Does anyone have any idea what Eppler's offseason game plan is?

[Torridd]

Werewolf of London?

[zenmaster]

Seems like we are waiting until the big signings wrap up and we will look into the discount bin after the dust settles.

[Stradling]

Just now, zenmaster said:

Seems like we are waiting until the big signings wrap up and we will look into the discount bin after the dust settles.

Thanks Claude, good to have you back!

[Second Base]

I'm not really that confident the Angels will do anything drastic this offseason.  They made drastic changes last offseason with extending Upton, bringing in Ohtani, Cozart and Ian Kinsler.  This offseason, I think the finds will be there to spend, but I don't think Eppler is going to overpay for anything.  It would hurt the club long term, and its looking like the only way any team will acquire the free agents they want this offseason is by overpaying them. 

So I think the offense is probably done upgrading, which really sucks because let's face it, the offense sucks.  It's four good players and five spots of nothing. 

And as for pitching, with the free agent market requiring a significant investment, it's becoming increasingly likely Eppler will turn to the trade market.  Chances are, he'll just trade for a couple pitchers that are good for 180 innings a year and a 4.00 ERA, and bring in some minor league FA relievers, like Taylor Cole last year. 

I wish I was more optimistic but I'm not.  Just because a team has the funds to spend, does not mean they'll spend those funds. 

[Angel Oracle]

I will be soooo glad when the days of expecting Joyces, Kinslers, Valnobuenas, Marte's, etc. to be solid contributors are over.  

I am soooo over stop gap acquisitions.

[Mark68]

He's delegating all player personnel decisions to @Tank

 

All free agent courting will be done at Del Taco.

[2112]

11 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah, I'm just an anxious fan wondering where we go this offseason. 

I wonder if it will be something gnarly like Harper or Machado (which I doubt), or go for some killer trades of cost controlled talent, or just fill in here and there, making just some minor moves. 

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, had to be done!  

[floplag]

2 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

He has said multiple times that he’s planning to add pitching, starting and relief, and maybe a catcher, but that most of the upgrades offensively will come from within. 

He also specifically said durability is a key for pitchers. OBP for hitters  

I’ll go back and find the stories later. One was immediately after the season and the others were during the GM meetings. 

Add to this the fact that they have also been clear about what they will spend.
Finding what he wants within the confines of that restrictive budget will be the challenge. 

[Chuck]

2 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

He has said multiple times that he’s planning to add pitching, starting and relief, and maybe a catcher, but that most of the upgrades offensively will come from within. 

He also specifically said durability is a key for pitchers. OBP for hitters  

I’ll go back and find the stories later. One was immediately after the season and the others were during the GM meetings. 

Cool, thanks Jeff. 

[AngelStew43]

I will guess that he will sign Kukuchi, then flip one of the lefties to fill other needs.

[2112]

11 minutes ago, floplag said:

Add to this the fact that they have also been clear about what they will spend.
Finding what he wants within the confines of that restrictive budget will be the challenge. 

So that means the shiny objects (big name free agents) would be off the table, that would be a good thing.

Kind of depressing that two of the big stories this off season (Corbin and Segura) were Angels farmhands.  Maybe Stoneman had a point.

[Jeff Fletcher]

26 minutes ago, floplag said:

Add to this the fact that they have also been clear about what they will spend.
Finding what he wants within the confines of that restrictive budget will be the challenge. 

I wouldn’t go that far. The Angels never say publicly what they will spend. 

The numbers I’ve been using are the result of me reading between the lines of private conversations. 

[floplag]

15 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I wouldn’t go that far. The Angels never say publicly what they will spend. 

The numbers I’ve been using are the result of me reading between the lines of private conversations. 

Fair enough, thank you for the clarification.  The assumption though is that we have somewhere around 30-40M available at this point.   
Do you get the sense there is any realistic change they could go ham over that?  Speculation of course, just curious.   
The primer article mentioned and many of us here feel that this is the perfect time to go ham for various reasons, is it possible they are waiting in the weeds so to speak or should we just get it out of our systems and move on   

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Mark68 said:

He's delegating all player personnel decisions to @Tank

 

All free agent courting will be done at Del Taco.

thank you for mentioning this. we have a lot of work ahead of us, but with the support of arte, good people like yourself, and a couple of bean & cheese burritos with onions, we should find a clear path in a matter of days.

[arch stanton]

Bean and cheese burritos tend to clear paths in a matter of seconds

[Jeff Fletcher]

20 minutes ago, floplag said:

Fair enough, thank you for the clarification.  The assumption though is that we have somewhere around 30-40M available at this point.   
Do you get the sense there is any realistic change they could go ham over that?  Speculation of course, just curious.   
The primer article mentioned and many of us here feel that this is the perfect time to go ham for various reasons, is it possible they are waiting in the weeds so to speak or should we just get it out of our systems and move on   

You'd have to define "go ham." Does that mean going overbudget for one year or for five?

[T.G.]

bean and cheese burritos.... ham...

The recipes are in the Official Hangout Forum, folks.

[floplag]

1 minute ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

You'd have to define "go ham." Does that mean going overbudget for one year or for five?

I personally have suggested being willing to go over for about 2-3, basically the remaining term and dollars on Alberts deal.

My original thought was that we could go even over the tax threshold for part of that without incurring significant penalties and simply let the ledger balance when he retires, but i realize that would be going way over what they have stated they are comfortable with which is well under the threshold so at this point i assume i would have to amend that to saying even approaching the threshold. 

