I’ve probably got too much hopium and free time on my hands, so I mapped out a plausible path Perry could take in the offseason to make us not suck again. Using [Fangraphs’ payroll page for 2023](https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/angels), I estimate we’ll be sitting at around $160 million in payroll going into free agency. This assumes that 1) Ohtani gets $25 million in arbitration, rather than a huge extension just yet, 2) everyone else up for arbitration gets about $1.5 million a piece, and 3) players ineligible for arbitration earn a total of $14 million, as they do this year. No, these assumptions won’t be exactly right, but I think we’ll still be in that ballpark once everything evens out.
**Position Players**
**Left Field**
Adell is a bust. He can’t hit, can’t catch, and can’t steal. Very few players ever become stars after being this bad this far into their careers, and we don’t have time to wait for a miracle breakout in his late 20s. If we don’t make the playoffs next year, Ohtani is gone.
Solution: Sign Joc Pederson (1 yr, $6 million) and Jordan Luplow (1 yr, $2.5 million) to platoon. Pederson’s lifetime OPS against righties is .832, with an .898 mark this year. Luplow’s lifetime OPS against lefties is .871, with a .764 mark this year. I can easily see them combine for an .800 OPS or better, compared to Adell’s current .630 OPS.
**First Base**
Looks like Walsh was a flash in the pan, and he’s never been able to hit lefties anyway (.610 lifetime OPS). His defense is also [awful](https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jared-walsh/18607/stats?position=1B).
Solution: Sign Wilmer Flores (1 yr, $4.5 million). He’s been an above-average hitter every year since 2016, with a .789 OPS over that span and no severe platoon split. His defense is average, and he can play all over the infield. At the very least, he can platoon with Walsh and fill in for Fletch, Rengifo, or Rendon whenever needed. If Walsh can’t even figure out righties again, Flores can take that job full-time.
**Middle Infield**
Rengifo looks good and he’s our best option at 2B. Fletch plays a good enough SS for us to stomach a below-average bat, but not the abysmal performance he put up in 2021.
Solution: If Fletch reverts to that form, Flores can start for him vs righties while Walsh plays 1B. If Walsh and Fletcher both struggle, well, at least Flores can take one of their jobs full-time.
**Third Base**
Rendon’s obviously got this job by default, but he’s also a massive injury risk and who knows if he’ll ever be a good hitter again?
Solution: Sign Aledmys Diaz (1 yr, $5 million) or Jose Iglesias (same) for depth. The floor for both of them is average bat, average glove. Might seem excessive on top of Flores, but Ohtani gives us the flexibility to carry 6 infielders, and if Rendon’s season ends in May while Walsh and Fletch are hitting .190, it’ll all make sense. Either one can also PH against lefties.
**Catcher**
Stassi forgot how to hit (.621 OPS) and he’s made of glass. Suzuki is bad and retiring (.545 OPS). O’Hoppe looks promising, but don’t bet on a breakout in 2023.
Solution: Sign one of Omar Narvaez, Christian Vazquez or Curt Casali. At most, that looks like 1 yr, $6 million. They’ll all give you solid defense and average offense, for a catcher.
That’s $24 million in one-year deals for substantial offensive improvements in every trouble area, and probably the best depth we’ve had in many years. I genuinely think this could get us a boost of at least 100 points in OPS at 6 different positions. Sounds crazy? Then you don’t know just how terrible things have been: [https://imgur.com/a/CgxZvab](https://imgur.com/a/CgxZvab)
**Pitchers**
So far, that’s $184 million in payroll, or $179 million if you don’t like the idea of signing two new infielders. That’s plenty of room to grab a couple average relievers and sign one of the following starting pitchers, maybe two if we choose wisely:
Tyler Anderson (2.81 ERA, 3.3 FIP, 128 IP)
Mike Clevinger (3.63 ERA, 4.12 FIP, 74 IP)
Johnny Cueto (2.78 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 110 IP)
Jose Quintana (3.38 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 120 IP)
Ross Stripling (2.93 ERA, 2.87 FIP, 89 IP)
Noah Syndergaard (3.95 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 98 IP)
Jameson Taillon (3.95 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 127 IP)
Michael Wacha (2.44 ERA, 3.7 FIP, 77 IP)
Taijuan Walker (3.36 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 112 IP)
We could possibly add one guy in the Bassitt or Rodón tier instead, but that’s probably pushing it for Arte. Either way, that’s a definite improvement for an already super talented Ohtani-Detmers-Sandoval-Suarez rotation.
Let me know what you think!
16 comments
I like it but the problem is as long as the current hitting and pitching staff are on this team, the Angels will never be able to compete
I like this, well done.
Quick send this to Perry lol.
