No, the LA Angels should not blow their payroll on Freddie Freeman

There has recently been lots of speculation from LA Angels fans and media in general about how the Halos could, and in some cases should sign Freddie Freeman.

They absolutely should not. Of course I would want Freeman, one of the best players in baseball, in Anaheim. However, the Angels aren’t made of money.

The Angels do have lots of money to spend this offseason, but have other areas on the roster to focus that spending on. First base is one of the strengths on the Angels. They have multiple serious weaknesses that can and need to be addressed before we worry about making upgrades at positions we’re already very strong at.

LA Angels first baseman Jared Walsh is already one of the best first basemen in the American League.

Freddie Freeman is definitely better than Jared Walsh, but Walsh is still one of the best players on the LA Angels. He was one of just three Angels to make the All-Star team this year. First base isn’t a problem for this franchise.

Walsh is one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball, and is a Gold Glove finalist for this year. Let’s also take a look at his offensive numbers:

BA: .277 (Eighth best among MLB First Basemen with at least 130 games played)

SLG: .509 (Seventh best among MLB First Basemen with at least 130 games played)

wRC+: 127 (T-ninth best among MLB First Basemen with at least 130 games played)

OPS: .850 (Ninth best among MLB First Basemen with at least 130 games played)

Anyone who thinks that Walsh is even remotely part of the Angels’ problem is insane.

Freeman made over $22 million this past year. He’s going to demand and deserve well over that in his next contract. Do we really want to sign a first baseman to a mega deal when we already have one of the best first baseman in the AL?

Believe it or not…no. Especially when our starting pitching numbers look like this:

IP: 776.1 (Fifth fewest in MLB)

ERA: 4.78 (Ninth worst in MLB)

BB/9: 3.50 (Third worst in MLB)

WHIP: 1.37 (T-sixth worst in MLB)

And while I’m at it, how about I give you our bullpen’s stats as well:

ERA: 4.57 (Seventh worst in MLB)

BB/9: 4.04 (Tenth worst in MLB)

K/BB: 2.29 (T-ninth worst in MLB)

WHIP: 1.40 (Sixth worst in MLB)

BAA: .245 (Seventh worst in MLB)

The bullpen is just as bad. The pitching on this team is horrible and held this team back. It’s held it back for several years.

Yes, the Angels have the money to outbid anyone for a free agent of their choice this offseason. However, if they outbid everyone for Freeman, how much money are they going to have left for pitching? Nowhere near the amount that they’d need to fix the staff.

How about we go all out on this free agent pitching class? Max Scherzer, anyone? We could even go cheaper and run away with another top starter in Robbie Ray.

Marcus Stroman’s available, Justin Verlander’s available, Kevin Gausman’s available, and there’s even more. These are the names we need to be aggressive with.

And then once we get one or two of those guys, we then go and acquire one of the top relievers available (we could even focus on relievers first). Free agents Kenley Jansen and Brad Hand on the Angels sounds pretty good.

There are a lot of quality bullpen arms out there. Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman, and many others are out there too.

We need to take advantage of great players at positions of need being available this offseason. What we don’t need to do is just spend money to spend money on positions we are already exceling at.