The Blue Jays, White Sox, Rangers and Angels each entered the winter amid multiyear playoff droughts and on the heels of sub-.500 showings in 2019. No one from that American League quartet has been a sorrier bunch for longer than the White Sox, owners of an 11-year postseason-less skid. The Blue Jays, Rangers and Angels have at least been relevant more recently than Chicago, but success has still escaped those other clubs for far too long. However, judging by the teams’ actions in the past weeks, they’ve had their fill of serving as doormats in their league. The offseason has gotten off to rollicking starts for all of these franchises, each of which has made more than one significant addition since the floodgates opened in November.
The Angels, they of the pitiful 72-90 record last season, finally look as if they’re in decent position to capitalize on all-world center fielder Mike Trout’s presence. They added the foremost position player on the market, third baseman Anthony Rendon, on a whopper of a contract worth $245MM over seven years. The rotation-needy Halos have also picked up a pair of starters in Dylan Bundy and Julio Teheran. Neither will be confused for an ace, but they should give the team much-needed competent innings at reasonable prices near the back of its rotation. If you’re a glass-half-empty type, though, you may be unimpressed by the Angels’ lack of a front-line starter pickup (though the return of Shohei Ohtani from Tommy John surgery should be a major help) and/or that they haven’t addressed their problems at catcher yet.
The White Sox, also coming off a 72-win season, have been extremely busy in upgrading their lineup. Their offense produced the third-fewest runs in the AL, but that should change for the better in a year with the signing of star catcher Yasmani Grandal (four years, $73MM). The White Sox also helped their cause by retaining first baseman/designated hitter Jose Abreu (three years, $50MM), and they’re clinging to hope that 24-year-old outfielder Nomar Mazara (acquired from Texas) will start living up to his immense promise now that he has changed teams. Even with those three in tow, the White Sox might not be done yet on the offensive end. They’re reportedly at the forefront of the sweepstakes for Edwin Encarnacion, yet another slugging 1B/DH, and remain in the mix for outfielder Nicholas Castellanos – possibly the second-best position player left in free agency.
Of course, upgrading at the plate hasn’t been Chicago’s sole focus. The White Sox made a large splash on the pitching side last weekend when they agreed to sign former Cy Young-winning southpaw Dallas Keuchel for three years and $55.5MM. He followed the much more modestly priced Gio Gonzalez as the second accomplished lefty the team signed for its rotation. With those two, ace Lucas Giolito, the high-upside Reynaldo Lopez–Dylan Cease–Michael Kopech trio, and (once he returns from Tommy John surgery) Carlos Rodon, the club actually has plenty to look forward to with regards to its starting staff.
The same can be said for the Blue Jays and Rangers, who have each spent the majority of the offseason bettering their rotations. Toronto, a lowly 67-95 last season, just took a four-year, $80MM gamble on ex-Dodger Hyun-Jin Ryu. After offering elite production in his final year as a Dodger, Ryu’s in line to lead a Jays staff that will also consist of fellow new additions Tanner Roark, Chase Anderson, Matt Shoemaker (returning from a torn ACL) and perhaps some combination of ex-Japanese star Shun Yamaguchi (yet another just-signed hurler), Trent Thornton, Jacob Waguespack, Ryan Borucki, Anthony Kay and stud prospect Nate Pearson. Unlike late last season, after the Jays traded two vet starters (Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez) and their rotation was a barren wasteland, possibilities abound.
On the offensive side, the Jays replaced departed first baseman Justin Smoak (now a Brewer) with ex-Brewer Travis Shaw in the corner infield. It’s hard to see that as an upgrade on paper, though, after the woeful 2019 Shaw had. But for one year and $4MM, it’ll look brilliant if Shaw returns anywhere near the 3.0-WAR production he managed from 2017-18.
As for Texas, this offseason looks like a bit of a mixed bag. The Rangers have not added at third base or catcher, two positions that still look iffy, even though they partook in the Rendon derby and have also been part of Josh Donaldson’s market. On the other hand, their rotation looks far superior to the 2019 group that got very little outside of the Mike Minor–Lance Lynn duo and played a key role in a 78-84 finish. Those two are back, while two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber (acquired from the Indians), Kyle Gibson (three years, $28MM) and Jordan Lyles (two years, $16MM) will round out the quintet. For the first time in a while, it’s fair to say the Rangers’ rotation looks strong one through five.
All of these clubs have been extraordinarily active as they seek ways to move past their longstanding struggles in 2020. In your opinion, though, which has enjoyed the best offseason so far?
(Poll link for app users)
Love it. Don’t stop now boys!
As a cubs fan , i like the moves , their division is there for the taking
Hopi is exactly right about the NL Central!! Good Coaching and a disregard for mandatory playing time for Matt Carpenter & Fowler. As soon as Mike Shildt benched those 2 the Cardinals, Errors went down and runs went up. All the way to the playoffs. For 2020, the Cardinals Owners have declared they’d spend no money for 2020!!! So far that seems very apparent. Plus, the Owners have already dictated that Manager Mike Shildt “WILL” start Carpenter & Fowler!!! The “Owners” stated, echoed by John Mozeliak, “Don’t look for the Cardinals to sign any impact players this offseason!” The Owners also stated they would basically stand pat from 2019 and depend on everybody who were injured or just plagued by a bad season or aging decline —- will all have turn around seasons!!! Cardinal fans are livid!!! Not that they stated they would stand pat and fill from within,……But the fact the Cardinals Owners intend to NOT EVEN TRY TO IMPROVE is disgusting!!! Cardinals will finish a weak 3rd, maybe 4th in the Central if they stand pat with their roster as it set at Christmas!!
