In a dream come true for many, Rendon’s hurt again. Oh, wait. Someone has to play third base. It looks like that will be Jack Mayfield and Matt Duffy. oh nnnnnooooooo!
OK all you real humans of baseball. So 1st question. Why did we sign Rendon? For the answer, look at the 3B the Angels had had the few seasons before we signed him. Then go ahead and take a look at the 3B who were due to become FAs in say the 2 years after 2019. Then look at our farm at the time.
The answers you seek are there if you look.
No. Hurr dee durr shurd farm 3B bur den and ulsah git hurrrr dumb! Is not an answer. Neither is cherry picking some rando scrapper from the ocean of failure that you were equally likely to pick in Dec 2019.
Want to know why we have Jack Mayfield and Matt Duffy? Well, the answer can be found if you look at who can replace Rendon via trade. First, here are those fellows’ stats…
Jack Mayfield and Matt Duffy…. Two living men who play third base.
First. The guys we can probably get without trading a pile of talent. Go ahead and take a look at their Brefs. And beware, if they look like they may be a hitting upgrade, look at the defense…. or WAR.
Next. The salary dumps of varying value. The Mariners will probably want a fair amount for Eugenio Suarez. They don’t have a ready replacement, they are in division, etc. But they could stand to shed his contract. The Reds will gladly trade us Mike Moustakas. In a perfect world maybe we can get a AAAA OF and an arm like Luis Cessa off them if we trade prospects and take his contract.
Next comes the semi-good players. The trouble with these guys is they will cost us and we will have Rendon coming back in six months. This is a real life problem that real life baseball people have to deal with. How much do you give up to replace a guy who will be returning…. Like the Braves with their outfielders last year.
Also, how much do these guys improve the team, and what would you give up for that? This is literally what WAR was invented for. Look at what we have, what is available, and decide what that’s worth.
I left out fantastic options like Chris Owings and Matt Davidson…. If you think those guys are a better option than Mayfield stop sniffing glue.
It’s also, sadly, probably necessary to mention that no, we are probably not trading for a hot young pre-arb player like Jazz Chisholm unless it’s part of a general IF move… in which case we still have MayDuff at third probably. So no, unicorn fans, we probably won’t trade for Jazz Chisholm…. Or Austin Riley…. Or any other IF you see at the All Star game.
So, who’s the killer option that’s not gonna cost us an arm and an all star but is better than Mayfield/Duffy? The straws and shouldas are there…. grasp away.
And that’s why we have Mayfield and Duffy.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
This was a cool reread even a few weeks later! Love the baseball talk
You do nothing. This season is over. Just wait for Rendon to come back.
Good write up……next up SS.
I would recommend to stay away from pricey acquisitions as Rendon will be coming back next season. You mention that and agree. No Andujar or Drury.
Anderson would be clearly be my top guy if he was healthy. Not sure his status. His teammates Berti and Joey Wendle are interesting to me as well. I’d avoid the Rockies and if we wanted an offensive impact,, Franco but he is not a great all around player. I’d say those Marlins or just let Duffy take over and Fletch as backup if needed. Duffy’s a bat skills are decent enough. By keeping Duffy there, we shift the focus at short, second, and a 4th OF.
how about a 1yr OLIGARCH?
He’s retired and says he means to stay that way.
Thanks for laying out the options. As far as your question about replacing a guy who is back in six months, I think versatility is key here.
Guys who can play multiple positions need to be considered first: Rojas, Anderson, Wisdom basically in that order.
Each immediately upgrades 3B and pushes Wade or Rengifo off the roster in the future. That’s a win now and later.
Yah. Rojas may be the best choice for long termness. D Bags have Buddy Kennedy ready now and Name? Vukovich down the line as far as 3B prospects. I guess if they want to go with the kids maybe they’d trade him. His stats are pretty replaceable, but he can play 4 positions well… he’s just a really bad SS. Secret fun about Rojas, he’s fairly fast on the bases too.
