We traded away the wrong power hitter

[shellback]

morales is a great natural hitter. his benjie molina like baserunning ability, the $$$ involved and the fact that our manager doesn't like him ( remember morales being sent to the minors for a season because he didn't run out a ground ball) were all factors in his being traded. the angels are also hurting for pitching worse than they are for 1b/dh types.  i'll follow the rest of his career with interest and hope he tears it up, just not against our boys.

[Kevin]

morales is a great natural hitter. his benjie molina like baserunning ability, the $$$ involved and the fact that our manager doesn't like him ( remember morales being sent to the minors for a season because he didn't run out a ground ball) were all factors in his being traded. the angels are also hurting for pitching worse than they are for 1b/dh types.  i'll follow the rest of his career with interest and hope he tears it up, just not against our boys.

 

 

No I don't remember that.

[Second Base]

I don't think I've ever seen angelduck say anything good about this team.  in general.

[stevestevens]

Angelsduck likes Vinny Del Negro.

[Corona]

I am on the keep Trumbo side just because the contract issues with Morales, plus Morales would just be a DH. I do believe Morales is a superior hitter though, I fully expect him to hit .280+ with around 30 homers this season if he's healthy. Trumbo struck out more than 1/3 of his at bats in the 2nd half of last season, he has a lot of work to do.

[AzHaloFan]

Trumbo has a higher ceiling than KMO. Trumbo could legitimately for the top of the league in HR AND can 1B, LF and, obviously DH. Additionally he has that "club control" aspect. Put all of that together and Trumbo is far more valuable to the franchise than KMO could have been. I think the move was brilliant actually - Good Job JeDi!!

[stormngt]

Pujols will be DH in two years at the rate his knees are going. We could have kept Kendrys to be the 1B. Signed him to a 4 year deal or something

LMAO at the suggestion that we were going to resign Morales.  

[Angel Oracle]

"He doesn't mean it Verna.   You're a good player."

 

These Hitler videos never get old!

[stormngt]

I'm not going to continue arguing with you people. I'll just bump this thread when Morales is hitting .310 and Trumbo is hovering around .250 with limited power.

Will you bump this thread when Morales leaves Seattle to FA!  I think the biggest point you missed that one main reason why the move made sense is because Morales was only going to be with the Angels for one more season.  Trumbo has four more seasons.

[AZMike]

Will you bump this thread when Morales leaves Seattle to FA!  I think the biggest point you missed that one main reason why the move made sense is because Morales was only going to be with the Angels for one more season.  Trumbo has four more seasons.

 

At the time my thoughts were to keep Morales, knowing it would be for one year only, and sign Joe Saunders to a one year deal to be a lefty #4, instead of trading for Vargas. (Ironically the Mariners actually did just that). I never wanted to see either of Bourjos or Trumbo be traded. 

 

Morales for 1 year at $5M would've been cheap insurance against any of Trumbo, Bourjos, Pujols, Hamilton, or Trout getting injured or being grossly ineffective. Then then trade Wells + a truckload of money for a low level minor league player. If we need another OF at some point call up Calhoun.

 

If everyone is healthy then platoon Morales with whicher RH'er is the least productive on that list of players (likely Trumbo or Bourjos). If any of them are out then Morales gets regular playing time. 

 

 

 Of course I'm aware it's quite possible we actually tried this and Saunders (or other pitchers comparable to Vargas) simply didn't want to play here. We also know that Arte didn't want to take as much of a haircut on Wells as most teams were asking for. Finally if Vargas ends up pitching better than expected here, he's more likely than most 1 year players to re-sign later so I don't feel too bad about the trade. I'm mostly bummed we didn't get to see a ridiculous murderer's row lineup featuring Trout, Pujols, Hamilton, Trumbo AND Morales.

[angelduck]

Will you bump this thread when Morales leaves Seattle to FA!  I think the biggest point you missed that one main reason why the move made sense is because Morales was only going to be with the Angels for one more season.  Trumbo has four more seasons.

 

What if he doesn't leave Seattle?

[Hubs]

Did you not watch the last two months of the 2012 season? Trumbo was worse than Brandon Wood. So don't give me the poor couple weeks excuse. The guy has been a mess at the plate for a while. I like the guy, but you should at least acknowledge that he has terrible plate discipline...oh wait I forgot you like to paint a rosy picture about every single player in the Angels system. I remember you telling us Richards was ready to be a 3 starter last year, and is going to be a future #2 starter at worst...1.5 WHIP...enough said. I remember you telling us that Trumbo is a  future .900 OPS bat...still waiting (he's now 27), You've also said in the passed that Bourjos would be a .290 hitter with 15 home runs, 40 steals and gold glove defense...seems pretty rosy to me...we'll see if you're right. You're pretty high on a guy like Cron for a guy who had a 3% walk rate in A ball as a 23 year old. My point is, take off the homer goggles please. Try evaluating players without a bias. I have yet to see you say something negative about an Angels prospect..even the one's with clear red flags. 

