Do you think Arte/Eppler surprise us with....

[Chuck]

A player that nobody had on their hot stove radar's for the Angels?

It's just his style to go all Ninja like and pull off a trade that nobody saw coming that improves the team long term. 

[Stradling]

I doubt he acquires a great player that we haven’t discussed. The closest thing would be a Yelich or a Donaldson but they’ve been mentioned. 

[totdprods]

Yes. I think there's room for something that really breaks up some of the 1B redundancy and million options in which they can take 3B and 2B. Could be through a change in RF or a change in the pitching staff. 

Echoing @Stradling though, who haven't we discussed?

[Cdaniel]

I'm all in and excited as hell.  Out of all the options that have been thrown out every single one is an upgrade.  I'm just so pumped to see what the team looks like heading into 2018. 

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

I doubt he acquires a great player that we haven’t discussed. The closest thing would be a Yelich or a Donaldson but they’ve been mentioned. 

They haven't been tied to us though. That's what I'm referring to. 

[Chuck]

Other than some east coast hacks on the radio, nobody has tied us to Darvish. 

I think signing him would be huge. Having three aces atop your rotation never sucks. It would also cockblock Dipoto and other rivals like the Assssstros. 

[Ohtani&Trout]

I'm hoping for Darvish.

[totdprods]

Someone like Ozuna would address the last element of missing 'pop' we probably still need, lessening the need for that at 2B or 3B and allowing us to go more with a defense/speed option there. Yelich conversely would take care of a lead-off hitter, allowing us to change up our 2B/3B options. 

Those are just examples, but they do show how something unexpected could change our approach for IF.

[floplag]

If he does, i suspect it will be for a top flight reliever, something we arent linked to at all currently, but could really use.  

[Angelsjunky]

I'd love Yelich or Ozuna, but if there's anyone Jeter will keep to rebuild its those guys, especially Yelich. Plus, the gap between them and Calhoun isn't as great as the gap between our corner infield travesty.

Priorities, in order:

1) second base

2) corner infield (probably 3B)

BIG GAP

3a) reliever(s)

3b) starting pitcher

BIG GAP

4) Upgrade existing position

[Second Base]

There's just so much flexibility at this point....so I guess I'm thinking yes.

Pujols might play 40 games at 1B or he might play 80, so we'll need a 1B that can play between 80-120 games this next season.

Ohtani may hit or he may not. We'll see. If he does hit, it forces Albert to 1B as much as possible. If he doesn't, it puts Albert back at DH and opens more starts at 1B.

Valbuena can play 1B, 3B or serve as a backup. 

So we might stay with Cron at 1B in a limited role or pursued LoMo, which forces Valbuena to a platoon at 3B. We might bring in a 3B which forces Valbuena to 1B. We might get a 3B and a 1B and force Valbuena to the bench. We might sign Yu Darvish and trade for a 1B or 3B.

Pretty much the only thing I feel confident in saying right now is we'll have a new 2B and utility infielder.

[UndertheHalo]

Yelich or Ozuna I have to imagine are out of reach.   The prospect return they’d command would presumably be pretty significant. 

Angels really need to avoid trading multiples of our handful of good prospects. Eppler knows this. 

Edited December 11, 2017 by UndertheHalo

[Mark68]

10 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Yes. I think there's room for something that really breaks up some of the 1B redundancy and million options in which they can take 3B and 2B. Could be through a change in RF or a change in the pitching staff. 

Echoing @Stradling though, who haven't we discussed?

Trout

 

[totdprods]

Freddie Freeman as a 3B would be pretty insane and unexpected. Agree that signing someone like Wade Davis would be a big surprise. 

Someone from Tampa, Colorado, St. Louis or San Diego would be surprising depending on some of the names that could be explored from both sides.

[DMVol]

Why would we need Ozuna or Yelich?  Unless you're planning on trading Calhoun...

[UndertheHalo]

1 minute ago, totdprods said:

Freddie Freeman as a 3B would be pretty insane and unexpected. Agree that signing someone like Wade Davis would be a big surprise. 

Someone from Tampa, Colorado, St. Louis or San Diego would be surprising depending on some of the names that could be explored from both sides.

Freddie Freeman at 3b.  I’d trade Adell Jones and Maitan to make that happen! lol 

 

[UndertheHalo]

1 minute ago, DMVol said:

Why would we need Ozuna or Yelich?  Unless you're planning on trading Calhoun...

There’s been speculation about moving on from Calhoun here for a while.  I don’t get it either. 

[Turd Ferguson]

I think Ohtani was our surprise.

 

[totdprods]

13 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

 There’s been speculation about moving on from Calhoun here for a while.  I don’t get it either. 

It's because he's middle of the road in terms of trade value. He is a type of player that may be enviably valued by another team where he's bringing back a key piece for the Angels and he could still be replaced by a reasonable stopgap (be it a straight up OF or ABs for a corner infielder capable of playing RF) or have his salary cleared so there's a spot for Jones, Hermosillo, etc. 

Totally spitballing, but some of us feel the price of Skaggs plus Jones plus is too much for Cesar Hernandez. Say the Angels flipped Kole for someone underwhelming that still fit Cesar's role or other multiple needs, say a Yangervis Solarte or Kolten Wong or Joe Panik, or maybe for a Skaggs replacement in the rotation. Then, the Angel take a bulk of that Cesar Hernandez package (Skaggs, Jones, and add in a Chris Rodriguez or Thaiss) and go out and land an outfielder who is clearly worth that haul (since Cesar may not be) such as Ozuna, Yelich, or Domingo Santana or Wil Myers or whatever. Would that be so terrible? It'd certainly be unexpected. Or Donaldson or Jake Lamb or Anthony Rendon.

Like Scotty said, we have so much flexibility right now there could be something radical floating out there.

[Troll Daddy]

28 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Why would we need Ozuna or Yelich?  Unless you're planning on trading Calhoun...

True

I could envision Eppler surprising us with a power bat in RF and flipping Calhoun/prospects for a better infielder with high OPS. 

Screw OBP by itself ...  I want both power and OBP

[JAHV76]

Signing Arrieta would be a huge surprise right now or Hosmer. 

[krAbs]

There are plenty of surprised that COULD happen. Many top 2b haven't really been mentioned (notably, Schoop and Altuve). There's really good reason they haven't been mentioned, but who knows? Its not like its impossible for Eppler to pull another rabbit out of a hat.

[SoWhat]

Jake Lamb, pls oh pls

[totdprods]

17 minutes ago, krAbs said:

There are plenty of surprised that COULD happen. Many top 2b haven't really been mentioned (notably, Schoop and Altuve). There's really good reason they haven't been mentioned, but who knows? Its not like its impossible for Eppler to pull another rabbit out of a hat.

To be honest, none of us have really been able to predict a single move he's made.

Danny Espinosa is literally the only transaction I can think of that was regularly forecasted here before it happened. Luis Valbuena as well, but he came well after we had sort of moved on from that idea.

[Chuck]

11 minutes ago, SoWhat said:

Jake Lamb, pls oh pls

I see no reason why the D-Back would want to trade him.