Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings kick off Monday in Dallas, hopefully kicking off a flurry of activity on the free agent and trade fronts. There wasn’t a lot of news this week, but that could change over the weekend and will definitely change next week. The staff here at CtPG will appreciate you keeping the comments updated as news develops.
How could the Angels continue filling holes at the Winter Meetings? Just a hunch, but I think Perry tries to trade for a bat. He generally likes to sign bullpen pieces later in the off season.
Taylor Ward’s name has appeared in trade rumors for months now. What might a Taylor Ward trade look like? Again just a hunch, but I doubt “compete now” Arte will be happy if Perry tries to trade Ward unless he gets an MLB piece back.
The Diamondbacks are a logical trade partner for the Angels and many other teams. Their starting pitchers are already garnering interest.
A stalwart of the Winter Meetings is the Rule V draft which allows teams to poach unprotected minor leaguers. The Angels chose to add Matthew Lugo and Jack Dashwood from being poached. Lugo came over from the Red Sox at last year’s trade deadline. Dashwood, however, was a bit of a surprise addition to the roster and we haven’t talked about him much. Take a look at him in Rocket City.
Jack followed up a really nice year in AA with a solid showing in the Arizona Fall League where he tallied 2 saves and a 3.60 ERA across 10 innings. Dashwood struck out 17 of the game’s best prospects while walking only 2. He’s on the older side for a prospect, but he might be developing into a depth option in the bullpen.
If Dashwood represents the floor of this franchise, I’d say it is improving. Now what about the ceiling?
There’s speculation Bakersfield boy and true Angels fan Corbin Burnes might be a target for the Angels. I doubt it but would be happy to see it. Many of the higher profile free agent pitchers have already signed. Where does the free agent pitching market go from here?
One direction nobody saw was this:
Yes, the A’s shelled out big coin and sacrificed a draft pick to sign Luis Severino, who will relocate from New York to Sacramento. Just like we all expected, right?
Much of the free agent frenzy will happen after Juan Soto signs the largest contract of the off season. Rumors abound about both his destination and the backup plans for his well heeled suitors.
In the obvious perfect timing department, Korean star Hyesong Kim was posted just in time for the Winter Meetings. I’d like to see his glove and speed on the Angels plus he could help connect the team to the large Korean community that lives in OC.
Honestly, I could post page after page of rumors and speculation but it will all be undone once the real action kicks off. So until then, let us know who you like out there and what moves you’d make. I know some of us are full on Team Rebuild and want to trade away MLB players for prospects. Some want to see more emphasis on 2025.
Link what I missed and keep the thread up to date. We’ll create articles for any notable moves the Angels make. I’ll be getting into the Christmas spirit with my family and a parade this weekend. The holidays are still magical for my son and I want to keep them that way as long as possible and enjoy every second I can with him.
So here’s my wishful thinking. Arte looks at the Ohtani and the Soto contracts and realizes he wants out of the ownership game. When the top talent in the game is requiring nearly 3/4 of $1 billion to sign, the price of poker just got ridiculously expensive.
Remember Albert signing? Those were the days😀
Ha! So cheap!
Offer Trout to the jilted Yanks with a buy down. Perhaps the planets are aligned.
Only 6 yrs and around $210m left on the Trout deal. A bargain by comparison. I agree – now is the time to shop him.
But how can I demand Arte sign the stupid FA contracts I need to feel manly about our roster if I have no Trout Window to stress about?
Soto just made Trout’s contract look not that bad.
Soto averages about 5 WAR per season after his career high 7.9 last year.
Trout can put up 5 WAR in about 100 games if he can catch any health break.
Not so sure I agree a 33 year old Trout can do that. Agree a 28 year old Trout could do that.
2024, 29 games. 29!!! 1.1 bWAR. That works out to a little over 6 for a full season, about 4 for 100 games
I thought the Yanks would be going on a sht show right now after losing Soto. But the main activity again Los Doyers. They must have thought they had a good chance to sign Soto but sorry, doesn’t look like a defer contract. They immediately sign outfielder Conforto,? What happened to Teoscar who really wanted to come back, won’t defer?
I think they trade Lux, move Betts back to 2B and sign Teo back to the OF. They need to unload Taylor too.
Juan Soto to Mets for 15/765? We could have done that. Fkn Arte. trAdition. Boo hoo. Vaseline ass.
