Non-Tender Candidates Who Might Help the Angels in 2023

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Or in the case of non-tender candidates one team’s roster casualty fits nicely onto another team’s roster. This off season features the largest class of arbitration eligible players I can remember. As such, it also features a lot of non-tender candidates that would fit perfectly onto the Angels roster.

Teams have until November 18th to tender a player a contract or let him go. If a team has decided they will likely not offer that player a contract, the team is likely to look for trade partners before the tender deadline. Returns in these types of trades are generally pretty light as the buyer knows the seller is about to lose the player for nothing. Why trade for him? To guarantee you get him instead of bidding against other teams in free agency.

Either by swinging a trade or pursuing as a free agent, here are the players on the bubble I’d target:

Joey Wendle – I was upset when the Angels didn’t land Wendle last year and the lack of infield depth immediately proved my anger was justified. All Wendle did was put up 2.5 WAR across 101 games playing second, short, and third. By comparison, Tyler Wade put up -0.7 WAR in 67 games and Jack Mayfield put up a 42 OPS+ across 23 games. Wendle immediately adds a critically needed MLB caliber player to mix with Fletcher, Rengifo, and Rendon without much prospect cost and with a salary of only about $5.4 million.

Half the Milwaukee Brewers. In seriousness, the Brew Crew has 18 arbitration eligible players to go along with a limited budget. One of those players would look great in Angels red:

Hunter Renfroe – the Angels need an outfielder, some offense, and likely want to avoid long term deals. A projected $11.2 million for a guy who just put up 2.5 WAR while being 26% better than league average offensively is a very fair deal. The fact he can cover first base against a lefty is a bonus. A Ward, Trout, Renfroe outfield might lack a little defense but would bring some serious thunder. I doubt he’s outright non-tendered, but if he is on the trading block he’d be my priority.

Looking at that list of Brewers, Brent Suter would be a nice stabilizer in the bullpen. One year at a projected $3.1 million for a veteran who has closing experience and can mentor what I hope is a wave of Trash Pandas starting to matriculate to the MLB level is nice and keeps the club out of bidding on other free agents.

Raimel Tapia – Left field was atrocious for the Angels last year. Tapia won’t make anyone forget about GA at the plate but does own a nice .275/.320/.397 career slash line against righties for his career while playing a very average left field. This would be a net 1 WAR difference at about a $5.75 million salary and push Adell and Moniak to compete for a bench spot.

Jacob Stallings – by his standards the 32 year old catcher just had a horrible year. Either he’s old and toast or he just had a bad year. For one year and $3.2 million I’d probably take a shot on him. Best case him and Stassi justify stalling O’Hoppe’s service clock. Worst case we call O’Hoppe up early in the year. In all likelihood between the three of them we make it through a year without starting a waiver claim for the first time in forever.

Kyle Farmer – I wanted Farmer last off season and again he would have been our best regular infielder for the year. Capable of playing second, short, and third, he put up a 91 wRC+ in 2022 and 1.5 WAR. More of a glove than a bat he’s the typical utility infielder. This move wouldn’t really raise the ceiling but it would establish legitimate depth on the diamond and keep Soto and Neto developing in AAA.

Ali Sanchez – A catcher currently in the Pirates system with a nice .262 batting average and .323 OBP in the minors. He’s only 25 and has options remaining and more upside than any Halos backstop other than O’Hoppe.

None of these moves would single handedly push the Angels to contenders but all would raise the floor. In Renfroe’s case, he’d also raise the ceiling. Adding that bat to the Trout, Ohtani, Ward mix would be great.

In the case of the infielders, none are as shiny as the free agent shortstops. But if our worst case scenario is a guy with a good glove and a 90 OPS+, that’s leagues better than what we’ve had.

Normally I’d justify these moves as a big market team acting like a big market team. However, with the team for sale and announcing they are keeping Ohtani and his $30 million deal on the books for next year, these are ways of taking our biggest needs and filling them without making long term commitments or giving up our best prospects.

Even paying Wendle $5.4 million would mean the trio of Fletcher, Rengifo, and Wendle costs less than $13 million. That’s a third of what the top shortstops expect to make. Renfroe, Wendle, and Tapia combined would be about what Thor and Archie Bradley cost last year. That would also allow Ward or Renfroe to cover first against a lefty which would really deepen the lineup.

The Angels need depth across the roster. Moves like this can help build it without gutting a thin farm system or doling out big contracts. What the Angels can’t afford is another year with no depth where an injury hole is filled by a waiver claim. And, hopefully, having a guy like Wendle on hand means each infielder gets a day or two off each week and limits injuries.

What do you think? Who did I miss? Let me know?