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Angels Rumors: Teixeira, K-Rod, Uggla

The Angels were eliminated, so it's time to look forward to the offseason.  Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times has the latest.

  • Mark Teixeira said the right things again, about how his time with the Angels gives him something to think about as a free agent.  Joel Sherman believes Tex is a great fit for the Yankees, even if he is the "ultimate Boras client."  Sherman figures the Yanks, Red Sox, Orioles, and Angels will compete for Teixeira.
  • Francisco Rodriguez's first choice is the Angels.  Sherman believes the Angels' apparent willingness to let K-Rod go is a warning sign for other teams like the Mets.
  • Garret Anderson will be bought out for $3MM, and didn't want to discuss whether he'd return after that.  Shaikin says Chone Figgins could move to left field if Anderson leaves.
  • Shaikin says the Angels have considered acquiring Dan Uggla as a way to compensate if Teixeira leaves.  Uggla would probably play third base.
  • John Lackey answered in the affirmative when asked whether he'd wait to see the Angels' offensive plans before considering an extension.  Lackey's $9MM option is an easy decision but he is a free agent after the '09 season.


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What a gut wrenching night. The whole season boiled down to a botched bunt. Absolutely awful.

I don't think this is the case but what if the Angels are being ambivalent to K-Rod as a means to lower his price. If teams like the Mets are starting to lose interest who else is going to step up and pay big bucks? I would like K-Rod back - but only at the right price.

Uggla to the angels I wonder what the return would be?

3 years control for him, all star numbers at 2B and ability to play 3rd base. Nice power hitter and solid defensive player.

He has good value definitely, I know the fish love Kendrick but I dont see the angels moving him, I am curious whom they would go after plus afte the difficulties last year with the cabrera situation you have to wonder if the two teams could make up and trade.

But They definitely have some nice pieces from Wood or Kendrick or arms like Santana that fish might like

Has Uggla played 3B before? After Kendrick's postseason performance, I would have to think they'd be looking at Uggla there too.

Has Uggla played 3B before? After Kendrick's postseason performance, I would have to think they'd be looking at Uggla there too.

Posted by: gutterbumber | October 07, 2008 at 10:31 AM

He was a 3rd baseman in the minors most of the time pretty good one too just was moved to 2B because of miggy for thefish at 3rd

The Angels are notorious for holding on to their prospects until it's too late and no one wants them anymore. I'm guessing that will keep them from trading for Uggla.

The Mets should NOT sign K-Rod. Period. Adding one guy (who doesn't even do multi-inning "saves"). A lot of the Mets' leads were blown in the 7th and 8th. K-Rod pitches the 9th only. You'll have fewer walk-offs, but a LOT of K-Rod's save opportunities came from the Angels' offensive style and the excellent set-up work done by guys like Jose Arredondo and Scot Shields. The Mets lack the quality set-up work (one guy can't pitch every single 7th-8th inning close game).

And, that handicaps any other bullpen additions. Retain Ayala, and go for two other guys to stabilize. Affeldt, Weathers, Cruz, are some names to consider.

Dan Uggla, IMO, does not fit the "Angels style" of baseball. Mediocre offense, lots of "small ball" (Uggla's a high power, high K type guy). I just don't see the Angels and Marlins clicking on a deal.

And of course Uggla's defense. Let's not forget about that.

cmac1973 - can you please provide concrete examples of when the Angels foolishly held on to young talent. If they are "notorious" for doing so it should be really easy to come up with a few examples.

This last off-season the Angels were involved in several potential trades. The names being bandied about include All-Star pitchers Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana. Howie Kendrick and Brandon Wood and Mike Napoli were also mentioned. I, for one, am glad we held onto all those players.

Finally, please understand that the Angels play their kids. Starting in 08 they had home grown talent at C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B and LF. 4 out of their starting 5 in the rotation and their back-end bullpen are all products of the Angel farm system.

There were a couple pieces, at the time, that I thought we should have moved. Both Kendry Morales and Reggie Willits. But those would have been minor moves and holding on to Morales was probably the right thing to do.

