Everyone knows the Angels are looking to trade an infielder this winter. They are said to be open to trading David Freese. They’d be grateful if someone gave them anything of value for Gordon Beckham. They’d be willing to let C.J. Cron go in the right deal. They can’t stop telling reporters that Howie Kendrick is on the block. The one guy that doesn’t appear to be available is probably the one guy that would be their best trade chip, Erick Aybar.
Right now, the Hot Stove League is burning up with rumors of teams desperately trying to find a quality starting shortstop. The Yankees, Mets, A’s, Tigers and Dodgers are all teams with big aspirations and a big need at shortstop. This has them collectively working to pry Troy Tulowitzki loose from the wrong-headed Rockies, considering taking on the rest of Elvis Andrus‘ albatross contract, trying to convince Jimmy Rollins to waive his no-trade clause and convince themselves that that is a good idea and talking themselves into Alexei Ramirez as a viable option. There is a market here that could really use some exploiting.
Enter Aybar, a player on par or better than Andrus, Rollins and Ramirez but with a more manageable contract than them all with just two years and $17 million left. Troy Tulowitzki is miles better, but also incredibly injury prone and owed $118 million through the 2021 season, which is kind of a problem for a lot of clubs. If the Halos were to put Aybar on the block, they’d be fending off advances from suitors like a Playboy centerfold that just joined Tinder. He’d be the most direct path to Jerry Dipoto getting his hands on that controllable young talent that he’s been pining for.
Ah, yes, there is a rub. By trading Aybar, they themselves end up joining the ranks of contenders in desperate need of a shortstop. The team likes to pretend like Gordon Beckham and Grant Green can play shortstop, but it is hard to imagine them actually buying their own line of that particular straing of bullshit on a full-time basis. The best option they have in the minors is Eric Stamets, his stellar glove and (thus far) sad excuse for a bat. Those options are…. what’s the word? Oh, right, awful.
The external options aren’t all that much better. They don’t have the assets to make a meaningful trade for a quality shortstop. Out of the free agent options, Hanley Ramirez and Jed Lowrie have the bats, but not the gloves. Stephen Drew has the glove but not the bat. There is the wild card of Korean slugger Jung-Ho Kang, but the prevailing opinion of him is that his bat may not translate to MLB and his glove might translate even worse. Also floating around is Asdrubal Cabrera, who isn’t really a shortstop but he has played one on TV before.
What might make sense for the Halos is to start playing the shortstop shell game, which is a dangerous game to play since it messes with your trade leverage. By that I mean they could trade Aybar then trade for another shortstop, or vice versa. Either way, the timing element is crucial. Finding the right trade target shouldn’t be too hard though, it just means playing in the lower tiers of the market, away from the prying eyes of the same teams that they would hypothetically ship Aybar too. The ideal target would be Tampa’s Yunel Escobar, who had rated quite well defensively until last season. It would be a risk to the team chemistry since Escobar has a bit of a reputation, but it would also be a nice value pick up. Or they could go after Didi Gregorius or Chris Owings to help the D’Backs clear their particular roster logjam.
I don’t know that I’d necessarily endorse that route since trading for someone like Escobar eats into the profit gained from trading Aybar in a seller’s market. In fact, I almost certainly wouldn’t. Still, Dipoto would be doing himself a disservice if he didn’t at least make some calls to see if there is anyone willing to massively overpay for Aybar.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
