Trout Otani wanted it so badly but he doesn’t have the first starter to spend 32.5 billion won
Shortly after this season, LA Angels’ Otani Shohei said, “To be honest, it’s hard to expect a playoffs with the current team power,” and flagship hitter Mike Trout asked, “Please catch Max Scherzer.”
It is the mound, especially the starting lineup, that the two superstars representing the Angels desperately want to reinforce their starting lineup.
The Angels have failed to recruit big-name starters in the FA market in the past six years. Jose Quintana, Julio Teheran, Matt Harvey, and Tim Linxcom were brought in on a one-year contract, but all of them failed to meet expectations. Their total ERA for the Angels is 6.62.
The Angels did not do their best until the end even in the competition to recruit Gerrit Cole, the biggest FA player two years ago. Unusually, he recruited infielder Anthony Rendon for seven years, $245 million, and an average annual salary of $35 million. The WAR of the Angels’ starters over the past six years is the second from the bottom of the total 30 teams. This means that he was only eager to reinforce the lineup, but was stingy in investing in the starting lineup.
For this reason, Angels Peri Minacian promised to pay attention to strengthening pitchers in the off-season. Fans also had high expectations. However, the only starting pitcher recruited by the Angels is Noah Syndergaard from the New York Mets, who signed for $21 million a year. He is a pitcher with a question mark on his health, aiming for a comeback after receiving Tommy John’s call.
There were so-called “Big Four” in the FA market, including Scherzer, Robbie Ray, Kevin Gaussman and Marcus Stroman. All of them were only mentioned about the Angels, but they joined hands with other teams. Analysts say the Angels’ “betting power” was weak.
He brought in right-hander Michael Lorenzen from the Cincinnati Reds, but it is hard to say that Alex Cobb, an internal FA, left for the San Francisco Giants and Dylan Bundy to reinforce the starting lineup. However, it is worthwhile to renew his four-year, $58 million contract with closer Racelle Iglesias and recruit Aaron Loop, a top bullpen from the New York Mets, for two years and $17 million.
The Angels’ biggest challenge for the rest of the off-season is to secure the first starter. CBS Sports said of the Angels’ contract with Syndergaard last month, “The Angels’ Payroll confirmed next year is $148.1 million, including Syndergaard, salary adjusters, and players under the third year.” If the owner of Art Moreno tries to spend more, he can increase it to $200 million. In other words, it means that it can target the FA top-class market 안전공원
Since then, next year’s payroll, which has increased by signing three FA pitchers, is about $24.25 million. $27.65 million (about 32.5 billion won) remains until $200 million. It is approximately the salary level of the first starter. However, there is no suitable big starting pitcher in the market. I won’t even look at Clayton Kershaw and Jack Greinke, who are past their prime.
The Angels’ true ace is Jared Weaver, who won 20 wins in 2012 and 18 wins in 2014. The Angels’ most recent postseason was also in 2014. Trout and Ohtani may show disappointment about the club that failed to secure an ace.
