We are less than two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. This is the time of year when teams start filling in their last areas of need and free agents are eager to cut a deal and find a home.
The biggest storyline around Angels camp should be the youth movement and burgeoning homegrown pitching staff. I looked at arms on the farm yesterday in my latest piece on the Angels rebuild.
Camp battles for the fifth starter and several bullpen roles should be the top drama in Tempe. If we’re being honest with ourselves, there’s a lot of unknown with this group and the team will spend the next year or so figuring out what they have.
One really intriguing arm is Jack Kochanowicz, who made his way to MLB last season. FanGraphs did a great deep dive on the man who couldn’t miss a bat last season. That is your long form reading this weekend and it dovetails nicely with my less stellar piece on Silent C from earlier this off season.
In all, we tend to both come to the same conclusion: a more varied pitch selection will increase strikeouts and could make Silent C a very good pitcher.
In writing the pitching installment of the rebuild series, I came across a guy who wasn’t on my radar previously. Camden Minacci is a single inning reliever so he won’t show up on a ton of top prospect lists. But he has a filthy fastball and slider to go along with above average command. The more I look at the Wake Forest product, the more I like him.
While I fully expect Perry Minasian to add a reliever or two, there is only one real way for Arte to make a big splash; sign Pete Alonso. So far no news on that front, but after some public airing of grievances last week Mets owner Steve Cohen is continuing to talk to Alonso and his camp.
How much more will the Angels add before the season? That tops the list of 5 questions the team site was asked and tried to answer.
Perry has made some interesting depth moves, including Tim Anderson. I’m particularly interested in seeing how/if Washington can help Tim get back to basics and be a good player again.
Personally I see the Angels holding the course and simply adding a reliever or depth piece. But there’s at least a 10% shot the team pulls off something notable.
One move I’m shocked Arte didn’t make was signing Mad Max Scherzer, who held a showcase for teams yesterday. He must have looked pretty good because Toronto scooped him up for 1 year and $15.5 million.
From around baseball:
You know it is bad when the Yankees ownership complains they can’t spend as much as the Dodgers. I’ve posited for years the owners need to have an internal fight and it seems like one is brewing.
That said, respect to the Dodgers for donating $100,000,000 to local fire victims. At least they are taking the luxury tax payments dodged using deferrals and putting them to good use.
Ha-Seong Kim lands with Tampa Bay on what I think is a great fit for player and club. He’ll get the opportunity to play shortstop and his bat will play nicely in the AL East.
Unfortunately, Kim’s former employer in San Diego looks to be headed for a messy fight among owners and now one of the groups is claiming that fight cost them Roki Sasaki. I really want Charles input on this but I’ve read many trusts and have one myself. It is difficult if not impossible for me to believe each side in this dispute can have full copies of the fully executed trust and see things this differently.
Former Angels closer Charlie Sheen signed a two year deal with KC while the Detroit Tigers snagged Tommy Kahlne away from the Yanks.
The AL Central is shaping up to be a very interesting division this year. Which club did the best job over the off season?
I’ll flip the script a bit this week and leave a video of my son’s lifelong obsession, lion dancing, in honor of Lunar New Year. Yes, they are lions not dragons. My son has three of these outfits and turns everything in the home into a drum. The latter part is due to my mom saying one day I’ll have a kid like me and I was captain of the drumline and turned everything into a drum.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. I’ll be hosting my annual Lunar New Year party and will have three lions and live drummers performing (on ground, not stilts). Egg rolls, family, friends, and red envelopes galore.
Hope you all have a great weekend as well.