The current MLB is made up of teams trying to win and teams trying to tank so they can hopefully win later. The key to success is realizing which side of the street you are on and moving accordingly. Neither the Rockies or Angels are good at that, but in this case a deal might work for both sides.
Arte is convinced he can win despite all evidence to the contrary. The Rockies have a history of holding onto players too long and getting weak returns for them.
So, I give you Charlie Blackmon. Or if you prefer Fangraphs, I give you Charlie Blackmon.
If you click on either of those links, you’ll see Chuck is right at league average with the bat nowadays and plays a slightly below average outfield. He’s also slated to earn $10 million on team that is going nowhere and needs prospects to hope to compete some day.
But we could get enough talent back with him to justify that salary.
Yes, I’m at the simulator again but to be fair it did pretty well on the real trades this year.
In this scenario, the Angels finally land German Marquez to add to the rotation. Marquez is having a down year so we’re buying low here. However, he’s only 27 and his fastball is still well above MLB average. His curve and slider would pick up some bite closer to sea level as well. In short, this is a gamble I’m willing to make.
This sets up a rotation of Ohtani, Marquez, Detmers, Sandoval, Suarez with the sixth spot up for grabs. If Ohtani is moved, Marquez is likely a good guy to lead a five man rotation and if he does rebound can be kept in 2024 via a $16 million option.
Brendan Rodgers adding another Fletcher, only better of late. A league average bat capable of playing second, short, or third base who will put up 3 WAR this year. And he crushes lefties to the tune of a .304/.351/.519 career slash line.
Yes, his home and road splits are typically wide for a Rockie but I’m buying into the Coors Field Hangover theory that hitters will get used to the break of pitches no matter their home park. In this case, the breaks would be the same on the road, bringing his splits closer but likely keeping his overall output solid.
Between Fletcher, Rodgers, and Rengifo we’d have three MLB quality players for the middle infield and coverage for the inevitable Rendon injury. Plus we’d always have a pinch hitter or runner on the bench.
Adding a real shortstop would create true depth around the diamond but Perry wouldn’t be forced to blow the budget for one.
In exchange, the Angels give up two wide variance prospects. Ky Bush was the team’s second round pick last year and has an electric fastball. That fastball might lead him to a big league bullpen gig or he could develop his secondary pitches and be a 2/3 type starter. You don’t know.
Werner Blakely is much less known on the prospect lists but the Angels signed him for well over slot in 2020 and his performance in Arizona last fall was promising. He’s a multisport athlete who needs reps but has the physical tools to be a stud if he learns the nuances of baseball.
Really the key here is money. That’s $27 million for Blackmon and Marquez plus a few more for Rodgers in arbitration. It just so happens that Thor and Bradley combined to bring in $27 million this year on one year deals so this likely only impacts payroll by $5 million or so.
Is this the type of move that really moves the needle? Yes and no. It replaces multiple sub replacement players with MLB quality players and sets up a nice rotation all while maintaining payroll flexibility.
Yes, Ohtani will get a nice raise in arbitration if he’s here next year. But even with that between the Upton and Iglesias contracts off the books, Perry should have some cash to fill other needs and be able to play the market to his benefit.
Depth chart if this took place:
OF: Trout, Ward, Blackmon, Adell
IF: Rendon, Fletcher, Rodgers, Rengifo, Walsh
SP: Ohtani, Marquez, Sandoval, Detmers, Suarez
I have a few more of these to do over the course of the season. In the meantime, feel free to praise and/or bash this one with your usual gusto.
Oh boy…. I have a really ugly one of these that’ll make people barf at first but then may cause rays of sunshine and joy. I’ll wait to see if Jeff comes up with it independent of me….
Marcell Ozuna?
Definitely a bad contract. Could definitely get talent back with him.
But the thought of my ticket money going to a woman beater is just too much.
If we could actually get this return for those prospects I would be totally happy. I think we’d be very stoked on Brendan Rogers… not sure why the sim is OK with a probable 4 WAR player being at that value, but I’ll take it if we can get it.

I think all of these proposals where we use financial resources to acquire talent for less prospects makes all the sense in the world to me.
But we just saw at this trade deadline Arte doesn’t use the budget that way and so our GMs will never be the ones creatively using money to the benefit of the org. We’re the ones giving away prospects so you take Zack Cozart for the benefit of the Angels’ bottom line.
I love this deal: the money added doesn’t seem too onerous and adds players where we need them. I do wish we could get away with giving up less/lesser prospect talent, but it seems within reason.
PS. What I really like is that I’d already penciled in either Fletch or Rengifo as the actual 3b for 2023–I don’t think Rendon could be reliably penciled in. For OF, we need a few major league quality bodies who can fill in rather than “stars” and Blackman is that at this stage. The subpar defense sucks, but that can be addressed by adding a KK at hopefully an affordable rate, with the expectation that he is a backup or an insurance policy, too.
I’m actually curious about the KK love. I don’t know, but I wonder…
If you compare him to Magnificent Magnarious, or even Adell…
Post 100 injuries how much better is he? He is better defensively, but by how much?
Offensively he is likely the same or worse now.
Then, how much value, over a season, do we subtract for his inevitable missed games from injury?
