Angels

Haha. If you're going to troll, try to be taken seriously at least! The best trolls usually do because they post smart and thought-provoking stuff. This is just embarrassing and a total waste of time.

Trout would be stupid to wait until free agency. He would be pretty smart to actually sign a monster contract now, while also giving himself the chance to sign a second monster contract while he's still in his prime. Sign a big 7-8 year deal now, then a huge 10-year one afterwards. Besides that, signing a contract now also guarantees him big, big money. A lot can happen in 4 years. Players can get injured (ask Grady Sizemore). Smart move for him would be to sign now. If the Angels don't lock him up now or within a year, they're a bunch of idiots.

If Trout waits until FA, he will be 26. Say he signs for 10/300 at 26. What happens when he's 36 and a free agent? What if he is in decline then? What happens if he can't even come close to getting the money he was getting before? If he signs a 7- or 8-year deal now, he'll be 29-30 when that expires, enabling him to sign a second monster contract (10/300-350...the same one or even bigger than he can get if he waits until he's 26). And that would take him to 40...right to retirement.

If one is a dinosaur, I could see how one would think Cabrera is better. Just look at those HR and RBI.

Trout would be pretty stupid to accept a 10- or 12-year contract if he's trying to maximize his earnings.. He'd be 32-34 when that expires. By then, he may be past his prime and unable to get the kind of contract he can get if he were to sign for 7 or 8 years. He would be 29-30 and in his prime, and right in line for another mammoth-sized 10-year deal to finish his career off. 8/160 is what I would offer him. And if Trout were smart, he'd take it. Why wait until free agency when you're 26 to sign a 10-year deal that would take you until your 36? Sign a huge 8-year extension now, then get another massive contract while you're still in your prime at 29-30 to finish off your career.

This team can't do anything right. First, they put themselves in an early hole to kill their chances for the postseason...then they start winning a bunch of meaningless games near the end of the season to ruin their draft position and take away that protected pick. You would think that an organization with the worst farm system in baseball and some bloated (awful) contracts would want to put themselves in the best possible position to succeed for 2014 and beyond. Since having a farm system will be the only thing that can save this joke of a team. But no. They go on to win a bunch of meaningless games all to the detriment of the future. If they're going to be terrible, at least do it right.

Pujols and Hamilton don't have to take PEDs anymore since they signed their last contracts they will ever get. Especially in the case of Albert Pujols. Why risk your health when you're going to get paid no matter what and the contract you've signed will take you to the end of your career? Time to sit back and enjoy. Pujols will continue to have a new excuse every year for why he sucks. Next year, it will probably be an elbow issue. Then the knee in 2015. And so on. Never sign players to long-term contracts that will take them to the end of their careers. It usually never works out well. Build around young players.

I guess being something like 81-81 (and still missing the postseason) will make him happier? By the way, what makes you think the Angels will win with this current squad next year? Player salaries are just going to increase from here on out (go check what Pujols will start to make, just for example). What's Trout going to command once he hits arbitration? How about if he's locked up long-term? How about all the other players whose salaries will start to increase? The Angels farm system is rated as the worst in baseball. They are also maxed out payroll wise or will be soon enough. Fact is, without a protected draft pick, any top free agent they sign will eliminate their draft pick. And just exasperate the problem. If the Angels had a farm system, there would be no need for Joe Blanton. Or Tommy Hanson. Or Jerome Williams. Or Buckner. Or Nelson. Or Cowgill. Or all those terrible bullpen arms. Or any other random scrub who will never help this team win. They don't have a farm system. That is why we are seeing these guys. Having a farm system with a bunch of high-upside players will actually give the Angels hope for the future. Something to look forward to. Losing the rest of the way = winning.

It's going to get a whole lot worse when Pujols and Hamilton continue to age and get worse, Trout gets ridiculously expensive, the Angels have little to no payroll flexibility, and no farm system (the worst in baseball at the moment) to turn to to help the Angels get out of that hole. If you thought this season was bad, you haven't seen anything yet. But meaningless wins in 2013>2014 season and beyond, right? Sorry, I'd much rather see the Angels tank the rest of the way and rebuild that farm system and give us some kind of hope for the future than to watch them win a bunch of meaningless games from here on out. In this case, losing the rest of the way is actually winning. But that's only if you care about the future of this organization.

If you're a fan of this team and actually care about next season and beyond, then you should root for them to lose as many games as possible from here on out. The Angels don't have a chance to make the playoffs this season. This season is over. The focus should be on the future. The Angels have the worst farm system in baseball with a bunch of bloated contracts that aren't going anywhere. Then there's Mike Trout..who happens to be the best player in baseball and isn't yet signed long-term. He is about to get ridiculously expensive a few years from now. The Angels will need to rely heavily on their farm system given their situation. And without one, they will be screwed. Therefore, I want the Angels to get a protected draft pick. Not only that, I want the Angels to get the highest draft pick possible. Because the higher the draft pick, the higher the rate for success. The lower the draft pick, the lower the rate for success. It's pretty simple. The best (and only way) to accomplish that is to lose as many games from here on out. I want to see that happen because I care about the future of this organization. I will never understand people who want to see a bunch of meaningless wins at the detriment of the greater good. What will a .500 record accomplish? Will that make you happy? An 81-81 record doesn't mean anything. Not this year, not next year, not ever. All it will do is put the Angels in a worse position to succeed next year and 2015 and 2016 and so on.

Weaver's secondary numbers haven't really changed all that much since 2011. His strikeouts and walks have remained fairly constant. His HR rate is a tad up, but that could very well be just a sample size issue rather than an indicator of his declining stuff. His BABIP is low, as usual. Weaver may not be at his absolute peak, but he's still pitching like Jered Weaver. Even with declining velocity. As long as he locates the way he does, he'll survive.

