As we head into the 1 P.M. Eastern Time January 15 deadline to exchange arbitration figures for unsigned players, I present you with the MLB Trade Rumors 2021 Arb Tracker. It appears the Angels have six cases to settle. Rhett Bollinger breaks down what to expect for each of those six players. Do you think the Angels can settle six cases by Friday?
Other Angels Links Besides Six To Settle
With Jo Adell’s promotion the Angels’ farm system fell a few places to 26th, at least as far as Bleacher Report is concerned. So “tank rating” is a thing. The Angels scored a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being very likely to tank. Our 3 ties us with the Astros and Athletics. The Mariners scored a 4 and the Rangers got a 5. Victor Rojas explained his decision to become the top baseball operations executive of a double A team near his home in an interview with Terry Smith on AM 830. He seems to have no regrets about interviewing for the Angels GM position and doesn’t think anything he said about the team was going to hurt him going forward. We already knew a lot of this stuff, but a little more clarity never hurts.
Links About Showcases
Nearly 25 teams showed up at Corey Kluber’s showcase. What is “nearly 25?” 24? In any event he supposedly looked OK, which is a good thing since the Angels were almost definitely there. Anthony Swarzak and Steve Cishek both also pitched at the same showcase. They have the same agency as Kluber so it made sense to have all of them at the same showcase. Cole Hamels will be having a showcase of his own, but it has not yet been scheduled.
Other Links From Around Baseball
They are talking about allowing fans at games as long as they are socially distanced and masked. No vaccination will be required. Of course, MLB can say whatever it wants. The State of California makes the rules for the California teams. Here is some more on Trevor Bauer’s quest to get Gerrit Cole type money. I don’t see Arte saying “Aw shucks Trevor! Of course you should make $36 Million in AAV. It’s the Angels way.” Justin Anderson signed a two year minor league deal with the Texas Rangers. This article about the Twins bullpen features a lot of analysis about what went right and what went wrong with Hansel Robles. Starter Antonio Senzatela and the Rockies have a one year deal worth $3 Million. Michael Fulmer settled with the Tigers thus avoiding arbitration. The deal is 1 year for $3.1 Million. Finally, the Astros will probably sign reliever Pedro Baez.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Had to laugh at the MLB link from a couple days ago. Apparently we’re going to the WS in 2022 and losing to the Doyers. There’s a lot of hand waving needed to get us there… 😂
Plus I don’t think the Doyers can win it in a full season
I think arbitration looms larger this year than most. Teams are more nervous about payroll than usual and having the arbitration cases handled will give them some clarity.
Coming off such a strange platform year, I think both sides will look to settle rather than head to an unpredictable hearing. But that’s just me. I’m pretty conservative by nature when it comes to money. I’d rather give in a little than go to a hearing and have no control.
Archie Bradley is off the board to the Phillies – one year, $6m
Yes, relief pitching is a lot more expensive than we thought/hoped it would be.
Iglesias is turning out to be a bargain. Someone is possibly going to end up paying Hand more than the $10 million they could have gotten him for.
We will fix that farm ranking, MLB international prospects signing begins tomorrow.
https://youtu.be/Tqm7-zN5s8k?t=48
thank you
Fabian Ardaya (The Athletic subscription required) went over a few potential candidates to replace Victor as Angels play-by-play announcer.
I’m not familiar with Levering but I actually like the brief bit of what I heard.
A new Sports Illustrated article says that MLB has decided to suspend all political donations once it realized that it had given money to two senators and nine representatives who were among those opposing certification of Biden’s victory. Great, so on top of the cheating, the tanking, the Ford advertisements on the batting helmets, and the turmoil in the minor leagues, MLB has been taking some of the money I spend on Angel tickets and using it to participate in the legalized bribery of campaign contributions. What quid did MLB want from Ted Cruz et al. in exchange for fattening their re-election campaign accounts?
The quid was “Stay away from our antitrust exemption!”
Don’t forget the tax breaks and weak labor laws too!
I think red is correct. I can also guarantee that MLB is likely contributing to the other side of the aisle for that same reason.
Take a look at the sponsors of the law that screwed minor leaguers out of minimum wage. Sponsored by one representative of each party, passed by members of both.
Sort of like when a lot of corporations suspended Facebook ads in June when their ad budgets were already wrecked from COVID, this feels like a league looking to score PR points for costs they were already looking to cut after getting wrecked from COVID.
Political parties shouldn’t be able to accept contributions from corporations. If Manfred wants to make a donation, fine, but MLB shouldn’t be allowed.
Nor should unions
Never should of given up on Anderson me thinks, but no great damage done me thinks to.
More today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow it appears that nothing big is going to take place for us in signing anyone big name and just wait until next off season.
This type of history has been magical for us
I kind of liked Anderson. Seemed like a good guy on IG, throws crazy heat when healthy.
Under a normal year I think the Angels tender him a contract and pay him to rehab for a year. But this isn’t a normal year so that $800k needs to be used for someone who can help this year.
We sure have been spending for a lot of help recently.