Angels sign Cozart to 3-year deal

[Pujols4MVP]

4 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

At worst he's basically a 2 WAR player. Not sure if he's going to platoon at 3rd or play full time but I suppose it's an OK move. 

Now that the offense is set I hope we move on a reliever and a starter. 

Yeah they are basicly getting at least 2 WAR per year, maybe alot more if he continues to play above his career averages.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

58 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Change one letter in Cowart's name and you have Cozart.... funny

Also Coward

[Angelsfan1984]

Just now, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Also Coward

Cowturd?

[Torridd]

4 hours ago, floplag said:

I like this a lot, and i dont expect him to repeat 17 offensively.   Kinsler and Cozart for about 24 mil?  That works for me.  Defensively we will be extremely strong. 
I think he went three expecting him to possibly move to 2B after this year if we pursue any of the possible 3B FA next year. 
I also dont think Epp is done.  He still have a RH heavy lineup, dont be shocked if he goes after Morrison for the primary 1B and Cron gets traded. 

But if we get LoMo, how does it work with Pujols and Ohtani?

[Turd Ferguson]

30 minutes ago, bloodbrother said:

Cincy's park is a hitters heaven though. I'd expect regression from Cozart with regards to his HR totals here(think more 15-18 HR). If he can maintain a .260+ BA to go along with a good OBP then we'll all be very happy

I'm stoked we won't have to endure watching Escobar sail throws to 1B anymore

For what it's worth: Those of the mind that his power spike was in any way tied to his hitter-friendly home park in Cincinnati, though, should also take note that 12 of Cozart’s 24 homers came on the road, and his .279 road ISO handily topped his .230 mark at home.

[CanadianHalo]

https://www.mlb.com/video/cozart-on-signing-with-angels/c-1870117583

 

[floplag]

3 minutes ago, Torridd said:

But if we get LoMo, how does it work with Pujols and Ohtani?

i dont think it affect Othani assuming hes going to DH 2-3 days a week.  Hes going to get what he was prmised.  Morrison would be the primary starting 1B, and give way a little here and there for Albert.  I really dont think Albert can hold up to more than about 50 in the field at most.  That leaves 100-110 for Morrison/Headley/Moreland/etc...  plus a few at DH maybe assuming everyone stays healthy.

I think it more likely they go for Headley than Morrison if they go after another 1B purely for the added flexibility, Unless Morrison can actually play the OF as the 4th, which he has done in the last couple years in a handful of games.  IF IF IF he can actually play a serviceable OF that changes things a lot as he could then get more games in out there, but ive no idea how realistic that is aside from the fact that he has played both LF and RF in recent seasons (for all of 10 games) 

I just think its a place Eppler can upgrade the OBP he wants, and makes a lot of sense.  But i could be way off base of course. 

[Blarg]

22 minutes ago, Torridd said:

But if we get LoMo, how does it work with Pujols and Ohtani?

I really don't think we are moving any pieces and changing 1st base at this point. Other than a reliever and maybe a bench player this lineup appears to be done.

Think about how much has changed since last season. New left fielder, new third baseman, new second baseman, new starting pitcher. All four were necessities when the season ended, all four were addressed. 

Wish list was a better 1st base alternative but since the Angels want Pujols in the field, buying up a platoon player is a waste of resources. That position will be Pujols/Cron and I'm good with that. CJ just may be that guy that puts it together in his later 20's, I still see an upside there.

This really leaves only the bullpen as the weakest link in this chain. I don't have a problem with closer by committee but there were gaps in the transition from long to short relief last season where the Angels were using up too many arms to cover 4-5 innings after a weak starter performance. We could use better 2-3 inning relievers to shorten the gap to the setup guys.

Maybe those are the guys that don't have a rotation spot like Tropeano. Maybe it is another back end quality arm that moves the pecking order down and puts better guys in long relief innings. I don't have a plan but I sense one is needed.

But from now till spring training breaks camp, 1st base is covered.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Blarg

[Troll Daddy]

 

[Troll Daddy]

 

[tomsred]

2 hours ago, True Grich said:

According to Baseball-Reference Cozart's nickname is "Coach."

That's better than "Crotch."

[IheartLA]

I'm so happy that they were able to get Cozart. Seems like a very solid clubhouse guy as well.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

1 hour ago, Turd Ferguson said:

For what it's worth: Those of the mind that his power spike was in any way tied to his hitter-friendly home park in Cincinnati, though, should also take note that 12 of Cozart’s 24 homers came on the road, and his .279 road ISO handily topped his .230 mark at home.

Well, he did own Milwaukee with 3 bombs there at Miller Park and 2 in Toronto's band box.... 

 

But, I'm happy with him and excited to see what he does!

[eaterfan]

9 minutes ago, tomsred said:

That's better than "Crotch."

Kelvim Escobar already had that one taken.

[Jay]

All these offseason moves, Upton, Ohtani, Kinsler, Cozart, etc. should go a long way in showing Trout that the Angels are serious about winning and building a team around him.

 

[tomsred]

Well you are right on that one, I just thought in the last week, since we added "Donkey" and "Douche,"  "Crotch" would fit right in, LOL.

[Hubs]

A little tidbit from the MLB trade rumors article. 

"Those of the mind that his power spike was in any way tied to his hitter-friendly home park in Cincinnati, though, should also take note that 12 of Cozart’s 24 homers came on the road, and his .279 road ISO handily topped his .230 mark at home."

