The Official 2024-2025 Offseason Thread

[Angelsfan1984]

52 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Yes but he’s simply a bot that Chuck put on here so we all feel better about ourselves. Kinda like Greg. 

@Chuck is playing chess here. If we argue with bots it keeps us on the forum longer! Damnit we’ve been had fellas…

[Chuck]

Wait who's the bot I put on here and who is Greg?

[ShotimeDynasty]

On 10/16/2024 at 1:42 AM, totdprods said:

Our problem - for now, on a rebuilding club - isn’t guys like Canning. It’s the 14 other arms we used for 33 GS/150 IP/6.73 ERA, or Sandoval + Detmers combining for a rotation slot’s worth of starts and having an ERA around 6. The problem isn’t Canning, it’s that Canning, by volume, was our #2 starter. $5M for what he does is a totally reasonable one-year commitment.

Booting Canning to save $5M just opens up another hole for those 16 combined SPs (Detmers, Sandoval, a dozen others) to have to cover.

If we had 4-5 guys ahead of Canning that we KNEW could give us 30/150/4.50, yeah, a non-tender is a no-brainer, but we don’t, and the market, as indicated above, cannot guarantee that either.

My hope is they:

1) try for a Burnes, Flaherty or Fried, but settle for a Kikuchi, Manaea, Pivetta to essentially ‘replace’ Anderson’s role once he’s dealt by July, or look at trade market for a Sonny Gray, Gausman, Bassitt 

2) try to nab someone like a Buehler, Matthew Boyd, Montas, Lorenzen, Severino on a 1-yr

The plan….

April-July rotation: The two options above, plus Anderson, Soriano, Canning

At deadline: deal Anderson, Canning and the 1-yr guy from option 2.

Post-deadline: The remaining guy from option 1, Soriano, Kochanowicz, Dana, Aldegheri.

Next winter: you’ll have a much better idea on how ‘ready’ Kochanowicz, Dana and Aldegheri are and how much you need to worry about investing in the rotation. And you’ll have whatever you were able to get in the deadline deals for those three arms (and maybe Ward and/or Rengifo).

Kochanowicz just threw 167 innings in 2024 and performed very well in Aug/Sept. Would be shocked to see him start 2025 in the minors

[totdprods]

43 minutes ago, ShotimeDynasty said:

Kochanowicz just threw 167 innings in 2024 and performed very well in Aug/Sept. Would be shocked to see him start 2025 in the minors

I can see it going either way. It’s hard to say right now because we don’t know if Canning or Suarez will be tendered a contract (seems like yes), if Anderson will be shopped to save money or open a spot, or if they by chance shop Detmers. 

Anderson, Soriano, Detmers, Canning and an out-of-options Suarez could be the rotation right there, and that’s before any SP additions, of which bringing in at least one seems likely. There’s still Aldegheri, Dana, Bachman and Silseth to fight for it too. They won’t all wind up there.

Kochanowicz no doubt pitched well enough to ‘earn’ a spot, has a better track record than those others, but I don’t think it is a terrible outcome if he (and all of them really) opens 2025 in AA. Anderson and Canning, one way or another, will be gone in a year. Detmers is probably a pretty real change-of-scenery trade candidate throughout 2025 regardless of performance. There will be plenty of opportunity for Kochanowicz (and the others) to crack the rotation at some point and when they do, pretty decent chance they’ll be taking that spot for the next couple of seasons. That doesn’t need to be rushed yet. Control their innings. Wouldn’t hurt to have Kochanowicz toy with another out-pitch either.

Good teams have good depth. We’re not a good team yet, but eventually, Kochanowicz or otherwise, guys like him are ticketed for AA/AAA on good teams even after solid debuts. That’s how good depth is made.

Edited 5 hours ago by totdprods

[BTH]

I actually think if the Angels tender Canning a contract, it should be a no-brainer to tender Suarez a contract.

Suarez had better peripherals than Canning (albeit in way less innings) and is projected to make almost 1/5th of what Canning is projected to make.

[Angelsfan1984]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Wait who's the bot I put on here and who is Greg?

According to my sources, 1961 is a Russian bot named Vladimir.

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, BTH said:

I actually think if the Angels tender Canning a contract, it should be a no-brainer to tender Suarez a contract.

Suarez had better peripherals than Canning (albeit in way less innings) and is projected to make almost 1/5th of what Canning is projected to make.

At the end of the day, we need pitching. These guys - Canning, Suarez, etc. - might not really have much left to give, but we’re still almost certainly a non-competitive team next year still. What’s the harm? The team goes from sucking to sucking a little more? 

Our pitching is finally getting to a place where we actually have some interesting arms that can be promoted, both pen and rotation, when opportunity is there. The problem will be if they hang onto an under-performing Canning or Suarez deep into the season while there’s a younger prospect knocking. That hasn’t really been Perry’s MO so far, so I don’t think that happens.

