The Angels don’t have the resources to trade for a big-name slugger, so they have turned their attention to Alberto Callaspo. GM Tony Reagins is targeting the former Angels minor leaguer, according to Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
Saxon reports that the Angels “are believed to have offered” Sean O'Sullivan and a fringe prospect for Callaspo, only to have Royals GM Dayton Moore turn the offer down. Callaspo, 27, has a .276/.310/.413 line this season and could play second or (more likely) third for the Angels.
Reagins considered pursuing Adam Dunn, but backed off when he realized that other teams only have “marginal interest” in the pitchers the Angels have in the upper minors. Top prospect Mike Trout is not going anywhere, though teams do have interest in him.
Yeah I’m not sure I would jump at this offer either. Callaspo isn’t great, but he is more valuable to the Royals than that.
i do think the royals should look to move alberto, but i think his value is down right now. so perhaps see if he can rebound and look to move him in offseason? he should hit closer to .300 with more line drives (doubles). that said, he’s a butcher at 2B and barely passable at 3B. what can we realistically expect for him?
We’ll give you Jason Bulger.
Haha. This is so funny. Look at what the Angels have to resort to. I’ve been saying since the offseason : Not re-signing at least two of the three free agents they lost (John Lackey, Chone Figgins, Vladimir Guerrero) will come back to haunt them. Every single one of those players were cornerstones to that team. For being EXTREMELY rich, the Angels owner sure is cheap. Besides Kendry Morales and Jered Weaver the Halos just don’t have that dangerous, star-powered team anymore. Texas will be dominating the AL West for years to come.
Ya they definitely should have resigned Vlad, Lackey and Figgins since Figgy is hitting like .230 and Lackey is having a career worst year and both are getting tons of money. Vlad is playing great but one season of Vlad playing great is hardly worth giving 2 out of those 3 the money they wanted and got.
not to mention the only reason Vlad got healthy is because he DIDN’T get te contract. He was comfy in Montreal, got made when he didn’t get money to stay, and proved his back was fine by winning the MVP in Anaheim the next year. He got comfy in Anaheim, had wooden legs all last year (and the one before that) and probably had to have some people turn him down for him to get hungry and get after it. The Vlad the Angels would have got had they resigned him would have been very different from the one the Rangers got. He has something to prove.
and he’s probably my favorite all time Angel. I’m no hater.
Beat me to it. The Angels would be much WORSE off today if they had Figgins and Lackey. Pineiro is clearly pitching better than Lackey (and at half the cost plus we got a first round pick). Figgins isn’t doing much better. Letting Vlad go was a huge mistake but not one that ANYBODY saw. Who thought that he was going to suddenly reverse a 3 year trend of decline and return to his MVP type self?
What really hurt was Brandon Wood sucking it up. Scott Kazmir suddenly becoming the worst pitcher in the AL, the bullpen taking a major step back and finally, every offensive player outside of Torii Hunter forgetting how to hit. It’s a perfect storm of futility. Adding back Figgins and Lackey would have resulted in the same futility – just at a cost of $30m/year to the payroll.
Callaspo is not the answer. We already have guys who can post an OPS of 700 and play in the infield. I’d much rather keep O’Sullivan and stick with Izturis/Wood/Frandson.
right and wrong, says me.
Lackey was never a true ace, so overpriced. Vladdie was replaceable in terms of DH options.
but should’ve kept Figgins. Price wasn’t outrageous and he still exemplified their style of ball.
they’ve made themselves timid of free-agent spending simply because they haven’t done it wisely. (as in too scared to swing for the fences for a CC Sabathia.)
just like they were too wimped to deal their prospects. (too late to rethink those offers for Miguel Cabrera?)
Yeah – the Cabrera situation is interesting. I think the Angels would like that one back. Kendrick simply hasn’t progressed. Adenhart … Those were the key pieces.
Of course, Kendry Morales is no slouch. Kendry was a 4.5 WAR player last year to Cabrera’s 5.5 WAR. Kendry cost the Angels $600k in 09 while Cabrera cost the Tigers $15m (plus the farm). What would have been ideal is having Cabrera and then moving Kendry to the outfield.
