Mike Napoli Claimed on Waivers, Not in Lineup Sunday

They have minimal payroll dedicated, which means they have lots of money to spend this offseason. This puts them in prime contention to supplement Cabrera and Austin Jackson with the likes of Adam Dunn, Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee and still operate within their payroll limits.

A guy could dream though right? A package for M-Cab would probably be Napoli, Trumbo, Bell, Chatwood and Trout.

I would trade Napoli + Bell for Cabrera anytime, but it is gonna happen? no way jose.

Was it Ryan Budde?

And the fact he still has 3 years at least on his contract and he is top 5 in most offensive categories. I doubt it;

"I don’t think there’s a situation with tough decisions," Scioscia said. "I think you’re trying to move forward and make the club better."

Link

Has already forgotten about Kendry. Yeah, Naps is the only power threat for the remainder of 2010, but that’s meaningless at this point.

That said, 2 power threats is better than 1.

If mathis could hit even .250 for the season we could live with him as the startinfg catcher, but every year he hits about .200 and it seems his defense is falling off as he gets older. Him as the back up I would be fine with, but not your everyday guy. I would rather take Wilson then Mathis, but it doesn’t appear that is gonna happen. Maybe he is good with the pitchers, but so could a lot of back ups in baseball. Napoli is not as good defensively as Mathis, but he has power which from the catcher posistion is rare. You work through the defensive liabilities because he’s a threat offensively. Keep Napoli and play first, and as the back up catcher for 2010, trade Mathis for a $1, and give Wilson the starter job at Catcher for the rest of the year, and see if the pitching staff likes what he brings to the team. It’s worth a shot since this year is not our year.

….greatt……. if we lose napoli, we are going to need to go into complete rebuild mode. Napoli is the only angel hitter worth a damn. We should trade tori hunter too while we’re at it. I feel bad he came here and has to be apart of this sinking ship.

Is kendry recovering at least?! He is our only hope for our offense, too bad he has zero protection in our lineup now.

Not sure if it says they won the claim or not, commenters on MLBTR are claiming they did. If this is the case, I really doubt the Angels deal Napo Smash to Boston. Their prospects are over rated and few and far between. Money doesn’t seem like the underlying issue here.

Then again, who knows, maybe the chowds offer up Casey Kelly and then some.

That and Napoli sucks behind the plate. The worst defensive catcher I have ever seen (Been an Angel fan since 1975). I would take a bag of balls for Naps…He is not worth 5-6 million and he will kill our payroll next year.

Is there a clubhouse issue with Napoli? On a team with little to no power and not much of it coming in the future, it doesn’t make sense for the manager to find excuses to bench or get rid of that player.

I feel that this whole thing with Napoli vs. Scioscia has to be more than just subpar defense behind the plate. It’s not like Mathis plays like Bob Boone behind the plate to make up for his no power, no patience, no average, high strikeout rate. Even at 1B, it’s not like a 32 year old on the decline Juan Rivera should be taking AB’s away from a 28 year old power bat.

I am hoping this is a clubhouse issue with Napoli. If it isn’t, I can’t help but be at least a little concerned about the Angels ability to evaluate their MLB player personnel moving forward.

TRADE THE ENTIRE EFFING TEAM.

- Bobby, you’re doing nothing at the top of the order, please take up the 7 spot or just leave.
- Aybar, nothing. What happened to the BA? What happened to the defense?
- Callaspo, you are neither hurting or helping, we need a 3B to help.
- Howie, stupid effing fail!!! Batting champ my ass.
- Mathis, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
- Rivera, nothing in the first half, snoring the 2nd half, benched by Sept. traded by Jan.
- Torii Hunter, you can’t do it on your own, still where’s the power?
- Peter Bourjos, you’re cool.

provide a better stationary target

Then, I’ll take him in exchange for Naps. Some people at the Boston blog brought up the idea and it makes sense.

I would be completely 100% in favor of Napoli for Ellsbury. Does that fix this lineup completely? No, but Morales coming back and Ellsbury on the base paths certainly helps. After we made that move, I’d be doing everything in my power to trade Kendrick for a power hitting 3B and move Callaspo to 2B.

Detroit has been signing his praises since he went to rehab. I do not think they have any character concerns.

Financially the Tigers do not need to dump his contract either. Their owner is flush with cash

All players involved in a trade that are on a major league club’s 40-man roster.

Can Napoli play 3rd base. Does anyone know how difficult this transition would be? Brandon Inge has done it and he seems like a perennial god glove contender at the position.

gold glove