AngelsWin.com Podcast - Episode 18

[JVel17]

5 hours ago, Blarg said:

Tony Tavares didn't know Jack shit about baseball, he was an accountant. 

Tavares wasn't making the baseball operations related decisions either.

The point is there were people who knew baseball that were hired to make the baseball operations related decisions and ownership (Disney) stayed out of such decisions.

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, REDneck said:

Victor channeling his inner AO...love it!

A controlled articulant AO.

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

A controlled articulant AO.

Are you sure 

[Chuck]

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Are you sure 

Are you serious? lol

Having interacting with the man and witnessing his meltdowns on here over the years, 100%.

There's a big difference. 

[Blarg]

59 minutes ago, JVel17 said:

Tavares wasn't making the baseball operations related decisions either.

The point is there were people who knew baseball that were hired to make the baseball operations related decisions and ownership (Disney) stayed out of such decisions.

Maybe you should rethink that. Tavares went to Stoneman and told him flat out to trade Edmonds or he would get a GM that would. This was about 7 days before the season started. He had already shit talked Edmonds and half the young players in the media essentially ruining any trade value.

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Are you serious? lol

Having interacting with the man and witnessing his meltdowns on here over the years, 100%.

There's a big difference. 

Chuck it was a joke because you wrote articulant instead of articulate, which in context is pretty funny. 

[Chuck]

21 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Chuck it was a joke because you wrote articulant instead of articulate, which in context is pretty funny. 

Ooops. Fair enough! 

[UndertheHalo]

9 hours ago, JVel17 said:

Even if not a complete major league roster rebuild, the bigger picture would be the need to rebuild the baseball operations side of the Angels organization from the bottom up.  Significantly more than just talking about the current roster.  The same ole losing each year is just a symptom.  Victor referred to this in the podcast.

An example (although not exactly what Victor was referring to) would be a trip down memory lane to the Autry years.  Our beloved Halos had a few winning seasons scattered here and there, but mostly disappointment/losing.  Gene liked shiney objects (Reggie, etc) similar to Arte and put an arguably similarlly half hearted focus on the farm, organizational depth, lack of an "Angels way" from bottom to top, etc.  The relatively weak depth of quality young players put the Angels at a disadvantage when injuries occurred and for trade opportunities.  Later, Jackie took the reigns when Gene became less able.  Jackie later sold the team to Disney.  Disney hired some baseball people to run the baseball operations side of the business as Disney knew nothing about baseball.  Disney stayed out of the baseball operations related decisions.  Then a handful of years go by, 2002 WS happens, the baseball organization is healthy from bottom to top, and our Halos have the most consistently winning years in Angels baseball history.  This was the result of baseball people running baseball operations and ownership staying out of the way (including Moreno for the first few years after buying the team from Disney).  Unfortunately, the more Moreno's fingerprints were on baseball operations related decisions that should have continued to be solely delegated to the baseball people, the sicker the organization became from bottom to top which has resulted in what us fans have seen in recent years (consistent losing).

Another example of good that can come from rebuilding "baseball operations" side of an organization even if the major league roster did not have a complete teardown/rebuild would be when the current Dodgers ownership group bought the Dodgers from Frank McCourt.  I believe Arte could rebuild the Angels baseball organization in a similar way (even if not having a complete rebuild of the major league roster)...  if Arte wanted to...  This would require an increased focus on bottom to top organizational health rather than predominantly focusing on shiney marketing possibilities for the major league club.  The irony is that this bigger picture thinking would likely result in the best chance of rebuilding a "consistently" winning major league team once again.

This is the way I hope Arte will build around the current core of major league players.

 

 

Im mostly talking about the on field roster.  Obviously they should make genuinely significant changes in the way the baseball operations aspect of the club functions.  Including, dramatically increased spending in providing players and staff the best tools available to succeed.  As well as just having more baseball ops guys.  

[JVel17]

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

Maybe you should rethink that. Tavares went to Stoneman and told him flat out to trade Edmonds or he would get a GM that would. This was about 7 days before the season started. He had already shit talked Edmonds and half the young players in the media essentially ruining any trade value.

Ok, you have a point related to some arrogant actions by Tavares (team president).  Thank you for the clarification.

It doesn't change the the main points about what I said and why it would be beneficial to hire baseball people to run baseball operations and have ownership stay out of such baseball operations related decisions.

[JVel17]

Also, "baseball operations" involves much more than the construction of the major league roster or 40 man roster.

The quality of the major league roster and 40 man roster should be the end result of all baseball operations related decisions including scouting, drafting, player development, trades, etc.

