Welcome to my edition of pretending to be the Angels GM. In case you need a refresher, here are the ground rules which basically state I have $24 million to spend and have to use estimates from MLBTR or FanGraphs and trades that pencil out on the simulator.
Personally, I have to try to win this year to save my job. But I think if I can put together an exciting team with a young core that sells tickets I might also be able to say I’m building something and get more time. So I don’t gut the farm as I’m praying guys like Dana and Rana can crush AAA and I get to oversee the rebuild.
The first step towards making progress is taking a good look at our current strengths and weaknesses. Our strength is dingers. We were 4th in all of baseball in hitting dingers. Our weaknesses were essentially everything else. Strikeouts were a huge problem, leading to low team on base percentage, leading to solo dingers instead of crooked numbers.
Pitching was also bad. Was it bad on its own or did having the third worst defense in MLB contribute? The answer is C, all of the above.
Step One: Non-Tenders
There’s no way to justify paying Connor Brogdon $1 million, Carson Fulmer $1.2 million or Carter Kieboom $800k. So I cut all three loose and add another $3 million to my spending budget. Hopefully this moves me from Grocery Outlet Plus to maybe an Aldi level of free agent shopping.
New Spend Amount: $27 million
Step Two: Trade Dingers for Arms
As stated above, we have dingers to spare. What we don’t have is cost controlled pitching, good defense, or on base percentage.
OK, so the real life Perry broke the rules and pulled off a trade the sim would never approve. But I’ll take it and run with it. In my first iteration I traded Ward to the Phillies for Taijuan Walker, Tanner Scott, and a AA pitching prospect. This is much, much better. If Grayson’s arm is still attached he offers the type of cost controlled pitching upside we haven’t seen in a long time. If he’s injured, well, he fits right in.
This move creates a hole in LF and costs us 36 dingers, but is a gamble well worth taking and frees up $13 million in more spending room.
New Spend Amount $40 million
The trade of Ward opens up LF but I still have 3 guys who play RF and a hole in the rotation. So let’s swing another dingers for arms deal.
Cincy was a surprise Wild Card winner last season despite a team wide lack of power. On a team that consistently puts men on base, Jo Adell’s 37 dingers likely drive in a lot more than the 98 RBI he put up here. The Reds will put him back in right field, allowing them to put Noelvi Marte into a utility and DH role. Their DH production last year was abysmal and with the Cardinals rebuilding and Tito getting older, the Reds are in win now mode.
And how about that return? Chase Petty is a 50 grade prospect per FanGraphs who comes with a 60 grade fastball, 60 grade cutter, and not too shabby 50 grade control. The 2021 first rounder has already been traded once but still has all 6 years of control remaining and 3 option years. Assuming he makes the team out of camp, Petty brings a brand of youth and upside we really want to see in the rotation.
Step Three: Get Some Reinforcements
One reason for the Angels abysmal defensive rankings was Adell’s defense in centerfield. A year after being a Gold Glove finalist in right, the Angels brain trust moved him to center and set him and the team up to fail.
McCarthy is coming off a down year but is a left handed outfielder who is league average in center. He’s a lefty hitter with a career OBP of .324 and wRC+ of 96 even including last year’s disaster. He’s only 27 and under club control for 3 years so he could slide into 4th outfielder duties if Rada mashes his way onto the team.
Ryan Thompson is a reliable source of bullpen innings who is one step year away from free agency. These two fill much needed holes adequately while combining to make $300k more than Adell’s projected salary. All in all, I’ll call this series of moves cash neutral, meaning I still have $40 million to blow. So let’s blow it.
Step 4: Marquee Signing
We need a third baseman dearly. And I need some butts in seats.
Kazuma Okamoto, come on down. For 4 years and $16 million per, I can swing this one even on my budget. Okamoto has been a consistent stud in Japan for 11 seasons. The 30 year old carries a lifetime NPB slash line of .277/.361/.521. He is capable of playing both infield corners, which might allow Suzuki to play matchups and rest Schanuel at times.
I’ve added back plenty of dingers here while adding OBP and filling an organizational black hole. And I might add some new fans.
Step Five: Get Some Dudes
Depth at the MLB level is critical. and I have major holes at LF and 2B plus I need more arms. I’ll slightly backload Okamoto to give me $26 million in spending room. There are some decent guys who should be available pretty inexpensively.
