C.J. Cron

[mmc]

Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, but does anyone else feel like we didn't give him nearly as much of a chance as we should have?  I thought this at the time, and he has turned into an above average first baseman since leaving.

[TroutField]

Yeah but good hitting first baseman are a dime a dozen. His defense was always bleh, and having Rengifo as depth has been great. 

[Angelsjunky]

But we have Albert Freakin' Pujols.

[Claude]

C J Cron, I voted for him. 

[mulwin444]

The dude would disappear for long swaths of time and get demoted.  It wasn't like he didn't get his shot.

[Claude]

11 minutes ago, mulwin444 said:

The dude would disappear for long swaths of time and get demoted.  It wasn't like he didn't get his shot.

Sometimes a change of scenery is best for both parties. He’s having a pretty good year and most likely will be playing in the postseason. His current numbers would be an upgrade over Pujols and Bour. That’s baseball. 

[Docwaukee]

not the difference this year or last.  

the guy we got for him could be in a year or two.  

[Blarg]

49 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, but does anyone else feel like we didn't give him nearly as much of a chance as we should have?  I thought this at the time, and he has turned into an above average first baseman since leaving.

OK, let's try a little perspective. 

The Rays paid him $2.5 mill last season and were so impressed him, even with his club control for two more seasons, they waived him. Didn't even trade him, just let him go. For free. 

But, obviously the Angels should have valued him more... Oh wait, they at least got a player for him. 

[arch stanton]

With Albert here he was redundant. Another player with only one position who's pretty pointless if he's not in the batter box

[Taylor]

We used to have this same discussion about Mark Trumbo.

[ten ocho recon scout]

22 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

not the difference this year or last.  

the guy we got for him could be in a year or two.  

Agreed.

Cron was one of the first prospects I was big on. Supposedly a patient power guy. We hadnt developed one in years at that point.

Would love to have kept him, certainly over Bour.

That said, we havent has a 2B in about as long. I have no idea if Renigfo sticks or not. But if he does, even as average, IMO it helps more than Cron would have.

[Stradling]

Cron was an everyday player in 2016.  In 2017 he was platooned and he sucked at being platooned.   But to start 2017 he had all month of April to prove he deserved to not be platooned because Valbuena was injured.  Cron hit zero home runs that month and hit .230. He wasn’t going to be on a roster with Ohtani. 

[Claude]

15 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Cron was an everyday player in 2016.  In 2017 he was platooned and he sucked at being platooned.   But to start 2017 he had all month of April to prove he deserved to not be platooned because Valbuena was injured.  Cron hit zero home runs that month and hit .230. He wasn’t going to be on a roster with Ohtani. 

Both Trumbo and Cron were constantly shuffled in and out of lineups because of Albert’s contract and Scioscia’s senior favoritism plan. Having to work around Albert’s numerous secret injuries and having to keep him off his feet was aggravating. I’m happy that Cron is doing what we all envisioned he could do. He just needed to get out of here to do it.

[Broad Street]

I voted for Chris Davis. I think it would be hilarious to see him in the All Star Game. Maybe then they’d get rid of the stupid fan voting. 

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

Both Trumbo and Cron were constantly shuffled in and out of lineups because of Albert’s contract and Scioscia’s senior favoritism plan. Having to work around Albert’s numerous secret injuries and having to keep him off his feet was aggravating. I’m happy that Cron is doing what we all envisioned he could do. He just needed to get out of here to do it.

 

30 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Cron was an everyday player in 2016.  In 2017 he was platooned and he sucked at being platooned.   But to start 2017 he had all month of April to prove he deserved to not be platooned because Valbuena was injured.  Cron hit zero home runs that month and hit .230. He wasn’t going to be on a roster with Ohtani. 

 

[Claude]

17 minutes ago, Stradling said:

 

 

All of April. ok

[Stradling]

All of 2016.  

Trumbo has a career WAR of 9.5. Of that 7.2 was as as Angel.   In the last six years he’s put up a total of 2.3.  Albert has been far and away a better player than Trumbo, even as an Angel.  Thank you for bringing that up.  

[Inside Pitch]

Looking forward to all the revisionist history should the Angels ever trade Skaggs and he develop further.

[mulwin444]

8 hours ago, Calzone 2 said:

Sometimes a change of scenery is best for both parties. He’s having a pretty good year and most likely will be playing in the postseason. His current numbers would be an upgrade over Pujols and Bour. That’s baseball. 

Good for him but I don't really care that he's figured it out with the Rays/Twins.  When he was with us, he was inconsistent and failed on multiple occasions to justify his continued existence in the line-up and on the roster.  

After he started hot his rookie season, he nose-dived the final half of the year.  In 2015, He was given April, May, and bits of June to do something and he hit .192 .220 .480 OPS in 37 games and 121 PA's.  In 2016, he seemed to turn a corner somewhat but, realistically, you want more than .278 .325 .792 OPS 2.0 WAR in 116 games from a DH playing 1B.  In 2017, he was given the starting job at DH and responded to everyday starts in April by hitting .233 .277 .544 OPS...came back in May and through early July he was hitting .213 .265 .568 OPS.  He finally caught fire in July and August but still could only manage .248 .305 .741 OPS after 4 seasons and going into age 28.

With Pujols at 1B and Ohtani at DH, his existence was redundant.  There was no other play in Feb 2018 when he was sent to the Rays for Rengifo.

[happybat4]

8 hours ago, TroutField said:

Yeah but good hitting first baseman are a dime a dozen. His defense was always bleh, and having Rengifo as depth has been great. 

We just always have trouble finding them.

[Slegnaac]

8 hours ago, Blarg said:

OK, let's try a little perspective. 

