AngelsFanSince86

This is a very good point as well. I think it is important to consider how they have been pitching at the end of the season (hot or slumping?) and then where they will be pitching. If Weaver has been solid in his last couple starts and the one game playoff is at home then I would definitely go with him because you know the mental game won't get to him.

I think it should come down to who is pitching better at the time. If Richards has some rough starts right before the season ends and Weaver has been lights out in those same starts and his stuff looks good then why not go with the vet?

Yeah I didn't mean to group you in there which is why I chose to write that tidbit above your quote. Just wanted to answer the question you posed. The first statement was more general and isn't specific to just this thread.

I don't understand a lot of the Weaver hate on here. The guy signed a team friendly contract and despite his decline is still the second best pitcher on our team. But yes, lets hate on him because he didn't continue to be a sub-3.00 ERA pitcher for the rest of his career. I do not believe he will ever be the ace of the Angels or any team ever again, but he still continues to be a solid pitcher (albeit mostly at home). Well that depends on how this year and the next pans out (for Weaver and for our 3 young guys). Weaver had a 19 game stretch this year where he posted a 2.98 ERA. Not exactly a small sample size. The first three games of the season and his last 3 games have made up the rest of his starts. Meaning he has had some VERY rough patches, but they have been short lived and for the most part has pitched very well. If he gets back on track like his history suggests, then he should post a sub-3.50 ERA. If he posts an ERA around 3.50 next year as well then I would say yes, re-sign him. Just don't place him as our #1 guy. He will most likely give the Angels a team friendly contract so why not re-sign him? Just because he isn't the same guy he was a few years ago? The alternative is to overpay for another starter who gives us the same production and costs us a draft pick. We already need another solid SP. But even if we obtain a #1 or #2 guy then that leaves us with Richards, Weaver, Wilson, and three guys who haven't shown any kind of consistency to fill the back two spots. Without Weaver or Wilson (Wilson should DEFINITELY not be re-signed) we just have 3 guys with no consistency. If we are lucky and all three of our young guys pan out then I guess let Weaver go, but otherwise why not have a vet on the team that has been a life long Angel who is an extreme competitor?

I'm banning myself from watching the Angels this year. They have lost every game I have watched after the all-star break and just tuned into tonights game. The second pitch I watched was Pedroia's single. Garrets no hit bid turned into losing the lead within 5 minutes of me watching.

I've been mostly happy with what Dipoto has done with the team this year. I was happy with the acquisition of Street but worried about the lack of consistent SP. I had hoped there was something I was not seeing that he saw. "The problem, though, is finding quality starting pitching at this time of year is, Dipoto said, “really hard.”" “The idea that you can make the perfect acquisition for your rotation in August is not great..." Yeah Dipoto, that's why you make acquisitions before the deadline...my respect for him that has been building this year just took a hit. The fact he didn't see this need before and is just now trying to address it when it is clearly too late is just ridiculous.

This is fun. The only game I get to watch in Anaheim this year...

Yeah that is one good thing about the trades that happened today. We will play the Red Sox with their vastly depleted rotation and the Rays without Price. And no Tigers for the rest of the regular season.

Yeah true...for the defense of my friends who said this, they each attend 15+ games a year (one of them will probably go to nearly 40 this year). They also seem to think it has to do with trying to win the WS now so that they can raise their value for the stadium talks that are going on now. Edit: I mean obviously it is because they are win now mode, but they think that is the reason.

??? Lester has posted a 2.52 ERA, 155 ERA+, 2.62 FIP, 1.119 WHIP, 0.6 HR/9, 2.0 BB/9, and 9.4 SO/9 while averaging 6.8 IP/9 Even if you take away his last four starts in which he has been lights out, he still had a 2.92 ERA. If Lester has been mediocre at best this season then the Angels rotation besides Richards has been awful and Richards has just been pretty good. Lester has pitched in the AL East against tough lineups his whole career so its not like he went from the NL to the AL. He most likely will continue to pitch well.

Yeah, I also have a few friends and they are pretty upset as well. He was their favorite player. Basically if they don't win a WS this year not only will it not have been worth it, but the fans will be pissed because they lost their favorite player for no reason.

I would usually agree with you, but I think for the A's it is a big deal. How else do you explain that group of guys leading the league in runs scored/RBI

20-21 without April. Just sayin. Although they have been much better as the season has gone on. The Orioles are just apparently their kryptonite.

This is all on Weaver. He came out looking pretty good and then after that HR on a terrible pitch call by Conger just fell apart.

Which Freese are you talking about? The .245/.321/.671 guy with atrocious defense that still hasn't figured out close balls don't roll foul in anaheim? Or is there another guy named Freese I don't know about?