Are you high?
As an Angel fan I’m disappointed with this off-season, but I think the ChiSox did well. Can’t ever root for you guys after that dropped third strike tho
No egg nog needed when you can have an AJ hangover every Christmas in Anaheim!
its been beyond disappointing if your an Angels fan. heads need to roll.
Teheran may give them something they haven’t had too much of lately—a starting pitcher who stays healthy and gives lots of innings. That’s a big deal.
Wherever you see a chronic yearly spate of injuries, you can go into the trainers room and see a Gold’s Gym set up there.
When you look at ballplayers fro 20, 30, 40 years ago, they were lean and wiry, not musclebound, and knew how to stretch and maintain flexibility and endurance on their own.
When the trainer’s room is loaded with bodybuilding equipment, the players use it and forget (if they ever knew) how to stay agile with stretching and running. That’s when the injuries start piling up, especially among pitchers who equate muscle strength with the ability to pitch deep into games.
If Arte Moreno wants to end the annual spate of injuries and keep his players on the field, he has to remove the gym equipment and hire a physiologist to teach players how to stretch and maintain flexibility.
They got the 2nd best free agent lmao.
Sure but he will add exactly zero wins to their record. They needed serious rotation help and added a third baseman.
That’s true, but the Angels were 25th in baseball last season in team ERA. They lost 10 games where they scored seven or more runs. The only regular starter whose numbers were not worse than league average was Tyler Skaggs.
So sure, signing a player like Anthony Rendon obviously helps the club. But it really doesn’t make much sense to dedicate almost all of your resources to him rather than addressing the glaring needs in the rotation, bullpen, and behind the plate.
The Angels are at about $185 million in payroll, so there is still room to add more.
Our ERA went down by 1.50 points with Bundy and Teheran throwing the 60 games that Harvey, Cahill, Suarez, Peters, and Sandoval made for us last season.
People forget just how bad those guys were and how much better Bundy and Teheran are than that bunch.
Canning was better than league average last season and he was a rookie. He should get better too.
Plus we get Ohtani back.
Rendon is 3 wins better than our 3B last year and Fletch was good. Adding Rendon allowed us to move Fletch to 2B in a platoon with La Stella making us 3 wins better there as well.
So adding one guy made us 6 wins better. That is more than zero.
Koa I’m gonna ignore the rest of this post and say that the one thing folks are missing is the fact that not only did you add a bat but you also added a gold glover and you easily have the best left side of the infield in baseball.
3 problems:
1) you could have 200m in payroll room, but there just aren’t high impact FA rotation arms left to sign for that cash at this point.
2) there aren’t many prospects to offer to acquire high impact arms for the rotation.
3) the concept of adding WAR doesn’t literally add wins to their record either. It represents how much of an impact the player theoretically ought to add, but isn’t how much they actually did.
As a team the 2019 Angels posted a +21.1 war for position players, and +5.2 war for pitchers (+26.3 total WAR) according to baseball reference.
Replacement level is defined by its nature as the individual’s that would post a 52-110 record.
2019 Angels were 72-90, meaning the value realized from the WAR of their players was less than advertised. (-6.3 actual vs projected)
Don’t feel bad, the 84-78 Red Sox got even less out of their 43.4 WAR. (-11.4 actual vs projected)
And yet there are intangibles in 2019 that can’t be measured but surely cost more than a few wins. 1)a Player death 2) ridiculous IL days by the starting rotation. 3) Ausmus’ managerial skills or lack thereof. Etc etc.
Don’t get me wrong injury is part of the game, all teams have em, but the Angels IL days were probably among the 5 worst. This wasn’t a 72 win team, but more like a 85 win team.
Their bullpen will be fine. It was good last year until it became over worked, plus 2 of their best arms are returning from TJ. They should be fine. They will add a catcher soon, and are still looking for more pitching although it has been a big disappointment so far.
Wait so your telling me we actually have to play the games and just cant add up each players WAR and figure out how many games they will win preseason???… Man your soooo old school I love it !
I feel u, 2005 is still in my heart but honestly I like the Angels & as a baseball fan who can’t like Mike Trout, when the Sox don’t play the Angels I root 4 the halo’s.
Yup..ChiSox from Angel fan!
The Mariners! “The key to surfing(offseason) is to do nothing! Ok well you have to do something. My name’s Kunu!”
Dude surfing is hard af! So are offseasons tho so I see where it applies to the Mariners
The Rangers did a good job with their rotation. However, they did not address weaknesses at the catching position or third base. The Angels scored with Rendon but missed out on a lot of quality pitchers on the market. The Blue Jays did not do enough to make them a serious threat and I think they wasted their money on Ryu who will not bring them closer to a ring. My vote goes to the White Sox who spread their money around for different areas of need.
Rendon is the worst contract of the offseason. His defense went from elite to just decent the last 2 years and he only had one really good offensive year and that was with a juiced ball in his contract year.
I don’t think you’d find the truth with GPS and a map.
Rendon didn’t make the top ten in fielding bible awards in 2018. He did in 2019.
In neither year was it elite, but it’s good.
I’ll take just decent defense if he can put up a .300/.400/.550 line and 30 home runs a season.
Plus just one good offensive season in his contract year with the juiced ball? Between 2017 and 2018, he posted a .305/.389/.534 line, He isn’t going to go from MVP candidate to scrub just because they un-juiced the ball.
