floplag

I like it, dont really care about the draft pick right now this club needs to win at the ML level, now.
The only question i have is whether this is the beginning, or the end?  Is he the piece, or the compliment.
Will we still either go out and sign another to a longer term deal such as a Stroman, or make a trade for one such as the rumored Mia or Cin options.
If i had to guess right now, i think more likely a trade is coming as we still have other issues to address.
But this is definitely an encouraging start, i hope 🙂

Why do people think we can just slot anyone at any position?

ive had my eye on Stroman for a long time, largely due to ground ball rates.  Down a bit last year but still.
IF we go get one of the better SS, Semien for example, we will have an entire infield of gold glove caliber players, huge for young pitchers and ground ball creators.
For me that a big criteria for whoever we go after as pitchers.  

For your viewing pleasure..
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/top-50-mlb-free-agent-rankings.html
We got votes for Semian (6/138), Stroman (5-110), Rodon (1/25), Gray (4/56), Matz (3/27), Neris (2/18), Tepera 2/12), Duffy 1/10), and a bunch of "will also be in play" on a number of others. 

For your viewing pleasure..
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/top-50-mlb-free-agent-rankings.html
We got votes for Semian (6/138), Stroman (5-110), Rodon (1/25), Gray (4/56), Matz (3/27), Neris (2/18), Tepera 2/12), Duffy 1/10), and a bunch of "will also be in play" on a number of others. 

For your viewing pleasure..
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/top-50-mlb-free-agent-rankings.html
We got votes for Semian (6/138), Stroman (5-110), Rodon (1/25), Gray (4/56), Matz (3/27), Neris (2/18), Tepera 2/12), Duffy 1/10), and a bunch of "will also be in play" on a number of others. 

Legit could not disagree with this more...
For me this is the top priority.
Even IF we get an ace well still have a group of young arms in the rotation, shortening games will be critical to success.
Have we learned nothing these last few years of clean peanut shopping?

Legit could not disagree with this more...
For me this is the top priority.
Even IF we get an ace well still have a group of young arms in the rotation, shortening games will be critical to success.
Have we learned nothing these last few years of clean peanut shopping?

Ive been mostly lurking of late for various reasons but i gotta chime in here...
Those kids, also have the potential to be a very solid rotation.  Why relegate them to the pen for more expensive FA starters when SP is being so heavily devalued by the metrics and no one is going more than 5/6 innings tops anymore? 
They have the ability to be a good rotation, if we put a bullpen behind them to shorten games.
This is where the game seems headed.. ATL won a WS with 2 bullpen games!   Greinke went 4 was it, in the WS?  Freid was cruising and got pulled anyway... the era of the ace is over. 
Overpaying for SP which was already a bad investment just to push the kids to the pen seems counter productive in the current paradigm.
Build a lockdown pen, first... add an ace or anchor, whatever fine, but we cant have another year of clean peanut bullpen. 

Ive been mostly lurking of late for various reasons but i gotta chime in here...
Those kids, also have the potential to be a very solid rotation.  Why relegate them to the pen for more expensive FA starters when SP is being so heavily devalued by the metrics and no one is going more than 5/6 innings tops anymore? 
They have the ability to be a good rotation, if we put a bullpen behind them to shorten games.
This is where the game seems headed.. ATL won a WS with 2 bullpen games!   Greinke went 4 was it, in the WS?  Freid was cruising and got pulled anyway... the era of the ace is over. 
Overpaying for SP which was already a bad investment just to push the kids to the pen seems counter productive in the current paradigm.
Build a lockdown pen, first... add an ace or anchor, whatever fine, but we cant have another year of clean peanut bullpen. 

Legit could not disagree with this more...
For me this is the top priority.
Even IF we get an ace well still have a group of young arms in the rotation, shortening games will be critical to success.
Have we learned nothing these last few years of clean peanut shopping?

I agree with this.   But I think my point was still valid in referencing the regular season where only hand full of pitchers in all of baseball averaged more than 6 innings per start and only four of them made all their starts and averaged over 6 innings.  

Ive been mostly lurking of late for various reasons but i gotta chime in here...
Those kids, also have the potential to be a very solid rotation.  Why relegate them to the pen for more expensive FA starters when SP is being so heavily devalued by the metrics and no one is going more than 5/6 innings tops anymore? 
They have the ability to be a good rotation, if we put a bullpen behind them to shorten games.
This is where the game seems headed.. ATL won a WS with 2 bullpen games!   Greinke went 4 was it, in the WS?  Freid was cruising and got pulled anyway... the era of the ace is over. 
Overpaying for SP which was already a bad investment just to push the kids to the pen seems counter productive in the current paradigm.
Build a lockdown pen, first... add an ace or anchor, whatever fine, but we cant have another year of clean peanut bullpen. 

Ah yes the yk 100% hindsight redux... takes a special person to literally live for this shit.
I was wrong in this case, ill own that, happy?

