Eppler Summarizes the Season

[TroutBaseball]

Billy was on the Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney.

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=20835397

My notes:

1) they're going to need more pitching help next year.

2) Upton seems to like playing in SoCal

3) Simmons is amazing

 

[Billy_Ball]

1.  Agreed

2.  Hopefully

3.  Agreed

[arch stanton]

Starts around 17:27 mark

[Chuck]

41 minutes ago, TroutBaseball said:

Billy was on the Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney.

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=20835397

My notes:

1) they're going to need more pitching help next year.

2) Upton seems to like playing in SoCal

3) Simmons is amazing

 

Really REALLY hope Upton stays, and I think he will. So I'm super stoked to hear he agrees with me that we need pitching help. We have depth, tons of options, but we need a pretty consistent guy or a top of the rotation starter (1 or 2 guy). 

[Stradling]

It is absolutely crazy that we need pitching help, when our offense was so poor this year.  I think I checked it last night and we were 21st in all of baseball in runs scored, only two American League teams were worse.  

[arch stanton]

14 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Really REALLY hope Upton stays, and I think he will. So I'm super stoked to hear he agrees with me that we need pitching help. We have depth, tons of options, but we need a pretty consistent guy or a top of the rotation starter (1 or 2 guy). 

Eppler talks about quantity saying 7 or 8 going into ST then finding another 3 or 4 along the way. He even mentioned Barria by name

[Angelsfan1984]

We need a no questions asked Ace. If Upton stays then you have to give up some prospects to get it. Sign a middle of the rotation guy and pray peoples arms don't fall off. The problem is also having consistency in the lineup. Can't keep having lineups put together like Scioscia blindfolds himself and throws darts at a board to see where people bat.

[totdprods]

11 minutes ago, Stradling said:

It is absolutely crazy that we need pitching help, when our offense was so poor this year.  I think I checked it last night and we were 21st in all of baseball in runs scored, only two American League teams were worse.  

Can you blame him? We don't have a single SP on the roster who has thrown a full seasons worth of starts in two full years. I don't even know if the whole lot of them have a full 162 games worth of starts between them over the last three years combined. And two of our most effective and heavily used bullpen arms are free agents. 

Both need help, and the old adage that good pitching beats good hitting is still a belief of his.

[tdawg87]

11 minutes ago, Stradling said:

It is absolutely crazy that we need pitching help, when our offense was so poor this year.  I think I checked it last night and we were 21st in all of baseball in runs scored, only two American League teams were worse.  

I look at it this way:

The offense greatly underperformed. 

The pitching greatly overperformed. 

Both of those things are unlikely to happen again. We do need help on the offensive side for sure, but having a full year of Upton should help a great deal. The rotation is literally one gigantic question mark. 

[totdprods]

7 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

Eppler talks about quantity saying 7 or 8 going into ST then finding another 3 or 4 along the way. He even mentioned Barria by name

It's good to hear this. Means he's looking for more Bridwell/Ramirez/Meyer types (cheap arms) and also means he recognizes depth in the rotation will always be important.

Should we wind up with surplus, pitchers are worth a ton in-season.

[nate]

1 minute ago, tdawg87 said:

I look at it this way:

The offense greatly underperformed. 

The pitching greatly overperformed. 

Both of those things are unlikely to happen again. We do need help on the offensive side for sure, but having a full year of Upton should help a great deal. The rotation is literally one gigantic question mark. 

Rule of averages

Also, players, especially pitchers that have injury histories usually get injured again.

[Stradling]

8 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

I look at it this way:

The offense greatly underperformed. 

The pitching greatly overperformed. 

Both of those things are unlikely to happen again. We do need help on the offensive side for sure, but having a full year of Upton should help a great deal. The rotation is literally one gigantic question mark. 

This is such a great point.  I still don't really like going into the season with Cron and Valbuena next year.  Sign Santana and Lawrie and a couple of respectable arms that won't require 5 year contracts.

