Complete Offseason Guide, Predictions for the Los Angeles Angels
While the Los Angeles Angels' collapse didn't last two-plus months like the one that crippled the Oakland A's did, the end result is the same: Both AL West powers are out of the playoff picture courtesy of the upstart Kansas City Royals.
Los Angeles' offense, which led baseball with 773 runs scored during the regular season, mustered only six runs against the Royals pitching staff, with the Royals outscoring the American League's No. 1 seed by nine runs in the American League Division Series.
After such a disappointing showing, changes are going to have to be made. But it's unlikely to be in the lineup, with all of the team's current starting position players still under contract for at least another year. On the mound, well, that's another story.
Let's take a look at what's in store for the Angels as the long wait until they can seek redemption next spring begins.
Payroll Breakdown
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Including a $500,000 buyout on reliever Sean Burnett's contract and a $1 million payment due to Joe Blanton, whom the team released in March, Los Angeles heads into the offseason with roughly $122 million committed to nine players.
Gone from the books are the burdensome payments due to former outfielder Vernon Wells, who cost the Angels $18 million in 2014 despite spending the entire year as a free agent.
Coming off of a season that saw a franchise-record $154.5 million Opening Day payroll and with the team's early exit from the playoffs, you'd think that owner Arte Moreno would be against spending even more than he already has, as it could bring the team close to the luxury tax threshold.
But as he told MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez before the season started, he's never said that he wanted to avoid the luxury tax:
"The reality is we have an operating budget, and the operating budget is below the threshold. What we try not to do is try to go negative. Long-term, it just doesn't work to be in the red financially.
Let's just say we come out of the box good. It's a long season. We come out of the box, and we get to the break and there's somebody available, then what you have to do is try to do the best you can to get somebody in here.
People keep saying that we're bringing in players and it's crippled us in the market. It hasn't crippled us. We have no debt on our team, we aren't losing money. We made some money last year. We really would make some money if we could figure out a way to make the playoffs.
"
It's fair to assume that if that was Moreno's stance before his team posted baseball's best regular-season record and still fell short in the playoffs that he'd have the same stance heading into the winter.
That could open up all sorts of possibilities for the club in free agency.
Arbitration-Eligible Players
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Unlike the vast majority of teams in baseball, the Angels aren't faced with a number of key players due significant raises through the arbitration process. Really, the argument could be made that, aside from Garrett Richards, everyone else on this list is replaceable.
On the table below, projected salaries are loosely based on what the player listed for comparison received, either as a one-year deal or through the arbitration process at similar points in the players' careers. You can find the exact figures for those players by clicking on the links included.
| Brennan Boesch | OF | $800,000 | Non-tender Candidate | N/A |
| Tony Campana | OF | $509,500 | $700,000 | Jarrod Dyson |
| Hank Conger | C | $517,500 | $700,000 | Lou Marson |
| Collin Cowgill | OF | $506,000 | $800,000 | Chris Denorfia |
| Wade LeBlanc | SP/RP | $500,000* | Non-tender Candidate | N/A |
| Vinnie Pestano | RP | $975,000 | $1,450,000 | Shawn Kelley |
| Garrett Richards | SP | $520,000 | $2,350,000 | Ross Detwiler |
| Fernando Salas | RP | $870,000 | $1,500,000 | Jerry Blevins |
| Hector Santiago | SP | $530,000 | $850,000 | Franklin Morales |
| Totals | $5,228,000 | $8,350,000 |
It's hard to see a scenario, even with a long-term extension for Richards, where the cost of retaining all of these players would exceed more than the roughly $3 million projected.
Working out a long-term deal with Richards should be the team's priority among the players in this group. His season-ending injury was freak of nature, a torn knee tendon suffered when he tried to cover first base.
That it wasn't an arm injury gives us no reason to expect that he won't be able to pick up where he left off in 2014.
*Cot's Contracts did not have salary information for LeBlanc available; $500,000 figure courtesy of Spotrac.
