Cespedes signs with the Mets

[Stradling]

In a way im kinda wishing Mike Trout wouldnt have signed that extension. Not because I dont want him to spend his entire career as an Angel, but because it might give Arte and his goons some incentive to actually improve the team and go all in for a championship. Id be very surprised if Trout isnt upset with this Angels front office. Unfortunately for him, hes stuck here for 5 years raking in millions of dollars in revenue for Arte. If I were him, id have waited on that extension, see what kind of moves Arte does to improve the team. and make it clear that I would leave if nothing is done.

He was offered $150 million years before free agency. He couldn't turn that down, he has to protect himself against injuries. Also while Arte is cashing in on Trout, it's not like Trout is getting paid like some half rate citizen. He's getting on average $20+ million a year. He'll be fine.

[Inside Pitch]

we are back in the 90s fellow fans

 

No, we drafted better in the 90s.   

[gotbeer]

Watch, we sign Fowler.  I don't think Chuck has enough bandwidth in that scenario.

[Ohtaniland]

Watch, we sign Fowler.  I don't think Chuck has enough bandwidth in that scenario.

 

We can't afford him either.

[wopphil]

Watch, we sign Fowler. I don't think Chuck has enough bandwidth in that scenario.

Fowler is a good player. I'd be fine with him for something like 3/36-3/40.

[mulwin444]

I know that next years class is awful. The real reason we should have signed someone this year.

Bad timing this season. He was firm that he wasn't going over tax threshold so this isn't a surprise.

Spending like idiot hasn't worked since '09, so they are finally reevaluating how to invest their resources. Smart move, if they've truly learned from it.

[mulwin444]

He was offered $150 million years before free agency. He couldn't turn that down, he has to protect himself against injuries. Also while Arte is cashing in on Trout, it's not like Trout is getting paid like some half rate citizen. He's getting on average $20+ million a year. He'll be fine.

Trout was paid well and that contract will get torn up and replaced with a long term deal before he hits free agency

Edited January 23, 2016 by mulwin444

[Stradling]

Bad timing this season. He was firm that he wasn't going over tax threshold so this isn't a surprise.

Spending like idiot hasn't worked since '09, so they are finally reevaluating how to invest their resources. Smart move, if they've truly learned from it.

Cool, then invest in minor leagues and scouting. Invest more in Dominican facilities. Outwork other teams in those areas and for ****sake, find some position players in the draft that are worth something.

[Stradling]

Trout was paid well and that contract will get torn up and replaced with a long term deal before he hits free agency

Yep. Arte should probably do that soon.

[mulwin444]

Cool, then invest in minor leagues and scouting. Invest more in Dominican facilities. Outwork other teams in those areas and for ****sake, find some position players in the draft that are worth something.

Time will obviously tell on that one. That's indeed where they should be investing.

[gotbeer]

Fowler is a good player. I'd be fine with him for something like 3/36-3/40.

 

Even with losing the #16ish pick?

[QuinlansMinion]

He was offered $150 million years before free agency. He couldn't turn that down, he has to protect himself against injuries. Also while Arte is cashing in on Trout, it's not like Trout is getting paid like some half rate citizen. He's getting on average $20+ million a year. He'll be fine.

Guess if I was him I would have asked for a player option whenever he becomes eligible for free agency.  Opt outs seem to be the cool trend in MLB these days.  

[mulwin444]

Do you guys remember the '90's? Hahaha...we're nowhere near that bad. We had guys like Pat Rapp, Jeff Juden, and Tim Belcher starting for us for F sake. We had the '95 collapse with a team full of bats and a mediocre pitching staff and '98 and '99 where we briefly scared TEX for about 10 minutes.

[mulwin444]

Yeah, shame he didn't ask for it then could have escaped all those millions and that nice SoCal weather

[Stradling]

Guess if I was him I would have asked for a player option whenever he becomes eligible for free agency. Opt outs seem to be the cool trend in MLB these days.

Yea, there is no way that a team will sign a player pre free agency to a long term deal and include an opt out when his free agency years start. That is a contract that literally makes no sense. Opt outs are going to be something the owners discuss in the next labor agreements.

