krAbs

Hey - don't talk like that...

Per MLB.com, sounds like he could be a fine pen piece - but he has to get it together, and soon: Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 60 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 40 | Overall: 40 Williams first made a name for himself on the mound by striking out 17 batters in a game at the 2007 Little League World Series. He projected as a possible first-rounder as both a prepster and collegian, but surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome before his senior high school season dropped him to the 33rd round (Padres) in 2013 and control woes undermined him at Oklahoma State. A seventh-rounder in 2016, he thrived at two Class A levels in his first full pro season but regressed terribly in Double-A last year. When Williams repeats his delivery and maintains his low-three-quarters arm slot, his fastball and curveball can grade as well above-average offerings. At his best, he can reach 96 mph with riding life on his fastball and snap off nasty low-80s breaking balls with power and depth. He didn't keep his mechanics together nearly as well in 2018 as he did the year before, resulting in a low-90s heater and a more benign curve. Williams' fading changeup also was less effective last season, when he also suffered from the control issues that plagued him as an amateur. The Giants were encouraged by the progress he made in six Arizona Fall League starts and plan on keeping him in the rotation. Simplifying things by moving him to the bullpen could give him crisper stuff in shorter stints, though he'll still have to throw more strikes.

You...you don't...?

What is Rendon?

It really feels like a ground ball pitcher plays really well with us right now. Good way to make our money go further - a ground ball pitcher who is a #2 on most teams may become a #1 for us.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/anthony-rendon-is-an-angel-on-the-infield/ Cool Fangraphs article on Rendon and the Angels, worth noting, the one negative part is about his future decline. Some useful context on the projections (from the creator of ZiPS) : "The ZiPS projections for Rendon feel a little light; that’s the case for a few reasons. The first issue is that people tend to overrate just how healthy a player will be in his 30s, so a lot of the missing WAR is ZiPS hedging its injury bets. In this case, it’s purely based on age and position; Rendon’s early-career injuries are too far back for the computer to care about. ZiPS also uses a mix of defensive stats rather than just UZR in its WAR. I’d still take the over on the projections, but they’re not as crazy-bearish as first glance might suggest" Notable quotes from the article: "Since his injury-shortened 2015, he’s accumulated the fourth-most WAR among position players. In the last three years, he’s accumulated the fourth-most as well. In fact, he’s one of the best 10 position players in baseball over every stretch you can count back, starting with his rookie year" "Four years ago, Rendon was patient with enough power to keep pitchers honest. In 2019, he posted the fifth-highest slugging percentage in baseball while striking out less frequently than he had in any previous year." "Our very early projections for 2020 already had the Angels as an 83.5 win team against neutral competition. This would leave them on the outside of the playoffs looking in, but Rendon vaults them into the Wild Card race immediately, even without any further pitching additions or depth hitters." "Putting Mike Trout in front of him in the lineup (I’d bat Rendon fourth and Trout second, but the configuration won’t matter much) is a way to increase the leverage of those at-bats, to maximize the number of runners Rendon can drive home. Offense stacks, and combining great hitters is an excellent way to maximize a free agent signing." This last point was really interesting - Trout plus Rendon is not just Trout's production and Rendon's production. Even if you don't believe in player protection, as far as run production goes, each of them makes the other's hits more likely to score more runs. There's a multiplier here. And that's before any production from Ohtani, Upton, or Adell - any one of which has the talent to put together a monster season. I still want pitching so we can actually maybe challenge the Astros...but, I'm starting to feel good about this signing.

FTFY

Yeah....We aren't getting Rendon either. Angels will not spend, or win.

I think its more of a "yes, and" than an "either, or" type situation. Most high preforming teams right now have a core who developed in house, supplemented by high end signings (and also often trades). We're trying to to a "re-tool" where we don't tear down and build the farm, but also don't spend on the free market. It ain't gonna work. Edit - maybe we go balls-to-the-wall and end up with Ryu, Rendon, and another pitcher. But...I'm not sure why we wouldn't be outbid for at least Rendon also.

Yeah man, I'm sure we had no idea what the Yankees were offering. If there is one thing we know about Boras, its that he tries to make sure that teams don't bid against each other, and makes sure his players get paid as little as possible.

I see. So we have opted to lose instead of spending money. There are two options teams have: spend the money it takes to win, or lose. We all need to remember when our team slides in at .500 and Trout continues to not see the post season: at least Arte is saving money.

Basically my thoughts. Cole would have been awesome - this may be more practical.

He was really good in that one world series. And he has a cute butt.

"Local man negotiates for the best salary he can get. More at 11."

Only if we actually do it.

36 mil a year for 9 years. Damn.

I mean...look, I'd be disappointed, but we would end up with a rotation of ohtani, ryu, price, heaney, canning, Sandoval; an outfield of adell, trout, and Upton (hopefully due for a bounce back year); and an infield of Rendon, Simmons, Fletcher, and [1st base]. Throw in some utility guys, an average catcher, and some bullpen pieces, and it doesn't look horrible.

By my quick back-of-the-envelope math, this should bring us to 80 mil below the lux tax. I know the Angels have been signaling that they don't want to hit it, but...Moreno has seemed emotional in his last few quotes. I think its possible that things have changed and he's gonna say "fuck it" and go for it. If he does...holy shit, we could make some waves. Cole, Rendon, throw in a few other utility pieces and bullpen pieces, no problem.

Seriously. Thats why that post got downvoted like crazy when it was new - it doesn't exactly fill one with confidence about our pitching moving forward...

https://snew.notabug.io/r/angelsbaseball/comments/e8u0de/out_on_cole/ ^^that's the original. He posted this 5 hours ago:

Dude on reddit made some BS post this morning about how we were out on Cole, but getting Rendon, and going to trade Cozart. He later (several hours ago) clarified that we would trade Cozart to the giants...Original post has now been deleted.

Gotta think that shit is going down with Cole, and Jeff is hearing whispers about it from "on high." Nothing he can report on, but movement from the camps.

This comment sent me down a bit of a rabbit whole. Seems like of all the fielding positions, catchers have got to have the most trouble hitting this mark. Not only do they tend to have low averages, there also seem to be a lot of big boi catchers. So, I went to ESPN and started looking at data. First off, I have some questions about these weights. For example, I don't believe for one moment that this absolute unit: is only 185 pounds. But, for data acquisition purposes, I had to assume their numbers are right. Going down the list, it looks like last year, the best catcher who can't manage to hit above his weight is: Tyler Flowers. Part of this comes from his piddly .229 batting average. But, to be fair to him, the fact that he weighs a whopping 260 lbs isn't doing him any favors here. That number threw me for a bit - he certainly doesn't LOOK like your typical chonky catcher. But, it looks like that is coming from the fact that he's freaking 6' 4". And catching. Somehow. For reference, the tallest catcher of all time is a 3-way tie between Pete Koegel, Don Gile, and Anton Falch, each clocking in at 6' 6". However, the catcher with the best overall career batting average who can't manage to bat his weight is: Evan Gattis. Clocking in at 6'4", 270 lbs, Gattis has a career .247 batting average. Despite being completely unable to bat his weight, Gattis has picked up 8.3 bWAR over 6 seasons and 706 games. Given his girth, Gattis has yet to have a single season in which his batting average has been above his current weight.

How is this thread not titled "Braves get Cole"?

We need Mike Trout to email this to Cole: