Pujols to have bone spurs removed from his elbow

[Angel Oracle]

That's okay, they can play him 30-40 games at 1B, and be a regular PH.    That's still a decent way to go out.

Okay, maybe they only throw in $5 million of the $87 million.   He really doesn't have a place here anymore, what with all of the injuries that he's had and not by being 39 in 2019.

These two new injuries this season are basically the last straw.

Pride is one thing.   Albert Pujols is now just being stubborn, if he can't see that the Halos need another option in his place.   He may be Mike Trout's mentor, but even Mike Trout has to understand that MLB has very few, if any, 39 year-old regulars.  

[yk9001]

This franchise......

[Chuck]

I hope our next manager is an analytic guy like Gabe Kapler (minus the douchebaggery) that will play the best player in the org at each position rather than penciling in a guy because he's making a lot of money, and a former superstar who's trying to chase milestones. 

[hangin n wangin]

25 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

That's okay, they can play him 30-40 games at 1B, and be a regular PH.    That's still a decent way to go out.

Okay, maybe they only throw in $5 million of the $87 million.   He really doesn't have a place here anymore, what with all of the injuries that he's had and not by being 39 in 2019.

These two new injuries this season are basically the last straw.

They should be. But that remains to be seen. 

This franchise hasn't displayed any signs whatsoever that it will be. They have been enablers to this situation.

Such an annoying situation...and it's even more glorified when the team is playing like shit.

If Pujols is anything more than a bench bat next year, that is utter incompetence from the organization.

No other way to put it really.

[mtangelsfan]

29 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I hope our next manager is an analytic guy like Gabe Kapler (minus the douchebaggery) that will play the best player in the org at each position rather than penciling in a guy because he's making a lot of money, and a former superstar who's trying to chase milestones. 

So the idea is that Sosh does what he wants and dismisses what Eppler and Arte want?  Or is Sosh doing what Eppler and Arte want?

[Troll Daddy]

The Angels have to go outside of the organization if their looking for a better option at 1B.  If not, it will be Pujols job to lose no matter who the next manager is next season. 

 

[Adam]

636 DOUBLES!

[Jeff Fletcher]

Just now, Troll Daddy said:

The Angels have to go outside of the organization if there looking for a better option at 1B.  If not, it will be Pujols job to lose no matter who the next manager is next season. 

 

This Is true. 

It is clear that Ohtani is better DH than Pujols. 

It is not clear that Thaiss/Walsh/JMF is a better 1B than Pujols. 

Ward had a 900 OPS in the PCL, and you’ve seen for a month how that translates to the majors. Thaiss had a 785 OPS in the PCL. I’m sure he will be a big leaguer and he may be a very good one, but he’s got some work to do. 

[Pujols4MVP]

Make Pujols play 1B, if he cries about no DH games then he can retire if he really feels like it.

Ohtani should play every game at DH.

[Angel Oracle]

3 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

This Is true. 

It is clear that Ohtani is better DH than Pujols. 

It is not clear that Thaiss/Walsh/JMF is a better 1B than Pujols. 

Ward had a 900 OPS in the PCL, and you’ve seen for a month how that translates to the majors. Thaiss had a 785 OPS in the PCL. I’m sure he will be a big leaguer and he may be a very good one, but he’s got some work to do. 

It's not Pujols' OPS, as much as how much he can be relied on to play more than 80-90 games without being hurt.   He has had sooo many injuries since signing that contract 7 years ago.   When is enough, enough?   Is it wise to count on a 39 year-old who gets injured often?

[Jeff Fletcher]

1 minute ago, Angel Oracle said:

It's not Pujols' OPS, as much as how much he can be relied on to play more than 80-90 games without being hurt.   He has had sooo many injuries since signing that contract 7 years ago.   When is enough, enough?

Well if Pujols goes on the DL then the problem is solved. I assume the Angels will not plan their roster expecting him to play 150 games. 

So what you’ll all be mad about next year is when Pujols is on the DL and they are playing Matt Adams or someone at 1B instead of Thaiss. 

[hangin n wangin]

17 minutes ago, mtangelsfan said:

So the idea is that Sosh does what he wants and dismisses what Eppler and Arte want?  Or is Sosh doing what Eppler and Arte want?

Does it really matter? Fact of the matter is, they're running a 40 year old with a negative WAR out there two years running now. 

Whether it's one person or all three.

It's negligence.

[Angel Oracle]

1 minute ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Well if Pujols goes on the DL then the problem is solved. I assume the Angels will not plan their roster expecting him to play 150 games. 

