Some of his teammates in Houston anticipate that Gerrit Cole will ultimately land with a California team next season, per ESPN’s Buster Olney. The Angels, in particular, are where many within the industry expect Cole to gravitate, given the proximity of Angel Stadium to his high school home. The is a story the Yankees have seen before, going back to their signing of CC Sabathia. They also had to entice Sabathia away from his California homeland by paying a premium in free agency. Of course, Sabathia hadn’t received much interest from the Dodgers, his desired team at the time, whereas it would not be surprising in the least to see the Angels – or another Golden State franchise – going hard after Cole. But he’s not the only potential free agent hurler being featured in this week’s World Series…
- After Cole, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals would be the most talented arm on the market. There’s a feeling within the industry, however, that he won’t get there, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Strasburg, remember, was the rare Scott Boras client to sign an early extension, and it could be that Boras will leverage Strasburg’s opt-out into a longer deal with the Nationals. For his part, Strasburg has shown no inclination to test foreign waters, and tacking a couple years and a couple million dollars to the 4 years, $100MM already owed him after 2019 certainly could be enough to keep him in DC. After his current playoff run, it’s hard to imagine Stras pitching in another uniform. Still, if the window opens, there are sure to be suitors come to call.
- There’s no telling how much the free agency of the above-noted hurlers could change the shape of the league. Look no further than this week’s World Series for evidence. The Astros and Nationals will face off starting tomorrow with rosters built around “imported” pitching, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis. The Astros brought in Cole, Justin Verlander, and Zack Greinke via trade, whereas the Nationals signed Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, and Anibal Sanchez in free agency. Whichever team wins four of the next seven games will add to a recent history of champions built around homegrown offense and supplemented pitching. The Cubs in 2016, Astros in 2017, and Red Sox in 2018 all boasted homegrown cores of position players and hired guns on the hill.
Sanchez is just too large to play behind the plate. He looks like Lurch trying to play catcher.
Yap – not a full time catcher more of a DH and third catcher on a 26 man roster
Toronto in a deal?
Yeah so large back there he’s built like a Molina
He’s well within reasonable size to be a catcher. He’s clearly not a very good defensive catcher but I don’t know how you blame that on his size.
He doesn’t move like Molina did when Molina was his age.
Back when collisions at the plate were expected and encouraged, catchers were the biggest guys you could find for that very reason.
He’s listed at 6’2. 230, neither notably large for a catcher.
Can the Angel’s afford him? Yes. Can the build around that roster? Probably not until Upton and Pujols are off the books.
They have the money to do it. Whether they do is another question. Frankly, they’ll need Cole and a Madbum to shore up that rotation. They need to stop paying 11 million hoping guys have bounce back seasons.
Cole would be fine. What they need is ace and Ohtani to stay healthy.
And if they can get either Canning or Heaney to stay healthy as well, they’ll be able to compete for a wild card.
They are at least a couple years., at least, from competing with the Astros. But as far as a wild card, all they need is health.
And to beat out better teams in Boston and Oakland which they won’t do.
They could certainly beat Houston next year if they trot out a solid rotation. It’s baseball, things fluctuate: what would you have said the odds were a year ago that Boston finished with a worse record than Oakland, Tampa, and Minnesota this season m, like 1%? 2%? This stuff happens all the time.
Maybe. But the target isn’t Houston. It’s Oakland and Tampa Bay.
You are more optimistic than I am. Offensively the Angels don’t compare.
Canning hasn’t been a health risk. Eppler is very conservative in managing workload on arms right out of college, where the number on IP is low.
Canning was shut down to start his career and he was shut down at the end of last year.
I think he is a health risk.
Mac – I disagree that we are a couple years away. If we get Cole, that means the Astros lost him. Things can change quickly and if we finally get serious about our pitching staff and getting a solid catcher, I think we’re close. We have a good mix of vets and rookies who are really good. Upton is our weakest vet. Pujols got close to 200 RBIs over the last 2 seasons and his BA was better this year. Nothing this winter should come before our rotation is addressed in a meaningful way.
Greinke is good but not great, and Verlander in the last year of his contract. A’s, like the Astros, are good offensively, but the pitching staff has some question marks. This is certainly the time for the Angels to pounce.
Greinke and Verlander both are signed through 2021. Bregman’s salary more than doubles in 2022 to $28M.
Belt – I agree. and I add that without Cole, the Astros roll into 2020 in a weaker position. With the right tweaks and acquisitions, the Angels can contend for the division, not just the wild card. I’ve never set a goal to come in 4th or 5th place and nor should the Angels.
Angels need more than just Cole, gotta add a second SP.
SP1 Cole
SP2 tier 1a or 2 FA
SP3 Ohtani
SP4 Heaney
SP5 Canning
Cole and another SP2 would add around $55-58m this year and put them right at the luxury tax. Some 1st year contract magic can easily keep them under the tax until Pujols, Upton and others drop off the payroll in 2021/22.
They are going into 2020 at about 125m in payroll assuming they lose Calhoun and before arb increases.. They have plenty to spend on 2 top starters and a catcher without hitting the tax line.
Losing Cole would hurt, but the rest of the team is intact, plus you add Lance McCullers back, then Abreu, Urquidy, Whitley etc…. not to mention it’s the Astros, they will keep working this window. Angels with Cole are still a ways away
That’s why this offseason is important to get right.
Windows get broken every year.
