OC Register: Whicker: Unlike some clubs, the Angels aren’t blowing up the house before it’s built

[AngelsWin.com]

At least the Angels are not the Cubs, who took a hammer to their own pantheon last week.

They shipped out Javy Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo for a bunch of maybes. You’d think the guys who brought the first world championship in 108 years would be allowed to play out their careers in Wrigley Field, and they’re not that old to begin with. Oh, well. Cue another parade in 2124.

At least the Angels are not the Pirates, who had a winning season in 2018. They might still be winners if they hadn’t exiled Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, Starling Marte, Joe Musgrove and Adam Frazier. That doesn’t even include guys from their short-lived playoff days, like Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen. Want to get out of Pittsburgh? Simple. Hit .300.

At least the Angels are not the Rangers. The Rangers had two All-Stars this season, Joey Gallo and Kyle Gibson. That was their ticket to get ridden out of town at the trade deadline. Texas actually won 78 games two years ago, but Lance Lynn and Mike Minor were sent away before the Rangers moved into their new stadium, which favors pitchers, or at least opposing ones.

The Angels are not doing it that way. They’re going nowhere in 2021, which became clearer Sunday when they lost the third of four games to Oakland.

But MLB is planning a 2022 season. Because the Angels would rather welcome back fans than hit them in the teeth with their own wallets, they will continue trying. They have played three postseason games, and won none, since 2009. They don’t consider self-destruction a strategy.

It has taken them nearly a decade to draw up the semblance of a farm system, so they refuse to deplete it. They still have baseball’s greatest Sho-man , on the cheap. They have one of baseball’s most resourceful players in David Fletcher, and one of the better all-around catchers in Max Stassi.

Mike Trout will return someday. Some UFO experts suggest the possibility that Anthony Rendon will be seen as well.

Raisel Iglesias is the closest thing baseball has to a multi-inning closer of yesteryear. Even the starting rotation is showing green sprouts. Opponents hit only .230 against Angel starters in July, and every one of the past 25 players the Angels have acquired, via trade, free agent or draft, is a pitcher. At some point, blind-squirrel luck has to kick in.

The Angels drafted Reid Detmers with the 10th overall pick last summer. After he pitched only 13 minor league games, Detmers was standing on a hot mound against the Athletics on Sunday.

In the first inning Detmers fired six fastballs to Matt Olson and then fanned the slugging first baseman with a easy curve. He also struck out veteran Jed Lowrie on a slider. One problem: Oakland fouled off 11 pitches in that inning and made Detmers throw 28 pitches. When Detmers tried the gauntlet for the second time, the A’s had seen all they needed.

Olson walloped a first-pitch home run to tie it 3-3. Yan Gomes sent a fastball on a flight that outlasted Jeff Bezos’, for a 5-3 lead. The Athletics eventually won, 8-3.

Manager Joe Maddon thought Detmers got sideways because he couldn’t control the breaking stuff and landed in bad counts, but Starling Marte singled on an 0-and-2 pitch and Gomes’ blast came on a 1-0 count. The problem, after Olson’s home run, was a two-out walk to Ramon Laureano that included three wayward breaking pitches. That allowed Gomes to un-tie it.

A curveball that hit Olson in the upper back, and an 0-and-2 single by Lowrie, ended  Detmers’ adventure. He seemed to know just why it all happened, and he will get a prolonged look.

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Ideally the Angels will have Detmers, Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning, Jaime Barria (who was outstanding in Saturday’s 1-0 victory) and Jose Suarez as rotation candidates next year. Alex Cobb is an upcoming free agent, as is Iglesias. But if you lop off the 2021 money to Heaney, Albert Pujols and Dexter Fowler, the Angels will have a $53.2 million windfall. That’s enough to pay Iglesias and/or Cobb and chase a premium starter.

If they were to pass on Cobb and add his $15 million, the Angels could imagine something bigger. You never know when a 27-year-old shortstop might appear, even who’s been a World Series MVP.

So the Angels did not confuse activity with accomplishment last week. By standing still, they are still trying. Yoda said you either do or you don’t, there is no try. He never watched baseball in Pittsburgh.

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[beatlesrule]

Yawn. Same old song and dance. The Aerosmith song is better than the last 12 years of the Angels. What Arte Moreno has done and continues to do does not make your team better. Teams that sell off when they are supposed to and rebuild generally start winning and getting to the playoffs. Recent examples are the Giants and Red Sox off the top of my head. There are others and it's proof that Arte's strategy doesn't work. There are reasons that many articles have been written about how he is wasting the talents of 2 once in a generation players he has on his team. You'd think someone that wants to actually get to the playoffs and win a World Series would change his tactics that haven't worked out but you'd be sorely mistaken.

Also, some of the teams mentioned have very small payroll and play in smaller markets so they run things differently.

[eligrba]

Feels like the Angels are building a house like the Winchester House.