Teams with mediocre rotations get away with a ton by having deep bullpens.  
A few years ago we saw epic playoff battles between WAS and HOU.  It made everyone feel like you had to have 3 TOR starters to win.  
We're almost to the point where bullpens are pitching the same amount of innings as starters.  Not quite, but close.  It used to be 3 or 4 to 1 ratio.  
The cost per inning of a starter has become so high versus that of a reliever that you have to do the math and determine where the value is.  I think leverage is of tremendous importance and undervalued as well.  Shortening games at a fraction of the cost is huge.  How much more does it cost to get a starter that averages a 3.8 era and 6.1 innings per start versus that of a starter who has a 4.3 era in 5 innings and a two to three relievers that have a 3.5 era for 1 inning every other or third game?  
AND you can grab like 9 relievers who might be able to do that and figure out pretty quick which 3 or 4 can at almost no cost.  Or you can draft 20 pitchers who profile to do that in the future and have an entire renewable stable of them.  
And openers aren't the devil.  
just for kicks, here's another reason to understand how WAR works and know where the nits are even though it's of use.  The Angels had the 8th best pen by WAR but 21st by WPA (which tells you what happened and accounts for leverage).  Why?  Because the Angels had one really good pen arm and the rest was meh at best.  Every other guy we carted out in reasonably high leverage wasn't very good.  
Bullpens are all about depth.  You don't even need to have a very good closer if you got six other guys to get you there.  It's nice but not that critical.  
Imagine 5-6 guys out of your pen that give you about 300-350 innings.  The Angels had about 650 innings from their pen this year and about 775 from their starters.  So imagine that half of your pen innings came at a level commensurate with 2-3 starters who functions as a 1/2/3 in the rotation?  What would it cost to get those 6 or maybe even 7 guys versus that spend on getting those three guys for your rotation? 

I see bear traps just about everywhere in this years market.  Especially at the top.  

Maybe it’s me, but it kind of frustrates me to keep reading about the big decision to buy or sell.
I personally don’t really think this is an actual decision.
The team 100% needs to secure better starting pitching.  This is a trade deadline where transactions happen.  The Angels need to use this trade deadline to pursue improving the starting rotation.
I believe the Angels are committed to finding transactions to acquire pitching that will help the team beyond this year.
Look, if the Angels lose 9 games in a row here, yes they may be more likely to trade away a certain player or two.
But this is SEPARATE from the primary objective that is the same either way:  Attempt to use the trade deadline period to land impact, controllable starting pitching.
If that transaction doesn’t happen, it doesn’t mean that this primary objective was not pursued.  It just means the right deal was not available, and they will have to keep trying (that same objective) in the off-season.
In a nutshell, I disagree that the main objective pivots on wins and losses over the next week to ten days.
Frankly even if the Angels gain five games in five days, I doubt they would be aggressively pursuing rentals.  I know the front office said they did not oppose “rentals” but it would be dumb to “remove” yourself from any opportunities because you don’t know the price of such a rental unless you are engaged in it.  Might as well be open.  You don’t have to make any deal you don’t want to make.
One way or another, I really think they remain focused on landing controllable impact starting pitching regardless of wins and losses coming up.
 

Congratulations Chuck, well earned!  

Its the only move that makes any sense unless you also want to discuss re-alignment.
The only other west coast-ish locations that might fly is Portland or SLC, but i wouldnt put a taco stand in portland right now with its unrest and SLC just doesnt seem to be large enough, whereas Vegas has proven major league level support in the NFL and NHL.
The only reason you dont so this is the stigma of gambling, but thats moot really considering he game are being wagered on if played in an outhouse so, MLB might as well get over that.  

Win
The team has to win games for either he or Trout to get that consideration going forward.
Either that or has has to pull a Baylor and it must be so obvious that no one else could be considered and put up video game numbers while no one esle gets close. 

And this has what to do with the baseball player?
Im actually really irritated that ive read this, more than anything about what the player brings to the team.
Are we now expected to cancel everyone not of the liberal hive mind?

And this has what to do with the baseball player?
Im actually really irritated that ive read this, more than anything about what the player brings to the team.
Are we now expected to cancel everyone not of the liberal hive mind?

Many here wanted this for a long time, even before we actually had a viable replacement.  Once it became Clear that Walsh was the correct choice for the position it became inevitable.
I would have preferred to see him step down after last season as it was clear this was how things were going to go, but who among us really know when its time.
I thank him for all he did as a Halo, especially the mentoring of Trout, but, the name on the front still matters much more than the back so, its time to move forward.
He will be a first ballot hall of famer, as a Cardinal, there is little doubt of that.

Many here wanted this for a long time, even before we actually had a viable replacement.  Once it became Clear that Walsh was the correct choice for the position it became inevitable.
I would have preferred to see him step down after last season as it was clear this was how things were going to go, but who among us really know when its time.
I thank him for all he did as a Halo, especially the mentoring of Trout, but, the name on the front still matters much more than the back so, its time to move forward.
He will be a first ballot hall of famer, as a Cardinal, there is little doubt of that.

To leave KC with Whit Merrifield top play RF?

 🙂