With the trade deadline fast approaching, the writers at MWAH thought we’d all get together and do a roundtable of the trades we would like to see happen and call it our Angels Trade Wishlist. This was going to be one piece, but apparently we are all so amped for the deadline that each and every one of us wrote way too much, so instead, we’re unveiling one fantasy trade proposal each day. Keep in mind, these are just the trades our individual writer wants to see, so it doesn’t necessarily mean it is an existing rumor out there.
Everybody in the baseball world knows that the Angels are in desperate need of offensive production in left field. This doesn’t help them at the bargaining table. Potential solutions like Jay Bruce, Justin Upton, or Andre Ethier are prohibitively expensive to begin with, but adding the club’s desperation on top of that—not to mention the owner’s predilection for impulse purchases—makes the odds of their getting a fair price for a left fielder incredibly slim. Instead of walking into negotiations they’re sure to be on the losing end of, I think it makes much more sense for the Angels to patch the roster elsewhere and hope it does enough to render their left-field issues inconsequential.
The way I see it, every team can afford to have replacement-level production (or worse) from one position so long as the other positions are average or better. If the team can plug another hole on the roster at a lesser cost, why not do that instead?
Carlos Pérez has been solid for the Halos defensively, but since his first week in Anaheim his slash line has leaked like a sieve. Entering the All-Star break, Pérez was hitting .226/.250/.313 with just four walks to 23 strikeouts. Those kind of numbers would be palatable if Chris Iannetta was still batting with a blindfold on, but Iannetta’s .252/.367/.430 line since May 10 combined with his (surprise!) elite pitch-framing numbers make each subsequent Pérez start harder to justify. He is undoubtedly better at gunning down runners than Iannetta but, for the moment at least, he trails in everything else. If Pérez batted lefty or had a history of reverse platoon splits, there wouldn’t be a problem. But he doesn’t, so there is.
The obvious answer, I think, is to acquire a lefty-hitting catcher to take over second-string duty, Hank Conger-style. There aren’t many left-handed hitting backstops out there to begin with, but there are a few, at least one of whom might be available: Alex Avila.
Avila is just three months from free agency, is on the rebound from a knee injury, and is on the verge of being supplanted on the depth chart by the younger, cheaper James McCann. In other words, his price on the trading block should be pretty low. The Tigers can still get value out of Avila as a platoon partner for McCann down the stretch, but he might be more useful for them as a means to acquire the pitching help they desperately need.
This year’s Tigers bullpen hasn’t seemed quite the dumpster fire of recent vintage, but that may be only because of how awful their rotation has been relative to the ‘pen. Eight different pitchers have made at least two starts for Detroit this year, and all but David Price have a 4.34 ERA or higher. As a unit, the Tigers’ non-Price starters own a cringe-worthy 5.13 ERA in 405 ⅔ innings. If not for the Triple-A team in Philadelphia, that’d be far and away the worst mark in baseball.
Enter José Álvarez.
The Tigers are steeped in win-now mode more than just about any other club thanks to the big contracts handed to aging vets Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, and Justin Verlander, which were spurred at least somewhat by 85-year-old owner Mike Ilitch’s desire to win a championship before his health fails him. I don’t think anyone could be fooled to think Álvarez is the lone piece Detroit needs to make a playoff push, but he’d at least fare better in the rotation than Shane Greene (6.32 ERA), Buck Farmer (9.22 ERA), et al. have thus far. Detroit is already intimately familiar with what the left-hander brings to the table thanks to his year-plus in the organization, so even if GM Dave Dombrowski is wary of acquiring another fringe arm after the Ian Krol, Robbie Ray, and Shane Greene debacles, he knows exactly what he’s getting here. Álvarez might need some stretching out at Triple-A, though that shouldn’t take long given how new he still is to relief work.
At best, Detroit gets a cheap back-end starter with five more years of team control who maybe stops some of the bleeding this season and helps them snag a wild card berth. At worst, Álvarez slots into the same bullpen role he’s had with the Angels and gives the Tigers the freedom to finally leave Ian Krol (6.75 ERA) by the side of the road somewhere.
(And if Detriot feels that Álvarez alone isn’t enough for two-plus months of Avila, the Halos can always sweeten the pot with Cam Bedrosian. Lord knows Dombrowski loves himself some hard-throwing righties.)
For the Angels, the addition of Avila and his career .255/.360/.431 slash line vs. RHPs not only gives the club a solid offensive platoon option down the stretch at both catcher and designated hitter, it also makes the roster immediately stronger without disrupting any future plans. The ~$2.5 million he’s owed the rest of the season is chump change (relatively), and club can simply let him (and Iannetta) walk at the end of the year to continue on with Carlos Pérez, Jett Bandy, and/or whomever else they have in mind for 2016.
The departure of Álvarez (and maybe Bedrosian) hurts the team’s bullpen depth a little, but he might have been on his way back to Triple-A anyways with Matt Shoemaker potentially moving to a long-man role. The move also opens the door for young, promising southpaws like Chris O’Grady and Greg Mahle to make an impact down the stretch, should the Halos decide they still want to carry a pair of lefties in the ‘pen.
Honorable Mention: Brayan Peña
The Reds’ Peña is equally close to free agency and probably even more available than Avila, but man do I not trust his first-half numbers at all. A guy doesn’t just start walking more than he strikes out after 10 seasons of being a below-average offensive player without something fluky going on. Maybe he keeps the good times rolling through the end of the year, but I’d rather take my chances on the guy whose OBP isn’t suddenly 50 points above his career norm. Count on the Mariners to acquire Peña and for him to then tank spectacularly.
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