[tdawg87]

tdawg summarizes the season:

 

[DMVol]

19 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

I look at it this way:

The offense greatly underperformed. 

There can be improvement but maybe not a ton.....Calhoun underperformed for sure but if you look at the other regulars, Maldonado was right about his career average, Valbuena has never been a high average guy (though better than .190), Cron didn't take a step forward and maybe what we're seeing is what we get with him...2b is a mess and we could upgrade there but will they spend the money?  Pujols is probably pretty close to what you're going to get from him, at this point...Upton is huge, need him back badly...

[Docwaukee]

13 minutes ago, Stradling said:

It is absolutely crazy that we need pitching help, when our offense was so poor this year.  I think I checked it last night and we were 21st in all of baseball in runs scored, only two American League teams were worse.  

Angels wRC+ by position and mlb/AL rank

C - 65 (28th, 15th)

1b - 89 (29th, 14th)

2b - 64 (29th, 14th)

3b - 95 (22nd, 13th)

SS - 102 (8th, 6th)

RF - 93 (24th, 13th)

CF - 150 (1st, 1st)

LF - 92 (18th, 10th)

DH - 81 (11th in the AL)

So bad to absolutely horrendous at 7 of 9 spots.  

There is good and bad news here:

the good

- Hopefully Trout doesn't get injured again.  

- 2nd half wRC+ at 1b was 126 when Cron was there full time and got everyday at bats.  Yes he's inconsistent, but he'll carry you for weeks.  

- Same think applies to Valbuena at 3b (which I think happens in 2018).  We crept up to middle of the pack.  

- Getting rid of Espinosa helped.  

- Justin Upton (hopefully we can keep him)

- Simmons is solid and I think he's created a new norm for himself offensively.  

the bad

- Calhoun needs to be better

- Maldonado is a terrible hitter and that's not going anywhere

- Albert Pujols is likely going to get worse and there's nothing that will be done. 

- 2b needs to be addressed.  again.  

 

At the end of the day, the key is going to be keeping Upton, adding a legit 2bman, and getting better performances from existing players like Cron, Valbuena, Calhoun, Albert and Machete.  I could see Albert having slight rebound but Maldonado isn't likely to get any better.  Cron, Valbuena and Calhoun have to be though.  

 

 

[Dick B Back]

24 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

Angels wRC+ by position and mlb/AL rank

C - 65 (28th, 15th)

1b - 89 (29th, 14th)

2b - 64 (29th, 14th)

3b - 95 (22nd, 13th)

SS - 102 (8th, 6th)

RF - 93 (24th, 13th)

CF - 150 (1st, 1st)

LF - 92 (18th, 10th)

DH - 81 (11th in the AL)

So bad to absolutely horrendous at 7 of 9 spots.  

There is good and bad news here:

the good

- Hopefully Trout doesn't get injured again.  

- 2nd half wRC+ at 1b was 126 when Cron was there full time and got everyday at bats.  Yes he's inconsistent, but he'll carry you for weeks.  

- Same think applies to Valbuena at 3b (which I think happens in 2018).  We crept up to middle of the pack.  

- Getting rid of Espinosa helped.  

- Justin Upton (hopefully we can keep him)

- Simmons is solid and I think he's created a new norm for himself offensively.  

the bad

- Calhoun needs to be better

- Maldonado is a terrible hitter and that's not going anywhere

- Albert Pujols is likely going to get worse and there's nothing that will be done. 

- 2b needs to be addressed.  again.  

 

At the end of the day, the key is going to be keeping Upton, adding a legit 2bman, and getting better performances from existing players like Cron, Valbuena, Calhoun, Albert and Machete.  I could see Albert having slight rebound but Maldonado isn't likely to get any better.  Cron, Valbuena and Calhoun have to be though.  

 

 

This pretty much paints the offensive picture for everyone. No need for anyone else to pull their crayons out.

