Is Jared Walsh the answer for 1B?

[Revad 511]

Give me another four days  I’ll use my wrists

[eligrba 5,130]

On 9/18/2020 at 4:55 PM, Stradling said:

Tell him we say hey. 

Thanks, Scout.

[AngelsLakersFan 8,938]

On 9/18/2020 at 8:31 AM, Revad said:

You made a good call- I like Walsh, not quite a man crush but it could get there.  How could you have fletch, trout, rendon and Walsh and be 10 games below .500

We are now 5 wins short of our base runs estimation, which has us being about as good as the Indians and the Cubs. Only two other teams are even 4 wins short of their base runs estimation (Orioles and Mets). We are also 2 wins short of our pythagorean expected winning percentage. I've always found that teams who underachieve in these areas tend to deploy too many bad players too often. Or at least a really unbalanced roster. We've had Rengifo and Adell combine for -2 wins below replacement level, and 9 pitchers combine for -2 wins below replacement. We are simply throwing games away playing below major league level talent. Ohtani and Upton have left a run of runners on base as well.

[AngelsLakersFan 8,938]

Fun fact: Albert Pujols has been just as good as Brian Goodwin this season.

[Angels 1961 392]

On 9/18/2020 at 4:44 AM, Warfarin said:

Right.  So for me, the key think is to go all-out and try to sign Bauer.  Signing Bauer will create a cascade effect on our rotation, and our backend of the rotation will then become Canning and Barria, which should be significantly better than what we're seeing now.

Sandoval and Suarez can serve as depth in AAA, as they work on their mechanics and try to generate better results.

Let's not get our hopes up for Bauer as I do not belief he's signing with halos. Wants to be with a team that competes every year and right now that's not the Angels.

[Warfarin 2,138]

2 hours ago, Angels 1961 said:

Let's not get our hopes up for Bauer as I do not belief he's signing with halos. Wants to be with a team that competes every year and right now that's not the Angels.

Yeah, I know - it's likely a fantasy.

I do think Arte will sign a pitcher, but I suspect it's probably more of a Gausman-tier of pitcher - useful, solid mid-rotation SP, but not a #1/#2 type like Bauer.  That said, we can use someone like Gausman for sure, so if he ends up being our move, I'll happily take it.

[Blarg 30,598]

On 9/18/2020 at 3:36 PM, Inside Pitch said:

Wrists?  Tim Salmon says hello.

Rod Carew was all wrists and elbows in his swing. No home run power but he could drop a ball just out of the reach of the shortstop and second baseman at will.

This is why I like Maddon talking about launch angle ruining some players swings. It is not the end all to hitting and has lead to these silly ass .235 hitters with 35 home runs and a 180 strikeouts, that hit into the shift constantly. Terrible baseball to watch. 

The game is always evolving and it seems ripe for a team that is more like the 70's Reds to slash and run the other teams into the ground. 

[AngelsFaninGA 1,411]

21 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

We are now 5 wins short of our base runs estimation, which has us being about as good as the Indians and the Cubs. Only two other teams are even 4 wins short of their base runs estimation (Orioles and Mets). We are also 2 wins short of our pythagorean expected winning percentage. I've always found that teams who underachieve in these areas tend to deploy too many bad players too often. Or at least a really unbalanced roster. We've had Rengifo and Adell combine for -2 wins below replacement level, and 9 pitchers combine for -2 wins below replacement. We are simply throwing games away playing below major league level talent. Ohtani and Upton have left a run of runners on base as well.

Totally agree, we have too many players on the bottom end of the roster (as previously listed, Adell, Ohtani, Teheran, Robles, etc) who have just been completely atrocious. If we can apply a floor to the worst players on the roster (keep the bad hitters to a .200 average rather than .150 and the pitchers to a 5-5.50 ERA rather than 8 or 9) then we're likely looking at a playoff spot. Not sure how to accomplish that as it seems like every year the bottom quarter to third of the roster completely falls off. 