The Rays paid him $2.5 mill last season and were so impressed him, even with his club control for two more seasons, they waived him. Didn't even trade him, just let him go. For free. 

But, obviously the Angels should have valued him more... Oh wait, they at least got a player for him. 

And they kept Choi over Cron.

[Claude]

1 hour ago, mulwin444 said:

Good for him but I don't really care that he's figured it out with the Rays/Twins.  When he was with us, he was inconsistent and failed on multiple occasions to justify his continued existence in the line-up and on the roster.  

After he started hot his rookie season, he nose-dived the final half of the year.  In 2015, He was given April, May, and bits of June to do something and he hit .192 .220 .480 OPS in 37 games and 121 PA's.  In 2016, he seemed to turn a corner somewhat but, realistically, you want more than .278 .325 .792 OPS 2.0 WAR in 116 games from a DH playing 1B.  In 2017, he was given the starting job at DH and responded to everyday starts in April by hitting .233 .277 .544 OPS...came back in May and through early July he was hitting .213 .265 .568 OPS.  He finally caught fire in July and August but still could only manage .248 .305 .741 OPS after 4 seasons and going into age 28.

With Pujols at 1B and Ohtani at DH, his existence was redundant.  There was no other play in Feb 2018 when he was sent to the Rays for Rengifo.

It was best that Cron and the Angels parted ways. He’s doing just fine. Justin Bour is now our new yo-yo who gets to join Ohtani on dancing with the Star.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Calzone 2

[Dick Enberg]

at the time of the trade, we had no room for Cron. Albert, Luis, and Ohtani filled the DH/1st  slots. at the time we need middle infielders. No one thought Fletcher would be doing what he's doing at that time. Rengifo is a nice piece. he's showing at times, that he'll be a solid major leaguer in due time, he is only 22. 

Glad the move gave Cron a jump start. 

That is all

 

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, Calzone 2 said:

Both Trumbo and Cron were constantly shuffled in and out of lineups because of Albert’s contract and Scioscia’s senior favoritism plan. 

Trumbo appeared in 149 games and amassed 539 at bats as the everyday 1B the season BEFORE Albert Pujols arrived.  In AP's first year, Trumbo saw game time in 144 games, but saw his AB totals rise to 544.  In AP's second year in Anaheim Trumbo played in 159 games and managed 620 at bats -- both career highs.    He managed all of 2 fewer starts and 8 fewer at bats than he did his first two seasons in Baltimore.   This shuffling in and out of the lineup you spoke of exists only in your head.  Your claims as they relate to Trumbo are complete and utter bullshit, as per usual.   

As far as Cron goes....  Dude didn't make his MLB debut until May of 2014, Trumbo had been traded to Arizona and the person manning the everyday DH job was Raul Ibanez.    From the day Ibanez was released forward Cron was the primary DH.    

In 2015, he played in 17 of the 22 games in April despite a 622 OPS -- the people who replaced him in those games were Efren Navarro and wait for it -- Mathew Joyce.   Pujols BTW put up the better offensive numbers in April which says a lot given April was his worst month of the season.   May of 2015 saw Cron put up an OPS of .282.    TWO EIGHTY TWO.   The Angels played a total of 29 games in May including 6 inter-league games, so no DH, Cron saw game time in 14 of them.  Among the people Cron lost at bats to were Mark Krauss and Efren Navarro.  He was ultimately sent down due to his lack of performance in early June.   Cron was recalled in July, and played in 20 of 24 July games -- posting an OPS of 959.  The Angels played 3 interleague games in July with no DH, the only game he didn't get the start at DH was in favor of Mike Trout.  August saw the Angels play 29 games -- Cron played in 26 of them putting up an 899 OPS -- Twice he started at 1B in inter-league games ahead of AP.  The game he sat?  David Murphy DHed.  The Angels played 31 games in Sept/October -- Cron was in 30 of them -- putting up a .713 OPS.  

In 2016, Cron opened up with a .585 OPS in 20 of 24 games.   He wasn't sat in favor of anyone until the 18th game of the season when his OPS was down to .486, and Ji Man Choi played first while AP shifted to DH.  Mike Trout again DHed, in game 20, then Choi in the other two games.   June saw Cron play in 26 of 28 games posting a .789 OPS -- the two non games -- no DH.  AP put up a .822 OPS in May.   June, saw him play in 24 of 27 games posting an 831 OPS.  He started ahead of AP in three inter-league games -- this time it was Marte and Choi taking at bats from him.  July saw Cron come out hot posting a 1.284 OPS -- then on July 9th he was HBP resulting in a broken hand.     Cron didn't return until August 20th, when he proceeded to start every game the rest of the month.  He played in 28 of the final 29 games Marte again replaced him in that one game.  He closed out the season with a .658 OPS.

In 2017 the Angels sign Luis Valbuena, Cron again opens up horribly putting up a .544 OPS in April before ending up on the DL until May 14th.  He came up after a three day rehab assigned and played in 10 games posting an OPS of .701 and was sent down.   Cron gets recalled June 3rd, puts up a .509 OPS while playing in 10 of a possible 14 games before being sent down again.   Cron gets recalled July 7th, plays in 13 of a possible 16 games with a .946 OPS.  August, Cron plays in 25 of 28  games putting up a .981 OPS.  He started over AP in two Inter-league games sat for Valbuena once, AP once.  Cron finishes year by playing in 28 of a possible 28 games in Sept/Oct.

So, in conclusion.   No.

2 hours ago, Calzone 2 said:

Having to work around Albert’s numerous secret injuries and having to keep him off his feet was aggravating. 

Not to mention imaginary..     
 

 

Edited June 19, 2019 by Inside Pitch

[Lou]