In a few weeks, we’ll be running a two-team mock expansion draft here at MLBTR. Currently, we’re creating 15-player protected lists for each of the existing 30 teams. You can catch up on the rules for player eligibility here.
So far, we’ve done the Astros, Twins, Royals, Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Rays, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Orioles. The Angels are next.
We’ll start by removing free agents Jason Castro, Andrelton Simmons, Julio Teheran, and Tommy La Stella from consideration. We’ll lock down Albert Pujols, Justin Upton, Mike Trout, and Anthony Rendon due to their no-trade clauses. We’ll also protect Jo Adell, Shohei Ohtani, and Griffin Canning out of the gate, giving us this group of seven:
Mike Trout
Anthony Rendon
Justin Upton
Albert Pujols
Shohei Ohtani
Jo Adell
Griffin Canning
That leaves eight spots for the following 28 players:
Justin Anderson
Matt Andriese
Luke Bard
Jaime Barria
Cam Bedrosian
Anthony Bemboom
Ryan Buchter
Dylan Bundy
Ty Buttrey
David Fletcher
Brian Goodwin
Andrew Heaney
Michael Hermosillo
Kyle Keller
Mike Mayers
Keynan Middleton
Felix Pena
Dillon Peters
Jose Quijada
Noe Ramirez
Luis Rengifo
Hansel Robles
Patrick Sandoval
Max Stassi
Jose Suarez
Matt Thaiss
Jared Walsh
Taylor Ward
With that, we turn it over to the MLBTR readership! In the poll below (direct link here), select exactly eight players you think the Angels should protect in our upcoming mock expansion draft. Click here to view the results.
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bold idea – Pujols waives his NTC and the Angels agree on a partial salery dump to the expansion team for prospects. new team can stomach the money given likely low salery overall and fans of the new team get to see a familiar face. (even if its a diminished one) Pujols waives to see if he can get a bigger role with the new team while working towards playing for another few years after contract ends. Angels and Pujols agree to a compromise on the service agreement.
Expansion teams won’t want a 40 year old DH….nor will they want to give up prospects…
not giving up. they’d be getting prospects for the salery dump. a new team would be smart to use some payroll space to build their farm, especially given they are starting from scratch essentially.
Why would Pujols leave a team hes been with for 9 seasons to go to an expansion team in his age 40 season?
the exact same reasons i mentioned in the original comment.
When i read them the first time, i didnt really view that as feasible bcuz hes 40 and bad, but i guess if u think its possible, we’re all allowed our opinions.
Personally I think marketing is the absolute only reason anyone would want Pujols, but I don’t think Pujols would waive his NTC hoping to continue to get ABs for a team thats not going to be good in his career
It’s a bad idea. Walk away.
I like it ! Great Idea But Pujols isnt leaving his base around here-
Hes so deep in his non-profit programs for down syndrome he would never leave SoCal
Its really his life work now, baseball just helps fund it
Ive met him a couple times around town, its always been in the form of fundraising and promoting the “Pujols Family Foundation”…… Guy is truly a role model and very gentle humble man
And I must mention his family, especially kids were some of the most genuine well mannered people you will ever meet-
Polite, humble, gave you complete eye contact, good listeners and gracious ; all while intermingling with large groups comprised almost completely of adults- I walk away impressed every time as most kids down here that came from wealth are just truly awful and rotten
oh for sure. i know its a long shot, i just figured there was at least a sliver of a chance he would. Pujols is a true professional and my thinking is that the team player in him and his love of the game might make him at least consider waiving if Angels ownership asked him about it. i recognize its a bit of a stretch given the reasons you’ve provided, but i think Pujols has as good a chance as any player to take the jump given who he is and the type of player he presents as.
also Fletch should be a lock
That’s reasonable. But it looks like you guys are taking care of that anyway in the poll.
yeah i mean shouldn’t matter too much, it jusy stood out to me.