So what you’ll all be mad about next year is when Pujols is on the DL and they are playing Matt Adams or someone at 1B instead of Thaiss. 

I'm hoping it's Thaiss or Walsh, myself.    It's time to stop relying on stop gaps.  Or as I used to say, just STOP it. 

[mtangelsfan]

Just now, hangin n wangin said:

Does it really matter? Fact of the matter is, they're running a 40 year old with a negative WAR out there two years running now. 

Whether is one person or all three.

It's negligence.

It actually does matter because one means that bringing in a new manager doesn't change Albert's status one bit.

[hangin n wangin]

7 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Well if Pujols goes on the DL then the problem is solved. I assume the Angels will not plan their roster expecting him to play 150 games. 

So what you’ll all be mad about next year is when Pujols is on the DL and they are playing Matt Adams or someone at 1B instead of Thaiss. 

What we're mad about Jeff, is that our first base position has sucked for years, and that's in big part to Albert Pujols and the Angels organization not doing anything about it, except hoping Pujols bounces back and is in the best shape of his life year after year.

So yes, we will be mad if Pujols sucks there or someone else other than Pujols sucks there.

A big reason we can't get someone (other than a turd like Matt Adams) to replace him, is because we are paying said 40 year old 30 million a year and are scared to hurt his feelings.

[Inside Pitch]

53 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I hope our next manager is an analytic guy like Gabe Kapler (minus the douchebaggery) that will play the best player in the org at each position rather than penciling in a guy because he's making a lot of money, and a former superstar who's trying to chase milestones. 

I get the point you're making but, that hasn't really happened in Philly with Kapler, if anything they have repeated the Angels mistakes.

When the Angels signed AP, they took a guy (Trumbo), who had played 1B for most of his career and moved him to the OF...   When the Phillies signed Santana they took Rhys Hoskins, a guy who had never played the OF in the minors and only had 200+ innings in the OF as a MLB player and made him their everyday LFer to make room for Santana.    Hoskins has been a complete and total nightmare defensive in the OF -- his dWAR stands at (-3.2), essentially negating his offense oWAR of 3.0.   They have essentially made him a non factor in order to play Santana.    In playing Hoskins in LF and Santana at 1B they got worse at two defensive positions -- they rank dead last in DRS posting a team total of (-115).   So they have been 115 runs worse than average defensively.

Santana was bad too, he didn't get his average up above .220 until early June and on the season he's only put up a 106 OPS+ better than AP sure, buy lower than anything AP put up prior to 2017.   He's still a walk machine but his power hasn't been anything special and his average which was always meh, took a turn for the worse.

The Phillies are going to be an interesting team to watch.  People are hyped up because of their record, but their record doesn't really line up with their actual performance.   Like Seattle, they are sporting a negative run differential (-13), their offense despite all the heralded prospects has been pretty awful with an OPS+ of 89.   Consider this -- the last time the Angels posted an OPS+ under 90 was 1999.   Their pitching has been above average 107 ERA+ but Nola is a big reason why.

They have payroll flexibility and a lot of young pitching coming up but they have issues on offense and defensively -- they may be a regression candidate.

Edited September 11, 2018 by Inside Pitch

[Angel Oracle]

Best manager candidate is someone who values it all, offense, defense, and pitching; with an eye on metrics but also on a solid clubhouse.

A more modern version of Sosh, a change to give a fresh approach without totally overhauling how they play the game.

Comment on IP's post: The Phillies are already regressing, with their own version of the Dipotos slump (11-20 over the past 5 weeks). 

[Jeff Fletcher]

17 minutes ago, hangin n wangin said:

What we're mad about Jeff, is that our first base position has sucked for years, and that's in big part to Albert Pujols and the Angels organization not doing anything about it, except hoping Pujols bounces back and is in the best shape of his life year after year.

So yes, we will be mad if Pujols sucks there or someone else other than Pujols sucks there.

A big reason we can't get someone (other than a turd like Matt Adams) to replace him, is because we are paying said 40 year old 30 million a year and are scared to hurt his feelings.

The problem with that isn’t so much about hurting Pujols feelings but about having to allocate your resources. 

What you really want is some legit, big time 1B in his place. So you want to sign Eric Hosmer and pay him $20M, which really means you’re spending $50M a year on one position since you’re still paying Pujols.

Wouldnt you rather have Pujols and try to supplement him or back him up with guys like Valbuena or Matt Adams and use that $20M to plug a hole where you have no one at all?