In the relatively unlikely event someone like Canning, Suarez, Thaiss, Moniak has a really good start to the year, they immediately become trade bait and in the case for someone like Canning or Suarez, this might be the Angels last chance to get some worthwhile value out of their Angels careers. It’s worth the risk for a non-competitive team.

[BTH]

6 minutes ago, totdprods said:

At the end of the day, we need pitching. These guys - Canning, Suarez, etc. - might not really have much left to give, but we’re still almost certainly a non-competitive team next year still. What’s the harm? The team goes from sucking to sucking a little more? 

It just comes down to how sincere Arte’s comments were about contending in 2025.

If Perry’s job is on the line if he doesn’t win in 2025, then it’s harder to stick with the Canning’s and Suarez’s.

But if the contending in 2025 is more lip service, then sure, I could see them sticking with the guys you mentioned.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

I'm good with Buehler as it will be his 2nd season POST TJ.... This year he was ok in his last 4/5 starts until this last Playoff game but he was averaging 5 innings per start for the season.

And it hurts the Doggs.

[totdprods]

28 minutes ago, BTH said:

It just comes down to how sincere Arte’s comments were about contending in 2025.

If Perry’s job is on the line if he doesn’t win in 2025, then it’s harder to stick with the Canning’s and Suarez’s.

But if the contending in 2025 is more lip service, then sure, I could see them sticking with the guys you mentioned.

I think it’s just lip service. I think internally the Angels are eying 2026 more. Perry has been a decent rebuilding GM. He’s drafting well, finding legit MLB pieces early in the draft, selling guys at the deadline well. They extended him to get another draft out of him and another deadline sell opportunity.

I think Ron was brought in on a two-year deal specifically to oversee a two-year rebuild and just be a steady, positive lifer to mentor the young kids and frankly be a manager who was 100% bought-in with the GM, something I suspect hasn’t been the case almost the entire decade and has been an issue, perhaps something that surfaced when Trout spoke with Arte between manager searches. 

That said - I do think they can compete in 2025, without even making big deals, though it would be a mistake to try and force it. The kids need to learn in an environment where the pressure isn’t crazy high like the Troutani window was. I love the make-up of O’Hoppe and Neto. I think we’re in the middle of a really nice transition but the missing ingredient truly is time. 

[Inside Pitch]

On 10/16/2024 at 5:26 PM, jsnpritchett said:

Just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, really. 

This needs to be avoided at all costs.  

[ShotimeDynasty]

On 10/16/2024 at 3:29 PM, jsnpritchett said:

Why?  Doesn't accomplish much for either team.

And Mullins is trending in the wrong direction.  Check out his StatCast batting numbers from this season (and his fielding wasn't spectacular, either):

 

Mullins was garbage at the plate in the first half and awesome in the second half. I’d say he’s trending in the right direction considering that context. 

[Inside Pitch]

On 10/16/2024 at 3:47 PM, ScottM said:

I like Ha-Seong Kim as a versatile guy with a great glove, but I suspect he's going to get a lot of money. 

I wouldn't sign any player coming off shoulder surgery to anything other than league minimum.  Shoulders are still a mystery when it comes to rehab recovery.

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, Chuck said:

Wait who's the bot I put on here and who is Greg?

Greg is the OTHER guy from accounting.

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, ShotimeDynasty said:

Mullins was garbage at the plate in the first half and awesome in the second half. I’d say he’s trending in the right direction considering that context. 

I don't think he's trending in either direction.  His hot/cold spells come from him being very batting average dependent offensively, but his overall numbers and predictive data the last three years have been really consistent.  Dude is what he is, an above average runner, good defender, who's benefited (power wise) from playing in the AL East.  He's a nice complimentary player but he's more likely to fall off than improve moving forward.

There is a lot of noise he may be non tendered.

[BTH]

39 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I wouldn't sign any player coming off shoulder surgery to anything other than league minimum.  Shoulders are still a mystery when it comes to rehab recovery.

And Kim is going to more valuable to teams that want to use him at SS, of which there are plenty.

LAD, ATL, SF, maybe SD.

[Tank]

2 hours ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

According to my sources, 1961 is a Russian bot named Vladimir.

my sources tell me he's a czech named vlasic (like the pickle).

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, SlappyUtilityMIF said:

I'm good with Buehler as it will be his 2nd season POST TJ.... This year he was ok in his last 4/5 starts until this last Playoff game but he was averaging 5 innings per start for the season.

And it hurts the Doggs.

Buehler is pretty high on my list, his predictive stuff kept ticking up all season long.  

[Angelsfan1984]

46 minutes ago, Tank said:

my sources tell me he's a czech named vlasic (like the pickle).

I think our sources are the national enquirer.