At this point of the season, the focus for many teams has largely shifted to the upcoming offseason. While ten American League clubs are still within shouting distance of postseason position, only six teams are clear contenders for the five N.L. berths (with the Marlins, Pirates, and Rockies all hanging on by a thread with losing records).
After the season concludes, we’ll be looking at every team in the league in depth with MLBTR’s annual Offseason Outlook series. For the time being, though, we’re taking preliminary big-picture looks at what some of the non-contending clubs will need to focus on in order to reverse their current standing.
We’ll start with a disappointing Angels club:
1. Increase the flow of the talent pipeline.
If you check in on the Angels’ top prospect list on MLB.com, you’ll find that the first four players listed were all taken in the first two rounds of the 2015 and 2016 drafts. That’s representative of the state of the Halos’ farm, which is in the beginning stages of a much-needed farm restocking. A top-ten pick in next year’s draft will help — plus, it’ll be protected if the club signs a qualifying offer-bound free agent — but GM Billy Eppler will need to find ways to ramp up the talent intake beyond waiting for the team’s turn to draft. Unfortunately, the Angels are still disqualified from handing out $300K+ bonuses in the current international signing period owing to the seemingly ill-fated signing of Roberto Baldoquin. As Ben Badler of Baseball America explains, the team has been trading its slots for speculative minor leaguers rather than spending all its available funds on even younger international talent. Whether that particular strategy will pay off remains to be seen, but it seems incumbent upon the Angels to turn over all the stones they can find to load up the pipeline with future big league assets — both to get cheap players onto the roster and to generate trade pieces. Taking on cash in trades to pick up prospects may be tough given that the organization already has $100MM on its books for 2017 and about $75MM for each of the three seasons that follow, but that’s something of the approach that they took in acquiring Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer from the Twins. If some kind of partial reboot can’t be pulled off while still trying to contend, the nuclear option — trading Mike Trout — will be increasingly plausible.
2. Build up rotation depth.
Matt Shoemaker was having a nice season before his unfortunate injury, but he is the sole member of the Angels’ rotation who has been worth even a single win above replacement in 2016. Health obviously played a major role, but that’s not exactly a surprise given the attrition rate of major league pitchers. The cross-town Dodgers also lost a host of starters, but managed to stay afloat; the A.L. entrant from Los Angeles simply wasn’t able to reach into the reserves that its neighboring N.L. competitors were. The Angels ended up making mid-season acquisitions (Tim Lincecum, Jhoulys Chacin) in a desperate bid to find useful innings, and it just didn’t work out. Whether Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs can turn in full seasons will obviously be critical to the 2017 campaign, but the organization needs to find a way not only to plug in quality rotation pieces, but also to fill in when the arm problems all-but-inevitably arise. There’s going to be plenty of competition for the few appealing free agent pitchers available, and the Angels already dealt away their two best pitching prospects last winter to get Andrelton Simmons. Eppler and co. will need to do a better job of identifying the right under-valued hurlers to cobble together a serviceable staff. Plus, the team will need to find a way to complete the development of upper-level pitching prospects such as Meyer, Nate Smith, and Victor Alcantara.
3. Improve on the bases.
The Angels’ position players have combined this year to produce the league’s ninth-best results at the plate (by measure of wRC+) and were collectively slightly above-average on defense, but the club as a whole ranks dead last in Fangraphs’ total baserunning metric (BsR). That hasn’t been the case in recent years, but many of the team’s roster changes have brought in poorly-rated baserunners (Yunel Escobar, especially). Clearly, the Halos need to consider much more than wheels in filling in their numerous areas of need, which (still) include second base, left field, and catcher as well as the bench. But perhaps infusing some speed — and contemplating ways that the organization can improve its general approach — would be a somewhat subtle way to find value with a limited supply of talent available on the upcoming free agent market.
Trout to the Cubs, calling it now
Trout to the Cubs, could be beautiful for the Halos…. Only if they had a clue on what to receive in return from the Cubs…. Theo is just to smart, and the Angels are arguably the most uneducated organization in the MLB.
Um, the Diamondbacks would like a word…
Or you could just be the most uneducated fan in MLB.