As for not being big spenders … look the team took a couple shots and fell short. Who were the big ones that got away? Alfonso Soriano and Barry Zito. The Angels came in a close 2nd for both those guys. Thank goodness is all I can say. While CC would be great, for the most part the team has spent wisely and made good baseball moves. The fact is that in the last 5 years only the Yankees have more wins. Hard to bag on the Angels.
Trust me. They should’ve resigned them. Figgins is hitting .230 because he is surrounded by a horrible line-up. Lackey is statistically doing badly because he is starting half of his games in a pitcher’s nightmare/hitter’s dream of a park, Fenway. Vlad was underperforming last year because he was still recovering from injuries, now he’s healthy and as good as ever. Angels are terrible at keeping their homegrown talent (K-Rod, Lackey, Figgins). I wouldn’t be surprised if Kendry will be a starting first baseman for the Red Sox 5 or 6 years from now. As a Yankees fan I sure am glad that we won’t have to face the Angels in the playoffs. Texas is a threat but not as much as the Angels have been (especially the 2008 Angels!).
Kendry wont be a Red Sox, and Lackey has been terrible even away from Fenway, he always has a bad inning or the run support isnt enough and the bullpen blows the game for him, i still cant believe the Red Sox paid him that much money and for that amount of years, i like to give him the nickname “Tough Luck” and there was serious doubt about Vlad’s knees and Figgins isnt bad because of who he is surrounded by, he just is regressing just like the Angels thought he would, and K-Rod knew he was leaving, there was nothing the Angels could of done
You logic is just not there.
Lackey has been terrible. It doesn’t matter if he’s pitching at Fenway or not. He’s actually worse away if you look at the stats.
Home – 2.32 K/BB/3.78 FIP/4.37 xFIP
Away – 0.93 K’BB/5.06 FIP/5.67 xFIP
Oh and God no, please 5-6 years from now, Kendry Morales will be in his thirties. I’d rather have either one of Rizzo or Anderson.
Coming into this season, Vlad’s OPS/ISO had been declining.
2007 – .950/.223
2008 – .886 /.218
2009 – .794 /.164
Eh, Figgy has declined all around. I liked him as an Angel, but wasn’t devastated to see him go. His runs will definitely be affected by the team he’s now with, no doubt. Nothing he can do about that. But midseason totals in steals are down, he’s striking out more, but BABIP is actually a little high considering his average. Bad luck, yeah, but overall he’s not seeing the ball well. If they even pitch differently to a number two guy, it’s going for CONTACT because Ichiro is on first. He’s there to get Ichiro from first to third, and it isn’t working. He’s used to being the guy going from first to third. His errors playing consistent second base are what alarm me. Besides, EVERY Angel fan(me included) were ready to see Brandon Wood get his shot. Bleh.
It really seems to me that people don’t understand the trade market.
You have to GIVE SOMETHING to GET something, and right now? the Angels High level prospects cupboard is pretty bare.
They get their big hitter back next year, Matsui’s a one year deal, and some more money comes off the books. WHY go rent ONE player for a year that has more than one hole?
I don’t think the owner is cheap, I just think the team, for a variety of reasons, has significant holes this season, and as a result can’t plug it with one person.
We’ll see how much Arte is willing to spend this off-season w/ some available marquee names.
The Royals are stupid if they dont take this deal, Alberto Callaso for Sean O’Sullivan? that guy is a great arm to have and i would give up Callaspo to get him
Sean O’ Sullivan and Brandon Wood?
That would be a nice package to get him.
i’ve said this (too?) many times about Arte’s angels.
Two, three years ago they could have traded O’Sullivan and Wood for like an Anibal Sanchez or say what a Rickey Romero is now.
they had the hottest farm system in baseball but were unable to decide or determine which were the real ones.
meanwhile the sytem ain;t so hot anymore. Is it from doling out checques to the likes of Gary Matthews Jr instead of continuing the development?
I beg to differ on the farm system. I watch the Cedar Rapids Kernels play frequently, and can say that their lower level minors are flush with talent. I saw them score 14 runsin one inning on Sunday afternoon. There are 4-5 legit major league prospects on this A ball team. Not sure what Orem has, but the Angels did have some higher draft picks this year. Mike Trout flat tore up the Midwest League. You guys are going to love him.
The Royals already have their own Brandon Wood. Alex Gordon says hi. Oh and the Royals have their 3B of the future in Moose.
