Part 4: Angels in the Offseason: Addressing the Lineup

According to Cot’s baseball contracts the Angels have 151MM committed to this years payroll, with only 87.5MM committed to next years squad. The team’s payroll has risen just about every year and this offseason Arte Moreno has shown that he will spend lots of money to contend. Last offseason ownership said they could spend around 15MM…they went on to spend around 30MM, so with that and the new TV deal (which is worth 3 billion over 20 years), no one but the front office is really sure how much they can actually spend.

The team needs upgrades everywhere except the starting lineup, this would leave the rotation, bench and bullpen for upgrades. . In the last article I addressed the Angels need in improving their bullpen, now I will focus on the starting lineup. As I said before the lineup doesn’t need upgrades and what I mean by that is not much tampering is really needed.

The new lineup has more speed and power, with Chavez/Baker replacing Callaspo and Bourjos being in both lineups.  The one, three, and nine spots are a given being Trout, Pujols, and Iannetta. Aybar was supposed to be the leadoff batter for years to come but that never came into fruition. Aybar can easily be flip-flopped with Kendrick in the two spot, whom I believe will have a bounce back year next year. Debating on whether to put Trumbo or Morales in the cleanup spot was a hard choice for me because it takes two years for Morales to recover from his injury and starting the 2013 season he will be fully recovered. However, Trumbo has greatly improved from last year:

2011: .254/.291/.477 29 HR, 87 RBI, 31 2B, 25 BB’s, 120 K’s (149 games) 

2012: .287/.340/.559 29 HR, 74 RBI, 16 2B, 29 BB’s, 101 K’s (106 games)

Morales when fully healthy:

2010: .306/.355/.569 34 HR 108 RBI, 43 2B, 46 BB’s, 116 K’s (152 games)  

So to think Trumbo will keep improving (and possibly reach Morales’ numbers) are a pretty good bet, which is why I give him the cleanup spot. As for the sixth spot the new 3B get to protect Morales rather than Callaspo. As I pointed out in the piece about improving the bench, Chavez and Baker have considerably higher slugging percentages than Callaspo which is needed in a 3B and for protecting Morales in the lineup. As for the seventh and eighth spots, it makes more sense for Kendrick to hit ahead Bourjos, because with Bourjos’ speed and Iannetta’s great on-base percentage it creates a great bottom-of-the-order table setter for Mike Trout. So this is the final piece to this series, final payroll is: 

Money committed to 2013: 87.5MM (not counting the pre-arbitration eligible players) 

Arbitration: ~5.7MM

Additions to bench: 6.5MM

Buyouts: 1MM (Haren has a 3.5MM buyout) 

Options: 5MM (Haren has a 15.5MM option) 

Additions to rotation: 5MM (Greinke would be 18MM in potential cost) 

Additions to bullpen:  12MM  

Total money spent: w/o Haren: 56.7MM  w/Haren: 50.7MM  

Payroll: w/o Haren: 144.2 MM w/Haren: 138.2MM  

Spending 50+MM in an offseason is a lot of money but it addresses all the team’s needs in the bullpen, rotation, and bench. As I’ve said in every opening to this series, nobody except the front office knows how much they will spend in the offseason. Also, this payroll is actually less than 2012’s payroll.