If that happened , Bryant or Russel better be involved plus a pitching prospect, then either happ or almora
Who are they exactly going to give up? They aren’t going to get him without giving up Russell, their entire depleted farm and then a lot more
On what planet is the Cubs farm depleted? And Russell?! That’s just laughable. Deserves nothing else
it lacks advanced talent, admittedly due mostly to promotions…. but still, most of the top guys right now are in the lower minors
and i say this as a Cubs fan
The 1st poster made that just to destroy the entire topic, nothing more.
Wish Tim would stop some of this nonsense again.
Angels would probably ask for one of Rizzo or Bryant, and more
Trout for Schwarber
Or Trout for Span, Pagan, and Panik
….
Gtfoh Lmmfao
LOL. Best comment I’ve seen
The Cubs are one of the few teams that a trade could make sense, but no Cub fan would like what it would take to get 25 year old Mickey Mantle on their roster.
Think of Schwarber, Baez, and Soler as the starting place, and then look for several more, good prospects to get across the line.
Angels will need pitching and want several.
It gets to a point where trading Trout doesn’t make sense for any team, including the Angels who can still be competitive before his current deal ends.
Just keep him Angels, and develop
time to trade trout for someone’s farm system. He shouldn’t be stuck on a shity team during his prime years its such a waste
He hasn’t even reached his prime years yet.
What like Ernie Banks did?
Welcome to watching an all-time great. You need to go into history and see how many Hall of Famers played for mediocre teams for much of their careers. The list is long. And the Angels have contended in 3 of Trout’s 5 full seasons with the Angels. 4 of 6 if you count his 2011 call up. And they’ve had one playoff appearance with him in the middle of all of that. They’re not wasting anything. They just have come up short. And that’s baseball. You trade him to the Cubs and they could easily collapse or never get past the first round in the playoffs. It’s all BS. Teams rise and fall every year, and there’s more parity in the game than there has ever been. So no matter where Mike Trout goes, it’s always going to be a shot in the dark.
Just strip the whole thing down and accumulate as much young talent(prospects) as possible. Spend loads of money on scouting and player dev.
Mike Trout should be traded
Not helping the Angels the last three years
Wasted his talent. Better off helping a contender
And then the trading team has to mortgage the farm and turn into the Angels of right now. Same thing, different team. It’s never going to be a guarantee. Contenders come and go. Trout needs to stay where he while the Angels regroup.
Trading Trout would be a pretty unpopular move with the fanbase, but I think it’s more than a nuclear option – it’s the most prudent option. A win-now team with prospects to play with would absolutely give up a boatload for him.
Imagine the haul of prospects they could get
Unfortunately this team and organization are garbage. As an Angel fan, I am all for trading Trout. My concern would be, that the organization is so lost…. That the opposing GM would take advantage of them. Heck! I am not even in the game and know I could rake the organization through the coals.
Epplers doing a great job so far IMO, he wouldn’t do too bad in a trout trade
Agreed. Dipoto, not so much.
The Angels are so bad manny banuelos is their#19 prospect.
CORRECT: TOP THREE NEEDS……they have so many needs.
1.prospects
2.prospects
3.more prospects
1. Get a real GM
2. Rebuild immediately
3. Trade all the vets they can for young players.
4. None of this will happen with impatient Moreno who thinks money buys championships.
Keep Trout, slowly retool and get a gem or 2 during the 2018-19 free agent class and prepare to contend in 2019
Trout has a full no trade. Not going anywhere.
I’m sure he would go to a good team
Full no trade clause or not…. Any great ball player would want out of Los Angels Angels of Anaheim, Orange County California team…. Even the name is a joke.
Jeez, what made you so salty?
Trout would turn down going to the Cubs or a team back East in favor of the Angels?? I’d love to see that. Give Theo a call. I’m sure he could work out something 😉
I concur Cubs Fan31. Theo would burn the Angels with his baseball smarts. Here is a good question… What clown in the Angels organization would even make the call????
If you are ownership, you have to be afraid of what trading Trout could end up looking like in the future.
I don’t think they actually trade him, even if it could be their best plan.
If an East Coast contender came calling, I’d bet he’d wave that no-trade in order to be closer to home.
