LA Angels Monday News Crash: Meetings – Crashing the Pearly Gates

Legend

1 month ago

RIP Howards Appliances. One of the great Angels sponsors for a long time. Who can forget the forgettable acting performances of Howie Kendrick (“I’m the other Howard”) and our beloved Soth (“you sure do know a lot about LAUNDRY!”).

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DowningDude

1 month ago

Reply to DowningDude

https://youtu.be/ftYXXPlXKHQ?si=09LHI0KW4pb7nDyE

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Trusted Member

Mikeal1st

1 month ago

Reply to DowningDude

And the Oscar goes to…

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red floyd

1 month ago

Reply to DowningDude

I actually bought a fridge from Howards about 3 years ago.

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Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 month ago

Reply to DowningDude

I have a nice photo of Scioscia standing next to my daughter who is now 32 when she was 10 and he was holding her brother who was about a year old from the Howards in Laguna Hills. Mike’s shirt was totally sweated out. 🙂 Great memory.

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Editor

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Turk's Teeth

1 month ago

There hasn’t been extensive talk about this on the site AFAIK, but the Rule 5 draft is this Wednesday, and the Angels left three key arms exposed: Samy Natera Jr, Jared Southard, and Joel Hurtado. All three are at risk of getting claimed, but Baseball America thinks Natera Jr and Southard are particularly so.

For a team desperately in need of bullpen depth, I still find them leaving these three exposed (all of whom made it to AAA last year) very puzzling. Each were guys I was hoping would get a September cup when the team was out of contention.

Natera and Hurtado are top 10 Angels prospects on the Fangraphs list – and both top 25 in the MLB Pipeline list. I think Natera in particular is a guy many teams take a flyer on.

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Super Member

Charles Sutton

1 month ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

It’s not like the Angels had no room on the 40 man. Head scratcher.

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Super Member

Angelz4ever

1 month ago

Reply to Charles Sutton

perry was focused on a sandwich,

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Yep. It’s a weird choice. On the other hand, maybe we need lots of open roster spots for all the reloading and going for it we plan to do.

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Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

I’ve read Natera as a likely pick up on a couple of sites. Seems odd not to protect him.

Ryan Johnson is on the 40 man because he made the team out of spring training last year. That takes a spot that should be filled.

Rendon is on the roster still.

So I guess Chase Silseth and Victor Mederos are the current low hanging fruit. Teodosi.

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grichmanpoorman

1 month ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

I’m also puzzled. But the mitigating factor here is that these players would need to be kept on a major league roster the entire season or would have to be offered back to us. Soriano was lost to the Pirates if memory serves before coming back. I like Nateta and Hurtado as well, but is either realistically ready to stick with an MLB team for six months?

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

I love me some prospects. I enjoy watching a farm develop guys who come up and become solid baseball men. But this weekend saw a little Angels side story that serves to remind us that, to be any good, we need a STACKED farm, not just a collection of six or seven guys who we think might be good if everything works out well.

The Homeless Population A’s picked up our hero, Westmont’s finest, Michael Stephanic. His MiLB be numbers dwarf both Moore and Rada… and everyone in our system. His talent does not. But I like him and I hope he does well. He is being brought in primarily because former first round pick (Thousand Oaks!) Max Muncy is a flop and former second round pick, whose MiLB numbers are better than Moore and Rada, Zack Gelof, has fizzled at the MLB level for a couple years now. So the A’s hope The Plumber will un-fizzle for them and at least add some depth.

Our system doesn’t even have many guys who hit like Stephanic, Muncy and Gelof at 2B in the minors. The A’s do, plus Leo Devries and Jake Wilson clogged at SS. It will likely take those four options for them to get an MLB second baseman. Maybe even more guys.

And THIS is why I want to trade Zach Neto, Soriano and Adell for a giant pile of position player prospects.

It takes a giant pile of crap to build something beautiful. The A’ss are headed that direction A LOT faster than Team Reload and signing Kyle Schwarber, Cody Bellinger and Zac Gallen this off season wouldn’t change any of that.

Time to realize we are NOT the Yankees West. We aren’t even half Dodgers. We will never be able to spend much more than it takes to supplement a solid roster, not build one. Till we have a system, all we’re doing is adding a really nice garage to an old trailer home.

If the A’s get literally ANY pitching, even this year, we are gonna be lying on our backs with our feet by our ears looking up at the A’s even if we sign Gallen and Bellinger. If we’re gonna suck I’d rather suck with a purpose rather than look as pretty as we can while we do it.

