Jerry Dipoto: Champion Poker Player

[Capital_Dave]

Think about how much patience he has shown before executing this trade. At several points last season he could have released Vernon altogether and no one would have faulted him. At last year's trade deadline he easily could have executed a trade and received back maybe $1M-$2M and many here would have said hallelujah. This spring he has massaged Wells' ego, saying he "couldn't have handled this more professionally," and somehow he has coaxed an almost-certainly inflated batting performance out of Wells against second-tier pitching. Dipoto is now trading Wells at his high water mark value-wise, somehow getting $13M back, when the Yankees' backs are against the wall and he can leverage the absolute best case scenario.

Well done, sir. Well done.

[Chuck]

Good post, Vegas. 

 

How have you been?

 

Did you see the interview we did just recently with Dipoto? It's awesome. Check it out if you haven't

 

[Capital_Dave]

Thanks, man. Been lurking around here, but just not posting like I should. I'll always favor quality posts over quantity posts.

Sorry to have missed FanFest this year, but will definitely make 2014 with the family. Sounds like it was bigger and better than ever!

Love the new site, much more mobile friendly. Keep up the good work.

[Chuck]

Thanks, man. Been lurking around here, but just not posting like I should. I'll always favor quality posts over quantity posts.

Sorry to have missed FanFest this year, but will definitely make 2014 with the family. Sounds like it was bigger and better than ever!

Love the new site, much more mobile friendly. Keep up the good work.

 

Right on David.

 

BTW, congrats on your new gig (well new to me). Secretary of the Senate, damn that's impressive! 

[red321]

I'd rather wait until seeing if his pitching staff kills the team, again, before heaping too much praise on dealing Wells to a desperate team while the the Halos picked up a good portion of the tab.

[Angel Oracle]

$29 million isn't that bad.

[Rochambeau]

Now Jerry can call Scott Boras about Lohse, you know a little " pillow talk".

[Inside Pitch]

Think about how much patience he has shown before executing this trade. At several points last season he could have released Vernon altogether and no one would have faulted him. At last year's trade deadline he easily could have executed a trade and received back maybe $1M-$2M and many here would have said hallelujah. This spring he has massaged Wells' ego, saying he "couldn't have handled this more professionally," and somehow he has coaxed an almost-certainly inflated batting performance out of Wells against second-tier pitching. Dipoto is now trading Wells at his high water mark value-wise, somehow getting $13M back, when the Yankees' backs are against the wall and he can leverage the absolute best case scenario.

Well done, sir. Well done.

 

Dipoto is going to get a lot of praise for this and he should given he was able to exploit the Yankees' situation, but I do recall reading several articles where Arte was supposedly not willing to eat as much of the contract as others were wanting him to in order to make a trade.  So, while Jerry will get most of the praise, I think Moreno deserves some of the props.

[Second Base]

I'm sorry but I don't think Dipoto deserves THAT much praise here.

 

1. He signed Joe Blanton for 2 years and 15 million dollars, effectively taking the Angels out of the race for Kyle Lohse, who is a far superior pitcher (and even he's not that good).  Will the 2nd round pick we saved really be worth it?

 

2. He traded Morales away to Seattle for Vargas.  Seattle signed Saunders for roughly the same money Vargas is making and I'd argue that Saunders and Vargas are about equal in terms of performance.  The Angels could've simply signed Saunders and held onto Morales. 

 

3. If the Angels still had Morales, do you have any idea how big of a return they'd get from the Yankees right now?  I mean if they're willing to eat 13 million dollars to bring in Vernon Wells, just think about what they would've given up for Kendrys Morales.  They probably would've taken on the entirety of Wells contract and even gave us a darn good prospect in return.

 

The way I see it, Dipoto is an excpetional General Manager.  But he isn't a wizard.  

[Ohtaniland]

The real poker champion was Alex Anthopoulos.

[AngelArcher]

The real poker champion was Alex Anthopoulos.

Well when you're playing against a donkey.....

[tdawg87]

Well when you're playing against a donkey.....

 

Racist.

[AZMike]

The real poker champion was Alex Anthopoulos.

I'm kinda hoping Wells crushes the ball when the Yankees play Toronto as karma for the whole 2011 Mike Napoli in Texas situation.

[Troll Daddy]

The details of this deal are not clear yet. Poker champion ?

[Blarg]

I'm sorry but I don't think Dipoto deserves THAT much praise here.

 

1. He signed Joe Blanton for 2 years and 15 million dollars, effectively taking the Angels out of the race for Kyle Lohse, who is a far superior pitcher (and even he's not that good).  Will the 2nd round pick we saved really be worth it? Loshe singing requirement by Boras far exceeds just a draft pick and Kyle has a higher career ERA than Blanton.

 

2. He traded Morales away to Seattle for Vargas.  Seattle signed Saunders for roughly the same money Vargas is making and I'd argue that Saunders and Vargas are about equal in terms of performance.  The Angels could've simply signed Saunders and held onto Morales. Morales in more than one way was blocking the lineup in that his true value is only DH, can't run and was going into free agency next season. Dipoto filled a rotation spot with a quality starter for $3.25 million when you reduce Vargas salary by Morales's $5.25 million in trade. So keeping Kendrys and signing Saunders would have cost them a combined total of $11.75 million for both.

 

3. If the Angels still had Morales, do you have any idea how big of a return they'd get from the Yankees right now?  I mean if they're willing to eat 13 million dollars to bring in Vernon Wells, just think about what they would've given up for Kendrys Morales.  They probably would've taken on the entirety of Wells contract and even gave us a darn good prospect in return. The Yankees are lifting $13 million from our payroll and a player we have no use for. Between Kendry's and Vernon, Dipoto has reduced payroll this season by $11.5 million to stay under the salary cap. I think that is pretty creative managing of the payroll.

 

The way I see it, Dipoto is an excpetional General Manager.  But he isn't a wizard.  

I'll take an exceptional GM over a fantasy league GM.

[Second Base]

I agree, I really hope Wells goes to New York and just crushes it.  Shuts all the critics up.  Yeah he didn't get it done for us and it was a bad move on Reagins' part. But that's over and done with.  New York has a microscopic OF and he'll be fine in LF for them.  On top of which, all those medium depth pop ups he hits in Angels stadium will leave the yard out there.

 

I see Wells being a very good acquisition for the Yanks.  If he somehow hits .250 with 25+ HR, suddenly that 6.5 million a year they are paying him looks like a great deal.  

 

It's just something that needed to happen.  Calhoun's going to fulfill his role as the Angels 4th OF, the Angels will save some money and Wells will get one final shot to be a productive player in perhaps the easiest environment in the world to be a productive hitter, as if it were tailor made for him at this stage in his career. 

[Brent Maguire]

He's made some really good moves and even with the big, potential albatross contracts to Pujols and Hamilton, which are probably more of Arte-based decisions anyways, he's done really well.  HUGE improvement in evert department over Reagins.