Yeah, pretty sure you’re wrong on that. If that was such a primal urge, he would have waited for free agency and signed a FA deal with the Phillies, Yankees, etc. Instead, he suffers by spending free time on summer days living in Newport Beach, CA, with average highs between 70 and 80 and no humidity.
no-trade clauses can be waived at the player’s discretion…
I think, at this point, that he would waive his clause if he was sent to a contender. Their farm system is so bad, and they are on the line for some bad contracts for at least another year or two (Hamilton and Pujols, even though Pujols has produced he is not worth what he is getting paid). Their farm is so bad that it producing multiple quality players in the next two or three years is a stretch. So, can they build a winning team through the farm and free agency by 2019 or 2020? If not, and I am not optimistic they can, why hold onto Trout when he can turn the worst system into a top ten system overnight, and he will likely leave in free agency?
Dodgers here we come
Seagar and Perterson would both have to be in the trade
I don’t think the Dodgers would trade Seager straight up for Trout. He may be the NL MVP and is making the minimum.
Then there is no way the Dodgers would get Trout
Here we go again.
“We’ll trade for the best player in the game, but our non-best-player-in-the-game is untouchable.”
LOL. Amazing how few people understand any trade for Trout would have to hurt like hell. Instead it’s bids for damaged goods like Schwarber or geriatrics like Soria. Unreal.
The problem with Trout is that he’s so damn good, any team acquiring him is gonna have to give up four or five assets that REALLY hurt.
If I’m in the Cubs FO, for example, would I really want to part with 4-5 high-end prospects to bolster a team that’s on pace for 104 wins this season? I mean, I get that Trout is otherworldly, but the cost to acquire him would be insane.
I bet the Angels wallow in mediocrity for another couple of seasons, then deal him when the price doesn’t have to be so high. The Phils, for example, will be on the cusp of contention by then and they might have the assets to make it happen. Who knows.
Phillies also being Trout’s “hometown” team could make that interesting..
Trout won’t be traded, for any number of reasons, including his full no-trade clause through 2020, a contract which will cost its owner $100M for the last 3 years (2018-20) alone. That contract disqualifies 50% of MLB clubs immediately.
But lost on those who figure it’s smart business to trade him away is the fact that Trout has *averaged* 9.5 WAR over the past 5 seasons (including 2016 to date). There isn’t a team in baseball which has enough prospects to generate 9.5 WAR in return, and which would give up all their blue chips and mortgage the future for a single player.
It all goes back to the Tigers trading for Miguel Cabrera–the “can’t miss” 1st round picks Maybin and Miller both missed badly and didn’t produce at pro level for years after they left Florida, while the other 4 prospects disappeared without a trace. Cabrera, of course, continued to be one of the top offensive players of his time. The Marlins’ front office traded Cabrera for a few magic beans, none of which grew into a giant beanstalk. No Angels GM is going to risk replaying that scenario.
Prospects are just that: Prospects, and for every Kris Bryant there are a couple dozen Grant Desmes and Todd Van Poppels. There is no conceivable deal which ticks all the boxes for a once-in-a-lifetime player like Trout. He’s staying, which means he won’t be in your team any sooner than 2021.
I’d wager that just about every team in baseball would take on the last three years of his deal if all it cost them was money. Like you said, we’re talking about a dude who will probably bring in 8-9 (and upwards of 10) fWAR. $33M is peanuts for that kind of production, even for small market teams.
Half the teams in MLB couldn’t allocate $33M annual salary to 1 player when entire payroll is ~$100M. That’s not taking into account the talent to be surrendered in the deal, assuming said team had that talent.
Agree with GeoKaplan. You can’t get Trout without damaging your current situation.
Cubs could only start trade talks by including Bryant. And that isn’t going to happen.
Angels trade Trout? Keep dreaming people. So the Angels can suck without him, and wait a few years for a bunch of potential prospects to pan out? The Angels have just over $46.5M AAV coming off the books this year and the $25M AAV coming off for Hamilton the following year. The current CBA will expire in December and with the current economic health of the game I’m sure the CBT will increase way beyond the current $189M. Arte has shown he’ll spend up to the CBT.
As an Angel fan, and a realist, I recognize the next two years will be tough whether Trout is traded or not.. I say NO to a trade and think of the following:
(1) The team will have a lot of room to spend big for the Harper-lead free agent class in a few years,
(2) It will take 1-2 years to get Richards, Heaney, Tropeano, back to where they need to be.
