LAT: Why Dodgers’ Corey Seager should play shortstop next season … for the Angels.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

On 8/9/2021 at 11:25 AM, Angel Oracle said:

I’d just assume give Mayfield a chance at SS for 2022.

No more big salary FAs from other teams, it’s time to complete the process to contention from within.

oh, noooooooooooooooooo......

 

I'm reliving Frosted TIPS with this post!!!! But, But, But.... Juan Rivera would hit 80+Home Runs if he received 700+ at bats....

[stormngt]

2 hours ago, True Grich said:

Ok.  I just viewed them as more than defensive SS's.  They were productive, iMO.

If "they were productive then we need to redefine "below average".   I always felt Aybar was "productive" and like I said, this board blasted me for it.

[tdawg87]

The offense is fine. It's easily top 10 when healthy. The depth is there to keep it above sea level when it isn't.

Pitching. Seriously.

PITCHING.

 

[Revad]

18 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Agree, and his injury history = avoid him.

Same goes for Correa.

Already have given my “no thank you” opinion for Baez and his mediocre .302 career OBP.

That would only leave Semien remaining, with his power hitting, plate patience/lower Ks (that Baez could only dream of), baserunning, defense, and durability (only 31 in 2022), plus being a native Californian.

If they could get Semien to bite on say 2 years/$50 million total with 3rd year team option, jump on it.   That should take them to when Paris or Vera is pretty much ready.

So Semien’s money will come off in time to give it to Ohtani?

[T.G.]

1 hour ago, stormngt said:

If "they were productive then we need to redefine "below average".   I always felt Aybar was "productive" and like I said, this board blasted me for it.

It's not something I really care about.

[greginpsca]

4 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

Willy Adames could have been an interesting trade target earlier this year, given that the Rays moved him to make room for Franco.  Brewers didn't give up a ton (a couple of controllable young relievers) and got back Trevor Richards, too (though they then used Richards in another trade).  Adames is great with the glove and has some pop, too.  I imagine the Brewers' asking price for him now would be substantially higher than what they gave up for him, though.

Had forgotten about Adames. He would be a perfect fit for the guy i was describing, but with MLB experience.

[Angel Oracle]

4 hours ago, Revad said:

So Semien’s money will come off in time to give it to Ohtani?

That’s the idea.

[Blarg]

17 hours ago, TheLordofOuts said:

This

We made a mistake when we let Brian Goodwin walk.  Let’s not make the same mistake with Captain Jack Mayfield. He’s got an .834 OPS as an Angel. 

They didn't let Goodwin walk, they traded him to Cincinnati. 

[halomatt]

Simple process for Perry.

1. Find out who Arte really likes.

2. Choose (literally) any other player. 

World Series bound.

[totdprods]

16 hours ago, Hells Rainbow said:

 I just can’t see the team spending $130-140 million on 4 players.

Again, the Angels are currently spending about $120m on Pujols, Trout, Rendon, and Upton. 

If one of those deals wound up back-loaded slightly, it wouldn't wind up too far from where they're at now. Would that be smart? No, but they're already effectively doing it so it wouldn't be terribly surprising if they made the same mistake. That's sort of been the MO of Arte's last decade anyway. Sign big names, fail to develop the farm, rinse and repeat, etc. etc. 

FWIW Arte also hasn't really done anything to indicate he wouldn't hike payroll up a bit either. He's been cagey in his comments the last two years but depending on how the Angel Stadium deal shakes out, bumping payroll up $20m for a couple years could be within the cards. Who knows with the way things are going. 

For the record, I don't think spending big on a SS is a good idea at all, but it also would not surprise me if the Angels saw Ohtani's next contract and SS's contracts as just replacing Pujols' and Upton's.

[DMVol]

I'm not sure all of the big name FA SS's are going to get mega deals....the market might flatten out for one or more of them.....

[totdprods]

18 minutes ago, DMVol said:

I'm not sure all of the big name FA SS's are going to get mega deals....the market might flatten out for one or more of them.....

^^^^ This is the biggest reason why a big name FA SS isn't out of the question. 

It's entirely possible someone will be more willing to take a high-value one year deal, a backloaded deal, a slight discount to play where they want, or a deal with more club-friendly opt-outs or deferrals simply because the supply likely outweighs the demand. There also aren't as many big-market teams lined up to spend. The Dodgers, Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees, in addition to the Angels, aren't clearly needing to spend big at SS. 

Seattle and Minnesota could be in the market, but also have solid young SS depth in the bigs. Detroit has a clear need. Toronto is loaded at SS. San Diego doesn't have a need. Chicago has Anderson. Atlanta has Swanson who could move, but they also aren't really keen on mega-deals. 

All of those factors considered, it's not that big of a stretch to see the Angels playing in that market if the free agent's terms are flexible enough. They have a need at SS, just might not have the money.

[DMVol]

27 minutes ago, totdprods said:

^^^^ This is the biggest reason why a big name FA SS isn't out of the question. 

It's entirely possible someone will be more willing to take a high-value one year deal, a backloaded deal, a slight discount to play where they want, or a deal with more club-friendly opt-outs or deferrals simply because the supply likely outweighs the demand. There also aren't as many big-market teams lined up to spend. The Dodgers, Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees, in addition to the Angels, aren't clearly needing to spend big at SS. 

