Best rotation options for LA Angels

In recent days the LA Angels have been linked to a few pitchers.  J.A. Happ, Nathan Eovaldi, and Patrick Corbin have all been said to have interest from the Angels this off-season.

When looking at signing starting pitchers the LA Angels need to bring in a couple of strong arms to add to the rotation, but they also must be prudent and not overextend themselves too much with the 2020 off-season looming.  2020 is D-Day for the Angels and Mike Trout.  Unless the Angels are able to workout an extension between now and then Trout will be testing the waters of free agency after the 2020 season.

The Angels will still have Justin Upton locked up until 2022 and Shohei Ohtani will be locked up until after 2023 thanks to a club-friendly six-year contract for the league minimum other than a 2.3 million dollar signing bonus.

The question will be for the Angels when looking at pitchers is where they see guys like Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Heaney, and Jaime Barria fitting into the rotation and possibly Nick Tropeano.  If they want all four of these pitchers to be a part of the rotation they have only enough room for one starting pitcher.  However, they could send a guy like Barria back to the minors or make him into middle reliever or set-up man for right now.

So say the Angels decide to sign or trade for two starting pitchers who would make the most sense. There are many names who are out there via the trade route, but most teams will be asking for one of the Angels top rospects such as Jo Adell, Griffin Canning, or Jahmai Jones to be a part of the deal.

Sonny Gray – One pitcher that could be a great addition and is probably not going to command a lot to get him is Sonny Gray.  He was a very good pitcher while in Oakland but has not been able to adjust well to being in the Big Apple.  While pitching for the A’s Gray went 44-36 with a 3.22 ERA and 1.20 WHIP.  He could be a #3 starter for the Angels and could potentially return to ace status and will be a low-cost contract.

Gray is also still very young at age 29 he is stil in the prime of his career and could bounce back easily with a change of scenery. If the Angels could work a deal for Gray it could be a major lift to the staff.

Kyle Gibson – Gibson is a relatively unknown commodity.  The Twins veteran-righty has had an up and down career with the Twins, but has shown good potential at times and pitched very well in 2018 despite a sub-par record of 10-13.  Gibson posted a 3.62 ERA last season and looked like he has turned the corner.

Contract wise Gibson is signed through 2019 when he can become a free agent.  Gibson has a good ray of sunshine for the Twins and could fit in nicely with the Angels.  He will also be a lower budget signing for the team.  Gibson could be a big sleeper in 2019 and beyond.

J.A. Happ – Happ has been a pretty steady pitcher over thepastfouror five seasons going 64-27 with Toronto for 4.5 seasons and the Yankees for 0.5 seasons with a 3.56 ERA during that timespan.

Happ was acquired at mid-season by the Yankees and promptly went 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA for the Bronx Bombers.  He will command probably around 12-15 million dollars per season which is not bad for quality starting pitchers.  The only drawback is that Happ is now 36 years old and could start declining soon.

If the Angels were to offer Happ a contract it might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 years 40 million dollars.  If they can get him for that it would be a good addition to the current staff.

Dallas Keuchel – Keuchel is on the higher end of the free agent pitching spectrum especially since he has been a Cy Young winner in 2015.  He has been one of the top 10 pitchers in the American League since 2014.  He is a two-time all-star and in the past five seasons he is 67-45 with a 3.22 ERA.

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Keuchel has been a key arm on the Astros World Series championship team and AL Western Division winning teams over the past two seasons.  Couple this with the fact that he is only 30 years old and a lefty make Keuchel in high demand.

The Angels may have a slight in on Keuchel as they hired Houston bullpen coach Doug White who is familiar with Keuchel and that could help the Angels to land him.

Patrick Corbin – Corbin is a name that like J.A. Happ and Nathan Eovaldi that has been linked to the Angels.  Corbin is the Cadillac of free agent pitchers for the Angels but he may be pricing himself out of the Angels eagle if the projected salary figures of 25 million dollars per season price tag.

Corbin is also a lefty and has been coming into his own over the past couple of seasons in Arizona.  Corbin is 25-20 in the last two seasons with an ERA of 3.58.  In 2018 he went 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA and 1.050 WHIP and his 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings really made people take notice.

For what Corbin will probably command in salary it may not be worth the risk as he truly has only had one standout season and you are banking on history repeating itself. Which may not happen.  However, he is still only 29 and has a number of potential good years ahead of him which is what teams pursuing Corbin are hoping for.

One pitcher although he looks really good on paper that I don’t want the Angels to pursue is Nathan Eovaldi.  Eovaldi has amazing stuff with a 100+ mph fastball, but he has already had two Tommy John surgeries which raises a major red flag with me especially with the high price tag he comes with.

So if the Angels do decide to go after some pitching, hopefully they will pick the right ones.