2018 Hot Stove League

[floplag]

41 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Sumba’s range at SS means any 3B would not need to have great range, just have a solid arm, make the routine plays, and come in well on slowly hit GBs.

It isnt just the range.  3B takes a different kind of arm and quickness in reaction than the middle does
I;ve never felt it was fair to assume it was an easy transition as the positions play very differently.    Yes there are many that can play either, i just dont think its accurate to assume that just because a guy can play 2B, that he can suddenly shift to SS or 3B.   
We have a lot of guys that are listed as 2B, there are reasons for that and why they were put there, that doesnt just change due to moving them around the field.  

[greginpsca]

16 minutes ago, totdprods said:

He's also going to be 35, and Moose will be 30.

Like Lowrie, Zobrist posted a couple seasons of 120 OPS+ around the same age, then fell off a cliff to a 79 OPS+ in 2017. 
Zobrist rebounded in '18, yes, but still...Lowrie is at an age where it can come apart pretty quickly.

Assuming both get similar money and years, I still think I would lean Moose, simply because I see him as 'blocking' Ward and Thaiss, where Lowrie 'blocks' Rengifo, Fletcher, and Jones, all of whom I could see maturing into at least Lowrie's BA/OBP skill in '19-'20. It's harder seeing Ward or Thaiss replicating Moose's SLG-driven .775-.800 OPS in '19 or '20.

Basically, I feel the Angels have a better shot at producing their own Lowrie than I do their own Moose.

Pipe dream. Eppler is not going to sign older, over priced players when he has cheap, younger, and controlled players. He has been building up the farm , and everyone wants to block them. Older , over priced players has been a recurring practice for the Angels over the years. And to little success. Play the friggen young guys to see what they can do. If they don't pan out, the team should have the payroll flexibility to fill a hole. Why develop a farm system if you are going max out payroll every year with expensive free agents? You can't teach youth!

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Pipe dream. Eppler is not going to sign older, over priced players when he has cheap, younger, and controlled players. He has been building up the farm , and everyone wants to block them. Older , over priced players has been a recurring practice for the Angels over the years. And to little success. Play the friggen young guys to see what they can do. If they don't pan out, the team should have the payroll flexibility to fill a hole. Why develop a farm system if you are going max out payroll every year with expensive free agents? You can't teach youth!

Because Lowrie is coming off of back to back 4 WAR seasons.  He also has very good on base skills which Fletcher doesn’t possess.  He draws walks which Fletcher hasn’t shown.  Oh and Lowrie plays gold glove defense.  Bottom line is if you can get him for a reasonable contract for 2 years you go get him.  

[angelsnationtalk]

7 minutes ago, floplag said:

While i agree this is a good idea, it leaves us in a tight spot for 19.  If i believed they would actually do as you suggest i would support it more, but all the teams that are in on Manny now would be in on Arrenado and i dont see them going into a spending war

I’m not sure they’d wait till next year. If Cozart has a solid season and there are some teams that were in on Machado that missed it but are in the playoff hunt looking for an infield solution, Cozart could become an option. Could be a small chance that happens. There could be a few select teams that would call Eppler about him. 

The Reds got Kemp and Puig who are free agents after 2019 so I think anything is possible at this point....

[totdprods]

11 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Pipe dream. Eppler is not going to sign older, over priced players when he has cheap, younger, and controlled players. He has been building up the farm , and everyone wants to block them. Older , over priced players has been a recurring practice for the Angels over the years. And to little success. Play the friggen young guys to see what they can do. If they don't pan out, the team should have the payroll flexibility to fill a hole. Why develop a farm system if you are going max out payroll every year with expensive free agents? You can't teach youth!

Eppler has signed or traded for older stopgap vets every. single. offseason. Granted, we've never had actual prospects ready for MLB playing time, but all things indicate he isn't going into 2019 with the youth in everyday roles. The fact they've been connected to Harrison and Tulowitzki show that as well. 

I don't see anything wrong with continuing to take a chance on stopgap vets to see if they can help the Angels compete until July. If not, flip 'em for something useful, and bring the youth up. And in the meantime, keep the youth on-hand as depth or replacements for injury.