Angels could have offered a 25% ownership of the team!! Terrible
15 years $765,000,000
https://www.mlb.com/news/juan-soto-agrees-to-contract-with-mets-sources
🤣
😂😂😂😂🥃🥃🥃🥃
It’s batshit crazy
#METSDISASTER
Soto to the Mets
Too many bean counting nerds and not enough REAL BASEBALL MEN!!!!
you know That real baseball man pictured above, crashed and burned after quitting A’s . Right Toots?
Went to the Royals
😡 😡 👎
Shoulda went to the Barber
Had a buzz cut in college
that means the Yankees are the only team in MLB with a still standing hair length and facial hair policy, the Reds used to be like the Yankees for a long time.
I thought he went to Calcutta
I remember the decades where the Angels were a footnote when it came to Southern California baseball. Out of every 100 Southern California baseball fans maybe 4 were Angel fans with the vast majority backing Dodger Blue. In those days if the Angels drew 12,000 it was significant. I attended many a game where there were vast sections of empty seats.
Then came the glory days of Angel baseball and a generation of young fans born in the early 1990s
I feel like we may be returning to the mid-1970s in terms of Angel relevance on the Southern California baseball scene. Sure – Orange County has expanded and grown a lot in the last 50 years so there will be more people attending games than back then. But you can just feel the Dodgers gravitational pull taking all but the most diehard of fans.
For Arte to try to be “competitive” while the team 35 miles north is a behemoth is a silly strategy. Just go dark and rebuild for a while and reemerge. Trying to compete for Southern California fans with the Dodgers at this moment in time is futile.
Obviously I ran in very different circles than you . But 4 in an 100? Come on. maybe in 1960.
It wasn’t much in the mid 70s – me and a couple buddies were Angel fans and I can remember being in crowds with maybe 6000 total people and meanwhile Dodger Stadium was sold out every night. I didn’t do any polls in grade school that I can tell you it seemed overwhelmingly Dodger Blue with all that Lopes-Cey-Garvey talk.
Even 25 years ago, there was talk about contraction in baseball and the Angels were one of the teams considered. Then there was the magical 2002 season and the glorious decade that followed.
Except for diehards So Cal fans support winners.
I went to a shit ton of games in the mid seventies during the hey day of Tanana & Ryan and 2 days of cryin’ I saw ALOT of those cryin’ games .
Despite this fact The Angels season ticket base was way more than 6,000 probably closer to 10,000 so I think your memory is fading ’71 . In fact even before free agency the Angels averaged 11,000 to 13,000 fans per home game during those mid seventies loser seasons.
Free agency and ultimately winning changed that. Here are average Big A attendance figures during and after those Halcyon years:
1973 13,064 per game
1974 11,324 per game
1975 13,046 per game
1976 12,426 per game
1977 17,467 per game
1978 21,671 per game
1979 31,155 per game
Those figures were at the beginning of the games. Way different by the 6th inning. 😂
Unlike the Latrine where everyone is still in the parking lot in the third inning
Mine already faded!!!!
😆
Look how much fun even a diehard Halo fanatic like me had following the Dodgers this year.
You’re dead on.
The team has to change hands and a full rebrand needs to happen before we’ll be seen as “cool” again.
Like what the Astros went through when they came to the AL. Their uniforms were cool and fans wanted to wear the colors.
No one really wants to don a solid red cap in SoCal these days either.
Bring back dark blue baby. The Red’s all washed up.
Yessir 💯
I hope either Arte or New Unicorn Owner embrace a version of being the Rays or Indians…. but with the ability to spend if needed. Like the Braves or Cardinals. even, gasp, the Astros the last ten years….
But ALWAYS focus on new young players. Ages 17-22 are the key range. Develop 50 grade players all the time. Have lots of trade chips. Never sign a guy past age 32 unless you’re extending him at age 24. Waste money on expensive players via trade, not FA. Trade away 28 year old good players if you have a 22 year old that can do the job. Sign a couple FAs if you need them.
The Angels can realistically go toe to toe with the Doyers on the field. They just can’t do it via sheer spending power. If they did, especially if they started branding themselves as the “dirty upstart get it done blue collar” alternative to the Doyers, they could even hold a fairly large fanbase. Sure, most Doyer fans have 100+ aspirational scores with a 85 IQ and they’ll just go for the glitter and tits of “hard fought” victory the way Yankees fans and Lakers fans do it. But plenty of sports fans want to actually feel like their team actually accomplished something other than spending big when they win. The Angels could do that.
