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2018 Hot Stove League


greginpsca

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1 hour ago, SlappyUtilityMIF said:

Kole is what I term a "glue type player" not a Super Star or All Star just a very good player when not required to be "the guy" and not expected to do everything. He will do enough to not hurt his team and provide just enough to be considered a solid member. 

He will never hit 30 HR's drive in 100RBI or hit .300.

But, to expect 15-20HR 70-80RBI and an 250-270AVG while providing solid defense. Is more than sufficient.

Our lineup has been filled with these type of players previously and they work.

Is he expendable? Probably. But, why not wait till one of the kids comes up and takes his job.

The reality is, as I've stated before, Kole has hit .255 or less in 8 of the past 12 months of play, including 5 months where he hit below .200.

With his contract, he has to play (see Albert Pujols). I just hope that Ausmus doesnt stick with him for a whole month, like Sosh did, when he had one of "those months". 

I really dont see a good alternative to him in our llineup, at this point, if he falls into a funk. Peter Bourjos? Good D, but about the same O.

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4 hours ago, WeatherWonk said:

The reality is, as I've stated before, Kole has hit .255 or less in 8 of the past 12 months of play, including 5 months where he hit below .200.

With his contract, he has to play (see Albert Pujols). I just hope that Ausmus doesnt stick with him for a whole month, like Sosh did, when he had one of "those months". 

I really dont see a good alternative to him in our llineup, at this point, if he falls into a funk. Peter Bourjos? Good D, but about the same O.

New stance, new hitting coach, contract year. I think Kole Calhoun can hit .250 in 2019.

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Not really sure why people are pissed off at Eppler. I mean, he was given like 30 million to find a C, 2 SP, RP and some bench guys.  I guess you could bag on him for not trading some of the farm but it took years to get it into the teens rank wise and some guys are close to being MLB ready. Let's not forget that Arte is the boss and he is clearly okay with all the moves and non moves Eppler is making.  Did you really expect the Angels to give up a pick and like 70 million and sign Grandal? Pay 145 million and give up a draft pick for Corbin? Trade a bunch of talent away for Realmuto?  Pay 300 million plus and a draft pick for Harper? Pay 300 million plus for Machado?

The only real puzzler to me was not going after Brantley.  He would have been a huge upgrade and didn't cost a pick or too much money.

Didn't everyone here know going into the offseason that Houston is far and away the better team and Arte would have to spend big in order to compete with them?  Doesn't everyone here know that Arte won't stray from his budget? It's also quite clear that they weren't going to trade the farm away either.  Eppler is doing the best he can with his circumstances.  It's already been stated that the upside to some of the signings could be significant. Next year will be similar to this year. Eppler is once again hoping that players stay healthy and play above or at least level with their career talents.  It went horribly wrong this year but just have to hope Eppler picked the right guys for next year. Stop expecting a World Series or even division title. With any luck, the Angels will get the 2nd wild card.  That's what this team is playing for and management is okay with that.  Sure, another year of Trout is wasted but it should also be a pretty exciting year.  It could also be another year like this year. Flip a coin.

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6 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

Not really sure why people are pissed off at Eppler. I mean, he was given like 30 million to find a C, 2 SP, RP and some bench guys.  I guess you could bag on him for not trading some of the farm but it took years to get it into the teens rank wise and some guys are close to being MLB ready. Let's not forget that Arte is the boss and he is clearly okay with all the moves and non moves Eppler is making.  Did you really expect the Angels to give up a pick and like 70 million and sign Grandal? Pay 145 million and give up a draft pick for Corbin? Trade a bunch of talent away for Realmuto?  Pay 300 million plus and a draft pick for Harper? Pay 300 million plus for Machado?

The only real puzzler to me was not going after Brantley.  He would have been a huge upgrade and didn't cost a pick or too much money.

