Why not start the offseason now?

[Ohtaniland]

This season is toast so they should just start making some bold moves now that will benefit the future rather than trying to salvage 2018. 

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

Unfortunately this opinion is seen as trolling even though it's the only thing that makes sense. 

Which is made evident by the fact his post wasn’t marked as trolling.  

[Ohtaniland]

26 minutes ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

Unfortunately this opinion is seen as trolling even though it's the only thing that makes sense. 

Well I’m just saying F the standings. We had a lot of bad luck this season so let’s just start building for next season and beyond. Forget about chasing the Mariners this season. Eppler should just fold earlier than normal and get a head start on the future. There are players on the current roster that are not part of the long term plan anyway so start moving them. Why wait?

[Troll Daddy]

58 minutes ago, OHTANILAND said:

This season is toast so they should just start making some bold moves now that will benefit the future rather than trying to salvage 2018. 

3 million is why not

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

Unfortunately this opinion is seen as trolling even though it's the only thing that makes sense. 

There was nothing wrong with Claude's post. I'm not sure what you're talking about. 

[wopphil]

What moves can we reasonably make? Who can we trade? Kinsler or Richards are the only real trade chips, and neither would bring back much.

I do, however, think they need to give Ward and Thaiss a shot. Call them up, give them each 200 at bats, and see if they can be counted on for next year. Of course that won't happen because it would mean fewer at bats for Mang, but it's what should happen.

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

There was nothing wrong with Claude's post. I'm not sure what you're talking about. 

He thinks that talking about throwing this season is going to cause guys like me to tell him he is a quitter. 

[GrittyVeterans]

It’s definitely time to stop playing old guys and start calling younger guys up to see what they can do. Fletcher should play everyday, Thaiss should be brought up and played against righties. Fernandez/Ward should be seeing at bats over Valbuena

[Blarg]

8 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

He thinks that talking about throwing this season is going to cause guys like me to tell him he is a quitter. 

This is not about you.

It was not ever about you until your last post.

It's still not about you.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, Blarg said:

This is not about you.

It was not ever about you until your last post.

It's still not about you.

OK thanks Blarg.   I'll assume it is about you then.  I hope you are doing well.  

[WeatherWonk]

24 minutes ago, Blarg said:

This is not about you.

It was not ever about you until your last post.

It's still not about you.

Well, it coulda been about him, only 48 hours ago. But even his optimism is being tested.

[Stradling]

25 minutes ago, Blarg said:

This is not about you.

It was not ever about you until your last post.

It's still not about you.

By the way, he marked my post with a trophy.  My guess is I was probably right, even if it wasn't about me.  

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

Well, it coulda been about him, only 48 hours ago. But even his optimism is being tested.

I'll never be pessimistic, it just isn't in my nature.  This bullpen is awful so it isn't easy to be optimistic.  I still don't think Seattle is any good.  They won't win their playoff game.  Boston will win the division and the Yankees will play Seattle in NY.  So as long as Big Maple doesn't have a game for the ages, NY will probably play Houston or Boston.  

[WeatherWonk]

Sometimes optimism gives way to realism for me. 

Optimism can be cool, or the mark of a fool.

These are general statements. I dont know you personally, to know if you are a fool.

[Angel Oracle]

I still like the idea of Pujols, Thaiss, and Ohtani sharing 1B/DH in 2019.    80 DH starts for Ohtani (assuming back to pitching then), 80 DH starts and 40 1B starts for Pujols, and 120 1B starts for Thaiss.  That hopefully eases Pujols into retirement after 2019.   It's not that hard to spread out $59 million over 10 years (2020-2029), the same 10 years his personal services contract would be in effect for. 

[CanadianHalo]

It’s too bad that outside of Milwaukee and Arizona that none of the playoff teams need a shortstop.

I’d be willing to listen on Simmons for the right price if we got back a couple very solid prospects to help fill holes. 

It’d open up the shortstop position and I’d make Machado a priority in free agency to pair with Trout for possibly his final 2 years. This way if Trout leaves, Arte still has a superstar he can market, in Machado.

Seeing what the Rangers got in return for Darvish last year doesn’t give me much hope we’d get much for Richards. 

However, all of this is pretty whatever if the Angels aren’t willing to deal with the literal elephant in the room in Pujols. I just don’t think this team can contend with Pujols being in the middle of the lineup everyday. I’d really like to see them sit Pujols asap and call up Thiass.

This isn’t a very easy/cheap roster to clean up, we really need some young guys who are under control to step up.

[Torridd]

It's too early for that.

[totdprods]

31 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

It’s too bad that outside of Milwaukee and Arizona that none of the playoff teams need a shortstop.I’d be willing to listen on Simmons for the right price if we got back a couple very solid prospects to help fill holes. It’d open up the shortstop position and I’d make Machado a priority in free agency to pair with Trout for possibly his final 2 years. This way if Trout leaves, Arte still has a superstar he can market, in Machado.

Seeing what the Rangers got in return for Darvish last year doesn’t give me much hope we’d get much for Richards. 

I'd think Milwaukee could dangle anything as good as Keston Hiura (who is sort of comparable to the Darvish return, an all-hit, no-glove 2B in Willie Calhoun) but being that he's their #1, they'd probably hesitate a bit - that said, someone like Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, or even Eric Thames or Jonathan Villar could maybe be in play. I'd gladly take any one of those for a 1/2 season of Richards. Maybe the Cubs dangle Zagunis or something...we may not get much for Richards, but we'd get something at least interesting - which could help free up someone like Hermosillo, Fletcher, Ward, Suarez, or Thaiss in a separate trade elsewhere for another long-term piece. If we had Brett Phillips in the fold, I'd feel a lot better rolling the dice on a Jones/Marsh/Herm inclusion in a deal.

I loathe the idea of Simmons not being an Angel for the rest of his career but I do agree that if there was a time to consider dealing him, it'd be now. They could add a massive amount of talent to the 2019-2025 Angels, which is increasingly looking like a fun, talented team, and there's sufficient in-house options at SS - no one will ever match Simmons, but Cozart and Fletcher could hold it down everyday. Or hell, like you said, sign Machado in the offseason, and you'd have a couple shiny new prospects for the rotation or infield, freeing up other prospects for an ace SP trade.

[mulwin444]

15 hours ago, OHTANILAND said:

This season is toast so they should just start making some bold moves now that will benefit the future rather than trying to salvage 2018. 

I'm sure that's what Eppler is looking into right now.  Since I haven't seen any "WTF?!" trade rumors involving Angels prospects and rental vets, I'm going to assume he's still looking at opportunities but won't be trading Joe Adell for Wade Davis anytime soon.