When are people going to accept that K-Rod, although a solid pitcher, is seriously overrated? Here are his 2008 rankings amongst pitchers with at least 40 IP:

ERA - 20th
WHIP - 122nd
BAA - 44th (T)
H/9 - 45th
BB/9 - 308th
K/9 - 24th
K/BB - 136th

Rodriguez had a VORP of 21.9 - that's 23rd amongst relief pitchers.

The only reason he's so coveted is his 62 saves, but he has 18 more Save Opportunities than ANYONE ELSE IN BASEBALL. Brad Lidge saved all 41 of his chances - what if he'd had 69 SVO? Or Mariano Rivera, who saved 40 of 41?

"What a gut wrenching night. The whole season boiled down to a botched bunt. Absolutely awful."

You should hear some of Lackey's comments about the series. He was a freaking cry baby.

Why exactly would the Red Sox make a run at Tex? They have first, third, and the corner outfield positions locked in. Angels seem like the most logical destination for him. After a loss like that they might overpay him to stay.

Purple is right. The Red Sox may throw some money around this offseason (I would like Sheets and Ohman) but they really aren't in pursuit of Texiera. Any interest they appear to have is only to drive up the price for the Yankees, who will inevitably get Texiera because they need him and they have a lot of money to spend.

Purrple, I've been wondering that myself. Youk, Ortiz, and Lowell are all more than solid at their respective positions, so why invest 20m+ per year on an additioanl guy. Especially with lars anderson coming up sooner rather than later.

As a yankee fan, I'm torn about pursuing him. On one hand he'll be a great addition to the 2009 yankees at 20m+ a year but on the other, will he be a good addition to the 2013-2014 yankees at 20m+ a year.

The Red Sox making a run at Tex doesn't make sense because they already have Youklis and Lowell at 1B and 3B and i doubt he wants to move to a diffrent postion since he's already won 2 gold gloves at 1B,i don't see them making a run at him...Heres my top 5 teams to sign Tex...

1.Angels
2.Yankees
3.Mets (if Delgado leaves)
4.White Sox
5.Orioles

Whitesox have Swisher and Konerko and hate Boras, so they don't have interest in Tex.

bjsguess... I can name some Angel prospects who's values plummeted because the Angels held on too long.

Let's start with Jeff Mathis, Dallas McPherson, Brandon Wood, Nick Adenhart, Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar.

I love that they value their prospects; I fear they over-value them. I'd rather see them use the draft choices they'll get from letting KRod, Garland and Rivera (please not Teixiera) go to draft over-slot players who could make an immediate impact.

kendrick and aybar are awesome young talents but they are also INexperienced and inexperience can manifest itself as crucial mistakes come playoff time.

angels' lineup mix seems to be soft in the middle. by middle i mean mid-career types. who was their best hitter? tex. but they waited one or two years too many to add him to the mix.

the question now: he's a great fit, but at the expected price?
i'm thinking they could add bats like a brad hawpe, or jorge cantu (in a package for morales?)
at this point, i'd go for sabathia instead

If the Angels let KRod ('08-$10m), GA ($12m), Rivera ($2m) and Garland ($12m) all leave, that free's up more than $36m of payroll. That should be in the ballpark to go after BOTH Teixiera and Sabathia, even accounting for an extension to Lackey (I wouldn't extend Vlad at more than he's currently making).

They should have enough payroll flexibility going forward to sign at least one impact player.

I would NOT trade Morales. He was the one prospect who didn't seem bothered by the playoff pressure. Switch hitting power hitters (like Morales & Teixiera) are hard to come by.

Also... the Red Sox prospects are even less experienced than Kendrick and Aybar, and guys like Lester, Lowrie & Masterson appeared to perform much better under the pressure of the post-season. On top of that, Kendrick has had an impossible time in 2 seasons now staying healthy and on the field. It's time to at least consider moving him, while he still has some value.

DrewB...what to say, what to say?

You are seriously dreaming if you think you can sign Sabathia, resign Teixeira, and extend Lackey. You are talking 22-25 for Sabathia a year, 18-20 for Tex, and 18-20 for Lackey, unless he takes a discount, and that would go to 15-18 a year.

