Fangraph's article on JC Ramirez

[eaterfan]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jc-ramirez-got-better-as-a-starter/

For those of you that complain about the Angels not getting enough national recognition here is a nice article about JC Ramirez turning into a successful starter.

It's also a nice little article about JC Ramirez turning into a successful starter even if you don't gripe about the lack of attention the Angels get.

[Billy_Ball]

Ramirez is basically a healthy Richards, with his 98 mph fastball and good breaking balls.

[Chuck]

Crossing my fingers on J.C. Ramirez that he's the golden peanut we've all been looking for. 

His fastball and slider are true swing and miss offerings, but he mentally has checked out against some batters in the past. He's been pitching smarter the past two games and we're seeing the results. 

[totdprods]

I've been going to Fangraphs the last few days expecting this article.

Looking real good so far. And being on the right side of 30 and a tall drink of water, he should have the ability to maintain this workload. 

[Angel Oracle]

9 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Crossing my fingers on J.C. Ramirez that he's the golden peanut we've all been looking for. 

His fastball and slider are true swing and miss offerings, but he mentally has checked out against some batters in the past. He's been pitching smarter the past two games and we're seeing the results. 

Could this be what was holding him back in the Reds' org?

[Second Base]

If JC works out as a starter, things are going to be really interesting next year. 

Richards, Heaney, Tropeano, Shoemaker, Ramirez, Meyer, Smith, Banuelos, Scribner, Kipper, Long.....

[nando714]

14 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

If JC works out as a starter, things are going to be really interesting next year. 

Richards, Heaney, Tropeano, Shoemaker, Ramirez, Meyer, Smith, Banuelos, Scribner, Kipper, Long.....

Let's be real. 

[wopphil]

Ramirez turning into a solid starter would be a huge windfall for the Angels (kind of like how Parker appears to be).

[Angelsjunky]

The Angels rotation is like a big bag of Legos that an older cousin gives to you, once he graduated to girls and weed. You dump out the bag and it is a total mess at first. But you start sorting through it, and some order starts emerging, even some special pieces. Maybe a lot of it is crap and should be jettisoned, but hopefully there's enough there to make a nice collection. But it will take a bit of sorting out.

[Adam]

He has gotten lucky. He's hung a bunch of sliders that guys have missed. 

[eaterfan]

9 minutes ago, Adam said:

He has gotten lucky. He's hung a bunch of sliders that guys have missed. 

The article mentions his lack of command... But everyone does that. But everyone throws pitches down the middle. Fangraphs was talking about that. Of the 245 pitches that have been thrown within 3 inches either direction of the center of the strike zone only 4 have been hit for HRs this year. So about 2%. That's not great, but pitchers get away with a lot more than we realize and as the article says having a 97 MPH sinker lets you get away with a lot less command.

[Angel Oracle]

GRich needs to give bullpen work a try, ultimately. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

2 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

If JC works out as a starter, things are going to be really interesting next year. 

Hopefully he will be the 2017 version of the 2014 Shoemaker.

[Make Angels Great Again]

I still say we need to sign a top starting pitcher in the off season regardless. Should be the number one priority.

[Angelsjunky]

Except that next year Tropeano and Heaney will be back, so we're going to have a ton of pitchers already - especially if Richards can get healthy.

[Brent Maguire]

Ramirez has been a pleasant surprise so far. He's maintaining his stuff late into games, which was my biggest concern. He's using the slider to both righties and lefties, he's using a sinking fastball more and he's brought in a nice curveball. That article gives me a little bit of hope for Ramirez moving forward, even though it's still early into the season. 

[Make Angels Great Again]

11 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

Except that next year Tropeano and Heaney will be back, so we're going to have a ton of pitchers already - especially if Richards can get healthy.

 

No guarantee they'll be effective and durable post surgery though. I'd rather sign one of Darvish, Arrieta or Tyson Ross (depending on how he does this year once he returns from injury). That way you have some sense of certainty and quality depth with the rotation. If things turn out well for a change and people are healthy and effective they can trade from a position of strength.

