Four of California’s five teams reached the postseason and two are still alive, as the Dodgers and Giants both play Game 3 of their respective NLDS series tonight. The Dodgers will send Hyun-jin Ryu to the mound to try and take a 2-1 lead over the Cardinals, while Madison Bumgarner and the Giants can sweep away the Nationals with a victory.
Here’s some news from around the Golden State…
- Angels GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters (including MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez) that his team will focus on adding bench and pitching depth this offseason. Dipoto doesn’t forsee any big moves since he’s pleased with the team’s core players, saying “We feel we’re tweaks and turns from being a very good team again.”
- As several members of the Angels’ core get deeper into their 30’s, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times wonders if the team’s window of contention might only last for another season or two.
- The Angels will likely address their depth by being active on the minor league free agent market, CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa writes in a recap of the Halos’ 2014 season and a look ahead to their winter. Axisa suggests the team could sign a mid-tier free agent starter like Brandon McCarthy and/or Francisco Liriano, and then trade C.J. Wilson to free up some payroll space (while eating maybe half the $38MM still owed on Wilson’s contract). Dealing Wilson could be easier said than done given his partial no-trade clause (covering eight teams) and since Wilson is coming off a tough season.
- The Athletics will “be stuck on this treadmill” of early postseason exits “until the team is sold” due to a lack of payroll support from ownership, Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle opines. Jenkins also criticized Billy Beane’s recent defense of the Jon Lester trade, as Jenkins felt it didn’t show much faith in the rest of the A’s roster.
- Jed Lowrie is open to playing second base rather than shortstop, just as long as he has a stable everyday spot and not switching between the two middle infield positions, he tells MLB.com’s Jane Lee. Lowrie will be a free agent this offseason and is “certainly open to hearing what the A’s have to say” about re-signing him, as he enjoys playing with his teammates and for Bob Melvin.
- The Giants aren’t usually mentioned in discussions of baseball’s best farm systems, yet homegrown players are the backbone of both this year’s roster and the club’s recent World Series winners, Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News writes. Fourteen of the players on the Giants’ roster were drafted or signed by the team, the second-most homegrown products of any of the eight Division Series clubs.
The Giants traded away Zack Wheeler, as well.
Who?
He is a Mets Pitcher now. It was in the trade for Carlos Beltran
He of 2.0 WAR over the past two seasons, the Giants are not really missing Wheeler too much. He would be undoubted nice to have still, but not having him is not holding back the team much, they were able to buy that production from Hudson and Vogelsong.
Meanwhile, they have kept Bumgarner, Cain (once recovered from minor surgery), Romo, Lincecum, Posey, Belt, Panik, Crawford, Sandoval, Susac, Hanchez (once recovered from concussions), and used farm prospects to trade for Lopez, Pence, Peavy, plus picked up for free from other teams Casilla (thanks A’s!), Petit (thanks Mets and Marlins and D-backs!), Blanco (thanks Braves!), Strickland (thanks Pirates!), Ishikawa (former Giants farm product, thanks Pirates!), Vogelsong (former Giants farm product, thanks Pirates!).
Plus free agents who were signed to big money contracts, Affeldt and Hudson.
So Sabean has done a great job of keeping the core players necessary for making the playoffs and winning playoff games, while supplementing with free agents, both expensive and cheap.
lincecum 35mm reliever.
What does trading C.J. Wilson only to sign another mid tier option accomplish?
Ridding the Angels of Wilson’s salary… Or at least a portion of it, if it is even possible.
But the added payroll flexibility, say 8-10 MM a year, doesn’t help the Angels unless they can sign a better starter with that money. Liriano and McCarthy are not clear upgrades over Wilson in 2015.
I tend to agree. Too many question marks in the situation now that would need to be sorted out before any determination can be made.
The Pujols and Hamilton contracts are really going to get in the way of this team going forward. Not dissing either player, especially Pujols being such a big piece of their team this year, but they just have huge salaries. Along with Wilson and of course Trout, there is a ton of money tied into just 4 players for the future. Hamilton has been a bust thus far, and will make 23 million in ’15, and 30 million in both ’16,’17, so if he keeps up his; I wouldn’t say terrible but rather unimpressive play, the worst days of his contract have yet to come. I think it’d be wise for them to shed some salary in whatever way they can..
