Angels general manager Billy Eppler tells Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times that he hasn’t taken a single call asking about the availability of Mike Trout in the midst of his team’s injury-riddled season. There’s been a perhaps surprising amount of speculation about the Halos eventually making Trout available with a poor on-field product at the moment (due in part, though not necessarily entirely due to the aforementioned injuries) and the team’s dismal farm system. As one rival GM put it when speaking to Shaikin: “You’re getting a guy who’s being paid at the very top of the food chain and trading three to five potential impact players in return. I don’t think there is a scenario where that is going to happen.”
More pertaining to the Halos and their division…
- Angels ace Garrett Richards spoke to MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez (Twitter link) about his decision to hold off on the Tommy John surgery he was reported to require for a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. “The way my timetable lines up, as far as being back by 2018 if I did have surgery, is not any different if I have surgery now versus in a couple of months from now,” said Richards, who plans to first attempt stem-cell therapy to treat his injury. “This is just something that was an option, and I decided to take it. Why not, right?” Even the most optimistic projections for a Richards return would’ve been a late May/early June return for Richards in 2017, and if he follows a 14- to 16-month recovery timeline for Tommy John, then he’d indeed have missed most or all of the 2017 season anyhow.
- The Rangers optioned reliever Andrew Faulkner to Triple-A yesterday, which should clear a path for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo to be activated from the disabled list today. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star Telegram tweets that with Choo’s return, he’ll return to his role as the everyday right fielder, with rookie Nomar Mazara sliding over to left field. The Rangers, following Delino Deshields’ recent demotion, will move forward with Mazara and Choo flanking a resurgent (and re-positioned) Ian Desmond in center field. Choo appeared in only five games for the Rangers this season before suffering a calf injury that necessitated a roughly six-week stay on the disabled list.
- Evan Gattis’ return to catching drew strong reviews from Astros right-hander Collin McHugh, writes MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Gattis, who was solely a DH in his first year with Houston, was recently optioned to Double-A Corpus Christi to once again familiarize himself with catching, and the plan is for him to catch a couple of times per week when he isn’t serving as the club’s designated hitter, per McTaggart. “The story of today is Evan Gattis,” said McHugh following a strong start against the White Sox. “…He’s a big league catcher and everybody needs to understand that and recognize that. He did a really phenomenal job tonight, both calling the game and blocking.” Despite hitting 27 homers last season, Gattis’ .285 on-base percentage made his work as a DH questionable overall. However, if he can deliver relatively similar production while serving as a part-time catcher in 2016, he’ll obviously become a considerably more valuable commodity for the Astros, even if his defense behind the dish isn’t premium.
While I have been a huge “Trade Trout for —–” proposal guy, it is good to hear the GM clarify that he has not taken a call. Granted that could be smoke and mirrors, but it had to be stated.
I feel bad for Richards a fluke leg injury and now this MLB is better when he is pitching I hope he can avoid TJS like Tanaka has been able too.
The Trout comment is interesting. It tells you that there’s a difficult market for even a talent like Trout, If you are the Angels, you can’t run the risk that Trout goes off and manages 45WAR in the next five years (obviously, that’s a big assumption) unless you get a tremendous return. If you are the trading partner–he’s expensive in dollars and potential players, so maybe he’s too expensive. Maybe the answer is to trade Trout and his contract for some top-tier talent, plus one pricey but functional player on the counter-party team–a Brett Gardner type (I’m not suggestion the Yankees match up at all, just looking for that type of player/contract)
He’s definitely not expensive in dollars for who he is and what he brings to a team. Literally every single team in MLB would take on his contract and not skip a beat, that includes the Rays.
Well it also plays into account, if trade partner willing to take Pujols as well? That saves the second team in prospects, albeit maybe just one top tier and a B level. Come 2018-2020, those two account for $60M a year.
I’ve seen people speculating on this, but there’s no chance.
You’d be paying ~$65MM a year for basically just Trout. There is not a team in baseball that is going to give up quality prospects for the right to pay Pujols.