As a starter though (didn't have the BB/9 on the splits as a starter): Hector Santiago 4.36 ERA, 1.364 WHIP, 8.6 K/9 Matt Shoemaker 3.90 ERA, 1.191 WHIP, 9.3 K/9 Edit: and both have had about the same number of IP as a starter (Shoe w/64.2 and Santiago with 66.0)

I hope Trout gets going by then. I have been wanting to see a Trout/Kershaw matchup for a while now.

He's looked better recently especially today, but out of his 13 starts he has given up at least 4 runs 8 times and has only made it past the 5th inning 4 times. Skaggs has actually been OK in the IP department, but has given up a lot of runs in the process. Just looked at Shoemakers game logs and you are right. I knew Scioscia had been keeping his and Skaggs pitch count to around 100, but Shoemaker was actually kept to an even lower pitch count than that for his first few starts which brought his IP/GS down a bit. Either way, the fact that their pitch count is being kept down is so they will last throughout the season. And that still effects their value somewhat. There isn't that worry with Weaver and on top of that he has pitched better then everyone not named Richards. I'm not trying to take away from the other guys. Just trying to state why I think Weaver has been the second best pitcher on the team. If you take away that early exit game he has pitched as many innings in as many starts as Richards and has posted good numbers. Sure they aren't the ace-like numbers of Weaver's past, but they are solid nonetheless and really after his first 3 starts he has been great. Weaver has a 2.98 ERA if you exclude his first three starts when he was really struggling.

Jepsen has been great and so has Smith, but a good starter is always more valuable than a good reliever. If we had Street all season and there was an option for him I would have picked him, but Weaver has been the only other truly reliable starter this season. He has a 3.36 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a .227 BAA. Despite his ever decreasing velocity the guy has continued to find a way to be effective. Our bullpen has been amazing, but they would be worn out by the end of the season if it weren't for Richards and Weaver averaging 6.5 innings a game (If you take out the game where Weaver exited in the 2nd inning because of back pain they have the same amount of IP in the same number of starts). Shoemaker has been surprisingly good, but has averaged below 6 IP per game and Skaggs has averaged about 6, but has a 4.49 ERA so hasn't exactly been that effective overall. Santiago has been pretty terrible for the most part. And Wilson was being Wilson before he was injured. If not for Weaver being that second rock in the rotation then we might be looking at a much different picture right now. And I know wins aren't the greatest stat, but if you know how to analyze it then it can still be useful. Weaver has had the second lowest run support of any pitcher with 4.5 RS/GS (Santiago has 4 RS/GS). Yet he still has won 11 games. He tends to give up more runs in games that are high scoring and keep it low when the game is low scoring. He almost always keeps it close.

His stuff hasn't looked great today. He has been lights out for a while now. Every once in a while a good pitcher has a bad game. Its not like he is hitting all his marks and they are still working him. He was still able to close out that inning. Richards is legit. He has done well against the White Sox and the Blue Jays, the # 8 and #5 scoring offenses in the MLB.

Freese actually looked away when the ball got close like a little leaguer. Such a bad defender.

To me I see Salas as the real gain from this trade. For Freese, its not so much the sample size as the trend that is promising: AVG OBP SLG OPS March/April .193 .250 .277 .527 (92 PA) May .222 .286 .267 .552 (49 PA) June .280 .372 .329 .702 (94 PA) July .315 .406 .556 .963 (64 PA) Despite doing poorly the last couple weeks he is still having a strong month overall. Its good to see he is trending up in every category. He is hitting for much more power and is walking more. While this is promising he still has a long way to go before he will be accepted in my book. If he keeps it up then great. In the mean time it is very frustrating when he struggles at the plate simply because his defense is so atrocious. He has cost us at least 5 runs since the beginning of the second half. It was bad enough when his range just sucked and now it seems he misses half the balls that come straight to him. And if its on the line? Don't count on Freeze to get to it because he is a lazy POS that still doesn't understand the ball will not go foul when its close. Anyways, I think Salas has made this trade worthwhile so far and if Freese continues his trend then the Angels will be the winners of the trade by a large margin. Bourjos MAY have been a good trade piece for a more valuable player, but its not like other teams are just completely blind to his injury proneness. Is it not possible Dipoto shopped around and this was the best he could get? Especially given that it filled 2 needs: a 3B and a RP. Salas didn't look so hot at the beginning of the year, but now he's a solid part of our now awesome bullpen. I've questioned Dipoto a lot since he came to the Angels, but what he has done with the pen is ridiculous. They have gone from one of the worst to one of the best. In closing, lets wait and see how this pans out before judging the trade. Right now its somewhat of a wash. It filled small needs that each team needed. This was never a blockbuster deal.

Scioscia being delusional: "We were 0 for 12 with RISP, but I thought we hit really well with runners on base." Uhhhh...

Love that response by Street: "Thats my job" Amen.

That was a tad too late, but Freese still sucks