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Mikeal1st

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

It’s sad that the team is at the point that this makes sense to me. I love Neto, but until we have that stacked farm system, they have no chance. Free agents won’t fix this unless they start spending Doyer dollars, which isn’t going to happen, so it has to be built from the ground up. Until they put this in pace, the Angels will likely be mired in the same mediocrity we’ve been seeing for a decade that choosing neither to be like the Rays, or the Doyers.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to Mikeal1st

The Nationals are looking at trading CJ Abrams and Makinzie Gore… so they will likely also be beating us to the starting gate on rebuilding too. Sucks for them, they did a whole rebuild and now they have blown it and have to half start over. They still have some really good young players they can hold onto, but those two guys are gonna max out their Trade Value Vs Time Under Control too fast for them to be around when the team could actually use them.

And yet, collapsed rebuild attempt and all, they are likely ahead of us.

The good news is the Angels actually have money. If we got to the point where we have a couple starters and a few position players worth building around we can at least KEEP some guys and bring in some FAs to make the rebuild stick.

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Kevin

1 month ago

Reply to Mikeal1st

Yes. On the positive side, teams break though all the time before fans expect. A few things go right and teams become competitive. See what happens. No one knows how long Brenner will take to develop or Rada or other bullpen arms etc.

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Super Member

BannedInLA

1 month ago

Differing Rendon’s money only matters if the Angels are looking to compete now by spending significant money on the FA front. I don’t believe the club is looking to spend big so it might make more sense to simply pay Rendon out now and close the book on it.

BTW, despite his body being totally broken down, Rendon still managed a .348 OBP during this time in Anaheim.

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Super Member

HalosFanForLife

1 month ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Well…… over $60 million per win can’t be sugar coated. Trout with all his injuries is still under $15 million. That’s how bad the Rendon deal was. LOL

Last edited 1 month ago by HalosFanForLife

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BannedInLA

1 month ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

I wasn’t sugar coating. The contract turned out to be horrible because Rendon broke down physically. That said, I was surprised to see his OBP at .348 considering how spent he was physically.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Yeah. He could clearly still make contact. He just had no lower body anymore so he had zero power.

Though he’s probably fine and experiencing zero pain. It was all just a show so he could steal millions of dollars and hang out with his kids instead of playing baseball. I’ve heard from several people that have heard from people that he never really even liked playing baseball.

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Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

This. It was all upper body rotation. Telling you the hand/eye coordination was still there.

In the fight game we call this throwing arm punches. Without that hip rotation there’s simply no power.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Exactly. Might as well bight the bullet while we’re basically a non-factor now.

And don’t bring up facts about Rendon. He got hurt all the time and it’s all his fault because he’s an asshole. It’s science. It’s settled.

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Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Agreed. This is the rip the band aid off vs. peeling it slowly debate. Just rip it off.

If this team was one Okamato from a division title, I’d say the opposite. But we aren’t.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

I want Harrison Bader. As expected, so do about 17 other teams. So how much are we willing to spend to NOT see Teodosio out there all that often?

I’m OK with spending a bit because I can see what will be available later. When, after what ever magic is supposed to happen because we signing “top of the rotation arm” for some reason while the team sucks, we will be facing a really thin supply of CF free agents.

But Bader’s gonna get expensive. And no. Bellinger’s not a CF now and won’t be at all in a couple years AND costs a lot. Which leaves us hoping Rada can hit.

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Turk's Teeth

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

There’s so much in the underlying batted ball data that suggests Bader is ripe for regression offensively. He’s more likely the player we saw in ’22-24 than the stud we saw in ’25. He was an 80 OPS+ player over those three years, so you really have to put your faith in that glove quite a bit.

Bader starts feeling pretty rich at 3yrs/$45M to me – that figure already assumes a 2 WAR everyday player, when he was a 1 WAR platoon guy for three of the past four years.

I’m pretty confident that Rada could deliver an 80 OPS+ in the next year or two – and he offers a LH bat to RH dominant lineup. So if the team wants to overpay for an FA, I’d probably look to the rotation or 3B for that over a CFer the Angels have alternatives for.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Oh yeah. I know Harrison Bader isn’t 2025 Bader. I’d just be happy with his career norms. Mostly because he will provide a glove and at least a semi-viable bat at any OF spot we need him in which allows prospects, if we have any, to play where they need to play as they come up. Though not sure I want to pay him like 2025 Harrison for five years…..

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RexFregosi

1 month ago

What a day to be Jeff Kent. He was a teammate of Barry for years and he didn’t say even mention him last night to MLB (but he said nice things about Mattingly/Murphy)

https://youtu.be/a_3UuLRt6mk?si=zaRnZhgPIp1WePNE

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Legend

MarineLayer

1 month ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Bobby Grich was greater than this guy.

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Super Member

Jim Atkins

1 month ago

Reply to MarineLayer

Oh hell yes. Best 2B not in the hall of fame. A travesty.

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Legend

FungoAle

1 month ago

Reply to MarineLayer

Statically speaking, in what way is Grich better? Take the Angel-effect out of it. I don’t really care if Kent rode a motorcycle against team policy.