[cvdog 115]

1 hour ago, AngelsFaninGA said:

Totally agree, we have too many players on the bottom end of the roster (as previously listed, Adell, Ohtani, Teheran, Robles, etc) who have just been completely atrocious. If we can apply a floor to the worst players on the roster (keep the bad hitters to a .200 average rather than .150 and the pitchers to a 5-5.50 ERA rather than 8 or 9) then we're likely looking at a playoff spot. Not sure how to accomplish that as it seems like every year the bottom quarter to third of the roster completely falls off. 

I agree. Just buyout Albert and Upton. Promote Walsh to 1st. Send Adell back to SLC for more development. Blow out 1/2 the pitching staff and keep only those salvageable. 

[Inside Pitch 17,498]

1 minute ago, cvdog said:

I agree. Just buyout Albert and Upton. Promote Walsh to 1st. Send Adell back to SLC for more development. Blow out 1/2 the pitching staff and keep only those salvageable. 

Upton first 18 games -- .094/.169/.188 - .357 OPS  .104 BaBIP
Upton last 19 games -- .318/.400/.621 - 1.021

Reports of Upton's death were premature.

[eaterfan 1,796]

1 hour ago, AngelsFaninGA said:

Totally agree, we have too many players on the bottom end of the roster (as previously listed, Adell, Ohtani, Teheran, Robles, etc) who have just been completely atrocious. If we can apply a floor to the worst players on the roster (keep the bad hitters to a .200 average rather than .150 and the pitchers to a 5-5.50 ERA rather than 8 or 9) then we're likely looking at a playoff spot. Not sure how to accomplish that as it seems like every year the bottom quarter to third of the roster completely falls off. 

This is where a lack of farm and inability to sign free agents has hurt us. There is no depth. If a pitcher is sporting an 8.00 ERA for an extended period of time he gets replaced on a normal team because there are other, possibly better options. If there aren't better options you have to keep playing those guys. 

[Inside Pitch 17,498]

41 minutes ago, eaterfan said:

This is where a lack of farm and inability to sign free agents has hurt us. There is no depth. If a pitcher is sporting an 8.00 ERA for an extended period of time he gets replaced on a normal team because there are other, possibly better options. If there aren't better options you have to keep playing those guys. 

People always say they get it, but then when the shit hits the fan they completely dismiss how the state of the farm system completely wrecked this franchise.   "But Eppler has had five years".   Yeah, and the two guys people are fawning over right now were taken in Dipoto's last draft 6 years ago....  It only took them six years, and they were all college guys..

[AngelsLakersFan 8,938]

2 hours ago, eaterfan said:

This is where a lack of farm and inability to sign free agents has hurt us. There is no depth. If a pitcher is sporting an 8.00 ERA for an extended period of time he gets replaced on a normal team because there are other, possibly better options. If there aren't better options you have to keep playing those guys. 

It also has something to do with the number of guys were are trying to find. When you are trying to fill EVERY bullpen spot with an undervalued cast off you spend too much of your season trying to figure out which guys can produce and which ones can't. If we had 2 or 3 projectable relievers we would spend less time having open tryouts late in games.

[Inside Pitch 17,498]

2 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

It also has something to do with the number of guys were are trying to find. When you are trying to fill EVERY bullpen spot with an undervalued cast off you spend too much of your season trying to figure out which guys can produce and which ones can't. If we had 2 or 3 projectable relievers we would spend less time having open tryouts late in games.

Funny thing is ..  that's exactly what they thought they had in Robles, Buttrey, and Middleton.   

[Angel Oracle 13,488]

Does Robles’ claim that he needs fans in the stands to focus better have any merit?   Or does he need to accept all of the blame for coming in quite a bit heavier than in 2019?

[rafibomb 2,987]

21 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Funny thing is ..  that's exactly what they thought they had in Robles, Buttrey, and Middleton.   

Relievers are so volatile I fully expect at least one of them to bounce back and have a solid season next year.

[Inside Pitch 17,498]

Just now, rafibomb said:

Relievers are so volatile I fully expect at least one of them to bounce back and have a solid season next year.

If I had to bet without looking at pitch info and the good stuff I'd put my money on Robles ... Only because he's done the good, then awful, then good thing before.   Also he's goofy AF.  Goofy RPs do goofy shit.

