This season sucks so far

[Puget Sound Angel]

But, but, we still have a  winning record!

[VariousCrap]

1 hour ago, OHTANILAND said:

Hearing the same sh*t every year from the post game guys. We’re struggling, scuffling blah blah blah! 

Blow it up already! I don’t care that the clubhouse loves each other. Clean house Eppler! 

Honestly, if you are going to blow this team up, that would mean trading Trout.  Do you do that?

[VariousCrap]

1 hour ago, GrittyVeterans said:

The problem is the bullpen won't be cheap to fix. I don't think we have many guys close to the Majors for those roles. And I'm honestly not sure how many guys in the current group you even bring back for next year...Anderson for sure, Parker maybe, hope Middleton gets healthy at some point next year, maybe Alvarez? The rest of them are probably non-tender candidates at this point.

Going to have to spend some money on it this coming offseason

My complaint is everyone knew the Angels needed to improve the BP this past off-season and Eppler didn't do shit.  That was a huge gamble and he blew it.  It is inexcusable IMO.

[VariousCrap]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

I doubt we’ll ever see Billy Eppler spend much on the bullpen.  It seems to be a philosophical thing with him.  And honestly.  I don’t blame him.  Bullpens are such a shit shoot. 

 

I agree that Eppler seems to be against putting money into the bullpen.  I disagree with his view on this being correct.  This season proves he is wrong.  I don't think you need to spend mad money on the BP, but you do need to invest in it when you don't have the answers within the organization.  Shit, he could have just brought back Petit, Hernandez and Norris and this BP would be so much better than it is.  

[UndertheHalo]

49 minutes ago, VariousCrap said:

 

I agree that Eppler seems to be against putting money into the bullpen.  I disagree with his view on this being correct.  This season proves he is wrong.  I don't think you need to spend mad money on the BP, but you do need to invest in it when you don't have the answers within the organization.  Shit, he could have just brought back Petit, Hernandez and Norris and this BP would be so much better than it is.  

It’s tough, I do agree that the Angels made a mistake basically only bringing on Johnson to replace effective relievers that they lost.  Johnson was obviously viewed a project.  But fact is, he hasn’t been a good pitcher for some time.  I think they had too much faith that he could be fixed.  Definitley a mistake.  But I also get that they had Parker who was great last year and Middleton who they liked a lot.  So I understand not wanting spend money if you believe you have solid back end guys.  They could have brought Norris back cheaply and they should have.  I think the organization has seen enough of Bedrosian to know at this point that he’s unreliable at best.  So, probably another mistake there.  Also, knowing the collective damaged goods that make up our pitching staff.  Eppler probably should have known that having a strong pen would be important.  He left too much of it unknown and it’s worked out badly.  

There is a lot of risk in putting significant money into bullpens tho.  Eppler isn’t completely wrong in his approach.  Also, we gotta remember.  The Angels are trying to plug a lot of holes.  We put a big investment into finally taking care of LF.   We’re one of the higher spending teams.  We can only do what we can do with money.  It’s definitley frustrating.  I really hope we get some positive action here soon.  News on Ohtani, a trade, something.  These last 10 days have been miserable. 

Edited June 19, 2018 by UndertheHalo

[Roy Hobbs]

3 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

It’s tough, I do agree that the Angels made a mistake basically only bringing on Johnson to replace effective relievers that they lost.  But I also get that they had Parker who was great last year and Middleton who they liked a lot.  So I understand wanting to not spend money if you believe you have solid back end guys.  They could have brought Norris back cheaply and they should have.  I think the organization has seen enough of Bedrosian to know at this point that he’s unreliable at best.  So, probably another mistake there.  Also, knowing the collective damaged goods that make up our pitching staff.  Eppler probably should have known that having a strong pen would be important.  He left to much of it unknown and it’s worked out badly.  

There is a lot of risk in putting significant money into bullpens tho.  Eppler isn’t completely wrong in his approach. 

You are right about investing a lot of money in the bullpen being risky.I was just reading about the Rockies bullpen and how they invested a 106 million in three players.Their bullpen has given up 60 runs in 18 days.I think all it shows is there is no right way to do it.It comes down to having the right players and those players playing up to their capabilities no matter how much they make.I do know that this bullpen is unbelievably bad and it is so disheartening when the bullpen comes in.I have no idea what they can do about it.

[Angel Oracle]

Seven losses in eight games

SUCKY!!!!!!

[nando714]

5 hours ago, UndertheHalo said:

I doubt we’ll ever see Billy Eppler spend much on the bullpen.  It seems to be a philosophical thing with him.  And honestly.  I don’t blame him.  Bullpens are such a shit shoot. 

see Colorado. 

