Tommy La Stella, David Fletcher & Brian Goodwin appreciation thread.

[Chuck]

These guys have been big spark plugs and in the case of La Stella and Goodwin, HUGE surprises. 

Here's some stuff I found on the interwebz and some of my own observations. 

 

 

 

 

[Mark68]

Is this the same Chuck who hated La Stella a mere two weeks ago?

[T.G.]

 

Just now, Mark68 said:

Is this the same Chuck who hated La Stella a mere two weeks ago?

Never know who's going to show up from day to day...

Dr. Jeckyl or Mr. Hyde.

[Mark68]

Eppler seems to have done OK looking for position players & relievers off the scrapheap.

 

If only the same could be said for starting pitchers...

 

Then again, you usually don't find halfway decent ones on the scrapheap.

[T.G.]

Can't we just complain about Justin Bour, Zack Cozart and Peter Bourjos instead?

[Chuck]

4 minutes ago, Mark68 said:

Is this the same Chuck who hated La Stella a mere two weeks ago?

Yes. I'm pretty sure I was in the majority of company here when I was hating on him. His bat looked lite and his defense was poor all throughout ST and early on in the season.

Something happened, maybe a tweak to his setup or perhaps he just wasn't seeing the ball well for whatever reason. 

That said, I was always give praise to a player when it's deserved, even if I previously was critical of them. That is the difference between a Troll and a Fan. 

[Glen]

I highly doubt that any of them can maintain their current performances, but much like if I was suddenly banging a supermodel I'm not worried about the future. I'm just enjoying the ride.

[Mark68]

I've always liked La Stella. I figured he'd be good for about a .260-.280 average who can take a walk and has a little (emphasis on "little") pop, and he's been a useful backup infielder on my fantasy team the last few years. Yeah, his defense isn't great, but it is serviceable. 

But I'm not sure where this power is coming from. It isn't unprecedented that a "scrappy" middle infielder with middling talent takes things to a whole new level (see Gennett, Scooter). Maybe he's figured something out. 

[Angel Oracle]

Could LaStella move over to 1B, once Rengifo is truly ready?    Bour is meh, and doesn't cost much to trade or release.

Once Ohtani returns?

Fletcher 3B, Goodwin LF, Trout CF, Ohtani DH, Simba SS, LaStella/Pujols 1B, Lucroy/Smith C, Calhoun RF, Rengifo 2B  

A true righty/lefty mix in the lineup

  

[totdprods]

There's some weird stuff going on with both of them, in good ways and bad. 

Most encouraging about Goodwin is that he's been consistently good since arriving - never really a poor series or a poor stretch,and no unreal stretches that inflated his slash. Performing that well for 20 games now suggests some level of success. The downside is his BAbip is through the roof at .415, suggesting he's also been consistently lucky. Still...good discipline (best BB/K%'s of his career), some power, good contact (best LD% in his career by a wide margin) point to some signs that he's going to be alright, though due for some regression of course - I don't think any of us expect a .900+ OPS from him, but if he settles around .750, we'd all be quite happy, especially if he takes playing time from Kole once Upton returns. 

La Stella on the other hand, has an OPS radically inflated by a power surge in a small sample, and a whole lot of weirdness going on. His BAbip is abysmally low - .163 - deviating far from his career mark of .297. His career K% of 12.6% has dropped to 5.8%, and his 10% BB% has crept up to 11.6%. Most notably, his career line drive percentage of 29% is way, way down - only 16% this year! With the data starting to increase, I'm starting to think the Angels might have found La Stella and identified a player who has truly grasped the launch angle concept and we're seeing the results. There might be a little bit of a Chris Taylor thing going on here. The power surge might be real. 

Edited April 23, 2019 by totdprods

[UndertheHalo]

This is a weird thread.  

[T.G.]

15 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

This is a weird thread.  

[gurn67]

La Stella now has an OPS of .903 and is leading the Angels in HR's & RBI's. He's got more home runs (7) than strikeouts (5) and has walked more than twice as much as he has struck out 11 to 5. Playing a position that has been an offensive black hole for this team since Howie was traded. 

[tdawg87]

I have the weirdest boner right now

[Lou]

Chicago Cubs: Tommy La Stella is thriving following a change of scenery

by Brian Thomas

Former Chicago Cubs pinch-hitting extraordinaire Tommy La Stella is off to an incredibly hot start with the Los Angeles Angels this season. His hot start begs the question as to whether or not the Cubs made a mistake letting him go.

In the offseason, the Chicago Cubs front office decided to trade their pinch-hitting specialist, Tommy La Stella, to the Los Angeles Angels. In the trade, the Cubs received pitcher Conor Lilis-White, who to this point has been irrelevant.

full article :

https://cubbiescrib.com/2019/05/01/chicago-cubs-tommy-la-stella-thriving-following-change-scenery/amp/

[ScruffytheJanitor]

On 4/22/2019 at 2:51 PM, Angel Oracle said:

Could LaStella move over to 1B, once Rengifo is truly ready?    Bour is meh, and doesn't cost much to trade or release.

