Angels outfielder Brian Goodwin is drawing interest from teams seeking corner depth in the grass, Buster Olney of ESPN tweets. As a 55-52 team with a glimmer of a playoff chance, it’s unclear how open the Angels are to moving the 28-year-old.
He wouldn’t net a significant return in a trade, but Goodwin has been an effective buy-low pickup for the Angels. With left fielder Justin Upton battling a serious toe injury that ultimately kept him out until mid-June, the Angels claimed Goodwin off release waivers from the Royals immediately before the season began. At that point, Goodwin was coming off a run of playable offensive production divided between Washington and Kansas City. The lefty-swinging Goodwin posted a league-average wRC+ (100) from 2017-18, a 458-plate appearance span in which he slashed .246/.315/.456 with 19 home runs and 10 stolen bases.
The Angels likely would have been content with similar production this year from Goodwin, but they’ve instead received markedly better work. While it has been a hot-and-cold type of season for Goodwin – who has had two excellent months (April, July) and two subpar ones (May, June) – he has managed to put together a .287/.343/.480 line (117 wRC+) with 29 extra-base hits (18 doubles, nine homers, two triples) and three steals over 281 trips to the plate. A .360 batting average on balls in play has propped up Goodwin’s output, to be sure, and the gap between his weighted on-base average (.347) and expected wOBA (.319) also suggests good fortune has played a role in his success.
What Goodwin has done as an Angel may be smoke and mirrors to some extent, but no interested team would expect to be acquiring any kind of outfield savior. The fact that Goodwin’s a useful major league hitter, a fast runner and someone who can play all three outfield spots – albeit not especially well, according to advanced metrics – makes him an appealing piece. Plus, he’s earning close to the league minimum this season and still has another three years of arbitration eligibility remaining. The Angels may decide to keep Goodwin for those reasons, not to mention they could lose right fielder Kole Calhoun in the offseason if they decline his $14MM club option in favor of a $1MM buyout.
NO. Trade Upton! Keep Calhoun and Goodwin. Goodwin can go back to being a 4th outfielder when Adell is up next season
Good luck trying to trade Upton and his contract.
3/71 left after an injury plagued replacement level year. Can’t give that away. Still not as untradeable as Pujols though.
I second that!! Keep Goody trade Upton, what’s eating contracts to the Angels
Who would take Upton’s contract. C’mon people you have to be realistic .
Mets did take Cano and most of his contract and gave up two good players to boot. Never say Never.
Wil Myers swap. Third team would probably have to be involved as SD doesn’t want/need OF help. Upton is significantly better than Myers too so the Angels would need something extra. Plus J-Up has a full NTC.
In other words it’s probably not happening…
First of all, Cano put up 3.2WAR in 80 games in 2018, he averaged 4.76WAR in his 5 SEA years, a WAR that Upton has reached only twice in his career. There is no comparison to Upton’s value. Mets also got Edwin Diaz. They also got $20mil in cash.
If you’re going to reference a deal, at least pick one that would be comparable.
Calhoun is in the last year of his deal, so in ur scenario they would trade away a controlled player in Upton, then potentially lose Goodwin and Calhoun to Free Agency…
Goodwin isnt a free agent til 2022
U are correct, missed the Arbitration years when I looked it up. But even still getting rid of Upton leaves a holes in the outfield with the potential of Calhoun walking, even with Adell
Upton isnt going anywhere. No GM is that dumb to take on that contract. Not sure why the angels took it on to begin with.
The answer is easy. Because they needed a stable left fielder and they got the best production they’ve gotten at the position since… 2012? There are plenty of high market GM’s who would take the contract. It’s not that expensive at all and a healthy Justin Upton is going to fill a LF hole for any club who can’t do so from within.
no one in their right mind would take on Upton’s contract I’d keep goody for insurance for next season if there was candidates to trade Calhoun or Simmons Bedrosian who have the most value
Upton had a good year last year. Your cutting him loose rather quickly. Injuries happen. This year he missed half the season. Give him a break.
He had. 120 ops+ last year and he is a below average defensive outfielder. That’s not really worth the 20+ million a year hes getting. Especially considering the position he plays. There are always tons of corner outfielders on the market. The Angels could have just signed Andrew McCutchen this offseason for less money , years and similar production
Adam Jones is roughly a league average outfielder and hes getting paid 2 or 3 million dollars this season
Not sure where to start here.
Uptown put up a 3 fWAR season last year (about $5M in surplus value). Year before he was north of 5 fWAR. This isn’t some albatross of a contract. He hasn’t done much this year but he’s 25 games into his season. A few big games and he’s back on track. Also, Upton has been remarkably healthy over his career. This was a fluke injury that he is working back from.
Now, Adam Jones – that’s a different story. The last time he had a typical Upton year was 2015. He has been nowhere near league average in the past 4 years. He HAS been playing at replacement level since then. As a result, his FA paycheck wasn’t much more cost than a AAAA call-up corner bat.
Nice job of cherry picking stats .
No mention of cutch. Cutch is a better value at his years and price.
