What the Angels need this offseason

As an Angels fan, I like thinking about who my team can get in the offseason and with pitching the obvious need - it maybe Gerrit Cole or bust.

However, I'm not going to fret about Cole at all until I check my phone and see he has signed with a team - Cole might 'hold out' until the spring and as much as the Angels desperately need him, they need to move on getting other guys.

This is my crack at attempting to solve the Angels pitching problems - that almost has little to do with actually getting the guy the Angels are thirsty for the most.

Hyun-Jin Ryu - he might be the more realistic non-Cole priority as a guy who is a magician on the mound, though there might be risks in signing him to a 3 or 4 year deal at a premium rate.

Though he was relatively healthy in 2019, I wouldn't want to sign the guy and see him breaking down again where he might pitch like a Cy Young contender - but someone who may make only so many starts and pitch so many innings.

Cole Hamels - as a veteran who has pitched for Joe Maddon, can he have a little bit of late career success on a 1 or 2 year deal? I don't think of him as that old, but has all the innings and usage caught up with the lefty?

Julio Teheran - on a start-per-start basis, he seems like someone who Angels fans would have fits about on Twitter or on fan forums, though nothing 'bad' really stands out when looking at his stats.

Dylan Bundy - maybe the Angels can trade for the 27-year old and turn him into something he hasn't been as a Baltimore Orioles pitcher. Despite double digit losses and inflated ERAs during the past two seasons, the 27-year old has been relatively healthy and may have some potential to be unlocked.

Wei-Yin Chen - maybe the veteran lefty has just had the worst luck since signing a big money contract with the Miami Marlins; going dumpster diving, maybe the Angels can offer him a spring training invite to see if he can show something to make the team as starting rotation depth.

Hold-overs - Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Shohei Ohtani, Jaime Barria, José Suarez and Patrick Sandoval.

Dayf trade post

I've been a fan of this renaissance man of cardboard blogging for the longest time and looked forward to trading when he expressed interest in my 2011 Topps Update Julio Teheran liquorfractor parallel - I ended up shipping out several more Braves inserts in addition to the Teheran in exchange for a 2011 Topps Update Mark Trumbo and Tyler Chatwood parallels, a 2011 Topps Update Gold Hisanori Takahashi and a couple of Topps Heritage minor league Angels [Jean Segura and Garrett Richards].

Dayf also sent a bounty of bonus Angels cards which was an unexpected bonus - though the most interesting one maybe the bunny sketch I'm tempted to say was inspired by Jean Segura's card.

Thanks, Dayf!

Cards for trade - updated 10/2/11

2011 Topps Martin Prado #MGL-MP - Personalized Leather Nameplate card

It is just a lone card but I'm hoping to put together a list of cards I'm hoping to showcase - in order to possiblly trade for cards I'm interested in...Angels anybody?

Featured card: 2011 Topps Chrome Jordan Walden Orange refractor #183

I was able to pick up this Orange refractor of the Angels closer from Brian at Play at the Plate - in exchange for a Mason Tobin X-Fractor from this pack break.

Walden was thrown into the fire in 2011 and his season went from being impressive as a rookie closer making the All-Star team - to a guy who has some things to work on after two rough outings to end the year.

Unlike the last two great Angels closers [Troy Percival and Francisco Rodriguez] - I don't know if Walden has had a 'mentor' to allow him to develop, like Percival did when Lee Smith was a closer for the Angels back in 1995 and like 'K-Rod' who watched Percival close out games, before taking over closing duties for the Angels in the mid 2000s.

Walden is still a young guy and perhaps the Angels can go out and sign at end of the game reliever that sort of helps Walden out - if not really as a 'mentor' type, someone who can close out games as Walden figures things out.

As much talent as Walden has, I don't want to see the Angels burn him out because they don't have any other closing options - instead of hitting his prime in his mid 20s, you might find a guy like Walden bottoming out like the seemingly sad case of Jonathan Broxton, circa 2010-2011.

Diamond Giveaway trade - 1968 Topps Matty Alou #270

I thought the 1980 Topps Gary Carter I ended up trading for this 1968 Topps card of Matty Alou was a keeper - but I think I may have been compelled to trade after seeing 10-15 trade requests seemingly every time I log in.

Most on the Diamond Giveaway site want my Vladimir Guerrero and Jered Weaver Diamond Die-cut cards from my portfolio - though it seems like it is the only cards offered are from the junk wax era, so I try not to pay attention to it.

I also got two throw in cards of little consequence - a 1980 Topps Joe Wallis #562 and a 1985 Topps Danny Ozark [manager] #365.

Diamond Giveaway trade - 2011 Topps Diamond Cut Jered Weaver DDC-111

I traded the 2011 Topps Diamond die cut Manny Ramirez in my portfolio - for a Jered Weaver 2011 Topps Diamond die cut card.

