Even after adding Noah Syndergaard, the Angels are still looking to further supplement their pitching staff. In recent days, they’ve been connected in rumors to Steven Matz, before he became a Cardinal, as well as Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer and Marcus Stroman. But Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that Robbie Ray “remains atop their wish list.”
As Rosenthal notes, the Angels’ budget is a big unanswered question surrounding all of this. He lists their 2022 payroll as around $157MM. Adding someone like Ray would likely add more than $25MM to that total. (MLBTR predicted Ray would get a contract of $130MM over five years, an average annual value of $26MM.) That alone would put the Angels above their 2021 opening day payroll of $182MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, with still other roster issues to address. A budget increase would likely be required in order to facilitate a plan involving a contract of that size.
Another question is whether the Angels will deviate from their longstanding avoidance of committing to free agent starting pitchers. As recently explored by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, the Angels haven’t given a starting pitcher a contract longer than a single year since signing Joe Blanton way back in 2012. Ray, who recently turned 30 and won the AL Cy Young Award, would certainly require the Angels to wade into territory they haven’t been in for quite some time.
Another potential target is Jon Gray, as Rosenthal notes the Angels “had interest in Gray at the deadline.” Signing Gray would likely add less to the 2022 payroll than Ray, but probably still require the club to lay out a multi-year deal. MLBTR predicted Gray to get a contract of $56MM over four years, an AAV of $14MM.
More from the AL West…
- Even after yesterday’s Adam Frazier trade, the Mariners could still add to their position player mix, with Kris Bryant apparently piquing their interest, per Robert Murray of FanSided. With Kyle Seager now a free agent, Seattle figures to have a new third baseman for the first time in quite a while. Bryant’s bat would certainly be welcome in a Seattle lineup that ranked 22nd in runs scored in 2021. Aside from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Bryant has had a wRC+ of at least 123 in each season of his career. In 2021, he hit 25 home runs and slashed .265/.353/.481, producing 3.6 fWAR in the process. However, Seattle may have to be patient with their interest in Bryant, as Murray relays that he’s not expected to sign before the transaction freeze that is reportedly going to be implemented after the CBA expires on Wednesday.
- It is widely expected that the expiration of the current CBA on December 1 will lead to a transaction freeze, which has teams and agents scrambling to get business done before then. One thing getting pushed to the backburner is managerial hirings, as Ken Rosenthal reports that teams will still be able to hire managers and coaches during a lockout. (Same link as above.) That means that the two clubs currently without managers, the Mets and Athletics, will likely wait until next week to get serious about searching for new skippers.
No multiyear deals for starting pitchers since 2012? The Angels aversion to pitching isn’t exaggerated.
I don’t understand how the Angels build the roster. They have no problem shelling out top of the market money to guys like Pujols, Upton, Trout, and Rendon all on the payroll at the same time. They will presumably do the same with Ohtani eventually. But they aren’t okay with spending up to the luxury tax? If you are going put that much money into so few players you have to spend around the tax limit just to be competitive. It seems like they want big names but expect them to do everything on their own by not filling out the rest of the 26-man with enough players to make a full team. I really don’t get it. You can only compete on a set budget if you spread it around. It makes no sense to spend that much of your payroll percentage on such few players.
It’s an Arte Moreno problem.
That’s dumb
He bought halos for 160 mill and they are worth over 2 billion now. He’s not dumb
he has grown penny-less and built an empire worth more than $4 billion. and mostly with hard work. he also is not one of few baseball owners that are/were money managers who amassed their wealth by making someone else lose money. is he dumb? heck no. but he emphasized on profits than winning. now, he seems to have changed because trout and ohtani made their desire to win public and what arte hates the most is bad face.
@Angels1961, there can be two truths.
and it takes more than 26….
It takes a village ⚾️
Pitchers break down, constantly. Hitters are typically more durable. It’s not too hard to figure out, IMO. That said; the Angels do have an aversion to signing/keeping good arms, so they are certainly not without fault despite going the “safer” route of investing most heavily in bats.
Very true but unfortunately all the hitters the angels sign, trout aside ofc, (rendon, Hamilton, upton, etc..) turn into lazy slugs after they’ve gotten the money. Arte spends but I think not as wisely as he should. And I think on field results on a lot of those big name contracts prove that
Position players are in the lineup everyday, unlike someone who gets paid to play every fifth game. I understand the money going to the position players (even though they are not smart on who they give it to).
They will start paying for pitching.trust me. Arte has seen the light.
I don’t think that’s true this year. They are looking to land two more starters– I don’t think money is an issue. I do believe they will come away with one of the three– Ray, Scherzer, or Gausman, and they will add another starter like Jon Gray. But they know they need the depth in order to really compete.
