Angels sign Cliff Pennington to 2 year deal

[Tyler]

I like it. Should be a useful bench player.

[Ohtaniland]

Lol we sign a utility infielder and all of a sudden we can't afford high priced free agents even after Moreno has said the luxury tax isn't an issue for the right player. I would expect a premier left fielder, a second baseman, a starter, and a bullpen arm. The front office is pretty aware of our needs

 

Let's see if Arte takes care of YOUR expectations. I personally think that we already have a competitive team and a GM with a vision. 

[tdawg87]

Let's see if Arte takes care of YOUR expectations. I personally think that we already have a competitive team and a GM with a vision.

I am about 99.8% sure you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

[arch stanton]

Maybe this will push Gia to work on his D so he doesn't have to watch the 9th inning on the bench next to Cron and Freese.

[Ohtaniland]

I am about 99.8% sure you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Well we missed the playoffs by one game last season. We have Trout, Pujols, Simmons, Calhoun, Cron and a good young pitching staff. I believe that we have a solid GM that will work hard to build a winner. I'm not saying that Arte won't sign a high cost player but it won't disappoint me if he doesn't.

[TroutField]

Let's see if Arte takes care of YOUR expectations. I personally think that we already have a competitive team and a GM with a vision.

You're obviously trolling, there is no way we go into 2016 without addressing 2nd or 3rd, left field, and the bullpen. They are glaring holes, I'm confident the FO is going to grab a premier left fielder. And if they may even have to improve the rotation if they plan on making the playoffs (which they should because they have Mike Trout on the team)

[greginpsca]

Math was never my best subject

So , you're a Sabermetrition by trade?

[NorCal Halo]

As for Pennington, it's clear that Eppler is putting a premium on run prevention.

 

So let me be the first to welcome Jason Heyward to the Angels.

I would say it is Mike (aka Mr. Fungo Bat) who is emphasizing defense, and it is the GM who is fulfilling his whishes.  I think this bodes well for the Angels.

[Troll Daddy]

I don't know much about Pennington but is he better than our current options on 2nd and 3rd?

Edited November 18, 2015 by Troll Daddy

[dimitrig]

Championship is secured!!!

[Troll Daddy]

I like what Eppler is doing. He's filling in the gaps without handing out rediculas contracts.

I somewhat agree with you ... I think will kick tires on the big names but the bidding might get crazy ridiculous. I would love to get a player like Heyward ... 10 yrs/200M is stupid money.

Personally, I would go after Gordon. I don't see that happening either. I also like Fister as a under the radar player. He's a buy low/high reward type player.

[totdprods]

I hope Cliffy is the deciding factor in at least one game against the A's this year. That alone would make this deal that much sweeter.

[Glen]

No, that was shitty reporting. He actually died.

I loled.

[Angel Oracle]

Great defensive player, can play both SS and 2B.

Blue Jays fan at work really liked him and wanted to re-sign him from what he saw.

And also play a little corner OF and 3B as needed.

[Angel Oracle]

Math was never my best subject

Just avoid the new, new math.

That is a joke next to the normal math.

[Stradling]

Just avoid the new, new math.

That is a joke next to the normal math.

So ignore pitchers WAR, got it.

[Angel Oracle]

That was Chad.

This is his twin brother Cliff

So, it wasn't the Chad?

[Second Base]

If you think the Angels are already competitive going into next year without any major signings, I'd caution that it really doesn't work like that. Your team has to get better just to stay competitive because that's what the rest of the league is doing.

Texas will get Darvish back, which is a huge boost and they'll be a player for a couple big FA. Odor is coming into his own and you never know with Profar.

Seattle is making a thousand small moves and you know Dipoto can build on a budget. He's a smart GM.

Houston is young and already has the makings of a powerhouse. What happens as they all mature closer to and enter their prime? They're also inexpensive and the owner and GM are looking to spend.

Oakland won't be good next year, but like always, they'll come out of nowhere the year after.

So yes, the Angels need to make some major moves just to keep pace.

[Homebrewer]

It ain't the mid 90's, early 2000's AL West, anymore.

[Ohtaniland]

If you think the Angels are already competitive going into next year without any major signings, I'd caution that it really doesn't work like that. Your team has to get better just to stay competitive because that's what the rest of the league is doing.

Texas will get Darvish back, which is a huge boost and they'll be a player for a couple big FA. Odor is coming into his own and you never know with Profar.

Seattle is making a thousand small moves and you know Dipoto can build on a budget. He's a smart GM.

Houston is young and already has the makings of a powerhouse. What happens as they all mature closer to and enter their prime? They're also inexpensive and the owner and GM are looking to spend.

Oakland won't be good next year, but like always, they'll come out of nowhere the year after.