(3) In a few years Trout will be entering his prime.
(4) Scioscia’s contract will be up in a few years, and
(5) Arte will be a few years closer to death.
The Angel’s lead baseball with 98 wins 2 years ago. They’ve had a five man rotation on the DL almost all year long. Hard to say this is the worst organization in baseball. More to a team than their minor league pipeline.
#5 is brutal, but it did make me laugh. Arte is often his own worst enemy. He isn’t Marge Schott-bad, but his fingerprints are all over the Wells and Hamilton deals. His desire to win has led to poor decisions.
And yes, the “farm system” trope is overplayed. The Astros had one of the best farm systems for the last few years but they’re flailing at a wild card spot now. There is more to a team than depth on the farm. The emergence of Cron and offensive maturation of Simmons means some LF production and healthy pitching can lead to another 90-win season 2017.
An improved Cron & Simmons, a new LF, and a healthy rotation will get 90 wins next year? No. Not a chance. First of all the rotation wont likely be healthy until 2018. And that’s a big if. Injuries happen to every team. There are set-backs in rehab. This team won’t compete until 2018 IF they’re lucky. You need to put down the kool-aid.
I don’t drink the Kool-Aid. It waters down the vodka I need to drink to get through the season.
Hunter Dozier 3B
Balbino Fuenmayor 1B
Jorge Bonifacio OF
Marten Gasparini SS
Billy Burns OF
Miguel Almonte RP
Scott Alexander RP
Joakim Soria RP
to LAA for Mike Trout, Ricky Nolasco to KC
Is this proposal for real or you joking? Sure hope you are joking….. A trade is about quality, not quantity of aged and bounced around players. But hey! If you are serious… It is the Angels organization and they are run by 3 clowns
Please you obviously don’t know what you are talking about Shane, calling Eppler a clown even though he’s doing just fine….
So we have difference of opinions, okay…. No big deal. That’s what makes sports fun. To me the Angels are arguably the worst organization in the game.
Ok yes but the dbacks could challenge for that soon
I agree that the Angels as an organization are a joke, but saying that Eppler is a clown is just uninformed. If Epstein took over as GM at the beginning of last year the team, and system, would likely look virtually the same. The Simmons trade was probably bad, but it wasn’t catastrophic. Eppler should be a very good GM, and likely would/will be in most any other organization. But with an idiot owner, and a manager that thinks he should be both manager and GM, I think Eppler is in a no-win situation (especially with the bad contracts that the owner pushed for during the previous management group). So far, Jerry Dipoto seems to have become at least an average GM with Seattle, so it seems like any GM in Orange County is destined to fail. So, maybe two clowns instead of three. One huge clown in Moreno, and one half clown in Scioscia (I think he is a good manager (a bit of an arrogant bonehead at times though), if only he would manage the 25 man roster and nothing else).
So getting bombarded by injuries makes the Angels the worst organization in the game. Learn baseball before talking baseball.
win one world series and you have a job forever!
SO true in all aspects!
Thank you Diablo. Someone gets it.
No, having perhaps the worst farm system in the history of baseball makes them the worst organization. Even without injuries this team was not going anywhere. They have suffered through a lot of injuries, but so have other teams (Mets?)Also, handing out some of the worst, biggest, and just plain stupid contracts over the last decade has made them kind of a joke (Hamilton and Wilson, but Pujols kind of belongs there too even though he has at least produced). The biggest joke is the GM. He is the Jerry Jones, although probably much worse, of MLB. So don’t act like you know more than others, most everyone here knows about injuries etc…
Well put Adamontheshore. The injuries are no secret and off the top of my head, I believe the Dodgers have had more players on the DL this year than any other team. And OH! They are in 1st place. Why? Because they build an organization.
Yes, blame it all on injuries. No other teams have injuries. Learn baseball before talking baseball.
It wasn’t really a joke, The Angels should take that sort of haul for one of their players they will lose to FA in a few years, they have an awful farm system, and I think they are just an awful organization and probably would take a haul like that Trout
That’s an awful trade. You didn’t add their top prospect, their best young MLB ready talent, but you did add a terrible overpaid reliever? Got it, that’ll get you the best position player in the league!