He’s been a 4 win player at worst and has had 2 seasons of 6+ out of his 6 full season. Only one year significantly shortened by injury. A scalding hot lie from thetruth
Cole was the worst contract by far. If Cole averages 30 starts a season, 6 innings per start, he will be making $67,000 per out for the 9 years of his contract. That will be an anchor sooner than later.
change your handle! It’s misleading
@spencer99 I concur with your assessment. The reality is there were 2 ace pitchers this year, Strasburg and Cole. One returned to his former team, the other was paid way more than foreseen. I don;t think we had a chance at Strasburg and I am glad the Angels bid as high as the Yankees for Cole’s services. The rest of the available pitchers had big question marks. I looked at the free agents pitchers available next year and it is pretty barren. The Angels will need to address their pitching needs via trade. I am still optimistic. I believe that Bundy will benefit moving to the AL West. I also believe Teheran will benefit from not being a #1. I know Ohtani will be limited but he does have ace potential. . I am just hoping he hits 100mph on the radar gun consistently and he has a health year. Canning showed flashes when he was first called up. I look for improvements this year. Heaney always had great potential but is always hurt. I am not going to hold my breath for a great season from Heaney but it can happen. Most likely he will be another Garrett Richards, great potential never reached because of a multitude of injuries.
I’m really surprised with their current need for an ace they don’t just have Ohtani full-time pitch. I heard in the offseason discussions they intended on pitching him every seven games.
If they made him a FT pitcher, he would get even better, thus filling the ace slot, and they have the hitting with Rendon, Trout, and various others. I know that wasn’t what they intended to do when he came over, but the team is more important than the individual’s preferences.
Then again, maybe O hitting and pitching every seventh day is what’s best for the team; only the true Angels fans know.
Mmm Padres obvi
Padres need another OF & a TOR type starter. The moves they have made are nice but don’t really change much. If Myers can be moved, Corey Dickerson is a realistic get. An arm like Alex Wood makes them better. So does a gamble on someone like Jimmy Nelson or Danny Salazar, low risk – high reward type arms.
“If Myers can be moved…..”
That would be a Christmas miracle!
Yuppppp. Rumors on Twitter is that SD is coming on strong right now for Akiyama.
No money. No signings for anything more than peanuts.
Myers is unmovable even if Padres pay 85 % of his contract. Bad defense, bad fielder and bad clubhouse.
I wonder if the Padres could trade Myers to Toronto (to play 1B) by sending $30M and a good prospect?
TIL that the Padres are an AL team.
Who actually voted for the Angels after they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on something they don’t need and approximately $0 on their key areas of needs?
Exactly!
this
The Angels had the worst slugging percentage from third basemen last season. The Angels have not had a legitimate third basemen since Glaus. So to say the Angels didn’t need a third basemen, is naïve at best. Do they still need starting pitching and a catcher? Yes most definitely.
A third baseman was a “want to have” for them. Glitzing up the offense is a gigantic waste of resources when there is literally nothing in the way of pitching.
Plus, what team is making hundred million dollar decisions based on slugging percentage?
Having someone hit behind Trout was a must.
This offense was so much better when Ohtani hit behind Trout. I don’t see how anyone can watch an Angel game and not see that.
And of course, they get to move Fletcher to 2nd base. Which now may give the Angels the best infield defense in baseball. It’s close.
All to finish in fourth place again because they have absolutely nothing on the other side of the ball. Enjoy watching a lot of 10-7 and 9-5 losses
Teheran is a 2.6 WAR improvement over the guys that were in our #3 slot last season. Bundy is a 3.2 WAR improvement over our #5 slot last season. Ohtani is better than Heaney or Canning and we get him back for 20-24 starts this season. Our pitching is 6 wins better at a bare minimum. As a rookie Canning 4.58 ERA and 4.37 FIP was better than league average of 4.76 ERA and 4.63 FIP. I think he will get even better.
All teams make decisions based on slg%. They also make decisions based on getting better at 2 positions by adding a player at 1 position. Adding Rendon made the team 3 wins better at 3B and 2+ wins better at 2B. It gives us an impact bat to go along with Trout.
At first I didn’t think that we needed a 3B. I changed my mind. We now have the best player in baseball followed by a top 10 player. Adding Rendon also means that we have arguably the best infield defense in baseball and one of the best infield offenses in baseball to go along with inarguably the best player in baseball in CF.
Would it have made us better to also add Cole? Of course, but Billy offered Cole 8 years and a record AAV.
The offseason is not halfway over and FA are not the only way to add players. We are much better today than on November 1st.
Billy has 2 months until spring training opens to add to the team.
That just goes to show you how much BS WAR is because Teheran sucks. He has no control, no velocity, and no mental fortitude. You’ll be tired of him before April is over.
WAR is not BS, but in Teherans case it is artificially inflated by context. He is now moving from a pitcher friendly home park in a pitcher friendly division to a hitter friendly division and a neutral park. How will he fare? His career splits tell the tale. 3.03 ERA at home on the Braves, 4.81 ERA away. The whole line including WAR is almost a lock to regress on the Angels
Just play the games and all will be revealed…
The Angels are going to score a lot of runs next season. And as bad as the rotation may be it’s still so much better than last years. So even if they don;t trade for another starter they are going win a lot of games. Trout, Rendon may be the best one, two punch in baseball.
Awful lot if “nothing to show” for a team that supposedly has an “awful lot of best of”…..
Awful lot of nothing to show for having an awful lot of “best in” categories…
Stupid mobile lag….
