Question: What is Minasian doing?

[GoodTimesGoneBad]

1 hour ago, stormngt said:

So just give the middle finger to Trout and Rendon?

For one year yes. But they’re also getting paid and Rendon already has a ring so...

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, GoodTimesGoneBad said:

For one year yes. But they’re also getting paid and Rendon already has a ring so...

For just one year.  It's been 7 years since li ast playoffs.  They are not getting any younger.

Both Rendon and Trout would get paid by almost all the teams.  And Rendon getting a ring for the nationals is meaningless to the Angels.   I am sure they both signed believing the Angel's will commit to build a championship quality team around them.  

Neither are getting any younger one year later.  It is the finger to both of them. 

[stormngt]

2 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

First, I dispute your premise: I don't think they were a below .500 team last season over 162 games. They started poorly and never caught back up. Small sample size skewed their record. Obviously can't know for sure, but they were trending up near the end. They had sorted out the bad apples that were dragging them down and were starting to fire up a bit. That's not to say they were a great team last year or would necessarily have made the playoffs, but I believe in 162 they were an above .500 team last year. 

Second, I do think they were improved this offseason. RF, closer, SP5, and SS were all a problem last season. Iglesias stabilizes SS which also improves 2B. The others really couldn't be worse than last year. My expectation is RF is about the same as last year, maybe slightly better. I think the rotation noticeably improves. Closer should also be better, which will help the pen (still have a hunch they may be adding another good arm in the pen). 

The guys no longer here were largely ones who needed to go (<cough> Teheran). Difficulty is projecting who will do better or worse of those still here. E.g. Walsh almost certainly can't duplicate his late 2020, but it isn't impossible to believe he could be a solid 1B for a season. We'll need to wait and see. Ditto Stassi at the plate. Upton started off as crap and finished much better. Ohtani? Who knows. Can't be worse, though. Bundy? Again, difficult to be sure.

tl;dr I think we were most likely a 84-85 win team if we played 162 last year. I think we might be upper 80's this season, which in this division might put us in the playoff conversation. A deadline move could put us over the top. 

 

 

No way in hell SS was a problem for us.  We had Simmons and Fletcher play those spots.

[Pancake Bear]

4 minutes ago, stormngt said:

No way in hell SS was a problem for us.  We had Simmons and Fletcher play those spots.

Simmons missed half of 2020. Fletcher is fine at short, but he's no Simmons there. Moving Fletcher back to 2B where he is elite and putting a legitimately good defensive SS with comparable offense (though not as good as Simmons) back in improves both positions because whoever was playing 2B while Fletcher was at SS was also worse than Fletcher. 

That's why Minasian brought in a SS, not a 2B, because Fletcher is far more valuable at 2B than he is at SS when we have a better defensive option at SS. 

[Pancake Bear]

4 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

Minasian clearly isn't concerned about making a splash. Especially after the #BauertoAnaheim thing. He could've gotten the fanbase behind him early, but went a different route. The guys he's brought in have been questionable, to say the least. With all that, if this season goes poorly, he's going to have a rough tenure with the Angels unless he finds some way to turn it around.

On the other hand, if we make the playoffs and the guys he brought in do well? No one will remember the disappointments of this offseason. 

 

2 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

First, I dispute your premise: I don't think they were a below .500 team last season over 162 games. They started poorly and never caught back up. Small sample size skewed their record. Obviously can't know for sure, but they were trending up near the end. They had sorted out the bad apples that were dragging them down and were starting to fire up a bit. That's not to say they were a great team last year or would necessarily have made the playoffs, but I believe in 162 they were an above .500 team last year. 

Second, I do think they were improved this offseason. RF, closer, SP5, and SS were all a problem last season. Iglesias stabilizes SS which also improves 2B. The others really couldn't be worse than last year. My expectation is RF is about the same as last year, maybe slightly better. I think the rotation noticeably improves. Closer should also be better, which will help the pen (still have a hunch they may be adding another good arm in the pen). 

The guys no longer here were largely ones who needed to go (<cough> Teheran). Difficulty is projecting who will do better or worse of those still here. E.g. Walsh almost certainly can't duplicate his late 2020, but it isn't impossible to believe he could be a solid 1B for a season. We'll need to wait and see. Ditto Stassi at the plate. Upton started off as crap and finished much better. Ohtani? Who knows. Can't be worse, though. Bundy? Again, difficult to be sure.

tl;dr I think we were most likely a 84-85 win team if we played 162 last year. I think we might be upper 80's this season, which in this division might put us in the playoff conversation. A deadline move could put us over the top. 

 

 

I must be posting really well: I got two trolling responses from Failos. That's worth more than a like from the smart people on this site.

[greginpsca]

Anyone have a clue where committed payroll is at currently?

[Angels Fan Forever]

I think Eppler would have put together a better team for 2021 than Minasian has.

[AngelsLakersFan]

5 hours ago, greginpsca said:

Someone posted in one of the threads that Perry must read AW and do the exact opposite. This offseason might validate that. The only player acquired this offseason that anyone on AW had on their radar was Suzuki.  Free agent signings, waiver claims, minor league signings, Rule 5 pick. The only guy on anyones radar was Suzuki.  Hopefully, next offseason we all do better.