You’re really not on top of current events at all, are you? “Losing to FA in a few years” = 2021. Not exactly around the corner. Not really a dire emergency. But please, do share how you journeyed to this fantastic universe where Joaquim Soria would ever be mentioned in a trade for Mike Trout.
Add in Duffy, strahm and a couple more top prospects and the Angels might consider it
Dipsnot an average GM? That is the best joke I have heard all day. Dipsnot the same guy who traded the guy leading the majors in homers, not once but twice. And screwed up both times. The same guy who traded for Tommy Hanson, who gave up Jordan Waldon. Traded 4 top prospects for a 2 month rental in Zack Grienke. Then refused to give him a 6 year deal. Traded a teenage pitcher that can throw 100 mph, for Kubitza. Traded 5 players last offseason to the Tampa Bey Reys, for a starting pitcher that he traded to the Cubs at the trade deadline, for one prospect. Yeah let’s give it up for Jerry Dipsnot, for making every team he trades with better. And let’s not forget he insisted on the Angels signing Blaton and Wilson.
Your “clever” usage of his name aside does not help your point. As can been seen by his impact on the Mariners program, which has been average in my opinion, he is an average gm. I love how people blame gm’s, especially when they have owners and managers who virtually run the show. Yes, some of his trades ended up bad, but hell even the best gm’s make bad trades. And, when you consider how horrible the owner is you should give him some slack. He has some responsibility for the horrid state of that franchise, but he is far from being the most culpable.
And lots of people have over looked Trumbo, so don’t act all smart.
So Dipoto has done a good job as GM in Seattle. He traded a 20 year old reliever to the Padres, for a guy who has been hurt all year. Compare Morrison and Miller to Lind and Marte this season. Who is having a better year. As for you saying that lots of teams over looked Trumbo, when he initially was looking to trade him from the Angels. With the exception of a very few teams, most teams wanted him. But Dipoto never consider any other trade, because of his man crush on Skaggs. As far as Dipoto as a GM. The entire time as GM of the Angels, he only won one trade. And that was the Conger trade.
One trade? The Huston street/Trevor gott deal turned out really well for them. The Andrew Heaney trade was viewed as a win. You can’t assume that heaneys going to be great after injury, but at the time, one year of Kendrick for a top pitching prospect looked really nice. And those are only two off the top of my head. And like you said, he got something of value like tropeano for conger lol
Granted the Street/Gott was good for the Angels. The Heaney trade is yet to be determined. Really won’t know know the answer to that one for a few years. As for Dipoto getting credit for Seattle season, they are not doing much better than the Angels. And not one player he traded for, or signed. Has made an impact, to help the team get better.
“If some kind of partial reboot can’t be pulled off while still trying to contend” no. There is no “rebuilding while trying to contend. You have to pick one or the other. Trust me, as a Padres fan, I know.
Angels need to sign 2 of Chapman, Jansen or Melancon. Then do what the Yanks did and trade relievers for top prospects. And those 3 guys would be the only guys that would get the Halos top 100 prospects. .
Dude. Those guys are going to sign with whoever offers them the most money in the offseason. If some other team isn’t willing to pay them as much as the Angels, they’re most certainly not going to give up top 100 prospects in order to do it.
you, simply, cannot trade the face of MLB; no matter the circumstance or haul (and schwaber straight up, is insane – KS is TOTALLY UNPROVEN) the angles are, already, the laughing stock…but even as bad as the decisions as Arte has made, he can’t possibly be that stupid.
this is mantle equivalence, and as bad as they are, trading him would be unfathomable and a worst choice than Albert, Hamilton, GMJr & -Torri (letting him go) combined
As sad as I would be to see Trout going to another team, I think if the Angels can find a team that is willing to take Pujols along with Trout, they should pull the trigger. I know Pujols has a full no-trade clause as well but heck, if he is willing to waive that, then why not?
Trade both Pujols and Trout, pay for Pujols for a little bit, get some prospects and rebuild.
So the better idea is to find a team willing to take on $60M in annual payroll for just two players?
Need to work on that presentation awhile longer.
1)Trading Trout is moronic. You WILL NOT be able to replace his 9+WAR/yr even with several blue chip prospects. Just out of curiosity is there any instance where trading a superstar ended favorably for the former team?
