Angels out on big LF FA

[bloodbrother]

Maybe Pujols retires in like 2 years. He said his goal is to help this team win a WS. This is the best way he can help them going forward. We can only hope

Edited December 17, 2015 by bloodbrother

[Warren]

What's really screwed up is Arte has created this situation. They've gone extremely low profile on international signings, they fired the guy who drafted extremely well, and have traded away all the prospects. So for all Arte has done owning this team they are left with a bottom three farm system, a dead contract in Hamilton that Arte wanted and then forced him to go, and an aging Pujols contract that is already an albatross. I was upset they signed Hamilton in the first place but I was even more upset that they traded him for nothing. At the very least they could have done a Hamilton for Choo deal and the money would've been the same but nope. It's just bad decisions after bad decisions. The dude is still riding the credit for lowering beer prices. But otherwise he's been a terrible owner.

[GrittyVeterans]

Also, I don't see 4 million under budget as a bad thing.  Heck, I cold fix this team and save us money right now. 

 

1. Trade CJ and Santiago for a 2B and a RP.

2. Trade Andrelton Simmons for a LF and a couple prospects.  Play another defensive specialist at SS like Pennington.

 

There you go, now we have a 2B, now we have a middle reliever, now we have a LF, and now we have prospects.  Was that so freakin' hard?  I'll go into more detail later. 

 

You gotta be kidding me

 

Dipoto, Stoneman, Eppler, hell even Reagins are not the problem with this team and never have been. It's the inept owner that micro-manages everything and has no vision except catering to the fat man in the dugout that is the problem with this franchise.

 

Mediocrity doesn't get you anywhere, and your solution of having Pennington at SS doesn't get you more than mediocrity. Neither does your mediocre fantasy reliever and 2B that Santiago and Wilson (making 18 million dollars) would bring us

[Angel Oracle]

Arte Moreno is the Olympia Gold of MLB owners.

He is giving Loria a run for his money now.

 

This ain't the advertising industry, Arte Moreno.

You don't know JACK about baseball, yet you want control over all decisions?

What are you?   A megalomaniac????

Edited December 17, 2015 by Angel Oracle

[GrittyVeterans]

4th might be a stretch... Sea and Oak got better, we regressed.... we wont get another 40 HR season out of Pujols so... yeah, if we dont finish last with this roster ill be shocked

 

I think we're heading back to the dark times of the 90s when Trout leaves w/ Arte running the ship and the state of our minor league system. Hope I'm wrong obviously, but there is just no plan seemingly

[tdawg87]

Just remembered the Angels had a platoon of Murphy and Cowgill in left for the last couple months of the season. That's not really any worse than Gentry/Nava.

[bloodbrother]

Just another thing that makes no sense with this team/management. So now we know that the luxury tax threshold stands as the limit for this team's collective payroll and that Arte simply will not go over it no matter what. This means they can't be shelling out big contracts to 3-4 guys if they want to fill a competent roster out. What's a good way to fill a roster with good talent that doesn't cost a ton of money? Oh yeah, by drafting/developing good young players under club control. Sure is a good thing they have NONE of that in their farm system

Edited December 17, 2015 by bloodbrother

[UndertheHalo]

I guess its fair enough if they just don't see these guys as worthy of large long term investment.  They were gonna have to start a refresh at some point.  I guess here goes.  Things can go right and the team could still be OK.  Perhaps good enough to get into the playoffs somehow.  Do you guys think we were potentially a championship club with Heyward/Cespedes/Upton/Gordon ?  I think thats up for debate.  Probably not though.  Maybe they can get something done with the Reds and get Jay Bruce.  

 

What is really confusing though is the Escobar acquisition.  I can get with the Simmons move.  He's a young, proven major league guy with some potential upside.  We cashed in a prospect for him.  I can understand the thinking.  But Escobar literally defines a win now move.  They have to know that the platoon thing with 2 extremely marginal fringe players like Nava and Gentry is not gonna work.   In any case, we need to move CJ Wilson and Santiago, collect whatever talent you can get and see how the team and the market develop.  They also need to let guys like Cowart, Kubitza, Tropeano, and Skaggs have a real shot so we can see what we have.  Who cares about Escobar at this point.  Put him at 2b and who gives a shit.  

[Richard]

Just remembered the Angels had a platoon of Murphy and Cowgill in left for the last couple months of the season. That's not really any worse than Gentry/Nava.

 

 

They were consistently starting Victorino too in critical games. 

 

Shanf in Sept: .185./.290/.222

Edited December 17, 2015 by Richard

[Second Base]

It's ok everybody, because Andrelton Simmons is our SS.

[GrittyVeterans]

Just remembered the Angels had a platoon of Murphy and Cowgill in left for the last couple months of the season. That's not really any worse than Gentry/Nava.

 

Gentry has been embarrassingly bad the last two years. Expecting him to be anything more than a defensive specialist/pinch runner is a recipe for being mediocre. 

 

He's another Victorino if Victorino was 4 years younger and never great at baseball at one point in his career

 

Nava was terrible last year and should be seen as a reclamation project to see if he can get back to .340-.350 OBP territory. Again, leaning on him to take 500 at bats is embarrassing

 

Long story short: I agree, LF is unmitigated disaster that is going to be just as pathetic as last year and even worse than when Hamilton/Wells were running around out there

[Troll Daddy]

I don't remember Arte saying our off season is done. I was on the Gordon train but guess I'll be getting off now. I don't blame him for not wanting to sign a $100M plus contract.

