BREAKING: Angels acquire....

[jessecrall]

2 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Fletcher was better with the bat to start with and then did subpar. He slumped with more playing time, but everyone will think he's a .300 hitter because they saw him kick butt at first. He's legitimately a .700 OPS guy in the minors, never showing much until his age 24 season at SLC in 58 games. I like him, but he's a lot closer to Kaleb Cowart or Cliff Pennington for a regular gig.

Ward obviously didn't hit and isn't a plus defender at 3rd yet, but reminds me more of a guy who can turn into a Justin Turner or a Max Muncy type with the bat.

 

You may be right about Ward but Fletcher was basically a little lucky on batted balls early, a little unlucky late. Statcast shows that overall, his quality of contact, walks and strikeout totals suggest that his batting line was true to his abilities (.297 wOBA versus a .293 expected wOBA). I don't think repeating last year's slash line is unlikely.

[Hubs]

Just now, jessecrall said:

You may be right about Ward but Fletcher was basically a little lucky on batted balls early, a little unlucky late. Statcast shows that overall, his quality of contact, walks and strikeout totals suggest that his batting line was true to his abilities (.297 wOBA versus a .293 expected wOBA). I don't think repeating last year's slash line is unlikely.

I absolutely think he'll end up being a .670-.730 OPS hitter in the majors. Expecting him to be a solid hitter is a stretch. He's Macier Izturis-lite.

I like him he's valuable, and I do hope he can be an .800 OPS guy, but I think Ward can end up being a .900 OPS guy like Turner. I want to see what he can do...

 

[Docwaukee]

53 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Right now, Cowart is the starting 1st baseman.

no.  no he's not.  

Cowart is the next DFA to clear a roster spot.  

[jessecrall]

2 minutes ago, Hubs said:

I absolutely think he'll end up being a .670-.730 OPS hitter in the majors. Expecting him to be a solid hitter is a stretch. He's Macier Izturis-lite.

I like him he's valuable, and I do hope he can be an .800 OPS guy, but I think Ward can end up being a .900 OPS guy like Turner. I want to see what he can do...

 

Fletcher was a .678 OPS guy last year and put up a 4-WAR pace. A .678 OPS and plus defense at 3rd or 2nd for guy under team control is pretty valuable.

[Docwaukee]

4 minutes ago, Hubs said:

I absolutely think he'll end up being a .670-.730 OPS hitter in the majors. Expecting him to be a solid hitter is a stretch. He's Macier Izturis-lite.

I like him he's valuable, and I do hope he can be an .800 OPS guy, but I think Ward can end up being a .900 OPS guy like Turner. I want to see what he can do...

 

I'll buy you a beer if Ward has one qualified season in mlb with a .900 ops. 

[Hubs]

2 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

I'll buy you a beer if Ward has one qualified season in mlb with a .900 ops. 

Deal. I'll buy you a beer if he doesn't by age 31.

 

[Lou]

ATTENTION AW MEMBERS: Please proceed with caution. Serious gambling going on in this thread. 

[totdprods]

53 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Pujols may not be ready for Opening Day. I'm not holding my breath.

??? I haven't seen anything hinting at that. When he had surgery in August, the timeline for recovery was 6-8 weeks. 

And Mang tends to always come back ahead of schedule. He'll be our starting 1B unless he hurts himself again. Which could happen.

[UndertheHalo]

16 minutes ago, Lou said:

ATTENTION AW MEMBERS: Please proceed with caution. Serious gambling going on in this thread. 

I’m deeply concerned about the family friendly environment of AW being corrupted by this gambling. 

[Broad Street]

I bet my left testicle that Ward isn't the opening day 3rd baseman.

[JAHV76]

3 minutes ago, Kody Mac said:

I bet my left testicle that Ward isn't the opening day 3rd baseman.

Congrats on your recent retirement Adrian

[Docwaukee]

53 minutes ago, Kody Mac said:

I bet my left testicle that Ward isn't the opening day 3rd baseman.

logistics question.  

if you have one removed, does the other one still maintain the designation of right nor left?  

[totdprods]

2 hours ago, Hubs said:

Fletcher was better with the bat to start with and then did subpar. He slumped with more playing time, but everyone will think he's a .300 hitter because they saw him kick butt at first. He's legitimately a .700 OPS guy in the minors, never showing much until his age 24 season at SLC in 58 games. I like him, but he's a lot closer to Kaleb Cowart or Cliff Pennington for a regular gig.

Fletcher’s game relies so heavily on contact, he’s going to wind up having some crazy hot streaks with crazy high BAbip, and conversely, some ice cold stretches where he doesn’t catch a break. And it may translate to some great seasons, hitting over .300, and some meh seasons hitting .265.

What will be key to his career is if he develops some plate discipline along the way. He walks at an okay clip now, and doesn’t strike out too much, but if he can learn to work the counts, foul off pitches, not worry about HRs, and start walking at an above average clip, he’ll be an above-average everyday infielder for many years. .285/.355/.375/.730 isn’t unrealistic, and while its not a big sexy OPS, with his defense, versatility, and some good base running he’d be a legit 3-4 WAR player.

[ukyah]

you guys post like a game of cards against humanity.

his name is le stella.

[BackUpTheTruck]

5 minutes ago, ukyah said:

you guys post like a game of cards against humanity.

his name is le stella.

great game

[BackUpTheTruck]

I'm all for acquiring clutch situational hitters. I hope this signing works out.

[ukyah]

27 minutes ago, BackUpTheTruck said:

great game

i have an unpopular opinion on this game, but i will say my relatives enjoy it and anything that brings family together is a good thing...except the KKK, they're always bad.