Last edited 1 month ago by FungoAle

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Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to FungoAle

This is a great question. So I looked up some stuff.

Grich 71.1 WAR
Kent 55.4 WAR

Both played 17 seasons to that is about 1 WAR per season difference for 17 straight years.

Grich career 125 OPS+
Kent career 123 OPS+

Grich career .371 OBP
Kent career .356 OBP

Kent really crushes him in slugging, a career .500 to a career .424. You’d think the K’s would separate them, but they really don’t.

Grich simply out performed his peers a little more than Kent did while having the better glove.

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FungoAle

1 month ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Good stuff. Your last paragraph makes a good argument for the case for Gritch.

Rex had that table last night, outside of WAR leaned heavily on Kent. I don’t like WAR as a denominator. I’m old fashion, leaning batting average, slugging, home runs, and RBIs. Kent has a MVP that helps.Longevity, doing it longer, plays into it (see Don Mattingly). Having said all that, I’m all for Grich getting in. My favorite era of Angel baseball.

Both of these guys were better than Scott Rolen.

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Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to FungoAle

I think WAR is both good and over rated and with older players it needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt.

There’s no way the crew at BB ref went back and watched every Grich game to determine exactly how valuable his glove was.

I like it more in the modern era, but even then I don’t like it for pitchers and catchers. There’s a huge cerebral aspect to those jobs that is not quantifiable.

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Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 month ago

Reply to FungoAle

You can’t compare raw stats from different eras. Kent played at a time when offense was cheap and Grich played when it was depressed. Grich and Whitaker are both superior players to Kent because of their defense and both belong in. I’m not saying Kent doesn’t belong also, just that Grich and Whitaker were better players and also belong in. Which is also why what Aaron Judge did this year was so amazing considering how depressed the league offense was.

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steelgolf

1 month ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

And Grich is a far nicer guy. Kent is kind of an a- hole. This should open up the door for Schilling to get in now.

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PedroCerrano

1 month ago

Reply to RexFregosi

I remember that he was widely considered to be the biggest jerk in the Giants clubhouse. When you factor in that Bonds was there he had to be a world class asshat.

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Legend

MarineLayer

1 month ago

Reply to PedroCerrano

At least it wasn’t Barroids.

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Legend

steelgolf

1 month ago

Reply to PedroCerrano

He is kind of an asshat. Even to kids looking for an autograph, as well as reporters.

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Legend

Pineapple12

1 month ago

Michael Soroka to the DBacks – 1 year, $7.5 million.

And we’re off. Winter Meetings wooooo!!

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Super Member

RexFregosi

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

grab the ex-Dbacks strategy

Gallen, Kelly, Suarez, Goldy

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RexFregosi

1 month ago

Kenny at The Athletic in his winter meeting column this morning:

Even after trading for Grayson Rodriguez and signing Alek Manoah to a one-year, $1.95 million free-agent contract, the Los Angeles Angels want to add another starting pitcher, according to people briefed on their plans. They also would like to address their bullpen, center field and, as their buyout discussions with Anthony Rendon continue, third base.
But, as always, the team will operate according to the whims of owner Arte Moreno.
In the rotation, the Angels are seeking greater stability beyond Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano. Neither Rodriguez nor Manoah has pitched in the majors since 2024. Reid Detmers, returning to the rotation from the bullpen, also represents something of an unknown.
Ideally, the Angels would acquire another high-end starter and at least one long man or spot-starter type. Rodriguez and Manoah each have two minor-league options remaining and can also be top-of-the-rotation starters if they return to form.

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Pineapple12

1 month ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Hard to envision checking off difference makers at SP, CF, and 3B unless Arte is actually committed to upping the budget.

Maybe if I say Okamoto + Gallen enough times it will happen 🔮

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HalosFanForLife

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

If Rendon defers over 5 years or more – that could change the budget completely. A guy retiring might like a Bobby Bonilla deal. It’s really about 1% of the current team value spread out over time. If he takes that annual budget and creates a winner – perhaps with the bigger budget you suggest – the value of the team could go up huge. The Dodgers are said to be worth almost $8 billion. The Angels a little under $3 billion. Would they ever catch the Dodgers in value? No. But – the Dodgers do have the long term Ohtani debt which will go against cap years later. Seems like the Dodgers are going to be on the side of the player in the new CBA and look for no cap.

Last edited 1 month ago by HalosFanForLife

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Fansince1971

1 month ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

This seems correct. I asked the big internet brain what would happen if the Angels and Rendon agreed to a buyout for $40m over 10 years ($4m per). This is what the internet said:

“The Result: The present value of $40 million paid out over 10 years is less than the $37 million or $38 million that was originally owed in a single year. This results in a much lower annual hit to the team’s payroll (likely in the range of $3-5 million per year for the next 10 years, rather than a single $37+ million hit in 2026), providing the team with immediate financial flexibility for the upcoming season.”