I like 'collecting' hitters' cards a little bit more than pitchers but Weaver is the Angels' ace - but wanted to add a card with some regional flavor to my collection.

Diamond Giveaway trade - 2011 Topps Diamond Cut Manny Ramirez DDC-132

I traded my 1967 Topps Don Drysdale for a 2011 Topps Diamond Cut Manny Ramirez - Manny has been exiled from Major League Baseball but I guess I wanted another 2011 Topps Diamond die cut card in my portfolio.

Maybe I have more confidence in Topps being able to deliver a shiny 2011 card - than a 34 year old card of a Hall of Famer that was probably going to be in 'vg-ex' condition at best.

Topps Diamond Giveaway trade - 1975 Topps Dave Nelson

I wasn't particularly attached to a 1983 Topps Bill Madlock card in my portfolio - so I traded it for a 1975 Topps common just to get an old-school [though not quite a 1973 or before vintage] card into my Topps Diamond collection.

Diamond Giveaway trade - 1967 Topps Don Drysdale #55

I thought trading a 1960 Topps Frank Malzone for a 1967 Topps Don Drysdale was a coup for my little, itty bitty Topps Diamond Giveaway card collection - even though looking at eBay's completed auctions, the value of the Drysdale maybe $2 or $3 at the most.

Considering the condition of the delivered cards from the Topps Million / Topps Diamond giveaway contests - if I have it delivered in-hand, the actual value of the Drysdale card will be around a buck or less.

Topps Diamond Giveaway thoughts and trades

The 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway is the 21st century way of collecting trading cards - the cards in your portfolio are mostly the same from the 00s, 90s, 80s, 70s and before, but you don't really have the cards in hand. If you want them delivered, you need a credit card to ship your cards to you for S/H.

I find myself logging in each day to see which cards I maybe able to trade for - even though I only have a lousy 11 cards.

I made a couple of more trades that seemed to make sense - I traded my 1979 Topps Dennis Martinez for a 1978 Topps Darrell Porter and my 1978 Topps Rollie Fingers for a 1980 Topps Gary Carter.

I got exposed to a lot of Martinez cards through the 1986-1992 junk wax era - so it was a breath of fresh air to trade for something just a little bit different.

I think I was ecstatic being able to trade my 1978 Topps Rollie Fingers for a 1980 Topps Gary Carter - I've stashed away a 'tools of ignorance' collection picturing catchers or non-catchers with catching equipment.

Most of my cards are from the last 20 years - so it is nice that I can pick up a card featuring a nice action shot of the Hall of Fame catcher showing he tagged out an incoming runner trying to score.

Topps Diamond Giveaway trade

I didn't exactly wait to jump on an 'interesting offer,' but I did dump my 1989 Topps George Brett for a 1995 Topps Jose Canseco - even 20 years later, I think the 1989 Topps set makes my skin crawl because it was such an uninspired, boring set devoid of innovation.

Probably from about 1994 through the present, Topps has come out with consistently decent looking sets - while not every set is a 'winner,' there are no '1989 Topps' among the last 16 or 17 years.

This was almost a done deal - if there were only more cards offered instead of one lone Cal Ripken Jr. card...maybe a combination of some vintage 1988, 1989, 1990 Topps to sweeten the pot for my 1960 Topps Frank Malzone.

The Vernon Wells trade - I actually like it

I like the Vernon Wells trade for the Angels despite the doom-and-gloom of worrying about what the team will end up having to pay Wells the next four years - he doesn't seem to be the most vocal guy, but he signs his share of autographs and seems to be a stand up guy otherwise.

The Angels traded catcher Mike Napoli, who maybe the next Mickey Tettleton [he was actually was a productive player, so this is a compliment] - but the Angels milked most of Nap's talents as a one-time 17th round draft pick. Napoli wasn't going to get any better despite establishing himself as a power threat who somehow was perceived as being screwed out of playing time in favor of Jeff Mathis.

The Angels also traded outfielder Juan Rivera, who kind of got a bum rap in 2010 - his stats did lag and maybe there was some 'motivation issues' with him at times, but he may enjoy a bounce back season.

As an Angels' fan, I wanted the team to pick up a star locked up with a franchise in-flux instead of signing Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford or even Adrian Beltre - I maybe crazy, but I was hoping for Justin Upton or Hanley Ramirez.

Wells wasn't the type of star player I was hoping the Angels would get and there are nearly $85 million reasons and four years why that is the case - I wish the Angels could have gotten more money back, but hopefully Wells can stay healthy and avert his trend of having so-so years after relatively productive seasons, including an all-star year in 2010.

