Eppler Polls

[totdprods]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

I wonder what Eppler promised Trout?

All in in 2020?

or 2021?

or...?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ guess we'll find out within the next 4-6 months. Currently, I think I'd like to see them stick with as much internal talent as possible for 2020 and see what happens. 

I think they have to go hard after a significant SP, and Cole makes the most sense, but if they do sign him, I don't think he tilts the needle much, and he'll eat up virtually all open payroll, so I don't think they'd be signing him with 2020 in mind as going all-in. It'd be more a matter of timing, and getting him in now. A 2021 move made in 2020.

If the Angels are contending in 2020, I think they'd then be heavy buyers at the deadline - lots of good SP rentals could be available in Bauer, Arrieta, DeSclafini, Erlin, Fiers, Paxton, Ray, Richards, Stroman, Sanchez, Walker for them to 'give up' on some expiring prospects for - Jones, Ward, etc. - once they have a clearer idea of who else internally is working. And they'd then be in the market for the currently solid FA SP class set to hit after 2020.

So, I could see Eppler going big on only a few paths this offseason, and saving his bullets for a more aggressive push at the '20 deadline or in the offseason following 2020. 
Those paths would be, in likeliest...
1) making Cole the real sole target
2) nabbing a mid-tier SP they feel will be durable and solid to shore things up, and more stopgap vets
3) looking into Anthony Rendon to prop up the offense long-term, opening up a wave of trade possibilities involving Simmons, Thaiss, Ward, Rengifo, Fletcher to bring in pitching

I don't think we'll see him go big on Cole and then continue to go nuts on spending or trading furiously to build a 2020 team. Don't think we're quite there yet.

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, RBM said:

Maybe, but I think it's more likely he just made bad decisions on Harvey, Lucroy, Allen and Cahill. And I think his strategy of signing players to only one year contracts this year is a big part of his failure. I understand why he wanted stop gap signings in 2019. He believed internal pitching help was on the way for 2020 - that internal help had to arrive arrived earl because of his failures, injuries and the tragedy with Skaggs. 

The problem is when you limit yourself to one year contracts the pool of players available is diminished in both quality and quantity. Also, we don't know if he tried to sign pitchers to one year deals and they were holding out for more years at the time. Wade Miley could be an example here. Harvey and Cahill both signed before Christmas. Miley didn't sign his one year deal until February.

That's where I get into thinking that they're really not prioritizing the ~$35m to spend on two vet SPs, a C, and a RP. They knew there was a need for those specific roles, they had x amount to spend, and weren't too concerned with the results, because ultimately, their focus is on everyone else in the org - finding cheap, long-term help like La Stella. Developing the minors. Finding more guys like Adrian Rondon. Focusing on re-building the minor-league coaching staff and implementing all of the new technology and data capture. It's easy for us to sometimes to forget that these are human beings, and the FO is only compromised of a few dozen folks at most, all with a lot of other things on their plate too.

If The Plan has been to build up as much good minor-league depth and low-dollar/high-value wins up to a target season of 2020, and that's been the main objective, their North Star, for the last few seasons, then spending time and resources figuring out the best way to spend 1/$8m on one vet SP or another seems like something that would be really low-priority. 

Obviously, they pursued Corbin, Happ, Eovaldi...so there were targets out there for them who would've been major pieces, but none of those guys were going to go for 1-yr. So, I think when it came to Cahill for $8m or Harvey for $11m in December, or Miley or Gio for pennies in February, they weren't too concerned in calculating out the difference between the guys because ultimately, they weren't going to be here for more for than a year anyways, and they had the money to burn. And like I said, perhaps this was a little lazy or poor use of money, but what if the work needed to suss out the difference between Cahill and Miley wound up taking away the time from the guys who looked over La Stella and Goodwin and thought they'd be worth recommending? The one-year deals were simply checking off a shopping list with guys who had some name recognition (to help pump up casual fans and generate some early season dollars), guys who if returned to form would either net big prospects in July or lead the Halos to the WC, and guys who I'm sure they did do some homework on, but ultimately, just didn't worry about too much knowing they'd be in and out before The Plan kicked in.

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, RBM said:

I think Eppler had/has the resources and desire to do both.

Goodwin was added the day before the season started because of Upton's toe injury. He did not make the Royals opening day roster and the Angels got him off waivers. The La Stella trade was great but it happened back in November.

I think Eppler had plenty of desire to make the right choices with SP but his chosen strategy of one year contracts limited his options so, as a result, we ended up with Harvey and Cahill.

They were meant mostly as examples - they may have been pre-occupied on deals that didn't happen as well. Such as Corbin or Eovaldi. Or other trades. They might have had interest in Goodwin before he was available. 

Ultimately, I think he simply overpaid Harvey and Cahill for the luxury of limiting to one-year. Had he waited, he might have wound up with less desirable options or had to buy two-years for someone he didn't necessarily want for two years.

Edited August 8, 2019 by totdprods

[Tank]

21 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Hitting wise yes, but as far as the behind the plate work, it probably takes time to get acclimated to a new set of pitchers? 

I'd like to hear what the pitchers have to say about stassi before making any judgements. my vision test from just watching him on tv isn't going to be very effective, and I imagine that's true for nearly all of us.

also worth bearing in mind that the starting 5 of today will not at all be the starting 5 next April. hopefully we'll have a much better starting 5 at that point, without the likes of cahill, Harvey, and all of the spare parts plugged in to fill the gaps.