Seattle and Minnesota could be in the market, but also have solid young SS depth in the bigs. Detroit has a clear need. Toronto is loaded at SS. San Diego doesn't have a need. Chicago has Anderson. Atlanta has Swanson who could move, but they also aren't really keen on mega-deals. 

All of those factors considered, it's not that big of a stretch to see the Angels playing in that market if the free agent's terms are flexible enough. They have a need at SS, just might not have the money.

I could definitely see one of the big name guys falling into our lap with a manageable deal.....kind of like Vlad did in the 03-04 offseason.....

[totdprods]

12 minutes ago, DMVol said:

I could definitely see one of the big name guys falling into our lap with a manageable deal.....kind of like Vlad did in the 03-04 offseason.....

I don't know if we'd be so lucky to get one of these guys on a long-term discounted deal like we arguably got with Vlad, but also not impossible. A one-year deal could be in the cards, especially if guys like Baez, Story, or Seager aren't getting the big money offers they had hoped for given their injuries or struggles this year. 

Iglesias does seem to be a big presence on the team, so while he doesn't offer that production, there's also enough reason to think he's popular enough here to give the Angels a bit of leverage as they could simply retain him...I kind of wonder if Iglesias would be best kept as the UT IF, seeing time at SS, 2B, 3B, maybe a bit in LF...

[DMVol]

12 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I don't know if we'd be so lucky to get one of these guys on a long-term discounted deal like we arguably got with Vlad, but also not impossible. A one-year deal could be in the cards, especially if guys like Baez, Story, or Seager aren't getting the big money offers they had hoped for given their injuries or struggles this year. 

Iglesias does seem to be a big presence on the team, so while he doesn't offer that production, there's also enough reason to think he's popular enough here to give the Angels a bit of leverage as they could simply retain him...I kind of wonder if Iglesias would be best kept as the UT IF, seeing time at SS, 2B, 3B, maybe a bit in LF...

Shorter term/higher ACV deals or even pillow deals weren't as common in 03/04 when Vlad signed so you may be right....regardless, I think Minasian can let the SS market play out and come to him, rather than aggressively pursue one of the SS's out of the gate.....but, something else could pop up that causes him to spend a lot of his budget..... youneverknow....

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Shorter term/higher ACV deals or even pillow deals weren't as common in 03/04 when Vlad signed so you may be right....regardless, I think Minasian can let the SS market play out and come to him, rather than aggressively pursue one of the SS's out of the gate.....but, something else could pop up that causes him to spend a lot of his budget..... youneverknow....

Another reason why the FA SS route could have some momentum behind is because I don't really see any other clear areas to spend in FA this year. 
Yes, we need one vet SP. Two might clog up payroll and playing time unnecessarily with all the young arms we have. Trades can affect this.
There aren't any outfielders that really stand out as either a priority or a big expense. Trades can affect this.
Stassi is too good at catcher to platoon, though we do need a good back-up. 
A bench corner infielder who could platoon with Walsh if his LHP struggles continue would be a decent investment, but also would be cheap.
Bullpen is an obvious area of need, but spending big there rarely makes sense, and there aren't many high-dollar relief options worth pursuing anyways...re-signing Iglesias is the clear move.

Obviously, they can spread around a lot of money and stock up these needs, but there's also reason to believe a lot of it will come cheap or can be replaced internally. 

Also worth mentioning that Minasian said Arte had given him the clearance to pursue some high-dollar players at the deadline. Scherzer seems like he was the obvious name in play (they might have talked Turner too, who knows), but I wonder if they were in the market for guys like Bryant. Could be a sign that 1) Arte is willing to up payroll and 2) they're already looking at higher-dollar position player upgrades

[beatlesrule]

L.A. Times craig'd me

 

[Stradling]

3 hours ago, totdprods said:

Again, the Angels are currently spending about $120m on Pujols, Trout, Rendon, and Upton. 

If one of those deals wound up back-loaded slightly, it wouldn't wind up too far from where they're at now. Would that be smart? No, but they're already effectively doing it so it wouldn't be terribly surprising if they made the same mistake. That's sort of been the MO of Arte's last decade anyway. Sign big names, fail to develop the farm, rinse and repeat, etc. etc. 

FWIW Arte also hasn't really done anything to indicate he wouldn't hike payroll up a bit either. He's been cagey in his comments the last two years but depending on how the Angel Stadium deal shakes out, bumping payroll up $20m for a couple years could be within the cards. Who knows with the way things are going. 

For the record, I don't think spending big on a SS is a good idea at all, but it also would not surprise me if the Angels saw Ohtani's next contract and SS's contracts as just replacing Pujols' and Upton's.

Yes, and that leads to a bunch of hope and a prayer contracts. Now don’t change the budget, because it doesn’t appear Arte will and take away $15-20 million from the budget to spend on the other 20 guys.  So you can now spend $35-40 million on 20 guys.  Fletcher gets $5 million of that. If Arte opens up the check book then go for it. But that also requires that we don’t need to spend any money on a rotation piece.  If we sign a guy like Seager and now we have $130 million on Seager, Trout, Upton and Rendon, then $5 million on Ohtani next year and the same for Fletcher.  If we bring back Cobb, there is at least $10 million, Iglesias at least $10 million.  So that puts us at $160 million.  I mean I guess, but no set up guys over $2-3 million since we need a few of them.