Welcome to the third 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
Another offseason is here at CtPG and as such it is our turn to take a spin at the wheel of being a GM again. With 45 million to play with, some figures to look at, and other writers to convince, here is my plan on what to do if I were Perry.
Goals
I have simple goals here.
- Bullpen is the key to winning in the 21st century. Make the best bullpen.
- Get an ace.
- More offense!
I have been thinking about this for a while now. Getting a bunch of good starters is hard, especially since everyone is after them. Our young staters are fine, it just needs someone in the top at least. 2 would be better but that would be difficult. It is actually easier to get more offense as everyone will be looking to get the pitchers.
Cutting Costs
First things first, there is some dead weight, some more dead than others. Gosselin, and Guerra are cut for 2.8 million more dollars. 47.8 is a lot, but it is not enough, as there is a giant elephant in the room, Justin Upton.
Trading Upton is not easy. He has 28 million tied to him, a no trade clause, and has been not good. San Francisco won’t eat his salary even if we put in a prospect, right? Best one can hope is a contract swap from a contender and get Upton to approve. Now who could that be?
Trade Justin Upton to NYY for Aaron Hicks
Yes, this is a hard sell for everyone but it could work if one gets lucky. NYY agree as it saves them money in the long run for Lux Tax shenanigans (if that is still a thing in the next CBA). Angels save 17 million for 2022 and get the better outfielder. Upton gets to play for a playoff team. Just have to convince him that he is a great player and certainly won’t get boo-ed in New York please say yes? 4 years and 44 million for a player who had an OPS+ under 100 last year is scary, but he could bounce back, right?
Point is, Angels budget for 2022 is increased to 64.8 million.
Trading Time!
The Reds are looking to dump salary, badly. Everyone knows it. Their starters will be expensive even if you take on a contract. Getting an ace from them could work but will be steep. After much debate, I won’t get those, instead, going after these bullpen pieces.
Angels aquire Eugenio Suárez and pitchers from the Reds for Jo Adell
3 cheap, young, bullpen arms and a hybrid sp/rp and all I had to do was take on Suarez. He will be moved to 2B and Fletcher will take over SS. Hey, we got our SS! Success!
Suarez plays better when he isn’t at short and he hits bombs. Perfect for my strategy. Plus, 4 fresh arms to the bullpen! All that for 13.8 million too.
Yes, giving up prospects is tough, and Adell means we have given up on him for arms. But hey, 51 million left to fix that.
Big Time Free Agency
For free agency I used Fangraphs’s own Ben to do the numbers. He is less likely to be biased and by sticking to one system I can’t pick and choose my way to save money.
Angels sign Carlos Rodón for 3/45M
The Angels cannot afford to miss out on getting a top Free Agency starting pitcher again. Rodón is overlooked and is a good fit with no draft pick attached. 15 million is a lot, but the big risk has to be made. Got that ace. 36 million left.
Angels re-sign Raisel Iglesias for 3/45M
Raisel is just too good to let go. He is a multi inning closer who has been ultra consistent AND good for the Angels. There is always risk with these things but this is a risk that you HAVE to take. 15 million means 21 million left.
The Angels are what, exactly? Angelic beings right? That’s what it is supposed to be. Yet they have not been in recent years. Someone needs to come and fix that and what better way than to get the one who always makes those around him men of faith?
Angels sign Nick Castellanos for 3/63M
And that makes it 4-0 ballgame. Using the last bit of money, the Angels offense gets even better. Arte is happy because star, I’m happy because memes, the players are happy because offense is great.
Recap
The goal of this was to make the bullpen killer and then hit them to death relying on a good enough end of the rotation and youth to step up for the rest. Adell could have been a part of this if it was 2024 but we don’t have time for him to get better. We need players now, players who will out slug everyone and then a bullpen of excellence.
Lineup
The lineup is now stacked.
- Mike Trout (LF)
- Shohei Ohtani (P/DH)
- Nick Castellanos (RF)
- Jared Walsh (1B)
- Anthony Rendon (3B)
- Max Stassi (C)
- Eugenio Suarez (2B)
- David Fletcher (SS)
- Brandon Marsh (CF)
Putting Trout back at leadoff maybe makes him steal again. He won’t get to 300/300 if he doesn’t get back to doing that now. Ohtani behind him also makes pitching around Trout difficult. Castellanos behind Ohtani makes pitching around Ohtani difficult. Walsh makes the RLRLR lineup work more and puts pressure off of Rendon who is now 5th and hopefully gets back into form without having to carry the team.
