stormngt

Let's just ignore the economic facts people. Yes, Trout will be going to the Yankees or whoever back east because hey, this is fantasy land!  In all of your minds four years is right around the corner.  Nobody get hurt in four years.  The Angels will continue to suck in four years and Trout is sitting picture perfect with no risks on his millions when he can leave the Angels in four plus years.
 
 
Let's get back to reality.  A lot can happen in four years.  In high probability trout will be receiving more money than he knows what to do with.  However, that is on the basis that he stays healthy, which is not a guarantee.  There is always a possibility he could get hurt.  Therefore, there is great incentive to guarantee your life long wealth now, instead of waiting for your life long wealth in four years.
 
So once again, Trout is going nowhere if the Angels do not F*** it up.  Why?  All they have to do is offer a contract he can't refuse.  I say 10 years 170 million is enough to do the job.  However, it has to be next year.  Every year the Angels wait to extend Trout you will have to add at least another 22 million to the package to make it one he can't refuse.  
 
This fall is the year to do it.  My only concern is that the Angels desire to get under the cap might convince them not to extend Trout.  However, as I have been saying the longer it takes the Angels to offer the extension to Trout, the less incentive he has to re sign.

You go to work.  You realize you are under contract for four more years.  Year one your employer can pay you the minimum wage.  Year two, three, and four you would get substantial raises, but no where near what you could on the open market.
 
Your employer meets you at work.  He offers you a ten year 170 million dollar contract.  That is six additional years after you obligation with the business is up.  
 
You either:
A.   take the 170 million and be set for life, your kids will be set for life, and if they are not stupid with your money your grand kids will be set for life.
 
Or
 
B.  Turn it down.  Walk away from a 170 million dollars and work year one 500,000.  Hopefully you don't get hurt.  Year two make about 8 million dollars and hope you don't get hurt.  Year three make about 13 million dollars and still hope you don't get hurt.  And finally play year four for about 18 million dollars and again....HOPE YOU DON"T GET HURT!
 
I don't think the decision is even close!  You take the 170 million because if you get hurt you will end up working for a living.
 
Its all up to the Angels.  The sooner they offer the extension the more likelihood he resigns.  However, if the Angels wait to year two or three (where Trout will be making tens of millions and only a year or two of injury risk) Trout would have less incentive to resign.

I will say this.  The one major complaint I have with Scioscia right now is that I really don't think he prepares his team for the start of the season well.  He is great managing over the "marathon of a season" but his teams rarely get out of the gate well.

Save the 25 million and give to Trout on his extension!
 
Or are we playing with monopoly money?
 
I do not believe Scioscia nor any other manager in the history of the game could have taken this team to the playoffs.  Not with this god awful pitching staff, Pujols on one leg, Hamilton turning into Vernon Wells,  and with all the injuries this team has faced.

Fartolo has absolutely nothing to lose. He knows if he doesn't cheat, his career's over and he goes home to his tens of millions. He's adding over $100,000 to that every week he's not suspended and he's on the active roster getting to do something he loves. This isn't the NCAA where wins, awards and titles get stripped when teams or their players cheat, so the A's have absolutely nothing to lose either. The signing by the A's and MLB's obliviousness on the highly questionable resurgence of a proven cheater has been an embarrassment to the league and the A's but neither seems to care.

Except Hanson only pitches every few weeks, er.. months..

Holy mother of all sample sizes.
 
I don't buy it. Have him catch Joe Blanton and Tommy Hanson every few days and we'll see what his CERA is.

10 or 11 games back (i have stopped looking at the standings) is not impossible to over come.  However, it is impossible with the 3-5 pitchers the Angels start 60% of the time.

10 or 11 games back (i have stopped looking at the standings) is not impossible to over come.  However, it is impossible with the 3-5 pitchers the Angels start 60% of the time.

I still get why Dipoto signed Blanton. I was for it totally.
 
Here's the thing though. Blanton has been soooooooooooooooo much worse than expected. Most of his starts he's put the team in a no win situation from the start of the game. 
 
Dump this guy. He's terrible. 

Wow! I would've said delusional

Absolutely he should be fired, because we all know Ryne Sandberg could make Hamilton hit like his MVP year, Blanton pitch like Koufax, heal Pujols' foot, Madsen's and Burnett's arms. 

Since June 1st:
 
Hamilton: .228/.275/.434, 10 BB, 40 K
Trumbo: .193/.255/.400, 13 BB, 41 K
Iannetta: .197/.319/.250, 2 XBH
Pujols: .249/.333/.457
 
Williams: 7.25 ERA, .940 (!) OPS against
Blanton: 5.00 ERA, 48 hits in 48 IP, 13 BB
Hanson (before injury): 5.10 ERA, 1.552 WHIP
 
 
I mean, even if we had average and not terrible 3-5 starters, the bulk of our lineup (outside of Trout and Kendrick) are either injured or having some of the worst seasons of their careers. 

Blaming Callaspo and Iannetta is like a heroin junky blaming his coffee habit for his life woes. It isn't the biggest problem, or even a major concern really, unless you have no other major problems.
 