Enjoy the Upton decline years at 4 /88
Loser
If the Upton contract is such a good value for his age 31 to 35 seasons then the Angels should have no trouble moving it…lol
120 ops+ for a below average defensively corner outfielder
On what planet do you just go out and find a corner outfielder on the free agent market with Upton’s track record? You can’t. McCutchen hasn’t even had a 3 WAR since 2015. Upton was at 3+ last year and 5+ the year before. You’re making some bad comparisons. So he’s having an injury-plagued season and is sluggish out of the gate at 28 games. So what? He’s been healthy almost his entire career. And lots of sluggers throughout history have been average or worse defenders, and in terms of value that still rarely comes close to negating a slugger’s offense. $20 million is not that much anymore. Trout’s AAV is $35 million. That’s almost twice the AAV Upton is making, and only $3 million more than Torii Hunter’s AAV on the contract he signed with them 11 years ago. Salaries are always inflating. Upton’s salary is not even in the top tier. Not even in the top 30.
Uh, he used fWAR and that’s it. It’s literally the opposite of cherry picking stats.
He probably didn’t mention McCutchen because he’s a year older than Upton, is a slightly less powerful version of him ,has been appreciably worse than him on defense (-37.3 UZR, -63 DRS vs a 6.0 UZR and 2 DRS for Upton),…
oh and probably something to do with him tearing his UCL a month ago. No biggie, super easy injury to come back from and will no way affect Cutch’s performance on both sides. But that extra $4m AAV!!!
Please trade Upton, 88 million $$ Josh Hamilton 2.0. Last 2 years has more LOB than any other Angel
Not even remotely close to Josh Hamilton. Better production and less money. Btw, Trout has left a ton of runners on base late in games during his Angels tenure.
I could see a Deivi Garcia for Brian Goodwin swap. Makes tons of sense for both sides.
You can’t be serious… if you think Goodwin is going to bring back a top 50 prospect in all of baseball you are delusional. Garcia ranked the 29th best prospect in baseball. Yankees would laugh at that offer and hang up the phone.
This was obviously a joke. At least I sure to god hope so.
Lol.
don’t trade Goodwin. please.
45-50 type prospect a possibility?The Braves were recently mentioned as searching for OFs. Who from their system is realistic?
Maybe a 45. I’d think two 40s
Maybe Tristan Beck from ATL?
No…a 40fv at best. Someone in low A or lower …or a double or triple a reliever in his mid to late 20s
That’s what Goodwin will fetch.
4th outfielders are not hard to find..even one with 3 years of team control
He could be a starter on some teams and is still controlled through arb for 3yrs. I can see real appeal to a team like CLE.
Stroman got 1 50 or 0 50’s if you’re keen on FG’s valuations. If Goodwin gives you a 40+ that’s a win. They’re better off keeping him for depth if they think he’s for real.
Yeah Goodwin will fetch no more than a 40. With kahloun leaving they’re better off just stashing Goodwin for depth
Goodwin and bedrosian for Archer?
Deal
That’s more than what the blue jays got for Stroman. So no
Horrible defender. Exposed on offense the more at bats he gets. Keep him. Trade him. Who cares? He’s replaceable.
I’d trade Goodwin with another piece of need for some pitching help
What kind of pitching help are you expecting in return for goodwin
Trade kole for pitching prospects.
They should take whatever is offered for Goodwin. This is his career year.
Agreed they should sell maybe even trade Simmons
Your insane, trade Simmons yeah right
Eppler was quoted that they were interested in starting pitching obviously not a rental, but they can get a haul for Simmons, pretty much the only person with value, they can get two pitching prospects probably better than the ones we traded to get him, since they haven’t really panned out
this doesn’t really matter. the lack of interest that the Angels’ starters and relievers have in pitching during october suggests we need starters and relievers who are truly interested in postseason pitching. i’d say keep Goodwin. develop him also as a pitchers throwing 54-mph fastballs for easily hittable strikes. dump the pitching staff as it exists today starting with Griffin Canning. he choked big time.
Griffin Canning is little over matched right now. All he needs is a little more time at AAA. Angels had to rush him up due to there lack of starting pitching in the majors. He has only been out of school for a year and a half. Way to soon to be giving up on him.. You really need to know what your talking about before you open up your mouth and say such nonsense..
What are you talking about dump canning he didn’t get more than 5 minutes to
Develop in the minors also everyone forgets that his big mentor was Skaggs so I’m sure it’s not easy for him to stay focused
It is not about lack of interest in pitching in the postseason, it’s a lack of durable starting pitching. You just can’t magically make a bunch of relievers carry that load.
Keep him, let Kole go, and use the savings on pitching.
Trout, Upton, Goodwin is fine IF there’s a decent arm on the mound.
Every single person saying trade upton is damn moron. He’s not the problem the problem is we have a triple a starting rotation and a over worked bullpen. The angels have to be aggressive this offseason go all in on guys like cole strausburg bumgartner to fill 3 rotation spots. They have to sign an ace and maybe two middle to end of the rotation guys.
