Revisiting the SP we didn't land

[Amazing Larry]

2 minutes ago, calscuf said:

Rich guys like the ocean and sidewalks you can’t fry an egg on.

Leave your grindr profile out of this.

[tdawg87]

[krAbs]

IDK man, isn't part of a GM's job is to figure out ways to convince players that they want to play for their team? Like, I get it, its a hard job. I couldn't do it. But, that's why I'm getting paid 80k a year and not...what DOES Eppler get paid? I'm guessing between 750k and 1.5mil a year, but I can't seem to find any sources.

This can explain why individual pitchers did not sign, but a failure to get anyone significant reflects poorly on Eppler's ability to do his job.

[UndertheHalo]

The pitching market got away for a bunch of reasons.  That does suck.  But I’m glad they didn’t hand out big contracts to meh pitchers.  I’ve said it on other threads and I’ll say it here again.  The ones that really suck are Wheeler and Corbin.  I’m not giving him a pass for not signing them.  But we’ll also never really know if they had a shot.  The player goes where he goes.  Who knows what the Angels offered.  We’ve been led to believe they were in.  I don’t really know what that means.  Maybe there was an offer and maybe there wasn’t. 
 

Obviously missing on Cole sucks also, but Rendon is  a pretty good consolation prize. And despite what you’ll hear on this site.  We did very much need another middle of the order bat and we have for a long time needed a 3B. 

Edited December 23, 2019 by UndertheHalo

[Erstad Grit]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

The pitching market got away for a bunch of reasons.  That does suck.  But I’m glad they didn’t hand out big contracts to meh pitchers.  I’ve said it on other threads and I’ll say it here again.  The ones that really suck are Wheeler and Corbin.  I’m not giving him a pass for not signing them.  But we’ll also never really know if they had a shot.  The player goes where he goes.  Who knows what the Angels offered.  We’ve been led to believe they were in.  I don’t really know what that means.  Maybe there was an offer and maybe there wasn’t. 
 

Obviously missing on Cole sucks also, but Rendon is  a pretty good consolation prize. And despite what you’ll hear on this site.  We did very much need another middle of the order bat and we have for a long time needed a 3B. 

Corbin man. Even we though we knew weren't going to win last year signing Corbin long-term would have been fine by not signing Harvey/Cahill. Yes that one still stings. Wheeler.....I wanted him but acknowledge it's still based on potential and not what he has actually proved he can do. 

[hangin n wangin]

13 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

Corbin man. Even we though we knew weren't going to win last year signing Corbin long-term would have been fine by not signing Harvey/Cahill. Yes that one still stings. Wheeler.....I wanted him but acknowledge it's still based on potential and not what he has actually proved he can do. 

Wheeler had over a 4 fWAR the past two years. Yes, he has potential to do better but the fact is that he is currently very good and the numbers he has put up the past two years are worth the contract he got. If he does even better going forward for the next few years, that contract is going to be a flat out steal. 

[Jay]

3 hours ago, calscuf said:

Rich guys like the ocean and sidewalks you can’t fry an egg on.

BFD, homeless people have that.

 

[T.G.]

2 hours ago, krAbs said:

what DOES Eppler get paid? 

$0. He's an unpaid intern

[Stradling]

LAURA DIAZ

[ScottT]

2 hours ago, krAbs said:

IDK man, isn't part of a GM's job is to figure out ways to convince players that they want to play for their team? Like, I get it, its a hard job. I couldn't do it. But, that's why I'm getting paid 80k a year and not...what DOES Eppler get paid? I'm guessing between 750k and 1.5mil a year, but I can't seem to find any sources.

This can explain why individual pitchers did not sign, but a failure to get anyone significant reflects poorly on Eppler's ability to do his job.

If you are going to knock him for that, you've gotta give him massive credit for Ohtani, who was pursued by every team.   Trout, too.  And Rendon.  

[mulwin444]

Odorizzi- Accepted the QO so never an option but I would have liked him.

Wheeler- Wanted to play on the East Coast and stay near family in New Jersey.  Reportedly took less money to sign with Phillies than what the White Sux offered.  Sounds like we would have needed to massively overpay to get on his radar.

Stras- It was cute when he made the West Coast tour but, when WAS whipped out it's 7 year deal for its 31/32 year old  (next season) World Series hero, he wasn't an option.  Also, it was awesome of the Nats to totally fuck the market.

Cole- Who knew as the offseason began you'd need a 10/$360 mil deal to possibly pry him away from the Yankees...and that's if they didn't match us...which they totally would have.

Bumgarner- Odd dude who chose happiness and comfort over max possible dollars because, ultimately, $85 million is still a ridiculous amount of money and you still get to play where you want.

Keuchel- Likely the Angels best option after Cole on the free agent market but he's still an uninspiring lower-middle rotational option.  

Ryu- 33 and has a history of injuries.  Rightfully not pursued.