The big problem this year, as AO rightly put it, has been the 3-5 spots in the rotation and the suckage of Pujols and Hamilton. Even if Pujols and Hamilton didn't recover their superstar level and were just stars, that would have been then Angels a lineup with one superstar, two stars, a few above average regulars, and a couple average regular - a potent lineup without major weakness. But because those two stars have been average or worse, the offense has gone from being one of the best in the league to a bit above average. Couple that with Spahn and Sain and you have a 46-50 team.

The only logical reason for Richards to be in the pen is the idea that for 1 or 2 innings he would be lights out and that would benefit a team in need of bullpen help on it's way to the playoffs.  Top teams bring up young starters and let them cut their teeth in the pen in order to get them acclimated. 
 
Several holes in that theory at this point.
1. This is not a playoff team
2. Richards has been as inconsistent as a reliever as he is as a starter
3. He's not even being used in high leverage situations so they are not even attempting to make him into a high pressure reliever
4. Good teams do it with young players when there are few questions in their rotation otherwise.  Clearly, this is not the case with the halos.
5. If the halos have any farm pitching talent, it's on the bullpen side. They have no viable SP options that are legit rotation guys above high A. 
 
I understand that the team is trying to help him find the role in which he will be most successful, but he has the most value to the team as a starter.  He has the arsenal and upside to be very good.  Whether he will or not remains to be seen yet they need to find out sooner than later.  Even if he ends up Ervin like, where he mixes several good starts with the occasional blowup for the next couple of years, he would still be better than the Blantons, Hansons, and any other journeyman they might pick up to fill space.  All the while, he would have a really good chance of getting better and being a front line guy. 
 
I just don't understand the downside of letting him start at this point. 

What I do know is if we do sign him and he sucks the front office will get just as much criticism as they would for not signing him and he goes on to be a solid contributor for someone else. I'll even go as far as saying if we sign him and he contributes but he's overpaid there will be a ton of criticism.

Until Vargas returns, and then it becomes and 2 days of wishing.
One wonders where we would be if we had real 4th and 5th starters and Weaver and Vargas hadn't been DL'd.
That's where the club will become a contender again, putting real MLB starters into those 4th and 5th spots again.

That 300 pound pitcher is the best pitcher science can create.  It is an embarrassment to baseball.  Either ban the guy or let everyone use performance enhancing drugs.

I prefer to be an optimist, but facts are the facts.  Yes, our 3-5 pitchers can string together a few good games but over the long haul they will lose more than they will win.  We need to be sellers.  Does Wilson have a no trade clause?  With the way he is pitching right now we maybe able to get a good return on him.
 
Down?  We need to get a good prospect or two for him and then try to resign in the fall.  Same for Vargas if there are any takers.

We just need a PED Pitcher to counter their PED Pitcher.

That 300 pound pitcher is the best pitcher science can create.  It is an embarrassment to baseball.  Either ban the guy or let everyone use performance enhancing drugs.

I know Storm you always seem to be an optimist but you are dead on in your analysis of the pitching. I'll go ahead and throw in an embarrassing defense on top of that. It only puts more pressure on our less than mediocre rotation.

As Storm stated this team has no chance. Losing Weaver for six weeks was a huge blow. Being without Hamilton for three months was vital Still missing AP is brutal. Having Vargas would have helped some but you still have Blanton, Williams and Hansen. Those three are not even fifth starter material. This team was doomed from the start. Thanks Dipoto.

I don't know if this is a craig or not as I haven't read all the posts yet.  However I do want to vent two things:
 
First, today's game is why it is clear that despite how much heart of effort the Angels may have they can not make a run for the playoffs.  Why, our starting pitching!  We have Weaver who I can be confident to win every night out.  We have Wilson who is capable of winning every night out.  Then we have three pitchers who will probably lose every night out.  When was the last time Williams pitched well?  I can't remember?  And what is sad he is our 3rd best pitcher.  Blanton:  enough said!  And who is our # 5 pitcher?  I can't remember his name?  I know its not Vargas who is has shown to be a pretty good pitcher but he is injured.  I heard a guy named Hansan (sp?) was supposed to pitch for us but I don't remember ever seeing him pitch.  We have three starting pitchers where the odds are we are going to lose.  You can't go on a ten game winning streak (what I think we need right now to get back into the race) defying the odds 60% of the time.
 
Second, seeing Colon pitch is an absolute embarrassment to the A's and Major League baseball.  I don't care how many drug tests he passes there is no way he is not juiced!  I can say he had stem cell replacement surgery, HGH, or aliens from outer space hijacked his body.  He is either juiced or the Dominican version of the bionic man!  Guys do not improve this much through age!  It is against the forces of nature!  For the A's to give him a raise after being suspended last year and play him this year is a slap to the integrity of their franchise.  For major league baseball to allow him to play is an embarrassment to the integrity of the sport. Major league teams should boycott games he pitches!

I imagine you're about the only person on this board that was glad Bourjos got hit with that pitch, so you could bust out "injury prone" as a reason for not liking him.