Players with Options and Los Angeles' Free Agents
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As was the case with the team's arbitration-eligible players, the list of Los Angeles' own free agents consists of one key piece—Huston Street—and a bunch of secondary pieces.
| John Buck | C | $1,000,000 | |
| Sean Burnett | RP | $3,875,000 | $4.5M team option, $500K buyout |
| Jason Grilli | RP | $4,250,000 | |
| John McDonald | IF | $850,000 | |
| Huston Street | RP | $7,000,000 | $7M team option |
| Joe Thatcher | RP | $2,375,000 |
There's no chance the Angels won't exercise the $7 million option they hold on Street, whose arrival solidified the back end of the bullpen, which quickly became one of the team's strengths. Trying to work out a multiyear extension with Street, 31, makes a lot of sense for the club.
So does bringing back Jason Grilli on a one-year deal. The former All-Star closer, acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates about a month before Street arrived, has, along with Street and Joe Smith, comprised the veteran core of the team's relief corps.
Sean Burnett was supposed to be a part of that core, but a pair of season-ending elbow surgeries has limited him to 10.2 forgettable innings since signing with the Angels before the 2013 season. The team will gladly pay a $500,000 fee to end that relationship.
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Potential Free-Agent Targets
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Needing to bolster the rotation with another veteran arm is about as close to a glaring hole as the Angels have heading into the offseason. Does general manager Jerry Dipoto look to add a front-of-the-rotation arm, pushing everyone back a spot, look to bolster the back end of the group or something in between?
The good news for the Angels is that there's no shortage of potential candidates on the free-agent market that could fill any of those roles. Here are four names we can expect the Angels to be linked to when free agency begins.
- Jon Lester, SP: One of the game's premier left-handed starters, Lester would give the Angels a reliable southpaw in the rotation, something that neither Hector Santiago nor C.J. Wilson appears to be at this point in his career.
- Hiroki Kuroda, SP: While he may wind up going back to Japan to finish his career, Kuroda's family lives in California, and he began his career across town with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He'd be a mid-rotation arm who comes on a short-term one-year deal.
- Kenta Maeda, SP: The "next big thing" to arrive from Japan, some believe that a six-year, $130 million deal awaits the 26-year-old once he's posted. But as The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo notes, that's all speculation. Per Baseball America's Ben Badler, Maeda profiles as a No. 4 starter on an MLB roster. MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez reported earlier this month that the team has scouted him.
- James Shields, SP: While he's pegged as one of the Big Three along with Lester and Max Scherzer, Shields is probably a notch below those two. A consistent innings-eater and California native, he would serve as the team's co-ace or No. 2 starter.
Potential Trade Targets
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While the Angels have the ability to contend with any team in pursuit of a free-agent addition, the team could look to use its spending power on the trade market, taking back someone with a high salary in exchange for a lesser package of prospects.
The team's chances of making a deal for a huge name are slim, given the rather barren state of its farm system.
- Bartolo Colon, SP, New York Mets: It would be a reunion between the Angels and Colon, who won the 2005 AL Cy Young Award while wearing the team's uniform. With a plethora of pitching, the Mets figure to be shopping him this winter. While his age (41) is a concern, he's coming off his first 200-inning season since that Cy Young Award-winning season and only has one more year left on his deal. Among pitchers who have made at least five starts at Angel Stadium since 2011, Colon's 3.51 ERA ranks ninth.
- Edwin Jackson, SP, Chicago Cubs: The Angels are one of the few teams that wouldn't necessarily require Chicago to pick up nearly all of the $22 million that's left on his deal, which runs through 2016, but they wouldn't offer anything of value in return, either. The 12-year veteran has been a serviceable starter up until this season, when he pitched to a 6.33 ERA and 1.64 WHIP.
- Mat Latos, SP, Cincinnati Reds: Cincinnati has only one starter (Homer Bailey) signed after 2015, so it stands to reason that some members of the current staff could be shopped for younger talent with more team control. Latos, 26, is expected to command a $100 million-plus deal when he reaches free agency after 2015, something the Angels could afford to give him before he hits the open market.
Unless otherwise noted/linked, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs; All payroll and salary information courtesy of Cot's Contracts. All player comparisons link to Baseball Prospectus.
Want to talk Angels' offseason plans or anything baseball related? Hit me up on Twitter: @RickWeinerBR
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