What 2019 Really Is (and why Eppler is taking the right course)

[floplag]

12 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

They're not trying to win anything in particular. They are trying to win the most games they can in 2019 without sacrificing anything that can help them from 2020 and beyond. 

Simple

That pretty much sums it up right there.  

[Docwaukee]

2 minutes ago, floplag said:

That pretty much sums it up right there.  

classic.  the first sentence is what you see yet the second sentence, which provides actual context, goes completely ignored.  I'm surprised you included the 'anything in particular'.  

[hangin n wangin]

Yea. That was stupid Flop.

[Stradling]

He is doubling down on his persona.  

 

[tdawg87]

25 minutes ago, floplag said:

That pretty much sums it up right there.  

[floplag]

39 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

classic.  the first sentence is what you see yet the second sentence, which provides actual context, goes completely ignored.  I'm surprised you included the 'anything in particular'.  

Pretty well accepted logic tells us that you need to set goals, have something to play for.   What are we playing for THIS year? 
Most of you are already planning the mid season trades of all the one year deals to get more prospects.  

[Stradling]

13 minutes ago, floplag said:

Pretty well accepted logic tells us that you need to set goals, have something to play for.   What are we playing for THIS year? 
Most of you are already planning the mid season trades of all the one year deals to get more prospects.  

Keep reading thanks. 

[Docwaukee]

Just now, floplag said:

Pretty well accepted logic tells us that you need to set goals, have something to play for.   What are we playing for THIS year? 
Most of you are already planning the mid season trades of all the one year deals to get more prospects.  

The Angels are playing to win games.  

We're not planning anything.  We are all posters on a message board.  Many of us have adeptly pointed out that a potential benefit to the one year deals Eppler has made is that they can be moved at the deadline should the team be out of the running.  

No one in the front office or on the field has conceded anything. We have a solid chance to get a WC and an outside chance to win the division.  You have, once again, taken a single phrase out of context to fuel your narrative.  

It's not all or nothing.  Just because they didn't execute the plan you wanted doesn't mean they aren't trying to win.  Even the efforts they made to sign the higher priced players wasn't enough for you because you are fixated on parsing out one detail from one report that tells you they didn't try hard enough.  Somehow that's enough for you to draw conclusions as to how this entire off season has gone behind the scenes yet you know nothing (nor do I) about what actually happened.  

Do you see a pattern here?  You are consistently making conclusions from facts that give you about 10% of the actually story.  You have done this relative to the farm system, you have done this relative to Eppler's off season plan and you have done it in relation to Arte's willingness to spend.  

 

[eligrba]

17 minutes ago, floplag said:

Pretty well accepted logic tells us that you need to set goals, have something to play for.   What are we playing for THIS year? 
Most of you are already planning the mid season trades of all the one year deals to get more prospects.  

Have you met all of your preseason goals?

[tdawg87]

10 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

The Angels are playing to win games.  

We're not planning anything.  We are all posters on a message board.  Many of us have adeptly pointed out that a potential benefit to the one year deals Eppler has made is that they can be moved at the deadline should the team be out of the running.  

No one in the front office or on the field has conceded anything. We have a solid chance to get a WC and an outside chance to win the division.  You have, once again, taken a single phrase out of context to fuel your narrative.  

It's not all or nothing.  Just because they didn't execute the plan you wanted doesn't mean they aren't trying to win.  Even the efforts they made to sign the higher priced players wasn't enough for you because you are fixated on parsing out one detail from one report that tells you they didn't try hard enough.  Somehow that's enough for you to draw conclusions as to how this entire off season has gone behind the scenes yet you know nothing (nor do I) about what actually happened.  

Do you see a pattern here?  You are consistently making conclusions from facts that give you about 10% of the actually story.  You have done this relative to the farm system, you have done this relative to Eppler's off season plan and you have done it in relation to Arte's willingness to spend.  

 

[ettin]

3 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Your GIF game is solid in the last 24 hours.

[UndertheHalo]

2 hours ago, Kody Mac said:

Not even if we suck honestly. Say Harvey or Cahill pitch well, but our young guns make a major push and are brilliant in AAA... I think it would be difficult not to bring them up, and trade Cahill/Harvey for more prospects, whether we're in contention or not.

I think that if the Angels are doing well and in the mix for the playoffs it probably means that Harvey and Cahill have been pretty good.  I get what your saying about bringing up Canning or Suarez but they’ll both be on limited innings most likely.  If the Angels are in a position to make the playoffs they’ll have to be careful trading pitchers out of the rotation.  I totally appreciate the idea that you can and should flip these guys if you’re out of it.  These 1 years deals are great in that way.  But if you’re not out of it then I definitely want to see them bringing guys in and not trading guys out.  Anyway, I guess it all depends on how the landscape looks at the time.  We’ll see.   

