The Angels have been linked in rumors to names like Adam Dunn or Prince Fielder, but judging from manager Mike Scioscia's comments today to MLB.com's Alex Espinoza, L.A. may not go quite so big with any midseason deals.
"Our lineup needs to get deeper," Scioscia said. "If there's someone out there who is going to make us deeper, Tony [GM Tony Reagins] is going to act on it. As of right now, there hasn't been a lot presented that is going to be doable for what other teams are looking for and what we might have."
Scioscia also noted that he would like for any potential acquisition to be under contract for longer than just then end of the season, which would seem to remove Dunn from the discussion. Fielder is signed through 2011, but Milwaukee would expect quite a bit more in a trade for Fielder than Washington would for Dunn. Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com points out that "other teams aren't exactly tripping all over themselves to get at the Angels' minor-league talent," so there's even a question as to whether or not the Halos have the right prospects to land a major player in a trade.
Saxon suggests that Texas' deal for Cliff Lee may have sealed up the AL West for them, and thus L.A. should start looking ahead to next year. If Lee ends up being the spark that the Rangers expect him to be, it's likely that the Angels will start thinking like Saxon. A short-term addition like Hank Blalock (who L.A. is rumored to be interested in) might be the extent of the Halos' pre-deadline moves.
Should I bother mentioning Bautista? 😛
sign lee in the offseason. just keep him away from the bankees =/
If you can make some moves (i.e. assume salary) then do it. Anything else should be avoided. No need to trade potentially useful minor players OR strip the ML team of talent.
Oswalt is making more sense given how awful Kazmir has been this first half. He just looks finished. Oswalt shouldn’t cost much in terms of prospects but would raise payroll by quite a bit.
Has anyone caught onto the fact that 2010 was intended to be a transitional season to prepare for the big free agent market this next off-season?
Reagins signed Matsui, Pineiro, and Rodney just in case the team made it again.
And this deal for Cliff Lee does not seal anything for the Rangers. Lee only pitches once every 5 games, so their starting rotation still won’t go very deep into games. Therefore, unless they get another starter, their bullpen is going to wear out in that Texas heat.
Not getting another starter, and a first baseman, is going to cancel out all additional wins that Cliff Lee brings to the Rangers’ rotation.
It’s also been talked about all over MLB how opposite the Angels’ and Rangers’ schedules have been. The Angels have had one of the toughest schedules, while the Rangers have one of the easier schedules.
Because of their schedule, I predicted the Angels wouldn’t be much better than a .500 team through May, and would get hot during that 14 game road trip. I didn’t expect the Angels to make any kind of bug run until mid-July when their schedule eases up like it did in June.
And while the Rangers are dying from heat exhaustion and fading, the Angels have a stretch from August 27 through September 16, where they will play 18 straight games against teams under .500. I predict 13-5. lol
If the Angels just win some series, and take off during those easy stretches in July and late August, they will be right there (if not past) Texas through the end.
Plus, this season reminds me of 2004…
As you know, the Rangers just traded for Cliff Lee. The Angels need to counter if they want to have a chance to win the division this year. If not, just make some moves in the offseason and focus on next year.
Angels need to make a couple of moves for them to win the division this year. Frandson, Wood, Mathis, and Rivera have not produced squat. Sign Hank Blaylock to play 3B. Look to make a trade for Carl Crawford and include Rivera, Bell, and another prospect. Another option, include Kazmir OR Saunders and a prospect for Haren or Oswalt. Another option, Napoli, Bell, and a prospect for Adam Dunn. Dunn would have to sign long term to complete the deal. Just some thoughts.
Why do you want to trade away Napoli ? Is he really that awful ?
Napoli has been good but not great. The Angels need a productive bat in the lineup with the loss of Morales to injury. The Nats would expect to get something good in return. Napoli can play 1st or catch. He will hit for power but not for average. Napoli is on course to hit about .250 25hr’s and 75 rbi’s this season.
You’re not going to trade Napoli away for a rental player
I doubt Crawford is going anywhere this season
Seriously?The Rays are in a win now mode. They need Crawford. Unless they totally implode over the next 3 weeks you are not getting Crawford from the Rays – it’s that simple. They also don’t need Rivera as Jennings will just be called up to replace him.The Astros AND Diamondbacks are trying to shed money. Taking back Kazmir won’t work for either of them. Kazmir has been AWFUL and has serious negative trade equity. Saunders is a potential option but he’s probably too much to give up for Oswalt (assuming the Angels pick up Oswalt’s entire contract) and not nearly enough for Haren. And while Haren and Oswalt both represent an upgrade over Saunders, it really isn’t that much of a difference. Especially when you consider the increased cost ($10m+ more a year in payroll).Finally, Dunn should not require any blue-chip talent. He makes $12m/year. That’s about what he is worth. If the Nats trade him it won’t be for established ML talent OR top flight prospects. Napoli is significantly more valuable than Dunn (Napoli has beat Dunn in WAR EVERY YEAR, based on value per plate appearance, since his rookie year in 2006) given that he can catch, is under team control through next year, and is cheaper. And why would we sign Dunn long term to be the teams DH? Morales will be back next year. No way would I want a $12-14m/year DH – regardless of how good he is.I like acquiring Dunn – but not at the cost of Napoli. Assuming you can get Dunn for much less you have Napoli rotate at C/1B/DH. Dunn rotates at DH/1B. If Oswalt can come over through a Kazmir trade that would be great. My guess is that we would need to kick in $12m+ just to get rid of Kazmir. That makes Oswalt incredibly expensive.