[bloodbrother]

Finally a few folks can stop the wishful thinking. Arte's comments were quite clear a month back. Certainly hope they don't bother with Fowler...he won't offer much moving from hitters parks to a more pitcher friendly one

 

I'm actually not upset that they showed zero interest in Cespedes....he was the main OFer of the bunch I wanted the least. The real missed opportunity was not getting Heyward or Upton. Oh well, just have to deal with them having no LFer for the next 2 seasons. Could be worse though, I could be watching them have no LFer for the next 2 seasons all the while having to pay $20+ million for it. No wonder Arte has checked out

[Docwaukee]

The front office can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit.  This is ownership driven.  The decision to acquire Simmons specifically was probably Eppler and his staff yet the philosophy to use the teams resources for 2016-2020 improvements is ownership driven.  

 

Eppler and his staff's true worth is tied to a few things:

1.  How does he use his resources ie money and/or players.  So far it's a wait and see, but on the surface he's shown a propensity to give up more than he needs to for what he wants.  No way to know that for sure, but just my estimation.

2.  Is the mlb team better than what he started with.  Yes, more than likely, but at what cost.

3.  Is the farm better than when he started.  No, it's worse, but the net value to the org is likely the same.  

4.  How is he improving the availability of resources to the org?  Well, money is ownership driven so he's had no influence on this front.  He's yet to see a draft as of yet.  To me, that's where he needs to be an absolute difference maker.  

5.  What is he pulling off the scrap heap?  A more important factor for any gms than people realize.  He's made it clear that it's something he thinks he's good at.  We shall see.  

[seenoevil]

**** you!!!

[bloodbrother]

One of the best FA classes in years and the Angels had to bow out due to prior bad commitments. Ouch

[wopphil]

Even with losing the #16ish pick?

Yes. The last three years:

Fowler - OPS+ 110 with a .361 OBP.

Cespedes - OPS+ 118 with a .309 OBP.

If you can get Fowler for half the price, he'd be a steal.

[bloodbrother]

Fowler would require the Angels to go over the threshold. You think they'll do that when they wouldn't even do that for much better players who were available? Makes no sense at all

 

Arte made everything loud and clear for fans. This offseason is done minus a few other minor league pickups here or there. Only way they'll be able to afford Fowler is if they find a suitor for CJ Wilson and eat $10 mill or so on the rest of his contract

 

The bright side of this offseason was that we now know for a fact what the limit is for Arte and this teams payroll. The threshold will act as their spending limit from here on forward so Eppler and Co. will need to do a better job when it comes to handing out big money to FA's in the coming years. They aren't going to be able to sign player after player and stacking money on top of money. The Pujols contract is the only ugly long-term deal they have going forward, but this season and next is when they need to just get by with what they have due to the mistakes Arte and his men made in the years prior

 

The big money guys didn't deliver them a single playoff win in the past 6 years and there's a good chance that won't change this upcoming season. Time to wash their hands of it and start anew when they're finally off the books. CJ and Weav are gone after this year, and thankfully Hamilton will be erased from the books the following year. Here's hoping this current regime is better at figuring out which guys to give big money to or else we'll see a similar pattern play out another 5 years from now

Edited January 23, 2016 by bloodbrother

[Chuck]

Yes. The last three years:

Fowler - OPS+ 110 with a .361 OBP.

Cespedes - OPS+ 118 with a .309 OBP.

If you can get Fowler for half the price, he'd be a steal.

I said a month ago that I'd be happy with Fowler.

Escobar

Fowler

Trout

Pujols

Calhoun

Choi/From

Simmons

Perez

Giavotella

A nice starting pitching staff.

Bring on 2016.

Honestly I've moved on from signing a big FA bat after the Arte comments. I believe if anything we'll trade an arm and more for a LF big bat.

[ten ocho recon scout]

This is pretty ridiculous. I totally get the fact we have spent poorly, and need to watch what we spend...then again, you have an owner who was more than willing to take on wells' contract, eat hamilton's, and only 3 years ago signed a media deal that took care of the team salary basically.

This is a joke. Gonna waste trout like we wasted vlad. Curse of the 27 jersey.

At least we can finally call up those shit tons of good prospects weve been hording...

[bloodbrother]

You heard Arte, it's about economics

[ScottT]

I was wrong.  I was pretty sure the Angels would get one of the top four free agent outfielders.   You know, because they have a top five? local television contract... and because left field was a gaping hole.  Silly me.