Which way do you want Eppler to go?

[TroutField]

All this talk about the Angels being buyers or sellers and blah blah blah. Here's the reality, Trout should be back in a few weeks, Bedrock just came back, and Skaggs is almost back. Richards should be back at some point in the second half, and Heaney may be able to help in the stretch run. We are a .500 team that can't seem to be consistent enough to get an extended win streak going. 

 

What do you personally want Eppler to do? Stay put and hope for the best? Add a bat or maybe a starter? Or sell off a few parts and get ready for next year? 

[Brandon]

i like when he goes both ways

[GrittyVeterans]

I'd prefer the blah blah blah approach rather than being Buyers or Sellers

[ettin]

1 hour ago, TroutField said:

All this talk about the Angels being buyers or sellers and blah blah blah. Here's the reality, Trout should be back in a few weeks, Bedrock just came back, and Skaggs is almost back. Richards should be back at some point in the second half, and Heaney may be able to help in the stretch run. We are a .500 team that can't seem to be consistent enough to get an extended win streak going. 

 

What do you personally want Eppler to do? Stay put and hope for the best? Add a bat or maybe a starter? Or sell off a few parts and get ready for next year? 

This is literally what the Trade Deadline Series will be about so I'll reserve my answers until I publish the rest of the articles but it is a valid question.

[Angelsjunky]

Why don't you tell us, @TroutField?

But to answer your question: it is too soon to say. The team is 37-37 with 88 games left. A modest 48-40 (.545) record gets them 85 wins and possibly a wildcard berth. But the problem is that there are 11 teams vying for one wildcard spot, all within a few games of each other (the Yankees, Red Sox, Astros and Indians are probable playoff teams). It is a quite unusual situation. Eppler has to do decide whether it is worth it to try to find a way to separate from the pack. The most important component to doing that is a healthy Trout, as well as Richards and Skaggs.

So if I'm Eppler, I'm not making any decisions until Trout and Skaggs are back and healthy, and it is clear what Richards' timetable is. Couple that with the likelihood that the wildcard pack will start breaking up in the next few weeks, and we should have a better idea of things in a few weeks - but probably not until around the All-Star Break.

[WeatherWonk]

Even on the EXTREMELY remote chance this team happened to be a WC team, we wont make it past the ALDS. Another disappointment for Trout.

Priority #1 for this organization should be to position themselves to be a serious contender no later than 2019, in order to have any chance at getting Trout to re-sign. Simmons is also gone after 2020, and, as he has only played for mediocre Atlanta and Angel teams, he will want to be on a contender;  after having already earned about 50 million in his career.

Get what you can for Escobar. Maybe even Calhoun, who's numbers over the last two years are becoming very replaceable.

And hope that some of these injured pitchers can make it back sometime in 2018. I have my doubts, though.

Let Eppler have a shot at FA signings with the Hamilton money. We need another bat in the Trout-Pujols mix.

[arch stanton]

What I don't want them to do is make decisions in the 3rd week of June that should be made in the 4th week of July. I'm sure he has a plan I just hope he sticks to it

[tomsred]

Arch is right, making a decision today based on current information is the wrong thing to do.  They need to be focused on trying to survive the Wild Card race until key players return (if they do), then the decision will be made on a better basis.  I am convinced Eppler has a plan, he been the best GM we have had in quite a while, since Stoneman anyway.

[WeatherWonk]

 

I just dont see this team being a realistic contender this year, in mid-June or late July. Too many holes. Both WC teams will come from the AL East. BOS, NYY and even TB will finish ahead of us. So, likely, will KC and TEX. CLE is about to run away with the AL Cent, IMO.

Injuries can change all that, but I see more talent on at least 7 other teams in the AL.

[Rico]

If we are still in contention 3-4 weeks from now, I'd like us to land a left handed bat.  We don't have the prospects to get in a bidding war for an ace starting pitcher, but a rental first baseman could be had.  Someone like Eric Hosmer, Yonder Alonso, Matt Adams, or Lucas Duda.

Even if it's unlikely we can beat anyone in a series, I'd still like to give Trout and the rest of the team a taste of a wild card chase and hopefully playoff baseball.