Ohtani
Ray
Syndergaard
Gray
Sandoval
Suarez
This suddenly becomes a scary rotation with high upside. And they’d have the depth of all their young pitchers throughout the season– Barria, Detmers, Junk, Canning, Bachman.
3 of 4 of the pitchers you listed have signed or about to with another team. seems we are already moving to plan B. This is getting old.
Make some trades for Starting Pitching!
But they can hand out a ten year deal to a 34 year old King Albert. How did that go?
Not bad, they signed Pujols and then signed a 3 billion TV deal. They extended Trout and signed a huge stadium bill.
It remains to be seen what Moreno does next.
That $3billion tv deal is why they need to be at 200 million payroll annually not 157 last year .
And watch Billy Eppler bring that philosophy to the Mets
It’s clearly a failed organizational philosophy. They had some bad experiences with CJ Wilson and Jared Weaver…. Problem is that when a team invests in pitchers, you have to avoid thinking what they’ll be like at the end of their contract, because that’s impossible and most long-term pitching contracts will end with the pitcher fading or broken down… Gotta focus on what they’ll be for the first 2-3 years and hope for the best from there.
Your #1 for years 1-4 is your #4 or #5 for years 5-6. If you look at it that way then you can work within reasonable expectations.
Its not Eppler’s philosophy that matters. Mets have been a “pitching first” franchise since 69 – often to their detriment
I believe the 2012 Joe Blanton reference is wrong.
RP Joe Smith signed multiple years with Angels in nov 2013…for 2014-16 and traded to Cubs in 2016.
Smith wasn’t a starting pitcher.
My bad. The article says “starting pitcher” Blanton.
I was thinking ANY pitcher to a multi year deal.
Carry on…
They were referring to SP’s
The Angels lack of winning over the last 9 years DESPITE having the best player in baseball, suggests their approach to pitching contracts isn’t working.
Problem all these years he signs no names to one year contracts for low salaries every year he should have signed one more great starter like Guzman and signed a great short stop like Story from Colorado keep ingalius Done
Nooooooo! The Mariners do not want Bryant. Albatross contract written all over it. Same with Gausman. It’s simple really for the M’s: Stroman & Semien would be the icing on the cake.
How is Bryant any more risky than Semien? Both getting 5-6 years and $20M-$25M per year. Semien is the one that is coming off an outlier season. Also, Stroman is not a top of rotation pitcher anymore than Gausman is and both will get similar length deals
Semien is coming off an “outlier” season? He was even better in 2019 and has been a 4+ WAR player for years now. I do, however, agree with your general sentiment about giving Bryant or Semien a 5-6 year deal.
Bryant overall better track record, but Semien 2019 and 2021 were outstanding… prob both equal risk at their ages
Semien has been one of the most valuable players by all accounts by the beginning of the 2019 season.
I’d say Bryant is a no go for just about all teams. He going to want minimum 8 years and over 200m. Semien is the one teams are targeting.
Don’t forget his 2020 was awful and even in a shortened year, it still counts… went to a hitting haven in a stacked lineup last year.. agree 2019 and 2021 were tremendous, but 2020 shows that He still has the potential to be below average like he used to be
Stroman is more consistent than Gausman and didn’t see a big decline in performance after umpires started checking pitchers.
Ignorant Sono- if you’re a Mariners fan like me the most important thing to focus on is the fact that at least they are trying to lure one of the top FA hitters to Seattle. Kris Bryant is better than anything ‘in-house’ and there are only so many 3B FA’s available.
After multiple seasons of reclamation projects and bargain bin shopping Kris Bryant would be an upgrade at 3B, the best FA signing since Nellie Cruz in 2014.
Not entirely a good thing. Consider the Cano, Beltre, and Richie Sexton signings. Just because they go after big names and even if they land them it doesn’t immediately make it a good thing. Nice to see? Yeah, maybe, but there are quite a few variables to consider
Arte / Perry / MLB / The World: the strategy of not investing in starting pitching has not worked. Move to Plan B.
Arte, if I have to pay a couple bucks extra for a beer or a hot dog, I’m good. Expand the payroll accordingly. Regards, every living, breathing Angels fan.
Hahaha that’s good stuff there. Keep an eye out for a possible trade with Cincy sending Castillo to Anaheim.
rater trade for sonny gray than castillo.
Guarantee they’re trying to get adell and the angels prob not budging
Problem all these years he signs no names to one year contracts for low salaries every year he should have signed one more great starter like Guzman and signed a great short stop like Story from Colorado keep ingalius Done thats a option for Castillo who’s going to be back up catcher
Perry? Arte, okay, but Perry is the one forcing the issue and drafting and signing pitching.
