If things had gone differently this off season.....

[OregonLAA]

I’d love to make the playoffs this year. But I’d love being an organization like the Cardinals even more who compete year in and year out. They fill their needs with prospects while having financial flexibility to whatever else they need. We are a few years from that, so in the meantime making short term moves like Harvey and Cahill are smart. I’m too impatient for it, but I’m glad the GM isn’t 

[Lou]

by the way, gentlemen, the offseason  has yet to reach the midway point. 

[floplag]

47 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Just stop with the victim crap.  You don’t see us feeling wronged by you trying to convince us everything is bad and that the team should have done things differently.  Poor Facking baby, they aren’t doing it your way.  

i have never once claimed to be a victim, sorry if that mirror is an ugly reflection but you couldn't victimize me if you tried. How about you stop with the bullshit and try being less of a dick people wont call you on it?

[floplag]

38 minutes ago, Lou said:

which bats?

Lou, with respect, its been covered, multiple times.  Its simple, I hoped for a team with a realistic statistical chance to make the playoffs.  It was within our reach and we didnt pursue it for various reasons some i cant abide and some i cannot.  The end result is a team that needs Docs list of about 15 things to go right to have that chance.   
Anything can happen, I could be wrong and maybe we have that Oakland season and it does happen.  Im sure some here would love for me to eat these words and thats fine noone would be happier than i to eat them, but unless anyone can show me any projections that put us in that 90+ win window or suggest we should make the post im going to stand by my observations at this time and hope im wrong.  

[Lou]

names, please. 

Ramos was never going to happen.

 

[Lou]

so you really think, as things stand now, we don't have a chance to make the postseason?

[Stradling]

23 minutes ago, floplag said:

i have never once claimed to be a victim, sorry if that mirror is an ugly reflection but you couldn't victimize me if you tried. How about you stop with the bullshit and try being less of a dick people wont call you on it?

Ok missy.  But you act like a victim quite a bit.  I own my posting style, remember?  I figured one of us had to.  

[Make Angels Great Again]

1 hour ago, Lou said:

by the way, gentlemen, the offseason  has yet to reach the midway point. 

 

Don't say that.

I'm already itching for some baseball.

Ugh.

[floplag]

37 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Ok missy.  But you act like a victim quite a bit.  I own my posting style, remember?  I figured one of us had to.  

Whatever that means... i gave up trying to figure out your bullshit long ago. 

[Lou]

7 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

Don't say that.

I'm already itching for some baseball.

Ugh.

[floplag]

53 minutes ago, Lou said:

so you really think, as things stand now, we don't have a chance to make the postseason?

There is a chance, there is always a chance, im talking about likelihood and probability. 
Have we done enough to assume that it is likely we will catch/pass both Oak and TB?  
We will be better, we won 80, we should have won about 83ish, i put us about 85/86 as we stand today.  We will need 4 or 5 games worth of luck to reach 90 assuming thats enough.  
Do you believe thats probable?   Not possible mind you... probable.  If so thats fine, i like the optimism, ive become too much  of a realist over the last few years to assume the best case scenario.  I hope it happens.  

[Stradling]

While I would like to see an upgrade on offense, there really hasn’t been a lot of offense taken off the market yet.  When the best first baseman in the free agency class was Steve Pierce you know it wasn’t that strong of a class.  Josh Donaldson got $23 million.  Now Michael Brantley would have been nice.  Who else is off the market?   Ramos, who wanted to be back east.  Machado and Harper aren’t/weren’t ever happening.  I would still like to see them kick the tires on Lowery and Lemeauhu.  

[Blarg]

3 hours ago, floplag said:

lol, whatever dude.   What is your standard is making the post season isnt on that list?    Seems like a pretty low bar.  

My bar is to be entertained. I believe the Angels will provide that next season along with the potential of a wild card berth. 

