Ian Kinsler

[IheartLA]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/02/23/veterans-turn-young-players-going-too-far-little-alarming/98308700/

“I really think clubs are using the age number to their advantage – which if you ask me, being 34, is a little ridiculous,” says Kinsler, whose .831 OPS ranked fourth among AL second basemen in 2016. “I feel like I can play this game for a long time and be extremely productive. But they have risk evaluators determining how healthy guys have been in the past, they try to put a number on what you’re worth, and basically predict that you’re going to decline.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/is-it-time-to-worry-about-ian-kinsler/

These articles are from 2 years ago but they predicted Kinsler's decline to a T. 34 seems to be the age where 2B's careers head south like a cliff, which isn't that unsimilar to other positions to be fair. 34 was also Kinsler's last great season. Now about to be 36, it's not looking too good for him. This offseason Chase Utley was the only player that exclusively plays 2B to sign a big league deal.

Brandon Phillips, Espinosa, Walker...

With Hernandez, LeMahieu, Dozier all available, a lot of spots on contending teams at 2B are already filled up by young, controllable players. Kinsler will be looking at a minor league deal at best this offseason, I would grab a rental at the deadline if he keeps this up. There's too many good 2B out there to put up with this.

[Jason]

Definitely time to put a fork in him 

[JustATroutFan]

Hindsight is 20/20. Good news for Kinsler is that he'll play at Coors Field for the next 2 games. Just need to find a way to use it to his benefit.

[Troll Daddy]

I’m not worried 

[Jason]

3 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

I’m not worried 

In all seriousness, what are your expectations of him from this point?

[Warfarin]

A poor start so far, but the year has only started.  Let's give it some more time.  Fortunately we gave up very little to get him, and likewise, he's only signed for this year.  A low-risk gamble for us overall.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

In all seriousness, what are your expectations of him from this point?

You will not get an actual expectation as it relates to stats, he will say something vague, like contribute to our championship run.  

 

[Jason]

1 minute ago, Warfarin said:

A poor start so far, but the year has only started.  Let's give it some more time.  Fortunately we gave up very little to get him, and likewise, he's only signed for this year.  A low-risk gamble for us overall.

This is true but he is an aging veteran with diminishing skills. Older players that are past their prime don't just magically go on a tear and perform like they did 5 years ago. He has an ops of .562. IMO opinion he no longer has the ability to turn that around much. Maybe a little but not enough to justify playing every day. 

[Ohtaniland]

http://www.angelswin-forum.com/forums/topic/34462-kinsler/

[Warfarin]

3 minutes ago, Jason said:

This is true but he is an aging veteran with diminishing skills. Older players that are past their prime don't just magically go on a tear and perform like they did 5 years ago. He has an ops of .562. IMO opinion he no longer has the ability to turn that around much. Maybe a little but not enough to justify playing every day. 

If he continues to perform poorly, we can always cut bait as the season goes on and roll with some internal options.  I'm not saying we are committed to him for the year.  It was a low-risk gamble by Eppler, but one that hasn't really been paying off unfortunately.

[Rico]

Part of me is happy he is struggling because I just don't like that dude. 

[Troll Daddy]

25 minutes ago, SuperTroopers said:

You will not get an actual expectation as it relates to stats, he will say something vague, like contribute to our championship run.  

 

Why would I say anything else but that ... I’ve been around the game to long to say anything different. 

[UndertheHalo]

It was a dumpster dive.  The Angels declined to pay the big price for Hernandez knowing the 2018 FA class was coming.  Kinsler being mediocre at the plate was entirely predictable.  What earthly reason would there be for him bouncing back this season ? How many people were making the argument that he wasn’t great at the dish last year because he wasn’t into it or whatever bullshit.  Silliness.

I still think he’ll end up being acceptable relative to what we’ve had.  The bar is incredibly low.  From what I’ve seen, he’s had a bit of bad luck.  He’s hit some balls hard that eventually are going to start dropping.  I doubt he cracks .240 with the BA.  If he gets on base and gives us good AB’s it’s fine for this year.   The defense is obviously good.  He runs well.   I was impressed with his AB today before the Trout HR.  He just put the bat on the shoulder and took the walk.  That’s what we need him to do. 

Edited May 7, 2018 by UndertheHalo

[GrittyVeterans]

The Kinsler at leadoff experiment has to end. Time to either put Cozart back there or give Simmons a shot at it. Hell, try Ohtani there...

I'm fine with Kinsler being in the lineup for his glove but we do not want him getting the most at bats this season

[Sherlock31]

If you can only hit around .200 batting in front of Trout , you probably don't belong in this league anymore...

[IheartLA]

It was July 28 that Eppler acquired Victorino/Murphy/Dejesus to replace Matt Joyce in 2015. He released Espinosa on July 20 of last year when he wasn't cutting it. 

Kinsler is negative WAR right now and it isn't all too different from last year. I fully expect Eppler to evaluate all areas of the team come trade deadline. Bullpen, 2B, RF. 

He's shown he will be flexible if there is a move to be made.

[UndertheHalo]

Just now, IheartLA said:

It was July 28 that Eppler acquired Victorino/Murphy/Dejesus to replace Matt Joyce in 2015. He released Espinosa on July 20 of last year when he wasn't cutting it. 

Kinsler is negative WAR right now and it isn't all too different from last year. I fully expect Eppler to evaluate all areas of the team come trade deadline. Bullpen, 2B, RF. 

He's shown he will be flexible if there is a move to be made.

It wasn’t Eppler.  It was what was left of the Dipotto regime rubber stamped by Bill Stoneman. 

[IheartLA]

4 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

It wasn’t Eppler.  It was what was left of the Dipotto regime rubber stamped by Bill Stoneman. 

yea, you are right. Eppler was hired Oct 2015. It was the previous regime for the 2015 trades.

but the point is that most likely Kinsler has till the trade deadline, mid July'ish, to show that he's going to be the 2B down the stretch.

[Jason]

47 minutes ago, Rico said:

Part of me is happy he is struggling because I just don't like that dude. 

I'm about to tell him to "get the f*** off our field

[Blarg]

He needs to join Camp Calhoun on the bench .

[Jason]

Just now, Blarg said:

He needs to join Camp Calhoun on the bench .

I wish I got paid vacation days for sucking at my job

[fan_since79]

1 hour ago, Troll Daddy said:

I’m not worried 

You never are. Everything is fine and dandy...always.

[fan_since79]

15 minutes ago, BackUpTheTruck said:

We should put Cozart at second and put Marte/Valbuena at third until one of those players is batting below .198 for the season like Kinsler is right now. Cozart leads off.

Nothing to argue with there.

Good post.

[Jason]

16 minutes ago, BackUpTheTruck said:

We should put Cozart at second and put Marte/Valbuena at third until one of those players is batting below .198 for the season like Kinsler is right now. Cozart leads off.

The offense did very well at the beginning of the season when Cozart was leading off. It wouldn't hurt

[Stradling]

11 minutes ago, Jason said:

I wish I got paid vacation days for sucking at my job

You don’t get vacation days?  That sucks.