Now…. is it worth it to pay him, even if it’s only say 5M, or just roll out Adell and a guy like Mighty Mags and put the leftover money towards a pitcher or right handed 1B/OF?
I think we absolutely have to have a surehanded glove who can be expected to play CF up to (or even at least) half the time, given the OF question marks (he would not always be replacing Trout, but sending Trout to LF sometimes, to replace Adell, the other question mark.). I don’t have a particular love for Kiermeier, but he fits the bill: a very good defensive OF who can be expected to play half the season and be available fairly cheaply. Is he all that much better than Monte Harrison or M. Sierra? I actually don’t know. Are there suitable alternatives in the FA/trade markets? Maybe. At least for me, though, he’s just a placeholder in for a good gloved 3.5th OF.
The question mark for me with this OF is that, other than Trout, there is no real CF, and Trout’s availability in CF, due to health concerns, shoyld not be taken for granted. I do not want have zero CF bench option without meaningful ML experience.
I won’t be sad if we sign KK. I also won’t expect him to be available half the time to play CF. Nope, as soon as Trout gets hurt Kiermeyer will hurt himself coughing hard. we will still have the Magnanimous Sierra in CF with 60% the OPS and costing 25% the money.
Is there another good 3.5th OF option with CF capability? Can Heyward still play any decent CF (should he even count, any more than KK)? I sure hope Moniak is not the best option (or worse, likes of Harrison an Sierra). We definitely do need some OF depth with glove.
Jackie Bradley Jr.? Billy Hamilton?
I think that KK is prob a better OF than either. JBJ and BH are far worse as hitters than KK, which would be saying a bit.
I like it for the win now approach.
First of all, trading those two prospects, cannot approve that fast enough. But I’d pass on Rodgers and Blackmon. Splits are terrible. Blackmon is old now. Marquez strikeouts down, juice bottle empty?
Perry should have made a small trade back in late May, Jose Iglesias. Dude is having a great year. Rockies signed him for 3 Dunkin Donuts. You don’t need a billionaires bankroll to make smart decisions on FAs.
people fail up when they leave Arturo’s Kingdom……LOL!!!
Ask Jerry, Billy, and now Jose
 😆  😥  😠 💪 
2 World Series Championships since Art*ro VETOED THE TRADE
Five World Series. Zoms. Durrrrr. Who dat?
I mentioned that to Jeff Fletcher and he looked me funny and gave me a weird response. You bring up a key point, in the Angels wouldn’t make moves for low costing replacement players and chose stick on the losing path through many turning points in the season.. Iglesias doesn’t strike out much and has a decent bat and ok defense.. That’s what this team needed . oh well
Yeah I’m good with ALL this!!
While I get taking on the $ of Blackmon to entice for other assets, his $10 in ’23 isn’t that bad, but his splits aren’t great. I’m in on Marquez and kinda Rodgers. I do question dealing Bush at this stage. Worth dealing for Rodgers as he will regress leaving Coors? Back to Marquez, the pitches you noted are strengths of certain Halos, i.e. Ohtani and Detmers. I wonder if working with them could help Marquez. I like your thinking, but I’d rather gamble with less pieces- Rockies and Halos prospects. I’m fine with just Marquez. Using Blackmon this year taking some of his $23M could’ve served nicely towards giving away less in a package. But Angels are weird on taking short term salary dumps, unlike some savvier spending teams
Jeff for our next GM!
I love this trade for us. Strengthens us at thre3 positions, costing us uncertain minor leaguers. Rodgers suffers outside Coors but still an improvement over what we’ve got. And Marquez will get a lot better in Anaheim.
Colorado’s motivation for doing this trade would be a salary dump?
Who says “no” first to this proposal – Colorado or PTP?
I like the trade, I have always liked Blackman, I have heard that he has “grit.” Rodgers would be a good add, I think his skills would translate well to playing for the Angeles. I have not seen much of Marquez, but as long as his arm does not fall off, should be a decent upgrade to our rotation.
Werner Blakely is a 20 year old middle infielder who’s been tearing up the California League this year until he got sidelined by injury on July 7th. He was the 4th round pick from our 2020 draft which could very well be Billy’s best draft as the Angels GM. Unfortunately we only had 4 total picks that year when we normally have 40+. So if thats not an indictment of the scouting and player development out of both Billy’s tenure ( 2016 to 2020) and the Jedi’s ( 2012 to 2015) I don’t know what is.
Never know until they get up here (Joe Uhdell)
Wait…. I’m not clear on whose feet we need to lay something squarely at….
Wouldn’t be a bad trade.
As for the Rockies holding onto players until their contracts expire or refuse to trade some of them at the deadline, I hope the Angels don’t head that route.
What’s sad is that they have fans on their site that have been defending that awful strategy, even worse, there are probably some fans on here that think what the Rockies do is smart.
Also, I am assuming Rogers would be at SS?
MacKinnon, Thor, Marsh shown the door in one day does not portend well for baseball players with more than average hair.
And while, i abosultely hate to give up Bush, we need more depth in both P and OF so i’d say yes.
Sorry but I draw the line on the bush.
Heh heh. You said bush.