Sign Zach Littel 2 years $24 million
I had a choice here of going back after Kenley Jansen to stabilize the bullpen or getting a reliable horse for the back of the rotation. I’ll take 170 innings over 60 innings here. Littel is not the most glamorous choice but he posts, he goes over 5 innings almost every start, and he rarely walks anybody. The guy has a career 3.88 ERA and provides some really needed stability to the rotation. Plus he pushes Reid Detmers back to the bullpen, helping me solidify two spots.
Sign Austin Hays 2 years $12 million
Hayes is a perfectly fine left fielder. His career wRC+ is 105 and he just wrapped up a season with a wRC+ of 105. His defense is rated slightly better than Ward’s by FanGraphs but not enough to really matter. Ward had an OBP of .317 last year and Hays sports a career OBP of .313 so we’ll miss 15-20 dingers but not much else.
Willi Castro 2 years $14 million
Castro is the Swiss Army knife this team desperately needs. On most nights he would start at second base but he played all 3 outfield spots last year plus third and short as well as the keystone. He again take a weakness and makes it league average. A career wRC+ of 95 is just a tad higher than the 92 he posted in a rough year last year. When you don’t have a deep team, you need a guy like Castro who can cover for an injury about anywhere.
Sign Andrew Chafin 1 year $2 million
The bullpen needs a lefty and the media needs a funny guy to interview. Bring back Kenny Powers and let him do his thing. Like Thompson this is not about splash, I’ll need that to come from Joyce and Stephenson, but about reliability.
I’m over by $2 million which means I need to backload one of the top three contracts. Not an issue.
Final Step: Trust Previous Moves
I don’t have enough money for a closer because I signed Robert Stephenson to be a stud. I also drafted Ben Joyce to be my closer of the future. Until his injury riddled 2025, Jorge Soler has been good for a .331 OBP and about 20 home runs per year. I can’t replace them, so I have to hope they simply do what I projected them to do.
What Do We Have?
A rotation brimming with youth and upside that is very cost effective. Yusei Kikuchi, Jose Soriano, Chase Petty, Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Littel are the core 5. I’d have Reid Detmers start in Tempe to provide depth in case on an injury but hopefully he’s in the bullpen and my 5 starters are healthy.
Vastly improved defense. Last year the Angels were third worst in all of baseball in team defense. Adding plus gloves Kim and Taylor up the middle will help dramatically and there’s a tiny improvement in left. Third base defense is a bit of a question mark, but just a steady player at the position would be a godsend.
A far more balanced lineup. If guys perform as usual we have plenty of career wRC+ numbers right around 100. Instead of giving up 2 innings per game with weak outs, we have average to above average hitters in pretty much every spot.
The bullpen is light unless one of the young guns pushes Detmers back to late inning work. This would be the ideal scenario or the Angels can look at the end of camp waiver wire to add some cheap depth to the unit.
Lineup:
Shanuel 1B
Neto SS
Trout RF/DH
Okamoto 3B
Soler RF/DH
Hays LF
Castro 2B
O’Hoppe/D’Arnaud C
McCarthy CF
Bench:
Teodosio/Lugo battle for 4th OF
Pedraza Util
D’Arnaud C
Camp battle or waiver claim for last spot.
Rotation:
Kikuchi
Soriano
Petty
Rodriguez
Littell
Bullpen:
Joyce, Stephenson, Detmers, Burke, Thompson, the newly acquired Cody Laweryson, Chafin, and Zeferjahn. The other option would be to re-sign Jansen and hope Detmers can work in the rotation. I’m going the safer route.
In Conclusion
Do I love this team? No. I still don’t have enough depth. But I have locked in a long term rotation and given the kids on the farm time to fully develop. AAA will have Nelson Rada, Denzer Guzman, Kyren Paris, Caden Dana, George Klassen, Christian Moore and a few other notables. That’s the best AAA has looked in years. Tyler Bremner, Walbert Urena, Raudi Rodriguez, and Chris Cortez to start the year at lower levels.
Average years by Soler, Okamato, and Castro will really offset the loss of dingers while improving the team’s on base percentage and defense. I’ve also likely trimmed a couple hundred strikeouts from the lineup, which is huge.
All in all I’ve improved on both sides of the ball while retaining all my my minor league talent. Is it enough to win a Wild Card? Probably not unless we see some depth emerge. But is it a team positioned to improve this year and possibly open up a window once the Rendon albatross fall off? Yes.
