Welcome to the second installment of the If I were Perry Minasian series, where CtPG writers detail the transactions they would make for their desired Angels offseason.
In order to rosterbate responsibly, guidelines for this exercise are as follows.
- Angels end-of-year payroll (based on actual payroll, not the luxury tax) shall not exceed $200 million, giving the GM about $45 million to spend during the offseason. More info on how we came to that figure ($45,011,906) here.
- Factored into that projected payroll are arbitration projections from Cot’s. These are based on MLB Trade Rumor’s estimates, so there shouldn’t be any discrepancies here.
- When possible, use contract projections based on Fangraphs or MLBTR estimates, as experts from these outlets have a better pulse on the free agent landscape than most.
- Trades must be as realistic as possible. One popular tactic among baseball fans on the internet is offering a bunch of players you don’t like in exchange for some you do. In reality, that’s not how trades actually work, so that’s off limits. The Baseball Trade Values site can be a good resource for a sanity check often times, but each team values players differently and their wants/needs/tendencies should be taken into account, too.
Remember, no one has a crystal ball. Trades should be fair at the time they were made but can look very lopsided in hindsight. People on the internet will probably pull these up two years later and laugh at you. This can be very humbling! That is the nature of the game. —RS
Prior Installments
My Perry Minasian article from last year.
Part I: Jessica DeLine’s 2021 article
My Objectives
- Starting Pitching, of course
- Shore up relief pitching
- Cheap Shortstop
Non-Tenders
I would non-tender Junior Guerra for a projected savings of $1.3M. I would have done the same for Franklin Barreto, but Perry already took care of that for me. I don’t think his projected arbitration salary of $700,000 was probably included in Rahul’s calculations about the budget. After being outrighted, Barreto elected free agency in late October of 2021.
Trades
Taylor Ward to the Marlins for relief pitcher Steven Okert
This trade is salary neutral so I should still have $46.3 M to play with.
Free Agent Acquisitions
Marcus Stroman for 4 years x $25 M per year
Think about it. Ohtani and Stroman heading the Angels’ rotation. One of them needs to be healthy and effective down the stretch because we might have to make do with a wild card game. If they are both on their game, Let’s go ahead and win the division.
Alex Cobb for two years x $10 M per year
I would love to bring back Alex Cobb. He was an effective pitcher when he was healthy, which is something the Angels rarely see these days. We’ll just need to stay on top of that blister situation.
Raisel Iglesias for 3 years x $10 M per year
I would also love to bring back Raisel Iglesias. He was also an effective pitcher, which is something the Angels rarely see these days. If I can’t get Raisel Iglesias for this cheap, I will have to go for Kendall Graveman instead. He’s a step down, but I have to make the numbers work.
Freddy Galvis for one year x $1.5 M
I don’t trust Rengifo. I looked real hard about a trade for a decent controllable shortstop, but I couldn’t find one that anybody would part with in exchange for anybody I was willing to trade. For example, Jazz Chisholm Jr. would cost more than Adell. The trade simulator says it would take Adell plus Sandoval, even if the Marlins could be talked into trading Chisholm. In the end, I punted by hiring Galvis.
Optioning Some Guys
Looking at the Fangraphs projected Angels lineup, I see I need to option Luis Rengifo, Jimmy Herget, and Sam Selman to the minors. As for Detmers versus Naughton, I am sending down whichever one has a crappier spring training. I think all this comes to $46.5 M, which is about $200,000 over budget, although optioning those three guys might help me get back within budget. If necessary, I can try to back load one or more of those free agent contracts just a little bit to get us through 2022 within the projected Arte budget.
Starting Rotation
- Marcus Stroman
- Shohei Ohtani
- Alex Cobb
- Patrick Sandoval
- Jose Suarez
- Jaime Barria
Lineup
- Shohei Ohtani
- Mike Trout
- Jared Walsh
- Anthony Rendon
- Max Stassi
- Brandon Marsh
- Jo Adell
- Freddy Galvis
- David Fletcher
Bullpen
- Raisel Iglesias
- Austin Warren
- Steven Okert
- Mike Mayers
- Kyle Tyler
- Jose Quijada
- Andrew Wantz
- Packy Naughton
Bench
- Chad Wallach C
- Jack Mayfield Inf
- Phil Gosselin Inf/OF
- Justin Upton Inf/OF
I’d like this, good thinking here. But I do agree that Raisel will get more than that. Also, we just did the Thor thing. But still good work on this. This is the “solid upgrade” plan. I like Galvis as a cheaper alternative to Villar.
Raisel will get in the range of 4 years/$70M. When he gets paid, Graveman will get something not too far behind. We might need to look at Bachman….
no shot he gets 70
add a year and double the money for Raisel and you’re closer to what he will get
That bet I’ll take all day long
I think you Rasiel contract is actially a bit low. Althogh if we keep signing big names, he may see us as a big time contendor and give us a small break on price.
The bullpen is still weak, but the rotation looks good. Now with Thor in place, what would have to change?
I think within the budgetary constraints, I would now have to forget about Stroman and use that extra $4M/yr. to bring up Raisel’s offer to $14M/yr. If there was still a clear need for another great arm, I guess I would have to gut the farm trading for somebody. Unless Arte opens up the pocketbook a little wider, there’s just no more room to shop for free agents.
He’s not going to give any team a break on price, because he’s going to get plenty of offers from big-time contenders.
I like the Freddy Galvis angle. I don’t think it’s wise to pay for one of the big SS, but I think the Angels need some more middle infield options. If Rengifo takes off, then great, but I’m not counting on it.
Iglesias will be more than 3×10, but I do want to see him come back.
Like it all except I would have tried to package Adell with JUp and picked up a young SS if possible. Good job and no Kershaw, kool.
Upton is a big negative. You’d get more simply by sending Adell. Nobody wants Upton’s contract.
Nice one. I like Stroman a lot.
Let’s hope irl Perry has a bigger budget though.
Syndergaard on a 1 year $21m deal. Hopefully he has a hell of a year in exchange for the draft pick compensation