Eppler looking forward to first Winter Meetings with Angels, finding LF'er
The Winter Meetings open this week in Nashville, Tennessee and the Los Angeles Angels still have a very important task on their to-do list: finding a starting left fielder.
For new GM Billy Eppler, he's well aware of the Halos' need to find a capable, everyday, productive outfielder to complement Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun.
MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez reported that Eppler said the club has been in contact with 'available outfielders across all spectrums', including but not limited to Jason Heyward, Yoenis Cespedes and Alex Gordon.
However, Eppler has also covered the prospect of acquiring talent in a trade - and Gonzalez cites players such as Jay Bruce of the Cincinnati Reds and Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees as potential options should the trade market gain steam.
As he prepares for his first Winter Meetings at the helm of the Halos, Eppler told Gonzalez that he's excited about the experience:
As for progress toward improving the Angels, Eppler was quoted by Jeff Fletcher of the O.C. Register as saying things have gotten a bit clearer in recent weeks as opposed to earlier in the offseason:
"I'm looking forward to it," Eppler said. "I look forward to it every year. I love them. They're great. I think they're great for the industry, I think they're great for each team, individually. I have a lot of fun with them, because let's really face it, I'm getting an opportunity to speak about baseball probably 18 hours a day with our brain trust and with other clubs. That's fun. How can you not want to do that?"
It definitely looks as if the Angels are really hoping to leave the Winter Meetings with a new starting left fielder, either though a big free agent signing or via a trade.
“Things are definitely closer now than they were a month ago,” Eppler said. “Some things are opening up to possibly being reality rather than just ideas… You get a pretty good feeling of what you can do by the time you close those meetings down.”