Duck...

 

1) Trumbo pulled a muscle in his ribcage during batting practice on

 

His stats before the injury were great.

 

His stats after the injury were the bad two months you speak of. In the 36 games following the injury, he hit .174 with 3 HR. Prior to that, his was hitting the .300 .900 OPS numbers discussed.

http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/mlb/4116/mark-trumbo

 

 

2) Fangraphs says that Keeping Bourjos and Trumbo is the best answer longterm, as some other posters have stated. 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/hamilton-fallout-trade-bourjos-trumbo-or-morales/

 

 

3) Season hasn't started. Trumbo plays OF, 1B, and DH. Morales is a 1B/DH. Trumbo is likely good for 10 SB a year, Morales isn't stealing any bases. Trumbo hit 5th which gives you a righty-lefty-righty middle of the lineup. Had they kept Morales, instead, it've been two lefties in a row, unless they went lefty-right-switch.

[Mark68]

AD...you should bump this thread in 3 months when it actually might have some merit.

Or....might have absolutely zero...

[Mark68]

I'm not going to continue arguing with you people. I'll just bump this thread when Morales is hitting .310 and Trumbo is hovering around .250 with limited power.

Trumbo will never have limited power. That's the ONE thing he has in abundance.

 

This statement alone shows how little credibility you have.

[laagamer]

Are you crying?

[Vegas Halo Fan]

of top my head, when the traded away Morales and kept a younger cheaper Trumbo and decided to sign Blanton and let Greinke go.

 

Morales will never be the same player he was before he broke his ankle. He may still be able to hit, but he is markedly slower and less mobile. Dipoto had a taker and traded him to bolster the starting rotation. Trumbo is young, he can rake, and he is under club control for a while. Not getting into a bidding war with the Dogs for Greinke is not the same as letting him go. Dipoto decided that the money was better spent elsewhere. Greinke is a good starter but the Dogs overpaid, as they have been doing all along. They will spend themselves into oblivion. Besides, we already have two high-dollar long term contracts on the books, and we don't have an unlimited budget.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Morales costs more than Trumbo.

Morales is a FA after this year.

Morales is a Boras client.

Chicken dinner.

Morales was a guarantee to walk after this year. Trumbo may never be morales offensively, but he can play multiple positions and is still cheap and under club control. Yeah, we're trying to win now. But I assume winning tomorrow is still in the plans as well

[ten ocho recon scout]

Pujols will be DH in two years at the rate his knees are going. We could have kept Kendrys to be the 1B. Signed him to a 4 year deal or something

Kendry (and boras) were not going to wait and get paid a dh's salary. And if were going to mention pujols getting old and ready to dh (veru true), its not like morales is all that far away from the same status.

[Chuck]

Trumbo will never have limited power. That's the ONE thing he has in abundance.

 

This statement alone shows how little credibility you have.

 

AngelDuck doesn't have a clue how to run a baseball team, but I wouldn't want him running my fantasy baseball team either. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

AngelDuck doesn't have a clue how to run a baseball team, but I wouldn't want him running my fantasy baseball team either. 

what about your opponents team?

[CompassRosy]

 

Shannon Drayer â€@shannondrayer25m

Morales! Diving stop to grab the Blanco liner. This guy is much better at first than I expected.

 

 

Shannon Drayer â€@shannondrayer21s

Got back from the clubhouse in time to see an opposite field shot by Morales. HR number 5 on the spring. Mariners u

 

What's gotten into these M's?? Leading all grapefruits and cacti in home runs?

Yeah it's only spring training but, even if just a bit of the power carries over to the regular season, the improvement will be ... vast

 

[Lifetime]

He'll give you power this year, and enjoy it. He'll be gone the next.

[Richard]

I would never discount the work ethic of Morales. Before he got the starting gig in 09, people were saying his defense was awful and he worked his ass off to become very dependable defensively.

[Chuck]

what about your opponents team?

 

Absolutely! 

[angelduck]

Just so we're clear...I'm predicting right now .310/.350/.530 with 35 HR for Morales. Trumbo: .250/.290/.440 with 24 HR. We'll see how close I am