Complete the Roster

[AngelsLakersFan]

14 minutes ago, eaterfan said:

Win before he leaves us not the same as win now. They have 3 years before he is gone. Also, he's not stupid. Put the Angels in position to win after his contact is up to entice him not to leave. If you are sacrificing winning in 4 years for winning now why would Trout want to stick around?

I hope Trout stays, but once we resign him he becomes our expensive free agent acquisition. This why the next three years are our best window, because we have room to add pieces now before Trout's exploding contract sucks up the majority of the budget. At that point this team will need to rely on production from the farm system.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

1 hour ago, Kevinb said:

And maybe get a better right fielder instead of Calhoun

Calhoun is a GG RF who had a down year, we have much more needs in the IF than we do in the OF.

[Cdaniel]

1 hour ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

I was thinking Ben Revere as 4th OF. He was so clutch last season as a pinch hitter and has the ability to steal bases and has hit for average in the past.

Im cool with that as well.  

[floplag]

4 hours ago, eaterfan said:

If you're going to go cheap then go cheap with Frazier. If you're going for a very good player then go for Machado. The point of not spending the money is to allow the possibility to improve in other areas or at other times. Moustakas will limit the ability to do both those things without being good enough to swing the division on his own. Machado can provide the production of a Moustakas and Hernandez while only taking up one roster spot. Frazier can provide nearly the production of Moustakas without limiting the ability to improve second base or third base in the future.

Moustakis isnt going cheap.   Thats not what im suggesting at all.  
He will give production, and gives it from the left side.  hes the best player available to fit our need.  That isnt going cheap.  

[eaterfan]

24 minutes ago, floplag said:

Moustakis isnt going cheap.   Thats not what im suggesting at all.  
He will give production, and gives it from the left side.  hes the best player available to fit our need.  That isnt going cheap.  

Are you saying he is the long term answer? If he's not then what are the Angels doing going after him?

[kevinb]

1 hour ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Calhoun is a GG RF who had a down year, we have much more needs in the IF than we do in the OF.

I agree. It’s why I said 1st 2nd and 3rd first  

[Kendo36]

Think we should try and hang onto as many prospects as possible. Trade Cron or one of our dead arms for bullpen help. Sign Moustakas and a second basemen. 

[CanadianHalo]

We can trade for Machado to make up for the Cabrera deal we never did!

[floplag]

2 hours ago, eaterfan said:

Are you saying he is the long term answer? If he's not then what are the Angels doing going after him?

He could easily be that for the next 3-4 years yes... how far in advance are you asking me to plan?  
Are you suggesting Machado is cause he could easily be a one and gone if you trade for him now, then what?   If you wait and do nothing who plays there in '18?   
Machado is going to get paid, bigtime, after next year, and we have more than one hole to fill.  
Again im not suggesting that Moustakis is the better player, he just might be the better option for this club at this time. 
We have zero idea if Machado will even reach free agency, we need to capitalize on recent events, we need a legit 3B for 17, lets deal with a year from now a year from now.

[stormngt]

9 hours ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

That's why a 1 year with a buyout in the 2nd would be my first choice. I actually don't want Donaldson from what I've seen his defense is atrocious. 

Didn't Donaldson win a 4th? Or am I mistaken

[Angelsjunky]

8 hours ago, Warfarin said:

 

Yup, for sure man.  I know the impetus is to plug every hole possible, but I'm perfectly content with Pujols/Cron/Valbuena/Marte/etc plugging up 1B/3B for now.  If we can sign Moose for a significant discount, then that's cool, but not needed.  I'd prefer another SP at the top of the rotation.  If we actually made the playoffs, a Darvish/Richards/Ohtani rotation would be pretty legitimate.  

Asides from that, I'd like to look into finding more catching talent.  I'm good with Maldonado, but he's a year away from free agency, and I'd like to be proactive about finding an elite defensive catcher to be his replacement and/or his counterpart.  Not sure who that'd be.  

Cue Butthead: Uhhhh, uhhh...you said "plug every hole possible."

[totdprods]

34 minutes ago, Throwman91 said:

I don't understand why people are so quick to dispose of Cron, Game of Crons is a solid option if Pujols goes down, which is a real possibility.  He has near Judge like power when he's clicking.  Besides, when did Cron ever get a real consistent opportunity to prove himself? I don't remember.  I could see him coming back to haunt us like so many other Angels...  Same could be said of Cowart, who has really not had enough time to acclimate to MLB pitching.

My main focus is getting a lead-off hitting candidate preferably 2b or 3b and then a starting pitcher then a strong bullpen arm, in that order.  And we don't need to fill all of those options to contend, we just REALLY need a lead-off hitter.

I doubt he's gonna get anymore of a chance now than he did before.

Even with Ohtani's 'versatility', carrying three guys who can only play 1B/DH is a little much. Valbuena can serve as the first line of 1B defense. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

10 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

My idea of what will occur seems to be an ever-evolving thing...but my guess at this point is...

Angels send Jesus Castillo and Troy Montgomery to Cleveland for Jason Kipnis and 3 million.

Angels trade Joe Gatto and Jake Jewell to the Rangers for Jurickson Profar, who will platoon at 3B with Luis Valbuena (Profar hit .386 against LHP last year in AAA). He'll also be the utility infielder.

Angels trade C.J. Cron for 1 million of international bonus money and use next year's funds as well to acquire Jelfry Marte.

Angels pick up random hard throwing RP in rule 5 draft.

Angels sign Cameron Maybin for one year, 4.5 million.

Eppler picks up some random DFA starter and turns him into gold in AAA.

You’re missing a 1B. If Valbuena is the 3B and you trade Cron, Pujols is only gonna play 1B maybe 50 games. What about the other 112?