Winning teams fire their general manager the next year.
Historic winning teams fire their manager a few years down the road.
There is every year another magical team who has the luck which is needed to win it all.
The teams who think that it will last are the most prone to lose it.
I think that Luhnow and c9mpany are smart enough to remain competitive though.That May be their biggest advantage.
Lol “if we finally get serious about our pitching”
Yeah that’s been the issue all these years for y’all. Playing around about pitching.
The Angels have 1 phenomenal player, 1 very good player that likely won’t stay healthy trying to do what he’s doing and a couple of good players (but still aren’t even really All Star level)….and an inept front office.
Joe Maddon isn’t going to manage y’all into a 30 game swing next year. Even if Cole blesses y’all.
there are a lot of day old angels fans who think like you. upton was injured all season and as soon as reg. season ended he was in surgery. yeah, eppler overpayed him a little but he will ne a valuable player for the angels next season and on.
That’s right. Upton isn’t nearly as awful a player as the guy who wore his uniform in 2019.
Upton’s career stats don’t live up to his hype.
I hope Andrew Friedman is reading this…
tell him to re-sign ryu.
If the Angels can land 1 of Cole or Strasburg and then grab a starter from the tier below (Ryu/Wheeler/MadBum) and Ohtani is healthy than they could vault into contention. I get that Trout can’t do it on his own in that lineup, but if Addell can be the next of these ready made rookies that come in and produce right away than they’re an interesting team
Strasburg isn’t on the market and there’s only speculation that he will be.
Yep, this California stuff is all a ploy by Cole’s agent. Will it work?
one thing i know. he won’t be going to the chisox.
He will go to highest bidder $ and years . If that’s the White Sox he goes there .
I doubt it will be a long ploy. Moreno is not going to wait to sign Cole. If Cole wants to come to the Angels, he’ll sign early. If not, he sign elsewhere.
Boras doesn’t sign early and Moreno doesn’t sign late. I don’t think enough people take that into consideration when predicting a landing spot for Cole.
You’re 100% right. Arte puts his best deal on the table for a short window, because he doesn’t want to have his offer shopped by the other party. Boras will wait until January if he feels it is necessary.
I have said this repeatedly: The Angels will make Cole a huge offer. It most likely won’t be the biggest one he gets. It is up to him if he wants to make tens of millions annually and live/work close to where he grew up, or take a few million more to play elsewhere. As always, it is up to the player. The agent just does what the player asks.
Playing close to where you grow is not necessarily desirable for most players. Most of them go where the money is.
– Strasburg.
A couple of million ? Are you kidding. Boras is gonna milk that contract out. 7 years if he can. $200 million plus.
I could see extending to 8 years, $200m. He hits that big bold figure but they get to lessen the tax hit to $25m rather than $30m+.
Strasburg is 31 years old and no one is stupid enough to give him an 8 year contract.
Boras may be able to get a year or two added on to the four years left at the same rate.
These pitchers do not age real well generally and the owners have wised up.
Whats the financial situation of the Angels anyway? can they afford a Cole? They have a lot of money tied to Pujols and Trout.
around $40 mil plus whatever the owner is willing to spend up to the luxury tax threshold. that’s another $20 mil or so. other than pujols, trout and upton offense is mostly young, inexpensive players.
The Angels will need to be $200M with Cole, arbitration and a couple bit players and they’ll need to find 10-15 wins of production even after that because most of their roster was bad this year.
$200MM won’t be enough, considering the season he’s having. He’ll easily surpass $230MM.
Cole to the Angels for $220 over 7. The. Shows up for spring training with an elbow issue. Takes 6:years to get back to normal.
You’re crazy, Larry.
I’d bet he will land much more than $220mil. $260-$280mil/8 years.
Question is if the Astros are willing to go above the tax threshold to keep him if they win the WS.
The Astros’ payroll with Cole this year is around 169m-ish and the tax line is 208m. They wouldn’t come close to it if they kept him and paid him more money.
Doesn’t Altuve’s extension hit next year? That would be about $60MM or so for those two that aren’t accounted for.
I don’t see a scenario where Stras doesn’t opt out, if only to re-sign with the Nats. Securing a longer deal seems like the common sense move.
I’m really curious what “Teammates” are discussing anything aside from the World Series lol.
Dodgers should absolutely make a run at Cole. In the playoffs you need dominant starting pitching. Buehler fits the profile but Kershaw not so much and Ryu a wildcard. Hill is too old and injury prone. One of the kids could emerge with Urias most likely but that’s a risk. Maybe Dodgers can lock up Cole for a high AAV five year deal. Cole will be expensive though and in high demand. Doubt that Friedman makes a run at him. But if they pass on re-signing Hill and Ryu they will need another top of the rotation arm.
in strasburg’s case, a ton of that 100 million is deferred, as was most of his 2019 cash.
nats could offer to tear it up, give him 6/150, no deferrals (and/or toss in the 2019 deferrals as a bonus, paid out either now or maybe 3 payments of 10 million each).
at this point, them still doing the deferral deals to avoid taxes is crazy.
i mean, you got 9 teams playing in heavy tax markets (maybe more, but i’m going with the 5 cali teams, nats, yanks, mets, and blue jays off the top of my head) , only other team who has anyone with a ton of cash deferred besides nats guys is degrom with the mets (and i think tulo’s deal with toronto has a bunch deferred, but that was a deal signed back with the rockies)