I think that’s a bit exaggerated. Their active payroll on the field (excluding dead weight contracts of Wells, Blanton, and Burnett) was about $125 million, which is the about the same as their payrolls around 2007. There’s no reason they can’t continue putting a competitive team on the field with their big contracts. All they really have to do is continue with the approach they had last offseason. The depth they added, instead of making more big moves, is a big reason they won 98 games.
You have to include those dead weight contracts, they exist and are a part of their payroll. The ’14 angels team salary was just under 160 million and with players heading for arbitration, and/or signings of one or more FA’s, their payroll is going to jump back up. (As of now it stands at around the 120-125 million mark.)
The biggest issue in my opinion is the fact that like I mentioned above Hamilton will make 30 million in both 2016-17 and couple with Pujols salary and a rising mike trout salary, it’s just a lot of money tied up.
I’m illustrating how a team can still put a competitive team on the field despite those big contracts. Up to $35 million dollars was being wasted on players not even playing, yet the Angels front office still put a team together that won 98 games. That’s the point. And Hamilton may not be nearly what he he was with Texas, but his percentages were still better than many left fielders out there. The Angels will be fine as long as they continue the approach they had last offseason.
Of course they can be competitive with those contracts on the books, they showed it this year. I’m not talking about how good the Angels were this year, rather just the money tied up and how that effects the future. Yes, Hamilton hasn’t been “awful” in context to the league, but for his salary, he has been undeniably bad. Not to mention he hasn’t been able to stay on the field consistently and was equal to 0 production in the post-season. There’s the almost inevitable chance that both Hamilton and Pujols will decline further as the years go by. As their ages, as well as chances of getting hurt increases so does their salary. The Angels are a regular season club, offense translates well into the regular season, but can be more inconsistent in short playoff series while facing high talent pitching as you saw. They lacked a shutdown pitcher for the post-season (it definitely could have been Richards, but we’ll never know what he could have done). The thing is, the Angels likely can’t go out in the free agent market and sign a number one starter to a mega-deal since they already have three within their club, and a smaller but still nice chunk of change committed to Wilson. I’d say their rotation is pretty iffy heading into 2015, and I don’t think they have the budget room to add an impact arm while also addressing their other (small) holes.
They’d have to eat a big chunk. That deal is heavily backloaded and Wilson isn’t exactly living up to the contract as it is.
I agree. Replacing Wilson would cost the team greatly. The club is better off keeping CJ, and hoping that he has a bounce back year.
Trading Wilson to free up payroll for a mid-tier free agent like McCarthy or Liriano is counterproductive. Counting on Liriano and McCarthy to repeat their 2014 success is just as risky as counting on Wilson returning to his 2010-2013 form.
I like Liriano over Wilson straight up in 2015.
So would many people, but the Angels owe Wilson 38 million already. They’re not going to be able to shed that entirely.
Condolences on the sweep. I was pulling for an Angels/Orioles ALCS.
angels need to sign Jon Lester and Nelson Cruz ASAP
Lol with all that free $$$ they have right?
angels need Nelson cruz
Can the Angels claim depreciation on Josh Hamilton for tax purposes… that’s a black hole.
About 75% of Hamilton’s career has been a black hole…
Its just so strange… he’ll go from threat to absolute non existence. Texas’s unwillingness to bring him back should have been a clear indicator. I know he’s hasn’t been healthy… but you hope it’s not in his head.
It’s in his head.
I think you nailed it with everything but your last statement… His head has always been a question, even with the Rangers. Heck, how many other players have there own “Accountability Coach” like Josh had with the Rangers?
Sure his head has always been an issue. Healthy people don’t typically go through what he has been through… nor do they make it back and realize any potential. The fact that he had a life coach isn’t shocking… I think they likely exist under the radar quite often.. it’s just that Hamilton’s played into the story. We’re not talking a player who had a rec drug problem… he was into opiates.
Hamilton’s percentages were still better than a lot of left fielders around MLB. His BA was hovering around .290 until mid August. A 2 week slump right after is the reason he dipped down to .263. Angels fans still grumble about not re-signing Hunter, yet Hamilton still had a higher OBP and OPS+ at 114. I think what really got in the way of a good bounce back season was that late slump, injuries, and somehow hitting 0 HR’s at home. I think Hamilton’s season is being demonized a bit too much. But at the same time, I’m not counting on him ever matching what he did in Texas. Mainly because his numbers away from Texas were pretty much the same as his overall numbers with the Angels in 2014. He was helped a lot by that video game ballpark in Arlington.