[Inside Pitch 17,498]

5 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Does Robles’ claim that he needs fans in the stands to focus better have any merit?   Or does he need to accept all of the blame for coming in quite a bit heavier than in 2019?

AO, you strike me as the sort of guy that knows crazy when he sees it.  You know Robles is goofy enough where it might actually be a thing.

[Angel Oracle 13,488]

1 minute ago, Inside Pitch said:

AO, you strike me as the sort of guy that knows crazy when he sees it.  You know Robles is goofy enough where it might actually be a thing.

Some players do have that unique way of looking at things.

His adopting the Undertaker theme in 2019 obviously was cool for me.

On the bright side, his arb amount for 2021 has likely gone down significantly with this poor season.

Hope for fans in 2021 and for him to take off the added weight, and see if he can rebound here?

[eaterfan 1,796]

1 minute ago, Game 6 said:

This is what is happening here, now, but it isn't indicative of every team in the league or the norm.

I don't think we should give Eppler a break on his misses because "he has only had five years".

I think that's really pretty normal. There are definitely the Mike Trouts and Jo Adells who make the majors much faster, but a ton of solid regulars don't hit the bigs until age 24-25. It's those depth guys who we are missing now. This system was so devoid of nearly anything useable for a long time and didn't even have the infrastructure to get whatever talent their was developed. 

I'm not going to argue that Eppler has done a perfect job, but the system was a much bigger disaster than nearly everyone (even on a die hard Angel's board) realized.

[Inside Pitch 17,498]

1 minute ago, Game 6 said:

This is what is happening here, now, but it isn't indicative of every team in the league or the norm.

I don't think we should give Eppler a break on his misses because "he has only had five years".

A - I've not said he deserves any breaks.  In fact I've always argued he has to wear his mistakes.  

B - The quote is, "but he's had 5 years", and the intent isn't to argue he needs more time but rather point out how the people focusing on how long he's been here seemingly blind themselves to how wretched things were despite claiming they "get it".

Eppler is as good as gone IMO, and I don't care if anyone gives him any breaks.  But the more people talk the more it becomes clear they underestimated how bad things were.

If and when he gets canned he will have done more to fix this franchise than any Angels GM not named Stoneman.

[Inside Pitch 17,498]

9 minutes ago, eaterfan said:

I'm not going to argue that Eppler has done a perfect job, but the system was a much bigger disaster than nearly everyone (even on a die hard Angel's board) realized.

Bingo.  I wish you posted more often.

[Angels 1961 392]

7 hours ago, cvdog said:

I agree. Just buyout Albert and Upton. Promote Walsh to 1st. Send Adell back to SLC for more development. Blow out 1/2 the pitching staff and keep only those salvageable. 

Upton has been good after horrible start, I keep him. 

[Dochalo 25,607]

Impact from the 2016 draft so far

Very little to none - Angels, Astros, Brewers, Cubs, Rays, Dbacks, Marlins, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Rangers, Red Sox, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Yankees.  

A's - Sean Murphy 154 ab
Jays - Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio
Atlanta - Ian Anderson (26.2ip)
Cards - Hudson, Zac Gallen (on dbacks), Tommy Edman
Dogs - Lux, Smith, May, Gonsolin
Giants - Reynolds (now on pittsburgh) 
Indians - Bieber, Civale, Plesac
Mariners - Lewis
Mets - Alonso
Nats - Luzardo
Padres - Quantrill, Lauer, Lucchesi
Reds - Senzel

I thought this was an interesting exercise to look at any sort of impact the 2016 draft has had.  This isn't to say that a bunch of players are still out there that could have a considerable impact in years to come.  

The Dogs, Pads, Cards and Indians did very very well in this draft.  The Jays also got two very nice current contributors.  

7 other teams are getting something from 1 guy.  

While 18 teams has gotten nothing to almost nothing so far.  

and yes, it's not a mystery that the teams we typically associate with a special ability to draft and develop were the biggest winners.  

[ten ocho recon scout 17,673]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

AO, you strike me as the sort of guy that knows crazy when he sees it.  

Probably the best scouting report in the history of this website.