Bargain Bin Players the Who Might Help the Angels

Jose Quintana has been good pretty much everywhere he's pitched in his career but Anaheim. Last off season he inked a one year, $4,25 million deal with Milwaukee and produced a 3.96 ERA over 131.2 innings, good for 1.3 bWAR. He's 37 years old but still very serviceable. He might look to latch on with a contender, but a modest raise and he could find himself back in Orange County.

Neither one of these moves makes the Angels contenders, but each one puts the team one injury further from starting a waiver claim or rushing the development of a prospect like Caden Dana. They'd also be cheap enough to send packing if Dana or another prospect forced his way onto the roster.

What about the bullpen?

Closer Kenley Jansen has not been directly replaced. The trio of aforementioned telievers is likely Perry Minasian's plan to replace Jansen's quality with quantity. Of the bunch, Kirby Yates has particular potential to be a real weapon for the team as he's had big success under the tutelage of Mike Maddux in the past.

Reid Detmers emerged as such a good reliever that moving him and his under $3 million salary could be possible if the Angels double down on cheap rotation pieces. But Detmers was drafted as a starter and he'd be most valuable as a starter.

Taylor Rogers is a southpaw who has held lefties to a .199/.277/.292 slash line in his career. The 34 year old appeared in 57 games last year with a 3.38 ERA, nearly matching his career ERA of 3.34. Over the last three seasons he has average 60 appearances per year and a 3.16 ERA. He handles righties pretty well but had trouble with the long ball in Chicago last season. But he's a good bet to pan out on a one year deal here.

Position players?

There's no bargain option for center field. Chas McCormick looked like a great idea on a minor league deal but the Cubs had the same plan and signed him last week. Barring a trade, the Angels center fielder is already in the organization.

Second base might have one option, though. Luis Urias is only 29 years old and has a career wRC+ of 97, which is better than the average MLB second baseman. He won't dazzle with the glove but he is versatile enough to cover third base and that is critical when Yoan Moncada is your starting third baseman. His career .329 OBP would be a nice lift to an Angels roster that led the league in strikeouts last season.

While non of these moves are guaranteed to work, they would at least give the Angels established MLB caliber talent at positions of dire need without denting the pocketbook. The Angels lost over 300 innings between Hendricks and Anderson that need to be replaced. And you can never have enough bullpen help.

Urias is a pure stopgap until one of Vaughn Grissom or Christian Moore seizes the position. But there's no guarantee when or if that even happens. If one or the other impresses in camp, Urias is a solid bench piece.