The Angels don’t seem to have impressed the people who decide power rankings on the MLB website so far. As my subtitle suggests, they think highly of division rival the Texas Rangers.
As has become typical recently, the sports media continue to suggest the Angels might be a good fit for Blake Snell. The article says the Cubs are the good fit for Cody Bellinger. The Yankees were said to be the good fit for Jordan Montgomery. Of course it’s all speculation and is mainly driven by the fact that not much is actually going on right now. The Cubs, Padres, Giants and Red Sox also get mentioned in relation to Blake Snell. The Diamondbacks are making moves for guys like a back up catcher and a shortstop.
The Padres finally signed Woo-Suk Go to a two year deal. The Brewers will acquire left-hander Bryan Hudson from the Dodgers. The Red Sox have designated right-hander Mauricio LLovera for assignment to make room for Lucas Giolito.
This is an article about the ten biggest nightmare contracts going forward. Mike Trout was mentioned, as were Trey Turner, Jacob de Grom, Aaron Judge, and Shohei Ohtani. It’s a rather pessimistic article.
Fangraphs is hiring a full time Associate Editor. If you are a stat head who would like to be in charge of their social media, this job might be for you.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Woo Suk Go ?
I think we’ve had a spelling error in the name …
It should be Yoo Suk, Now Go .
Did I miss Tootie Too’s IIWPM?
Was it incredible?
It was incredible…. Incredibly devoid of words.
As I recall, it was photos of players already signed to other teams
It was dated 2019
I am still reveling in the glory of doing nothing and loving the crap out of it.
Please, Arte, do one smart thing and don’t piss yourself because Shohei and his mom left. Don’t sign a bunch of guys because one time some fans heard of them. Set your sites firmly on the meh ring and stick to it baby. When “Faux Tear It Down Guy” starts bitching about how we did nothing let that be the sweet sweet sound of not building errors on errors.
Go ahead and sign a bunch of prove it veterans, most of whom will wash out, and let CtPG Guy whine his way to Dodgertown. Set The Floor in 2024 baby! Let’s see some kids play! Let’s trade a couple veterans in late June for more kids! Let’s gooooo…. fourth place!
I’ve never seen a fanbase bitch large contract signings into hell as much as this one so SOLVE THE PROBLEM Arte. Just don’t sign anyone for more than 5M. Actually BE CHEAP baby! You can do it!
Oh. And just forget PTP exists. Give him some money for more scouts and MiLB coaching and then look away….
Plan done. Jo Adell. MVP.
I don’t want them to make bad expenditures and I want the young players to play and develop. But, if you’re waiting for a team that comes from their minor league program, even if they invested and did everything right, it will be years before they are competitive. They are starting from ground zero. And the young players currently on their roster will not be a part of it. I would like for them to do what you want them to do regarding player development and address the major league team while all that development is taking place.
It doesn’t need to take YEARS, if they just do a build of the farm for a couple of years and get their scouting/development down that’s fine with me…. say two years.
I’m thinking less Baltimore and more the Braves/Blue Jays. The team has the money to sustain a 180-190M payroll with comfort. If they just get a fairly good, just top 15, farm system going so that a big chunk of the main roster is young and semi-cheap then they are in good shape to go out and spend on some big pieces when Rendon’s contract is close to done and Trout’s the only boat anchor we have…. and honestly I think it’s good for the franchise to have him.
But even if it does take seven years, fine. we need a fairly deep farm and about 15 roster spots filled by it. FA won’t cut it anymore, the classes are just too thin and the top names too paid. For example, if we want to contend, and we want 2-3 fairly good starters, you’re not signing 2 of them. Not likely. You’ll need to trade for one. Gotta have the farm, some of the CtPG Guys may die off while we wander in the wilderness, but that’s what annoying old men and thirsty wastelands are for.
Another day of “rooting around the periphery”.
fun stuff Paisano
most animals that root are things such as rodents. or skunks.
as for the periphery that would mean on the outskirts of town far away from the good ball players.
