The MLB Winter Meetings are underway, and the Angels GM Billy Eppler has already been filling the team’s offseason needs with quiet, low-key signings, like bringing Cameron Maybin to the LF spot or inking up a deal with reliever Andrew Bailey. There is still one important position, though, that needs some attention: second base.
Logic would tell us that Eppler is going to acquire a similarly low key 2B option rather than go big splash, but what if he were to go all-out on his quest to get a new second baseman? What would that look like? If there was any BIG SPLASH to be made in that department, it’d probably involve Twins second base slugger Brian Dozier.
Brian Dozier is literally coming off a career year, where he batted a respectable .268 but also mashed 42 homers, had a SLG of .546 and wRC+ of 132, all on his way to accruing 5.9 fWAR. This guy can rake, and a bat like that in the Halos’ lineup has me salivating at just the thought. As for his contract, he’s got two more years on the current one, totaling about $15 million.
So, the Angels need a second baseman, and the MLB hot stove holds many surprises, so anything is possible, even if that “anything” is prying away a guy like Dozier from Minnesota’s hands.
It’s a match made in baseball heaven, that’s for sure, but then reality hits, and it hits hard. Just what would it take to get a guy like Dozier on the Halos? Well, considering Brian Dozier himself was talking with Twins reps last night, pleading to stay with them, the Twins would have to be blown away by a trade offer.
It’d take a pretty wild trade offer to get the Twins listening, I think, and even then the Angels chances are still not pretty.
Put your GM hat on....would YOU trade Garrett Richards and C.J. Cron for Brian Dozier?
Kole Calhoun and Matt Shoemaker for Brian Dozier?
Do any of those names get a Dozier deal done? Probably not, but is that the Angels’ fault?
The problem is that Dozier, understandably, has other suitors...teams like the Dodgers or the Yankees, who have way more prospects and talented, MLB-ready guys that they can put on the table. The Angels, not so much.
Is there any realistic trade offer that Eppler could present to Minnesota that could get the job done, while also not completely gutting the team? I’m going to have to say “No” on that one, but hey...a man can dream.