And FWIW, both Fletcher and Hermosillo have long projected to be bench types anyways, and even Ward, Thaiss, and Rengifo, may not be more than average MLBers. Obviously, we all hope for and see hints of something better, but realistically even average MLBers would be a huge success.

[greginpsca]

2 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Because Lowrie is coming off of back to back 4 WAR seasons.  He also has very good on base skills which Fletcher doesn’t possess.  He draws walks which Fletcher hasn’t shown.  Oh and Lowrie plays gold glove defense.  Bottom line is if you can get him for a reasonable contract for 2 years you go get him.  

Not only no , hell no. if you have to have him , you only give him 1 year. The guy is 35!  We have been down this road many times { Finley, Gaetti, Wells, Espinoza, etc, etc, etc] before. 

[greginpsca]

7 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Eppler has signed or traded for older stopgap vets every. single. offseason. Granted, we've never had actual prospects ready for MLB playing time, but all things indicate he isn't going into 2019 with the youth in everyday roles. The fact they've been connected to Harrison and Tulowitzki show that as well. 

I don't see anything wrong with continuing to take a chance on stopgap vets to see if they can help the Angels compete until July. If not, flip 'em for something useful, and bring the youth up. And in the meantime, keep the youth on-hand as depth or replacements for injury. 

Bullshit! He HAS shown he is going with youth! He hasn't sign any of these type guys! You are being taken in by Agent propaganda, trying to generate contracts for their clients. In  the past , Eppler has signed these guys{the cheaper ones] to 1 year deals as a stop gap , because we had the shittiest farm system in baseball. He can change that direction now . And he is. Like i said, why in the hell build up a farm if we are going to keep maxing out payroll for guys on the backside of their careers?

[Glen]

6 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Not only no , hell no. if you have to have him , you only give him 1 year. The guy is 35!  We have been down this road many times { Finley, Gaetti, Wells, Espinoza, etc, etc, etc] before. 

No way you get him on a one-year deal.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Glen said:

No way you get him on a one-year deal.

Exactly.  If you sign him to a 2 year deal worth $25 million or so, he is going to give you 5-6 wins over those two years, if not more.  This is an absolute no brainer to me. 

[totdprods]

14 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Bullshit! He HAS shown he is going with youth! He hasn't sign any of these type guys! You are being taken in by Agent propaganda, trying to generate contracts for their clients. In  the past , Eppler has signed these guys{the cheaper ones] to 1 year deals as a stop gap , because we had the shittiest farm system in baseball. He can change that direction now . And he is. Like i said, why in the hell build up a farm f we are going to keep maxing out payroll for guys on the backside of their careers?

How?
Instead of going with Perez and Bandy, who looked promising at the time, he continued to bring in guys like Soto, Rivera, and Maldonado. 
Instead of giving Hermosillo a chance at 4th OF, he signed Chris Young. 
Instead of giving 1B to Cron, he brought in Valbuena.
Before Cowart proved he was useless, he continued to bring in vets whenever playing time at 2B or 3B came up. 

Even this offseason, instead of rolling with Briceno and Arcia, they've opted for Lucroy, instead of giving Thaiss and Ward a shot at 1B, he signed Bour.
Adding Cahill and Harvey while retaining Tropeano and Bridwell indicate they aren't pencilling in Barria and Suarez yet. And they've definitely been in on Tulowitzki, and linked to Harrison. So he's still showing that he's looking at vets. 

He has had plenty of opportunities to let youth play full-time, and while I get there's a gap between Ward, Fletcher, Thaiss and Cron, Perez, Bandy, Hermosillo, Cowart, it still doesn't mean he couldn't have given those guys the opportunity first, instead of trading for Marte, claiming Nick Franklin, promoting Blash, etc.

Eppler also turned some of those vets into our 3rd best SP prospect and 12 seasons of controllable relievers this past offseason, so it's not like he isn't finding some use for these guys once they no longer fit long-term plans.

[ettin]

59 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

don't forget about the shorter wall now.  

Trump has never cared about size.

[eligrba]

14 minutes ago, ettin said:

Trump has never cared about size.

Small hands will do that to a person.

