron Maybin — $9MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Jose Bautista
Jay Bruce (30) — $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Josh Reddick
Brandon Moss

 

 

[Angel Oracle]

He's had consistency this season (no month with less than an .841 OPS), to go with the huge production.

Can he play LF fulltime?   He's had about 200 at bats as the O's RF so far in 2016.

How much would it take?   Is that money better spent on pitching, although pitching health seems to make any pitching FA signing a question mark.

He will be 31 during the 2017 season.

[halomatt]

I'd probably say no, although we will know a lot more about the organization's direction within the next few days.  My guess is that they trade some relievers and keep everyone else and perhaps make a run at Trumbo.  I'd think they would be more comfortable with Reddick, however.  He's one of the guys that is on the trading block and if he is traded, he won't come with a qualifying offer.  For the Angels, if they have a protected pick, it's a no brainer to make a serious run at Reddick. (It's like two free agent signings for freeeeeee!)

Also, when considering their overall value, I'd say Reddick fits the Angels better from a defensive standpoint.  Trumbo won't be very good in left field at Angel Stadium.  Again. 

[Angel Oracle]

True on Reddick, but his baggage is a very poor hitting history vs. lefties, which limits his hitting effectiveness.

Is $20 million/year smart spending for a guy who will be effective at the plate maybe 100-110 games out of the entire season?

[Ohtaniland]

Trumbo is probably going to get a good deal with the O's. That ballpark fits him perfectly.

[beatlesrule]

I'm too focused on the deadline and hoping the Angels organization actually does the right thing and trades to get younger to worry about next year.

[Angel Oracle]

10 minutes ago, CALZONE said:

Trumbo is probably going to get a good deal with the O's. That ballpark fits him perfectly.

And he has good defensive OFers with him there, so that he doesn't have to cover a lot of ground.   His arm also plays well in RF.

[Troll Daddy]

4 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

I'm too focused on the deadline and hoping the Angels organization actually does the right thing and trades to get younger to worry about next year.

I thought we were a young ball club. 

[kevinb]

What the Angels definitely don't need is to sign a 30-31 year old free agent outfielder to a long term deal. Has anyone paid attention to baseball free agents lately. Juice on your contract year and bail. Look at Fat Fielder body broke down as fast as possible once he signed. Before he signed he was the poster boy for starting 150 games a year 

[Oz27]

Trumbo is the only guy I've seen who could put up a .900 OPS and still be 60th in the league in WAR (and that doesn't include pitchers). He actually has a lower WAR than Kole Calhoun this season. Someone is going to give Trumbo a massive contract and I suspect they would regret it sooner rather than later, especially if they aren't an AL East team playing 70 per cent of their games in postage stamp sized ballparks. I love Trumbo and the baseball romantic in me would love to have him back...but not for what he'll get on the FA market.

[tomsred]

I'm with Oz27 on this one.  He will be overpaid next year.  I'm also with TD, we need a young and very promising left fielder.  I'm still hopeful we might get one in the next 7 days, or in August.  It's not likely we will be able to source pitchers in a trade now, but we could maybe find and trade for a highly regarded left fielder.  That would really hinder our pitching for the remainder of this year, but so what, we have some time to get answers in the off season.

 

I'm talking about someone like Austin Meadows (Pittsburgh), Lewis Brinson (Texas), Andrew Benintendi (Boston), Bradley Zimmer (Cleveland), or Anthony Alford (Toronto).

[ten ocho recon scout]

id do it. hed be a different hitter here, but he would still be eons better than anyone weve had in left in years. either way, not getting someone real out there for yet another season is gonna hurt us more than a step back in production from him.

TnT!

[Chuck]

5 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

id do it. hed be a different hitter here, but he would still be eons better than anyone weve had in left in years. either eay, not getting someone real out there for yet another season is gonna hurt us more than a step back in production from him.

TnT!

I'm with you. I doubt he's going to get a massive contract. GM's are smarter these days, which is why a power hitter like Pedro Alvarez didn't get a big deal, but hit 30 HR. 

I bet he'd give his hometown team a hometown discount too. He's got so many friends in the IE, OC & LA counties. Plus he's still good friends with a lot of the dudes on this current team. 