[UndertheHalo]

The main thing that I think is regrettable is that they weren’t able to do better then Lucroy.  Otherwise, I like the one year deals for Harvey and Cahill and I strongly feel that if they get career norms out of LaStella and Bour.  Replacing Valbuena and Marte with those two is potentially significant.  And who knows.  If we get something out of the Fletcher/Ward or maybe Rengifo things look pretty ok on the line up side.  We may get a bounce back year out of Cozart as well.  

As far as the wild card.  I think the Angels are in a good position to beat out Oakland and Tampa.  And really, the Astros could take a step back.  Probably not.  But I don’t think that’s impossible. 

The thing about having guys like Simmons and Trout is that it makes the floor pretty high.  So if things go right the Angels could easily win 90 games or more.   Anyway, hopefully some of these guys start going for bargain prices.  There’s definitely guys available still that would make the team better, and the Angels apparently still have money to spend.  And who knows what kind of trades might be out there. 

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, floplag said:

i have never once claimed to be a victim, sorry if that mirror is an ugly reflection but you couldn't victimize me if you tried. 

[Docwaukee]

I am frankly a little disappointed yet understanding of this off season.  I definitely like that we haven't moved prospects and I also like that we've been fairly patient without doing anything stupid.  

would I have like Corbin at 5/100?  sure.  At 6/140?  no thanks.  I'd have done the Happ or Eovaldi deals but are they really that much better than Cahill or Harvey?  Not sure.  

Ramos and Kikuchi are the two guys I'm most bummed about not getting.  Both of which come with reasonable explanations as to why we didn't sign them.  Ramos wanted to play for the mets and got a reasonable offer from them while we'd have had to overpay to get him.  Kikuchi got paid more on an AAV than expected.   

It's interesting that we've potentially got some money to spend and it seems like the value plays are going to be on RP and 2b/3b.  Two/Three areas that I wouldn't have expected the Angels to be in on when the off season started.  

The 2019 season is going to very much depend upon how deep into our SP depth we get and how the immediate depth performs.  I would like to think that Heaney, Skaggs, Harvey, Cahill and Barria are going to pitch 800 innings, but we all know they aren't.  So what Trop, Pena, Bridwell, Canning, Suarez, and maybe even Peters do is going to be critical.  

Personally think the offense will be fine.  

From this point, I would like to see them bolster the staff still.  If that means adding a couple of arms that could potentially starts or be in the pen, then great.  

[Docwaukee]

2 hours ago, floplag said:

There is a chance, there is always a chance, im talking about likelihood and probability. 
Have we done enough to assume that it is likely we will catch/pass both Oak and TB?  
We will be better, we won 80, we should have won about 83ish, i put us about 85/86 as we stand today.  We will need 4 or 5 games worth of luck to reach 90 assuming thats enough.  
Do you believe thats probable?   Not possible mind you... probable.  If so thats fine, i like the optimism, ive become too much  of a realist over the last few years to assume the best case scenario.  I hope it happens.  

without sacrificing the future, there was no way to make 90-95 wins possible.  It was either spend prospect capital or create a limiting financial situation.  Is there any free agent we should have gone above what they got in order to get them?  

Spend the money you'd have liked to spend and build me a team that would satisfy your criteria.  It's not so easy.  

[floplag]

29 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

without sacrificing the future, there was no way to make 90-95 wins possible.  It was either spend prospect capital or create a limiting financial situation.  Is there any free agent we should have gone above what they got in order to get them?  

Spend the money you'd have liked to spend and build me a team that would satisfy your criteria.  It's not so easy.  

I disagree that those were the only 2 possible outcomes. 
AS for the rest weve covered it ad nauseam ive no desire to do so again.   
Either way, its moot, well never know.   The team has chosen its path, all we can do now is wait and see.

[Docwaukee]

7 minutes ago, floplag said:

I disagree that those were the only 2 possible outcomes. 
AS for the rest weve covered it ad nauseam ive no desire to do so again.   
Either way, its moot, well never know.   The team has chosen its path, all we can do now is wait and see.

you won't do it because it's not possible.  

