DALLAS — As Perry Minasian prepared to leave the winter meetings on Wednesday, he wasn’t sure what he’d actually accomplished during his few days in Dallas.
The Angels didn’t acquire any players during the event — aside from a left-handed reliever picked in the Rule 5 draft — but Minasian said he hoped he laid some groundwork for deals that could come to fruition throughout the rest of the winter.
“We’ll find out,” he said. “I hope so. There are a lot of conversations.”
The Angels still need some of everything. Minasian, per usual, would not rank the needs.
“We want to get better,” he said. “We want to get deeper. Is that the bullpen? Is that the position players? Is that infield? Is that outfield? Is that starting rotation? We’ll find out. But we would definitely like to add to the team, not only the 26 but below that too.”
Considering what the Angels have done and what they have currently, the infield nonetheless still seems to be a pressing need.
Shortstop Zach Neto, third baseman Anthony Rendon and utility infielder Luis Rengifo will all be coming off injuries. So far the Angels have only added Kevin Newman and Scott Kingery to provide depth behind that group.
A player who can start at third or second would be ideal.
The Angels have checked in on trades for at least three third basemen: Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals, Alec Bohm of the Philadelphia Phillies and Eugenio Suarez of the Arizona Diamondbacks. A deal for any of those players could be costly — in terms of money with Arenado and talent with Bohm or Suarez.
Among free agents, third baseman Alex Bregman is the top of the market, followed by second baseman Gleyber Torres. Bregman is certainly out of their price range, and Torres may be as well.
One intriguing option below them would be Jorge Polanco, who is a 31-year-old bounce-back candidate who can play second, third or shortstop. He could likely be had for $8 million to $10 million.
Polanco had a career .780 OPS over parts of 10 seasons with the Minnesota Twins, but that dropped to .651 last season with the Seattle Mariners, who declined his option. Seattle is a notorious pitcher’s park, and Polanco had a .606 OPS at home, and a more reasonable .694 mark on the road.
Some of last year’s decline could have been attributed to playing through knee issues that ultimately required surgery.
He also had a .740 OPS with 11 homers in the second half.
Polanco is also a switch-hitter who has been better from the left side over his career. The Angels are in need of any good hitters, but ideally they’d add some who are better against righties, because that was their weaker side last season.
“You always want to balance the lineup as best as you can,” Minasian said. “It’s just about what’s available. So we wouldn’t pass on a right-handed hitter that we feel like is productive.”
RULE 5 PICK
The Angels selected left-handed reliever Garrett McDaniels from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft.
McDaniels joins the Angels’ 40-man roster. They must keep him on the major league roster all season or else offer him back to the Dodgers.
McDaniels, 24, had a 3.19 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 73 ⅓ innings last season. He pitched just three innings at Double-A, and the rest were at two levels of Class-A.
“Good arm, can spin two breaking balls, heater’s 94-95, combination of ground balls and strikeouts,” Minasian said. “Now, it’s at lower levels, but stuff is stuff. We felt like it was worth taking a look at him at spring training, and we’ll see if he can make the team. …
“You can never have too many lefties, and especially guys that can really spin the ball. It’s a good trait to have in the bullpen.”
ARIZONA UPGRADES
Before Minasian came to Dallas, he stopped in Arizona to get a look at the upgraded spring training facilities. The Angels re-did their clubhouse, weight room and offices, and they added pitching and hitting labs.
“It looks great,” Minasian said. “I had a chance to walk through. It’s not completely finished. Obviously, we still have time. It blew me away. It’s better than I even thought it would be. The labs are awesome.”
The Angels have been behind other organizations in terms of their technology. This facility should help them catch up, and Minasian believes it will translate to improved performance of their players.
“I think it’s going to be significant,” Minasian said. “I really do. I think it will be a significant upgrade from what we had.”
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KIKUCHI’S ROLE
The Angels have made much of what they hope to gain by having veterans like Kyle Hendricks and Travis d’Arnaud around their young players, and that also applies to Yusei Kikuchi.
Although it’s reasonable to think the language barrier might preclude Kikuchi from having the same type of influence, Minasian said he is “100%” certain that Kikuchi will help Angels young pitchers, both with his words and actions.
“His English is pretty good,” Minasian said. “The work ethic and the the prep and the weight room stuff. People see him doing the work. If you ask people in Toronto and the short stay in Houston and even in Seattle, it’s real. It will be good for our guys.”