There were others that I wanted to take, but here’s who I chose:
Barria
Heaney
Bedrosian
Goodwin
Buttrey
Rengifo
Robles
Fletch
I wanted to also choose Felix Pena, but I decided against it because I would want the Angels to keep their good bullpen pieces. Fletch is obvious. Robles, Buttrey, and Bedrosian are the good relievers I would keep. Heaney and Barria are both high potential guys, and I personally like Heaney’s pitching. Goodwin is underrated as a 4th outfielder, an asset off the bench. Rengifo is a gift for the angels, can play anywhere, young, and can only go up on hitting ability. I like the angels 15 players.
Why not Middleton?
TJ, and in spite of him breaking Elvis Andrus’s elbow lol.
If you really want to claim that you follow the halos swap out barria, goodwin, and bedrosian for Middleton, Sandoval, and Thaiss and youre good.
Good call. Extremely close to my 8 – we agreed on 7 of the 8.
I accidently overlooked Fletcher but yes id lock him in … also Tim … is there any way you can post the results of each team maybe a day or two after? I am unable to see the final results and would like to before all 30 teams are done … Thank you
at the end they will do polls showing all the exposed players to represent the actual draft, so they may put the results there or in another post at the time.
I know … I was just curious at the current time … and when i click the link it always freezes and/or only shows part of the results
who doesn’t keep fletcher?
Buttrey
Robles
Goodwin
Fletcher
Peters
Bedrosian
Anderson
Thaiss
I assumed that Robles and Fletcher would be on the already protected list. I like Peters because they need help in the bullpen and rotation and he fits both of those roles.
i can see leaving off Robles given he hasnt really proven himself a consistently great player yet.
However, it’d be foolish to not at least give him another season as a make-or-break if he does turn out to be as good as he seems.
i dont mean leaving him unprotected. im just saying calling him a lock is a bit ambitious, especially given the writers have been adding a bit more wiggle room in recent iterations of this series.
Consistent doesn’t belong in a sentence referencing a RP
then what is the purpose on protecting any then? there is at the very least some level of consistency with RPs, even if it is relative. im not saying id need Robles to be as good this year, but just another year with somewhat simmilar numbers suggests he can do it again and be a solid RP on a semi-frequent basis.
this was tough for me. ultimately i took Barria, Fletch, Middleton, Rengifo, Robles, Sandoval, Suarez, and Thiass. left Bedrosian, Heaney, and Bundy off because all three hit free agency after the 2021 season, and even if one gets slected, (not a given given they are rentals) you can protect the other 2 for the second round.
Heaney is a great pitcher and I wouldn’t let him go, assuming he wants to re-sign with the Angels. If not, it depends on whether the Angels are going to be serious competitors in 2021.
i mean you have to weigh injury concerns with the guy. maybe the half year this year helps there, but you have to expect he’ll miss a few starts at least, if not more. id probably protect him if they can create themselves a spot in the manner i mentioned, i just dont think 1 year of Heaney is more valuable then any if the other 8 mentioned.
Per the rules, do players with No-Trade Clauses absolutely have to be protected? If not, definitely Pujols and maybe Upton can walk and I wouldn’t sweat it
Yes, they do, unless they waive those rights.
Why are people protecting Bundy? lol
Fletcher and Buttrey are solid players with a lot of control remaining. Easy picks. After that, it gets a little dicier. Heaney has an extensive injury history, so I protect the younger Sandoval over him.
Middleton, Suarez, Barria, Robles, Rengifo are my remaining pieces.
I would protect Pujols. No expansion team would want him. So it allows them to protect another player. And if they do, they are probably helping the angels out. I would protect Brandon Marsh as well.
Wouldnt*
By the rules, that’s not an option. Players with NTC can’t be left unprotected, since the can’t be drafted without consent. So yes, you do have to protect him.
Anyone who doesn’t pick Fletcher and Robles clearly doesn’t know a thing about baseball.
