Sho-vember

The Angels roster permits only one strategy: win now

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We’re a week shy of Thanksgiving and the Angels have already moved so many chips to the middle of the table that there’s no room for turkey.

Earlier this week, the team agreed to terms with Noah Syndergaard on a one-year contract worth $21 million.

Syndergaard underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2019 and returned just in time to throw two innings over two appearances in the final week of the 2021 season.

Does it seem absurd to give $21 million to a pitcher who has thrown only two more Major League innings than you have over the past two seasons? Yes. Yes, it does.

But when you’re a win-now team that hasn’t won lately, overcommitting to the present might be the best strategy.

In fact, the Angels lack of restraint is refreshing.

Quick question: Which MLB team has failed to register at least one winning season in the past six years?

Hint: It’s not the Pirates, not the Orioles, and not the Marlins.

Correct, it’s the Los Angeles Angels.

Decades of baseball have afforded us an ample sample size from which we can analyze or measure anything. The Angels’ current sense of urgency begs the question: How many times has a team posted six consecutive losing seasons and proceeded to win the pennant the following year?

Fortunately, WTP has an outstanding volunteer research department.

There have been nine teams in MLB history that have gone to the World Series immediately following such a streak.

In 2007, there was Rocktober. With a one-of-a-kind two-way talent on the Angels roster, we find ourselves in the midst of Sho-vember. (Can someone help me trademark that now in the event the Angels win the World Series after October 31?)

A top-heavy roster that includes the two most exciting players in baseball and also features a $245 million third baseman in Anthony Rendon isn’t waiting to be delicately balanced by cost-effective rookies and scrap-heap minor league free agents. The Halos are committing to winning now. They must win — something, anything — in 2022.

This situation reminds me of a 10-year-old interview with Norm Macdonald that I recently listened to. On WTF with Marc Maron, the late great comedian opened up about going bankrupt because of gambling:

… it gets exhausting to be obsessed with something. If you have $450,000 in the bank and you lose $400,000, you go, ‘Fuck it, I don’t want to have $50,000. I don’t want money to remind me I had more money.’

What’s the point of guarding your final $40 million in payroll flexibility while watching Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout lose half the games they play?

The Angels’ signing of Syndergaard represents a freedom from worrying about the future.

Because the Mets had issued their free agent pitcher a qualifying offer, the signing costs the Angels their second-highest selection in the 2022 draft and $500,000 from their international bonus pool.

For one year of Syndergaard — a year that figures to include restrictive pitch counts and innings limits — the Angels surrendered what will likely amount to the 50th overall pick in next year’s draft and the approximately $1.5 million in spending power that comes with the pick.

Some teams lose sleep over such decisions. The Angels already have enough problems keeping them up at night. It’s incredibly unlikely that their would-have-been second-rounder could have contributed to the team’s success this coming season.

The most recent team to endure a half a dozen losing seasons in a row only to play in the World Series the following year was the 2015 Mets. That team lost to the Royals in five games. The lone Mets win was earned by — whaddaya know?! — Noah Syndergaard.

The Mets team was carried by its pitching. Is there a team in this discussion that compares closely to the 2022 Angels?

Not really. Many of these teams featured dominant starting pitching, and none of them employed a six-man rotation.

Most importantly, though, all these teams show that there’s a chance; the Tigers and Rockies clubs remind us that the Wild Card makes the unexpected all the more possible.

Noah Syndergaard is a high-risk acquisition for the Angels, but his signing represents exactly how the organization needs to proceed to maximize the existing talent on the roster.