The staff written articles pretending to be General Managers will feature a budget of $26 million to spend this year. This is going to be a form of rock paper scissors. Trevor Bauer alone is expected to make at least that much. I reckon the Angels will be active on the trade market (and, of course, the waiver wire). Hopefully Perry Minasian has some hocus pocus up his sleeve. It’s going to be a cold winter. The first such article, by Brent Maguire, can be found here.
Rock Paper Scissors
Concerning pitching, Perry Minasian says, “We will turn over every rock to find the right guys.” I’m not sure if I like this idea of finding pitchers under rocks, but I admit the Angels cannot buy their way out of this mess. Maybe they can paper over some ugly spots. It’s confirmed! We are in the neighborhood of $25 million to spend which will not bring in any top level stars unless the Angels do something drastic with the scissors. The Angels have stars, though. They just need basic competency in various other positions of need. Make no mistake! There are pitchers who might be available in a trade. What do the Angels have to trade with? That’s the question. This is a detailed look at Ha-seong Kim.
Other Links
Tony La Russa’s DUI case is now in Chandler, Arizona. The first case was dismissed last Friday because it was filed in the wrong court district. This could affect the makeup of his jury pool when that day comes. Dodgers President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman, won Executive of the Year. Meanwhile, the Dodgers will have a drive through celebration of their World Series victory. It will cost at least $55 per car and nobody is allowed to get out of their car. Two internship positions are available with the Seattle Mariners. Robinson Cano is suspended for the entire 2021 season. He tested positive for Stanozolol, a performance enhancing drug, for the second PED violation in his career. The Mets may now join the competition for available second basemen.
If the Mets are looking for a second baseman. How about the guy from the A’ss we picked up last season. Maybe for a pen piece.
The difference between Minasian and Eppler…..
One looks under rocks for pitching.
The other searches dumpsters.
Robinson Cano is a confirmed cheater against those who play MLB and I hope that he never plays MLB again. This past season was a very hard experience for the players yo perform in with all that was going on around them. To cheat on your brothers past and present who have worked so very hard to get all they can through negotiation and then some cheat (x 2 ) starts hitting guys that are truly trying to hang on to their position on a roster is just something that should that that cheat out of the Game. Hard not to question Nelson Cruz’s season also. I guess we will hear “I didn’t know that Stanozolol was a banned substance. Why should I care? Because it adds one more team to compete against in finding an everyday infield player. Steroids should be banned and second time offenders kicked out of the game at all levels for life.
At least he is out $24 Million because of this. That’s gotta sting.
I agree steroid users should be banned for life, and the problem is bigger than just cheating. Players are competing with each other for jobs. If veterans are allowed to successfully extend their careers or earn bigger contracts by using steroids, college and high school players will see that using steroids may be an effective way to get a higher draft slot and accelerate their progression through the minors.
Thus, steroids isn’t merely cheating the players you are currently competing against, it also creates an environment that endangers our youth by encouraging them to take substances with harmful side effects at a time when their bodies are still developing.
Yes, it harms the good player. That is how I have always felt. ARod is the WORSY one to do this in my eye.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Well the first thing I would accomplish would be to get JUp an eye test ASAP and have him start working out now for 2 hours every other day and get into a lean, mean, working machine with his new spects. Second see if the cards would like to have Albert for a million a year and we eat the 29 million but clear up space for another youngster.
What about Albert’s “personal services” clause of his contract that kicks in after his playing contract ends next year?
I think I’ve asked this before, but do we actually know something is up with Upton’s vision?
I don’t think anyone knows for sure but it looks like he has some depth perception issues when going back on hard hit balls.
For all we know he gets his eyes checked regularly and already wears contacts.
But it makes me feel better to think a simple off season trip to an optometrist is all he needs to put up a 2+ WAR season.
The team needs pitching, more pitching, a middle infielder, a catcher, and another OF option, and you want to spend 29 million to open another hole?
Yes, Pujols is already a hole, but the larger problem has always been the team doesn’t have a better candidate to replace him and can’t afford to get a new one on Arte’s budget. I’m all for giving a youngster a chance to supplant Pujols as a starter, but there is no reason to pay Pujols to play for someone else in order to do that, there is plenty of room on the bench.
The time to dump Pujols is when the team has multiple better options (or extra money to hire them) and needs the room on the roster.