Didn't everyone here know going into the offseason that Houston is far and away the better team and Arte would have to spend big in order to compete with them?  Doesn't everyone here know that Arte won't stray from his budget? It's also quite clear that they weren't going to trade the farm away either.  Eppler is doing the best he can with his circumstances.  It's already been stated that the upside to some of the signings could be significant. Next year will be similar to this year. Eppler is once again hoping that players stay healthy and play above or at least level with their career talents.  It went horribly wrong this year but just have to hope Eppler picked the right guys for next year. Stop expecting a World Series or even division title. With any luck, the Angels will get the 2nd wild card.  That's what this team is playing for and management is okay with that.  Sure, another year of Trout is wasted but it should also be a pretty exciting year.  It could also be another year like this year. Flip a coin.

My guess is his touchdown comment sent the fans an unrealistic expectation. 

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I read somewhere at the beginning of the off season that there is a record number of free agent relief pitchers.  I have no idea which ones we will get, but I’d at least assume we will get someone, possibly a left handed guy.  There will be quality arms available even on a budget.  What we seem to know about Eppler is he likes guys who throw gas in the pen.  There is no shortage of guys like that still available.  We also have noticed he really doesn’t mind taking a chance on a hard thrower that has a high walk rate.  I could see a guy like Greg Jones being brought in a minor league deal.  Or an incentive type of deal for a guy like Allen or Holland.  Angels have also had conversations with Herrera.  

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2 hours ago, Stradling said:

I read somewhere at the beginning of the off season that there is a record number of free agent relief pitchers.  I have no idea which ones we will get, but I’d at least assume we will get someone, possibly a left handed guy.  There will be quality arms available even on a budget.  What we seem to know about Eppler is he likes guys who throw gas in the pen.  There is no shortage of guys like that still available.  We also have noticed he really doesn’t mind taking a chance on a hard thrower that has a high walk rate.  I could see a guy like Greg Jones being brought in a minor league deal.  Or an incentive type of deal for a guy like Allen or Holland.  Angels have also had conversations with Herrera.  

I'm hoping the plan is to replicate the Norris, Petit, Hernandez, Parker pen. There are so many FA RPs - and SPs - that Eppler should be able to snag a few on ST invites or chump change MLB deals. Let those ST invite vets light a spring fire under our current pen guys with options like Buttrey, Anderson, Jerez, Tropeano, Pena, Barria, and even the ones that don't, like Bedrosian, Robles, Garcia.

If some of our projected pen guys like Anderson and Buttrey get beat out by vets and start the year in SLC, it's only a good thing. It'll be much better bringing them up when we need help instead of guys like Akeel Morris and Eduardo Paredes.

Could see some older FA SPs get converted into relievers, specifically multi-inning relievers, too, like what happened with Norris, Blanton, etc. 

Francisco Liriano might be one to watch - the Astros grabbed him a couple seasons ago and put him in the pen thinking he'd flourish there. It didn't quite take, but I could see the Angels trying something like that again. 

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On 12/31/2018 at 12:06 PM, Dochalo said:

I am confident that Kole will bounce back into a useful player.  

That stretch he put up last summer - .285/.358/.570/.928 with a perfectly reasonable .321 BAbip - was something else. It was a 162-game pace of 36 doubles, 44 homers, 71 walks, and 168 strikeouts. And it took place over 268 PA and 64 games, not exactly a small sample size.

I've been raising the red flag on Kole for three offseasons now, but what he did last summer looked like less of a fluke, and more like a legit corner turned after a mechanics overhaul. That hot streak wasn't inflated with an absurd 10-game stretch or two, he was consistently awesome for two months. With Reed now in the dugout with him, I actually feel really good about what he may do in 2019.

And that is what makes next season so interesting for him - say he does have his career season, hitting .275/.350/.500/.850 and hit 35 doubles, 30 HR (honestly, not impossible in the three-true outcome age) with gold glove defense. Do you roll the dice and pick up the option, even if Adell is ready? Do you sell high and move him in July? Trade him at the start of the offseason so another team can pick up his option?

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8 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

My guess is his touchdown comment sent the fans an unrealistic expectation. 

Their fault for making it into more than it was. Of course he is going to say he is going for a touchdown. He didn't absolutely guarantee one though and that is the difference. He tried for Corbin. That would have been a touchdown. He can also spin his current signings into a touchdown if he wanted to. Talk about how they have tremendous upside and didn't cost too much. 

I mean technically, there are still players out there that would be considered a touchdown but given the budget he has to work with, they are highly unlikely.

 

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