The Athletic: How did Angels squander Trout & Ohtani? It starts with the owner’s frugality

[Taylor]

1 hour ago, DMVol said:

He’s a smart ass….but I enjoy reading his stuff….

I guess most of us here are jerks then.

[Duren, Duren]

Speaking of Ohtani ....

I absolutely knew this was going to happen. 

Recency bias.

Ohtani not playing and suddenly there's a lot of revisionism. Yesterday the Mariner broadcasters brought up the topic of him not getting the MVP because of his late absence.

Now there's this.

https://www.si.com/mlb/angels/news/angels-news-mlb-analyst-says-shohei-ohtani-doesnt-deserve-mvp-award-cn2002

So I guess the ultimate criteria is actively finishing a season so the media doesn't forget you. No matter what the cumulative total productive numbers say.  

So stupid really. Ohtani actually produced stats equal to two regular players. A full time hitter and a steady sixth man rotational pitcher. And played in far more than enough games if you add them together. And he still maintain top five spots in many categories. 

The naive psychological idiocy is on full display. 

 

 

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Wisconsin27 said:

He's managed to get 3 million customers to purchase his product routinely.  That's successful business from his view.  

Well, barring a drastic turn of events, he’s not gonna be getting 3 million (or even close to it) in the near future.

They’re barely at 2.5 million with Ohtani the last few years.

If (when) they lose Ohtani, that’s gonna drop to 2 million or below. Unless they win.

At that point, it’ll be interesting to see how Arte reacts.

[DMVol]

7 hours ago, Taylor said:

I guess most of us here are jerks then.

Well, if the shoe fits….Blum gets a bad rap here because he does have an edge about him (smart ass, jerk or whatever you want to call it)…Jeff Fletcher does not….I guess I’m in the minority because I like them both…both are good writers, even if they are very different….

[Blarg]

I agree with what you said just not the way you said it. Drop the ellipses and use either a comma or period. 

[Taylor]

2 hours ago, DMVol said:

Well, if the shoe fits….Blum gets a bad rap here because he does have an edge about him (smart ass, jerk or whatever you want to call it)…Jeff Fletcher does not….I guess I’m in the minority because I like them both…both are good writers, even if they are very different….

I've seen Jeff be a smartass to a couple posters here (who deserved it).

[fan_since79]

20 hours ago, Tank said:

every year i'm hopeful that the team will turn the corner and get back to being a winning, championship caliber team. the revelations that have come out over the course of this year no longer inspire me to feel that way.

significant changes need to be in approach and front office personnel, including ownership. until that happens, we're in for a long, dark night.

Could be 5-10 years before we get this right. Arte, please sell the team to someone who understands baseball. Please! This is misery with no end in sight.

[AngelFanInTheATL]

14 hours ago, Torridd said:

I'm not reading this nor the one that was about hoping Ohtani goes to another team for the good of the league. Why is there so much Angels hate? 

You answered your own question. If you weren't too lazy to read things longer than 80 characters, you'd find out the answers to your questions.

[DMVol]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

I've seen Jeff be a smartass to a couple posters here (who deserved it).

Fletcher can be a bit snarky, sometimes when it’s not deserved, IMO….but Blum really stirs the pot….Again, I like them both….We’re lucky to have 2 good beat writers….I like the contrast with them, but that’s me….

[ettin]

21 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

I'm curious if you read either the excerpts or the story itself, because if you did, you'd see that you don't disagree with Blum.  This is from the first excerpt and frames the rest of the story:

"The consensus was that under owner Arte Moreno, the organization has not spent at the levels of its competitors in critical areas throughout the franchise, beyond just player payroll. And that this frugality is at the heart of the team’s failures."

So, no, I did not read the story, so bad on me.

I was basing my comments strictly on the Tweet and excerpts you shared, above, Jason, but clearly I missed some context, so disregard.

[tdawg87]

Please do not be rude to our friend, ettin.

[tdawg87]

I like Blum. I like @Jeff Fletcher. I like hearing different perspectives. 