Thanks Doc!

[Angelsjunky]

1. Keep Upton

2. Sign two #3 or better starters 

3. Sign or trade for an average or better 2B and 3B

4. Clean peanut the bullpen again

5. Hope for the best with Cron at 1st

= 85+ wins and a chance at a wildcard

[Angel Oracle]

I'm happy adding Chatwood, Moose, and a lefty reliever; having Upton stay to eventually replace Pujols as DH; wait for Thaiss to become the 1B; and then if necessary trading Skaggs to shore up 2B.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Really REALLY hope Upton stays, and I think he will. So I'm super stoked to hear he agrees with me that we need pitching help. We have depth, tons of options, but we need a pretty consistent guy or a top of the rotation starter (1 or 2 guy). 

Richards if healthy is as good as there is in all of MLB. We need a middle of the rotation inning eater with an under 4 ERA. More than starting pitching we need offense from 2B and 3B next year with the ability to throw accurately to first base.

[Hubs]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

It is absolutely crazy that we need pitching help, when our offense was so poor this year.  I think I checked it last night and we were 21st in all of baseball in runs scored, only two American League teams were worse.  

We were actually the worst but are now 12th. We also are the worst in total bases and that's by a lot. We are 500 bases behind Houston who is first. We have the worst number of hits, and are 13th in triples, 14th in 2b, and 14th in HR.

Offense is clearly the priority in the offseason.

 

[HaloNArizona]

49 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

1. Keep Upton

2. Sign two #3 or better starters 

3. Sign or trade for an average or better 2B and 3B

4. Clean peanut the bullpen again

5. Hope for the best with Cron at 1st

= 85+ wins and a chance at a wildcard

Uptons decision will be huge.  If he stays, than our offense will be better off.

Valbuena is a bench player.  We need a new 3Bman and 2bman.  I would like to see a top of the rotation guy..someone that allows us to move Richards down a peg.

CJ needs to be giving the 1B job and let him run with it.

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, tdawg87 said:

tdawg summarizes the season:

 

Is that guy fucking the door?

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

2 minutes ago, HaloNArizona said:

someone that allows us to move Richards down a peg.

There isn't anyone better than Richards (if Healthy). I feel he will compete for Cy Young next year. He matched Verlander pitch for pitch and if he wasn't on a pitch count we may have won that game. Don't under estimate Richards.

[Hubs]

I like the projected rotation of Richards, Shoemaker, Heaney, Skaggs, and Bridwell/Tropeano. But another solid #3 starter goes a long way. That's what Nolasco was.

I like Blake Parker and Yusmiero Petit, both of whom were signed late and basically out of nowhere.

But the offensive additions in the offseason largely fell flat. Revere was adequate, but not great. Valbuena's average is poor. Espinosa was a disaster and Maybin wasn't very good either.

If they can find a 2B who can give them .700 OPS, that's fine, if they get a slugger in left, and at 3rd or 1st. Should they go get Hosmer, or should they get someone else? Adding Upton and another bat will go a long way, but hopefully Albert and Kole can pick things up as well. We should be able to score more runs, try to get to 820. That will go much further than adding an Ace, who starts every five days. But if they can do both, great!

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, DMVol said:

There can be improvement but maybe not a ton.....Calhoun underperformed for sure but if you look at the other regulars, Maldonado was right about his career average, Valbuena has never been a high average guy (though better than .190), Cron didn't take a step forward and maybe what we're seeing is what we get with him...2b is a mess and we could upgrade there but will they spend the money?  Pujols is probably pretty close to what you're going to get from him, at this point...Upton is huge, need him back badly...

Valbuena had an insanely low BAbip even by his standards. I really like the idea of Valbuena being part of a platoon (though the Cron/Valbuena 1B platoon isn't one of repeat) or a legit power bench bat next year, but I'm not sure I want to rely on him as the full time 3B.