How to lose a fan in four months...

[T.G.]

Great article from Baseball America:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/sheehan-how-to-lose-a-fan-in-four-months/

Teams that announced they were "tanking" saw attendance drop...

Those that made moves in the off season like Philadelphia, SD, Minnesota, and Cincinnati saw attendance rise...

[Taylor]

In before YK says something about 3 million fans.

[Angelsjunky]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a team announce that they're "tanking."

[T.G.]

1 minute ago, Angelsjunky said:

I'm not sure I've ever seen a team announce that they're "tanking."

In that exact word... no, of course not.  But if you read the article you'll get the gist of it...

[Claude]

Mike Trout automatically makes us tank-proof both on the field and in the stands. 

Edited November 8, 2019 by Calzone 2

[floplag]

When the experience of taking a family to a game costs as much as it does, when the team doesnt make the effort, why should the fans.
An occasional rebuild is a normal part of sports in some franchises, im not knocking those who are legitimately doing what they need to do within that process, but way too many teams seem to extend that process longer than needs be, or make no effort whatsoever to even try to be competitive.
My feelings about what the As have done to the game are well known, but at least they generally field good teams.  some others are just in money saving mode, IR Revenue sharing collection mode, and that more than anything is going to be what undoes the game 

[T.G.]

3 minutes ago, floplag said:

My feelings about what the As have done to the game are well known

Well known? Well... No, actually.

[floplag]

1 minute ago, True Grich said:

Well known? Well... No, actually.

Dont get me started please... suffice to say i think moneyball has damage the game more than its helped it.

[Lhalo]

2 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Well known? Well... No, actually.

Well if you followed him on Twitter...

[T.G.]

1 minute ago, floplag said:

Dont get me started please... suffice to say i think moneyball has damage the game more than its helped it.

[T.G.]

BTW... I hate the A's.

[floplag]

 

9 minutes ago, True Grich said:

BTW... I hate the A's.

I dont hate them, i think theyve done a brilliant job with available resources, but in the process they have fundamentally changed the game in ways i dont approve of.
In a nutshell its like this, pre 2002 if you cant hit 250 youre in deep doodoo trying to keep a job in this league, now you can hit 200 and it doesnt matter as long as your OBP is north of 325.   Defense doesnt matter, speed doesnt matter, only one thing matters, walks.   Its slowed the game down, its the reason games are longer, and its made it far more boring to watch.
Earl Weaver use to talk about pitching defense and the three run home run, but im pretty sure he didnt mean 2 walks and a bomb   

[T.G.]

Just now, floplag said:

 

I dont hate them, i think theyve done a brilliant job with what they could actually do, but in the process they have fundamentally changed the game in ways i dont approve of.
In a nutshell its like this, pre 2002 if you cant hit 250 youre in deep doodoo trying to keep a job in this league, now you can hit 200 and it doesnt matter as long as your OBP is north of 325.   Defense doesnt matter, speed doesnt matter, only one thing matters, walks.   Its slowed the game down, its the reason games are longer, and its made it far more boring to watch.
Earl Weaver use to talk about pitching defense and the three run home run, but im pretty sure he didnt mean 2 walks and a bomb   

Don't worry... I won't get you started.

[yk9001]

18 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Well known? Well... No, actually.

If you followed him on twitter...

[T.G.]

18 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

Well if you followed him on Twitter...

 

1 minute ago, yk9001 said:

If you followed him on twitter...

 

Lhalo and yk9001 are floplag assets

Edited November 7, 2019 by True Grich

[floplag]

Just now, True Grich said:

 

 

Lhalo an yk9001 are floplag assets

right?  i would actually encourage most here not to follow me on twitter actually.    You wont like what you read if you dont like it here so, save us both the headache . 

[yk9001]

The only way I'd believe attendance numbers any less is if Donald Trump tweeted them.

That said, I am glad when fans vote with their feet.  I'm a former season ticket holder, and I've gone to one game in two years because I don't like the Angels product.

I'll go to more when they deliver a better product for me.

[yk9001]

3 minutes ago, True Grich said:

 

 

Lhalo and yk9001 are floplag assets

DAMMIT

[Lhalo]

1 minute ago, yk9001 said:

The only way I'd believe attendance numbers any less is if Donald Trump tweeted them.

It's paid attendance. It simply means the seats have been sold.