A surprisingly hard choice! Bundy, Fletcher, Heaney, and Sandoval were locks. I like Suarez a lot as well. From the crop of relievers, I like Robles and Buttrey the most. Final spot came down to Goodwin or Thaiss, I went with Thaiss for his age. Tough to leave Goodwin and Ward unprotected, they’ll probably go high in the eventual expansion draft.
the least clutch relief pitcher, bedrosian should be shipped to any team that wants him.
as useful a piece as Bedrock JR is, the up-and-down nature if his seasons really concerns. if you protect him as a rental for 2021 and he is mediocre while the guy LV picks is good, fan morale isnt going to look so hot.
the lack of remaining club control also factors in. Buttrey has more upside and more club control. I’ll take him over Bedrock all day every day.
Fletch
Buttrey
Robles
Middleton
Suarez
Sandoval
Bundy
Thaiss
Gotta protect future arms considering our lack of depth on the farm. Wanted to include Heaney over Bundy but he’s less durable and more expensive so I chose Dylan. Also wanted Rengifo (especially with Simba away) but I prefer the upside of Thaiss and Fletch can fill in at SS. Tough choices and pretty bad timing for an expansion draft in Anaheim. Ideally we buy out Albert and resign Simba to a reasonable extension in my scenario
I remember when the Pederson trade first came out everyone said “Pederson and Stripling for who?” Every Angels fan on this forum was quick to say what an incredible, valuable prospect Rengifo was. How he was more than worth a consistent mid 20’s to mid 30’s-HR hitter and a quality reliable starter. Now he wouldn’t even get protected in a 15-player expansion draft. Wow! Times have changed.
it wasn’t rengifo that the angels blocked the trade for. it was 1 or 2 top prospects the team had no intentions to include in the trade.
I was not writing about why the team made the decision, or about the 1 or 2 theoretical mystery other prospects included. I was writing about how all the Angels fans on this forum swore that Rengifo was such a great player that he was more than worth it on his own.
All right, who keeps voting for Bundy?
Everyone who thinks trading for a player you wouldn’t protect is dumb.
Not saying they should or shouldn’t protect Bundy but the assets traded for him are a sunk cost. They aren’t coming back. If Bundy isn’t one of their 15 most valuable assets then absolutely he will get left unprotected.
The Angels aren’t going to miss Isaac Mattson and Kyle Bradish anyway.
Good to see Fletch is getting a lot of well deserved love.
I’m not an Angels fan, but… is Brandon Marsh considered “eligible” for this faux expansion draft? Neither he nor Jo Adell has MLB service time, right? I know Adell is the better prospect, but wouldn’t Marsh be someone to protect, too?
You are right to ask, I wondered about Adell and Marsh myself.
If you read the original article starting this series, they chose an arbitrary rule of any prospect on Baseball America’s top 100 list with an ETA of 2020 is eligible for this academic expansion draft.
Marsh is on BA’s top 100, but listed with an ETA as 2021. So not eligible and no need to protect.
Weird exercise, weird criteria, weird rollout. MLBTR has cabin fever. 🙂
Barria
Bedrosian
Buttrey
Fletcher
Goodwin
Heaney
Middleton
Robles
It was a tough call leaving out Luis Rengifo, but I chose Brian Goodwin over him as there is more of a need for Goodwin in case Adell isn’t quite ready or an outfielder gets inured. And, the Halos have too many infielders, especially with Fletcher and La Stella fighting for time at second base. Thaiss, Sandoval, and Suarez were also under consideration.
Some strange reasonings in the selections.
While there are fans of Bedrosian and Heaney (I am one of the latter), both are in walk years in 2021, and it seems highly unlikely any team would spend an expansion draft pick on them for a single year of service. Therefore, there is no need to protect them.
Guys like Thaiss, Rengifo, Middleton, Buttrey, Fletcher—guys with years of control, those are the players sought in a draft. Those are the players you want to protect.
Good point. In hindsight I’d probably protect Rengifo and expose Bundy