Angels (Mock) GM inks three starting pitchers, can Billy Eppler follow suit

The Angels (mock) GM aka your Halo Hangout staff has been busy in the annual FanSided  Winter Meetings trying to acquire some much needed pitching.

Today the Angels (mock) GMs put in their final bids in Zack Wheeler, Madison Bumgarner, and Tanner Roark and walked away with all three.

We were able to sign Madison Bumgarner to a five year-120 million dollar deal (24 million per year) and then inked Zack Wheeler to a six year 150 million dollar deal (25 million per year).  Bumgarner and Wheeler will fill the #1 and #2 holes the Angels have needed for a long time.  Shohei Ohtani will fill the third spot and Andrew Heaney will be slotted in the fourth spot.

Tanner Roark was an innings eater with a good upside and will most likely fill the fifth spot in the rotation.  The Angels (Mock) GM got Roark at a bargain price of 14 million for two years (average value of seven million per season).

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Will the real Angels go out and get three starter Probably not.  However we saw Roark’s numbers and his price tag was not too high we decided to put a bid in on him. This gives us the flexibility to possibly trade one our pitchers and a prospect to get an upgrade at catcher. Roark went 10-10 with a 4.35 ERA and struck out 158 batters in 165 innings of work for the Reds and A’s in 2019.

Overall Roark is 74-64 in his career with a 3.71 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP  in seven big league seasons. He is a little older than Bumgarner and Wheeler which is why we only gave him a two-year deal.

With Bumgarner and Wheeler anchoring the staff the Angels would immediately be a pennant contender. Bumgarner has been a part of three World Championship teams in San Francisco and has pitched in many big games. We are hoping that Bumgarner who mentor the young players such as Griffin Canning, Andrew Heaney, and Patrick Sandoval.

Bumgarner has a career record of 119-92 with a 3.13 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.  He is a four-time all-star and has struck out 1,794 batters in his 10-year career.  Some people may think Bumgarner’s best years are behind him, but he is still only 29 years old.

Wheeler on the other hand does not come with quite the pedigree of Bumgarner, but he has been on the upswing over the past couple of seasons. Wheeler missed two full seasons in 2015 and 2016 due to Tommy John Surgery in March of 2015.  The Mets were very cautious with him even in 2017 limiting his innings as he pitched only 86 innings in 17 starts (average of five innings per start).

However the last two years Wheeler has been stellar while pitching for two mediocre Mets teams. Wheeler went 23-16 with an ERA of 3.51 in 60 starts over the past two seasons.  His WHIP was 1.19 and he struck out 374 batters in 377 innings of work.  He like Bumgarner is only 29 and he has a lot less wear and tear on his arm due to missing two full seasons.

Now I know this is all hypothetical as it is only a mock GM simulation, but with a popular manager in Joe Maddon in the fold and the best player in the game, Mike Trout locked up to a long-term deal, the Angels should be a desirable free agent landing spot.

We will have to see what our real GM Billy Eppler has up his sleeve.  The real Winter Meetings begin in a week on December 8th.  Let’s hope he can get the Angels the pitching they need to compete.