[yk9001]

1 minute ago, Lhalo said:

It's paid attendance. It simply means the seats have been sold.

The only way I'd believe the paid attendance numbers less is if Donald Trump tweeted them.

[floplag]

2 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

The only way I'd believe attendance numbers any less is if Donald Trump tweeted them.

That said, I am glad when fans vote with their feet.  I'm a former season ticket holder, and I've gone to one game in two years because I don't like the Angels product.

I'll go to more when they deliver a better product for me.

Half the country might disagree, but the half that agrees, yeah they would stop going immediately just to spit him even though it would have no affect on him whatsoever, lol 
Should be interesting to see Nats attendance next year after winning a WS and then daring to actually go to the white house, lol 

[Lhalo]

4 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

The only way I'd believe the paid attendance numbers less is if Donald Trump tweeted them.

[Justin]

33 minutes ago, floplag said:

I dont hate them, i think theyve done a brilliant job with available resources

I hate them, and this is a big reason why. Maybe they used to have limited resources; their current owner is worth an estimated 2.5 billion. I also hate that dump of a stadium. I hate their ugly green and yellow colors. I hate their stupid white shoes. I hate their stupid elephant logo. I hate how Billy Beane got a free pass after his midseason break-up one of the best teams I have ever seen in 2014. I hate the way players like Matt Joyce have awful years with the Angels and then go perform well in Oakland; I hate the way players like Trevor Cahill do the exact opposite. I hate the way their fans always feel the need to be the smartest guy in the room as they constantly talk about "hit sequencing" and FIP.

But mostly I hate the way they aren't held to the same standards as other teams. After the aforementioned breakup in '14, they finished in last place for three seasons from '15-17, trading away every asset for prospects, and yet no one accuses them as having tanked. Everyone knows how the Astros sucked for several straight seasons to rebuild; almost no one talks about how the A's did as well. 

[T.G.]

4 minutes ago, SoPas Angel said:

I hate them, and this is a big reason why. Maybe they used to have limited resources; their current owner is worth an estimated 2.5 billion. I also hate that dump of a stadium. I hate their ugly green and yellow colors. I hate their stupid white shoes. I hate their stupid elephant logo. I hate how Billy Beane got a free pass after his midseason break-up one of the best teams I have ever seen in 2014. I hate the way players like Matt Joyce have awful years with the Angels and then go perform well in Oakland; I hate the way players like Trevor Cahill do the exact opposite. I hate the way their fans always feel the need to be the smartest guy in the room as they constantly talk about "hit sequencing" and FIP.

But mostly I hate the way they aren't held to the same standards as other teams. After the aforementioned breakup in '14, they finished in last place for three seasons from '15-17, trading away every asset for prospects, and yet no one accuses them as having tanked. Everyone knows how the Astors sucked for several straight seasons to rebuild; almost no one talks about how the A's did as well. 

[Second Base]

Fans aren't completely stupid. Even if a team doesn't say they're tanking, the body of work offer the Winter time will tell fans whether there is reason for hope it not. 

As an example, when Eppler took over, the Angels didn't sign a single free agent to even a moderate contact for three straight years. Why? Because Dipoto maxed out the payroll. So we saw a steady dirt of Johnny Giavotella, David Murphy, Cliff Pennington, Can Maybin, Daniel Nava, Craig Gentry types. Those guys sucked.

The only difference is the Angels underwent a soft rebuild. Instead of trading away their star players to cut payroll and acquire prospects, they built up a core to build around, scouted and drafted well, and simply didn't spend money so that it can be saved and reallocated at the right time (i.e. a Trout lifetime extension). 

Their window of contention was actually supposed to start in 2018, but Richards, Ohtani, Heaney and whoever else got hurt. They thought they'd be in the mix in 2019, but injuries, death and just plain sucking sapped their changes.

2020 looks to me like it will become the true beginning of their competitive window. Ohtani will be back healthy, as will Upton and Simmons, I figure they're going to acquire two major free agent pitchers like Cole and Wheeler, and their prospects like Rengifo, Thaiss and Fletcher will be coming into their own and for the first time in nearly a decade, the Angels will have prospects with extreme upside breaking in like Adell and Marsh.

I fully expect the Angels to be a playoff team in 2020, and I expect them to be even better in 2021. By 2022, the Angels better be favorites to win the World Series.