[Second Base]

We discuss adding infield depth so much, but I think what im.guilty of forgetting, and perhaps many if you are too, is Tommy LaStella. You have to figure he's going to grab a lot of starts at both 2B and 3B. Eppler obviously likes him for his OBP. Personally, I think it was a wasted move. He's a good pinch hitter, which is what the Cubs used him in. But with more playing time, I dont think those numbers will necessarily stay constant or even increase.

He's been protected against pitchers he can't do anything against and from the look of it, the Angels will roll him out more frequently than the Cubs did, because the Cubs had infield depth that the Angels didn't.

I don't think Eppler adds another position player. This is the lineup he'll roll with, and this offseason of disappointment will be complete.

[Inside Pitch]

17 minutes ago, Second Base said:

He's been protected against pitchers he can't do anything against and from the look of it, the Angels will roll him out more frequently than the Cubs did, because the Cubs had infield depth that the Angels didn't.

I understand the point you're aiming for but, I'm not sure I follow your thinking.   Do you think the Angels are going to ignore the data and play him despite what the analytics say?  Ausmus seems more likely to be a robo-manager than MS was, I can't really see him going with his gut as often.  Ha!  his gut...

What type of pitchers specifically do you think will give him trouble, I remember looking at his career splits when they signed him and not really being able to formulate an opinion regarding on how he could best be used.   I do however believe his numbers at 3B were lower than anywhere else.

[popo85]

 

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New York Mets‏Verified account @Mets

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We’ve acquired outfielder Keon Broxton from Milwaukee in exchange for RHP Bobby Wahl, minor league RHP Adam Hill and minor league infielder Felix Valerio.

 

 

[popo85]

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Ken Rosenthal‏Verified account @Ken_Rosenthal 16m16 minutes ago

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#Yankees remain in talks with both Britton and Ottavino, sources tell The Athletic. Not out of question they will sign both. Rotation still has questions. Bullpen currently without Britton and Robertson from final 2018 version. Betances free agent after ‘19.

 

 

[ettin]

46 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I understand the point you're aiming for but, I'm not sure I follow your thinking.   Do you think the Angels are going to ignore the data and play him despite what the analytics say?  Ausmus seems more likely to be a robo-manager than MS was, I can't really see him going with his gut as often.  Ha!  his gut...

What type of pitchers specifically do you think will give him trouble, I remember looking at his career splits when they signed him and not really being able to formulate an opinion regarding on how he could best be used.   I do however believe his numbers at 3B were lower than anywhere else.

Other than last year when he ran a terribly low BABIP he has been pretty solid against lefties in a pretty small sample size, so I think there is a case to be made that he has greater utility than people may realize. He has been described as an excellent hitter by the Cubs as I recall (was that an article posted here? Can't remember! I am old!)

[Inside Pitch]

Yeah, career wise he had better numbers vs lhps, than rhps...  Sample size was slanted hard the opposite way... His power/finesse and gb/fb numbers didn't show a lot of volatility for his career.  He has been an interesting little hitter.

[popo85]

Quote

The Texas Rangers acquired right-handed pitcher Luke Farrell on a waiver claim Friday from the Los Angeles Angels.

https://baseball.realgm.com/wiretap/49704/Rangers-Acquire-Luke-Farrell-On-Waiver-Claim-From-Angels

[tdawg87]

Season over.

[Docwaukee]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Yeah, career wise he had better numbers vs lhps, than rhps...  Sample size was slanted hard the opposite way... His power/finesse and gb/fb numbers didn't show a lot of volatility for his career.  He has been an interesting little hitter.

I think La Stella is going to be more useful than people realize.  The guy can really hit.  24.6% career LD rate.   It's that 45.2% career GB rate that could be looked at.  

maybe he's a candidate to adjust launch angle.  

 

 

[popo85]

 

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Andy Martino‏Verified account @martinonyc

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Source: Mets have a deal with pitcher Hector Santiago. Minor league deal. Depth piece.

 

 

[Lou]

NO!!!

[tdawg87]

[Second Base]

6 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Is that a white guys wearing darkened makeup and a poorly done turban? Whatever, it worked for the Boston Tea Party.