I suppose short of Wells turning into Albert Pujols and the Angels winning the World Series the next four years - he'll never live up to his contract. However, it seems like the experts are on Alex Andreopoulos's nuts for getting rid of the Alex Rios a year or so ago and now the Wells contract.

As much as Alex Andreopoulos' sleight of hand skills are praised into duping apparent GM black eyes in Chicago and Anaheim - Andreopoulos' Blue Jays teams will still be playing for third place in American League East.

It doesn't matter how many prospects, draft picks or money he hoards, Andreopoulos is still not going to get what is important in a way that consumes the people who deal with more than just statistical analysis - which is a legitimate chance to compete for a championship.

Maybe it is to circumstance, but for all the pundits and numbers guys who just love the guy right now and since he was hired - a #6 from Dave Cameron maybe the best accolade the Toronto organization might get this year.

The flags fly in Anaheim, not in Toronto.

2010 Topps Million Card Giveaway trades - 1958 Don Cardwell and 1961 Ted Lepcio

I may have been the last person on Topps Million to find I actually had trade offers for cards I have in my collection - I ended up trading the 1956 Topps Glen Gorbous I had for a 1958 Topps Don Cardwell and a 1961 Ted Lepcio.

I don't know the logic I used in accepting the trade offer - while Gorbous was the oldest card I have at Topps Million, all three cards involved in the virutal trade were not worth much at all, so why not trade a single 1950s era card for two cards [one card still from the 50s and one card from the 60s].

The Topps Million Card Giveaway promotion ends in about a month or so - I wish I had a Stephen Strasburg or Mickey Mantle Topps card I could attempt to get in-hand, but oh well.

If I did want to get the cards I have in my collection in-hand however - what is the difference getting the cards from eBay instead of Topps?

If I actually wanted my Cardwell and/or Lepcio in-hand, I might as well snatch them up on eBay - it isn't like I'm going to be getting better condition cards through the Topps Million promotion.

Featured card: 1998 Arizona Fall League Roy Halladay #14

Not in 'mint condition,' but picked it up for $0.50 for novelty purposes at a card shop.

I'd love for Roy Halladay to end up at the front of the Angels' rotation - but then so would 29 other Major League teams and in particular, any of the contenders at the top or near the top of their division and/or Wild Card race.

If the Angels picked Halladay up - it would allow the Angels to turn their back on John Lackey, who is going to be a free agent this upcoming off-season. Halladay gives the Angels a durable ace, when Lackey has missed at least the first month of the season in the past two seasons.

Halladay secures another spot in the playoffs for the Angels - giving the team a veteran pitcherwho has a lot of experience, pitching against Boston and New York in the American League East.

For the Angels to land Halladay, they would have to give up a number of players and maybe even cash - what combination would it take? This is my 'fantasy trade' proposal consisting of at least the first three players the Angels maybe able to trade for Halladay.

Brandon Wood is the key piece here - he is a power-hitting third baseman who has power but hasn't been able to crack the Angels' starting lineup in the past couple of seasons.

Wood pretty much has the Angels' starting third base job in 2010 - but that is because he will be 25 and that is the make-or-break age for most players to be Major Leaguers.

At this point, Wood isn't as good as he was when he was tearing up the California League in 2005 - but Wood can be a potential star if he hits like Matt Williams or even Dean Palmer.

However, Chone Figgins is playing so well - that he might have stumbled onto the Angels' third base job for the next several years.

With his ability to get on-base, make contact and run, Figgins maybe more suited to fit with the Angels' philosophy - despite the fact he doesn't hit for power and baseball conventional wisdom says you need a guy at third base who can sock the ball.

Another piece in the package is Angels' catcher Jeff Mathis - he is hitting only .200, but that is because he can't get consistent at-bats as an every day catcher.

Obviously Mike Napoli has emerged with his bat and it seems like Mathis is rotting away - if he cannot play the majority of the games.

Angels' Manager Mike Scioscia always seems to have a surplus of AAA catchers to help Napoli out if Mathis is traded - while prospect Hank Conger is in AA, at least a couple of years away.

The third player I'd be looking at is Alexander Torres - he is a smallish guy, but is a lefty who is having a good year in the California League at Rancho Cucamonga.

Torres is from Venezuela and I'm just saying, who was the last prominent lefty to come out of there - Torres maybe the real sleeper here, though it is going to be a few years before anyone sees what he can do at a higher level.

Maybe there is something a little lacking - it may take at least two pitching prospects [Torres and another pitcher for example] or one starting pitcher already in the Major Leagues [maybe Joe Saunders, who looked like an ace a season ago, but has stumbled recently], along with Wood and Mathis.

It is fun to speculate however and see if you think you are smarter than a MLB general manager - hoping your team lands the key prize before the trade deadline.