It would sure be nice to see the post season at Angel stadium again in 2019. 

[nate]

This team still has a chance to make it to the playoffs through the wildcard.  The Astros won't be able to sustain much longer, lots of expensive players coming up for free agency.

Angels need the young players in the system to come up and make an impact.

The Jonah Keri article was good pointing out that throwing money at the problem wasn't working.

I think the biggest thing is for Arte not to get impatient with Eppler and give him a few more years to get everything in place.

[Angel Oracle]

10 hours ago, Dochalo said:

even if he has a decent season he'll be worth more.  Outside of him completely crapping the bed, his value will go up.  I think he'll displace Upton to DH in 2021.  

And then likely traded with two years left on contract, with Halos paying half his salary if needed which still would free up $10 million in each of 2021-22.

Unless, Upton can learn 1B part-time when Ohtani DH’s in between starts.

[Second Base]

The Angels still want and need to compete, but they need to do it while repairing a formerly crippled farm and scouting system. When you spend that money, you just make it worse down the road.

You can be disappointed all you want, but from a long term standpoint, the fact that the Angels are still stuck making short term investments is Jerry Dipoto's fault. Had he built the Angels farm system the way he was supposed to, they'd be able to fill those holes in the roster internally and would have money to allocate toward long term needs.

As a result of his deficiencies, the Angels have been left making short term deals for the past few seasons so that their farm system can grow and fill the holes internally. In fact, the only long term acquisitions Billy Eppler has made were specific circumstances. Both happened to be buy low opportunities on younger superstars. Andrelton Simmons, Justin Upton and Shohei Ohtani.

So unless an opportunity to acquire a young all-star caliber player at a discount price with years of control, don't expect the Angels to be involved. 

But in post 2020, I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

Honestly these are the types of moves you make when you are looking for a big prospect haul at the trade deadline. These are the moves I think rebuilding teams should be making instead of the scorched earth / no budget rosters we saw made popular by teams like Houston a decade ago.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Honestly these are the types of moves you make when you are looking for a big prospect haul at the trade deadline. These are the moves I think rebuilding teams should be making instead of the scorched earth / no budget rosters we saw made popular by teams like Houston a decade ago.

This is what Oakland has done especially with relief pitchers. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

This is what Oakland has done especially with relief pitchers. 

Ya it's a solid strategy... it should work much quicker than the tank method. I do wonder if that is what Eppler is thinking, or if his limited budget and the market has moved him here in pursuit of a winning 2019 season. 

On the topic of relievers I think we'll get a better idea about the Angels main goals for 2019 based on if we sign an established reliever. It's become trendy for smaller market teams to target FA relievers when they are trying to be competitive because because of their lower cost and shorter commitments in comparison to the top flight FAs - you can get an elite closer for far cheaper than an elite player at any other position. If we sign a guy like Robertson then Eppler is definitely reacting to budgetary limitations, but if not then I do think it implies that his focus is on expanding his pool of prospects for future off seasons. 

[Stradling]

Someone I respect has said we have been attached to Kelvim Herrera this off season.  

[Jay]

7 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Honestly these are the types of moves you make when you are looking for a big prospect haul at the trade deadline. These are the moves I think rebuilding teams should be making instead of the scorched earth / no budget rosters we saw made popular by teams like Houston a decade ago.

Angels are a rebuilding team; at least that's how management sees it.

It's more likely we see a "propsect haul" than a WC or division title. That seems to be the plan.

Will the team try to win games? Of course.

 

[totdprods]

10 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Someone I respect has said we have been attached to Kelvim Herrera this off season.  

Been pretty quiet on him so far, so makes sense. He'd be a good candidate to pursue.

[Lou]

21 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Someone I respect has said we have been attached to Kelvim Herrera this off season.  

Jared Tims?

[Angelsjunky]

I would stay away from Herrera. His velocity has gone done over the last few years and he's just not the same pitcher he was a few years ago. His 2.44 ERA was nice, but he had a pedestrian 3.95 FIP and 7.71 K/9.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I wonder what, if anything, replacing sosh with ausmu has to do with who were looking at, or not. As in, I wonder if Ausmus has guys he saw more in the central that he has his eye on.

[Second Base]

2 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I wonder what, if anything, replacing sosh with ausmu has to do with who were looking at, or not. As in, I wonder if Ausmus has guys he saw more in the central that he has his eye on.

I was wondering the same. I'm not so sure it's a coincidence that the Angels acquired Upton, Kinsler and now signed Ausmus to be their manager. Eppler seems to like what the Tigers were doing 5 years ago.