Predict the Moves

[Blarg]

4 minutes ago, OHTANILAND said:

So are they now trying to get a sack of Cheetos for Kole Calhoun?

Calhoun isn't 38 and there isn't a Mike Trout in the minors to replace him. So logic states try and get something out of him since Calhoun's defense is an important part of the Angels success.

He's been benched, he may be DL'ed with, as Lou alluded, a "hamstring injury" to get him time to get his shit together.

It's epiphany time for Kole. 

[101halo]

4 hours ago, Warfarin said:

https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-los-angeles-angels/

As you can see, most of are relievers are out of options unfortunately.  The ones who do have options (Middleton, Anderson) are pitching well and won't be optioned.  Thus, we are basically limited to rotating Morris and Paredes.  We can also, of course, use phantom 10-day DL stints to help rotate relievers, too

While I think it was unintentional, you touched on what I hadn't realized was a non-insignificant flaw in Eppler's roster construction. This many unproven pitchers, and so little flexibility? I still love Eppler, but think it's worth acknowledging inefficiencies as they become apparent. Because of course he reads this and uses our completely unbiased analysis to improve his future decision making processes.

[Ohtaniland]

12 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Calhoun isn't 38 and there isn't a Mike Trout in the minors to replace him. So logic states try and get something out of him since Calhoun's defense is an important part of the Angels success.

He's been benched, he may be DL'ed with, as Lou alluded, a "hamstring injury" to get him time to get his shit together.

It's epiphany time for Kole. 

But Sosh did trade Napoli for the love of Mathis. 

[101halo]

1 minute ago, OHTANILAND said:

But Sosh did trade Napoli for the love of Mathis. 

As much as the Mathis over Napoli thing infuriated me at the time, the fact that Mathis still to this day gets regular jobs and has pitchers rave about him means we as fans don't see everything, I think. And catcher is more of a defense first position than anywhere else on the diamond. 

[Warfarin]

8 hours ago, 101halo said:

While I think it was unintentional, you touched on what I hadn't realized was a non-insignificant flaw in Eppler's roster construction. This many unproven pitchers, and so little flexibility? I still love Eppler, but think it's worth acknowledging inefficiencies as they become apparent. Because of course he reads this and uses our completely unbiased analysis to improve his future decision making processes.

Yeah, it's a great point, but I think of it more as Eppler just having to work with some of the players he inherited.  A lot of those guys are from the past regime, and we weren't really properly developing talent in the minors under Dipoto, so we don't really have a ton of capable relief talent ready to step in and take over.

I wish we had found a way to keep Luke Bard aboard.  I do think this might have been a mistake by Eppler.  The kid had talent and, after his rule 5 year, would have had 3 options too.  Alas, I feel part of the reason he was jettisoned was because we had too many pitchers without options that we couldn't do anything with, other than a DFA.

Here's hoping our development team can help some of our minor leaguers make a leap like Justin Anderson did.  Anderson is going to have some bad outings as he adjusts (like he did on Saturday), but the talent is undeniable.  Our bullpen needs just one or two more of those kinds of leaps, and I think we'll be in a very good place if that were to occur.

If you were to ask me about roster construction and the bullpen, in an ideal world, you'd probably have around 4-5 mainstays, and the rest (2-3 in the majors, 2-3 in the minors) have options and can be shuttled back and forth between the MLB and AAA depending on performances and specific matchup situations.  For example, in most circumstances, you'd have two lefties in the pen, but if you are facing a left-handed dominant offense, maybe you call up a third lefty specifically for that series, then send him back down after the game.  Or if you're facing a team with a ton of power hitters?  Call up the ground ball specialist and use him.  Etc...

Creating bullpens is fascinating, and it's an area we need to continue to improve upon.

[stormngt]

8 hours ago, 101halo said:

As much as the Mathis over Napoli thing infuriated me at the time, the fact that Mathis still to this day gets regular jobs and has pitchers rave about him means we as fans don't see everything, I think. And catcher is more of a defense first position than anywhere else on the diamond. 

I was saying that in 2010 and everyone called me a troll!

[totdprods]

@Warfarin some of it though is Eppler's proclivity for nabbing DFA arms that actually wind up turning things around with the Angels. They come into the org without flexibility and we happen to fix them.

Bright side is they're really starting to prove that they know what they're doing finding these arms. We haven't even had a chance to really see Pena, Almonte, Diaz, Morris yet.

[Chuck]

Shoot! I just realized that we won't be seeing Ohtani in this series outside of pinch hitting. Boo

Looks like he'll just DH on Thurs & Fri and pitch on Sunday. 

[Warfarin]

5 minutes ago, totdprods said:

@Warfarin some of it though is Eppler's proclivity for nabbing DFA arms that actually wind up turning things around with the Angels. They come into the org without flexibility and we happen to fix them.

Bright side is they're really starting to prove that they know what they're doing finding these arms. We haven't even had a chance to really see Pena, Almonte, Diaz, Morris yet.

This is true, and it's a good point.  I am curious to see how some of the aforementioned arms look in the end.  Morris so far hasn't look good, but we just got him, so maybe if he's given more time  in AAA, our development team can help him become a useful middle relief arm.

I think Almonte has mainly been hurt.  Pena looks like they're trying to make him into a starter at this point?

[Warfarin]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

Shoot! I just realized that we won't be seeing Ohtani in this series outside of pinch hitting. Boo

Looks like he'll just DH on Thurs & Fri and pitch on Sunday. 

Two pinch hitting opportunities in Coors means two chances to see prodigious, tape-measure homers from our stud rookie

[Chuck]

8 hours ago, 101halo said:

As much as the Mathis over Napoli thing infuriated me at the time, the fact that Mathis still to this day gets regular jobs and has pitchers rave about him means we as fans don't see everything, I think. And catcher is more of a defense first position than anywhere else on the diamond. 

Napoli liked to party a bit too much. 

There was a few times that he was slated to catch and he showed up to the ballpark still hungover, Sosh benched him.

[stormngt]

17 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Napoli liked to party a bit too much. 

There was a few times that he was slated to catch and he showed up to the ballpark still hungover, Sosh benched him.

That was a tidbit that was unknown at the time.  No wonder they got rid of him.  Still doesn't excuse the trash we traded for.

[Blarg]

46 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Shoot! I just realized that we won't be seeing Ohtani in this series outside of pinch hitting. Boo

Looks like he'll just DH on Thurs & Fri and pitch on Sunday. 

Now, fast forward to the World Series and how much of an impact that seven game series is without his bat. 

[Warfarin]

16 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Now, fast forward to the World Series and how much of an impact that seven game series is without his bat. 

I’m going to guess if we actually reached the WS this year, then you’ll see him play the outfield.  May not be pretty, but they’ll ensure his bat is in the lineup as much as possible.  Rules are meant to be broken come playoff time 

[Dick B Back]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Shoot! I just realized that we won't be seeing Ohtani in this series outside of pinch hitting. Boo

Looks like he'll just DH on Thurs & Fri and pitch on Sunday. 

That’s why he gets paid MLB minimum.