 

Assuming Richards is back you'd have:

Darvish

Richards

Skaggs

Heaney

Tropeano/Shoemaker/Ramirez

 

[totdprods]

57 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

I still say we need to sign a top starting pitcher in the off season regardless. Should be the number one priority.

Pineda is making quite the case. Depending on Richards' health and what Skaggs and Shoe do this year, they may not need an top starter. Those come at such enormous cost these days, and it may prevent them from upgrading elsewhere.

As it stands right now, it's a pipe dream, but I'd like to see an '04-type spree with emphasis on mid-tier types. 

I've read Addison Reed grew up an Angels fan and is local, so I'd nab him for the pen. Moustakas would obviously be the ideal 3B target, but Nunez and even Frazier could be interesting. I think a Valbuena/Marte platoon will be the likely scenario. Darvish, Arrieta, Cueto, Pineda - all interesting options but likely expensive.  Pursuing arms like Cobb, Estrada, Chatwood, Chen, may be more fruitful and shore up the rotation just as well, especially if any internal candidates emerge as TORP types. Outfielders...I'd go hard after Lorenzo Cain, but Melky, CarGo, Grandy, Revere, Maybin, Kim, Dyson, Jay, Martinez - no shortage of interesting stopgap or everyday options depending on how much money we spend elsewhere or how Herm is progressing. Personally, I would still lock up Espinosa for 2B. He should come cheaply being hometown (and not that good) and if he's the weakest link in a lineup featuring the names above, I'm okay with excellent defense and occasional power. His contract wouldn't be too prohibitive to boot or trade or bench when a better option comes along.

Spending on this many FAs seems unlikely given how shrewd Eppler has been, but we will have a lot more payroll to work with and most importantly, we don't eat into the farm. We create depth with what we already have.

[tdawg87]

Sign Arietta pls

[tomsred]

6 hours ago, Adam said:

He has gotten lucky. He's hung a bunch of sliders that guys have missed. 

They usually miss because they weren't expecting him to hang the slider,.....so there.

[ettin]

On 4/27/2017 at 2:39 PM, totdprods said:

Pineda is making quite the case. Depending on Richards' health and what Skaggs and Shoe do this year, they may not need an top starter. Those come at such enormous cost these days, and it may prevent them from upgrading elsewhere.

As it stands right now, it's a pipe dream, but I'd like to see an '04-type spree with emphasis on mid-tier types. 

I've read Addison Reed grew up an Angels fan and is local, so I'd nab him for the pen. Moustakas would obviously be the ideal 3B target, but Nunez and even Frazier could be interesting. I think a Valbuena/Marte platoon will be the likely scenario. Darvish, Arrieta, Cueto, Pineda - all interesting options but likely expensive.  Pursuing arms like Cobb, Estrada, Chatwood, Chen, may be more fruitful and shore up the rotation just as well, especially if any internal candidates emerge as TORP types. Outfielders...I'd go hard after Lorenzo Cain, but Melky, CarGo, Grandy, Revere, Maybin, Kim, Dyson, Jay, Martinez - no shortage of interesting stopgap or everyday options depending on how much money we spend elsewhere or how Herm is progressing. Personally, I would still lock up Espinosa for 2B. He should come cheaply being hometown (and not that good) and if he's the weakest link in a lineup featuring the names above, I'm okay with excellent defense and occasional power. His contract wouldn't be too prohibitive to boot or trade or bench when a better option comes along.

Spending on this many FAs seems unlikely given how shrewd Eppler has been, but we will have a lot more payroll to work with and most importantly, we don't eat into the farm. We create depth with what we already have.

I like Pineda too but you have to temper it with the fact that he wasn't supposed to ever pitch again with the injury he sustained years ago. He looks fantastic but there is some built in higher degree of injury risk here that Eppler would be wise to consider in any decision.

[Fresh Catch Trout]

Fangraphs also called Kevin Gausman an ace in the offseason.