Well the offseason is pretty much over for pitching and they dont seem to have much to offer in trades but I agree with you in Rendon was stiil a great signing and its not like the Angels are looking at a 1 year window here….yes they might not make the playoffs but they still have Rendon/trout locked up in their primes and that means a lot
Why does everyone act like every signing has to “just” be about tommorow?
Anytime you see duplicate posts from me, that’s the reason. Figured it was for you too.
Splashing 200 million + on a guy whose defense is just OK and has declined rapidly from great, and who was injury prone not that long ago and who had his only great offensive year in his contract year with a juiced ball is idiotic. Why not spend that money on starting pitching. They could’ve gotten Wheeler and Keuchel.
Next year Rendon will be a 2-3 WAR player 25 HR 85 RBI .290 AVG and OK defense. Those types of players are worth 3 years and $36 million in reality.
Not if they’re posting an OBP in the .380-.400 range, and slugging in the .500+ range. He is has an extremely good chance to have at the very least 100 RBI’s if he is batting behind Trout, and will 100% have 100+ if he is batting behind both Trout and Ohtani. He has a career .311 BA and .947 OPS with RISP. Last season, his BA with RISP was .400(!), and OPS was 1.354. I don’t expect either of those to carry over into 2020, but a .311 BA when you have the guy who had the second highest OBP of the decade batting in front of you, you’re going to score a lot of runs.
He might be the best position player to hit the free agent market in a decade. I can’t think of a better one.
So you’re criticizing him because he’s a top ten defensive 3rd baseman and not a top five defense 3rd baseman.
Rendon was a great add. They should have added Wheeler. They could have done both.
And they got rid of Cozart!
Another Christmas miracle!
I take it you don’t think Bundy and Teheran are the answers to the Angels rotation.
Start of the offseason LAA were the favorite for Cole. They ended up with Bundy and Teheran as you mentioned. Way to fill the void
What were the Angels supposed to do? Offer Cole $330MM+ when he preferred the Yankees all along? Strasburg $250MM+ when he desired to stay in DC? Wheeler $130MM+ when he had turned down $125MM from the White Sox and sign for $118MM with the Phillies to keep his Jersey fiancée happy?
Each of those starting pitchers were considered big free agent overpays as it was, as were Madbum who wanted to be close to his horses in Arizona, Ryu with his guaranteed 4 years when he’s never stayed healthy longer than 2 along with Keuchel who’s $18.5MM AAV was questioned over 3 guaranteed years along with his additional vesting option.
There’s still time for the Angels to improve their rotation above what they’ve already added which is hardly insignificant but any major upgrade will now have to come via a trade which will not and should not include top prospect Jo Adell short of a Jacob deGrom type return.
I think the Angels only need are arms, what happened to their farm system, the Angels have always been a team that had good young pitchers back in the day, with that line up & the addition of Rendon be careful, once the Angels have some consistent arms wit Joe Madden, it’s gonna be nice, true Sox fan but always liked the Halo’s from the Jim Abbott days.
In other words, everyone who thought Cole was going to the Angels because he’s from OC, was completely wrong because they didn’t realize he grew up a big Yankees fan and had no emotional attachment to CA.
Reality does tend to intrude, doesn’t it?
Our key area of need was innings. Billy filled that need and did it without saddling the team with a long term contract for a #2 or #3 starter like MAdBum, Wheeler, or Ryu that has questionable history the last 2-3 seasons. .
A TOR starter was a desire and we offered 8/290 to Cole. He took the largest contract for a pitcher in history. Strasburg stayed with the Nats and got paid $5 million AAV more than anyone thought he was worth.
Instead we added the best 3B possible, shored up 2B by doing so, and kept the team intact.
I was shocked when they signed Rendon but I really shouldn’t have been shocked at all. This is what they do. Sign blockbuster position players and grab pitching off the scrap heap. Even if they somehow made the postseason(which they won’t without a couple trades for pitching)who are they going to run out there 1-2-3-(4?)? Might as well have signed Matt Harvey again. Ridiculous misuse of resources
You think they were strong at 3B??????
Wow, just wow.
The Angels dont stand a chance next year.
Machado is your master and The his contract has hand cuffed you lol
well better than the Myers and Hosmer contracts when signed.
That’s why they have to play the games
Heard you the first time…..
Neither do the Padres?
Will be interesting chase for 3rd in the West between the Rangers and Angels tho
Angels would be the easy answer if they gotten an ace pitcher. They’ll put up a lot of runs, but they’re going to give up a lot too!
Like either Toronto or the Chi Sox as most improved
Why aren’t the Orioles an option? This poll is horse manure.
All have to play the games. Things happen that nobody can foresee
Is that why they have to play the games?
Perhaps the poll was for sub .500 AL teams from 2019 and not those expected to remain so for the next decade.
Ouch!
White Sox addressed their needs the best, I think. It becomes them easily if they land Encarnacion or Castellanos and a decent reliever.
Eppler doesn’t seem to want to address gaping hole at catcher nor does he seem to want to grab a legit ace for the rotation.
Its December.
Yes. And most of the ams that could have made a large impact are already signed.
We added 6 wins to the pitching staff.
Billy offered 8 years at a record AAV. It’s not like the Angels offered did not make a fair offer to Cole.
FA are not the only way to add arms. We are now 6+ wins better in the rotation compared to the guys that pitched for us last season even without Ohtani coming back.
Rendon added 3 wins at 3B and allowed us to move our 3B from last year to 2B. A huge improvement. We got 6 wins better with one signing.
