Jerry Dipoto Radio Interview: “Why fix something that’s not broken?�

[Brandon]

Agreed with him.

For position players you might be able to marginally get better, but greatly over pay which we are not in a position to do so.

We need a front line starter, but the going rate for the couple are absurd.

I think a couple people in this thread forget we lost in the playoffs to the hottest team who were 90 feet away from extras in game 7 for a title. In those games against the Royals we lost two games in extras, which could have gone either way, and if Richards hadn't gone down then game 3 is likely very different.

You can improve without overhauling as some seem to want to do.

The team will already be solid next year. Nothing dramatic needs to happen.

[ten ocho recon scout]

One thing about the 2003 team, we lost a decent chunk of the core of it to injury. Off the top of my head glaus and erstad, and i want to say salmon all missed a considerable amount of time in the sexond half. And inrememner fullmer blowing out his acl during the summer

[MVTrout]

As fun as it is to sign a shiny new free agent, it's gonna cost Arte way too much and that's the last thing this franchise needs right now...another 7+ year / $150+ million albatross contract!

[DMVol]

Everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room here.....if indeed Arte has told DiPoto he doesn't want to go over the luxury tax limit, as most seem to think, what do you expect him to say?  Geez, I'd like to improve the team but my owner is tapped out and we'll just have to go with what we have....the only option DiPoto has to potentially upgrade is to trade exsisting players and their salaries and fill in holes elsewhere, like starting pitching....hence the Kendrick and CJ rumors...

Edited December 9, 2014 by DMVol

[Reveille1984]

We were 40-41 against teams over .500 in baseball.

 

Only five teams in baseball had a winning record against >.500 teams, and two of them were Seattle and Oakland.  This stat literally means nothing.

[MVTrout]

Besides (and maybe I'm in the minority) Lester, Shields and Scherzer really don't impress me! (when taking the ridiculous numbers being thrown out into consideration)

[Docwaukee]

this is about marginal cost.  what level of improvement do you get by spending x in players or money or both over what you already have.

 

you can call it whatever you want, but their has to be an assignment of currency to a player, and I am sure that every team has their own.  WAR, RAR, etc.  Whatever metric or combination thereof gives the team a way to value each player not just in terms of wins or runs, but the relative cost of those wins/runs and the cost to upgrade or what the cost of downgrade is as well.  

 

but at the end of the day, it's not just about $/win but about total wins.  The marlins had a great $/win ratio last year and the dodgers was probably not very good.  

 

Does John Lester at 25mil per provide enough value over Nick Tropeano who essentially costs you nothing to justify adding Lester and displacing Tropeano from the rotation?  Not a chance

 

But making the playoffs is binary.  Either you do or you don't.  So getting to that level is the key.  

 

You had a 98 win team in 2014, and to construct a roster for 2015, you have to make certain assumptions ie you have to bracket value on each of your players, look at the market and decide whether certain additions and/or subtractions add up to the number that gets you there.  The closer you get, the more it costs you to get even more.  

 

It's Jerry's job to decide when it's enough and I think he is telling us that he thinks it already is.  

[Reveille1984]

Lester is the only high profile FA I see being remotely worth what they'll get, which is why the competition for him is so high.

[Tyler]

this is about marginal cost.  what level of improvement do you get by spending x in players or money or both over what you already have.

 

you can call it whatever you want, but their has to be an assignment of currency to a player, and I am sure that every team has their own.  WAR, RAR, etc.  Whatever metric or combination thereof gives the team a way to value each player not just in terms of wins or runs, but the relative cost of those wins/runs and the cost to upgrade or what the cost of downgrade is as well.  

 

but at the end of the day, it's not just about $/win but about total wins.  The marlins had a great $/win ratio last year and the dodgers was probably not very good.  

 

Does John Lester at 25mil per provide enough value over Nick Tropeano who essentially costs you nothing to justify adding Lester and displacing Tropeano from the rotation?  Not a chance

 

But making the playoffs is binary.  Either you do or you don't.  So getting to that level is the key.  

 

You had a 98 win team in 2014, and to construct a roster for 2015, you have to make certain assumptions ie you have to bracket value on each of your players, look at the market and decide whether certain additions and/or subtractions add up to the number that gets you there.  The closer you get, the more it costs you to get even more.  

 

It's Jerry's job to decide when it's enough and I think he is telling us that he thinks it already is.  

 

trades#

[Reveille1984]

this is about marginal cost.  what level of improvement do you get by spending x in players or money or both over what you already have.

 

you can call it whatever you want, but their has to be an assignment of currency to a player, and I am sure that every team has their own.  WAR, RAR, etc.  Whatever metric or combination thereof gives the team a way to value each player not just in terms of wins or runs, but the relative cost of those wins/runs and the cost to upgrade or what the cost of downgrade is as well.  

 

but at the end of the day, it's not just about $/win but about total wins.  The marlins had a great $/win ratio last year and the dodgers was probably not very good.  