[ten ocho recon scout]

7 hours ago, mymerlincat said:

as I’ve said before, I don’t think we can really blame Eppler for missing out on individual players, the blame is that in his 5th offseason, it seems like he has once again failed to land any impact pitching outside of Ohtani, despite it being our biggest need all 5 years.  

I think thats fair. But, its not that simple.

Whereas yes, he hasnt added impact pitching the past few years, there were things he couldnt control. Money, no prospects to promote or trade, and lastly, the whole staff while here getting hurt.

Yes, its his job to fix it. But this winter was the first time the last few years we were finally in a position to land a bonafide ace. We just got screwed that the yankees were waiting for this same offseason.... cole would have been a game changing addition.

Personally, keuchul is the biggest mistake as far as i can see. Yes, he was overpaid... not landing him made it seem like Ryu was a foregone conclusion.

I didnt want Ryu... i think the dodgers not resigning him is very telling. That said, if we werent signing him, I have no idea why we didnt sign keuchul.

Its obviously been a huge letdown. But we'll see what comes next.

 

[Taylor]

6 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

I don’t get it. Every time I have to go through Arizona I hate it. I can’t imagine anyone actually wanting to live there, especially when you can afford to live wherever you want. 

The desert is a beautiful place to live during the non-summer months.

Source: I lived for three years in the Palm Springs area.

 

[Pancake Bear]

2 hours ago, ScottT said:

If you are going to knock him for that, you've gotta give him massive credit for Ohtani, who was pursued by every team.   Trout, too.  And Rendon.  

Haven't you heard? Eppler didn't sign Rendon, Arte did. 

[Fish Oil]

7 hours ago, Second Base said:

5/100 for a #3/4 starter. I don't blame Eppler for passing on Bumgarner. Not Keuchel. But Gibson, Pineda, Ryu, Wheeler, Corbin.... Yeah I blame him for those.

I blame him for Bumgarner. He should easily be worth that contract.

Several teams did very well putting rotations together this offseason and all we came up with so far is a couple of third tier pitchers that might be good. On the other hand, if Bundy forgets how to throw his slider and his gopher ball tendencies jump to the negative, and if Teheran starts walking one more hitter per game, we're basically back to last year's parade of injuries and ineffectiveness.

Admittedly, the offseason isn't over, but I'm having difficulty adding any sort of perspective to the overall picture. Given the enthusiasm at the beginning of the offseason, I never would have guessed that we would end up with zero of the upper end free agents.
 

[Lou]

6 minutes ago, Fish Oil said:

I blame him for Bumgarner. He should easily be worth that contract.

Bumgarner was always going to Arizona. 

[krAbs]

14 hours ago, ScottT said:

If you are going to knock him for that, you've gotta give him massive credit for Ohtani, who was pursued by every team.   Trout, too.  And Rendon.  

Correct - and I do. I've actually rated Eppler pretty highly in the past, especially on Ohtani and Trout (Ohtani because it really was about selling the Angels due to the fact that everyone was paying him about the same amount, and Trout because from a WAR perspective, that's probably the most team friendly contract in modern baseball). The Simmons trade was also a stroke of genius. But, this is definitely a frustrating black mark against him (unless he's about to pull some kinda rabbit out of his sleeve).

[Revad]

19 hours ago, calscuf said:

You saw it?

I believe you might consider it was deleted from the record.

[Tank]

15 hours ago, Stradling said:

LAURA DIAZ

 

[Tank]

13 hours ago, Taylor said:

The desert is a beautiful place to live during the non-summer months.

Source: I lived for three years in the Palm Springs area.

 

and how many times did you invite me to come out and play golf with you at your expense? zero. 

you sku.

[beatlesrule]

So far, Epplers answer to one of the worst starting rotations in baseball is trading for Bundy and signing Teheran. Neither guys are an ace or even close to it. He's also banking on a healthy Ohtani who is coming off of major surgery and has 50 IP in his MLB career.  A couple of months left in the offseason but so far, he hasn't done that great of a job really upgrading the rotation like he needs to. The pitchers listed all went elsewhere and even if they did have valid reasons for doing so, it's still Epplers job to put together a really good rotation. It's something he hasn't been able to do in 4 years and it's not fun watching him fail again at it.

Since all the big named FA pitchers are gone, he needs to trade for a REALLY good one now. I mean, if he wants to actually win and stay the Angels GM that is.

[Angelsjunky]

I just wanted to pop my head in and let everyone know that I will not be participating in this thread.

It is Christmas, after all. 

[Lou]

12 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

I just wanted to pop my head in and let everyone know that I will not be participating in this thread.

It is Christmas, after all. 

why not?

[failos]

19 hours ago, Stradling said:

LAURA DIAZ

hmmm

[Lou]

looks like Laura Diaz went to Hillary's plastic surgeon