Not going to happen.

Robert Down, I have to agree with you.

There is no way the Angels can stretch $36M to cover the top offensive free agent, and the top pitching free agent. They might not even end up with either, leaving them $36M to blow on other players.

At the end of the day, the Angels and their fans are overreacting and think that shelling out big money will make them contend.

To show that this doesn't work, see the Mariners... 117M payroll, 101 losses.

I wonder if CC and Tex both get snatched up, if the Angels will try to get Krod if he is still on the market?

Also, if Tex walks and CC doesnt sign, does anyone think the Angels might go for Manny, if the Dodgers dont lock him up before Free Agency?

I mean, winning 100 games, then losing first round, and watching the real LA team sweep the "best" NL team in the first round, could make the Angels make a move out of desperation, and might give manny that 5 years he is looking for to try and keep up.

Sure it's dreaming, but one should be able to dream a little the day after a heartbreaking defeat.

I agree with the sentiment that high priced free agents aren't the entire answer. But they are a piece of a complicated puzzle.

As I said, I'm in favor of stock-piling Type A compensation picks and going aggressively above slot on immediate impact prospects. Risky, but less so than paying for top drawer free agents.

Of the 3 free agents mentioned (add KRod as the 4th), I'd go all out to land Teixiera. From what I saw, and I saw pretty much every one of his Angel at-bats, he was exactly as advertised. Very few bad at-bats, consistent from both sides of the plate, gold glove defense, and his presence in the lineup helped almost everyone around him (most importantly Guerrero).

As much as I love Lackey, I don't think he's a top-tier pitcher....Lester showed him up twice... and all the scouting reports say Santana has better stuff. I want to keep him, but at #2 type money... which is not $18m-$20m a year.

Truth is, the Yankees - with $80m plus in freed-up salary, will be able to sign anyone & everyone if money is the bottom line (and when isn't $$ the bottom line), so we'll need a plan B.

Plan B, I think, is that the Angels can afford to "rebuild" a little and still stay competitive in a very weak division.

But wouldn't it be nice to have Sabathia and Teixiera in Angel Red?

The "Real" LA Team was nothing to the city 2 months ago. Like everything is the dodgers are another fad that will be passae' come 2009. The ownership abuses their fans ($15 parking, expensive tickets, building more luxury seats at the expense of the lesser seats views...etc). The Angels management/ownership has showed consistency and commitment to making the experience as great as possible to the fan. They are SOCALs real team. Also Socissa wouldnt sign Manny with a gun at his head.

Also Lackey is a top tier pitcher. The two runs he gave up were because Howie didn't turn the double play.

To those who said that the Redsox younger prospects stood up.

Pedroia (1-14)
Masterson Opponent Batting Avg over .420
Lester-Unreal good
Lowrie- Didnt even start fulltime.

Lester was amazing. He deserved a W in both of his starts.

As far as Tex/CC/K-Rod, I think I would also make my strongest attempt as resigning Tex. We have a good 1-4 with Lackey, Santana, Saunders and Weaver and eventually we will get Escobar back. I'm not saying I don't want CC but it's unrealistic to believe we can afford both him and Tex.

As far as I am concerned I don't think K-Rod should even be considered for next year unless he offers a big discount.

Idk about that for Lackey, he has been really good the last 3 or 4 years, and by the standards we have, he will be a top starter in Free Agency if he gets there in a year.

And na, i think they would look better in Dodger Blue :)

Make Loney a third baseman :D

Now that's a dream, haha.

Lmao!

BK, the Angels have 1 championship in their ENTIRE history, it just happens to be more recent.

Who cares about 15 dollar parking? Its expensive to go to games anywhere, if you want good seats, so stop the penny pinching.

The Dodgers are not a fad, we have fans that stick with us through the tough times, while the Angels barely had a fan base before 2002, now suddenly you have all of these "die hard" fans. Give me a break.

also, didnt realize scioscia was the Angel's GM.

BK - The Angels have only had better teams than the Dodgers in recent years. The team with far more history, the Dodgers, the team that is better suited to win, the Dodgers.