[Stradling]

24 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

you won't do it because it's not possible.  

And he doesn’t share his opinions of what he wants or what players he wants for approximately what dollar amounts.  He does however let us know the Angels do things wrong based off of his opinion.  

[Second Base]

I had much higher expectations for this offseason and feel pretty disappointed in the crap job Eppler has done, not because of 2019, but because of 2020 and beyond. I felt that trades/long term signings could help the Angels now and in the future, and the potential deficit later on could be offset by the prospects that this system will be producing for the foreseeable future. 

But because of the one year deals, Eppler has shown that rather being a mix of free agents and youngsters in 2020 and beyond, his vision for the team is almost exclusively internally developed. 

Our two differing viewpoints in 2020 and beyond probably won't be so different. The Angels will win either way. But the big difference is 2019. This team had a chance to make a huge push for the playoffs in 2019, but have instead chosen a series of one year contracts that will result in the Angels only making the playoffs with luck on their side in 2019.

So what's actually going to happen in 2019? I don't know, but what I envision is Lucroy helping the pitching staff improve to the point where collectively, they're actually a better than average unit. And the bullpen will be deep and also above average, though with bouts of inconsistency. But offensively, this team will tank. Ohtani won't be back until May more than likely, and with missing Spring Training, it may be June or July before he hits like he did last year. Pujols isn't a middle of the order hitter anymore, and Justin Bour isn't going to fix that production problem at 1B. Zack Cozart has proven in his career that he simply isn't an adequate offensive option with the exception of one single year, his contract year. And Kole Calhoun, he's still inconsistent, he's not suddenly going to solve the fact that we have nothing from the top of the lineup. And Tommy La Stella, great pinch hitter, but there is a reason he hasn't been a starter in his career. That unit will be Mike Trout, and not much else.

They'll win 85 games and for the most part, it'll be in 3-2 fashion. They won't make the playoffs and they'll be infuriatingly boring to watch because of the lack of offense.

Having said that, I do believe the outlook of this offense could change dramatically with signing Mike Moustakas. Putting 30+ HR's from the left side of the plate in the middle of the lineup would do wonders for their production. They'd literally be one lead off hitter away from being a competent unit.

[Stradling]

Yea, Scotty, I disagree with the notion that because he is signing guys to one year deals that that means that is what he will do in 2020.  I’m not sure the offense will be boring this season.  When you start an offense with 3 plus offensive players in Trout, Ohtani and Upton and then you get Simmons it will probably be a league average or better offense.  May not be pretty but it won’t be as bad as some think.  The cost of free agency this year has gone way up annually, just for shorter term deals.  Since that is the case and we pretty much knew they would have a budget, it isn’t a real surprise the direction they went with.  when guys are still getting $15 million for a sub 3 WAR season, you know it will be a tougher off season.  As for making the trades you speak all the time about waiting for the prospects to have peak value.  That is all Eppler is doing.  Marsh isn’t at peak value.  Jones might be.  It is time to let guys like Ward and Fletcher play.  If Adell pushes his way into the line up good, I guess.  I personally would rather see Kole return to being a 3 WAR player and trade him at the deadline.  I’d like to get Adell another year of development in the minors.  I get what you are saying, but we are absolutely seeing a change in the way front offices do business, last year wasn’t a fluke.  

[jessecrall]

The offense was league average last year; when one guy's hitting ~90% better than the league average, you get an awfully big head start. I think it would take catastrophic injuries for them to perform any worse this season.

[floplag]

1 hour ago, Dochalo said:

you won't do it because it's not possible.  

 

49 minutes ago, Stradling said:

And he doesn’t share his opinions of what he wants or what players he wants for approximately what dollar amounts.  He does however let us know the Angels do things wrong based off of his opinion.  

Only i already have on more than one occasion. 

[Docwaukee]

1 minute ago, floplag said:

 

Only i already have on more than one occasion. 

link?