They need new uniforms and new fan Ju Ju….
I like the “blue collar” alternative to the Dodgers- the A’s did a good job of marketing that with their “green collar” campaign.
Of course that night sell better and be more credible in Oakland versus the OC. 😂
New idea: trade Ward and sign Grichuk.
Randall crashes lefties and can play a meh CF as well as the corners. This creates some depth and versatility, adds prospects, and likely has little impact on payroll.
With the moves we’ve already made and the evergreen focus of the org to “compete”, I am finding it hard to see Perry trading any of Ward, Rengifo, Anderson before the deadline.
We’ll see!
They should and they need to, but never stopped this organization from shooting themselves in the foot before.
Looking at Grichuk’s numbers that would be a solid move. Moniak can bat righties. Better than the Austin Hayes scenario. My thinking is just ensuring we can actually get ‘quality’ prospects for Ward.
Moniak is done
Was never a fan of his {he had one good time period of 60 days with us in 2023}. Done research into # 1 overall MLB Draft picks and MLB’s are the worst of the Big 3 sports leagues in term of Bust Rate. Not all of them will be a Gerrit Cole, if was any good he’d still be a Philly.
He’s actually fine as a platoon OF. Look at his actual stats. Plenty of teams have the OF platoon going and it works well. You get a .760 OPS outfield out of four guys. Fine with me.
It would be even better if we had an IF who can also play CF/LF for defensive subs if needed… but dreams.
Not sure how this improves the team unless Ward brought us back some incredible prospects. Certainly not in the short run.
Most of our current roster crushes lefties or definitely has severe career platoon splits in that direction. Ward, Rengifo, Adell, Newman, Soler, D’Arnaud & Neto. Our best hitter by far against RHP right now is MNT a right handed hitter. And I dont see anyone in the system short of Schanuel or Kavadas both of which have serious development ahead.
Considering that Angel hitters only faced LHP’s less than 30% of the time last year, not improving their offense against righties will continue to be a recipe for disaster.
Is there a version of Gritchuk out there who is RH heavy?
Maybe but I’m too GA to look for one
If the MLB product stays level but the farm gets a boost, that’s a win.
We’re currently Burnes, a couple bats, and a couple relievers away from being competitive.
The team needs to get way better exponentially, and fast at scouting and player development especially with American prep kids and Latin players.
Most people who are more knowledgeable than a bus driver who loves the Dodgers know the real reason we we’ve been drafting the way we have { reaching for college players and ridiculous fast promotion…..Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto, Reid Detmers}. It’s because of no confidence in our baseball coaching and scouts ever since the Matt Swonsin scouting dept misdirector. The Dodgers NO LONGER HAVE A TOP 5 LEVEL FARM SYSTEM ANYMORE, IN FACT IT’S PROBABLY SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE…..
Both the Astros and Braves have out developed them, so they make trades or use FA to amass new top shelf level players How did the Phillies and Mets get to where they are? MONEY-MONEY-MONEY-AND MORE MONEY 🤔 🤔 💪 💪
WELCOME BACK 2002!!!!
Latin/Prep scouting is a crap shoot for just about everyone. Because we’re gaggle of gagging bitches around here we do shit like never letting a guy like Maitan or Baldo go, but that has a lot more to do with our need to simp out and say trAdition one more time. I follow the Angels. I also follow the Reds, Pirates, Tigers, Royals, Braves, Rays and Padres to lesser extents. I am also forced to know a lot about what the Doyers, Yankees and Red Sox are up to at all levels. They all have just as many equal or greater whiffs than the Angels do. They just don’t have CtPG Guy.
They also draft only slightly fewer college players than we do and have a lot of top prospects fizzle out.
What they tend to do, in the case of teams like the Tigers, Royals, Rays and Pirates (sort of) is stumble upon a couple things they CAN coach and develop well. Types of hitters and pitchers. This makes their over all pipeline to the MLB team more effective. The Guardians are a good example. Need an arm that can go twice through an order? Pick just about ANYONE from their system past AA. Need an outfielder that can hit his weight? Not so much.
The Angels don’t have a scouting and development focus yet. Or at least we haven’t seen it, it can take a while to show up. Spending more money on scouts and coaches will help, I’m sure, but having a philosophy will help more. Just looking at more kids in the DR or Texas high schools won’t.