Just brilliant. Through 107 innings pitched this year, his GB% is 59%. As a starter, his GB% is 58%. That makes him the 5th most extreme ground ball pitcher among starting pitchers this year with a minimum of 50 innings pitched. As long as he continues to limit walks and generate grounders at such an extreme rate, he should be a good #2. And if he ever starts adding in more strikeouts, his ceiling is probably that of a #1. Weaver/Wilson/Richards makes a solid trio for next season, but the Angels still need 2 serviceable (and probably better than serviceable) starting pitchers next year.

Trout's slash line since May 1: .355/.455/.623

UZR>DRS I'm not a fan of DRS. It produces some wacky results quite often.

Best player in baseball. Remember when Pujols was the best player in baseball? Trout's 10 WAR last year was better than Pujols' best season...and he's well on his way to doing it again this year. At 20-21.

He wouldn't be a bad guy to take a chance on if you can get him for almost nothing. He was solid from 2010-2012 and would be a pretty big upgrade if he even pitches like he did in 2010 and 2012. He doesn't make too much and he will be arb. eligible a few more times. The Angels can always cut him if he blows up. As long as the Angels can acquire him without giving up anything useful or valuable, I'm OK with this.

If it's for cheap and for someone we have no use for (like a CJ Cron), sure. If it's for someone valuable, no. Ian Kennedy would be nothing more than a project. He has never been nearly as good as that one year (2011) and his numbers/results have been declining these last few years.

Only 10 of the 21 players you listed have a higher WAR than Trumbo. As far as offense is concerned, if you look at wRC+, a lot of these guys are quite close to each other.

This. The slower he throws, the less margin for error he has. His "mistake" (and even "non-mistake") pitches are going to get crushed a lot more often than they used to. Unless he rediscovers his old velocity, we will not be seeing the Weaver of old. It's bizarre to see a supposedly healthy player in what is still supposed to be the prime of his career experience such a huge decrease in velocity to the point where his fastball averages 86 mph.

Trumbo has ridiculous power and he's starting to show a lot better plate discipline/is taking walks this year. He's swinging at far fewer pitches out of the zone and is just way more patient and selective at the plate. He already has been worth 2 WAR in a half a season. That's a 4-WAR pace over a full season. Saying players like Trumbo grow on trees (at least if you're looking at what he has done this year) is simply flat-out inaccurate. And he is showing a legit improvement in certain aspects of his game, not an artificial one. If the Angels trade him, they better be getting something worth it.

A few of Cron's walks have been of the intentional variety, too. So his 'true' walk rate is even worse than that. And what was supposed to be his biggest weapon (power) has mostly been MIA. Not good.

Bourjos currently has a -3.9 UZR (-24.5 UZR/150) from 211 innings of playing defense (25 games played/23 games started). From 2010-2012, he posted a +40.5 UZR (#1 in all of baseball). Did Bourjos suddenly forget how to play defense? Did he suddenly become a bad defender? Small samples of UZR data aren't meant to be taken literally.

Sample size? Defensive metrics (like UZR) are very prone to huge swings from year to year, let alone month to month. You usually want to look at 3 full years worth of data (at the very least) to have a clearer picture.

Not necessarily. If you recall just a few years ago, Yankees GM Brian Cashman was strongly against the signing of Rafael Soriano. The Steinbrenner brothers didn't care. They pretty much overruled him and gave Soriano a ridiculous contract. Sometimes, the GM has no say in it. I can easily see Arte wanting to one-up the Dodgers and Rangers by signing Hamilton.

What team isn't based on theoretical performance? Nothing is absolute. Nothing is set in stone. Nobody can enter a season and for sure say that everything will go as expected or as planned. The Angels aren't alone here. Just because a team with the same cast of characters did good or bad last year doesn't mean that team will do good or bad this year. Just because a player did good or bad last year doesn't mean that player will do good or bad this year. I'm sure Dipoto looked at every potential risk involved here. The truth is, this team did look good on paper. The truth is, projection systems (like ZiPS and PECOTA, for example) had the Angels winning their division. Even the most pessimistic outlooks couldn't have predicted this. With 25% of the season nearly over, the Angels have the third-worst record in ALL of baseball, just ahead of the Marlins and Astros. That's nothing something you could've predicted or expected. In regards to the depth...Dipoto inherited an abysmal farm system. That is not something he can just magically fix overnight. That's going to take a lot of patience and time to go along with good scouting, drafting and willingness to spend money. Expecting some quick fix simply isn't realistic. And it's not like he has been just sitting around doing nothing. He has been looking for depth/help (signing AAAA'ers), but let's be realistic..in order to acquire impact, serviceable major league talent, you have to give up talent. The Angels have almost no farm system. They would have to trade some pieces from their roster (desirable pieces), which would be addition by subtraction and perhaps wouldn't make the Angels any better off than they are now. For this year, their best bet is to just ride things out and hope for the best. What else can realistically be done? The Angels are stuck with what they have, and that's the truth. Unless the Angels plan to blow it up (can't happen since we're stuck with a bunch of these contracts...and a bunch of them have NTC's), nothing can be done. I see what Dipoto's strategy was when he constructed the pitching staff. He was hoping the pitching staff would be tailor-made for Angel Stadium. And with the defense (particularly the OF), things would look good. It didn't seem like a bad strategy. And let's be honest, some of these guys are performing a lot worse than how they normally perform or how they were expected to perform. Blanton (for example) may not be a good pitcher, but he isn't THIS bad, either.