The LA Angels sign Gio Gonzalez & Yusei Kikuchi in MOCK GM Simulation, Real Angels Should Too.

Your Halo Hangout Staff took part in a Mock GM Simulation with the other FanSided MLB Sites.  We had a chance to make trades or free agent signings of players who are on the market.

Acting as the LA Angels MOCK GM we pursued pitching since this is what the Angels need most desperately this off-season.  We also considered the Angels budget of about 30 million dollars they have to play with.  We made bids on Patrick Corbin, Gio Gonzalez, and Yusei Kikuchi.

Corbin is a pitcher that many have suggested the Angels go after and since he was originally drafted by the Angels many think he would be a great fit.  However, Corbin’s price tag might put the Angels out of the running quickly unless Arte Moreno wants to break the bank a little.  His market value according to Sportstrac.com is close to 21 million dollars per year which could be inflated by a desperate team trying to make an impact signing.  In our mock GM simulation Corbin was signed for five years and $150 million dollars. Which we thought was too much to spend.

So far all the real Angels have done is make a trade for a left-handed pitcher from the Marlins who probably won’t help the team much, named Dillon Peters.  Peters has a 3-4 career record with a 6.10 ERA.  I don’t think Peters is the solution to the Angels pitching woes.

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Gio Gonzalez on the other hand is an experience left-hander that could be a great fit for the Angels and would not break the bank.  Gonzalez made 12 million dollars last season and could probably expect to get a contract similar to this in free agency.  Gonzalez is 33 years old, but a three-year contract for somewhere around $40 million would be a good deal if the Angels could get him.

We as the Angels Mock GM’s made an offer for Gonzalez and it was accepted. We were able to sign Gonzalez for two years and 22 million dollars.

Gonzalez has a career record of 127-97 with a 3.69 ERA and has shown to be a clutch pitcher. Gonzalez went 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA down the stretch for the Brewers last season after being traded from the Nationals.

The other pitchers we decided to pursue included Raisel Iglesias who has been a star closer for the Cincinnati Reds saving 58 games over the past two seasons with a 2.38 ERA and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings. We were in the running until the last hour of the simulation when we were outbid by four million dollars (our bid was 2 years 18 million and the winning bid was 2 years 22 million).

The final pitcher we pursued in the simulation is a Japanese star pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.  While Kikuchi may not be Shohei Ohtani he still has been impressive in eight seasons in going 74-48 record and a 3.22 ERA with a 1.177 WHIP and 925 strikeouts in 1,035.1 Innings.  He is also only 27 years old so he could be a guy that is going into his prime seasons upon reaching the U.S.  In our MOCK simulation we were the winning bid for him with a 5-year 60 million dollar contract.

If the Angels in real-life could get two pitchers like this in the off-season that could thrust them into playoff contention in 2019.  We don’t know the contract negotiations and all that goes into signing a free agent, but these two moves could be really good for the Angels.  We will have to see what the real Angels GM Billy Eppler has up his sleeve this off-season.  I do trust he will do everything he can to help make the Angels a championship team.