That’s what I saying though, taking on Pujols contract limits the prospects you would probably have to give up.
All comments say Trout would cost 5-7 players. Taking on Pujols would probably take that down to 3-4 players (obviously depending on who those players are).
Hell Braves took on so much additional payroll with Bourn and Swish just to save on the Chris Johnson 2017 option. Never know, $46-63M a year can afford the Angels a lot of leeway.
At this point pujols is sunk cost. Trade him by himself and each 60% or more of his salary just to get a decent prospect to help with the rebuild.
And, no team, is taking on pujols contract as part of a trout trade unless they don’t want
Any top prospects for trout.
I understand what you are saying, but honestly Pujols isn’t totally a sunk cost, 40 HR and near 100 RBIs last year isn’t a bad season.
But you are right, team taking on Pujols contract limits the prospect return, which I suggested earlier.
I think you need to add risk to the equation too. You give up 4 good players and invest a bunch of money and he gets a serious injury. It’s a really bad deal because you just dealt away depth. But having said that. I think it’s hard not to seriously think about.
And will he get you to the WS. Braves traded (at the time high prospects) Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, Elvis Adrus and Saltalamachia for Texiera. Probably the last big deal John Schuerholz made as GM of the Braves, but Tex didn’t get the Braves anywhere.
Granted Trout is a great player and provides more than Tex overall. But in 2007, Tex was just getting started and his 30 HR 100 RBIs didn’t make a huge difference. Then he was gone 16 months later with less prospects.
Honestly, the package would have to start with deGrom, Conforto and Matz, plus the Angels pick of the farm. Mets aren’t going to do that. No team is going to sell their farm for one guy in 2016, even if it’s a 24 year old who’s basically already a HOFer.
You have no concept of value.
Thanks for the troll, genius.
This is true
Lol
Maby we can get collabell of or G rich
Richards is an ace?
It says Angels Ace
That still says that he is an ace. Being the best pitcher on a crappy staff doesn’t make you an ace, it just makes you unfortunate to be surrounded by trash pitchers
Edinson Volquez is the ace of the Royals, Ricky Nolasco is the ace of the Twins, and Teheran is the ace of the Braves…seems like a very liberal usage of the term ace.
Granted this is based on small sample size, the usual retort. But Julio is top 15 in innings and 22nd on ERA. Which those stats, he would lead 20 (innings) and 15 (ERA) other clubs. So while no those guys may not be Aces of all staffs, there are only 5-8 pitchers in the league that could anchor every staff.
We aren’t 30% in to the season. Quoting Julio e.r.a is useless. The number 1 on every team is their defacto ace, but quoting this year’s stats to say he is an actual ace is useless. Jason Hammel has been better… Is anyone calling him an ace or even a number 2?
Context matters. It’s perfectly acceptable to refer to the best pitcher on the staff as the teams Ace. When talking about the entire MLB then it’s best used for the truly elite.
Clearly you miss the point.
This is only his third full season and he already had a Cy Young caliber season in 2014 and was showing that form again this season.
Krol, Theo clearly doesn’t care for that facts even when you premise with “small sample” in your argument.
I think to trade the best player in baseball just to have a better ranked farm system on paper is stupid.
Look at the Detroit and Marlins trade for Miguel Cabrera … Marlins got a ton of players but that trade did nothing for that organizations future.
I think the Marlins ditched miggy and willis because they were cheap and didn’t want to pay them more than because they wanted to have a better ranked farm system on paper
The Cabrera trade wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. The issue there was choosing the wrong team to trade with. Marlins had packages that included some of the top players in today’s games including Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, and Jacoby Ellsbury. They chose a different package that just didn’t work out.
They had 2 years of cabrera left. Willis was going to cost them 7 mil and at that point had already lost his control. They traded maybin too early is all, he was worth 7.5 war the 2 seasons after he went to the padres. Badenhopp and Miller are still back end relievers. So the trade was basically even, and that’s with almost the worst outcomes for all the prospects.
