Angels DFA Jonathan Lucroy

[Inside Pitch]

Anyone actually mad about this probably needs to be reminded of their anger when they heard the Angels off-season catching move was Lucroy in the first place...

     
  

[yk9001]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

i never said this season would, nor that i think Artes cares about my view.  
The fans arent going to continue to show up at a 3M pace per year for a endless 500 club, you can bank on that Trout or no Trout.   So he should care what we collectively think.
Epplers job is to build a winner, to date he has not done so.  His contract isnt open ended.

They're not showing up at a 3M pace now.

 

Confederate money is more trustworthy than the Angels' "tickets sold" numbers.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, robblin17 said:

We get your point. 

He still struck out on one year deals when others have flourished. 

Again, not a huge deal, but what happens if he had signed Miley or Lynn? Again, hindsight is 20/20, but they were also half as expensive as Harvey and Cahill. 

I agree, I would have loved to have those guys, you brought up Lynn and he was also one of the guys I wanted to sign, but maybe not for his 3 year $30 million deal. The problem with Miley or Gio is we have no idea what their asking price was when we signed Cahill and Harvey.  You can’t just assume we dropped the ball if they either expressed no interest in coming here or at the time their price in dollars and years was quite different in December than when they actually signed. 

[Lou]

1 minute ago, yk9001 said:

They're not showing up at a 3M pace now.

 

Confederate money is more trustworthy than the Angels' "tickets sold" numbers.

You obviously don't consistently  watch games in other ballparks.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, RBM said:

Who does Eovaldi's brother play for?

Shit.  

[floplag]

11 minutes ago, Lou said:

History says otherwise

Lets hope we dont find out.

[yk9001]

3 minutes ago, Lou said:

You obviously don't consistently  watch games in other ballparks.

You are replying to an imaginary post.

[Inside Pitch]

18 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

I’m not ignoring anything.  Regardless of what they did or didn’t try it didn’t work and they ended up with the 1 year deals which disastrously didn’t work.  At least it’s over with at the end of the year.  Still,  being rebuffed is a failure. 

Indeed, it is.  Do you believe a different GM would have been able to get someone like Corbin to ignore all the warts and sign anyway?  Or do you think they should have thrown enough money at someone to ignore the obvious issues?

More importantly, in your honest opinion are the Angels a more attractive option for FAs going into 2020 than they were into 2019.   Because had I been a FA, I would have wanted no part of a team who's entire chance at being able to compete revolved around keeping Trout.. 

That was the Angels reality.

BTW -- I'm not asking to be a wiseass -- Im genuinely curious if you think all the same issues apply last year and this?

Edited August 2, 2019 by Inside Pitch

[floplag]

5 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

They're not showing up at a 3M pace now.

 

Confederate money is more trustworthy than the Angels' "tickets sold" numbers.

Well i have no info on that one way or another, but most teams dont sell what they claim we all know that. 
We need to average 35K+ per night to hit 3M, which is about 3/4 capacity and i dont see that most nights these days.

[Inside Pitch]

3 minutes ago, Randy Gradishar said:

Although I do actually think Grandal was a good bet. But I think they also tried.

Grandal decided to be the people's hero remember. 

He claimed he could have taken one of several deals for multiple years but he didn't want to hurt other players future earning potential so he took the one year deal at 18 mil which also guarantees he can't be offered a QO this year.

No ulterior motives at all -- just a hero.

 

[robblin17]

15 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I agree, I would have loved to have those guys, you brought up Lynn and he was also one of the guys I wanted to sign, but maybe not for his 3 year $30 million deal. The problem with Miley or Gio is we have no idea what their asking price was when we signed Cahill and Harvey.  You can’t just assume we dropped the ball if they either expressed no interest in coming here or at the time their price in dollars and years was quite different in December than when they actually signed. 

I hear ya. If only we knew. How interesting would that be?

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, fan_since79 said:

A ten-year rebuild?

I guess I can wait.

No, a ten year window of sustainable contention (deep farm, young MLB core, flexible payroll) to maximize the odds of winning as much as possible during the length of the contract guaranteed to this generation’s best ballplayer, following a fairly typical 4-5 year rebuild.