Why risk the future for a rental? I think the Angels have played great with the absence of Morales, why not just take this season as it goes? Just wait until after the season to sure up the holes and add depth. It wouldn’t be throwing in the towel, it just doesn’t seem rational to trade off prospects for second tier rentals. Besides, what does Dunn offer over Napoli? Aren’t they just feast or famine homerun hitters? Heck, aren’t they both liabilities on defense? (Same applies to Fielder) No thanks!
Saxson is a awful
The Angels need bullpen help and a starter. Their bullpen lets too many inherited runners score. That is what is truly killing them.
Arte’s Angels have become the modern model franchise in the art of goodness. as in can’t reach greatness.
I think people are undervaluing Oswault. Yeah he won’t bring back what Lee did, but 2/33 is not that bad for a pitcher of his caliber. That’s what the Yanks are paying Burnett. Let’s see who would I rather have???? Now the Astros will not get a package headlined by someone like smoke but MLB ready guy, B and a low level pitcher with stuff seems reasonable. That’s about what the Braves got for Vazquez. I can’t even see the Angels taking on more payroll. They are at nearly 122 mill their highest ever.
Oswalt’s contract (including this season) breaks down to:
1.5 years @ 25.5m (that includes a $2m club option buyout) – average annual = $17m
or
2.5 years @ 39.5m (that’s with the option picked up – most likely scenario if he waives his NTC) – average annual = $15.8m
If you decline the club option his annual salary would place him as the 6th highest paid pitcher in baseball. With most of the deals ahead of him signed before the big economic collapse. Oswalt is a very nice pitcher (especially in the awful NL Central). Is he worth his paycheck … maybe. Is he worth substantially more than his paycheck (requiring top talent in return) … most definitely not.
Lot of baseball yet, Lee is very good, but thats 1 start in 5 days. Pressure now on Rangers. Way too early to count out the Angels.
The Angels have room to add payroll, they are at $105M not $122m.
Angels will trade Scott Kazmir + 6 million, Mark Trumbo, Bobby Wilson and Trevor Reckling to the Diamondbacks for Dan Haren and Adam LaRoche. LOL No seriously I wrote this on halosheaven. No shot, but still, not a bad idea. THis would upgrade the Angels offense by moving LaRoche’s hot 2nd half bat to 1B and Napoli to split C and DH. This would counter the Rangers upgrade in rotation, it would rest the ice cold Hideki Matsui when Napoli DH’s and would improve the Angels defense at 1B.
The D-Backs would get a major league SP for a low price next year with the money kicked in, a power hitting 1B, a defensive stud catcher, and a 21 year old lefty in AAA with a high ceiling.
Angels will trade Scott Kazmir + 6 million, Mark Trumbo, Bobby Wilson and Trevor Reckling to the Diamondbacks for Dan Haren and Adam LaRoche. LOL No seriously I wrote this on halosheaven. No shot, but still, not a bad idea. THis would upgrade the Angels offense by moving LaRoche’s hot 2nd half bat to 1B and Napoli to split C and DH. This would counter the Rangers upgrade in rotation, it would rest the ice cold Hideki Matsui when Napoli DH’s and would improve the Angels defense at 1B.
The D-Backs would get a major league SP for a low price next year with the money kicked in, a power hitting 1B, a defensive stud catcher, and a 21 year old lefty in AAA with a high ceiling.
Way to go Reagins, way to top off a horrible season (from a managerial standpoint) for the Angels. I agree, the Angels need to make a move soon if they want to remain AL West Champs.
Also, I like how nobody is talking about Mathis being way better than Napoli anymore. Hahaha, just goes to show that stats a few weeks into the season doesn’t mean that the player will live up to that for the rest of the season. Same goes for Matsui, what a joke…
You cant blame Reagins how could he have forseen Morales breaking his leg or 90% of our lineup struggling especially since at a point last year they were all batting 300
But you can blame him for the terrible new acquisitions (Morales was all the Angels offense until he got hurt), for letting key players in the field and in the clubhouse leave, for laying back and not doing anything until this point to fix the obvious problems the Angels have, and for not planning a good season. A good GM needs to be prepared. You have to remember, the Rangers have played 3 games less than the Angels, we could be as far as 7 or 8 games behind if they keep playing as hot as they have.
yeah, because lackey and figgins are really tearing it up right now.
oh wait….