And you didn’t add 6 wins to the pitching because no one knows what would’ve happened had Bundy or Teheran pitched for the Angels last yr. WAR is garbage.
Angel were 3rd place in bidding, behind Yankees and Dodgers. Special after owner said would spend what ever it took, I guess he didn’t know where the bidding was at. 1 or 2 injuries and I could see Angels finishing last. They have a 3 baseman that they don’t need just another bad contract.
And the best catchers and pitchers are signed. Trades aren’t really an option because their farm system is weak too.
Offering Cole 8 and almost $300M wasn’t addressing pitching???. Plenty of time to do something. At least we have a good Inf and Of. Astros lost Cole and Grienke and Verlander are past their prime and won’t be cheating. And we have a decent core of up and coming talent and Maddon as our manager. I’m sure Eppler will get us a decent SP. I can dig it.
Wait, Greinke and Verlander “won’t be cheating?” Like they were the ones at bat? The Angels killed a guy and you really want to go make stupid projections about other team’s scandals.
Easy there tiger.
You know kidnapping is illegal, right?
i am disappointed that angels played a dunce for boras getting 4/100 mil for ryu.
Ryu got 4/80.
Ryu or Bumgarner would have been good fits. Now where do they go for a first rate ace? They have very few assets.
MadBum is not an ace anymore
i thought kwanghyun kim was a good fit at a very reasonable price.
Maybe not, but he is a good 2 or 3.
So is Julio
Ryu and Bum are hardly TOP aces. Bumgarner’s best years were 4-9 years ago and Ryu will end up missing several starts now that he is past his walk year. Both are overpays.
MadBum had his heart set on AZ. Plus, because of CA income taxes, the Angels would have had to offer more than a hundred million to equal MadBum’s take in AZ
aha! anyway, from the start of the offseason, i don’t think he was the angels’ target.
A true Ace, Strasburg wanted to stay in DC, and they paid him to do so. The Angels offered Cole 8 years and 290 million. If that wasn’t legitimately trying to sign him, I don’t know what then. After those two, every other starter was a solid 2 or worse. Ryu has only had one season when he started 30 games, that was 2013. Bumgarner has been injury prone over the last few years. Wheeler had one good season in his career.
Vizionaire;
It’s fortunate that ankle-biters don’t rag on you as you do on others.
And is your case, there is so much to rag on. I saw the post above.
Appears you had yet another in a string of bad days.
wow, don’t i have so many fans! angels really wanted to sign wheeler but his wife allegedly thought south chicago was a great place and was so much closer to southern new jersey. because of ryu’s injury history, angels, at the beginning of the offseason, excluded him from the target. but then everyone went to other teams. boras got the message from the jays they would sign him for 4 seasons but it wasn’t for $20 mil per. that’s where he used the angels to commit to 3/60 and took it back to the jays to get 4/80.
100? Try 80.
the Anaheim Angels never in their history prioritize pitching. They always go for the big hitter instead of pitching.
worked out great for them in the 2011-12 offseason
“CJ Wilson wasn’t elite despite getting paid well, so no more big contracts for pitchers ever!” said the terrible GM
that terrible gm is running is running the mariners now.
The same GM who gave $8 million to Roberto Baldoquin instead of signing a guy who really wanted to sign with the Angels. Guy named Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Even before then, the Angels always seem to ignore pitching. Even the 2002 team… they slugged their way to a title plus that team had magic that season.
Define Elite? The two years before he got to the Angels he was #9 in WAR for pitchers.
Read what I wrote again, you are clearly drunk. Respect, I guess???
You don’t define the 9th best pitcher in baseball over a two year period Elite. You don’t consider the ace of a back to back world series team elite. Got it.
As I said, you are one of the worst posters on this board and you keep proving it.
“CJ Wilson wasn’t elite despite getting paid well, so no more big contracts for pitchers ever!” said the terrible GM”
Literally how did you get your conclusion from that??? Staggering how straight up dumb you are….
Dipoto who acquired CJ Wilson never said he wasn’t elite. Eppler probably doesn’t even think about Wilson.
Eppler doesn’t sign elite free agent pitchers because Cole went to New York.?
For the reasons I said, I think CJ Wilson was elite.
Macstruts, you have got to be the thinnest skinned, no backbone, all bark and no bite Halo Clown. If one does not agree with you, you lose all control of yourself and it shows.
@HaloShane
Thank you for saying what we’ve all been thinking
Sounds just like Colorado, except that the Angels don’t play in a park that’s an absolute nightmare for pitchers.
Difference is that the Angels have been around for like 25 years longer. The Rockies also signed Mike Hampton to that big deal, it just didn’t work out. The Angels, meanwhile, choose to sign Mo Vaughn instead of Randy Johnson.
The Angels went VERY HARD after Randy Johnson. I believe you’ve been an Angel fan a long time but you have to remember this. Disney went after both. His choice was down to two teams, the Angels and the Diamondbacks. It didn’t go our way.
Been following the Angels long? After the 2011 season, even though the Angels had #5 WAR pitcher Haren. the #7 WAR pitcher Weaver. They went out and got #11 WAR pitcher Wilson and then traded for Greinke.
Their 5th starter was Santana.
I don’t think people who say they follow this team actually follow this team.
And then they made no effort to re-sign Greinke. Weaver was the only Boras client ever to take a hometown discount so they caught a break there.
I’ve probably been following the Angels longer than you’ve been alive. You selectively picked one year out of 30. I do admit they had good pitching in the 00s, but that was due to the farm and player development, not Reagins going out and signing pitchers.