Stassi can come up big if Rendon does walk and Suarez can hit 30 bombs down in the 7 hole. Fletcher works better down there and Marsh at 9 makes him a second leadoff guy and in later parts of the game makes the lineup go RLRLRLR.
Rotation
The rotation is more youth focused than people may like but it’s the goal.
- Carlos Rodón
- Shohei Ohtani
- Patrick Sandoval
- Griffin Canning
- Jose Suarez
- Reid Detmers
Hoffman, Barria, Naughton, Junk, and Diaz is the depth. It’s not ideal but the whole goal is to use bullpen and hitting anyway.
Bullpen
- Raisel Iglesias
- Art Warren
- Austin Warren
- Tejay Antone
- AJ. Alainz
- Mike Mayers
- Jeff Hoffman
- Sam Bachman
The bullpen is remade and will carry often this season. It is also young. VERY young, with all but Raisel being arb or pre arb.
Bench
- Aaron Hicks
- Chad Wallach
- Jack Mayfield
- Jose Rojas
Reasoning
Now I could have just gone all in on pitching when I got all that money, but big contracts on starting pitchers who could blow up may not be exactly the wisest thing ever? Part of my reasoning is because I am wary but also because well, I like the young starters the Angels have. I was going to get more young pitchers but that seemed unreasonable to get from the Reds just for eating a contract.
But what truly changed my mind from trying to get Mahle or buying multiple starters was seeing how the team played last year. Bundy went from ace to trash, the offense fell apart due to the injuries, and the pitching, well, actually improved! I believe in these pitchers we have here in the rotation and they can truly shine. These men should have faith and that is a deep drive by Castellanos and that makes it a 4-0 ballgame.
Yeah… I also really love Nick Castellanos and figured “Why not?” and for that to happen I needed to have $21M left over so I took Suarez over Moose in the Reds deal and switched my focus to a bunch of bullpen arms so I had enough left over. Is it the wisest plan? Maybe not, but of the players acquired, only Hicks is here for 4 years, the others are on 3 year deals with Suarez having a 4th year option or are pre arb or arb relievers. Also having a switch hitter 4th OF makes days when Trout needs to rest or players get injured be an easier pill to swallow.
This also means that a ton of money comes off the books all for the 2025 season instead of say, 2030. It isn’t like I acquired old players either as the oldest is Raisel coming back at 31.
Oh man, you got me with Castellanos and Suarez, Huge! I like the idea of signing an OF and flipping Marsh or Adell as they are probably 2-3 years out from making an imprint, if at all. I would like to see the bullpen beefed up a bit more proven guys, like a Tepera or Knebel to go along with Rasiel..Maybe we could snag Amir Garrett in the Adell deal by tossing in something minor.
Castellanos defense is spotty but his bat just plays so damn well. I like his intensity. 0.300+ hitter.
Looks like she deleted it but I still have the screenshot in my phone. I guess I can’t post it here because of the settings? Idk I suppose she deleted it for her own private reasons but I hate Major Key so I was absolutely flabbergasted to see it was him. Now I’m left feeling like the boy who cried wolf.
Wow, this is one of the worst armchair GM’ing takes I have ever seen. And that’s saying something, because this site has produced some historically bad armchair GM’ing. Historically bad.
because…..? What don’t you like?
Most likely an Adell fan
I say we should package Sandoval and Adell to the A’s.. Pretty sure BB would like Sandoval already and maybe they can rescue Adell’s flawed batting mechanics and turn him into a way better player than we can..
Yes Frankie Montas is who I want. He still would be making Oakland A’s type money and is still in his late 20’s.. He would be a turnkey PNP #2 starter behind Ohtani in our starting rotation. No headshot image needed here!
Sandoval is better (using ERA+), younger and cost-controlled for longer than Montas. Why would you prefer Montas? Based on the one season he has pitched more than 96 innings?