Ohhhh…. solid nugget there…. the “other” Austin Hays plan….
Winter Meetings — we are ready
That’s such a stupid look with the “eye shadow”….
Yea he’s needs someone to tell him to stop.
I can’t take that cringe.
You can’t unseen what you just saw!
Deputy Barney Fife quote
Baltimore spending some money tonight.
Tyler O’Neill and Gary Sanchez get cracks at the shortened wall next year.
O’Neil could be a big pick up if healthy….
If Yanks lose Soto, see within minutes Alonso or Christian Walker become Yankee mega rich. Gonna be kinda funny watching them panic to replace Soto’s bat.
Adames to the Giants, 7-$182m
Willy is no longer free?
Sure he is. Feed Willie Calhoun would love to play for us again.
that just increased Soto’s contract. The Skanks were (reportedly) looking to Adames if Soto went elsewhere. Now those Skankees will up their Soto offer.
SF needed a shortstop. Moving Fitzgerald to second and keeping his bat in the lineup is nice too.
That’s a good hitting infield they are putting together.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42815541/mlb-offseason-2024-25-free-agency-los-angeles-dodgers-deferrals-1-billion-snell-ohtani
‘We’re rewarding our incredibly passionate fans’: Dodgers making no apologies for record spending, unprecedented deferred deals
Snell’s contract represents the Dodgers’ fourth nine-figure addition in less than 12 months, occurring one offseason after deals for Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. Tack on Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, and those are seven nine-figure contracts totaling more than $2 billion in guaranteed money on one roster — nearly half of which is deferred through 2046. And though they are not looked upon as favorites for Juan Soto, sources familiar with the process say the Dodgers made a highly competitive offer to the superstar outfielder who is expected to sign for more than $600 million — simply because they can.
All of it has coalesced into outrage from fans outside of L.A., triggering claims that the Dodgers have exposed some sort of loophole. That they’ve rigged the system. That they’ve broken baseball. Asked if that is indeed the case, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman smiled politely, his attempt to hide the indignation felt by the Dodgers’ principal decision-makers when presented with that narrative.
“I think,” Friedman said, “we’re rewarding our incredibly passionate fans.”
Not gonna lie. A bit jelly.
Me too.
Thanks Arte.
Not in the least.
Although I’m not a fan of our misery
I never thought anything could make me inch closer to sorta rooting for the Mets. But since the only other team with the pockets to stand up to the Doyers is the Yankmees……
I would like to see the Dodgers sign Soto because then baseball would be forced to do something.
Manfraud would not do anything. He’d think it was “cool”, that it was creating a “buzz”.
What would baseball be “forced to do” exactly? And keep in mind, the MLBPA has to sign off on any “fix” that was “demanded by fans”.
So do the players in football and basketball.
I don’t think it’s the MLB players union so much as the owners in MLB are stubborn and stupid compared to the other two sports leagues. However each sport has their own problematic child owners {NBA had Donald Sterling, NFL has the Haslams and the Bears, and I’m not going to say who in MLB FOR OBVIOUS REASONS}
Bowie Kuhn and Paul Giamatti’s dad died a long time ago.
Forget the Astros, they are definitely the most hated team in MLB. Too much of ‘have’ and ‘have not’s’ upsetting fans.
I don’t hate them.
I admire them except that I hate the state they reside in.
They’ll need to pay higher vandalism insurance for surrounding businesses getting destroyed
Golden idiot, takes back Golden idiotic idea.
https://sports.yahoo.com/rob-manfred-walks-back-golden-at-bat-rule-idea-after-widespread-criticism-233921609.html
Fun story about Victor Mederos
https://www.mlb.com/news/the-baseball-traveler-angels-pitcher-victor-mederos-is-minor-league-barber?partnerID=web_article-share
That is cool. Thanks.
Great story but can he pitch ?
Could he be worse than Suarez?
Unfortunately so far he has been.
Nickname going forward
Fidal Sassoon
Do we even want Bret Baty? https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/angels-noted-prime-landing-spot-former-mets-no-1-prospect/1c626b8e0a0d39a809cf02fa
Depending on the price, why not?
A disappointing former first round draft pick?
We know a thing or 2 about those.
Perry loves collecting others broken toys…..
Santa Perry. Roster of MisFit High Draft Picks.
I would take a chance for the right price. Drop Rendon.
Mets signing Clay Holmes and turning him into a SP — 3 years, $38 million.
The stove is hot!