Last winter they had Kaleb Cowart and Nolan Fontana as their 3B/2B. So they spent $11M on Ian Kinsler and $13M on Zack Cozart. 

This winter have clear holes at C and SP, which going to get first dibs at the resources. 

That being said, I do expect them to get someone else who can play 1B, but it’s not going to be a big time 1B-only guy. It will be a big time guy who may be able to also play 1B (Moustakas?) or a lesser guy (Adams, LoMo?). What they need is someone who can do what Valbuena was supposed to do, but be good. 

[Lou]

2 hours ago, UndertheHalo said:

Think about how bonkers(appropriately) this place is going to be when Pujols takes AB’s from Ohtani next year.  It’s going to be hilarious

that would be awesome. 

[Blarg]

53 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

The Angels have to go outside of the organization if their looking for a better option at 1B.  If not, it will be Pujols job to lose no matter who the next manager is next season. 

 

 

49 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

This Is true. 

It is clear that Ohtani is better DH than Pujols. 

It is not clear that Thaiss/Walsh/JMF is a better 1B than Pujols. 

Ward had a 900 OPS in the PCL, and you’ve seen for a month how that translates to the majors. Thaiss had a 785 OPS in the PCL. I’m sure he will be a big leaguer and he may be a very good one, but he’s got some work to do. 

Ok people, pay attention because Troll Daddy blew this thread up in two sentences. Verified by Jeff Fletcher. 

[Adam]

first base is gay

[the dude abides]

374 GIDPs!!!

[Angel Oracle]

Jeff, why is it that the Halos have struck out so much, with 1-3 year acquisitions (trade or FA) having little success here, over the past 4 seasons?

Bad scouting, bad luck, etc.? 

[hangin n wangin]

40 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

The problem with that isn’t so much about hurting Pujols feelings but about having to allocate your resources. 

What you really want is some legit, big time 1B in his place. So you want to sign Eric Hosmer and pay him $20M, which really means you’re spending $50M a year on one position since you’re still paying Pujols.

Wouldnt you rather have Pujols and try to supplement him or back him up with guys like Valbuena or Matt Adams and use that $20M to plug a hole where you have no one at all?

Last winter they had Kaleb Cowart and Nolan Fontana as their 3B/2B. So they spent $11M on Ian Kinsler and $13M on Zack Cozart. 

This winter have clear holes at C and SP, which going to get first dibs at the resources. 

That being said, I do expect them to get someone else who can play 1B, but it’s not going to be a big time 1B-only guy. It will be a big time guy who may be able to also play 1B (Moustakas?) or a lesser guy (Adams, LoMo?). What they need is someone who can do what Valbuena was supposed to do, but be good. 

First base is just as much of a hole as catcher and starting pitcher, except there is 30+ million attached to that position with negative production. But either way you slice it, it's a glaring hole and one that needs to be filled (kinky).

If the Angels want to fill their other holes (also kinky) over the hole at 1st base, that's on them. They have shown that that's what they prefer to do. It also again shows that Albert is a glaring problem. 

If you're asking me if I would want to supplement or back Pujols up with Matt Adams/Logan Morrison, I can easily say I am against that. I think there is a great chance those guys are white Valbuena's and then we would still have to see Albert Pujols batting on a regular basis, which would mean we get yet ANOTHER year of garbage at first base with out getting to see a young guy like Thaiss get some reps. I would rather just give regular playing time to Thaiss if those are the only realistic options.

Thaiss has more upside over a guy like Pujols, who has shown for three years he's going to give you negative value. Thaiss may end up being terrible, sure, but you know we're getting negative value from that position anyway with Pujols in there for the majority of at bats.

Either way, it's a mess of a situation, and I have no clue how it's going to be dealt with. I am just saying what I would personally want, which most likely will not happen.

We don't deserve to watch another year of an old, slow, washed up Albert Pujols taking up regular at bats in the middle of our line up. It's a joke.

Lot of talk about holes in our posts though, Jeff.

[Jeff Fletcher]

15 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Jeff, why is it that the Halos have struck out so much, with 1-3 year acquisitions (trade or FA) having little success here, over the past 4 seasons?

Bad scouting, bad luck, etc.? 

Anyone who you sign as a FA for 3 years or less is old and/or not that good. Look up how other teams do. 

Also, Angel Stadium and the AL West is not a hitter friendly environment, so any hitter you add is going to get worse, even before considering their age.