ukyah

i'll be honest. if trout signed with the phillies, then i'd just adopt the phillies as my national league team.

"Trout wants to win"
Let's pencil him in as signing with *squints* a team that hasn't made the postseason since 2011 and hasn't won more than 81 games during that time either. Yes, Philly is setting themselves up for 2020+ but why does the media constantly ignore that the Angels are doing the same themselves?

the Angels haven't done one thing that I thought they would this off season.  

I originally thought he was talking about Corbin but he made the comment about a Touchdown 5 days after Corbin agreed on a deal with Washington.  I am thinking we will never know what it was, but if I had to guess it was trade related and then the asking price kept going up.  

i'm not upset about it. if he does great, then good for him. i'm not a fan of signing guys with shoulder injuries to anything other than prove it deals. it's a career ending injury, and i'd hate to see the angels sign a new shit contract.

i don't think there's any chance the angels pick up his option. i think in his best case scenario they extend him at a completely different aav, and i don't think that's happening.
 

agree although even if he does well, I think we'd but it out.  I don't see him getting more than 7-8 mil aav.  

Good to see him returning, stuff has always been there, but health has not. Best solution now maybe to put him in the Bp and see how his stuff plays out.

avg/obp/slg/ops?
.331 obp?
if so, this is an opportunity to educate others reading this post. the average mlb hitter will have an obp 60+/- points higher than their batting average. these numbers hold up over a massive data group. 
the point being, the ideas we get in our heads often times don't have any basis in reality. statistically speaking, and on average, if you think that ward is going to hit .243, then you think he is slightly below league average, which is .249. the interesting thing is that you're not as negative on him as you think because you think he's going to significantly outperform the league average obp, which is .318, by 13 points and more impressively over 84 points higher than his average. 
another interesting point is that, in your projection, his slugging numbers would be way higher because he was getting on base at a significantly above average pace, he hit 6 homeruns and 3 doubles in 135 at bats, while only getting on base at a .245 obp. if he increase his obp by such a significant margin, then he'd have to slug at a higher rate, it doesn't fit his profile. as you said, he seems like a guy than can run into a fastball.
the point of all this is to say, ward isn't the hitter you project. he is either significantly worse or significantly better. i think if the angels were offered a guarantee that ward would give them .243 avg with a .331 obp and the appropriate corresponding slugging numbers they would write his name in pen in the lineup card.
it'll be interesting to see what eppler really thinks of him and how his rookie year progresses.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2018.shtml
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wardta01.shtml
 
 

avg/obp/slg/ops?
.331 obp?
if so, this is an opportunity to educate others reading this post. the average mlb hitter will have an obp 60+/- points higher than their batting average. these numbers hold up over a massive data group. 
the point being, the ideas we get in our heads often times don't have any basis in reality. statistically speaking, and on average, if you think that ward is going to hit .243, then you think he is slightly below league average, which is .249. the interesting thing is that you're not as negative on him as you think because you think he's going to significantly outperform the league average obp, which is .318, by 13 points and more impressively over 84 points higher than his average. 
another interesting point is that, in your projection, his slugging numbers would be way higher because he was getting on base at a significantly above average pace, he hit 6 homeruns and 3 doubles in 135 at bats, while only getting on base at a .245 obp. if he increase his obp by such a significant margin, then he'd have to slug at a higher rate, it doesn't fit his profile. as you said, he seems like a guy than can run into a fastball.
the point of all this is to say, ward isn't the hitter you project. he is either significantly worse or significantly better. i think if the angels were offered a guarantee that ward would give them .243 avg with a .331 obp and the appropriate corresponding slugging numbers they would write his name in pen in the lineup card.
it'll be interesting to see what eppler really thinks of him and how his rookie year progresses.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2018.shtml
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wardta01.shtml
 
 

My experience with Eppler is if you try really really hard you can get him to say who he ISN’T interested in, but you can never get him to say who he is interested in. 

He was not extendable before Harper-Machado signed. As soon as they are signed, expect talks to begin. Only then will the Angels really know whether they can re-sign him. I believe they can. 

Our offseason has been so nondescript I'm having a hard time even mustering up an opinion on it. 

Obviously signals they weren’t comfortable giving a big deal to Grandal, which is apparently what he’s going after.  Which I get.  This does sort of kick the can down the road though.  The Angels realistically don’t have any internal solutions at catcher.  So we’ll be doing this again next year.  And maybe the year after.  Who knows. 
I’m not sure that I have a lot of confidence that they’ll be doing anything else significant.  They seem to have balked at going where they had to to get any of the more premier guys.  So this just may be it.  I mean if they won’t pay Grandal.  Why would they pay Keuchel ?  Grandal imo represented a significantly more pressing need.  We might just have to accept that the club isn’t goIng to be aggressive going into 2019.  For better or worse.  
On the one hand I’m glad they’ve maintained flexibility and haven’t committed to any potentially risky long term deals.  But on the other, it’s hard to say this hasn’t been sort of disappointing.  I was expecting/hoping for bigger things this offseason.  I think most of us had this years FA class circled.  Oh well.  It is what it is. 
 

exactly my thought.
sign lowrie and put him at lead off. seems like a good addition the the lineup.

Would rather they sign Lowrie.

Silly me i thought we could still post whatever we wanted on this forum.    I guess i missed the "Stradling approved" memo 

Pending cost, I would really like this idea.  We have the makings of a very good pen, but a lot of youth, a little experience to help anchor it and bring them along would be a very good thing.

No. They've been notorious for taxing the arms of their pitchers over there from such an early pre-teen age. There's been several articles on it. This is what's great about getting Ohtani at such a young age. 

Geez. This is like reading diarrhea. Everyone STFU

any argument that is founded on such a ridiculous and arbitrary principal as, "i don't think their role is significant" is an argument without merit and not deserved of being discussed by those familiar in the subject.
here's a valid statement that can be argued by those in the know: mariano is by far and away the best relief pitcher, of any kind, the game has ever known. 
he's a first ballot hall of famer.

any argument that is founded on such a ridiculous and arbitrary principal as, "i don't think their role is significant" is an argument without merit and not deserved of being discussed by those familiar in the subject.
here's a valid statement that can be argued by those in the know: mariano is by far and away the best relief pitcher, of any kind, the game has ever known. 
he's a first ballot hall of famer.

any argument that is founded on such a ridiculous and arbitrary principal as, "i don't think their role is significant" is an argument without merit and not deserved of being discussed by those familiar in the subject.
here's a valid statement that can be argued by those in the know: mariano is by far and away the best relief pitcher, of any kind, the game has ever known. 
he's a first ballot hall of famer.

Which is the opposite of war stats...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Blew your mind, didnt it

I would fully expect a writer from Boston to hate all things Yankee.
No question Rivera should be in the HOF.