An interesting fact. A cockroach body can survive without a head for up to a week.
Which head?
I would actually like to see Turner and Martinez for two years, and Bellinger and a staring pitcher for reasonable money. This would provide stability while they develop and assess the rest of their roster and make them interesting to watch while that is happening. It would also allow them to package Ward in a trade if someone is interested. Moniak and Adell could platoon. I think they would be better than last year.
I think the return on Ward would be incredibly low at this point. We’re probably better holding and hoping that he bounces back strongly IMO.
I do not disagree. I was just saying that should someone be interested and offer value, you would be in a position to take advantage. It’s possible that he demonstrates enough in the spring to draw interest.
The team mandate for the offices high above the Phoenix dust cloud line is keep payroll low and don’t trade trout, we need him to get to 2 million paying customers.
Do you think Trout is still that big of a draw?
Not after the Ohtani show.
If he’s healthy and swatting 40+ homers per year, yes.
Most of us love MNT and always will.
I love the guy, too, and agree that if he returns to form, he will quickly become a draw. My question was whether he is a draw at this time prior to any kind of revival?
I’d like to see the Halos give a 1 year prove it deal to Tim Anderson. Maybe 1 year/$8 mil. Low risk. And no he can’t pitch 😂 But he could be a leader in the clubhouse
Where would you play him?
I would view him as depth in the infield and veteran leadership on the bench.
He’s coming off a miserable season and KOd by the hands of JRam.
No leader of mine gets knocked out on a baseball field. Keep his ass away lol
Yeah, that’s kind of how I feel after he hit the dirt
Particularly funny since he apparently fancies himself a “BadMoFo”.
Instead it was FAFO.
Anyway, a one year deal doesn’t bother me as veteran depth.
Agree on both comments
That’s why I would do a one year prove yourself deal – he will be motivated
I understand. I was being snarky lol
I have the impression that F71 appreciates snark about as much as he appreciates Arte Moreno !!!
I love snark when I am actually in the same room with someone and we can laugh about it. It’s harder to appreciate it in writing.
Is there a reason that the Angels haven’t approached Justin Turner? They need a DH and one that could fill in a third might be a win as well.
😄 Could be Turner is looking for too much money for one year.
As he should.
Totally agree, I’d be happy with this. Like it over JD Mart.
Also snag Amed Rosario. Had a down year last year after putting up a good run of 0.270+ BA and can steal. Shit, thrown in Tim Anderson too. MOAR hitters.
I wouldn’t mind Rosario either but would feel better if he had experience playing third. I also like Turner too, who can occasionally play on the field unlike some other DH’s available.
Why do that when we can just sign Gio Urshela and Robbie Grossman? Maybe a little Austin Meadows action? Eh? Eh? Plus a slathering of Dakota Hudson/Brad Keller/Jose Urena style starters and some Mychal Gyvyns/Lou Trivino style pen arms? I’m feelin totally Pomeranz this winter baby! Hell yeah!
Imagine being able to legitimately complain about the owner not spending. Maybe even free ourselves from bitching about a draft spot above #8. We could use a season or two of true bottom feeding.
Well, the Yankees just signed Cody.
Cody Poteet, that is.
Yankees now interested in Snell, and Snell “privately” interested in the Yankees.
Yep, he’s gone.
The front office is rapidly running out of players to overpay.
I’ll be delighted when Bellinger signs……elsewhere.
Excellent
Great, lets give Arte an excuse to overpay for another position player.
Cole & Snell is a nice 1-2 punch.
I’m of the opinion, Snell will fail in NY, lose support and will get hammered by the media and fans. See Ed Whitson.
On paper a left hander should be able to handle lefty hitters in a park that has ridiculous LF dimensions. Then again, NYC pressure isn’t for everyone….
MLB contracts this offseason are looking a lot like NBA contracts, where role players are getting paid an inflated amount (i.e. Mets just signed Bader for $10.5 mill, Giolito contract, etc). Maybe it’s been like that for a while, but these FA deals are needlessly expensive.