Anyone wondering why the Angels have failed to be contenders need look no further than the fact that they havent signed a pitcher to more than a one-year contract since 2012, And it doesnt take a genius to determine if that strategy has panned out or not.
Stroman puts west coast beach and ocean photos on his Twitter profile, therefore Stroman to the Angels. It’s Socratic logic
In an effort to leave no doubts about being an absolute disgrace and embarrassment to sports, John Fisher and Billy Beane have decided that nobody will manage the A’s
The Angels, or anyone else, can have a top heavy lineup provided they have a cost controlled pitching staff that they have scouted, drafted and developed. The Angels neglected to act on the second part of the equation until recently – Sandoval, Suarez, Rodriguez, Detmers, Bachman, etc.
Which AL West team is in on Joey Gallo?
Apparently there’s some trade talks happening there
How about Gallo and Sanchez for PTBNL and a bucket of balls?
Come on,big budget!Big Arm starter,3 – 4 bullpen PCs,& SS.
The only way to avoid long term contracts is to build an elite farm system.
@ Manny. Well, there is another way: have a bad farm system and a crappy MLB team and never sign anyone long-term. See SD Padres under Kroc, Moores and Moorad ownership regimes spanning 30 years
So your options are Robbie Ray or Max Scherzer, and you pick Ray?
Christ I hate the Angels front office, so much. So clueless. Good for my A’s but my A’s have zero titles during this time, so I’m more mad Trout goes on as the most underrated superstar of all time because a bunch of idiots dont know how to build a team
Why is Trout not an idiot as well? Trout is the one who signed long term to stay with the Dysfunctional Angels. Trout could of gone back home to sign with Philadelphia and Harper.
Why would Trout want to sign with with the Phillies? He would want to play on a Winner. That isn’t happening in Philly.
@Yep. I said he could of gone back home if he wanted. He’s just wasting away in Anaheim. It’s a good thing MLB has not turned into the NBA yet where stars are in control and dictate destination.
Count on a Yankees fan to get the whole story wrong.
Trout *did* dictate where he was going to spend his future when he signed his extension. He *likes* the fact the local news media ( in Philly/South NJ) isn’t doing long think pieces on the Angels as they do the Phillies. He gets away from the game when he goes back East to visit family and friends in the off-season.
Those who live on East Coast can’t imagine why a top player would elect to play anywhere but in NYC, or somewhere along the Atlantic seaboard at minimum. When the Angels go to the postseason in 2022—and unless there is another health meltdown, they will—then the constant sniping will die down. Trout was allowed into Eppler’s front office and knows the 3-5 year plan. He has likewise been embraced by Minasian for his on the field perspective, and is asked to evaluate and mentor talent. This is very much his team, and unless MLB decides to blow everything up with an extended lockout, the Angels will be on top of the AL next year.
Is this with the pitching on sim or are they going to have a rotation capable of anything you’ve said?
You think 3 teams from the ALW are going to the playoffs? You have your typical built in excuse Dipoto did it. You will be right of course he built a great farm system that is starting to pay off. You will be looking up at the Astros and Ms for a few years then maybe just the Ms. Dipoto is going to be laughing in your dreams for years to come.
Why do you hate Minnassian? He’s doing a very good job so far and changing the culture. And who says they picked Ray over Scherzer? Other than this article? And who says they don’t want them both? Moreno is 73 and worth $4B. He’s the richest man in the entire state of Arizona. The Angels are a big market team with a big TV deal and typically the third best attendance in all of baseball. He can afford to buy whatever he wants– and this year I think he’s going to make a huge splash with premium pitching. Syndergaard was just the beginning.
Hoping the Halos get either – Ray, Scherzer or Stroman to join the top 2 of Shotime and Thor. It will be a huge improvement over the last decade rotations. Then get a closer and SS and we are in business! Let’s do this Perry!
Brought this up in an earlier post…
The Angels use a 6 man rotation.
That’s gotta be a tough sell in some cases…no?
I would guess this limits the Angels opportunities in the starting pitching market.
Made sense for Thor this year, what about mad Max and the others?
Maybe they say no way to the 6 man?
The Angels have offered multi-year contracts. I recall them offering Matt Garza and Gerritt Cole multiple years. They pull the offer from Garza when he didn’t take it, and the Yankees outbid them on Cole.
And they were in on Wheeler, and they went very hard after Patrick Corbin. But this year is different. I don’t think Moreno is messing around– he wants to win.