Once Ohtani returns?

Fletcher 3B, Goodwin LF, Trout CF, Ohtani DH, Simba SS, LaStella/Pujols 1B, Lucroy/Smith C, Calhoun RF, Rengifo 2B  

A true righty/lefty mix in the lineup

  

I had the same thought -- LaStella feels like the obvious choice for 1B when everyone is healthy. Even with Ohtani and Upton, we only have 7 productive bats, and his is one of them.

[John Taylor]

I wanted to heckle La Stella when I saw the Angels play in Seattle, I was pretty baffled that he was starting. He has proven me wrong, and been a good addition so far. Goodwin has been a nice surprise too. 

 

I've been on the Fletcher bandwagon for a while so I'm not getting off it anytime soon, he reminds me of Eckstein only better defensively, he really should be leading off.

[Jeff Fletcher]

1 hour ago, ScruffytheJanitor said:

I had the same thought -- LaStella feels like the obvious choice for 1B when everyone is healthy. Even with Ohtani and Upton, we only have 7 productive bats, and his is one of them.

I asked Ausmus about him playing 1B over the weekend. He said he could do it once in a while, but not regularly. 

However, when Ohtani comes back it’s going to be Pujols mostly at 1B, so maybe La Stella could play there 2 times a week to let Pujols rest his legs?

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I asked Ausmus about him playing 1B over the weekend. He said he could do it once in a while, but not regularly. 

However, when Ohtani comes back it’s going to be Pujols mostly at 1B, so maybe La Stella could play there 2 times a week to let Pujols rest his legs?

I’m assuming that if Albert gets hurt or when he gets hurt later this season they could call up Thias or Walsh to play 1st?  

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

However, when Ohtani comes back it’s going to be Pujols mostly at 1B, so maybe La Stella could play there 2 times a week to let Pujols rest his legs?

Counting on Pujols' legs that often, and the lack of confidence in La Stella at first, makes me think they might need at least someone else on the club able to pick up an appearance here or there. 

Could Calhoun be an occasional option once Upton returns, provided Goodwin is still playing this well? Lucroy? This is why I think Ward, or to a lesser degree one of Thaiss, Rojas, or Walsh, becomes added to the 40-man somewhere around June once Upton and Ohtani are back. 

This is all assuming Bour fails to start producing and becomes the odd man out of the 1B/DH as the month wears on. Having Ohtani, Pujols, and Bour all on the roster, especially with Bour's performance, just doesn't seem sustainable. All of our AAA options at least offer some versatility compared to those three.

Edited May 2, 2019 by totdprods

[Fish Oil]

7 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I asked Ausmus about him playing 1B over the weekend. He said he could do it once in a while, but not regularly. 

However, when Ohtani comes back it’s going to be Pujols mostly at 1B, so maybe La Stella could play there 2 times a week to let Pujols rest his legs?

After that "sprint" from first to home last night Pujols is probably in needs-a-rest mode now.

[Jeff Fletcher]

6 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I’m assuming that if Albert gets hurt or when he gets hurt later this season they could call up Thias or Walsh to play 1st?  

If that happens at a time when Bour is still slumping and Thaiss is playing well, sure. They aren’t calling him up unless he can play every day. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

7 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Counting on Pujols' legs that often, and the lack of confidence in La Stella at first, makes me think they might need at least someone else on the club able to pick up an appearance here or there. 

That’s why they got Bour, who still may come around. Remember, he doesn’t need to hit .300 to be what they wanted. I think he’s a .230/.350/.450 kind of guy, which is still within one hot week of being where he is. 

As I say always, you can’t just look at batting average. And if you do, you need to remember the whole league is hitting .245

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

If that happens at a time when Bour is still slumping and Thaiss is playing well, sure. They aren’t calling him up unless he can play every day. 

That is what I kind of figured.  Bour has to start performing with some power.  He was on base 3 times yesterday which is nice to see, but at some point he needs to provide power because he is limited in other areas.  Last year we talked about the reason they traded Cron is there wouldn’t be enough room for 3 DH/1B types on the roster and that is when technically Ohtani could go play a position if it was absolutely necessary.  This year they don’t have that luxury.  So instead of keeping Cron they traded him (which I am fine with) and had Marte and Valbuena on the team who could play multiple positions and cover 1st.  It is going to be interesting to see what they do with the roster.  

[totdprods]

21 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

That’s why they got Bour, who still may come around. Remember, he doesn’t need to hit .300 to be what they wanted. I think he’s a .230/.350/.450 kind of guy, which is still within one hot week of being where he is. 

As I say always, you can’t just look at batting average. And if you do, you need to remember the whole league is hitting .245

Bour’s lack of SLG is what’s damning him the most (and the multiple mental slip-ups). It dropped significantly last year too. I don’t mind the low BA since he does draw a bunch of walks, but 6 XBH in nearly 100 PA a year after barely slugging .400 isn’t very encouraging. 

Lucroy’s the only regular with fewer XBH, at 4.

Edited May 2, 2019 by totdprods