Good morning Angels fans. It is a big day out there for America. Feels like the first day of a new year rather than December still. Anyway have some links.
Angels News
Baseball America had their new top 100 prospects list come out. Angels had Adell and Marsh on the list and multiple honorable mentions.
Former Angel pitcher (among other teams) and HOFer Don Sutton passed away. These deaths so not stop coming. While known more as a Dodger, he won his 300th game as an Angel.
Angels finally sign a starting pitcher! Jose Quintana! One year 8 million.
Around Baseball
Well that was fast. The Mets already fired their GM for being a giant POS. Cohen does not wait around.
Oh and it isn’t over yet for him. The guy is being investigated and may be banned from baseball. To think the Angels could have chosen him as a GM. Whew.
Blue Jays got Springer. I mean they keep not landing anyone so they finally got someone. 6 years 150 million, that is a lot… To land a cheater.
Jon Lester is now a Nat. One year. 2 million. That is really cheap.
Tyler Chatwood is off the board too. Former Angel, kinda miss him.
And so is Kirby Yates. This one is a reliever though, not a sp.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes.
I, unfortunately, lost my dad on the same day. Ironically, this Christmas, I was at the card shop and put down a Clemente card and instead bought my son a Don Sutton autograph on a HOF ceremony ticket from the year he was inducted. I thought it was cool, but I never thought it would add this much connection. Hopefully, they’ll be playing some catch together.
I was at my friend’s, and when I heard about Don Sutton’s passing, I actually broke down into tears.
Yup. I agree…
https://twitter.com/nut_history/status/1351878670336602114
Looks awesome that way.
I doubt they’ll be banging trash can lids for Springer, but I guess White Shirt Guy can always come out of retirement.
No Snell. No Bauer. Another mediocre SP signing. Another year of hoping injury prone Ohtani gives you more than a month and a half on the mound even tho his 52 IP entering year 4 warns us not to hold our breath. Why don’t they use Adell to get more pitching?
waah waah waaaaahhh
What he says is what we all feel but we will not feel very loyal if we agree. We all saw reasons for a SS and sticking with JUp one more year. But at catcher it was a tough call with what we got in Suzuki but it is useable. But pitching is where we are still weak. So I would say we as a group are surprised that more was not added.
Hold on a second. A whole lotta disappointment to go around. We definitely thought with the change of the GM position that we as could expect that more would be done to improve this team. Epp’s could have done this, so why change out. Arte is really the top dog, Perry can’t make a move without asking permission, again no confidence in the GM and sticking to a low budget and not addressing the issues of organizational changes will not get us and Trouty to the playoffs and much less to the WS. Please do not tell me you are fine with where the team sits.
I’m fine with where the team sits.
I’m fine with our not so small budget. I’m also fine with what Perry’s done thus far. What’s it been, six weeks, seven since he was hired? If everything is the same old horrible unbearable hellscape you have been subjected to the last few years in 2023 then I’ll worry.
Minasian and his staff haven’t had time to really evaluate the prospects. Trading them now could lead to a major mistake, and we have so few with trade value.
Pitching depth as of 1/20/21
Rotation: Bundy, Quintana, Heaney, Canning, Barria, Sandoval, Suarez, Peters, Yan, Rodriguez, Pena, Detmers plus whatever we get from Ohtani.
Bullpen: Iglesias, Mayers, Buttrey, Claudio, Pena, Sandoval, Barria, Bard, Quijada, Keller, Reyes
I think 100 innings from Ohtani is a fairly optimistic but attainable goal. Maybe 12-15 starts on Sunday’s at 5-6 innings per start is more realistic, which is 60-90 IP. There are too many bullpen pieces lying around to not add one more. The rotation, though is definitely underwhelming.
Reiterating what I said in the Quintana thread: Iglesias is a huge upgrade. He had 8 saves in 60 games last year. Our entire team had 12. Even with average starting pitching our offense should be able to hand leads to the bullpen late and expect them to hold most of the time now.
The Angels led the league in blown saves last year. In order to do so the bullpen had to have been given leads to blow. Adding Iglesias should be a major help in that regard.
How are you feeling about the chances of Bauer, Jeff?
I’m perfectly fine on missing out on Bauer. Personally I think the Central was a horrible league that helped his and a lot of other pitchers look better than they were.
I think our chances are low. And I’m fine with that.
Yeah, I think i’m getting there, too. What are we looking at for options to still add a front of the rotation guy?
I, admittedly, have not been paying the most attention this off-season.
In the real world, probably Gray on the trade front and Tanaka as a free agent.
I’ll happily take either, tbh.
Same. Would prefer Gray, but either one gives a decent rotation and a little depth.
If they are serious about going after Brad Hand as Jon Heyman is reporting, we have likely moved on from Bauer.
That or Arte is going nuts.
But it’s Heyman so probably just trying to get a higher bid for a Boras client.
Where did Adell and Marsh end up on the BA Top 100?
2 and 4
Cool, thanks!
Could turn one into some pitching 👀
Sad day for me today. Everyone has days when they mourn for friends who pass away, and today for me is one of those days. You see Don Sutton was a friend of mine. RIP Don Sutton as my thoughts and prayers are with you all.
One day you must entertain us with Sutton stories. For now, sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss, GPB. It hit me hard, too.
Next couple weeks should be interesting. Expectations are low given the lack of payroll room left but low expectations are probably best at this point. We don’t do well with high ones.
The quest to the elusive .500 record has begun.