So yes, the Angels need to make some major moves just to keep pace.

Is the current lack of championship talent directly related to the lack of production by our highest paid players? You can see that 2/3 of the budget is for Weaver, Wilson, Pujols and Texas Hamilton so is that why Arte now needs to dig deeper to stay competitive?

[Homebrewer]

^^^^^^^^

Yep, unfortunately.

[Docwaukee]

Is the current lack of championship talent directly related to the lack of production by our highest paid players? You can see that 2/3 of the budget is for Weaver, Wilson, Pujols and Texas Hamilton so is that why Arte now needs to dig deeper to stay competitive?

I think it's reasonable to expect a decline in production from guys like weaver and wilson considering they are in the last years of their deals.  Pujols is overpaid and has never produced commensurate with his salary yet he is still at least fairly productive when you don't consider what he used to be which is frankly no longer relevant.  

 

The Hamilton deal is a disaster that was propagated by Arte himself.  It's basically left the biggest hole on the team so I think it's on Arte to allow it to be fixed.  

 

So the net production we are going to get from our highest paid players not named Mike Trout are only really a problem because of Hamilton.....because of Arte.  

 

The other issue is opportunity.  You have Mike Trout who makes a .500 team into a playoff contender so you don't need all stars all over to be competitive.  You have a 5 year window and you have to take it or you might as well not even have him.  

 

The second issue related to opportunity is related to resources.  How can you make this team better?  You just used your two best farm pieces to upgrade SS for the next 5 years which is great but now you have other holes to fill with essentially no farm system, no international money and no foreign scouting presence.  

 

The real lack of production comes more as a result of a poor farm system.  The reason for that is multi-factorial as we know and it's unlikely to be fixed any time soon.  

 

So you can pull from your major league roster in areas of depth and you can sign free agents.  

 

I think any GM can throw the owners money at players.  That's not exactly cardiac brain surgery.  Pulling off some creative trades is a little more nuanced but also very market contingent meaning that you might get a marginal increase in value of who you traded for relative to what you gave up, but finding a Jake Arrieta is extremely rare.  

 

The real litmus test is what happens with our farm system over the next five years.

 

Eppler is gonna make the team competitive this year and probably for the next few.  But in five years will there be a new crop of young replacements or will we be the phillies and let Trout walk. Ironically, to the phillies.  

[tomsred]

Scioscia-speak knick-names are gonna be hard with this one..

 

Cliffy

Penny

 

nah...

 

He can always take up the Madden approach, and call him CP, akin to Kris Bryant (KB).  We have a problem though when it comes to CJ since we have two - so I guess it would be CJT (CJ Tall), and CJS (CJ Short).

[tomsred]

If I were Arte I would ignore completely the factor of Hamilton's salary, just write it off in his mind anyway.  So for team purposes he has the current gap between where team salary currently stands and the luxury tax limit + Hamilton's salary.  I would tell Eppler he has approximately $50M to spend for the entire year (including the trade deadline in July).  And if I were Eppler I would try to cram as much as possible into $35M now, and keep about $15M in reserve for July if needed.

 

So it comes down to what Eppler thinks are the most desperate holes to fill with the $35M.  The more holes you identify to fill now, the more dilutive the individual signings become.  For example he could fill 8 holes at an average AAV of $4+M each, or 4 holes at an average AAV of $8+M, or 2 holes of $18M each.  I know it's a little more complicated than that, because Arte will want to back load the contracts so they esculate through the length of the contracts.  Therefore Arte should be giving Eppler a number limit for the entirety of all the contracts to be given out as well.

 

I would hold at least $10M-$15M in reserve for July, because that is when he might really need an ace starter, or something else, due to injuries or non-performance.

 

So far I think Eppler is doing great, he's not rushing into shuffling personnel around, including his own staff.  There is no reason to panic about any of this.  He has moved on two players that I would call very cost effective signings, seem to be great character guys, and who fill areas of real need during the next couple of years.  I don't think this team will get completely fixed this year, but I think Eppler will keep them competitive.  In the meantime we need to significantly improve our farm and scouting systems over the next several years.

 

I also like that he's making his moves by keeping his mouth shut, maintaining a low profile, and just plain getting on with the task.  He doesn't have to telegraph anything.  When we get to April 1, 2016, I think there will be plenty to be optimistic about.

Edited November 18, 2015 by tomsred

[Lou]

Well we missed the playoffs by one game last season. We have Trout, Pujols, Simmons, Calhoun, Cron and a good young pitching staff. I believe that we have a solid GM that will work hard to build a winner. I'm not saying that Arte won't sign a high cost player but it won't disappoint me if he doesn't.

strange comment seeing how you spent the entire season telling us how terrible we were.