The persistent Trout rumors only go to show that sports writers have way too much time on their hands and not enough ideas to fill it. The Angels aren’t a small-market team without options other than tearing down to rebuild. They have Trout tied up for many years and lots of opportunity to rebuild around him. They can also be thankful that they aren’t the Dodgers.
Huh? I’m pretty sure the Angels would give anything to be in the Dodgers position right now….
Forget the money, and even the farm system, the Dodgers are run by a bunch of nincompoops who will continue to field the team built according to their statistical formulas even when it doesn’t produce winning. The Dodgers stink for a reason.
Say what you will but this is a lousy team for a reason. It is being run by people who are not accountable to winning ballgames.
The Dodgers are proving that an enormous payroll guarantees nothing. Barely can win 91 games a season and at .500 right now. With their payroll and prospect pipeline they should be winning 95-100 games. Just goes to show that’s it’s all not about big contracts or having a top rated farm system. It’s about what happens on the field. For the Angels to be where the Dodgers are in terms of payroll and prospects is simply a matter of choice. Perhaps they should go there with their lack of prospects. It would certainly help them contend and buy time for system to redevelop.
4 yrs after this, and 60% of their rotation is likely to miss all or most of next year. So really only 3 yrs. Now keep in mind that’s assuming all of skaggs, heaney and Richards come back 100%. That’s also ignoring their holes on offense. Calhoun, trout, simmons, pujols, richards, Santiago will take up 110 mil of the payroll in 2018. Now do you think they can field 19 other players that makes them a playoff team thru free agency?
For the 6th highest payroll in all of baseballs think Angels would do more to change the fact they are 21st on the league in winning %. Take out Pujols and Trout they are 15th on the league payroll.
My thing is ownership doesn’t want to go any higher in payroll and Pujols contract is killing the efforts to build around Trout in the future. Pujols is under contract one more year than Trout.
Pujols contract is killing it this year, the lack of talent in the minors is killing the effort to build around him in the future. Even without pujols contract you can’t get 20 free agents for 100 mil, well you can But most would be junk. 100 mil gets you 5 or 6 above average-good players. It’s still hard to fill out the roster with average players. The question comes down to if they plan on signing trout when he’s a free agent. If they plan on giving him the 400 mil 10 yr contract I doubt they will ever win a world series, they will try and compete every year but the farm is so decimated it effects the franchise for 10 yrs.
I agree with you, Pujols and Hamilton contracts killed this team now and future, $103M over two years hurts. Just what makes me wonder if trading can free themselves of the bad contract in Pujols. Trading those two plus Hamilton’s contract dropping off gives the team $89M in 2018. Yeah prospects take a while to grow, but AAA players and current 40 man players will be ready to compete in ’18.
Pujols’ contract is a poor excuse. There’s about $160 in AAV on the Angels’ payroll after his contract. There’s even about $135 million left after Hamilton’s contract. And a farm system is not the only way to win a World Series. In fact relying so much on prospects makes a team more likely to sit at the bottom of the standings. There is a reason PECOTA has projected the Royals so low despite their success. What got KC as far as they did wasn’t just their young talent, it was also the amount of value they were somehow able to get out of cheap veterans like Morales, Zobrist, Hochever, Blanton, etc. The Angels have a controllable core they need already. They just need to do a better job of supplementing. I’d bet a lot of money that they’d have at least one or two more playoff appearances in the last 6 years if they had done a better job addressing their bullpen before acquiring Joe Smith and Huston Street. Especially in 2012, when they should’ve gotten bullpen help they sorely needed instead of draining their 2012 trade deadline budget on Zack Greinke.
They used prospects to trade for zobrist. And those prospects became the anchors of the team. Moose, hosmer, Cain. Used prospects to trade for James shields and wade davis, used prospects to trade for Cueto. The luxury tax will probably be bumped to 195 mil next year. They need about 15 players for 60 mil. Sure they can hit on a Morales. Even he is 8.5 mil per year. They don’t have the talent to supplement the team. No relievers in the minors even. Maybe a bench piece there in baldaquon. Finding and hitting on 10 guys on the scrap heap is hard. The royals drafted hochevar by the way and blanton only three 41 innings for them, they hit on Morales but even he got 2/17 for them to hit.