[jgimondo]

It just seems like Eppler is moving at a real slow pace this offseason.

 

[floplag]

2 minutes ago, jgimondo said:

It just seems like Eppler is moving at a real slow pace this offseason.

 

It doesnt seem like it, he is.  
One of 2 things is happening, he either being really stealthful, which is possible weve come out of the weeds before, or hes legit just not involved in anything anyone cares to cover. 

[Dtwncbad]

Optimism tells me we will see moves that directly "fix" problems just like the specific moves last year.

Our level of satisfaction will come from whether we are happy with the budgetary restraints that will highly dictate the quality of the "fix".

For example, I was glad to see Eppler deliberately get Kinsler last year to address a specific, obvious need but was disappointed in the quality of the fix.

[Jeff Fletcher]

11 minutes ago, floplag said:

It doesnt seem like it, he is.  
One of 2 things is happening, he either being really stealthful, which is possible weve come out of the weeds before, or hes legit just not involved in anything anyone cares to cover. 

One factor is that he had to hire a manager and a whole staff, which took up some time.

Beyond that, I don't think it's too much different. If you look back at the calendar in past offseasons, the Angels haven't really done much major in November. I think the Cam Maybin trade and the Andrelton Simmons trade are the only things that have happened in November. 

Cozart, Kinsler, Maldonado, Escobar, Espinosa, Valbuena, Ohtani ... all came after Dec. 5 (today).

[ettin]

48 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

Bean and cheese burritos tend to clear paths in a matter of seconds

This is the 2nd reference to clearing a room you have made in the last couple of days. What happened? Must have been a major blowout?

[Hubs]

4 hours ago, totdprods said:

Non-tendering Shoemaker and Parker definitely indicates a step in that direction. He’s going to move on from unreliable pieces and start plugging in guys who will have more long-term use to the team. It’s why I can definitely believe they’re looking at different options for RF.

I think Eppler is going to get a little more aggressive in rewriting the team DNA this offseason. He has a new manager and the team/organization is quickly becoming one in which he has been the primary architect. I imagine an extension or some assurance of job security has either been discussed or is expected at this point. 

So I don’t think his efforts this offseason will be 2019 focused. They will be more for 2020-2022. That’s not to say he won’t do something dramatic like trade for Greinke, Kluber, or Realmuto, or won’t rule out signing Harper or Keuchel, but I don’t think we’ll see the same stopgap mindset. And I don’t think he’ll eat into the farm too much, which makes me think if he does add a big name, it will be via FA, or a deal where he assumes salary, like Greinke. He may sign some minor names to start ‘19 which aligns with his usual offseason work, but the path will be much clearer for our AA/AAA prospects to bust through and begin establishing themselves in anticipation of the 2020+ seasons.

Yeah, I agree, except the 2019 focused off-season part, that I disagree. Like I said before, there are at least 4-6 new players every single year from both inside and outside the organization from opening day to opening day.

The 2018 Opening Day Roster was:

P Richards, N. Ramirez, Skaggs, Shoemaker, JC Ramirez, Parker, Middleton, Bedrosian, Alvarez, Bard, Wood, Johnson

DH/SP Ohtani

OF/INF/C Trout, Upton, Calhoun, Pujols, Valbuena, Kinsler, Simmons, Marte, Cozart, Maldonado, Rivera, C. Young

DL Heaney

There are 12 guys no longer in the Angels Plans.14 are still here for now.

And Look at 2017:

P Richards, Nolasco, Chavez, Shoemaker, Skaggs, Alvarez, Bailey, Bedrosian, Norris, Parker, Petit, JC Ramirez

OF/INF/C Trout, Calhoun, Maybin, Revere, Pujols, Simmons, Espinosa, Escobar, Cron, Marte, Pennington, Maldonado, Perez

DL Valbuena, Heaney

There were 13 guys who weren't on the roster the following year, though Revere was a minor leaguer the following year for them. Of the 14 who stayed, only 9 remain going into 2019.

And for good measure, here's 2016:

P  Richards, Heaney, Shoemaker, Santiago, Alvarez, Bedrosian, Morin, Rasmus, Salas, Smith, Street

OF/INF/C Trout, Calhoun, Nava, Gentry, Pujols, Choi, Cron, Escobar, Giovatella, Pennington, Simmons, Perez, Soto

DL Skaggs, Weaver, Wilson

There were 13 guys still on the roster from Opening Day 16 to Opening Day 17. There were 9 from 2016 on 2018, and only 7 left from 2016 on the roster now.

[totdprods]

@Hubs I guess what I mean is we will see less of the Espinosa, Maybin, Kinsler guys coming here for on one-year deals, guys who cost several million, and instead see more emphasis on guys who will be here multiple seasons - at least ‘19 and ‘20 - or if they are here on one-year deals, it’ll be the far lower end on the $$$ range. More like the Nava/Gentry/Soto type. More role-player than everyday player. It leaves more opportunity for the young bats to play their way into the bigs and begin building that 2020+ core.

It’s why I’ve seen 2019 as something of a transition year - but that doesn’t mean it has to be a year where the Angels stand pat or don’t buy - it just means there will be more reliance on our AA/AAA prospects to be the players that take us to the next step instead of one-year vets, or by way of a long term Simmons or Upton investment that bridges two ‘generations’ of clubs.