Personally, I like every move Eppler has made so far. Getting Andrelton is exciting ... he's a lot more than just a defensive specialist.

This is currently a much better 25 man team. I think will be seeing more moves as ST closes in on us. If Gia is still our 2nd baseman I will be disappointed. A new LF player may still on the horizon.

No need to PANIC just yet

[TroutField]

The Simmons trade is a major wtf moment right now. If you're not going to spend trade Trout. Don't waste the best player in baseball's prime years.

[laagamer]

Please don't.

 

I'd pay money not to read that

 

You gotta be kidding me

 

Dipoto, Stoneman, Eppler, hell even Reagins are not the problem with this team and never have been. It's the inept owner that micro-manages everything and has no vision except catering to the fat man in the dugout that is the problem with this franchise.

 

Mediocrity doesn't get you anywhere, and your solution of having Pennington at SS doesn't get you more than mediocrity. Neither does your mediocre fantasy reliever and 2B that Santiago and Wilson (making 18 million dollars) would bring us

 

I like you. You're going places kid. 

Edited December 17, 2015 by laagamer

[laagamer]

Arte Moreno is the Jerry Jones of baseball.

 

Get your ass out of FO decisions and maybe your team wouldn't be so shitty all the time. 

[tdawg87]

Hi my name is Arte Moreno and welcome to Jackass.

 

*puts on goggles*

*gets in shopping cart*

*aggressively refuses to go over the luxury tax to improve his baseball team*

*Jackass theme song plays*

[Ohtaniland]

Well Calzone hat's off to you, you were right and I was wrong. Although I knew this was a possible outcome and stated that up front I never thought the Angels would piss away even one of Trout's controllable years. This makes the Simmons trade even stranger to me now because he is a win now player added to a borderline win now team. Not continuing the process of adding win now players just marginalizes the team for 2016 if they don't execute any more trades (which will be hard to do anyway without assets to trade).I am very disappointed that Arte, who ate millions in the Hamilton trade, wasn't willing to eat another $5MM-7MM in 2016 to bring in a win now FA LF.

I still think that we will be a competitive team. Eppler will fix it but needs more time. As fans we have to hang in there and give his plan a chance.

[laagamer]

I just pissed a little T

[Adam]

Gay

[Ohtaniland]

But Tyler Skaggs can't wait.

[Second Base]

Ok so check this out.  

 

Would you trade Andrelton Simmons, Daniel Nava, Johnny Giavotella and Hector Santiago for Andre Ethier (plus 15 million), Micah Johnson (look him up), Martin Prado, Cliff Pennington and Tony Watson.

 

If not, your LF is Nava, your SS is Simmons, your 2B is Giavotella and you have too much pitching and too many holes. 

 

If you do, you have a LF and middle of the order bat, you have a 2B and front of the order bat, you still have a defensive specialist at SS, and now you have an elite RP to lock down the bullpen. 

 

Are you seeing where I'm going with this yet?  As currently constructed, we don't have a LF, we have a light-hitting defensive specialist at SS, we have the worst defensive 2B in MLB, we have no bullpen depth and 8 SP.  After we'd have a great lineup, a better bullpen, better defense and just as good of a rotation. 

 

That's the difference between having Simmons and not having him.  Mediocrity as you would call it, or the playoffs, as I would call it. 

[TroutField]

We all invest so much time and money into this organization and Moreno does this shit? I refuse to spend a dime on this team until Moreno shows me that he is dedicated to winning. Every other team throws money around like its no big deal but Arte gets gun shy and throws up a big middle finger to his fan base and major league team.

[Warren]

I still think that we will be a competitive team. Eppler will fix it but needs more time. As fans we have to hang in there and give his plan a chance.

 

Shoot I've been a fan since the late 70's. Yeah I'm annoyed right now and no I won't be throwing ANY money at the team in any way but I still love this team. I also wish we didn't have a crap ton of bad contract dollars as part of the cap numbers, but w/e. Go angels lol.

[Cdaniel]

Ok so check this out.

Would you trade Andrelton Simmons, Daniel Nava, Johnny Giavotella and Hector Santiago for Andre Ethier (plus 15 million), Micah Johnson (look him up), Martin Prado, Cliff Pennington and Tony Watson.

If not, your LF is Nava, your SS is Simmons, your 2B is Giavotella and you have too much pitching and too many holes.

If you do, you have a LF and middle of the order bat, you have a 2B and front of the order bat, you still have a defensive specialist at SS, and now you have an elite RP to lock down the bullpen.

Are you seeing where I'm going with this yet? As currently constructed, we don't have a LF, we have a light-hitting defensive specialist at SS, we have the worst defensive 2B in MLB, we have no bullpen depth and 8 SP. After we'd have a great lineup, a better bullpen, better defense and just as good of a rotation.

That's the difference between having Simmons and not having him. Mediocrity as you would call it, or the playoffs, as I would call it.

Why would the Dodgers do that when they have Seager?

[fan_since79]

Heck, who needs offense anyway? It should be an exciting race for third place next year.

 

Maybe we'll get to the World Series before I'm ninety. I'm willing to wait.