eaterfan

I hope this team has higher aspirations than getting players who are just a little better than Pujols at age 40.

ARod and CC or Randy Johnson or Giambi and Clemons?

I think if we've learned one thing over the last three years, it's that draft picks are worth way way more than any of us thought. Grandall gets a big contract despite being a year older after not getting one with draft pick attached. Mous finally gets a big deal after initial free agency with draft pick attached. Ordorizzi takes qualifying offer and risks health or poor performance to avoid hitting the market with draft pick compensation attached. Giants eat $12.5 million for a mid-first round pick (who they didn't even get to choose) and didn't light the world up in his brief stint in the minors.

It's just a counter to the mystery team talk.

Also, New York isn't Texas or Florida.

In addition to the above: 1. At the time of the trade articles basically said "The Pirates make him throw too many cut fastballs, he should throw more 4 seem fastballs and he'll be more successful." He threw more 4 seemers and became more successful. 2. His year to year numbers have basically been identical to Scherzur's (maybe a hair better) at the same age, until this year when Cole surpassed him.

I think those numbers a little skewed. I think the $1.8 billion is for the stadium and the $5 billion is for the entire development.

AZN - not sure how it correlates, but NFL and MLB have vastly different revenue models. In MLB the driving factor for revenue is local TV money. The NFL doesn't really have that (preseason excluded) they have a national contract and strict revenue sharing. One area that really drives revenue discrepancies between teams is luxury box sales. Teams get to exclude much more of that from revenue sharing. As a result new stadiums with more luxury suites are a tremendous value driver for NFL teams.

The Rams broke ground on their stadium in January 2016, I think. It will open in July 2020. It's a year behind schedule because of the heavy rains they got the first winter. There are a lot of differences that I think could lead to a faster build in Anaheim. 1. Rams stadium had to be built about 100 feet below the ground because of the flight path with LAX. Angels won't have to dig. 2. Rams stadium is designed to hold 70k (expandable to 100k) plus it has separate concert venue built in. Angels stadium would presumably be much smaller. 3. Rams stadium will have a "canopy." That takes time to build. Angels stadium will likely be open air. Some things that may cause more delays for the Angels than the Rams: 1. Rams stadium is only a construction site. They don't have to deal with the team currently playing there. 2. Kroenke has F.U. money and is spending it on this. He is paying crews to work round the clock. Not sure Arte wants to get it done ASAP no matter what the cost.

As I said, because the Astros brought it up. Chapman wasn't a story during the playoffs. You're right, in my original post I didn't say "unless the Angels are historic level dumbasses." But it would seem to me that level of dumbass could turn nearly anything into a distraction.

Once again, we're not part of the national baseball media. The players won't hear one word of what is said on these message boards. Yeah, we'll talk about it when there is a major change in the status of one of these players; when they are acquired or let go. It might make a headline or two then. But it won't be something that the players are asked about (a distraction) for 95% + of the players time with the organization. You continually conflate you and me talking about this on the message board with reporters and broadcasters asking teammates about it (that is what would be a distraction). We're nobodies. So is the writer from blogger from whatever SB nation site who writes about it the first time player x comes to town each year. That's not what a distraction for the team is and you know that.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. I'm not advocating to bring in Russell. I would be happy if he's out of baseball. But I don't think he'd be a distraction to the players much beyond the first week of spring training or the regular season.

I mean, I don't think that makes it into the level of distraction for most of the players. How often will the players be asked about it. Plus, I think if we've learned anything over the last month and a half it's that the Astros front office is unique in their arrogant asshattery. Obviously I was being hyperbolic by saying it will only be brought up for a week. But in reality it will be far less of a distraction than it should be. It should be talked about all the time but people don't want to talk about unpleasant things all the time. They just want to enjoy their baseball. I'd imagine that Albert Pujol's decline will be a much bigger distraction to the Angels than bringing in Russell, Chapman, or Osuna would be. The reason to not bring in those guys is because they did really terrible things and the Angels don't need to associate with them, not because their talent level doesn't make up for the amount of negative media attention they will get.

