Minasian making moves
Syndergaard, Loup signings just the start of Angels’ spending as they look to further bolster pitching.
The Angels haven’t waited long to make major moves this offseason.
After signing starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard last week, the team bolstered its bullpen with the addition of reliever Aaron Loup on Monday on a twoyear, $17-million contract, making the Angels one of baseball’s most active clubs so far this winter.
“I’m aggressive by nature, to a certain extent,” general manager Perry Minasian said during a Tuesday video call with reporters.
“We’ve probably been one of the more aggressive teams early on.”
As a result, the Angels have two notable new pieces, and also some intriguing questions to answer as the rest of the offseason progresses.
In the wake of Loup’s signing, here are three takeaways about where the Angels stand.
Payroll keeps rising
With the signings of Loup and Syndergaard, the Angels have about $159 million committed for next season (including estimates for arbitration and prearbitration players, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts).
While last year’s payroll was about $182 million, the largest in club history, conventional wisdom would suggest that the Angels might need to exceed that total in order to accomplish the rest of their offseason goals — which include resigning free-agent closer Raisel Iglesias (or paying for a potential replacement if he goes elsewhere) and adding, as Minasian put it, more “impactful” arms and “depth” to the pitching staff.
Another starter seems like the most obvious need.
Big names such as Max Scherzer, Robbie Ray, Kevin Gausman and Marcus Stroman all remain available. So do some less expensive options, including Steven Matz, whom the Angels have been linked to in recent media reports.
Yet, when asked whether it’s safe to assume the Angels’ payroll will increase next season, Minasian remained noncommittal, reiterating the standard answer he’s given this offseason.
“Again, it sounds like a broken record,” he said, before adding, “but we have an ownership group that wants to compete and wants to win. I would not rule anything out.”
So far, that’s been true. The Angels gave Syndergaard the highest singleseason salary for a pitcher in franchise history, then handed Loup their first multiyear contract to a freeagent pitcher since 2013.
But as the budget gets tighter and more expensive potential pitching targets begin to field their final offers, the team will have to decide how far it’s willing to go in its bid to build a contender this winter and whether that means setting a new clubrecord payroll mark next year.
Loup set for high-leverage role
Minasian didn’t specify
exactly how the Angels might deploy Loup, who last season led big league relievers with an 0.95 earned-run average, but confirmed the left-hander will be in plenty of “high-leverage, big spots” out of the Angels bullpen.
“Aaron can do a lot of different things,” Minasian said.
“He’s one of those guys that has no ego. He’ll pitch in the sixth, he’ll pitch in the eighth, he’ll pitch in the third if you want him to.
“I think it gives Joe [Maddon, Angels manager] the ability to use a really productive piece in big moments of games.”
Loup’s biggest strengths, Minasian said, are his ability to limit hard contact (last year, he ranked above the league average in average exit velocity against and hard hit percentage, and gave up only one home run in 65 appearances) and retire batters on either side of the plate (he’s better against left-handers, but righthanded hitters last year still batted only .211 with a .547 on-base-plus-slugging percentage).
He will headline a middle relief group that also likely will feature several returning options, whom Minasian highlighted Tuesday, including José Quijada, Austin Warren, Andrew Wantz, Jimmy Herget and Mike Mayers.
The Angels might not be done adding relievers either, with Minasian noting that the team will continue to “try to add to this bullpen.”
He added: “Your bullpen is an everyday player. Very rarely do you not see it perform on an everyday basis. So that’s an area where we’d like to be as strong as we can be. We’ll continue to look to add quality arms.”
Options at closer
The Angels still are trying to prevent the loss of an important bullpen piece too.
Minasian made it clear once again that re-signing Iglesias is a priority, and that the club remains in contact with the right-hander’s representatives.
“[Signing Loup] does not preclude us from Raisel in any means,” Minasian said.
Iglesias is considered the top free-agent reliever on the market, putting him in line for a multiyear contract potentially worth around $15 million annually.
After Iglesias racked up 34 saves last year with a 2.57 ERA, the Angels could face a lot of competition to bring him back to Anaheim.
And in the event Iglesias doesn’t come back, it will leave the team with a big hole to fill at the back end of its bullpen.
Minasian didn’t reveal much about potential fallback plans for a closer.
While Loup, who has only six career saves, wasn’t signed to be the Angels’ closer, Minasian said he could be one backup option. The GM noted the team could explore other available alternatives as well, if needed.
“Do I believe Aaron Loup, if given the opportunity, could perform in the ninth inning? Yes,” Minasian said.
“I think he throws strikes, I think he keeps the ball in the ballpark, I think he has an ability to put the ball on the ground. There’s a lot of things there that translate to getting outs late in games.
“But with that being said, Raisel is a guy we really like, we would love to bring back.
“And there’s obviously other options out there that have had more experience closing that we’ll take a look at.”