Stars Win

[AngelsLakersFan]

I know we like to talk about the 2002 team or how we can just get average performance from some positions to put us in contention for a title next year, but the 2018 Red Sox are a great example of how sometimes it just takes a star studded team to go all the way.

Price
Sale
Kimbral
Betts
J.D. Martinez
Bogaerts

Hell Porcello has a Cy Young and Benintendi is a second year player with over 4 war this year. 

That's a top shelf closer and five guys who could either be or have been the best player on their team at some point in their recent career. I know Steve Pierce was the series MVP but these guys, especially the pitchers, had their marks all over this short series.

[Lou]

Their best hitters were Pearce and Benintendi

[Blarg]

Stars.

[Blarg]

Betts .211
J.D. Martinez .214
Bogaerts .105

[Tank]

i'd love to have benintendi on the angels.

[tomsred]

With regard to the World Series they beat the Dodgers, a clearly inferior team in every way.  I think the Yankees or Astros would have beaten the Dodgers as well. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

The Dodgers did have the virtue of spending a ton of cash to get there - not that Boston is bottom of baseball either.

[UndertheHalo]

This is as good a place as any to remind everyone that Cody Bellinger batted less then .118 BA 

[Docwaukee]

50 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

I know we like to talk about the 2002 team or how we can just get average performance from some positions to put us in contention for a title next year, but the 2018 Red Sox are a great example of how sometimes it just takes a star studded team to go all the way.

Price
Sale
Kimbral
Betts
J.D. Martinez
Bogaerts

Hell Porcello has a Cy Young and Benintendi is a second year player with over 4 war this year. 

That's a top shelf closer and five guys who could either be or have been the best player on their team at some point in their recent career. I know Steve Pierce was the series MVP but these guys, especially the pitchers, had their marks all over this short series.

sometimes paying a hefty bounty for a player works out when they complement a solid core.  

If we are going to make this about the Angels and how we can learn from what the current WS champion did to win then let's talk about that.  

JD Martinez was the x-factor for that team.   The missing piece if you will and it was a perfect fit because he was able to DH 70% of the time which limited the exposure of his abominable defense.  Also mitigated by the short porch in LF.  Something we didn't have the luxury to offer.  To put his defense into perspective, he played twice as much on defense last year, had a similar year offensively, and ended up being worth about 2 wins less than he was this year.  Similar to what Upton was this year

It wasn't a choice between Upton and JD for us though.  He was always going to Boston.  

Our lineup actually outperformed the Sox last year when they were without Papi or JD.  He did something for that lineup that's tough to measure with advanced metrics if you can at all.  There's an additive effect by lengthening the lineup.  

While many complain about our lineup, we improved by 6.2 wins from 2017 to 2018.  Why?  A bit of that has to do with Trout not being out as long, but that was offset by Calhoun being dreadful.  So, mostly it was the additions of Upton for a full season and Ohtani for part of the year.  Even in 2018 with the sawx offense being as good as it was, they only surpassed the halos by about 5 wins.  That includes horrible performances by Calhoun, Marte, Valbuena etc.  

They've got Betts, Martinez, Bogaerts, Benintendi which accounted for about 25 wins.  We had Trout, Simmons, Upton and Ohtani which accounts for about 24 wins if you prorate Ohtani to playing a full season.  On a positional basis, we aren't far off. 

Where we fell far short is on the pitching side.  The big gap was the fact that they had Chris Sale as a starter, Kimbrel as an elite reliever and and Matt Barnes was very good.  

Comparing the number has really tested my patience because it makes me think we really aren't that far off.   It essentially amounts to a true ace, moto bat, and an elite closer.  

We could get there in 2019 if we decided to decimate our farm system and cripple payroll by adding Realmuto, deGrom, Corbin, Donaldson and Kimbrel.   

but the lesson here, in my opinion is that elite players might actually be worth more than they're given credit for.  However, we're still likely better off waiting for Adell and Canning than trading them away.  

 

[Docwaukee]

10 minutes ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

The Dodgers did have the virtue of spending a ton of cash to get there - not that Boston is bottom of baseball either.

Boston had the highest payroll in baseball.  About 30 mil more than the dogs.  They're home grown players made it so that David Price's 2.7 WAR season for 30 mil didn't sting as much as it could have.  That mentioned, the acquisition of Sale and his 12mil salary was huge.  But how did they do that?  By developing one of the best farm systems in baseball a few years ago and making the right moves at the right time.  

[arch stanton]

Boston paid Hanley, Sandoval, Rusney Castillo, and Pedroia a combined $67 million this year. Keep throwing shit against the wall eventually something sticks

[Vegas Halo Fan]

4 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

Boston had the highest payroll in baseball.  About 30 mil more than the dogs.  They're home grown players made it so that David Price's 2.7 WAR season for 30 mil didn't sting as much as it could have.  That mentioned, the acquisition of Sale and his 12mil salary was huge.  But how did they do that?  By developing one of the best farm systems in baseball a few years ago and making the right moves at the right time.  