Upton is a Big problem , along with the facts the Angel do NOT have any pitchers they can depend on consistently
Upton is another big miss. Big contract, horrible defense, and he’s hitting about a buck sixty with runners on so he’s not doing the one thing he’s really paid to do.
He has negative value, so trading him is laughable.
Upton “another big miss”? Like someone said earlier, he was solid last season. He is 25 games into this season and you’re already writing off his entire contract as a miss? Either Angels fans are morons or the fans aren’t really fans and are just trolls that talk non stop crap on the team.
that’s unrealistic.
Upton is obviously having a troubled season because of injury and slow out of the gates and doesn’t make his contract look very good right now. He still gave them an .808 OPS last season. I think the scrutiny gets a little ridiculous. On the whole, he’s a valuable bat. For whatever reason Angels fans seem to get stuck on his poor defense, as if that negates his offense. It doesn’t come close. Lots of sluggers have been bad defenders but it’s rarely been enough to offset what they brought to the plate. Plus, he’s making almost half of Trout’s AAV, and is only $3 million more than Tori Hunter’s AAV on the contract he signed with the Angels 11 years ago. So his contract really isn’t a big liability. He just needs to get on track, and he will.
It would be nice to get out from Upton’s contract before it turns sour but now is clearly not the time to do so. He’s struggling mightily which craters any trade interest there may have been. The full NTC throws a wrench into things moreso
Amazing how many trolls the Angels have as fans. I wouldn’t take any criticism from Angels fans seriously as they seem to have a 2 game short term memory.
Triple A rotation is being a little generous. Offense is fine, like you say go hard for pitching in the off season. Angels are not a small market team, they can pick up Calhoun’s option and see what Adell can do. But we need MLB pitching to be the priority this off season. Pitching prospects we have a ton, MLB starters we are starved. As much as people hate on the Angels on here, they are a 500 team without pitching. If they can sign an ace and another starter or two they will be right where they need to be. Please stop the trade Simba posts! It’s getting as old as saying Trout is being wasted. Simba is a core player.
Calhoun will make way too much in 2020. He’ll get $14 million. The Angels can buy him out for $1 million. That means another $13 million for pitching. That’s a better way to spend that money.
What do you mean strausburg? His current deal doesn’t end until after the 2023 season. I doubt the Nationals are trading him. The Angels need to sign Gerrit Cole for sure. He’s from Orange County. They can also sign Dallas Keuchel. He at least pitches a lot of innings. Arte Moreno needs to open up his wallet and let Eppler sign a couple starting pitchers.
I think they they should keep Goodwin. That’s one less box to check in the offseason. Just keep what you have and then attack the free agent market for pitching.
Angels should cash in on Goodwin as history would say that he’s likely to regress back to his norm.
Everyone is saying the Angels won’t get much for Goodwin so why trade him? That’s foolish. Maybe this is his new norm.
Calhoun should be traded for pitching even as much as I hate to say it. No one will pick up uptons contract unless we pay the majority like Hamilton. Keep Goodwin until jo adell can be proven in the big leagues and then flip him
Why would you dump Goodwin after Adell proves himself? Goodwin is the perfect 4th outfielder.
The Angels aren’t trading Goodwin unless someone has a good deal for them. He’s making under $600,000 right now and has three arbitration years left. He can play all three outfield positions so he’s the perfect 4th outfielder. No way will the Angels be keeping Calhoun next season. He’ll be getting too much. They can buy him out for $1 million. Jo Adell will take Calhoun’s spot. If he struggles Goodwin can share right field with Adell.
Thoroughly disagree. Picking up Calhoun’s option in 2020 is a no-brainer. On pace in 2019 for 30+ HRs, 90 runs, his 4th 3+ bWAR season in 6 full seasons with the club, and his 6th +DRS and +UZR season in those same seasons.
You want to replace that player, awarding the starting RF job to Adell, rushing a player who has played 56 games in AA, along with 0 above it, to the bigs in order to save 13m (or 8.5m if looking at AAV of the contract w/ option exercised), and earmark that savings for free agent pitching.
Adell, Trout, and the Upton you think is bad would be spelled by Goodwin, who even in this his “breakout” season, took a very good April, a very good July, and made a sandwich with a garbage May and garbage June in between. There are no stretches of his big league career long enough to make anything other than “replacement level player having some nice bits of success in 2019”
Either number 13m or 8.5m , spread across the length of a contract for a good/great/premium pitcher would be so small as to have next to zero effect on any free agent signing.
Likewise, there is no dimension in which the Angels end an attempt to sign say, Garret Cole to a multi-year deal, by claiming to be tapped financially from the 13m (4.8m less than 2019’s QO) or 8.5m AAV (roughly half the 2019 QO) windfall of exercising Calhoun’s single year 2020 option.
Or the Angels decline the option, and Kole slides the 25+30 jacks, 80-90 runs, Gold Glove defense, under his arm and heads out to inevitably be scooped up by someone that recognizes his value. Meanwhile the RF would be an unprepared and probably bad, use of a platoon, leaving the team a negligible amount of money to solve their self-created OF problem.