It sounds like maybe a change of scenery would do them both good… Wood for Gordon?
The Royals biggest need is pitching….they have good speed, defense, and the hitting is pretty good (aside from power), but even still, I would not have traded Callaspo either. He is 27 years old and a decent third baseman. I would get rid of Gordon before Callaspo.
This season died when Morales went down. There will be no postseason (especially now after the Cliff Lee trade).
This is no time to mortgage the future. I see no reason to give up on any top prospects for Callaspo.
I agree that we should have let Lackey go but not Vlad and Figgy. Figgy would be doing what he alwys has done if he was leading off for the Angels. Hed be hitting .285 with a .390 obp and scoring runs. Vlad just needed to be healthy I mean everyone wanted to get rid of him because his off year was .295 with 15 HR and 50 RBI in 100 games playing hurt? He is doing just what i expected him to do once he got healthy except for the extra HRs but thats due to his home ball park. I expected him to hit around .320 with 20-25 HR and over 100 RBI but the Angels front office wanted to sell some Angels jersey’s in Japan with Matsui now as for Callaspo…Why should we trade any prospect for a slow, below average defensive 3rd baseman with no power? He is not an upgrade over what Frandsen is doing this year and he isnt a long term solution for 3rd base with his no power, no speed, bad defense and career .333 obp but it does sound like a trade that idiot Reagins would pull the trigger on
Well dude, I wish you were my GM because you are the ONLY person who saw that in Vlad. The only reason I wanted front office to resign him was sentimental.
Just dont understand how nobody thought Vlad could hit again when healthy… When you hit .295 when you are unhealthy why wouldnt you hit over .300 when healthy? .295 tons of players would take a .295 average on a good year and that is Vlads injured year
Gordon for Wood and Sullivan is a great idea!
I think Gordon and Wood straight up and you could call it the “Change of Scenery” trade…young-ish guys at 3b w/ once huge upside who neve quite put it together. squared.
Curious as to what Billy Beane offered for Callapso back in March that was turned down at the last second by KC.
ha, if the Angels are really looking at Callaspo, why not Jhonny Peralta? Yeah, he’s got virtually the same numbers….the Tribe is probably more willing to move him since their top prospect in the minors is Chisenhall (a 3B) and Goedert has over 20 HRs in the minors this year and is sittng in AAA. Peralta is also a career .361 hitter (1.018 OPS) with 7 HRs in 25 games (97 at-bats) at Angel Stadium. The guy loves the warm weather. He’s not the same 20+ HR guy…but a change of scenary could get him going. He did have an .800+ OPS in 2008.
Sean O’Sullivan for Callaspo? What would anybody want with O’Sullivan, and why would anybody give up Callaspo for him?
That said, I’m surprised Dayton Moore didn’t jump on it.
the angels have plenty of fans… they just don’t make many trades. screw getting callaspo… maicer and frandsen can put up the same (if not better) numbers. the angels need to hold out and get Crawford and maybe a pitcher in the offseason and just hope that the pieces play well this year. i really don’t think a trade will make us immediately better right now
They can hit .300 with 40 2Bs?
maicer can certainly hit .300 or thereabouts… no i guess he doesn’t slug as much but he makes up for it with stellar D, an okay eye, and mild speed. I do want the angels to upgrade at 3B (and for much of the year i thought Wood might be that) but trading O’Sullivan, who will be in our rotation now that Kazmir is hurt, for Callaspo (who honestly hasn’t proven anything yet) would do nothing. i’d rather stick with maicer and frandsen.
What do you mean “hasn’t proven anything yet”?
AC has two straight .300 seasons, and in 2009, had 41 2Bs with 73 RBIs. OPS+ was 114.
well first of all… in seasons where he’s played every day for stretches, Maicer put up similar numbers. i mean, callaspo had a good season last year… but he’s followed up with a less than spectacular this year and honestly i would rather keep the angels team chemistry as is. 3B is notoriously a position where you should get a lot of your power from anyways (figgins was an exception b/c of his speed and D). i just think getting callaspo is useless.
Maicer Izturis = Alberto Callaspo…. I don’t understand the reason for this rumor. Also, since Callaspo was once in the Angels system, why did they get rid of him if they thought he had a future with them?