What Will the Angels' Payroll Look like in 2020?

The Angels signed one-year contracts to Matt Harvey ($11 million) Trevor Cahill ($9 million), Cody Allen ($8,500,000), Jonathan Lucroy ($3,350,000), and Justin Bour ($2,500,000).

The bad news is that the Angels released four of them because of poor performance and are still paying them through the end of the year while the only one left (Cahill) is in the bullpen still giving up a lot of home runs. The good news is that all of them will be gone after this season, which will give the Angels $34,350,000 extra to spend.

Kole Calhoun has a $14 million option for next year, and if the Angels decided to pay that, it would keep Calhoun an Angel for one more year. With Jo Adell going 0-for-12 to start his tenure at AAA Salt Lake City and Calhoun still making amazing catches, the decision to keep Calhoun gets a little murkier. But when all is said and done, it will be doubtful that the Angels pick up Calhoun’s option because the Angels still have a lot of outfield depth in their minor league system even if Adell isn’t ready. On top of that, it will give the Halos a total of $48,350,000 to spend on pitching, so that will make them spend away this winter right?

Well not exactly. This year, the Angels payroll came out to $151.7 million. What will it be like in 2020? Let’s start with players that are guaranteed contracts next season:

Mike Trout ($36.8M, same salary as 2019)
Albert Pujols ($29M, $1M more than 2019)
Justin Upton ($21M, $3M more than 2019)
Andrelton Simmons ($15M, $2M more than 2019)
Zack Cozart ($12.67M, same salary as 2019)

Total: $114,470,000

The Angels will have 13 players up for arbitration, so the approximate cost of those players that are eligible for arbitration will be $65.7 million. The Angels have 10 other players that are not eligible for arbitration yet and the cost will be $5.24 million to pay those players.

Estimated Total: $70.94 million (without options)/ $84.24 million (with options)

Grand Total of Estimated Team Payroll (2020): $186,400,000/$199,700,000

The Halos will most likely make a run at Gerrit Cole, but it will be doubtful that they will add much more than him with the estimated team payroll as high as it is. If they do get a second pitcher, it will be a low cost option. Here are some notable starters up for free agency in 2020:

Alex Wood (5.65 ERA in three starts with the Reds in 2019)
Zack Wheeler (9-6, 4.20 ERA in 2019)
Madison Bumgarner (7-7, 3.74 ERA in 2019)
Rick Porcello (10-8, 5.54 ERA in 2019)
Stephen Strasburg (14-5, 3.72 ERA in 2019)
Jake Odorizzi (12-5, 3.61 ERA in 2019)

The Angels have only made the playoffs once since Mike Trout has been in the big leagues (2014). Billy Eppler says he’ll explore the free-agent market vigorously for starting pitching and Halos fans hope he’s right. The ball club cannot go the cheap route and end up with pitchers that perform even remotely like Trevor Cahill and Matt Harvey did this season. The fans deserve better than that. At the same time, Cahill and Harvey definitely didn’t deserve the $20 million that is being paid to them this season.