Edited August 2, 2019 by totdprods

[Duren, Duren]

The problem with looking at veteran free agents is trying to weigh their current status with their past career. 

So often a mediocre or injury affected recent season is shrugged off, and people hope it was an exception. Just because someone did good things in the past always tweaks optimism, thinking they can revert back to their best again.

That has to be the reason Eppler  signed those half dozen free agents who all failed big time. Amazingly, only one is still on the team but probably the least trusted. 

Just because they were one year deals doesn't justify this dumpster diving. Individually you can make a case here and there, but the collective pattern was pure desperation. Ironically, if any had turned in a great season much more money and term would have to be offered or the player would walk and fans would be given mixed signals.

The loss would again have to be filled  or the team would have to commit and mess up their long term budget.

Either way it solves no problem. And it really makes you question management's player evaluation methods. 

[UndertheHalo]

24 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Indeed, it is.  Do you believe a different GM would have been able to get someone like Corbin to ignore all the warts and sign anyway?  Or do you think they should have thrown enough money at someone to ignore the obvious issues?

More importantly, in your honest opinion are the Angels a more attractive option for FAs going into 2020 than they were into 2019.   Because had I been a FA, I would have wanted no part of a team who's entire chance at being able to compete revolved around keeping Trout.. 

That was the Angels reality.

BTW -- I'm not asking to be a wiseass -- Im genuinely curious if you think all the same issues apply last year and this?

Im not sure if a different GM would have had a different result.  I do think the idea that the Angels are significantly more attractive this year then last year a bit suspect but I don’t know that either.  I believe that last year the Angels were an attractive destination and I believe that this year they are as well.  I don’t agree with you that some pox was on the Angels because of the lack of clarity with the Trout situation.  I think that most people would have bet he was staying if I’m completely honest.  I mean he went to the Nationals right ? They were losing Harper in the moment.  They had other good stuff going on but  you know.  So did the Angels.  We’ve recently discussed all the guys that have come up and impacted the team right ? Anyway.  I’m think that’s a point that is unclear.  I think that a guy like Pat Corbin not signing probably has more to do with where he wanted to play then anything else.  But I also think that it’s possible that the Angels just didn’t pursue him as aggressively as Washington did.  These are details that at the end of the day.  We just don’t know.  

What I do know is that they didn’t land him.  So it is what it is.  I don’t believe that I’m overly critical of the team.  I think I’m pretty fair actually.  Leaning towards overly sympathetic.  All the same I do think that the Angels offseason in 2018-2019 was extremely bad.  And I don’t think an honest assessment of it should describe it any other way. 

What are we going to say if they fail to land guys this offseason ? At that point are you going to think it’s ok to be critical of what they’ve managed to accomplish when trying to build a playoff roster ?

Edited August 2, 2019 by UndertheHalo

[Inside Pitch]

2 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Im not sure if a different GM would have had a different result.  I do think the idea that the Angels are significantly more attractive this year then last year a bit suspect but I don’t know that either.  I believe that last year the Angels were an attractive destination and I believe that this year they are as well.  I don’t agree with you that some pox was on the Angels because of the lack of clarity with the Trout situation.  I think that most people would have bet he was staying if I’m completely honest.

Fair enough.

Tell me all the things that made the Angels an attractive destination for a player, besides the location.

3 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

I mean he went to the Nationals right ? They were losing Harper in the moment.  They had other good stuff going on but  you know.  So did the Angels.  

You are really going to say the two situations were remotely similar?   The Nationals with recent history of success, playoff appearances, that rotation, plus Turner, Rendon, Eaton. and Soto were just as suspect as the Angels roster eh?   If that's what you believe then fine, but I have a hard time seeing it..   Again, what are the good things the Angels had going besides Ohtani and possibly Upton who according to everyone now was clearly washed up when the Angels signed him (not putting that on you at all).  Two SPs who couldn't stay healthy?  A bullpen made of nobodies?

11 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

We’ve recently discussed all the guys that have come up and impacted the team right ?