Reagins deserves the blame for letting Vlad go, for letting K-Rod go, for the terrible signings of Brian Fuentes and Fernando Rodney and the awful trade for Scott Kazmir in which we gave up far too much and took on too much money.
However, Reagins also deserves credit for bringing in Torii Hunter, not giving in to John Lackey’s demands, bringing in Juan Rivera at such a low price, and Maicer Izturis, and the signing of Joel Pineiro, who is paid half of Lackey but has outperformed him.
So far, I’d give Reagins a C.
You would rather being paying K-Rod? Really?Fuentes wasn’t the answer, but that doesn’t mean that K-Rod should have been back. With league adjustments Fuentes was K-Rods equal in 2009. The big difference is that Fuentes is gone after this season. Meanwhile K-Rod will be owed another year at $15m or 2 years at $29m. Ouch. I’m not happy AT ALL with Fuentes, but at least he signed for less money and less years.Vlad was toast. If you followed him for the past years you would have seen that he was finished. His OPS plummeted from his normal, consistent, 950 range down below 800 in 09. NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY predicted his 2010 season. Hard to fault Reagins for that. Conversely, Matsui has been a huge bag of fail. Also, not something predicted. Between the two players blowing through expectations it makes Reagins look bad in retrospect.Kazmir was a calculated risk that has not paid off. He was outstanding in 2009 as an Angel – arguably the most dominant pitcher in baseball over the last 2 months. Unfortunately, he choked in the playoffs and has been a disaster in 2010. Angels gave up a bunch of prospects but really nobody that hurts. S Rodriguez wasn’t getting playing time (he was behind Aybar, Kendrick, Wood, and Izturis in the infield). Torres is having a great season but there were always questions on his size (175lbs and 5’10”) and age. Hindsight being what it is I’m sure the Angels would like this one back. However, at the time it was considered a solid move.It’s really funny to me because you site Hunter’s deal as a smart one. In my mind, that was the worst deal Reagins has made. Sure Hunter has been playing great. His 2.5 years so far have been the best 2.5 years of his career. You don’t see that very often on players who roam CF and are going through their 32 – 35 YO seasons. The Angels have been EXTREMELY lucky with Hunter so far. Just crossing my fingers now as we still owe him 2 more years and $36m.
Reagins has made some big mistakes (resigning Abreu instead of going harder after Holliday, spending money on Rodney when there were better bullpen options available, etc, etc). But he has managed to keep this team competitive while dealing with mistakes from the previous admin (Matthews and Speier). If not for a fluke injury to Morales, and below average performances from virtually EVERY starting offensive player, the Angels would be well on the way to another 90+ win season. Considering that’s done on a $105m payroll, that’s not bad.
But you can blame him for the terrible new acquisitions (Morales was all the Angels offense until he got hurt), for letting key players in the field and in the clubhouse leave, for laying back and not doing anything until this point to fix the obvious problems the Angels have, and for not planning a good season. A good GM needs to be prepared. You have to remember, the Rangers have played 3 games less than the Angels, we could be as far as 7 or 8 games behind if they keep playing as hot as they have.
You cant blame Reagins how could he have forseen Morales breaking his leg or 90% of our lineup struggling especially since at a point last year they were all batting 300
Way to go Reagins, way to top off a horrible season (from a managerial standpoint) for the Angels. I agree, the Angels need to make a move soon if they want to remain AL West Champs.
Also, I like how nobody is talking about Mathis being way better than Napoli anymore. Hahaha, just goes to show that stats a few weeks into the season doesn’t mean that the player will live up to that for the rest of the season. Same goes for Matsui, what a joke…
This really doesnt say anything to me. SO they arent looking for a rental but that doesnt eliminate anyone. All they have to do is ask teams whether they would allow them to discuss an extension or not before a deal, kinda like the whole Roy Halladay thing. No biggie.
I would like to see the Angels get some help at 3B. I know Iztruris comes back soon but he cannot play everyday. Take a chance on Hank Blaylock. Dan Haren and Adam LaRoche would be nice to have in a trade. If the Angels can keep Napoli that would be even better. According to a previous post Angel scouts have been watching Haren so hopefully something is brewin. If the Angels can move/trade Kasmir, Wood, Reckling, and Trumbo and pay part of Kasmir’s contract that would be good for the Dbacks as well.
No to mention the fact that the Angels have had the hardest schedule in baseball so far this season.