WeekEnd HaloLinks: Waiting for Wieters?

It’s been a few weeks since the Angels have been linked to Matt Wieters. The good news is that multiple backup catchers have signed since then, which has absolutely cratered Wieters’ market, if not close to it. Word on the street is the Nationals could use him but have little cash, so the Angels are easily the favorites to land him.

The most rational explanation is that Eppler is waiting in the wings to swoop in, but is first waiting for Wieters’ price — and market — to continue to drop. Nothing like a good ol’ hard bargain, right?

It’s Friday today, so have some Links:

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A Little Bit (more) of Angels News

Travis Sawchik of Fangraphs explains how Luis Valbuena’s signing is a solid fit for a team who struggles against righties......

SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee writes an article titled ‘The Angels are baseball’s sneakiest almost-maybe contending team’. In it, he goes on to say the following: And they still have Trout. The difference is that instead of slapping him together with a replacement-level player and pretending they have two four-win players, they get to sprinkle guys with a chance to do something in 2017. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but once it was clear the Angels were unspeakably hosed in May of last year, this was pretty close to their best-case scenario. This article, more or less, is exactly what we at HH have been saying since late-November/early December or so and this sentiment has since been echoed by nearly every major sports writer since then. So I guess the question is, where’s our royalty?............

Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, replying to Brisbee, says his over/under is 84 wins for the 2017 Angels........He also takes a look at the team’s infield situation.......

The Angels are indeed looking for bullpen help and the relief market will heat up anytime now.........

ICYMI: The SB Nation Minor League Ball released its Angels top 20 prospect list and it has its fair share of sleepers and breakout candidates. The Halos system isn’t the worst: that honor belongs to the Marlins........

Huston Street may not be the best on social media, but he is giving back to his local community. A total of $1M to the city of Austin’s youth baseball programs. Pretty cool.......

Fangraphs released its community voted organizational ratings, and the Angels didn’t do too hot........

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Everywhere In Baseball

The Royals will honor Yordano Ventura by wearing a patch on their jerseys this season.........

David Ortiz’s number is being retired on June 23. The Red Sox, being the Red Sox, chose to schedule it against the Angels. And you can bet that both writers and commentators will gloss over all the PED allegations...Personally, I’d like to see a repeat of our 21-2 thumping with Big Papi helplessly watching from the seats.........

Greg Holland signed with the Rockies, and it is a strange choice.......But then again, it may not be.........

Bryce Harper headlines a list of most unpredictable players........To the surprise of absolutely noone, Kole Calhoun makes the most underrated players list............

Here were the best putaway pitches in the sport last year......

A team made up of current free agents would be one of, if not the worst teams in baseball..........

Could the Dodgers be better than the Cubs? I find it hard to believe, since the Cubs’ young core will be underprojected due to a smaller body of work to go off of..........

Omar Vizquel happens to be one of the worst hitters in the Hall of Fame...........

Baseball America has all the bonus pool and individual pick slot values for the upcoming draft........

You know pickings are slim when Fernando Salas is a “bargain” on the free agent market.......

How does the Angels’ #1 prospect stack up against those of other teams?...........

The Mets have a potential core piece in Michael Conforto, but they might mess it all up by taking away his playing time.......

Maybe the standards for pitchers’ HOF inductions should be lowered.........

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Trade Winds

Between Quintana, Dozier, McCutchen, and others, this upcoming trade deadline could be pure madness.......

Could the Rays’ Jake Odorizzi be on the block?...........

The Mariners acquired pitching prospect Dillon Overton from the Athletics in exchange for minor league catcher Jacob Goldstein.............

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The Duffle Bag

Sonny Gray, Ryon Healy, and Kendall Graveman of the A’s fed giraffes by hand at the Oakland Zoo..........

So these are the people to blame (or praise) for coming up with all the hilariously innocuous minor league team names.........

Jose Abreu, you’re a little too strong for ping pong..........

Cleveland will host the 2019 MLB All-Star Game, apparently.........

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Halo-Oppo-ly

(On a 2-week hiatus while Stirrups deals with a teensy bit of travel time)

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