[arch stanton]

I think they still hope that Valbuena can be that lefty bat. He's more likely to look at any sort of 2B that can hit his weight and a starter with a track record of making his start every fifth day

[Stradling]

The only way I would want us to buy is if there's another Simmons type of trade available, but those trades don't happen at the deadline.  I also wouldn't have an issue with a change of scenery type trade, Cron for someone that hasn't put it together but has talent.  

In reality for me it comes down to what you're offered for your pieces.  If you don't get future major league players, and you're still within striking distance stand pat.  

None of these decisions should be made for at least four weeks.  At that point we might have a better indication of the health of some players.  

[nate]

I still want him to sell.  While this team is surprisingly better than I expected, especially when you consider the injuries, the pitching becomes a liability when you get to the playoffs, so even if by some miracle they make it as a wildcard, getting much further would be a gigantic upset.

 

Angels have a lot of money freeing up this off season, the true rebuild commences then.

[Stradling]

I'd be all aboard team sell if I thought:

a: we had pieces to trade that would actually bring back useful pieces

b: if we hadn't seen totally mediocre teams get hot and make deep runs in the playoffs. 

[WeatherWonk]

I cant recall any mediocre teams that got hot and made a deep run. I DO recall underachieving teams with REAL talent (particulary pitching) that finally put it together at the end of the year. The Royals and the Giants come to mind. Good pitching and good defense. I dont think we qualify in either category. 

Probably the most consistent trait of the last several teams that made it to the LCS in both leagues is a lights-out bullpen. Cubs, Indians, Giants, Red Sox. Mets were an exception to this, but they had such solid starting pitching.

We are far from that, right now. We really have no bonafide #1 or 2 starter. We have no lights-out closer. We have little to trade for them and the gain will not put us in the top seven in the AL, IMO.

[DMVol]

16 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

I cant recall any mediocre teams that got hot and made a deep run....

2006 Cardinals....Jeff Weaver was their ace (after we cut him loose)....worst record of any team to win a World Series...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_St._Louis_Cardinals_season

[Ohtaniland]

The fact that we are kicking the tires on Fister is a clear indication that a Greinke type acquisition is not going to happen. 

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, DMVol said:

2006 Cardinals....Jeff Weaver was their ace (after we cut him loose)....worst record of any team to win a World Series...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_St._Louis_Cardinals_season

Yep.  

[stormngt]

6 hours ago, WeatherWonk said:

Even on the EXTREMELY remote chance this team happened to be a WC team, we wont make it past the ALDS. Another disappointment for Trout.

Priority #1 for this organization should be to position themselves to be a serious contender no later than 2019, in order to have any chance at getting Trout to re-sign. Simmons is also gone after 2020, and, as he has only played for mediocre Atlanta and Angel teams, he will want to be on a contender;  after having already earned about 50 million in his career.

Get what you can for Escobar. Maybe even Calhoun, who's numbers over the last two years are becoming very replaceable.

And hope that some of these injured pitchers can make it back sometime in 2018. I have my doubts, though.

Let Eppler have a shot at FA signings with the Hamilton money. We need another bat in the Trout-Pujols mix.

Let me get this straight?  You would sacrifice a wild card this year in the hopes of getting players that would help us compete next year.

[AngelsLakersFan]

7 hours ago, WeatherWonk said:

Maybe even Calhoun, who's numbers over the last two years are becoming very replaceable.

In 2016 and 2017 Calhoun has more war than Angels left fielders combined have had since the start of the 2014 season.

[Taylor]

Since the Angels won last night, I want him to buy. But if they lose tonight, I'll want him to sell again. But then, if they win tomorrow, I'll want him to buy again.

[Second Base]

Eppler will go lateral, neither buying or selling. He'll merely redistribute strengths to shore up weaknesses.

Like trading a RP or two for a prospect in AAA that can hold down 2B for the next 5 years.

[zenmaster]

As long as Artie sells I'll be happy.

[DMVol]

17 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

....Like trading a RP or two for a prospect in AAA that can hold down 2B for the next 5 years....

You're not going to find a 5 year solution at 2b for any RP other than Bedrosian....

[zenmaster]

9 minutes ago, DMVol said:

You're not going to find a 5 year solution at 2b for any RP other than Bedrosian....

Make it so.