2) Eppler is doing a fine job thus far. I like some of the BP arms hes acquired and am curious to see his tactics this winter. Getting Meyer and Nolasco for Hector seems like a win already as well. FWIW the Simmons trade was fair at the time and is looking better by the day. Newcomb looks more like a reliever than a starter and has struggled with command at AA. Ellis’ celing is a rotational depth piece.
3) This club can afford to build the farm over the next few years while still competing in the near future. They should have a healthy rotation by 2018 and all of the core position players will still be in place plus whatever additions Eppler makes.
I agree with you that Epper has done about as good of a job as he has been afforded, but I disagree about trading Trout. You don’t need to get a player as good as Trout in return, what you aim for is a group of players that can be average to above average players that can fill the diamond. The current state of the Angels, is, to put it nicely pitiful. The farm makes most Japanese farm systems look like MLB teams (yes, sarcasm, but barley). Look at what the Yanks did this year, then add all of their returned prospects for three players, and expect a bit more for one player. The only way the Angels can compete before 2019 or 2020 is by trading Trout. It sucks,. but hard truths… If they don’t, expect a comp pick in 2021 and Trout playing for another team. Getting attached to a player is troublesome, I root for my city and my team.
And, Newcomb is the third best prospect in a loaded Braves system. Simmons is not even a top ten all around ss. Plus Meyers is likely a non-factor and Nolasco is what he is, a fifth starter.
Newcomb has 71 walks in 140 innings so far this year. Will never be more than a reliever if he can’t fix this.
Newcomb isn’t the first big arm to struggle with command. He certainly has his warts but also don’t forget his experience level before ever coming into the pros. Newcomb didn’t play as much as many top prospects that grew up in the South nor did he play at a big name school. Some players take more time than others.
While Newcomb didn’t get off to a great start by any means this season he came around with a nice finish to the regular season. In his, last 7 starts he pitched 37 2/3 innings with 14 walks (yes 4 were in one game) against 51 k’s. while only allowing 9 earned runs. He still may make a quality starting pitcher yet, and even if he doesn’t there is a lot of value in lefties that strike out more than a hitter per inning.
Newcomb may be the next Steve Carlton, but he might just as easily be the next Homer Bailey. That’s the problem with prospects, in that they’re too easily over valued by fans. In either case, he most likely won’t see MLB bats until mid-2017 to 2018. He wouldn’t helped the ER room that was the Angels rotation this year.
Simmons, on the other hand, is here and now. His glove, arm and range makes the pitchers better, and he’s finding his offensive game nicely, hitting over .300 over 2nd half of the season. He’s signed affordably for several seasons to come and he will sell jersies. This was a very smart deal by Eppler.
I think everyone’s being extra hard on Eppler.. I thought the Simmons deal, he overpaid and the Santiago deal, he could’ve gotten a little bit more. I was more discouraged that he didn’t deal more players such as Escobar, Perez, or Soto (before he got hurt).. I get it that 3B would have been a tough position to replace and Escobar is the leadoff guy.. But his base-running, defense, and attitude hurt more than help. Maybe even leadoff Trout and roll the dice. Had Wilson made it back, he too could have been traded. It
Sosh’s in-game managing has also been detrimental. Trusting the wrong relievers at the wrong time. The starting rotation was just snake-bitten this year, and they did okay. Tropeano, Heaney, & Skaggs were the young arms ready to do something this year. Only Skaggs made it. I’m confident by 2018 this team could be turned around, and does not need a drastic rebuild. Halos need to be wise spending, and work on developing their farm system not only with personnel, but the right instructors.. Halos have some guys who can help next year. Starting pitching and defense will a huge factor for ’17. But I only see things getting better and not worse. Huge off-season by not overspending, or making bad trades. Eppler will be 1 year in the job, and I think that’s a benefit. This team can do okay, but I like many others, feel big MIke has gotta go. I think that happens, it’ll help.
Can’t trade Trout. Only the Red Sox have enough but they have a pretty good CF and LF in Betts and Benintendi.
Everybody forgets that Trout is owed $138MM over the next five years. It’s not like Trout is an amazing rookie on a rookie contract. He’s on an expensive five year deal, regardless of how well he plays. And it’s going to hinder how much the Angels will get for Trout.