Adell and Sandoval plus Montas salary (5.2M) is quite the pay for a single SP. Even if you think Montas is an upgrade over Sandoval, you add an additional hole in the lineup with the trade.
What is the upside?
Well at least 2002 is consistently moronic.
A already proven winner
We don’t know what the future brings in both Adell and Sandoval, besides we’re the Angels and we suck at player development.
THANK’S ARTE!!
Frankie Montas is only making $95K a year right now!
We have a cheap owner and hopefully Cheap Arte will pay him at least $8M in a year. Meanwhile DeSclafani was making $540K. Jorge Soler was making only $3M last season= $3.7M for all three!!! That’s $18M less than Justin Upton!!
Yes Captain Hindsight. But the key is you have to FIND these guys the winter BEFORE they have a good season, not after.
Hard Pass
Mom?
What’s wrong with having Frankie Montas and Anthony DeSclafani in our starting rotation? ( both won 13 games up in the Bay Area ). That kind of performance would take Ohtani plus one or two of our other starters combined.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it if the objective is to lose 90 games in 2022.
What? so keeping alex cobb, patrick sandoval, is preferable to getting two proven 13 game winners last season? Are you OK? time for another edition of ITYS ( remember halos heaven when many of you were optimistic about a future rotation of Ohtani, Barria, and Canning? ) LMFAO!!!!!
😆 😆 😆 😆 💪
The thing is I’ve moved on from having much hope on Billy Eppler’s kids and so did he ( Will Wilson to the Giants )…. Keep in mind that Patrick Sandoval came from the Astros not us…
If I post a If I were Perry in the fan posts section will any of you read it? I just discovered that section of the site.
We will push it to the front page, and after this is all over we will compile all staff and fan posts into one article for ease of access.
Write a good article. We are trying to ensure everybody’s posts get seen.
They do a great job letting us voice an opinion. Just remember that we all get to say something about your take.
The only ones that won’t read it are the ones that will hate it.
And don’t forget the ones without the brains, balls or effort level to figure one of these out on their own. They will hate your IIWPM.
It’s one of the main reasons I do one. If I’m gonna pick apart peoples ideas I better put one out there so they can tear it to shreds and make kitten noises at it… or they like it because they’re super smart and have excellent taste.
Just to encourage you, this is a great way to just have some fun entertainment in the off season. Take this current IIWPM as an example. It’s enjoyable because JHW came up with a kind of wild idea or two that worked within the constraints set for our little game.
Don’t be afraid of some douche not liking your IIWPM. The only lame ones are the ones where you don’t follow the payroll constraints and just sign a 230M payroll, or the ones where you make a BS trade (Upton for Castillo). But if you come up with some wild way to make the team better with a 180M (maybe a small hair more) payroll then get it out there.
Even if it’s not the best idea, it’s fun to read these and say to yourself “Eugenio Suarez! Hadn’t even thought of that!”. Don’t worry about folks picking it apart as “bad GMing” since all of this is guess work and none of it involves crazy things like other GMs saying no to your trades or FAs saying no to your offers.
He ain’t that good…..NOPE!!!
👎 👎
incorrect
Why are you down on Michael Bivins of Bel Biv Devo fame?
Verlander returns to the Astros
2 years, $50M
Get em Perry!!
Plus resign Raisel and sign Jorge Soler and we’re done!!
💪 💪 😍 😍 👍
Ohtani, Montas, DeSclafani, Thor, Detmers!
OK. I can’t wait to see your IIWPM. You have to use words and names and probably even look up some stats though, maybe a contract projection or two. There may be some simple math involved, the payroll’s 180M. You have to actually do more than post seven photos, say go get em, and post some emojis…. you talk a lot of big shit, time to show us all the way it should be done.
A lot of Cincinnati Reds here, does that mean Perry should bring him into the organization too?
Hey the,at red we got worked out well so…
No but we could ship you off to Cincy.
Honest question, honest answer, yeah, if he wanted a job here why not? Nick Krall’s done a really good job with a cheap ownership group in a small town.
