Angels offseason

[kramnoj]

I love roster construction, supply/demand, the whole thing. I've been following baseball for years at bbtf.org and every offseason fans are stunned by deals that players get. I think it's because fans often expect players to get paid similar to what other players have been paid in the past, rather than looking at who is available, what team's needs are, and how much money is available to spend. With that in mind, I'll start a project to look at each team, who they have, who is leaving, how much money they are committed to, and what needs they may have. This is all my speculation based on looking at baseball-reference and Cot's, and I certainly won't pretend to understand each team's needs, so I'm hoping fans will chime in with their own opinions and insights.

Angels
Hunter CF $17.5M
Vlad RF $15M (this is actually a team option, but I think it's a lock that he's back)
Kelvim Escobar SP $9.5M
Matthews OF $10M
Lackey SP $9M (this is another team option, but I have to think he's coming back)
Figgins 3B Arby Guessing $5-6M, have heard he may be super utility
Shields RP $5M
Speier RP $4.75M
Izturis UI Arby Guessing $2M
Quinlan CI Arby He played Corner Positions, is 31 and had an OPS+ of 70. Seems like a non-tender to me.
Morales 1B Split Deal (Most would be $.6M)
Weaver SP Pre-Arby $.5M or so
Kendrick 2B Pre-Arby $.5M or so
Willits 1B/RF bench Pre-Arby $.5M or so
Napoli C Pre-Arby $.5M or so
Saunders SP Pre-Arby $.5M or so
Santana SP Arby $4-6M?
Aybar SS Pre-Arby $.5M or so
Mathis C Pre-Arby $.5 or so

So I count around $86M to 19 players.

Needs: 1B, Closer

Other players who may be in the picture: Brandon Wood, SS. Matthew Brown 3B/1B.

Opening Day Payroll was over $119M. If they kept payroll the same, they would have about $33M to spend. Texeira is likely to get $20-25M and Rodriguez is likely to get $14-15M. If the Angels upped payroll, they may be able to retain both. Or they may let both go and look for other options.

[trwi7]

I think they'll re-sign, or at least try to re-sign Teixeira. What I would like to see them do at closer is let Rodriguez walk and use Jose Arredondo there, perhaps signing another reliever (maybe Juan Cruz?) to help bridge the gap and make their 7th-8th-9th Shields/Cruz/Arredondo.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

This team is just loaded with pitching with Lackey, Saunders, Santana, Weaver and Escobar. This would be the perfect team to trade with and try to pry away a guy like Nick Adenhart or one of their other top pitching prospects and flaunt them Prince if they lose Texiera.