I can picture Jed Lowrie wearing pinstripes. Just sayin’
Count the Rangers out as a trade partner for head case Wilson. CJ wouldn’t be accepted back even if the Angels paid all his remaining salary.
Did you see the Rangers pitching this year? I agree, Wilson is a head case, but even with his down year, he still would of been an improvement over Matinez, Tepesch, Baker, Ross, Mikolas, Saunders, Scheppers, Bonilla, Irwin, and even Harrison (some more so than others).
I still cant believe Soscia started Hamilton all three games, it’s unfathomable after watching his timing AND the teams production with him out of the lineup.
At first I thought the same. But after looking at the 2014 numbers of the rest of the Angels’ left fielders, I redacted. There was really no better option.
the angels need to sign Lester or James Shields and Nelson Cruz
How could they sign the first two (the only ones they need, since Pujols is quickly becoming a DH only, same with Hamilton) with such little space in terms of cap? I know people say they could go over, but Moreno has stated time after time that he will not go over the cap to sign players (and considering that Lester and Shields will probably cost close to annually 20 million, that would break the Angels’ perceived cap).
how many years does Hamilton have left on his contract
Too many….I mean 3.
3 more and they are going to only look worse if they keep him out in the field.
Josh Hamilton’s defense isn’t great but it tolerable for a LF, its his strikeouts and utter lack of plate discipline that hurts.
the angels need to buy out Wilson and Hamilton and get rid of Jepsen
They would still be stuck with those contracts affecting their cap space, so it wouldn’t help in the long run.
Why get rid of Jepsen? This was his best statistical season and they only paid him $1.4m. Sure he’ll get more in arbitration, but he was part of a very solid bullpen which should not be dismantled.
angels need to buy out CJ and get a reliable starter like Lester and Nelson Cruz
As much as I don’t like Jepsen in late innings, we still need him. Scioscia should really only bring him in to get a strikeout in the 6th or 7th. Jepsen has been on the team since ’08. He’s had multiple opportunities to take hold of a late inning role.
One of the problems over the years is that Jepsen was in a thin bullpen where he was thrust into late inning roles he’s not suited for. That of course is another reason they now have Smith and Street. As long as Jepsen is in more of a 6th/7th inning role, I think he’ll continue to be effective.
Naw. Hamilton recovered from an injury that historically zaps players of power and timing in recovery stage. He was a BEAST at seasons beginning. If he truly gets healthy in the offseason he should be fine. The team is fine but could use a starter at the end of the rotation.
Problem with Josh is he is always going down with an injury in one way or another, so by your theory that it was an injury that zapped his power (doesn’t explain last year at all though), it is going to keep happening. And yes, the Angels could use a starter though where they are going to get one?
He wasnt great last year, but he was serviceable. In the playoffs he was a corpse.
And the Angels will just absorb it by continuing to fill their bench with role players who can fill in everyday when needed.
What they really need to do is continue converting Cory Rasmus back into a starter and just continue making the kind of depth moves they made last offseason.
angels need to sign Nelson Cruz ASAP
No they really don’t
They have more than enough offense.
Why would anyone trade for CJ Wilson when they can sign a cheaper FA pitcher that puts up the same numbers? Even the angels would like to do that. Lowrie has poor range at SS but he can hit 2b is where he will probably be playing next year.
30 million for Josh Hamilton and 20 million for CJ Wilson, not to mention Pujols. Yikes
They will get no sympathy from the Yankee fans.
Still no reason they can’t keep putting a competitive team on the field.
Nobody relevant besides, and half your bill is going to pujols, shambolton and mr hair. Its like Blanton and Wells supersized
Bruce Jenkins is right.
As long as Wolff doesn’t support resigning guys the A’s cannot contend for anything outside of an early playoff exit.
Good teams resign the guys they give up good prospects for, in general.
Angels are the worst 98 win team ever
I’m all for Jed playing 2B for us. I just need his bat to be improved in ’15.
Good for Bruce Jenkins!
Players are getting tired of being moved around like chess pieces, and fans can’t keep up anymore with who’s on what team.
Fantasy baseball is fine. But moving human beings around literally daily and expecting them and the paying fans to follow what is going is unreasonable.
Angels need to sign a pitcher asap cause they won’t have Tyler Skaggs next season they need Jon Lester or James shields Asap
will angels have a chance to sign Lester or Nelson Cruz
comment back asap