25 minutes ago, BackUpTheTruck said:

I'm all for acquiring clutch situational hitters. I hope this signing works out.

i, too, am big on acquiring these type of guys. they give you a strong bench, and a strong bench creates late game wins. a good season is comprised of winning the games you're supposed to and stealing as many wins as possible. i'm a huge believer in bullpen and bench.

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, Hubs said:

Fletcher was better with the bat to start with and then did subpar. He slumped with more playing time, but everyone will think he's a .300 hitter because they saw him kick butt at first. He's legitimately a .700 OPS guy in the minors, never showing much until his age 24 season at SLC in 58 games. I like him, but he's a lot closer to Kaleb Cowart or Cliff Pennington for a regular gig.

Ward obviously didn't hit and isn't a plus defender at 3rd yet, but reminds me more of a guy who can turn into a Justin Turner or a Max Muncy type with the bat.

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=fletcda02&t=b&year=2018

Fletcher hit .273/.309/.364 - 672 over his first 30 games -- then hit .308/.336/.392 - .728 over his final 30 games..     He took a dip in the middle when they adjusted to him but finished well.   

More importantly, his glove is legit.

[BackUpTheTruck]

12 minutes ago, ukyah said:

i have an unpopular opinion on this game, but i will say my relatives enjoy it and anything that brings family together is a good thing...except the KKK, they're always bad.

i, too, am big on acquiring these type of guys. they give you a strong bench, and a strong bench creates late game wins. a good season is comprised of winning the games you're supposed to and stealing as many wins as possible. i'm a huge believer in bullpen and bench.

KKK is good when an Angel pitcher strikes out the side

[Second Base]

Honestly, I don't think the Angels make this acquisition if they had bigger plans in store. With the exception of Tommy La Stella, a catcher and a fourth outfielder, our offense won't be improving. It's going to be a steady diet of Zack Cozart and David Fletcher at 2B and 3B, with La Stella backing them up, and Ward, Rengifo and Thaiss in AAA. 

That tells me, Eppler is probably going to spend 30+ million on the rotation this winter and our offense next year will likely be the same inconsistent group that we saw this year.  It's just hard to get excited when the bottom of the lineup is Cozart, Fletcher, Calhoun and a catcher that can't hit while Albert Pujols is still inexplicably entrenched in the middle of the lineup with his solid .275 OBP.

That's five spots in the lineup where you can expect below average, little or no production. 

Its looking like Trout will again lead the majors in intentional walks.

[failos]

This offseason blows

[Hubs]

4 hours ago, Kody Mac said:

I bet my left testicle that Ward isn't the opening day 3rd baseman.

I actually think it will be Cozart but Ward I think gets the majority of starts at 3rd, something like 100 or so, playing nearly every day there, after starting the season in AAA.

Cozart will get the majority of starts at 2nd, but Fletcher will start 60ish games at each spot.

[TroutField]

1 hour ago, Second Base said:

Honestly, I don't think the Angels make this acquisition if they had bigger plans in store. With the exception of Tommy La Stella, a catcher and a fourth outfielder, our offense won't be improving. It's going to be a steady diet of Zack Cozart and David Fletcher at 2B and 3B, with La Stella backing them up, and Ward, Rengifo and Thaiss in AAA. 

That tells me, Eppler is probably going to spend 30+ million on the rotation this winter and our offense next year will likely be the same inconsistent group that we saw this year.  It's just hard to get excited when the bottom of the lineup is Cozart, Fletcher, Calhoun and a catcher that can't hit while Albert Pujols is still inexplicably entrenched in the middle of the lineup with his solid .275 OBP.

That's five spots in the lineup where you can expect below average, little or no production. 

Its looking like Trout will again lead the majors in intentional walks.

Yep been thinking about it for a while. This is rounding out the infield, the Angels told him to expect to play 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. It’s probably going to be Cozart at 3rd, Fletcher at 2nd, La Stella the util infield guy filling in at 1st when Pujols can’t, etc. Wilson Ramos might be their “big” offensive acquisition but his injury history scares me. 

 

Lame... I was hoping we would do something exciting like offload Calhoun for something and upgrade RF, or acquire a good young Catcher like Austin Hedges, maybe take a chance on a buy low candidate that we could platoon with all of our infield depth like Jake Lamb who struggles to hit lefties. 

 

Unless this is part of something bigger because another team had some interest in Cozart, Ward, or Fletcher... don’t expect the results to be any different than last year. Even if they add JA Happ and another starter.  

 

Kind of annoying to know your team plans on being mediocre and it isn’t even December. 

[ukyah]

19 minutes ago, TroutField said:

Yep been thinking about it for a while. This is rounding out the infield, the Angels told him to expect to play 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. It’s probably going to be Cozart at 3rd, Fletcher at 2nd, La Stella the util infield guy filling in at 1st when Pujols can’t, etc. Wilson Ramos might be their “big” offensive acquisition but his injury history scares me. 

 

Lame... I was hoping we would do something exciting like offload Calhoun for something and upgrade RF, or acquire a good young Catcher like Austin Hedges, maybe take a chance on a buy low candidate that we could platoon with all of our infield depth like Jake Lamb who struggles to hit lefties. 

 

Unless this is part of something bigger because another team had some interest in Cozart, Ward, or Fletcher... don’t expect the results to be any different than last year. Even if they add JA Happ and another starter.  

 

Kind of annoying to know your team plans on being mediocre and it isn’t even December. 

you may very well be right, but as you said...

[Lou]

1 hour ago, TroutField said:

it isn’t even December. 

you should have led with this comment