Zack Wheeler signs with the Phillies (5 years, $118 million)

[Troll Daddy]

3 hours ago, Kevinb said:

FF we do have the resources. Arte just spent 300 plus million on the stadium and land. We have plenty of space before hitting the cap. Now whether Arte wants to spend that kind of money is on him. But Cole is going to get 250 or so million dollars. That could kind of cash could have easily bought Wheeler and another 100 million dollar pitcher. But I guess time will tell what the Angels do. 

Well I’m guessing they have a good idea what it’s going to take to sign him. It’s been also reported they recently sat down with Eppler. Wonder if Arte was in attendance?

[Lou]

4 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

I imagine Arte could turn this into a advertising bonanza and actually get $3M legit fans into the seats. 

I agree

[Troll Daddy]

2 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

Well I’m guessing they have a good idea what it’s going to take to sign him. It’s been also reported they recently sat down with Eppler. Wonder if Arte was in attendance?

I wonder how many times he said Trout in that interview  

[eligrba]

3 hours ago, Kevinb said:

FF we do have the resources. Arte just spent 300 plus million on the stadium and land. We have plenty of space before hitting the cap. Now whether Arte wants to spend that kind of money is on him. But Cole is going to get 250 or so million dollars. That could kind of cash could have easily bought Wheeler and another 100 million dollar pitcher. But I guess time will tell what the Angels do. 

I’m pretty sure that the stadium deal does not impact the baseball business. Cash flow probably remains the same.

[kevinb]

19 minutes ago, eligrba said:

I’m pretty sure that the stadium deal does not impact the baseball business. Cash flow probably remains the same.

I don't think it impacts baseball business as well. But to say we don't have the money isn't correct either. The money is there it's just whether he wants to spend it on the baseball payroll or not. I think he will. Cole is almost a guarantee and I think another top pitcher is coming as well. 

[Stradling]

I agree with that all 30 teams have the money if the owner chooses to use it. 

[failos]

F’n Sosh

[JustATroutFan]

Wheeler stinks. Phillies liking mediocrity way too much.

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, JustATroutFan said:

Wheeler stinks. Phillies liking mediocrity way too much.

No he doesn’t stink.  

[nando714]

As much as I like wheeler. 118 mil. Damn. 
 

[T.G.]

6 hours ago, Kevinb said:

FF we do have the resources.

FF?

[tdawg87]

Fart Factory.

[ukyah]

8 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

Ryu or Teheran?

That's a big difference!

One was leader for NL CY Young for a chunk of the year and the other was left off the playoff roster. 

right? i don't understand the collective hard on for teheran that's on this site. dude, is really not that good. i realize he's better than most/any of the crap we had pitching for us, but he's certainly not the goal as a #2, like ryu or any of the others at that echelon. 

[SoWhat]

I think Wheeler’s velo, stuff and upside really clouded a lot of folks judgement. Banking $120M on him tapping into that potential is way too much of a risk for the Angels. Even if he stays the same pitcher,  which is league average (100 ERA+) he is still not worth that money. I’ll quote this at the end of next year when Canning puts up identical stats for league minimum $$$

[Pancake Bear]

Just now, SoWhat said:

I think Wheeler’s velo, stuff and upside really clouded a lot of folks judgement. Banking $120M on him tapping into that potential is way too much of a risk for the Angels. Even if he stays the same pitcher,  which is league average (100 ERA+) he is still not worth that money. I’ll quote this at the end of next year when Canning puts up identical stats for league minimum $$$

Okay, I’ll bite. Who is worth the risk in your opinion?

[Tank]

11 hours ago, Bronson said:

Theres no reason we couldn’t pay Wheeler that contract.

agreed, but it seems pretty clear that wheeler didn't want to come out to Anaheim. this is not a failure on the part of the angels, especially when you read how the white sox offered more but his wife had family in NJ.

[Docwaukee]

too bad we never really had a fighting chance.  probably would have cost an additional 10m to pry him away and out west.  I think I'd rather have had Grandal on his contract than wheeler on his.  

[Dick B Back]

12 hours ago, failos said:

F’n Sosh

 

[failos]

Just now, Dick B Back said:

 

[totdprods]

Heyman reported the Twins made a strong offer but Wheeler told them he wanted to stay on the East Coast. Didn’t seem like any of the West Coast clubs were mentioned much as suitors near the end so pretty likely Wheeler was pretty committed to staying East.

[T.G.]

Wheeler is a Westist

[Angelsfan1984]

7 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Wheeler is a Westist

Pretty severe speech impediment there Grich.

[Kendo36]

Bumgarner & Cole. Hand us the trophy. 

[jsnpritchett]

Btw, I don't know why, but I started thinking about Jordan Zimmermann's contract this morning.  It was roughly similar to Wheeler's: 5 for $110M, back in the 2015 off-season.  I had honestly just sort of forgotten Zimmermann existed, but holy cow, that contract has turned out to be a disaster.  So far, he's 25-41 with a 5.61 ERA.  Somehow, that has amounted to 0.8 bWAR (I thought it'd be even worse).  He was roughly the same age as Wheeler when he was a free agent and had significantly better career stats up until that point.

There's really no point to this post other than to once again reinforce that big-dollar free agent pitching contracts (even more so than positional player contracts) are a total crapshoot.

[totdprods]

16 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Btw, I don't know why, but I started thinking about Jordan Zimmermann's contract this morning.  It was roughly similar to Wheeler's: 5 for $110M, back in the 2015 off-season.  I had honestly just sort of forgotten Zimmermann existed, but holy cow, that contract has turned out to be a disaster.  So far, he's 25-41 with a 5.61 ERA.  Somehow, that has amounted to 0.8 bWAR (I thought it'd be even worse).  He was roughly the same age as Wheeler when he was a free agent and had significantly better career stats up until that point.

There's really no point to this post other than to once again reinforce that big-dollar free agent pitching contracts (even more so than positional player contracts) are a total crapshoot.

5/$118m for a pitcher like Wheeler, who’s basically been just average in his career, is nuts. It’s a perfectly reasonable gamble for a team like Philly to make, the Angels just aren’t really in a position to roll the dice on an arm that expensive and that risky when they have so many other needs.