Also, you are dumb. Mike Scioscia doesn't SIGN players. The general manager does. And if he GM thinks Manny is the key to winning, he's going to sign him, whether or not Scioscia likes it or not..

"BK - The Angels have only had better teams than the Dodgers in recent years. The team with far more history, the Dodgers, the team that is better suited to win, the Dodgers."

The reason the Dodgers have more history is because they have been around much longer... They were in Brooklyn before. the Angels have only been around since early '60s and it wasnt until Scioscia became manager that the Angels actually figured out the most consistent way for their organization to compete. Angels are gonna consistently win for years and years!

"Also, you are dumb. Mike Scioscia doesn't SIGN players. The general manager does. And if he GM thinks Manny is the key to winning, he's going to sign him, whether or not Scioscia likes it or not.."

You are dumb... Scioscia, Reagins and Arte get together at seasons end and go over a game plan for the offseason... This includes free agent signings, trades and inner organization options. Yes the GM signs the players but together they discuss what players to go after. No way either Scioscia or Reagins agrees to go after Manny... NO WAY.

There were numerous articles at the time about how Reagins' promotion would lead to more control for Scioscia. So he would likely have to sign off on a deal that large. I know it's hard to grasp an organization that communicates and interacts, but they exist.

Also, the Angels have the 2nd best Fan Cost Index (Dog's are 6th worst), so it's not "expensive to go to games everywhere", just Dodger Stadium. And we don't have to pee in troughs!

I saw a 13 your old Dodger fan have to be escorted out of Chavez Latrine under protection of security after all those classy Dodger fans pelted him with beer cups and peanuts. His crime? Knocking the beach ball over the 3rd deck rail. I'll take all the bandwagon soccer moms in the world if it means not getting stabbed in the parking lot.

"The Dodgers are not a fad, we have fans that stick with us through the tough times, while the Angels barely had a fan base before 2002, now suddenly you have all of these "die hard" fans. Give me a break."

Were those the same Dodger die-hard fans that weren't filling the stadium pre-Manny? Could have sworn during that 8 game losing streak there were plenty of empty seats showing on t.v.

"bjsguess... I can name some Angel prospects who's values plummeted because the Angels held on too long.

Let's start with Jeff Mathis, Dallas McPherson, Brandon Wood, Nick Adenhart, Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar."

Of all those, Mathis and McPherson are the only ones you can really argue on. Further, McPherson screwed up his back and didn't produce in the chances he had with the big club. Mathis was supposed to be their catcher of the future, but he turned out to be more of an all-glove, light-hit guy.

The others are all either major contributors, still very young, or both.

"Were those the same Dodger die-hard fans that weren't filling the stadium pre-Manny? Could have sworn during that 8 game losing streak there were plenty of empty seats showing on t.v."

The Dodgers averaged more fans per game than Anaheim Stadium can even hold. Doesn't sound like poor attendance to me.

"I'll take all the bandwagon soccer moms in the world if it means not getting stabbed in the parking lot."

What an ignorant statement.

"Make Loney a third baseman"

That would be a little hard, no?

"As much as I love Lackey, I don't think he's a top-tier pitcher"

You have apparently not been paying attention then. Lackey's numbers last year would have won the Cy Young if he played in a different time zone.

"I wouldn't extend Vlad at more than he's currently making"

Let me get this straight. You wouldn't extend the team's best player at a rate more than that of Torii Hunter?

"What an ignorant statement."

Oh. You know, you're right! It was a SHOOTING!

LA Times:
2 Charged in Shooting Death of Giants Fan
September 24, 2003 in print edition B-4

rex, look at the numbers before you start judging players that you only saw during the all star break. yeah it was a bad game, for him but the truth is, that him actually a good fielder.
uggla yea has 13 errors so does utley, a highly regarded fielder. And had a .981 fielding percentage, 7th best in the MLB. stoped talking sterotype based on one game haters, because he a hard worker, who was a true contender for the MVP award for half of the year.
furthermore, isnt vlad, hunter, and anderson free-swingers. Not as much, but remember that it a arb. year for him, and people hr's numbers and SO's numbers to get more money

#1 Angels Fan

You are not smart are you?