Unless Perry can sign an impact player to a deal that isn’t totally unreasonable, 2024 is for the kidzzzzzzz
Are you implying Frankie Montas at $16M for one year is an overpay after pitching just 1 1/3 innings last season?
In terms of reasonableness, I might say it is ‘just a bit outside’.
Unless he somehow delivered approximately 2 WAR from that 1 1/3 innings, the magic 8 ball responds: “definite overpay”.
It already is about the kids wether or not they take on a big free agent or two.
O’Hoppe
Neto
Schanuel
Moniak
Adell
Bachman
Joyce
Soriano
All of the above figure to have starter and/or prominent roles.
Most of our starting pitchers are youngish and we then have potential contributors in Cabbage, Plummer and some others I’m forgetting.
I don’t understand how so many Angel fans miss the fact that the youth movement is currently underway.
Oh ya, we are in complete agreement that the young core is in place!
The Rendone albertross has 3 years left and then we are freeeeeeee.
Perry and Arturo need to avoid another crippling contract like to plague. Not saying Snell, Monty, or Belli is an automatic albertross, but we need to be smart.
Totally concur and IF Rendon is healthy (I know, massive IF) he’s a solid bounce back candidate.
Bader at 1-year $10m is not an overpay. I think he is a good piece to add. Defense, speed an intensity is something that would have been welcomed in Anaheim.
So essentially Jake Marisnick?
Got it.
A very, old poor man version of Harrison.
Check
for 1/10th the price.
Checkmate.
And 1/150th the production…trAdition
Moar speed, please.
I do not agree with Turner being on that list yet. He was absolutely on fire in the second half of last year. It’s a long contract, but you can’t call it a nightmare as of now. His speed might diminish, but I think he’s the body type never to become slow.
The point of the article is predicting what will be nightmare contracts in two years. The article does not address current performance. The concept is obviously- long term contracts for big bucks become nightmares for the teams even if the player performs well on the frontside of the contract. This has been a common theme around these parts.
My question is ‘where is Rendon on the list?’ It must be that Rendone is already a nightmare contract so doesn’t qualify for the analysis 2 years from now.
Because there aren’t many year’s remaining vis-a-vis the other contracts cited in the piece.
BTW – As much as I dump on journalists, at least this article is generating a quality discussion. Of course there is a significant difference between opinion pieces versus “news”.
Not for most of the “media”!
`Not sure I’m picking up what you’re puttin’ down?
It’s actually not the “media” but the morons on the other side of the television/clickbait who take with breathless anticipation their favorite spewer of opinions, and then think it’s “news”.
I get the concept. I think Turner’s body will play longer. Just a guess. I think a lot of these other guys are big body dudes that more regularly break down.
I think Turner is a fantastic baseball player.
Eventually all long term, big ticket contracts become “nightmares”, duh. The question boils down to getting more versus less productive years on the whole.
Except for Vernon Wells. Toronto found a sucker to take him off their hands.
AA’s coming out party.
Arte made him a star.
The Angels were definitely the “mark”’at that poker table.
“Were” ?
I mean we don’t always do stupid things, but we still do them frequently.
I’m erring on the side of positivity in the early part of 2024. The longer this drags on, the more it appears that the Angels are being fiscally responsible.
I’m in the minority here, but health permitting, this squad can be competitive.
I’m of course looking at Trout & Rendon.
I’m bullish on our position players, optimistic about our core 4 SPs, and fine with the ‘pen.
The roster isn’t horrible. Like the last 2 seasons, it will all come down to health.
Bingo. Our best FA signing would be team wide health.
The production in the first 5 years of these long term contracts is key. Players are usually well into their 30s by that time and begin to fade. That is why Trout’s contract has become a nightmare. 4 years into that contract and the guy has been injured for about 5% of the time and is arguably well into his expected decline already.
Trout’s contract is indeed a nightmare at this point. Worse than Pujols’ ??? Maybe.
