Barria sent down

[ScottT]

This sh it needs to stop

[arch stanton]

Any particular reason or do you just hate stuff that works?

[Angelsjunky]

Anyone know why the Angels went with Stratton over Barria to begin with? I know his peripherals last year were limp, but it is rather unusual that a 22 year old who produced a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts the previous year starts the season in the minors. His 4.58 FIP speaks more of a #4-5 starter, but I have a feeling Barria is going to out-pitch his peripherals and be at least a good #4, if not borderline #3. At the least he should be better than Stratton.

[Chuck]

Just now, Angelsjunky said:

Anyone know why the Angels went with Stratton over Barria to begin with? I know his peripherals last year were limp, but it is rather unusual that a 22 year old who produced a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts the previous year starts the season in the minors. His 4.58 FIP speaks more of a #4-5 starter, but I have a feeling Barria is going to out-pitch his peripherals and be at least a good #4, if not borderline #3. At the least he should be better than Stratton.

^

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Anyone know why the Angels went with Stratton over Barria to begin with? I know his peripherals last year were limp, but it is rather unusual that a 22 year old who produced a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts the previous year starts the season in the minors. His 4.58 FIP speaks more of a #4-5 starter, but I have a feeling Barria is going to out-pitch his peripherals and be at least a good #4, if not borderline #3. At the least he should be better than Stratton.

I'm hoping it's just a case of them seeing an opportunity to add an under the radar arm than anything else.   So just a chance to increase their assets and take advantage of the opportunity that Barria's options give them.

[ScottT]

I dont think they are doing it because they think Stratton is better.  Barria can be optioned. Statton cant.

I think there should be rules in place so that there are far fewer of these one day call ups.

 

[totdprods]

6 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Anyone know why the Angels went with Stratton over Barria to begin with? I know his peripherals last year were limp, but it is rather unusual that a 22 year old who produced a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts the previous year starts the season in the minors. His 4.58 FIP speaks more of a #4-5 starter, but I have a feeling Barria is going to out-pitch his peripherals and be at least a good #4, if not borderline #3. At the least he should be better than Stratton.

depth depth depth depth. Three arms (Pena, Barria, Stratton) are better than two.

All three of them have very similar numbers to date in their career as a starter. There is no dramatic discernible difference in them that will alter the course of the season. Stratton might have some skills White can turn into something. 

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, ScottT said:

I dont think they are doing it because they think Stratton is better.  Barria can be optioned. Statton cant.

I think there should be rules in place so that there are far fewer of these one day call ups.

 

I disagree.  I don’t know what the solution is except really expand the rosters.  Maybe it’s something like 30 man rosters but no 15 day DL spots.   But if you expand the rosters some guys will be ineffective because of lack of work. 

[Stradling]

5 minutes ago, totdprods said:

depth depth depth depth. Three arms (Pena, Barria, Stratton) are better than two.

All three of them have very similar numbers to date in their career as a starter. There is no dramatic discernible difference in them that will alter the course of the season. Stratton might have some skills White can turn into something. 

It’s exactly this.  Is Barría better than Stratton, probably.  But if someone gets hurt and you only have one of Barría or Stratton you’re playing last years game which was ugly. 

[totdprods]

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

It’s exactly this.  Is Barría better than Stratton, probably.  But if someone gets hurt and you only have one of Barría or Stratton you’re playing last years game which was ugly. 

Exactly. Long-term, yes, Barria is likely better. Stratton has had success in the recent past, he really hasn't been awful as an Angel so far except for one inning vs. Seattle, and has some comparable skills that the Astros dramatically improved upon with Morton, McCulllers, and McHugh when Doug White was there. He's only been around Doug for two weeks...until there's a certifiable reason to bump him, let's wait and see a bit. 

This is a good way for the Angels to control Barria and Pena's innings this year too. Both can be optioned. Let the three of them rotate in tandem between the rotation, bullpen, and SLC, at least until Heaney returns or Canning forces his way into the picture.

[DMVol]

20 minutes ago, totdprods said:

depth depth depth depth.....

[mulwin444]

Barria is 22 years old and they are trying to limit his innings.  Last season, he threw 134 IP in 27 starts...if he was in the rotation from day 1, he'd likely be in line for 30+ starts at somewhere between 150-180 IP.  Eppler does not care as much if Stratton at 28 and Pena at 29 eat innings so he's going to use them as much as he can while he can.

[Jay]

I fully expect these sorts of "tricks" to utilize the limited resources on the roster.

 

[nate]

7 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Anyone know why the Angels went with Stratton over Barria to begin with? I know his peripherals last year were limp, but it is rather unusual that a 22 year old who produced a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts the previous year starts the season in the minors. His 4.58 FIP speaks more of a #4-5 starter, but I have a feeling Barria is going to out-pitch his peripherals and be at least a good #4, if not borderline #3. At the least he should be better than Stratton.