If C.J. Cron comes back in Sept. and lights it up. Trade him for a pitcher or decent prospect and sign Trumbo. 

[Troll Daddy]

There's a lot of good choices in a supposedly thin market. I like Reddick, Desmond, and Saunders .

We don't need a superstar ... we have Trout. I'm in the belief that Arte will open his wallet this coming off season.

I expect a better team next season. We need to continue building for the future. We have a good core of young players. These guys want to win now, if they could ... and not gamble today's talent for the future. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

anyone know (im lazy) what the 2B market looks like? we cant go weak at both LF and 2B again.

[gotbeer]

I love Trumbombs.  Would love to have him back, and you could tell that Trout was having a blast with him at the AS game.  He's also a known quantity for the Angels.  It looks like he has cut down the chest high pitches quite a bit, although I admit I haven't watched him too much.

The big thing will be the cost.  He's a FA, plain and simple, and he will be paid like one.  No matter what people say, WAR, OBP is not the end all stat when it comes to evaluating how much a player will make.  Just his HR and RBI amounts make him a valuable commodity in the league.  And I don't think he will do a hometown discount to come back to the Angels.  I think the hometown discount got burned when it was a business and he got traded away. 

I can see an east coast team signing him for sure though.  If not Baltimore ($87 million committed 2017, not including Arb), Yanks have tons of money coming off the books ($130 million).  Angels are at $92.7 for next season.  And do I dare say that if the TnT bond is pretty strong, Philly might use it as a first strike to land the prize fish ($24.5 million committed to 2017.  Yes, $24.5 million, and it drops to $2 million for the year after that.  This is not a small market team.  They are up to something, and it would not surprise me if they are playing tank wars for FA 5 years from now). 

[Oz27]

21 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

anyone know (im lazy) what the 2B market looks like? we cant go weak at both LF and 2B again.

It's all pretty shitty. I'm a big believer that we should be saving as much money as we can to go hard in the 2018 FA class, which is crazy good, and accumulate young talent in the meantime.

[gotbeer]

18 minutes ago, Oz27 said:

It's all pretty shitty. I'm a big believer that we should be saving as much money as we can to go hard in the 2018 FA class, which is crazy good, and accumulate young talent in the meantime.

And considering we probably won't have 3 of our frontline starters for 2017, and the 2017 is pretty weak.  Waiting for 2018 isn't a bad idea. 

[nate]

Cespedes will probably opt out of that deal since he has had a good year.

[Oz27]

32 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

And considering we probably won't have 3 of our frontline starters for 2017, and the 2017 is pretty weak.  Waiting for 2018 isn't a bad idea. 

We will have Weaver, Wilson, Hamilton, Santiago, Street, Smith and Escobar all off the books by then. There is also a good chance our top 2018 pick will be protected because of our rotation injuries and general lack of talent. That is a huge chance to bring in some serious talent in the best FA class ever.

[Angel Oracle]

That would = some $75-$80 million AAV coming off the books in a little over a year. 

This time, be smart at how they spend it (strategic FA signings, Latin America, strategic trades, et al).

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, Oz27 said:

It's all pretty shitty. I'm a big believer that we should be saving as much money as we can to go hard in the 2018 FA class, which is crazy good, and accumulate young talent in the meantime.

as much as i agree with saving, i think everyone else is doing the same...meaning even if we have the money, we still might walk away with plan D, unfortunately.

[ten ocho recon scout]

another thing to consider is if these prize free agents in 2018 dont get locked up before then.

[Inside Pitch]

Trumbo serves no purpose in Anaheim.  He had a big first half -- big first halfs are what he does.  The only thing that's changed about Trumbo is that he is older, slower, and more expensive.  Spending on FA in 2017 when there is a bigger better crop available on 2018 is like the MLB version of blowing our wad on Baldoquin.  I pray Eppler is smarter than that.

[ten ocho recon scout]

to be fair, going back to the second half of last year, hes been very solid. the narrative is edgar martinez fixed something in his swing. if you put both halfs together, he definetely seems like hes turned a corner.