Macstruts is the most clueless idiot on these comment threads, I would pay him no mind…
angels made every effort to re-sign him but he went to the dodgers. he is one of pariahs in halo land. the other was texeira.
Greinke was going to the highest bidder and the Angels knew that. The Angels just choose to sign Hamilton instead of Greinke
They made plenty of effort to resign Greinke. He signed one of the richest contracts in history and then opted out.
“I’ve probably been following the Angels longer than you’ve been alive”
Physically impossible. But if you have been following them as long as I have you know pitching was this teams priority for the first 15+ years of their history. Only when Ryan and Tanana got hurt did they turn into an offensive first team. That was late 70s. Ironically, that’s when they started to have some success. In 78-79 Ryan’s ERA+ was 105. That’s why he wasn’t resigned.
As far as 2002, when the Angels won the World Series. They didn’t have an ace, but they had a solid array of starters and led the league in runs allowed.
Never prioritized pitching? No one who has been following the Angels for 60 years would say that.
5/85 is not much of a hometown discount. Thank God we didn’t pay him more considering he was injured in both 2012 and 2013 and how poorly he pitched the last 2 seasons of that deal.
Greinke made 13 mediocre starts for us in 2012. 3.53 ERA. 3.89 FIP, 108 ERA+. Then he signed a 6 year $147 million deal with the Dodgers. I was so happy we did not go harder after him. The 5/110 offer we made at the time was more than we should have offered considering the things he said and the mediocre results we saw in Anaheim.
This from a man who says the Angels are going to lose 90 games.
Very few say as many dumb things as you do, so I’ll just consider that one more dumb thing.
Not resigning Nolan Ryan was the biggest mistake the Angels ever made. I saw many of his home starts, he was dynamite, every game he pitched you had a chance to see a no-hitter.
Trout27. Do you remember that off-season? Not from history books, but did you live it. From 1975 to 1979 Ryan wasn’t that good. Twice he finished with an ERA+ below league average. He had one really good year, 1977. But the others were pretty blah.
The best thing you can say about him is he was an innings eater. He signed with the Astros for 1 million a year. If you had a crystal ball, then you sign him, but who knew?
That was a big mistake you know that right? Again another total misuse of resources. They had Trout and had signed Pujols. Instead of adding pitching they signed Hamilton which turned out awful but even had it not they should’ve been putting money in pitching not another blockbuster position player
Another bonehead move of arte Moreno he didn’t want to sign Adrian Beltre Dodgers didn’t want to sign them and Beltre wanted to sign with the Angels he wanted to stay in Southern Cal Beltre signed with the Rangers
Angels definitely should have outbid the Dodgers for Greinke. They should have offered him whatever it took to get him to agree to a contract that didn’t include an opt-out and not signed Hamilton or Pujols.
Correction: they choose Josh Hamilton over Greinke, which again proves my point: they always go hitting over pitching
hope your mama knows you are a troll!
Now that’s a conversation we can have. Have the Angels ever given an opt out clause?. Maybe they should, but I don’t think they do. At least I can’t remember one.
@Fred You think the Angels have never prioritized pitching in their history? The Angels have signed FAs like Bartolo Colon, Mark Langston, CJ Wilson, and Bert Blyleven. They have aces from their system, Jered Weaver, John Lackey, Chuck Finley, and Mike Witt, They made trades for Jon Garland and Greinke. The Angels have done everything the other teams have done when it comes to pitching. There were 2 aces this year, Cole and Strasburg. One went back to defend his championship, the other took the ridiculous amounts of cash. The Angel’s pitching staff isn’t great at the moment, but what other team has had 2 starters die like Adenhart and Skaggs?.
Sure, the Angels think so little of pitching that they drafted 28 pitchers in 2019, including 16 pitchers in the first 20 rounds, and they drafted 29 pitchers in 2018.
all of these teams improved, but each made confusing mistakes. Jays added to an area of need, but now have few rotation slots to work out their young starters and are overpaying Roark and Ryu. (the latter simply due to injury risk) The Sox improved in a lot of areas, but made a risky play on Keuchel. The Rangers added to a starting corps in need like the Jays did, but overpayed for most of their additions. And the Angels will still be VERY lucky to be even Wild Card contenders in that division.
The word from most commenters is that 90% of all SP’s and many RP’s were overpaid. I personally think this means the cost of pitching has been reset and the meaning of the word overpaid needs to be updated.
probably, but i still feel that guys like Gibson and Lyles wolnt provide nearly as much value for the buck as some of the other pitchers signed will, and Ryu and Keuchel still have injury concerns that make commitments of that size to be risky.
Twins are asleep at the wheel
The White Sox acquisitions better fill the Angels needs than their own did.
The Sox and Rangers have both had better off seasons.
Spot-on, Halos, good assessment.
This is a fair view of it.
Any one voting for the rangers out of this list is mad crazy. Don’t get me wrong, they made some solid move… but not like the others. Especially the Sox
“they (Angels) haven’t addressed their problems at catcher yet.”
J.T. Realmuto is a free agent next winter and Trevor Bauer will be looking for the fat one year deal.
Bauer is incredibly overrated
This comment right here!
How does next yr help this yr?
white sox so far and im taking bias out of it. Im disappointed in the angels though. they need pitching and have the best player on the planet.
So glad you left the Tigers off the list. So sad they have become a disgrace to baseball from their signings to the great distance their seats are from the playing field.. No body seems to care
tigers are not a disgrace. they are simply re-building.