It is totally bizarre.  Barria should be in the rotation over Stratton.

[ScottT]

I expect it and understand why the Angels are doing it, but it sucks for players like Barria.

It also leads to more pitching changes and longer games... but I dont care about that

[eligrba]

21 minutes ago, mulwin444 said:

Barria is 22 years old and they are trying to limit his innings.  Last season, he threw 134 IP in 27 starts...if he was in the rotation from day 1, he'd likely be in line for 30+ starts at somewhere between 150-180 IP.  Eppler does not care as much if Stratton at 28 and Pena at 29 eat innings so he's going to use them as much as he can while he can.

I agree. 

Stratton will probably not be pitching in meaningful games later in the season.  Barria will.

Thanks to Stratton, Barria will will pitching in games that will have a clearer impact on the possibility of post season play than games in April.  Barria is better than Stratton.  Ask yourself who should be pitching in August and September?

Also, if Stratton is even marginally decent, he could have trade value at the deadline.

[Stradling]

10 minutes ago, nate said:

It is totally bizarre.  Barria should be in the rotation over Stratton.

Probably, but would you rather have the depth or not?  

[Stradling]

23 minutes ago, Jay said:

I fully expect these sorts of "tricks" to utilize the limited resources on the roster.

 

These tricks are utilized by teams like the Dodgers that have a ton of depth all over their team.  

[Second Base]

I'm not opposed to stratton being on the roster, I just think it's ridiculous he's in the rotation.  Put him in the bullpen as a long reliever and if he starts excelling due to some Doug White magic crap then move him to the rotation.  You don't bump the best pitcher the system has produced in three years so you can insert Chris Stratton.  

You can obtain depth without alienating the kid who EARNED the spot. 

[eaterfan]

35 minutes ago, Second Base said:

I'm not opposed to stratton being on the roster, I just think it's ridiculous he's in the rotation.  Put him in the bullpen as a long reliever and if he starts excelling due to some Doug White magic crap then move him to the rotation.  You don't bump the best pitcher the system has produced in three years so you can insert Chris Stratton.  

You can obtain depth without alienating the kid who EARNED the spot. 

People were really upset the Angels were alienating Trout by paying him squat after his rookie season. He wasn't going to extend or sign back here because of it. These kids know what's up. Even if they are a little upset, they get over it and the good ones perform well anyway. I'm not saying how the kids feel doesn't matter, I'm just saying maybe we project our fears and frustrations onto the players when we have no idea how they actually feel about things.

[Jeff Fletcher]

It’s a business. They all know it. They all get paid a lot if money once they get to the big leagues. We shouldn’t feel bad because 2 percent of the players in the majors are victims of roster manipulation. For every Barría there’s another guy who stays in the majors when he shouldn’t because he’s out of options. 

You really shouldn’t worry about it. 

[Slegnaac]

1 hour ago, ScottT said:

I expect it and understand why the Angels are doing it, but it sucks for players like Barria.

It also leads to more pitching changes and longer games... but I dont care about that

But think of all the additional frequent flyer miles he can accumulate.   He could easily earn a free round trip to Hawaii. 

[mulwin444]

1 hour ago, Second Base said:

I'm not opposed to stratton being on the roster, I just think it's ridiculous he's in the rotation.  Put him in the bullpen as a long reliever and if he starts excelling due to some Doug White magic crap then move him to the rotation.  You don't bump the best pitcher the system has produced in three years so you can insert Chris Stratton.  

You can obtain depth without alienating the kid who EARNED the spot. 

Preserving a kid's arm is not attempting to alienate him.  He threw 134 IP last season...year before that 141.2 IP...I can't see them going above 150 IP this year with him this season either.  If he's pitching every 5th day here, they are either going to have to limit him to 5 IP per start which, would mean heavy BP usage when he starts, or they utilize his options and spread him out a bit more.  Stratton and Pena are an attempt to mitigate his usage. 

[Second Base]

2 minutes ago, mulwin444 said:

Preserving a kid's arm is not attempting to alienate him.  He threw 134 IP last season...year before that 141.2 IP...I can't see them going above 150 IP this year with him this season either.  If he's pitching every 5th day here, they are either going to have to limit him to 5 IP per start which, would mean heavy BP usage when he starts, or they utilize his options and spread him out a bit more.  Stratton and Pena are an attempt to mitigate his usage. 

Better 5 decent innigns from Barria and 4 innings of work for the bullpen and a chance to win than 3 innings of garbage from Stratton and 6 innings of work for the bullpen in a game that you have no shot at winning by the 4th inning. 

[Docwaukee]

I believe they think they can make Stratton better than he's been and are using the fact that Barria has options to try it out.  He was probably a target for awhile.  This is an Eppler/White experiment on spin rate and mechanics.