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Angels Offseason Chat
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Darragh McDonald
5:00
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Angels chat. Let's do it.
Areas of Need
5:00
It would be interesting to hold a poll and have people rank (if possible) the top needs of the Angels.  I seem them as:
1) Bullpen - (If you want to be specific, set-up men over closer as our starters tend not to go over 6 innings)
2) Infield - (1st base, and quality utility depth, assuming Rengifo and Fletcher are healthy)
3) Starting pitching - (Yes, Ohtani, Sandoval, and Detmers are solid, but Suarez is nice, not steller.)
Darragh McDonald
5:00
I've never made a poll in one of these chats before. But it would be a good place to start, so let's see if I can figure it out.
5:01
What is the Angels' greatest area of need?
Bullpen (33% | 119 votes)
 
Infield (34.3% | 124 votes)
 
Rotation (32.7% | 118 votes)
 
Total Votes: 361
Booyah.
5:02
One sec. Let me update the Schumaker post since the Marlins just made it official.
5:08
Okay, sorry about that. Looks like a fairly even split on the poll.
Trevor
5:08
Who do you think the most likely player the angels add this winter?
Darragh McDonald
5:09
I think it's very tough to say until the ownership situation is resolved.
5:10
My guess is that Moreno won't want to make a huge splash just before selling the team, but that's just a guess.
Whoever the next owner is
5:10
Is there a chance the Angels actually increase spending this offseason, in spite of the team’s likely sale? Seems like the perfect Arte Moreno vanity project to go all in and attempt to win it all one more time before he’s out.
Darragh McDonald
5:10
My guess would be that the franchise is more attractive to a potential buyer with more wiggle room for them to enact their own plans.
5:11
If the new owner wants to spend a huge pile of money on Trea Turner, they can do that themselves.
Real trade
5:11
What are a few "realistic" packages teams might put together for Ohtani.  The Soto bar seems pretty high to clear just in terms of competitive teams actually having that many near MLB prospects with ceiling.
Darragh McDonald
5:12
Ohtani is probably the player whose trade value is the most difficult to quantify because there's no one like him.
5:13
That being said, I think it's too late to get a Soto-sized package at this point. The Padres were trading for 2.5 seasons of Soto, whereas Ohtani just has one year of club control remaining.
Kevin
5:14
It seems like this is a "do or die" year for the Angels in regards to Ohtani.  If they convincingly making the playoffs, do you think they have a real shot at retaining Ohtani?  And are they really just a few steps away from making that happen?  They appear top-heavy and barren beyond their superstars.  Does a SS and a few quality pitchers actually give them a shot?
Darragh McDonald
5:14
Ohtani hasn't said much about his future preferences, other than an obvious desire to win.
5:15
For the Angels, making the playoffs would certainly help. But I doubt one good season would make him take some kind of huge discount. He'll still need to be paid.
Chris H.
5:16
I still like our core, but 2022 clearly showed that infield depth is non-existent.  As much as we need to add another solid SP (Bassitt and/or Eflin please) no one in the organization is ready to step up at 1st, or replace Rengifo, Fletcher, Rendon for any length of time to cover injuries, though Soto seems close.  Is a Drury or Bogaerts addition realistic to wish for?
Darragh McDonald
5:16
Personally, I'm skeptical the Halos will be making huge splashes this winter. I really hope I'm wrong though, because I desperately want to see Trout and Ohtani in the playoffs.
Not an Angels fan
5:17
With all of his injuries and missed time over the past few years, how much money would the Angels have to eat of his contract to get something of value back in a Trout trade? Or would they be interested in just offloading that contract for a couple of lottery tickets?
Darragh McDonald
5:17
If Trout is getting traded, that means something terrible has happened.
Chris H.
5:17
I am just about done hoping for Adell to become a lock in our outfield. Who is our next best farm system help? Adams/ Moniak?  Could a Nimmo or Benintendi acquisition happen financially?
Darragh McDonald
5:18
I think adding another outfielder makes sense. I doubt it will be Nimmo, though. He can certainly play the corners, but someone is going to pay him big money to be a center fielder.
Angels
5:18
Why are they wasting time with an interim manager? Rangers just smashed it with Bruce Bochy. Are they entering tank and trading stars time?
Darragh McDonald
5:19
I think the Nevin thing is just a wait-and-see move while they figure out what's going on with the sale.
It would have been hard to convince someone like Bochy to join the Angels when it's possible that some new owner will come in and immediately start a rebuild, like what happened to the Marlins.
5:20
I'm not saying that scenario is likely, to be clear, just that the Angels have no long-term certainty at the moment.
Chris H.
5:20
I could see bringing back a Lorenzen and Syndergaard.  Would you?
Darragh McDonald
5:21
Sure, those seem plausible. The rotation seems to be in decent shape, but they could still use an arm or two for the backend.
David
5:22
Is Nevin essentially guaranteed to keep his job for the full 2023 season no matter how the team performs?
Darragh McDonald
5:22
I don't know about guaranteed. There's got to be some kind of breaking point.
Trying to be realistic
5:23
I seem to be in the minority, but I really think 1st base is our biggest hole.  Walsh digressed considerably, and even in 2021, always seemed like a platoon guy.  Not sure if Thaiss is the answer there, maybe catcher until O'Hoppe is ready, but  I would love to see someone like Drury, Walker or Bell there. Not sure what a trade or FA contract would look like though.
Darragh McDonald
5:24
That's a fair point. Walsh was injured for 2022, which gives him an excuse for being bad. But that doesn't mean he'll bounce right back in 2023.
Brent Hermanson
5:24
With the team sale pending, do you see any trades, signings happening?
Darragh McDonald
5:25
My assumption is that things will stay on the modest side until there's more clarity on the sale.
As we saw with Juan Soto, players have a say in this as well. You can put a pile of money in front of them but they don't have to say yes if they don't want to be there.
JNP
5:25
If you were in Moreno's Shoe, which approach would you take for your most likely final season owning the team.  Go down swinging or conservative to make it more attractive for future buyer and fill your own pockets.
Darragh McDonald
5:26
If I was very rich, I would probably run my baseball team very poorly from a financial point of view.
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