If Thor can get 1 year $21mil coming off TJ I think Verlander is lined up to do even better. 1 year $25mil could be in play, something like that.
That's a weird deal for Anaheim, but I guess they think they're close enough that he could get them over the top. Even with a dream 2 way season from Ohtani, they still only had a 73 win projection. If they add another arm they may be close, but even taking a full season of Trout into the equation, I still don't think they're a 90 win team. That franchise need to make an effort to improve secondary talent, instead they just try to swing for the fences.
My friend, a high-level person in Marketing at Comcast, has work connections to people at MLB Network and went to two World Series games with them. His wife knows Whitney Crane because she has been a customer at her small business, and Crane gave them tickets to a third World Series game this year. In Mid October, he told me this story was absolutely true. He also shared that it was Correa who spoke to Crane on behalf of the team.
It’s a weird deal for the Angels because they need stability in their rotation, not another huge risk. I’m surprised they aren’t trying to make Scherzer an offer he can’t refuse.
Thor is a good signing for them as long as it’s not their only one. They need another quality arm that carries lower risk, along with at least 1 proven late inning reliever and one of the 6 star-level SS. If they follow the pattern of ineptitude they have the last decade, they will sign another injury prone SP and nothing else. We’ll see. If I were the Angels’ GM I would target Grienke, Baez, Raley, and Melancon.
Bold prediction: Starling Marte and Kevin Gausman will combine for more fwar next season than Carlos Correa and Justin Verlander.
I'm thinking the Angels sign a guy like Ray in FA or trade for somebody like Castillo/Nola. Healthy Thor/Ohtani Ray Canning This is a good rotation. I dont know much about their bullpen But I healthy lineup of Fletcher Ohtani Trout Rendon Upton Walsh Stassi Very dangerous team
Hard to see Houston winning a bidding war for any player who expects to command a large ($50M+) contract. If Houston doesn’t sign any of Verlander, Correa, or Marte it will be extremely interesting to see how they end up spending their money. If you have big money but bail on all the players commanding big money (and don’t have a large number of holes to fill), hard to chart a path forward.
Angels sure do love injury prone guys don't they? Maybe between Thor and Ohtani combined they will get a full seasons worth of starts...
At that point, you don’t really have big money. You only have money for trade deadline acquisitions and homegrown player extensions. Still important and more dependent on whether the team is a contender, but not the same. Reminds me of the people who can never bring themselves to pay retail or market price for certain items. They will only buy things if on sale or at a discount. They can afford to pay full price… they just can’t do it.
At the time of the trade, he had spent his entire 11-12 year career with the Tigers, had gotten to know the owners and FO very well, loved the fanbase, and felt awful that he hadn't delivered them a title by that point. How can anyone dog him for hesitating on a trade in that moment?? Especially when it sounds like things moved very, very quickly. Oh, and let's not forget Houston had literally just been ravaged by Harvey, and he wasn't even sure what state the city was in. It took one conversation with Dallas Keuchel to convince him that this was the right move. It's not like he hemmed and hawed for weeks. He just wanted to make extra certain that this was the correct move in that juncture of his career.