Arte pinching pennies behind the scenes is not at all surprising. A lot of you guys were making fun of the minor league players for complaining about their living situations but the fact of the matter is, we need every single player in the org to be happy and getting everything they need, on and off the field.

I don't give a shit about any politics behind this. Arte needs to take care of his organization from top to bottom. 

Your taco bell jokes are dumb btw.

[Jeff Fletcher]

14 hours ago, Duren, Duren said:

Now there's this.

https://www.si.com/mlb/angels/news/angels-news-mlb-analyst-says-shohei-ohtani-doesnt-deserve-mvp-award-cn2002

This is referrring to Chris Russo, who is hardly an “analyst.”

These “si” links… c’mon guys. 

[Stradling]

3 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Your taco bell jokes are dumb btw.

I’ll let @Lou know. 

[Chico]

Arte Moreno is the worst thing that ever happened to the Angels. And there have been some really bad things.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, Chico said:

Arte Moreno is the worst thing that ever happened to the Angels. And there have been some really bad things.

I’m guessing the Adenhart, Skaggs and Bostock families and teammates would disagree. 

[SoCalDucksFan]

On 9/29/2023 at 11:35 PM, BTH said:

Well, barring a drastic turn of events, he’s not gonna be getting 3 million (or even close to it) in the near future.

They’re barely at 2.5 million with Ohtani the last few years.

If (when) they lose Ohtani, that’s gonna drop to 2 million or below. Unless they win.

At that point, it’ll be interesting to see how Arte reacts.

So long as the value of a baseball franchise continues to increase, he'll react with a smile on his face.  Or at some point, he'll cash out, and leave the fans with a decimated team to root for.

[SoCalDucksFan]

On 9/29/2023 at 6:08 PM, Torridd said:

I'm not reading this nor the one that was about hoping Ohtani goes to another team for the good of the league. Why is there so much Angels hate? 

It's good for the league to have it's MVP actually playing baseball in October, which Ohtani has NEVER done to this point.

Wasting the Hall Of Fame careers of Trout & Ohtani with 9 straight years missing the post-season is a big reason for the Angels hate.

[johndw52]

What Ohtani is really thinking.

[Chico]

On 10/1/2023 at 10:44 AM, Stradling said:

I’m guessing the Adenhart, Skaggs and Bostock families and teammates would disagree. 

Skaggs was partially Arte's fault.

[Stradling]

18 minutes ago, Chico said:

Skaggs was partially Arte's fault.

No it wasn’t. Try again. 

[cjcinec]

On 9/29/2023 at 12:39 PM, ettin said:

So I have to disagree with Blum here.

It's not the fact that Arte hasn't spent enough -- he has run consistently large payrolls (but of course never really stepping over the Luxury Tax in any significant manner).

Really the story, here, is HOW the money was spent. There you can point to poor investments in the Minor League system, large contracts handed out players that really, in retrospect (or heck, even at  the time they were signed!), should never have been paid that kind of money. Pujols, Rendon, et. al., the Angels have not invested well for the most part.

Artie definitely neglected the farm system. Teams invest in their farm system to build a winning organization. It takes time and the money spent isn’t as flashy as signing a big name free agent. Artie had Ohtani at a bargain price and pocketed the savings instead of investing. REN-DONE signing was an abysmal failure. The Angels had their share of bad luck with the injuries to Trout but they were never a serious contender and should have traded Ohtani at the trade deadline or even before the season to maximize his value and acquire players to replace him. Moreno and Minasain were conned into believing that they could compete. Nevin was the stooge that was too worried about keeping his job rather than tell them the truth. This team wasn’t close to contention. 

[Stradling]

13 minutes ago, cjcinec said:

Moreno and Minasain were conned into believing that they could compete. Nevin was the stooge that was too worried about keeping his job rather than tell them the truth. This team wasn’t close to contention. 

Haha. This is silly. 

[jsnpritchett]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

No it wasn’t. Try again. 

It was all his fault?

[Stradling]

37 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

It was all his fault?

I’ll go with close to zero fault.