He’s in Arb 1 next year, so still cheap. Maybe we can mitigate some prospect cost by taking Mark Melancon’s contract off of them. Yes. He is awful. But he’s also an experienced pen arm and gah knows what being on a crap team like Duh Bags is doing to him. Maybe he’ll snap out of it on a new team. We’d be on the hook for about 3M this year and 6M next year plus a 2M buyout… plus what ever Rojas winds up costing.
If we got a solid 2B and pen arm for the next couple years at less than 12M a year out of trading some prospects I’d be down.
Keep in mind Fletcher can also cover third. What we need is quality infielders of some sort.
Booting Mayfield and Wade for Fletcher and Rojas, no matter where we play them, takes two automatic outs and turns them into league average hitters. Huge boost.
When Rendon comes back, Rojas takes over as bench option #1 and our bench is better.
And it’s not like we’ve seen anything to think Rendon will ever play a full season here.
damm we whiffed again 😡 💩
Good Gawd we never get our head outta of our asses!!
What to do about 3rd base? There is absolutely nothing you can do, can’t make chicken salad out of…well, you know the rest. For the last Dozen years or so The Angeles have been saddled with long expensive contracts that just don’t work out. This is not just a GM problem this is an organizational issue from top to bottom and I really don’t see a quick fix for this long term dilemma. In my opinion it’s time to bite the bullet and build from within, and that’s a long road I know and owner Arte is to worried about keeping up with big blue to show the patience it will require. Best to just stand pat and hope that some of the young bloods can come through at the highest level.
We need to repipe the whole house and I know just the guy.
You know, if the Angels could get positive value in a prospect swap with the Reds by taking on Moustakas contract, that might not be bad. Moose is a no-average power hitter. If he could hit 5 HRs for the Angels that might actually win a game or two. By comparison, Duffy hitting singles doesn’t help at all when there is nobody on the team to drive him in.
I wouldn’t pay the Reds for Moose, but if the Reds will pay to dump his salary then it would be worth a gander to see how a change of scenery affects Moose.
Moose was just never really all that good. More hype than production. 3 useful seasons in a pretty long career. Much rather have Drury who appears to be on the way up. Even if this year is a fluke for him at least we could ride that wave.
Is Moose good? No. Is he better than Duffy/Mayfield? Maybe. Would Drury be better? Yes. Would the Reds be much less willing to trade Drury and demand an exorbitant price? Yes.
Drury also runs into the problem that next year you’ll theoretically have Walsh, Drury, Rendon, and Ohtani to fill 1B/3B/DH. Moose’s contract is short enough the Angels could drop him next year. If your plan is to just dump Rendon and replace him permanently with Drury, that isn’t going to happen. If your plan is to have Drury play 2B and Fletcher SS, that trades current problems for new (well, other current) problems.
Ooops – missed that Drury is a FA in 2003. That would be a better choice, but probably with a high cost.
Before everyone gets all orgasmic about Drury I suggest you go look at his career Home/Road splits. He looks like just another creation of the Great American and even worse than Jesse Winker.
His Road OPS is .723 with 6 of his 14 jacks coming away from GA.. not a complete disaster. His road splits are leverage metrics you use to negotiate and not overpay in the deal but not a deal breaker IMO.
Career Splits. Not just 2022.
Huh? Your argument was that his 2022 has ben inflated by Great American Ball Park. This is his first year playing there.
Yea I’d do Drury 3B, Fletch SS, Duffy 2B
Wade: Util
“Maybe we should get Brandon Drury…”
I don’t think its that wide spread… but consensus isn’t always a bad thing
“consensus isn’t always a bad thing”
Unless you have a terrible farm system.
I picked up Brandon Drury in FB when Rendon got hurt the 1st time and he’s help lead me to first place. Perhaps the Angels should do the same. The price should be reasonable and the dude is consistently hitting lasers and piss missiles with solid and versatile defense that we could use all over.
I like Drury, but the price will not be cheap. He’s probably the greatest combination of available/in demand on this list.
