Angels Offseason Moves

I would like to see the following moves made by the Angels.

 

Resign Lackey 15mil/5yrs

Resign Vladdy 7mil/1yr

Resign Oliver  5mil/1yr

Trade for Halladay 14mil for Wood & Kazmir – 6mil

Trade GMJ – 10mil for Brian Wilson SF (pay half of GMJ salary)

Sign Bay 15mil/4yrs

Sign Beltre 7mil/3yrs

 

By Letting Figgins, Abreu, Quinlan, & Escobar go the Angels would save $21,000,000. That savings along with resigning Lackey, Vladdy, and Oliver in addition to making the trades referenced above would put the Angels Payroll at $118,000,000 for next year which is the same as this year’s $118,000,000 payroll. If the Angels had to offer a few extra million per year to sign the players above I think they could afford to push the payroll to $130,000,000 which was the budgeted payroll for this year. 

 

Below is the potential lineup and pitching staff

 

Lineup: 1.Aybar 2.Kendrick 3.Morales 4.Bay 5.Hunter 6.Vlad 7.Beltre 8.Rivera 9.Napoli/Mathis

 

Starting Pitchers: 1.Hallady 2. Lackey 3. Weaver 4. Saunders 5. Santana.

 

Relief Pitchers: Shields, Oliver, Fuentes, Bulger, Palmer

 

Closer: Wilson

 

With this lineup and pitching staff the Angels should win 100 games and the world series. If Halladay leaves the Angels can spend his salary & Fuentes’s salary to look up Weaver and Saunders and move Palmer to 5th in the rotation. The Angels would be set up to contend for the championship for the next 5 years.

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

Lineup Changes For Game 5

Below is the lineup I would like to see against Burnett. I am tired of watching the same unproductive lineup every night. The Angels need to shake things up. Let me know your thoughts.

1. Eric Aybar (he has been getting on base consistently and can steal a base)
2. Howie Kendrick (he can hit and run well and always seems to put the ball in play)
3. Kendry Morales (he is one of the few Angels batters that seem confident every time up at the plate)
4. Torii Hunter (he has been pressing but if the top of the order starts producing he can relax)
5. Valddy (take all of the pressure off of him and tell him to be patient, when he was in game 3 he got results)
6. Juan Rivera (he needs to focus on making good contact and quite being out in front of everything)
7. Bobby Abreu (he needs to be more aggressive he takes the 1st pitch and they throw it right down the middle for an easy strike 1
8. Mathis (he just needs to focus on situational hitting, i.e. bunting/moving runners over, sacrifice flies, etc.)
9. Chone Figgins (with no pressure in the 9 spot he can relax)

 

Overvaluing Prospects

The Angels have a history of having a great farm system and have had homegrown success stories throughout the years including, Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, & John Lackey to name a few. But not all prospects blossom into stars like the aforementioned. Currently the Angels are a quality starting pitcher and reliever away from a serious championship run. For the first time in a long time the problem with the Angels is pitching not hitting and the Angels are holding on to prospects (Wood & Reckling)  and un established major leaguers (Saunders & Aybar). All of the players mentioned are from the Angels prized farm system and while Abyar is having a great year he can be replaced by Maicer Izturis in the everyday lineup and Sean Rodriguez can slide into the utility infield role. Saunders had a good year last year but has been inconsistent this year. Toronto wanted the four players (Wood, Reclking, Saunders & Aybar) for Roy Halladay and the Angels have said no. Below is the link for an article which speaks to the overvaluing of prospects and specifically discusses Brandon Wood. Read the article let me know your thoughts. Do you think the Angels overvalue their prospects?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-fadedwood072909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Other Starting Pitching Options For The Angels

Cliff Lee is being traded to the Phillies so he no longer is an option for the Angels. If the Angels don’t trade for Roy Halladay then they will have to look at other available pitchers. Below is a list of starting pitchers on the market.

Doug Davis (ARI)

Jarrod Washburn (SEA)

Jon Garland (ARI)

Bronson Arroyo (CIN)

I don’t believe any of these pitchers are capable of having a huge impact on the Angels as they have been inconsistent over the last few years. If I had to pick one of these four I would go with Davis 1st and Wahsburn 2nd.

In my opinion the best move for the Angels is to still go out and get Halladay.

Let me know your thoughts on the Angels pitching staff.

Why The Angels Need Roy Halladay

The Angels need a starter and a reliever to contend for a championship this year. The Angels pitching staff has been horribly inconsistent this year and surprisingly the bats have kept the Angels in 1st place in their division.

The following deal could and should be done in order to make a push for a championship.

Halladay & Frasor for Aybar (replace with Maicer), Saunders (Who has been terrible all year), Wood (who has never hit well in the majors) and Reckling.

As a diehard Angels fan I am tired of the Angels holding on to these prospects when they can win a championship this year and next with Halladay. And it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Angels can resign Halladay and if they don’t there is still enough talent  in the farm system to replace him. It’s time to make a big move. I am praying that the Angels get a QUALITY starting pitcher and reliever and not just some scraps from teams trying to dump salary.

 

| back to blog home |
Theme: MLB “fan” | Get a free blog at WordPress.com
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.