Love the part about how bad the better part of the lineup is garbage and these cheap additions would instantly be a lot more competitive. However as the other commenter said, I don’t trust these the current coaches
Adell is not a bust. His fielding is/has gotten a lot better of late. His discipline at the plate is improving as well. As it sits, he is a playable starting outfielder who will only get better. I don’t believe there is anyone on the team with as much raw power besides Trout and Ohtani.
I’m sorry but you think Walsh is bad defensively? He looks really good to me
Where are you getting that Walsh sucks defensively wtf? Almost every fielding metric has him either above average or elite(range, 40 foot split, fielding percentage). Like he’s having a horrible season offensively but his defense does not suck lol
I’m not ready to give up on Walsh or Stassi. I like Walsh defensively, and I like Stassi for his framing. But their offensive issues need to be addressed maybe through new coaching.
Another problem is that we have no depth. Once people get injured, which is inevitable, we have no one able to come in and fill the role. It’s a who’s who of “who?” out there right now.
sorry, you lost me at Walsh’s defense is awful
I think our coaching is a major issue. Look what the Dodgers have done with Heaney, Anderson, Taylor, Gonsolin, Gallo so far, their bullpen arms, and so on. Those guys know how to coach and know how to work on and fix a player’s weakness. It feels like players who join the Angels suddenly becomes worse, like Loup for example.
Fletcher’s bat looks pretty good so far.
“Adell is a bust.”
“Walsh is a terrible defensive player.”
Let alone the dollar amount you think these players will all sign for.
I think its too early to jump ship on walsh, he was an all-star last year after all.
I think money would be better spent on a 4th infielder that can play middle infield and rotate between fletch/regifo/rendon to give everyone a break 1-2x weekly.
If what we saw with moniak was real before he went down to injury then i think our OF is ok between trout, ward, adell, moniak, sierra.
Maybe a catcher would be good, but it seems like our SP wasn’t half bad and that could be due in part to the catchers. Stassi isn’t hitting but should improve next year with some better coaching.
Lets focus on pitching.
Get rodon or bassit or even try for verlander. A TOR and a proven bullpen arm should help us out ALOT.
Replace the coaching/ training staff and i think we will be ok.
This is assuming even one of those guys wants to sign with us
Free agency is a two-way street
I appreciate the amount of work done on this, if you don’t mind I’m gonna go through and give an opinion on these cause I have some free time lol.
**LF**
Joc – Fair value assigned at him between 6-8M but i can see him getting a multiyear deal on the market. He def has a plus bat (averaging 2.2 oWAR per season) but he is bogged down by terrible defense. He plays the more straightforward left field in SF so I don’t expect him to rebound his career numbers here. He will be heavily pursued this offseason due to his legit bonkers stat cast #s
Luplow – Averages a career -0.2 WAR per season dWAR. His oWAR has steadily trended down over the years. Not too confident on this and would rather give more young guys at bats instead.
**1B**
Walsh has trended better at 1B as the season has gone on, but does have below replacement fielding but not egregious. His statcast profile screams of someone that is a tweak or 2 away from some great #s (evidenced by his prior work). The main problem for our team is we cannot fix bats. Jared is a young controlled piece so no need to give up on him now.
Wilmer is just as bit on the defensive side but does have a more consistent batting trend. I agree he’s a good candidate to sign just because he becomes the super utility player every good team needs. Dont be surprised if he goes for about 8-10M on the open market 2-3 years. 4.5M is not going to be his going rate due to a weaker market this year. The downside for him is his statcast numbers don’t inspire a lot of confidence.
**IF**
Agree
**3B**
Agree, he’d be a good backup. Iglesias I wouldn’t because he struggled here before and unless we do a top to bottom makeover, he’ll go right back into the same situation he was in before.
**Catcher**
Vazquez seems destined to end up back on the Red Sox, and for sure a team like Houston wouldn’t want him to end up in our hands especially on a 1 year deal. I have more hope for Stassi to just be a decent catcher as we wait for O’Hoppe, but we def need someone to platoon there.
**Pitchers**
It’s hard for us to make a splash here considering we just have horrible MLB level pitching coachers. A lot of the guys listed definitely need a program that keeps a close eye on their pitches, a lot rely on hard breaking balls that need to constantly be looked at so they don’t flatten out and become meatballs. Wise isn’t the coach for that. The other problem is a lot will be getting 3-4 year deals in their 32-33 year old years this offseason, so we will be hoping they don’t collapse as they are under contract.
In reality the best youngish arms were available the last 2 years and Perry completely missed out.
I do like your approach to these problems a lot. They mirror what I think we need which is to just get dudes who are 1-2 war players to plug these negative -1 to -2 WAR holes we have all over the field at a decent contract.
Sir you forgot about right field
#Convince Artie. Not us.