[tdawg87]

38 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

You’re missing a 1B. If Valbuena is the 3B and you trade Cron, Pujols is only gonna play 1B maybe 50 games. What about the other 112?

If that's true then what's Ohtani going to do? I thought he was the DH.

[arch stanton]

I like the idea of signing Frazier for 2 years. He can get all the games at 3rd against lefties and supplement Pujols at 1st

[arch stanton]

Yeah the Yankees don't have lefties. Except for Gardner. And Ellsbury. And Bird. And Gregorius. And switch hitters Headley and Hicks. And this chair. And this ashtray....

[CanadianHalo]

As of right now Santana may still be in the picture.

Jeff said Pujols will play roughly 50 games at 1st, Ohtani will strictly be a DH...

Theres another 110 games for someone to log in at first and Santana is a lot more athletic than people give him credit for. He played 26 games at 3rd in 2014.

He played 7 games in RF last season as well. He can move all around. 

It would sure be nice if the Angels could find a sucker to take on some of Valbuena’s contract. Even if the Angels ate... 3 million of the 8 and obviously traded Cron

[CanadianHalo]

Also, Machado’s middle name is Arturo...

Get’er done Billy

[Jeff Fletcher]

9 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

If that's true then what's Ohtani going to do? I thought he was the DH.

He’s going to DH maybe 60 games, max.

Allowing for 10 of those being days that Pujols is off, that leaves 50 games at first for Pujols and 110ish for someone else.

In reality, I think those all may be lower numbers. 50 DH for Ohtani and 40 at 1B for Pujols?

Anyway, I don’t know if a Hosmer or Santana is going to want to sign up for that. And I don’t know if the Angels are going to want to pay the 155-Game salary for a guy they only want for 110.

A Mitch Moreland or Lucas Duda seems more likely. 

Things are definitely going to be creative at the corners. Even if they do something simple and plug Moustakas in every day at 3B, 1st is a jumble of a guy who can’t hit lefties and a guy who can’t play very much. 

[CanadianHalo]

I think what would make me most happy about shocking the world and signing Hosmer, is that Pujols most likely would’ve told them this is his last season.

Of course this is also assuming Ohtani can at least match Pujols offensive production. 

Otherwise it just doesn’t make sense. Santana can at least play 3rd. 

[totdprods]

I'd almost chance it with Santana at 3rd for a year but it really doesn't seem realistic.

We'll need some bench depth or infielders that come with some versatility.

[Second Base]

10 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

You’re missing a 1B. If Valbuena is the 3B and you trade Cron, Pujols is only gonna play 1B maybe 50 games. What about the other 112?

I figured on days that Pujols isn't playing 1B, Valbuena could slide across the diamond and Profar would get the start at 3B.

Also, are you sure Pujols will only get 50 games at 1B? I figured he'd get three starts per week at 1B, the day before, the day of and the day after Ohtani pitches, as the Fighters did it in Japan.

But if you believe 50 starts is all Albert's legs have in him (and I could certainly see the logic in that belief), then I think Eppler would wait out the market on 1B. It's pretty flush with options at this point. Eventually one like Matt Adams could land in our laps for cheap, others just keep Cron for that limited role.

 

[eaterfan]

13 hours ago, floplag said:

He could easily be that for the next 3-4 years yes... how far in advance are you asking me to plan?  
Are you suggesting Machado is cause he could easily be a one and gone if you trade for him now, then what?   If you wait and do nothing who plays there in '18?   
Machado is going to get paid, bigtime, after next year, and we have more than one hole to fill.  
Again im not suggesting that Moustakis is the better player, he just might be the better option for this club at this time. 
We have zero idea if Machado will even reach free agency, we need to capitalize on recent events, we need a legit 3B for 17, lets deal with a year from now a year from now.

I'm not arguing for Machado. I'd prefer a lower level of commitment. But commitment is kind of a binary state. Moustakas will require a commitment. But if we're going to make a commitment, then make one for the answer. 

2.5 WAR is a decent starter. We won't be trying to replace a 2.5 WAR guy. Below that I think we are. What would you place the odds that Moustakas will get 2.5 WAR each of the next three seasons (provided 150 games started)? I'd bet he does it one of the seasons and doesn't do it in two of them. I'd be shocked if he did it in all three. We are locked in at CF, RF, LF, DH, and SS for the remainder of Trout's time in Anaheim. If we lock ourselves into a 3B for the rest of that time there aren't many places in the lineup we can upgrade if the team doesn't make the playoffs. People are talking about upgrading RF (Calhoun put up 2.1 WAR - his worst season. Moustakas put up 1.8 WAR - People will be talking about upgrading 3B if he does that again. Calhoun's 2.1 WAR would be the 3rd best of Moustaka's career)

If they get Frazier on a 2 year deal it's a position they can upgrade if he doesn't work out. If they get Machado it's a position they won't have to upgrade. If they get Moustakas it's a position they can't upgrade but may have to.

Here's another question: If we get Hernandez for 2nd base, how many Angel position players will put up a worse WAR in a season than Moustakas? IMO the only players he has a chance to outperform are C and 1B. That isn't exactly solving the problem.

[Tank]

8 hours ago, arch stanton said:

Yeah the Yankees don't have lefties. Except for Gardner. And Ellsbury. And Bird. And Gregorius. And switch hitters Headley and Hicks. And this chair. And this ashtray....

And I don't need anything else . . .

[Tank]

10 hours ago, arch stanton said:

I like the idea of signing Frazier for 2 years. He can get all the games at 3rd against lefties and supplement Pujols at 1st

Plus he's got that whole cool nickname thing going ("the Toddfather").