White Sox. Grandal + all those young pitchers is all I have to look forward to with this team. It might be amazing. Rangers did fine, Blue Jays actually have done great in terms of filling innings but they still aren’t close, and the Angels are still the Angels.
Don’t forget Robert, Amderson, Moncada and Eloy. Those young guys are fun to watch man. Like video game good.
The Blue Jays have done little. The Angels added one real player to pair with Trout. The White Sox haven’t done enough. Just wait: the Rangers will pull off some moves before Spring Training hits to make those 3 other teams on the list look irrelevant.
So, the Rangers will continue building their team in the next two months, but nobody else will? Might be a shaky assumption.
Teheran was 2.6 WAR better than the #3 slot in the Angels rotation last season
Bundy was 3.2 WAR better than the #5 slot in the Angels rotation last season
Ohtani is an unknown, but in 2018 he put up more 0.2 WAR in 10 starts than Heaney or Canning produced last season.
That is a 6 win improvement on the pitching staff.
3B was not a position of need for the Angels and we still get a 3 WAR improvement at that position.
At 2B Fletcher and La Stella is a 2.5 WAR improvement over La Stella, Rengifo, Wong, and Cowart. .
A full season of Simmons is a 3+ WAR improvement.
Not going to count on any improvement from LF, because Upton staying healthy is a longshot. A typical 3 WAR season from him would add another win.
Catcher was a black hole for us with a -0.6 WAR. Anyone will be an improvement. As of now we are just as bad as last season.
So add them up and we have about an 14 win improvement over last season. Good, but not enough. If Canning can pitch up to his potential and Ohtani stays healthy enough to pitch 20-24 games, then maybe that is 16-17 more wins.
Billy has done a good job, but he is not done.
The Angels should be much better, but the Angels needed a top of the rotation starter. The Angels needed bullpen help. The Angels needed a Catcher
Getting someone to hit behind Trout was great. Adding two back of the rotations arms was great. But so far they have missed on three important pieces. .
they also need a medical staff that can keep their starters healthy
I maybe foolish, but I really trust Mickey Callaway.
Both things could be true.
Just joking, you always have something worth saying.
A TOR starter instead of Bundy would have been incredible, but at the prices paid for Cole and Strasburg I am glad we stayed the course.
MadBum picked the place he wanted to live. Near his horses in Arizona. It was never about the money for him.
No one else was ever on the radar here.
Our relief staff was better than average last season and we didn’t lose anyone.
I like our bullpen. Middleton will help. Bedrosian for a full year will help. Buttrey fell off the table. I think the Angels need one more.
Teheran sucks. Bundy has never lived up to his potential and is fine as a number 5 starter. You can’t predict how other players would’ve played in the same spot as another player.
Dogbone?? Dogbone?? Care to impart any biased comments??
Not ignoring the White Sox & Blue Jays fans (Merry Christmas to you all – I like the Jays signing of Ryu) but I do think the Angels & the Rangers off season work makes the AL West EVEN more competitive.
that ranger rotation is sneaky scary …
All those moves will turn the sub-500 white sox into the exactly 500 white sox.
You can only dream.
Ok. Is improving a dozen games a bad thing?
Poll results show overwhelming favor for the White Sox offseason. I, too, voted for them, but it is a really tough call. On paper/by numbers, they probably shouldn’t be leading this poll. However, I will explain my vote:
YASMANI GRANDAL. Sure, they signed Keuchel and Gonzalez, both of whom should provide average or better results. But what Grandal could add to them and the younger pitchers might be the deciding factor between these teams.
Rendon or not, I’ll believe the Angels when I see it. Toronto and Texas haven’t done anything to upgrade their lineups to this point, but their revamped rotations are intriguing.
I am basing this on the # of wins worth of improvement I predict due to the free agent signings. For example, Chicago and Toronto could have improved somewhat significantly WITHOUT the signings. Similarly, I could see the Angels and Rangers regressing without the signings. It’s probably pretty close to a 4-way tie, but Grandal tips the scales in this theoretical discussion for me.
Adding Gio, Keuchel, Grandal to the roster makes them the easy winner of this poll. And they’re not done.
I think hands down it goes to the ChiSox. They did a really good job this offseason, were pretty aggressive in pursuing their desired players, and improved well overall. I think the Rangers and Blue Jays also did a good job of acquiring pieces that really improve their team in both tangible and intangible ways, so second place is a wash between those two. One can argue the Angels acquisition of Rendon (probably the second best FA) Puts than in second place, but they desperately need pitching help. Anyway, from a lifelong Yankees fan, congratulations ChiSox, your team did really well.
Anyway, Merry Christmas guys, I wish the best for you and your families!
I always enjoy your comments Mick. I might not agree with all of them, but you manage to combine good grace with candour. I’m about to combine good scotch with ice cubes. Have a wonderful Christmas too.
Blue Jays are trying I guess.
Angels got the best player
Rangers made the best deal
White Sox have added the most new average to slightly above average players and didn’t give up much in terms of money or talent.
White Sox appear to be winning this so far.
Whitesox are in full attack mode. Rangers strengthened their rotation. The Jays upgrade of Ryu doesn’t make much sense unless they continue adding quality pieces to their pen and rotation by 2021/2022.
Imagine if TA has another year like he had too. They’re gonna cause some teams problems, and in the meantime, their young core of pitchers is developing.
Angel’s have had the worst offseason of teams listed.
Yeah. The White Sox also won the offseason in 2015…….
Lmfao how? Who did they sign? Nobody.