I hadn't checked the totals. I know that once upon a time, the Dodgers ate a bunch of Boston's worst contracts (funny, we always seem to get stuck with ours).

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

5 hours ago, Dochalo said:

While many complain about our lineup, we improved by 6.2 wins from 2017 to 2018. 

And yet we ended with the exact same record as 2017 80-82... WAR wins don't add up to actual wins apparently.

[Blarg]

The offense gains couldn't compensate for the pitching losses. 

[floplag]

All i took away from this WS was that it was the baseball equivalent of an NHL series where a hot goalie can carry a team.
Their entire roster suddenly became Ted Williams, Cora suddenly became the best manager in the history of the game that could do no wrong, and their second string was better than most all star teams.
Props to them they got hot at the right time but for me it was a simple matter of hot versus not. 

[T.G.]

[GrittyVeterans]

Boston is willing to do whatever it takes to try to win now each and every year. Hate them, but you have to respect it

[Tank]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

All i took away from this WS was that it was the baseball equivalent of an NHL series where a hot goalie can carry a team.
Their entire roster suddenly became Ted Williams, Cora suddenly became the best manager in the history of the game that could do no wrong, and their second string was better than most all star teams.
Props to them they got hot at the right time but for me it was a simple matter of hot versus not. 

they had the best record in baseball for this season.

they also had the best spring training record last march (fwiw, and it's not worth much, merely an observation).

they've been good all year long, flop.

[floplag]

8 minutes ago, Tank said:

they had the best record in baseball for this season.

they also had the best spring training record last march (fwiw, and it's not worth much, merely an observation).

they've been good all year long, flop.

Yes they have, but not THAT good.
Not taking anything away it was just 2 good teams one of which was on a huge roll and the other was not, made for a one sided series. 

[Docwaukee]

2 hours ago, Blarg said:

The offense gains couldn't compensate for the pitching losses. 

our lineup improved by 6 wins and our SP by 3 wins.    

our bullpen dropped by almost 5 wins.  

the difference in actual wins came from how the offense performed in high leverage during 2018.  they didn't do well. 

[Docwaukee]

14 minutes ago, floplag said:

Yes they have, but not THAT good.
Not taking anything away it was just 2 good teams one of which was on a huge roll and the other was not, made for a one sided series. 

how do you win 108 games and not be THAT good? 

Their biggest losing streak was 3 games all season and that happened 4 times.  They won 4 or more games in a row 14 times.  

Don't get me wrong, my hate for them runs deep.  To the point where I was rooting for the 'other team' in every series.  But their performance in 2018 was one of the most dominant in baseball history sad to say.  

[Angel Oracle]

My kingdom for a relatively healthy pitching staff!  

[yk9001]

Stars win.

 

And here's your 2018 World Series MVP, Steve Pearce!!

[floplag]

7 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

how do you win 108 games and not be THAT good? 

Their biggest losing streak was 3 games all season and that happened 4 times.  They won 4 or more games in a row 14 times.  

Don't get me wrong, my hate for them runs deep.  To the point where I was rooting for the 'other team' in every series.  But their performance in 2018 was one of the most dominant in baseball history sad to say.  

i meant during the post, they were better in the post than they were during the season.

[Second Base]

The Sox are a strong team in all facets of the game. 

1. They don't need a LF, but they've got a great defensive CF, RF, 3B, SS, 2B and 1B. 

2. Their lineup itself is deep and talented.  No real weak spots. 

3. The rotation offers a few different guys capable of performing at an ace level, and their bullpen is as good as they come.  I'd even argue that their rotation is going to be even better when they get a full season from Eduardo Rodriguez. 

The Angels aren't close, at least not yet. 

But come 2020, I feel they will be.  Buy that time, I feel Calhoun will be replaced with Jo Adell, which should be a major step in the right direction offensively without hurting the team defensively.  And if it isn't Adell it'll be Marsh or Hermosillo.  At 2B, I'm thinking it'll be Jahmai Jones which would be another major step forward offensively, but if it isn't him it'll be Rengifo or Fletcher.  At 3B, if Cozart doesn't have it figured out before then, we hope Taylor Ward will, and if Ward doesn't figure out major league pitching in the next season or two, the Angels may look toward free agency to solve that problem.  And at 1B, by that time the Angels will be serious about competing and Albert won't be the starter over there.  It may be Thaiss, or it may be Walsh, or it may be a free agent.  power hitting 1B that get on base are a lot cheaper than they used to be.  And in the rotation, they'll have Ohtani and Canning in there, as well as Skaggs and Heaney who can both pitch in the middle of a rotation for long stretches.  They could sign Richards to see what he does in 2020 which would add a huge amount of upsdie to the future rotation, or perhaps Barria continues to progress or Suarez or Sandoval break in.  Or perhaps they end up getting someone very good this winter like Ryu, either way, that rotation will have a metric ton of upside.  And the bullpen, I trust Eppler will figure that one out. 

So I'm thinking 2020 and 2021, the Angels are going to quickly develop into the class of the AL. 

The only thing that could derail the Angels inevitable rise to dominance is injury, or Trout leaving.