Raisel declined the QO –
now go sew him up with a multi-year contract
Or get a draft pick and give it to the Dodgers when we sign Seager/Max
I wonder if Perry knew that Raisel would decline and therefore feel signing Thor (and losing a draft pick) would be balanced by the draft pick we’ll likely get….’cause I think Raisel will sign elsewhere.
This is crazy, but it’s good crazy. I’d even like these ideas if you can’t sign Castellanos because of Thor. The Hicks and Suarez trades are the kind of out of left field thinking I’d hope PTP can pull off (other GMs willing). Adding all that bullpen, plus Thor/Rendon and then if Suarez comes back strong? Nice.
I also considered Antone when writing my piece. I do make a trade with the Reds, but not that one.
You promised to go crazy and you did. Very fun piece.
If I were Perry, I’d take my lumps with Upton and hope for a bounce-back platoon season. I’d stick with my middle infielders unless I can give up some mid-tier prospects for a serviceable SS – maybe for a Nick Ahmed. All my cash would be for two front-line guys. (One down – now we need the bonafide ace.) Resign Iglesias. Keep looking for bullpen opportunities. Make my late-season moves like the Braves did if we are healthy and in contention.
Castellanos while a excellent hitter is just not a good enough fielder for RF and I am not opposed to trading Adell, I do believe that we can do better in a trade for him. I am not comfortable with moving Fletch to SS without getting a really good 2b to replace him at second base. We went for a few nightmare years not having a second baseman who could play the position and hit. Now Fletch did have a weak second half but that happens and after all he is going to lead the team in hits for a few more years. Stroman would still be nice to acquire still.
I’m also with you on trying to get rid of Upton. He’s the elephant in the room. Would a reuinion with Arizona be avaiable? Package Upton back to where he started? I ran this in the simulator and it came back as ok.
Upton plus 18 Mil
Rengifo
Adams
Angels get Poppin. ( A decent but not great bullpen guy)
Angels save $10 mil and have some wigge room. Just not sure Upton waives his no trade clause for this. And does Arizona value Adams and Rengifo for $10 mil of Upton?
Biggest issue is Upton’s no trade clause. The only ones he would go to are contenders. And the best I could find there was a bad contract swap.
Very creative, I sincerely appreciate the effort. I love the solution you proposed for Upton.
Personally, I’d rather have stronger SP than more arms in the bullpen. If we do not have a new #1 and #2, my opinion remains the team is not going anywhere.
Yeah I get it but most of the arms on the market I either don’t trust, or are too expensive. And I wasn’t going to trade a bunch of prospects for 2 years of someone.
Very interesting argument. On the one hand, an ace and a stronger sidekick mitigate the need for bullpen arms a couple of nights per night. And it is easier to count on 3 guys in a game than 5.
However, starters are being used less than ever and the Angels using a six man rotation even further limits their impact. Bullpen arms are needed every single night.
If I absolutely had to choose between 2 elite starters and a meh bullpen or two decent starters and a stacked bullpen, I’d honestly go with the latter right now.
I like the cost cutting moves (if we can pull them off). Suarez was a very good hitter before 2019 and I could easily see him getting close to that level. That trade is heavily dependent on how the Reds value him.
The Reds are shedding salary like crazy so I think it could work.
One thing depressing i see in these installments is the Bench.
Its nice we’re getting pitching to go along with a healthy offense but what i am seeing with the bench pieces is that this isn’t going to be a very healthy playoff team built for a deep run.
‘First things first’ – i get it – but a bench filled with AAAA players isn’t going to get us deep in October.
Putting Fletch at SS is going the wrong way – find a better SS ….AND a better 2B.
Having enough talent where Fletch is a bench/utility piece would make this a deep club.
Where’s Thor?! 🤣
Nice effort under difficult circumstances.
While I like your optimism- ain’t nobody gonna take Upton unless the Angels (1) eat the majority of the contract (which defeats the purpose) or (2) trade a highly desirable player and link Upton to that trade.
Not sure I love the Adell trade.
Most of the staff articles were written by Monday. We are already in the divergent timeline where we get to see how our ideas play out as compared to the real world Perry. I must say, the real world Perry seems to be comfortable with a lot more risk than I am.
Yeah I hope irl Perry has a bigger budget too.
So, is Spock alive in this timeline?
Does this look like a good timeline to you?