[Blarg]

How many players on the current roster were on the roster 4 years ago? 

[jsnpritchett]

8 minutes ago, Blarg said:

How many players on the current roster were on the roster 4 years ago? 

On the active roster? Only Upton. 

[tdawg87]

22 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Feels like the Angels are building a house like the Winchester House.

Not bad.

[thebloob]

Stupid take.  Especially with guys on expiring contracts when you are losing get what you can.  You can always resign in the off-season.  
 

funny how they don’t mention Houston, Tampa bay, and Oakland.  All teams that lost hard and traded off assets at the deadline for the future that allows them to become consistently successful despite operating with lower payrolls. Hanging in mediocrity is the worst place to be.  
 

Also as someone mentioned the angels get to operate with a huge payroll and still manage to lose.  It is unfair to compare Pittsburgh’s practices with the angels. 

[eligrba]

10 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Not bad.

[Justin]

The Angels are definitely not the Cubs. 

The Cubs have won a playoff game in the last decade.

[jsnpritchett]

I've read this article twice now and I'm still not even sure what Whicker's point is. The Cubs made the playoffs 5 of the last 6 years before this one (and had a winning record in the year that they didn't make it). They traded away 3 expiring contracts.  Is Whicker suggesting they should have kept them all around for this year and then extend them?

Also, his understanding of the Angels' finances for next year appears to be rudimentary at best (e.g., they're not paying Cobb $15M, they're not paying Fowler's full salary, some of the "savings" are eaten up by increases in salary to Upton, Rendon, Fletcher, Ohtani, and some arbitration-eligible guys, etc.).

Just a shitty article all around, really. 

Edited August 2, 2021 by jsnpritchett

[UndertheHalo]

1 hour ago, jsnpritchett said:

I've read this article twice now and I'm still not even sure what Whicker's point is. The Cubs made the playoffs 5 of the last 6 years before this one (and had a winning record in the year that they didn't make it). They traded away 3 expiring contracts.  Is Whicker suggesting they should have kept them all around for this year and then extend them?

Also, his understanding of the Angels' finances for next year appear to be rudimentary at best (e.g., they're not paying Cobb $15M, they're not paying Fowler's full salary, some of the "savings" are eaten up by increases in salary to Upton, Rendon, Fletcher, Ohtani, and some arbitration-eligible guys, etc.).

Just a shitty article all around, really. 

It’s baffling lol.  What the fuck is he talking about ?

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, eligrba said:

Feels like the Angels are building a house like the Winchester House.

Nice!

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

I've read this article twice now and I'm still not even sure what Whicker's point is. The Cubs made the playoffs 5 of the last 6 years before this one (and had a winning record in the year that they didn't make it). They traded away 3 expiring contracts.  Is Whicker suggesting they should have kept them all around for this year and then extend them?

Also, his understanding of the Angels' finances for next year appear to be rudimentary at best (e.g., they're not paying Cobb $15M, they're not paying Fowler's full salary, some of the "savings" are eaten up by increases in salary to Upton, Rendon, Fletcher, Ohtani, and some arbitration-eligible guys, etc.).

Just a shitty article all around, really. 

It's Mark Whicker.  He was bad at this in the early 90s when RBI were still in style.

[stormngt]

15 hours ago, beatlesrule said:

Yawn. Same old song and dance. The Aerosmith song is better than the last 12 years of the Angels. What Arte Moreno has done and continues to do does not make your team better. Teams that sell off when they are supposed to and rebuild generally start winning and getting to the playoffs. Recent examples are the Giants and Red Sox off the top of my head. There are others and it's proof that Arte's strategy doesn't work. There are reasons that many articles have been written about how he is wasting the talents of 2 once in a generation players he has on his team. You'd think someone that wants to actually get to the playoffs and win a World Series would change his tactics that haven't worked out but you'd be sorely mistaken.

Also, some of the teams mentioned have very small payroll and play in smaller markets so they run things differently.

In fairness this was the first year the Angels actually had tradable assets.

Edited August 2, 2021 by stormngt

[beatlesrule]

57 minutes ago, stormngt said:

In fairness this was the first year the Angeks actually had tradable assets.

Not true. Cam Bed had a fluke, amazing season and I have already gone over other guys that had value in previous years that could have been traded in many other posts. This article deserves the ridicule.

[Docwaukee]

5 hours ago, eligrba said:

Feels like the Angels are building a house like the Winchester House.

nicely done.  

[ScruffytheJanitor]

TLDR Version: Unlike these other teams that are losing on purpose, the Angels will lose with guys that made them lose before. 

[stormngt]

10 hours ago, beatlesrule said:

Not true. Cam Bed had a fluke, amazing season and I have already gone over other guys that had value in previous years that could have been traded in many other posts. This article deserves the ridicule.

You do not often trade players you need in the immediate future.  Cam had one good season and we needed him because.....our bullpen sucked