Rosenthal's Latest: Angels, D'Backs, Giambi, Ellis

Im not sure what Rosenthal is smoking, but there is no way the Angels are gonna let all four of those players go. They traded their future first baseman in Kotchman for Teixeira and probably arent sure if Morales (their AAA first baseman) is ready to consistently play 162 games in the majors given the fact that he's never really been consistent in the past for the big league team.

As for Franky, they will no doubt offer him a contract I'd say for 4 years 60 mil. They may feel confident internally with their young gun Arredondo and their top setup guy in Shields, however they have enough money coming off the books from everyone else to afford Teixeira and/or Franky.

Garland on the other hand will probably not be re-signed simply because of the fact that they feel their top pitching prospect in Adenhart is ready.

And finally, I wouldn't understand the Angels decision not to re-sign Rivera. Not only can this guy consistently produce both offensively and defensively when given the opportunity, but he is relatively cheap for the type of numbers that he can put up.

#1 Angles Fan,
I think it is in their best interest to let those for guys go. KRod is going to be looking for a lot of money and won't accept a discount from what i've read. Garland is a mid rotation guy who will probably get overpaid. It seems like the trend has been to overpay for innings eating mid rotation guys which isnt a good strategy for any team. The only guy I think they should consider signing would be Tex. But if he and Boras are ridiculous with their requests in terms of years/dollars then you have to let him go. His acquisition was made to win this year and in my opinion is was a good chance to take.

UConnHuskies:

I can see your point however the Angels have about 70 million dollars coming off the books and Arte Moreno previously said that next years payroll will be around the same as this years which is 118 mil. Therefore the Angels are gonna spend that money somewhere and I think there main concern will be to keep most if not all of those players.

I have a really hard time believing that Juan Rivera would resign with the angels, dude deserves regular playing time and I think he'll flee.

But the only problem if you did that is that the only person your adding is Sabathia and the Angels already have good pitching, not saying that Sabathia wouldnt be a good addition, but if you lose Tex then your losing a valuable bat. How do you replace him?

"IN conclusion if the Angels let Tex, Krod and Garland walk they will have 7 picks total in the first 1.5 rounds"

I understand that this would help a lot in the future but the Angels arent rebuilding, they are winning in the present and will continue to compete for years to come.

HAHA...LOL I agree but it is fun to look ahead

'Several journalists have noted the D'Backs may restock the farm system if they let Adam Dunn, Orlando Hudson, Brandon Lyon, and Juan Cruz depart as free agents after the season. They're not worried about Dunn accepting an offer of arbitration. Why would he want a one-year deal?'

I've been saying the same thing on this site for the last nine months! This draft is shaping up to be loaded. Another case of the rich (in talent) getting richer.

"Burrell I wouldn't touch. We have enough OF's already. Definitely not a need."

He consistently puts up 25+ homeruns and is an RBI machine. Though he may not hit for a great average, .260+, and he may strike out a lot, its still interesting to imagine him hitting after Tex (if hes re-signed) and Vladdy and right before Hunter:

Figgins
Aybar/Izturiz
Tex
Vladdy
Burrell
Hunter
Anderson/Rivera
Kendrick
Napoli/Mathis

We have plenty of money freed up from everyone else so why not? Looks pretty scary to me.

"They traded their future first baseman in Kotchman for Teixeira and probably arent sure if Morales (their AAA first baseman) is ready to consistently play 162 games in the majors given the fact that he's never really been consistent in the past for the big league team."

Morales is going to get a nice long look now that Izturis is out for the year. By the time Willits is ready to come off the DL, it will be 40 man time and they wont have to make a choice between sending down Rodriguez or Morales.

"Angels will then have available Wood (966 OPS)"

Wood has sucked at the MLB level and his style isn't well suited to the bigs anyway. He really needs to go to a team with no expectations so he can learn at the big league level. Otherwise, he becomes George Arias redux (remember him?).

Honestly, the Angels need to look within much more than outside the organization.

Lackey - Lock him up for 5 more years (including the option year). Try and do it for around $12 million a year.

Vlad - Lock him up for 4-5 more years (including the option year)

GA - Decline the option and sign him to a contract that, with the buyout, comes to around $9-$10 million for 2-3 years.

Frankie - Sign him. Pay him what he wants. He is 26, has learned to pitch rather than just throw and has shown absolutely zero signs of arm trouble. Shields is not a closer and Arredondo could easily become Manny Corpas if rushed.

GMJ - Trade him for mostly salary relief. He has all the talent in the world, but has never put it together.

Rivera - Resign him cheap. Something like 3/15. He can essentially be Pat Burrell if given the chance, only with better defense and less likely to look at a grooved strike 3

Tex - They will be in the running, but they shouldn't do some shocker deal. They overpaid (at the time anyway, Hunter has been their MVP along with Kendrick and Saunders/Santana), but they didn't over pay by as much as a $200 million deal to Tex would.

Saunders/Santana - These guy are under control for some time now, but I think they should do a Haren-esque deal with each of them. I bet they would take something rather cheap in exchange for the security. This is particularly true for Saunders, who is already 27.

Figgins - People seem to forget that he too will need to be resigned after next year. Huge contributor and really the key to their offensive scheme.