Meh, they've done pretty much exactly what I thought they would... Trade for a SS and RF on one year deals, add two cheap reliable starting pitchers, a good pen arm, sign a cheap catcher and do this for ~$30 mil.

[tdawg87]

11 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Anyone have a clue where committed payroll is at currently?

Not sure exactly because I suck at reading these things, but I believe we're at about $183 million, and just 8 million under the luxury tax.

[GoodTimesGoneBad]

33 minutes ago, stormngt said:

For just one year.  It's been 7 years since li ast playoffs.  They are not getting any younger.

Both Rendon and Trout would get paid by almost all the teams.  And Rendon getting a ring for the nationals is meaningless to the Angels.   I am sure they both signed believing the Angel's will commit to build a championship quality team around them.  

Neither are getting any younger one year later.  It is the finger to both of them. 

Sure, it’s been 7 years and in that time they’ve made a consistent effort to get better even though it’s been clear for a while that a rebuild is necessary.

The Angels should’ve rebuilt after 2015 when it was pretty clear they wouldn’t be competitive for a while but they didn’t. Last year they were in the running for #1 draft pick and decided to go on a winning streak. 
 

[eligrba]

32 minutes ago, Angels Fan Forever said:

I think Eppler would have put together a better team for 2021 than Minasian has.

Because the 2021 season is already over?

[Lou]

35 minutes ago, Angels Fan Forever said:

I think Eppler would have put together a better team for 2021 than Minasian has.

Because of his successful history?

[Angels Fan Forever]

2 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Because the 2021 season is already over?

Did you not read "Put together" meaning offseason acquisitions. This stuff is not too hard.

Try to keep up.

[eligrba]

14 minutes ago, Angels Fan Forever said:

Did you not read "Put together" meaning offseason acquisitions. This stuff is not too hard.

Try to keep up.

Sorry, I thought you were writing coherent thoughts.

carry on.

[beatlesrule]

42 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Not sure exactly because I suck at reading these things, but I believe we're at about $183 million, and just 8 million under the luxury tax.

I thought the tax was $210 million??

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/tax/2021/

[eligrba]

Common core math.

[tdawg87]

6 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

I thought the tax was $210 million??

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/tax/2021/

183 million is the total payroll commitment, which Arte says is the one he cares about. The luxury tax payroll is 201.7 million, according to that site.

I'm sure someone else has a more accurate figure. I just used that website.

[Angels Fan Forever]

23 minutes ago, Lou said:

Because of his successful history?

Are you impressed by what Minasian has done so far? It feels like an Eppler offseason to me. 

[failos]

1 hour ago, Pancake Bear said:

 

I must be posting really well: I got two trolling responses from Failos. That's worth more than a like from the smart people on this site.

It’s b/c I don’t like the cut of your jib

[Lou]

3 minutes ago, Angels Fan Forever said:

Are you impressed by what Minasian has done so far? It feels like an Eppler offseason to me. 

That's a different conversation.

[beatlesrule]

3 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

183 million is the total payroll commitment, which Arte says is the one he cares about. The luxury tax payroll is 201.7 million, according to that site.

I'm sure someone else has a more accurate figure. I just used that website.

Okay. I saw this article too https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2021/1/11/22224607/cubs-2021-payroll-luxury-tax-estimate-update#:~:text=The base luxury tax threshold increases to $210,000,000,current CBA.) Players with guaranteed contracts Heyward $23,000,000

GRAND TOTAL FOR CAP PURPOSES $155,918,333

LUXURY TAX THRESHOLD $210,000,000

CUBS CURRENTLY UNDER THE TAX BY $54,081,667

[Lou]

Just now, failos said:

It’s b/c I don’t like the cut of your jib

jibist 

[stormngt]

On 2/5/2021 at 4:46 PM, GoodTimesGoneBad said:

Sure, it’s been 7 years and in that time they’ve made a consistent effort to get better even though it’s been clear for a while that a rebuild is necessary.

The Angels should’ve rebuilt after 2015 when it was pretty clear they wouldn’t be competitive for a while but they didn’t. Last year they were in the running for #1 draft pick and decided to go on a winning streak. 
 

Let's cut the BS!

All these years there was the narrative "the Angel's are wasting Mike Trouts best years".  I blew that off as nonsense because Trout was young, we had to rebuild wisely, and we would plenty of Trouts prime years as a championship quality team.

It's been eight years of shit.  Mike is no longer 21.  He is 29.  This year he becomes on the "wrong side of 30".  I understand the need for patients in 2015-2019.  However Mike's peak years are now and are limited.  We maybe lucky to have three or four more years of his dominance. 

This offseason is a big middle finger to him.  He didnt sign the extension so the Angels could rebuild.   Rendon didnt sign to rebuild.

Edited February 7, 2021 by stormngt

[Lou]

For the record, I enjoy the BS.

[Docwaukee]

I just figured out what he's doing but I'm not going to tell anyone.