At least try though 

Jim Johnson,  that’s it, the only acquisition . The team is about 20-25m under the luxury tax. They could have added a decent 8th inning guy/middle reliever . A guy like Tony Watson is making 3.5m this year 

[bloodbrother]

This is the first season in a few years where I'm upset. I always pictured 2018 being the first real year this team would contend after having to tread water from all the horrendous decisions of 2012-2015 or so. Doesn't look like that'll be the case with them playing well under .500 baseball for majority of the season. Trout's taking his game to another level with each passing year and it still just.doesn't.matter. It sucks

 

 

[Ohtaniland]

Eppler has been a pretty poor buyer with his less than elite veteran player acquisitions. I would like to see how good he is as a seller. 

[bloodbrother]

Eppler's hitting additions so far during his tenure have been....bad

[nando714]

8 hours ago, Puget Sound Angel said:

But, but, we still have a  winning record!

We’re still a “better” team than last season 

 

lol

[Stradling]

Just now, nando714 said:

We’re still a “better” team than last season 

 

lol

Yes.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, nando714 said:

We’re still a “better” team than last season 

 

lol

I know you will just laugh it off, but this year the offense is 13% better than last year and the pitching is 6% better than last year.  We also are winning more games, so yea, we are better.  

What is funny is if we got hot and won 90 games you would still say we aren’t any better.  

[Jason]

I remember before the season started there was plenty of talk on these boards about the bullpen and concerns with it. None of us should be surprised what is happening as we saw it coming. The hot start was just a little cock tease. 

[Torridd]

9 hours ago, Dochalo said:

I feel like I'm going insane.  Repeating the same thing over and over about how bad the bullpen has been.  I just can't believe this was allowed to happen for a team that is supposed to contend.  It seemed so obvious.  

It was going okay with Middleton and it seems management made the decision to try to fix it in-house. You have to wonder how long they're going to continue the experiment.

[Torridd]

7 hours ago, VariousCrap said:

 

I agree that Eppler seems to be against putting money into the bullpen.  I disagree with his view on this being correct.  This season proves he is wrong.  I don't think you need to spend mad money on the BP, but you do need to invest in it when you don't have the answers within the organization.  Shit, he could have just brought back Petit, Hernandez and Norris and this BP would be so much better than it is.  

In Eppler's defense, Middleton had things pretty much in hand and then he got hurt. 

[Ohtaniland]

8 hours ago, VariousCrap said:

Honestly, if you are going to blow this team up, that would mean trading Trout.  Do you do that?

I’m not really seeing a need to worry about Trout. He’s going to do what he wants to do regardless of what the team does. They gave him that authority. I find it extremely difficult to believe that they can get this team to an elite level in the next 18-24 months. Mike Trout has been very coy about his future.  The team should always be prepared to resort to plan B at any given time. Never let one player bring an entire franchise to its knees. 

[Angel Oracle]

6 minutes ago, Torridd said:

In Eppler's defense, Middleton had things pretty much in hand and then he got hurt. 

I’m still leery of Middleton due to his heat lacking enough movement.   The true test for him, down the road, is when batters make adjustments on him.   Can he adjust?

[Stradling]

15 minutes ago, Jason said:

I remember before the season started there was plenty of talk on these boards about the bullpen and concerns with it. None of us should be surprised what is happening as we saw it coming. The hot start was just a little cock tease. 

And the hot start was the offense just killing it and disguising a bad bullpen.  

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, bloodbrother said:

Eppler's hitting additions so far during his tenure have been....bad

Upton and Ohtani are fine, Ohtani’s injury notwithstanding.

None of Eppler’s other position player acquisitions has been very good.   Is it him, or does this org need new MLB scouts?   

Fletcher, Ward, Thaiss, Rengifo, Adell, Jones, Marsh, et al will hopefully supply enough offense and defense as the Pujols’, Kinsler’s, Cozart’s, Calhoun’s et al are phased out over these next 1.5 seasons.

[fan_since79]

I heard Terry say last night that the Angels have used more pitchers at this stage in the season than any other year in their history.

I think he said 25 pitchers. The most the Angels have used in the first 73 games.

That's not a positive indicator for a playoff bound team.

[nando714]

24 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

What is funny is if we got hot and won 90 games you would still say we aren’t any better.  

We’re not. 

[Stradling]

Just now, nando714 said:

We’re not. 

Yea, facts aren’t your strength.  

[VariousCrap]

2 hours ago, Torridd said:

In Eppler's defense, Middleton had things pretty much in hand and then he got hurt. 

 

This BP needs more than just Middleton, but I do agree things would be better with him.