As new Angels GM Jerry Dipoto prepares for his first Winter Meetings as a general manager, Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times writes that he'll be under budgetary limitations. The Angels would like to keep their payroll around $140MM, meaning that Dipoto will have $15-$20MM to spend on shoring up three areas of need: a starting pitcher, a big bat, and a short reliever.
The Halos currently have an offer out to C.J. Wilson, and have also been linked to both Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Madson at various points in the past few weeks. DiGiovanna says that the rest of the Angels' offseason will likely hinge on the next move that is made.
Whichever hole (if any) Dipoto decides to fill via free agency, he also made it very clear that he's comfortable trading in this quote, relayed from DiGiovanna:
"Free agency is not foreign to me, but you're constantly exploring opportunities for trades…
the only other 2 1/2 -month period of time I did this job was right in the middle of trade deadline, so I'm very comfortable in it."
DiGiovanna speculates that Ervin Santana, Maicer Izturis, and Alberto Callaspo could become trade chips that would allow the Angels to pursue Ramirez even if they land Wilson. Santana will earn $11.2MM in 2012, while Izturis is under contract for $3.8MM and MLBTR's projections (courtesy of Matt Swartz) have Callaspo at $3.1MM.
Good thing they’re giving a .3
Good thing they’re giving a .250 oBP hitter $20 million a year
Trading Santana would be a mistake. A HUGE mistake
I can pitch
Gimme that 20 Mill.
damn,,, thats is tough.i wouldnt trade santana unless im getting a comparible pitcher. i would trade maicer, and i would even trade kendrick cuz hes going to be expensive for what he’s worth,i like callaspo hes maicer but less expensive.abreu needs to leave as well as fernando rodriguez.and trade bobby wilson too, we can get someone good for him.
Trade Bobby, even if it means picking up a big chunk of his 9MM
Madson? Have they not realized that throwing money at decent-but-not-elite closers is a bad idea after the Fuentes and Rodney contracts?
also, the angels should try to sign juan oviedo (leo nunez)if hes eligible to pitch this season.
Santana on trading block? Jays could already use Izturis, maybe those two for Lind, Thames, and a high end pitching prospect? Probably not enough.
They already have a LF and 1B that can’t get on base
The Angels would be dumb to get rid of Ervin Santana, they should try to trade Abreu, Izturis, and Callaspo. The Angels would prob have Wilson and Ramirez right now if they didn’t get Wells last season.
Why is everyone accepting signing A-Ram? Dude will be another plague contract. I’d rather keep Santana and Callapso than landing Wilson and A-Ram. Going to be an interesting week for sure.
I don’t really believe what Hanley Ramirez and what the Mets are saying about Wright. I think they both are available given what happened with the Reyes signing. Here’s my wishlist in the following order:
1). Sign Hiroki Kuroda 2 yrs/24M
2). Trade Santana-Bell-Callaspo for Hanley Ramirez
3). Trade Aybar-Hunter for David Wright
4). Pay 60M for Yu Darvish signing fee and contract for 6 yrs/60M. I think technically, the signing fee doesn’t count against the annual budget ?
5). Sign Ayala for ~2 yrs/2M
That’s funny.
Sarcasm????…
Get rid of callaspo and bobby to get and get Madson and Ramirezif there is still budget space. DON’T TRADE SANTANA.
Trading away Santana is no way to get “more bang for your buck”. He is worth every bit of his present salary and more. You won’t get the same value from CJ and with this proposed Angel budget, they need value.
This is dumb getting rid of Santi is something that will make Angels NOT win the AL West again.. They just traded Chatt..and Angels are short a starter now because of that..Trading Santi will make Angels short of 2 Starters..it’s dumb and non-sense..I can’t see them trade Alberto unless A-ram signs.. I was happy and felt like Jerry would make great decisions but this Article scare’s me =/
All of you that think you can just throw in an old or useless player with a big salary with a useful player in a trade are on crack. I can’t think of any trade in recent memory where that’s really happened.
It’s simple to me (or at least would be nice). Sign CJ or another decent 3/4 SP, get ARam for 3B, and trade one of the middle infielders for a closer/reliever type.
Do the above, you have a nice upgrade at the black hole that was catcher, let the young guys continue to mature, and get Kendry back at even 75% strength and we win the division. Those would be huge improvements over last year. Nevermind if VW actually plays to a 1/4 of his contract’s value.
DON’T trade Santana, get the bat from the FA pool.
I’ve actually been advocate for a Ramriez deal even as recent as yesterday, but I’ve realized how much better it would be for the Angels to forget A-Ram, and focus on getting a ton of pitching. I’m still iffy about Wilson and his price tag, word is the contract the Angels offered him doesn’t top Weaver’s, and though it would be great if he accepted, I highly doubt he would just cuz of the Cali weather. That said, the money we “saved” on A-Ram and Wilson could go towards landing maybe even BOTH Kuroda and Buerle, though that might just be wishful thinking on my part, and multiple relievers.
A 6-man rotation would really take the stress of Weaver, for even though I wish he could pitch everyday, I would expect his arm would wear out sooner. Weaver, Haren, Santana, Buehlre, Kuroda, Williams is just too tantalizing. Once again, it would still be awesome to land one, and that is probably what will happen, but the money saved could definitely make the Angels capable of pursuing both. As for relievers, I honestly believe Madson is going to be asking for Heath Bell or Papelbon like money. I truly believe that only Pap comes close to deserving the type of money they received this year, but hey, that’s just me. Plus, Madson’s probably someone who would be looking to be the closer for the several more seasons, and the Angels don’t need that, not with Walden being almost ready. I would like to see the Angels bring K-Rod back and bring in Frank Francisco. They would provide a lot of stability to the Angels rotation, and let Takahashi go back to his ideal role, the lefty specialist. Plus both K-Rod and Francisco have closing experience so they could definitely fill in for Walden during any slumps. I would rather have a bullpen of K-Rod(6/7), Francisco(6/7), Takahashi(lefty), Downs(8th), and Walden(closer), then just Takahashi, Downs, Walden, and Madson.
You’ll notice that both deals provide Angels with a lot of pitching depth. I figure this would be the best route for the Angels to a World Series, as they proved for much of the year last year that they could definitely be a contender with the offense they had. Had the pitching not faltered at the end, which is mostly because of the lack of depth (nobody to stepped up when Weav, Haren, and especially Walden went through their slumps) in pitching.