Edited August 27, 2023 by JVel17

[Tank]

okay, just listened to the podcast, and all i can say is Go Victor!! thanks for telling it like it is.

@Chuckster70, you've mentioned pitching analytics in the last two episodes and it jogged my memory. i think it was last year with either archie bradley or aaron loup at the beginning of the year, and one of them talked about how they weren't being allowed to throw as many xxx pitches as they usually threw. does that sound familiar? @Jeff Fletcher, did you write about something like this last year?

[BTH]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

okay, just listened to the podcast, and all i can say is Go Victor!! thanks for telling it like it is.

@Chuckster70, you've mentioned pitching analytics in the last two episodes and it jogged my memory. i think it was last year with either archie bradley or aaron loup at the beginning of the year, and one of them talked about how they weren't being allowed to throw as many xxx pitches as they usually threw. does that sound familiar? @Jeff Fletcher, did you write about something like this last year?

It was Aaron Loup at the start of this year.

“But there’s a lot more to his season than meets the eye. He pointed to a shift in pitch usage that’s been at the heart of some of his struggles.”

“The reason, Loup said, is based on a larger team philosophy. The new shift rules, he said, have led to the team emphasizing off-speed pitches more and more to get more swing-and-miss. For Loup, the results have been quite poor, and his swing-and-miss is below his career average.

He said the emphasis on off-speed pitches has been a mixture of his choices and partly team-dictated.”

https://theathletic.com/4493551/2023/05/05/angels-aaron-loup-pitch-sequencing/?amp=1

[Tank]

1 hour ago, BTH said:

It was Aaron Loup at the start of this year.

“But there’s a lot more to his season than meets the eye. He pointed to a shift in pitch usage that’s been at the heart of some of his struggles.”

“The reason, Loup said, is based on a larger team philosophy. The new shift rules, he said, have led to the team emphasizing off-speed pitches more and more to get more swing-and-miss. For Loup, the results have been quite poor, and his swing-and-miss is below his career average.

He said the emphasis on off-speed pitches has been a mixture of his choices and partly team-dictated.”

https://theathletic.com/4493551/2023/05/05/angels-aaron-loup-pitch-sequencing/?amp=1

That’s it. Thanks for finding this. 
 

Jeff Fletcher talked about the philosophy being pushed by the analytics guys. I think we have enough evidence to show it hasn’t worked. 

[Chuck]

15 hours ago, Tank said:

okay, just listened to the podcast, and all i can say is Go Victor!! thanks for telling it like it is.

I think he spoke for literally every Angels fan. 

[Stradling]

So Arte listened to Victor and released all the players not performing. 

[Jay]

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

So Arte listened to Victor and released all the players not performing. 

Not all...

[Stradling]

Just now, Jay said:

Not all...

True he could have released Escobar. 

[jsnpritchett]

8 minutes ago, Stradling said:

True he could have released Escobar. 

That's the one that's a little surprising to me.  Maybe they just figured no one would claim him, so why even bother.  Ha ha.

[Chuck]

Top-10 countries who downloaded this last episode (audio only, not YouTube). 

[Chuck]

On 8/29/2023 at 7:55 PM, Stradling said:

So Arte listened to Victor and released all the players not performing. 

 

On 8/29/2023 at 8:05 PM, Jay said:

Not all...

 

On 8/29/2023 at 8:06 PM, Stradling said:

True he could have released Escobar. 

 

On 8/29/2023 at 8:14 PM, jsnpritchett said:

That's the one that's a little surprising to me.  Maybe they just figured no one would claim him, so why even bother.  Ha ha.

I would love for them to have waived Andrew Velazquez and someone pick him up. Him and Renfroe are my two least favorite players on this club. 

[BTH]

On 8/29/2023 at 5:55 PM, Stradling said:

So Arte listened to Victor and released all the players not performing. 

He didn’t release Rendon, like Victor wanted.

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, BTH said:

He didn’t release Rendon, like Victor wanted.

[jsnpritchett]

4 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

 

 

 

I would love for them to have waived Andrew Velazquez and someone pick him up. Him and Renfroe are my two least favorite players on this club. 

No real incentive for them to waive him now, though. Doubt he'd get picked up and they wouldn't save much $.

[Stradling]

33 minutes ago, BTH said:

He didn’t release Rendon, like Victor wanted.

That’s not happening any time soon. 

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Top-10 countries who downloaded this last episode (audio only, not YouTube). 

So everyone in Guam listened to the podcast?