Definitely. And if Eppler yells at reporters after the biggest game of the season how awesome it is that we got Russell it would be a distraction. Maybe I should have made it clear that it wouldn't be a distraction if the organization doesn't act like arrogant asshats and keeps their collective head down. Heck, I think if the Astros would have just said "we're investigating this and take it very seriously" then it's a one day story. Once again, it will be a big media story for a week and then it will just be a bunch of guys like us shouting into the internet void where no one in the organization has to deal with it.

That's got to be a huge distraction to the team.

They will when he signs. Really, did they mention Chapman's domestic violence incident on any broadcast when the Angels played the Yankees this year? Did they mention Osuna's when they played Houston? Did any beat reporters ask the Chapman about it? Did they ask any other Yankees players how they felt about it? If Taubman doesn't bring it up after the ALCS I don't even think it gets mentioned during the World Series broadcast. People won't forget it, but it's not really a topic of conversation for more than a week.

That's right. You are not pointing out what the issues are so they can seem like the same thing. "We shouldn't hire criminals like my friend from college or Bernie Madoff." My friend from college got a drunk in public. Bernie Madoff committed a billion dollar fraud. You can't see how describing the two as "criminals" and not pointing out that their actions are very different leads to people equating the actions of the two?

I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to read this. It seems to me like you are trying to create an equivalence between signing Kap and signing Russell based on off the field issues.

Dude, beating your wife is not the same as what Colin Kaepernick did. It's not even even in the same league. That being said, there would be about a week if distraction for signing Russell and then no one would mention it again. It's still not the right thing to do.

That's what you get for watching the White Castle of news.

It's an equally bad argument no one can match their career WAR in one season. No, I don't think Heaney will get to 3 WAR, but I don't think it's something that is laughable. I think he's a little better than he has been in the past and 3.0 WAR would be a decently flukey season, but those happen quite often in baseball.

"lol c'mon dude. La Stella has a lifetime WAR of 2.0, no way he's getting that in one season." - failos, January 2019

On the plus side, Green Cheek is delicious. Obviously it would be better to have a great brewery close to the stadium, but I'm glad we got another good brewery. They announced the expansion exactly a month after the Rams got approval to move to LA and they broke ground on their stadium. I started making jokes with my friends about which would finish first about 2 years ago. Taylor Swift has a concert at the new Ram's stadium in July next year. It's going to come down to the wire.

Well, I'd assume a team that trades for him has a different evaluation. Let's say the Cubs believe there's a 10% chance his productions exceeds his contract value, a 20% chance he meets it, a 50% chance he stays the same, and a 20% chance he gets worse. Let's just assume Cozart is done. Angels believe there's a 20% chance Kimbrell's production exceeds his contract, 30% he meets it, 30% he is the same, and 10% chance he gets worse. Every player (especially relievers) come with risk, so there is some value between the Angels evaluation and Cubs evaluation where both teams believe they benefit.

I would be very surprised. Why do people think Manfred likes the Astros? They've been successful on the field recently, but I don't think it's been like the Yankees where every call goes their way. If anything I think Manfred will welcome the opportunity to hammer the Astros. It's not like Manfred is some hard core analytics nerd. He has pretty much been against a lot of what new baseball stands for. He was even thinking of banning the shift. Other things we know he believes are big problems are pace of play and perceived tanking. 1. They fired their scouting dept. I'd imagine many of those guys have friends in baseball. 2. They took tanking to a new level I think it's well beyond what the Cubs did. It also showed how successful it could be and made it more acceptable. I think Manfred hates this. 3. The Astros distracted from the WS. I don't think Manfred hates this more than the rest of the baseball establishment, but they really don't like that at all. I think Manfred will take the opportunity to really hammer them.