Dodgers have won 5 World Series Titles since coming to LA, 4 since the Angels have been in existance.

The Dodgers have been in at least 7 World Series since the Angels have been in existance, the Angels have been in all of ONE!

To whoever said no one was coming before Manny....wow. We would have easily made 3 million without manny, he just made it so we got to the high 3 millions. Even so, the difference with Dodger fans are we were actually fans before 02.

AA

Haha, the Loney thing was not really serious, he would be terrible at 3b, i cant imagine how goofy he would look.

Ivdown:

Read the whole post carefully before you reply! I also said:

"...it wasnt until Scioscia became manager that the Angels actually figured out the most consistent way for their organization to compete. Angels are gonna consistently win for years and years!"

Before Scioscia, the Angels were the team to aquire older more proven veterans near the end of their careers. It wasnt until the '90s that the Angels started focusing on youth and once Scioscia came he brought the sense of winning.

Ok, so being horrible for 40 years until scioscia came is ok because he made them a winner, which makes them better than the Dodgers with their 4 ws in the same time span.

Ok, good to know.

Sorry, horrible for most of 40 years. There were some good years in there.

"There were some good years in there."

Yes there were some good years in there, but they weren't consistent until recently. That's my point.

"Ok, so being horrible for 40 years until scioscia came is ok because he made them a winner, which makes them better than the Dodgers with their 4 ws in the same time span."

Scioscia brought the winning mentality and the Angels players believed in it! That's why they are consistent and that's why they will continue to win! I never argued the fact that the Dodgers had the better history.

You said the reason the Dodgers have more history is because they have been around longer, and I showed you the dodgers have 3 more WS titles in the same amount of time.

"You said the reason the Dodgers have more history is because they have been around longer, and I showed you the dodgers have 3 more WS titles in the same amount of time."

And the reason why they had 3 WS titles in that amount of time is because they were around before the Angels... It takes an organization many years to become consistently competitive. It took the Angels a little longer than most other organizations but they finally figured it out when they brought in Scioscia. The time that the the Dodgers had before the Angels were created was enough time for them to figure out an organizational method to win and they did consistently. So while the Angels were searching for the winning game plan, the Dodgers were out consistently winning.

#1 Angels Fan

The "It takes an organization many years to become consistently competitive" is so far off.

The Diamondbacks disagree with you. 1998 arrival to the MLB, 2001 World Series champions.

What Robert Down (Ivdown) is saying is that the Dodgers have had better run teams, which leads to more successful teams, which leads to more champions in the same amount of time that the Angels have had.

the 1997 marlins would like to talk to you next, even though they are a bit different, because they sold off their team that probly could have contended for more years if they had stayed together.

The Dbacks won it all in 4 years after becoming a team, and then contended for division titles until 04, and then got competetive again in 07 and 08.

I think Tex would be a perfect fit for the Sox only if Lowell can't rebound from his hip injury. I believe he's only signed on for 2 more years, so if he has to miss significant time next year, I think it'd be worth signing Tex and using a platoon in 2010. Then have Tex and Youk on the corners after that.

"The "It takes an organization many years to become consistently competitive" is so far off."

Of course there are exceptions... There's exceptions to everything... I shouldn't have to explain that! But yes it does take years for organizations to become competitive. You dont come into the league with a game plan that immmediately wins (but yes, there are some exceptions but very rare). Organizations begin with an idea about how to win but it takes years to find the exact pieces for consistent success.

"What Robert Down (Ivdown) is saying is that the Dodgers have had better run teams, which leads to more successful teams, which leads to more champions in the same amount of time that the Angels have had."

I know you two are probly butt-buddies, but I really dont care what his name is. As for the Dodger history thing... You guyz are arguing about nothing. My arguments are not about that. I agreed with you! Im arguing for the Angels fact that it took about 40 years to consistently become winners.

If you really think 40 years is acceptable for a team to start to win, then you must love Matt Millen.

Butt buddies, that's clever.

Just because we both know your opinion is not smart doesn't make us butt buddies.

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