 

Does John Lester at 25mil per provide enough value over Nick Tropeano who essentially costs you nothing to justify adding Lester and displacing Tropeano from the rotation?  Not a chance

 

But making the playoffs is binary.  Either you do or you don't.  So getting to that level is the key.  

 

You had a 98 win team in 2014, and to construct a roster for 2015, you have to make certain assumptions ie you have to bracket value on each of your players, look at the market and decide whether certain additions and/or subtractions add up to the number that gets you there.  The closer you get, the more it costs you to get even more.  

 

It's Jerry's job to decide when it's enough and I think he is telling us that he thinks it already is.  

 

Good post.  It doesn't help that we're handcuffed by the contracts of guys like Hamilton, Wilson and Pujols for a while as well.  Like you iterated, at a certain point you start hitting diminishing returns and the risk/reward of adding more and more $20M+ a year players just isn't advisable.  Especially with how few of them provide commesurate value.

[DMVol]

Good post.  It doesn't help that we're handcuffed by the contracts of guys like Hamilton, Wilson and Pujols for a while as well.  Like you iterated, at a certain point you start hitting diminishing returns and the risk/reward of adding more and more $20M+ a year players just isn't advisable.  Especially with how few of them provide commesurate value.

Not really interested in adding any more $20M per year guys....but I wouldn't mind adding a couple of modestly priced FA's...unfortunately, since we are somewhat handcuffed by bad contracts (as you say) and a weak farm system, trades seem to be the route to add any help this year....

[RallyMo]

We were 40-41 against teams over .500 in baseball.

 

I don't think this means what you think it means.

[AngelsLakersFan]

Aren't we still paying a lot to Vernon Wells this year? 

[ukyah]

i don't like this thread and i don't like dipoto's comment.

 

you're either getting better or you're getting worse. i believe that wholeheartedly. now, because of this, i have to go to the gym.

 

thanks obama dipoto!!!

[Angelsjunky]

I can understand where Jerry's coming from. The team won 98 games last year and aren't losing any significant players and in fact picked up a decent rotation piece in Nick Tropeano.

 

That said, regression is possible in a few areas: Shoemaker and Richards, for instance. I'm not saying they will regress, but there's a solid chance they will. But some of that can be made up for by a stronger performance from Wilson and a less erratic Santiago.

 

In terms of hitting, I can only see them get better. Even if a few players have worse years in 2015, a few might have better.

 

As for improving the team by replacing Hamilton and Wilson, don't forget that Hamilton was actually overall decent. Not great, but he was "average or better." Wilson was good for the first half or so (through mid-June), then absolutely sucked for a couple months, then evened out a bit and wasn't great at the end but was decent. Hopefully he will improve significantly or, at worst, be a solid innings eater.

 

Anyhow, going back to Dipoto's statement, while there is always room for improvement, the only way the Angels could really noticeably improve is to bring in a star-caliber player - a Lester, Scherzer, or Shields, or maybe Chase Headley. But all of those options would simply cost too much at this point. I think all that is necessary are tweaks, barring of course a potential Howie trade for a young starter.

[laagamer]

You guys are hilarious. 

[Troll Daddy]

Wilson and Hamilton had a crappy season ... now get over it! It's not the end of the world. They're important pieces to the team and seasoned veterans. I could easily see them bouncing back and helping the team to another division title.

[tdawg87]

Keep telling people to "get over it". It will make people take you more seriously and women will love you.

[bloodbrother]

Aren't we still paying a lot to Vernon Wells this year? 

 

No. They are finally free from that abysmal contract. Now they have Josh Hamilton's to take his place, though

[Chuck]

Players could regress, some players who were less than spectacular (see C.J. Wilson and Hamilton) can improve their production, some players who were good in 2014 could be great in 2015.

 

I too see where Dipoto is coming from. Plus, we get a solid bullpen for the entire season, right out of the gate. 

[bloodbrother]

If you aren't getting better you're getting worse. They don't need to do anything drastic but I'd like to see them add another quality starter. I just don't trust CJ returning to form

[Blarg]

Oddly the only players that seems to suffer from regression are on the Angels and the rest of the league is completely immune.

[Chuck]

Just because it's the winter meetings doesn't mean we need to do something, just because. 

 

If we can shore of the bench, I'll be happy. All reports are that Richards will begin the season in the rotation. 

 

Weaver, Richards, Shoemaker, Wilson & one of Tropeano, Rasmus, Santiago is not bad headed into 2015. Our bullpen is good to go and we'll have Cron as our DH instead of Ibanez, who like our bullpen for the first 8-10 weeks last season was awful. 

 

I couldn't be happier with the team as it stands coming off a 98 win season, when you factor in the first 6-10 weeks of the season and the last two weeks of the season. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

I can mostly agree with dipoto, but still want another starter.and in all honesty i agree with scottymwah that we need another quality one, not another depth one (though a mid rotstion arm would be great).

Im with chick tht the bench needs to be addressed, and wouldnt mind at least kicking the tires on a DH. Cron/green could do fine there, but id still like to see if a bonafide improvement (within reason/cost) is out there

[bloodbrother]

Jack Cust is probably available