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Fansince1971

1 month ago

Reply to Fansince1971

AAV Calculation: The amount that hits the CBT payroll is not simply $40 million divided by 10 years ($4 million/year). Instead, MLB rules factor in the present value of the deferred payments, using a specific discount rate set by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). This concept is similar to how Shohei Ohtani’s contract deferrals resulted in a much lower AAV than his total contract value.
Resulting AAV: The actual AAV after the buyout would be significantly lower than the original $35 million. It would likely be a few million dollars per year spread out over the remaining original contract term or potentially even longer, depending on the specific accounting rules for buyouts and the present value calculation

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Do we really care? Sure. It’s five million per year instead of 37 million now. But the team sucks right now either way. 5 million a year would take care of arbitration raises, or a large chunk of an early extension, or a pretty damn good left reliever every year. This is, again, not a huge deal, but it may matter more to us when the team is hopefully better and having a few million dollars to throw around would help us actually win.

Getting it over with now doesn’t hurt anything. You can’t hurt a dead body.

Last edited 1 month ago by gitchogritchoffmypettis

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Fansince1971

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Yes….the interesting issue for people with our perspective is whether it would actually be better NOT to buy out Rendon and have that albatross removed and done after this season rather than delaying things to down the road. I actually think that not buying Rendon out may be better, say for 2028 (presuming 2027 is basically lost to lockout). Since the team has no chance in ‘26, might as well get the entirety of that awful contract off the books. Otherwise the buyout is like alimony – a constant reminder of a shit relationship that goes on for years.

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2pints

1 month ago

Reply to Fansince1971

With the team in its current state, I can see no reason why they should extend the pain of Rendon’s contract. Let 2026 be the end of it and we can move on.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to 2pints

Yup. If we were just 45M a year of spending away from a clear shot at the play offs I’d feel different. But we aren’t. Getting Rendon off the books with a long term buy out only makes an installment purchase of some schadenfreude for stupid people.

“Fk YEAH! Gettumoutheeeya! This changes… but yeah, screw that guy, now I will still think about him all the time. Wait.”

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2pints

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Prolonging Rendon’s contract with one year left would be like Frodo and Sam finally arriving at Mt. Doom and then deciding to circle around the mountain over and over at a very slight uphill angle. We’ve already trekked from The Shire to Rivendell, deep into the Mines of Moria, on to Lothlorien, through the Dead Marshes, by the Black Gate, and made it through the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Lets stop wasting time and toss this ~~Rendon~~ ring into the pits of Mordor so we can be done with it, go back to The Shire and drink some pints.

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red floyd

1 month ago

Reply to 2pints

I’d give you a rec for the LOTR analogy so you could be the most rec’d poster here, but we don’t do recs anymore.

Last edited 1 month ago by red floyd

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Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to 2pints

2026 could be the end of:

Rendon $38 million
Stephenson $11 million
Jorge Soler $13 million
Travis d’Arnaud $6 million

That’s $68 million for guys who provided the following WAR

Rendon 0
Soler -0.5
d’Arnaud -0.3
Stephenson 0.3

Granted we have a $2.5 million option on Stephenson but that’s a perfectly fine pickup as a lotter ticket reliever goes for more than that.

But this is a chance to clear huge swaths of payroll. If we actually added prospects this year, the team could do a complete reset if there is a 2027.

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Fansince1971

1 month ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Sounds like someone’s IIWPM….😂😎

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Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to Fansince1971

It is much like yours.

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Legend

Pineapple12

1 month ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

This is the argument against adding any multi-year contracts and buying out Rendone.

And dammit it’s an effective one.

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Super Member

RexFregosi

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Framber Framber Framber Framber

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Why?

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Fansince1971

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Rex always has the win-now optimistic perspective. He was SURE (guaranteed it) Ohtani would re-sign with the Angels. I’m not sure he agrees that ‘26 is a lost season and does not see things as “why buy these expensive free agents to win 75 games?”

Last edited 1 month ago by Fansince1971

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RexFregosi

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Just a quick WC#3 spot won’t do for me.

a lot of luck and $40 million in pitching can get us to a WC.
Only Framer would make it all worthwhile gives a chance beyond that.

all this takes money and I’m clearly aware Arte won’t spend but until then,

2026 or bust

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 month ago

Reply to RexFregosi

You also have to fix that bottom 5 OBP too. So add another 20M for that. You also need about 65M in pitching. And you also need to pay some Chechen thugs to go visit the homes of the FAs you want to sign to help them realize how much they want to play here… tack on 500K per free agent… and we still have no farm.

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Editor

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Jeff Joiner

1 month ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Rex wants to win every year. Can’t fault a guy for that.

It just sucks the team needs either a tear down or a Cohen type spending spree to make it happen and we’ll get neither.

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