Cabrera, LaRoche, Samardzija, Robertson, Soto
They’re just rinsing and repeating the failed strategy from their last prematurely halted rebuild.
Bruh…
LMFAO what? Those guys are bums compared to Grandal and Keuchel.
Lol this guy likes samardzija and laroche, now that’s funny.
……..meaningless contribution.
Twitter says the White Sox have a $10mil deal for EE.
10+5+18.5= 33. That’s the 2021 salary of Mookie Betts (athe player they need for a long term contention) the Sox would be wasting on Mazarra, Keuchel and EE.
Tim Anderson says hi.
We don’t need Lindor to contend. That’s just crazy as hell.
What??
White Sox. They got quality players without shelling a 100 million contract and they still have the flexibility to add more pieces. Go Sox!
The White Sox still have enough pitching and minor league depth in the organization to pull off a blockbuster move within the next two years or so. I can see their window of contention extended to five or six years. Rick Hahn will show the cubs how to do this thing the right way.
Cubs fan here and it’s the White Sox for sure. I live in Fort Worth, TX now so I guess I can admit it but as a baseball fan and Chicagoan I’m pretty excited about the moves the Sox have had made, aside from getting Grandal out of the NL Central.
I usually do the the single team mlb.tv package just for the Cubs but I think this year I’m going for the full package and see if the South Siders can pull off a 2015 Cubs like season. Plus it will be nice to hear Steve Stone again.
Dewayne Staats calls the Rays games these days. Imagine those two hooking up to call a game again.
I am apparently the only one who thinks the white Sox offseason was not good. Massive overpay on Keuchel and grandal plus an unnecessary extension of abreu plus overpay. They are better but not by much and it was insane amount of money spent
I guess it’s all relative but I bet you’re not the only one. It’s just the majority of people writing on this page do. Your points are still valid, but most think ChiSox filled some of their critical needs, thus improving their chances of competing in the postseason the most. I don’t think one can say that about the other three objectively. But, it’s all speculation anyway. Baseball is a very humbling sport, and if a team gets hot, they may win it all, regardless of their seeding. Out of curiosity, who was your winner in this poll?
Oh yeah, and as an aside, I don’t think there was a team that didn’t overpay for a FA so far. They’re all being overpaid, imo.
You have to look at the big picture. The Sox didn’t get the ace free agent pitcher they needed, but they’ve established depth on the roster. Keuchel gives them seven starting pitchers for five slots. The addition of Grandal, EE and possibly another RF them more depth in areas of need. Nearly all of these veteran players have short term contracts, which gives the Sox flexibility. They can continue to develop guys like Collins, Vaughn, and their OF prospects without pressure, then promote them when they’re ready later. They could also flip a few pitchers and prospects for a star player later as well. Overall, the Sox aren’t a 72 win team like last year. They should win somewhere between 83 and 90 games, given how much they’ve improved and how bad the AL Central might be with Detroit, KC, and possibly Cleveland tanking. They have a string chance to make the playoffs if Kopech and Cease show progress and stay healthy.
Hey there ChiSoxCity, Merry Christmas! The only issue I have with your comment is the assumption you have already signed EE, White Sox are interested, Blue Jays have already put in an offer, lets wait and see what EE has to say about the subject!
A Merry Christmas to you too, Jaysfan. I hear you on EE; nothing’s certain yet. We should know something soon enough. Congrats on landing Ryu, I hope you guys give the Yankees hell in 2020.
Jaysfan Merry Christmas. This is the season of hope, and I hope EE is still in-play for the Blue Jays along with other balls in the air to open that DH spot for him. More and more I believe he’d be great for the younger guys.
Massive overpay for SP Dallas Keuchel and Yasmani Grandal who was the best C in free agency along with being a top-5 one in all of MLB?
How is Keuchel an overpay compared to the AAV and years that Cole, Strasburg and Wheeler all received above what was expected? How about the AAV and years given to Madbum and Ryu who also received significantly more than what was predicted. WTF! There all freaking pitchers for crying out loud, one throw away from a TJ procedure or worse.
The White Sox couldn’t land Wheeler with their offer which would have been an even bigger overpay than what he did receive from the Phillies because his fiancée wanted to stay closer to home. So now their apparently ‘stuck’ with their Keuchel overpay instead.
Perhaps some commenters around here are just jealous, dense or just can’t see the FA forest from the trees.
* They’re x 2! lol
Angels LOLZZZZZZZ!!!!!!
Astros are still winning 100+ games in 2020 and are right back in the ALCS proving the haters wrong year in year out
You seem impartial
Angels should be fun to watch this year. A lot of 8-5 or 9-6 wins.
The Padres poor judgement on Myers and Hosmer has damaged this team’s contention ability. Then it’s dumb contract to Pomeranz is more of the same.
Halos fans have not commented on their offseason, re: the Maddon factor.
The Angels are literally only 1 legit pitcher and an average catcher away from being a real contender for a playoff spot. Haters just love to add their snarky comments but don’t give credit where credit is due. Pujols is the only bad contract left and he’s gone in 2 years.
Probably because their starting rotation has been so pedestrian.
I love the moves the Sox are making, adding vets to the young core & if they get a deal done with Luis Robert we can see him on opening day. Dallas isn’t what he was but he can certainly be a lift for Lopez & Cease in their growth & development. I very confident that the Sox can win the central this year, if not they should definitely be in contention for a WC spot, & after this disappointing season watching the Bears I can’t wait until the end of March, Let’s Go Boys & Put’em On The Board YES!!!!!