[Rico]

I'm more confident in Cozart continuing his success with the bat than I am in Kinsler having a bounce back year.  I still think we need to sign an everyday first baseman.  I want to see less of Pujols, not more.

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, Throwman91 said:

The wall in RF has nothing to do with my argument, as I'm focusing on the contact hitting only.  Home runs are a  small % of a batting avg. anyways.  Saying lefties have a disadvantage putting up a good average at our park is moot.  Remember Darin Erstad? Chone Figgins? Etc.

The old adage about building the lineup to benefit from your park exists because it's been proven to be true...   Angel Stadium deflates IF, FB, and LD, contact to LHBs....   The only type of contact it doesn't deflate is GBs -- and even there, it's also kind to RHBs.   

3 hours ago, Throwman91 said:

Historically left handed pitchers fare worse against right handed hitters, it's a well known fact, just because 3-4 of our guys did better against RHP doesn't make them a sure thing, most are coming over from different leagues or had small sample sizes.

Other than Cozart, everyone currently figured to be in the everyday lineup was in the AL last year.   You know who wasn't? The LHB coming from Japan.   

 

 

[Inside Pitch]

4 hours ago, beatlesrule said:

Early this morning, I saw The Last Jedi.  Right after it ended, I checked MLBTR and saw we signed Cozart.  I haven't read through this thread yet but my guy reaction is that I knew we probably would sign him but not for 3/38.  I just hope this doesn't take us out of the running for Machado next year.  The contract seems too long and for too much but the infield defense should be stellar now.  He had a career year in his walk year so I am not expecting 2017 numbers at the plate but I hope his transition to 3rd goes smoothly and he hits somewhat close to his 2017 numbers.  Like I explained in another thread, he is about a 2.0 WAR player so if we get that or better for 3 years, thumbs up for sure. 

The current cost of the win is estimated at 9 mil..   that means that anything more than 1.5 WAR out of Cozart would be considered plus value...    Given he can slide over to 2B next season it seems like a pretty safe deal.  

[Inside Pitch]

4 hours ago, eaterfan said:

This post didn't make sense. 

1. How does LHP faring worse against right handed hitters matter to any argument in this thread? If you're trying to say that cross handed match ups favor hitters while same handed match ups favor pitchers then let's discuss that. 

You are kind of correct about this. Traditionally, LHH do not fare well against LHP.  It's largely due to the fact that LHH don't have a lot LHP coming up. They aren't used to seeing it. RHH traditionally fare much better relative to LHH facing same handed pitchers. If you can't hot RHP you aren't making it to the big leagues.

2. No one is a sure thing. Doesn't matter if a player is left hand or right handed. 

This reminds me of back in the halcyon days of the Angels bullpen when despite the reality that all their RHPs utterly dominated their splits people pined for a LHP....

[ettin]

6 hours ago, Throwman91 said:

Can we just step back and take a deep breath and look at what we have here?

A lot of right handed hitters.... holy guacamole... we have 1 lefty for half our games..  And it's not like it's an advantage, our division has 65% right handed pitchers...

Can someone make me feel better about this?

Based on 3-year running averages for all of the current primary players on the roster we have seven (7) guys that have a 100 wRC+ or better vs. RHP and five (5) guys with a 100 wRC+ or better vs. LHP.

That help?

[Warfarin]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

The current cost of the win is estimated at 9 mil..   that means that anything more than 1.5 WAR out of Cozart would be considered plus value...    Given he can slide over to 2B next season it seems like a pretty safe deal.  

Agreed, this is a very safe deal for that reason.

The key thing with Cozart is that he significantly improves the floor of this team.  If either Simmons or Kinsler get hurt, prior to Cozart, we would be forced to replace them with replacement-level type players.  For a stud like Simmons, that's a very difficult blow to absorb.  With Cozart though, if something happens to either Simmons or Kinsler, we can easily slide him over there and have him produce fairly similar value, if maybe a bit less as compared to Simmons.  We in turn can have Valbuena man third for Cozart, and likewise probably put up fairly comparable numbers to him.

Cozart's positional versatility is incredibly valuable, because he provides a safety net for our other key infielders.  THAT is what makes him so valuable to us.  Injuries happen, and teams that have loads of depth (i.e. the Dodgers) are able to keep trucking and still win despite those injuries.  This move we just made simultaneously filled a hole (third) AND improved our depth at the other key positions.  Great job, Billy!

[tomsred]

10 hours ago, True Grich said:

Change one letter in Cowart's name and you have Cozart.... funny

And they both could play in the same two positions - 2nd base and 3rd base.  Both of these guys play really good defense. Cowart can switch hit and Cozart can play SS.  If Cowart can find an MLB swing things would really get interesting when they might be on the same infield sometime in the future.  Also kind of interesting that Cozart found an improvement relaxing the bat at a lower position on his shoulder, Cowart changed to that as well within the last two years.  These two guys are like identical twins, but seven years apart.

Eppler is a genius.  If we have Kinsler only for 2018, and Cowart can take over third moving Cozart to second we could save more salary room for future signings, and keep a stellar defensive infield for at least through 2020.

[laagamer]

5 hours ago, Rico said:

... I want to see less of Pujols, not more.

Well, that's just unfortunate.