Worth a try but there will be a bunch of teams with better farms trying to get him. He will fall into the category of players where he goes to some other team and CtPG Junior GM says “I would have made that trade! We could have given (list players the Reds were apparently not that interested in as though our GM had no idea we have them)! Arte is an oligarchical puppet fister!”
I don’t see the price being too steep. The Dude has been solid to underwhelming his entire career and is a FA next year. 2.5 months of good play shouldn’t spike his value that much. That is probably what will get the CtPG Gm’s fired up when we inevitably DON’T acquire him. The price should be minimal and something even our meager farm can accommodate. The Reds will likely have quite a few options though to your point.
Yeah, no ones paying a top 5 prospect for the guy. Trouble is, plenty of teams with solid top 30s will be in on him.
My favorite option is Brian Anderson (Who’s name I unfortunately linked to Josh Rojas’s bref page…. mad skills).
For some reason his defense has fallen off a cliff this year, but generally he can play corner OF and 3B passably and he hits. He doesn’t hit like Donaldson or something but he hits… kinda like David Freese. Remember when you all hated him because you were all a bunch of butthurt children for 8 years because Beltre?
GREAT MOMENTS IN FUTILE NEGATIVITY!…. that accomplished a lot.
We’d have Anderson through 2024, we can try to platoon balance him with Walsh at 1B, play him at 3B some too and play him in the OF. Joy of all joys would be if he could learn 2B as well.
But really, if I’m honest, Mayfield/Duffy playing OK defense with a combines OPS of around .620 isn’t that much worse than Anderson.
The shear bulk of crap hitting is the problem. I think, if healthy, just replacing Rengifo with Fletcher may even help with that.
re: Friese. Yeah, I’d take 104 or 109 OPS+ (his two seasons with us). Our infielders: Squid, 41, Rengifo 73, Wade 54, Duffy 76, Mayfield 44, Fletch (remember him?) 38.
And hey, Rendon, 103. Drury is at 123 so he’d cost us. Nice low salary for this year but a free agent for 2023, which would work if Rendon comes back.
Too logical and unemotional an analysis. Also it has no gut feelings or overreaction. Has no place on CTPG.
That must be why I have this gut…. I keep all my feeling stuffed into it.
This is why I try to caveat my suggestions with the fact that I fully know that I would be a horrible MLB GM. I’m a 42 year fan of the Angels and my heart and desire for them to win trumps my logical and unemotional side. haha
I have wondered about Joey Wendle of Miami. He was acquired by Miami in a trade and is not a free agent until 2024. He is currently injured.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wendljo01.shtml
Personally, I’d love me some Wendle…. trouble is, so would just about every other team with a need. Maybe if we took on one of “TootyToo’s Forgotten Favorites” like Avisail Garcia or Jorge Soler we could get Wendle in the deal. Those are their two bloaty contracts…. we could just give up on defense and trade Ward, big salary relief, and some prospects to Miami….
But man, while it would be great to have Wendle would it be worth all that?
What should we do?
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Well, Panik is a FA.
(probably not what you meant)
The problem here is the Rendon overhang. We still owe him a ton of money for four more years and there’s no guarantee he will ever perform yet we have to act as if he will.
My first choice would be the rid ourselves of this contract. Since no would take it, why use resources now to cause a logjam next year, or pay much for a temp fix
I would suggest muddling by with the likes of Duffy or rind a cheap 1 year bandaid and instead focus our attention and limited resources on improving the middle to pair with Fletcher when he returns.
Angels whiffed on Kaleb Cowart. He would have been the long term solution but never worked out
Play Mayfield in for the rest of the season and see what he can do with couple hundred at bats.
Playing Mayfield regularly sounds good. See what he can do with consistent playing time. We can always reconsider near the trade deadline.
Jack Meh’field…..havent we all seen enough.
No because PLAY DEH KIDZ!!!! mantra surfaces every year about this time, like our scrub MiLB players are all future MVP’s and Cy’s