By the way if you want to see another scary contract- take a look at Hosmer. Dude is literally stealing money from the Pads. Another Borass client and yet another reason I would be gun shy to sign any client of Borass who might be the best snake oil salesman in baseball history. .
He does represent his clients well. That’s why many players heading into free agency sign-up with Boras.
He’s doing his job. Shrug.
Not according to some of his ex clients.
Really? What have I missed?
That was all ion Preller bidding against himself. No free agents wanted to go there so ol AJ made sure he got someone by a gross overpay.
In other words, good player (Fill in the blank) is a good fit for (Fill in the blank).
Sports writers typically know f*ck all when it comes to free agency. Just like the rest of us.
In fact, they might be worse. Remember the non-stop speculation about Shohei going to Toronto, Boston, etc. when anyone with an IQ above room temperature knew he was going to be a doyer all along.
A lot of these types of articles relate to the relationship sports writers have with agents who float them information during slow news times. Bor-ass wrote the book on this. The agents are attempting to manipulate the market.
💯 Boras is the master.
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master, master
Master of puppets, I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing
Just call my name, ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
Just call my name, ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
Oh yeah!
This is an Osmonds song, right?
A lot of people think that. It’s the Carpenters.
Or Air Supply.
Did you hit the show in LA this past August?
I’m in the Old Dominion (Virginia). Would love to see Metalica in concert!
Oh, hence the “Senator” handle?
Same formula as the security state leaking lies to CNN, MSMBC, etc. who in turn launder the misinformation to the normie public that lap it up like obedient little lemmings.
The speculation on this website re:
the Angels is preferable to the tripe we get from the “journalists”. Not saying that we’re insightful mind you, just less horrible. Haha
Verging on political but I agree with you. The lemmings lap up the information and believe themselves to be informed when they are actually manipulated.
Hardly “political,” in the sense that Hunter Thompson wrote about this decades ago: Boys on the Bus. Exactly same principle applies to “journalists” covering professional teams. Not even sure if they really think they are “informed,” per se. They know their place in the game if they are any smart and at least some of these guys do understand.
This is what I was referring to from Banned:
“Same formula as the security state leaking lies to CNN, MSMBC, etc. who in turn launder the misinformation to the normie public that lap it up like obedient little lemmings.“
Most of these sportswriters are relationship parasites and mostly pawns used by agents and management. They don’t know what’s going on, they get told what the other guys want in the press. There are very few with real baseball knowledge, so they gravitate to Bill James’ stats to back their lack of knowledge. Did you ever notice how many of them are little scrawny dudes that probably didn’t excel beyond Little League. They loved the game and took a path in the profession. Good for them. But in the words of Jim Mora…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHipzGL4dwM
Hahaha.
Completely agree with you.
All-time fave Jim Mora clip is “Play-offs!?…..Play-offs!?……”
Always gets me going.
An all-timer indeed.
Dennis Green had a good one, too. RIP.
kingman(full).wav – A Tommy Lasorda gem: “What’s my opinion of Kingman’s performance? What the f*** do you think was my opinion of it? I think it was f***ing b*llsh*t.”
I’d love for “Sam The Hat” to cover the Doyers and Lasorda back in the day…he’d probably cry and wet himself after this.
GarveyPlus.mp3 – Lasorda criticizing his team for swinging at bad pitches. (Warning! This is unedited. R rated language.)
🤣 Tommy had so many great ones. I wish someone would do a full ESPN style documentary with no edits on him. I remember one where he comes flying out of the dugout and starts whaling his arms at the ump like he was pissed. What he said was something like this,”You got the call right. 100%. I’m not arguing. I’m just trying to get my guys fired up. You absolutely got the call right, but I need you to toss me.” And he got tossed. I wish I could find it, it was epic.
Remember this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzjWQF1oP2M
Brett Phillips is off the board.
There goes my IIWPM!
Good morning Halo faithful!
Let’s see just how linked the team is today.