What does the Royals trading prospects for those veterans have to do with anything? They had their young core and the bridge between that and the total production needed was mostly veterans. It’s right there on their team page on BR. You can all day long building a team with a young core but you still have to get actual major league talent to get you there. Most teams no matter how young or old end up having to patch holes from the waiver wire and the trade market throughout the season any way because there is not a farm system on this planet where you can just automatically keep plugging players in to spell injuries or struggles. Even the best farm system could not save the Angels’ rotation. And as far the they go, they have their core in place and it’s been that way for a while. They just need to supplement better. They just won 98 games two years ago so they’re not that far off, if they’re not turning things around midseason.
It has nothing to do with a better rank on paper it has everything to do with rebuilding the team. Not all prospects work out but then again some become stars. Its the lifeblood of a team. Angels are dying so they do not have to trade Trout just for “prospects” it can include young mlb players too and they would need to be overwhelmed but if there was that kind of offer they need to consider it. Otherwise I do agree with you. Some “prospects” may improve the farm but Angels would need top prospects in MLB not just of that trade partners farm
Attention east coast writers/fans… Trout is not going to get traded get over it.
West coast fans, Angels payroll is not getting much better. Wilson and Weaver drop after this year. That $40.7 million erases quick with Pujols, Simmons and Trout ($7M increase), arbitration a of Calhoun, Richards, and Santiago ($10m minimum), and likely the Escobar option ($7M). That at minimum is $24M leaving $16M to start “building around” Trout. Even when Hamilton’s 2017 drops off, Trout’s contract jumps and takes half that savings away.
So while the East coast writers and fans need to “get over it,” maybe competing is something Angels will have to get over.
That’s not how it works. You calculate average annual value. That’s how a team determines their position against the luxury tax. The only thing that will eat up the money being freed up in terms of the tax is new contracts and arbitration. The Angels aren’t worried about yearly salaries by themselves, they’re worried about average salaries per contract. $189 million is basically 8 Mike Trouts.
I agree Krol, just stating that a lot of people look at money coming off on the major contracts and do not take into account arbitrations and other jumps in salary. Rate clearly does not want to keep pushing the envelope if he isn’t getting results.
If I was Theo Epstein I would tell Jed Hoyer to call Billy Eppler and guage what it may cost the cubs for Trout. I would have to say it would possibly start with a Kyle Schwarber, C J Edwards, Gleyber Tores the followed up with Jorge Soler and Donnie Dewes. That may get it done. Personally I dont think that they need him but he would definitely put them even further over the top. Add a real closer at the trade deadline along with a mid rotation starter and the team barring injuries should be a beast for around 4 years.
Why do they need a starter? Have you seen how their rotation has pitched the last 3 years? Real closer? Hector rondon has an e.r.a under 2 the last 3 years. They already are a beast and they only have 1 free agent starter next year in Fowler. Almora will take his place though. The other free agents are cahill, wood and richards. Edwards will replace one. I could see them go after Miller and dangle soler. This team is already set for a long time.
You are so clueless its not funny.
Why are you attacking him? Nothing he said was wrong. I think a lot of people will agree you’re the clueless one
I dont think thats a package good enough for trout. Maybe soler, gleyber, pierce johnson, and kyle hendricks, plus a low level flyer player
The Angels just need to stay the course, let the money fall off, and just supplement their core better. They probably should go over the luxury tax if it means giving them a better chance to contend, and it can buy time for their farm system to redevelop.
As a Braves fan, I wouldn’t mind seeing Escobar come back for another prospect. I doubt Ruiz is ready and no need to rush his clock. But Escobar, Swanson, Albies, and Freeman would be a good infield. Flowers behind the dish works for next year.