Time traveling isn't a real thing.  You can't point to things that happened a year later and say -- see, they had this too.   

15 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

I think that a guy like Pat Corbin not signing probably has more to do with where he wanted to play then anything else.  But I also think that it’s possible that the Angels just didn’t pursue him as aggressively as Washington did.  These are details in that at the end of the day.  We just don’t know.  

 Corbin wasn't the focal point of my statement -- just one of guys that actually were viewed as GOOD additions and STILL are.   But in bringing up all the outside factors like location etc etc -- you bring it back to the simple question of -- Do you really believe a different GM would have been able talk a player into going against his wishes and sign with the Angels.   You are seemingly holding him responsible for failing to get one of those guys -- I guess I'm curious to understand where you believe his actions failed to get it done.

20 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

 I don’t believe that I’m overly critical of the team.  But I do think that the Angels offseason in 2018-2019 was extremely bad.  And I don’t think an honest assessment of it should describe it any other way. 

Didn't think that at all..   Only chose to engage you because you typically do put some thought into things.  I mean, I don't even disagree that the off-season was an epic failure but I clearly view what led there very differently than you do.   

In short, I think Epp deserves to be ripped for the pitching decisions he made, but I don't have a problem with his having been smart enough to punt and go with one year deals.  Now, had he come out and said "these were the guys we wanted all along and blah blah blah"   I'd be calling for his head.  But he didn't and everyone paying attention knew he missed out on what he wanted.
 

[eligrba4ever]

OH GOSH AND GOLLY!!!

[Blarg]

3 hours ago, robblin17 said:

That would be asinine. 

And, yeah, of course. 

Terms acceptable.

[disarcina]

didn't see this coming.

we DFA one of our major off season acquisitions to make room for STASSI ?

WOW.  Now, I was not that impressed with Lucroy's defensive skills when we got him -- and folks here claimed - 'oh he's pretty good behind the dish ' AND -- he was  better than I expected on defense - but then , I did not expect much.

meanwhile there's another catcher out there that has been traded / signed about three times since last year's stretch run. I still think the guy's defense behind the plate had something to do with Houston playing so well down the stretch and into the post-season.

Martin Maldonado - -can't hit much - but can play defense behind the dish -- now he's BACK with Houston again this year for this stretch run after time spent with Houston, Kansas City, Chicago Cubs and now Houston again since he left the Halos in 2018.

I thought then and now - we should have re-signed him before the 2019 season. He sat out un-signed almost all of Spring Training finally signing with the Royals when Sal Perez went down with a season ending injury.

And the prior post that says Eppler's F/A class/ signings have been somewhat far less than successful is very accurate........what a disaster.

[disarcina]

reading about Stassi -- a goo d defensive catcher who hit something like .167 this year -- maybe we did acquire another but younger Martin Maldonado.

so maybe an OK move after all.

Houston gets Maldonado, veteran defensive specialist for stretch run/ post season and we get Stassi - the younger version - for 2020 and beyond.  Heck - we're not going to be in the playoffs this year.

So a 'younger' Maldonado maybe not such a bad idea.  And he's likely to get a lot of MLB playing time in August and September.

[disarcina]

I wonder if we tried to move Lucroy at deadline time?  No takers I take it -- and now they can get him for the MLB minimum for the rest of the season - KC may pick him up.

[nando714]

At least trade him for cash. Who cares

but now you get nothing lol

[Taylor]

I'm sure Eppler didn't try at all to get anything for Lucroy.

[Troll Daddy]

Will know how much Moreno values Eppler after the season when his contract expires. If he signs him to a one year deal then he’s certainly on the hot seat. 

 

[GrittyVeterans]

As predicted, he stunk this year offensively and defensively . Eppler needs to do better

[Jeff Fletcher]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

I agree, I would have loved to have those guys, you brought up Lynn and he was also one of the guys I wanted to sign, but maybe not for his 3 year $30 million deal. The problem with Miley or Gio is we have no idea what their asking price was when we signed Cahill and Harvey.  You can’t just assume we dropped the ball if they either expressed no interest in coming here or at the time their price in dollars and years was quite different in December than when they actually signed. 

^^^^