See, that’s where you tip your lack of understanding of the topic. The Angels don’t need to trade Trout. It’s the armchair GMs here who think this “must” happen, then provide ludicrous examples of such a swap.
Last figure I remember seeing was an equivalency of 1 WAR to ~$8M in salary. So Trout over the last 5 seasons has *averaged* 9.5 WAR, or salary value of $76M per year. Not total for the 5 seasons, but per year. For the value received to date, the future salaries aren’t onerous to the Angels in the context of the entire contract run. In fact, his production to date has basically made the back half of his contract a deal already.
So some other team trying to make a deal would need to both absorb the remainder of the deal in full AND overwhelm with talent to replace that 9.5 WAR.
For example, the Cubs could absorb the salary but wouldn’t be trading Bryant, Rizzo AND Hendricks in the deal. MLB doesn’t sign off on salary dumps (which is why Braun/Puig wasn’t a straight-up trade). Since the Angels don’t need a bad contract back, the justification would be three young players who are same age as Trout, signed/under team control for same period as Trout, and whose collective 2016 WAR has been higher than his alone–some way to justify trading a 25 year old, still improving as a player but currently regarded as the best in the game.
As I said before, a trade like this is going to hurt in terms of what is given up. Otherwise there is no reason to trade Trout because there is no urgency with the Angels. The offer would need to be impossible to reject, and no fan of the other 29 teams wants his GM to make THAT deal.
Um…new owner? Or break his phone? I firmly believe Moreno was behind the worst of the FA signings of the past few years. And then locked up his bank account so no real help could be acquired. Eppler hasn’t really operated any different than DiPoto (although I believe DiPoto would have kept the pitching he worked so hard to acquire) due to the constraints.
He hasn’t locked up the bank account when the payroll is $180M. He just spent it stupidly (Hamilton) and unluckily (Wilson). He also needs to make decisions regarding locking up Calhoun and Richards.
I think the Cubs fans should worry about the playoffs not so much about a trade for Mike Trout. Trading Mike Trout would be devastate to the fan base and they would lose a generation of fans growing up now who think Mike Trout is God & it doesn’t matter Win Lose or Draw as long as Trout’s on the field there will be Butt’s in the seats. he’s a once-in-a-lifetime player Hall of Fame bound it would be an ignoramus move to make any kind of deal!
The GM to really blame is Tony Reagins. Poor personnel decisions, the worst being firing Eddie Bane as head of scouting over personality conflicts. The farm system and draft choices suffered immediately after.
Agree ten thousand percent.
New scouting director hired this year, a top ten pick in next June’s draft…there’s light at the end of the farm system tunnel now.
Since they recently let go of their head of scouting, a great move would be to rehire Bane and put him in charge. If he wanted the job. I think he is a scout for the red sox at the moment.
Sanchez, Green and Kap should get it done, Cash.
The GM to really blame is Tony Reagins. Poor personnel decisions, the worst being firing Eddie Bane as head of scouting over personality conflicts. The farm system and draft choices suffered immediately after. Rehire Bane.
Good luck on rehiring him, lol. He is currently serving as the special assistant to the general manager with the Boston Red Sox, appointed on October 3, 2012.. Angels were dumb letting him go.
boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bas…
If MLB had one player that would never be traded, I would bet that player would be Mike Trout. The Angels have never had a “greatest player” until now.
I’ve been watching Baseball a long time. The Angels have always disappointed me. Gene Autry couldn’t stick with the plan. I have a story: In 1975, I though they had the next dynasty (The A’s were the dynasty then) of pitchers and “rabbits. The SP staff was Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana, Ed Figueroa and Bill Singer. Most of the position players could run at will against any catcher in the AL. CF Morris Nettles and CF Dave Collins, LF Mickey Rivers, DH/1B Tommy Harper, 2B Jerry Remy and phenom SS Orlando Ramirez. The other positions had quality players such as C Ellie Rodriguez, 1B Bruce Bochte, 3B Dave Chalk and RF Leroy Stanton: After some setbacks, they dumped their entire plan for the new concept of old stars and free agents.
Could Darwin Barney be the solution for the angles next year? He turned his career around last year And wouldn’t cost a lot? Does this make sense or am I not even close?