AngelsFanSince86

True, but that's sort of the point. No business attempts to increase the price of producing their product without some sort of associated increase in profits that goes with it. And it's not as if they are low balling them so much that players are wondering where their next meal is going to come from. They make enough to live comfortably and not worry about money so that they can produce on a high level. Teams increase profits by having marketable players and by winning. Spending money on Pujols was a great marketing move and the winning aspect of that move would just be a plus to add more profits. Spending loads of money on Stanton, Kershaw, Grienke, etc. are all moves that you can market and also count on additional butts in seats to watch those players. Darvish, Arrieta, and JD are all players that add some marketable value and added chance of winning but not so much so that you go out and spend insane amounts of money on. Owners are owners and you can't expect them to fully pass on profits. There are many companies in the service industry that operate the same. Their employees are their product. They aren't going to follow up very profitable year by evenly distributing their profits. They may give a raise to their best employees to keep them motivated, but it's going to be marginal. 5/125 is a significant raise for JD and he should be happy with it. He's been worth about 4 WAR/season over the last 4 seasons. He really thinks he should get the same AAV as guys like Stanton, Grienke, Kershaw, Miggy, Votto, Pujols, and others who were/are elite players when they got their contracts? We are talking guys averaging above 5 WAR with seasons of 7-9 WAR thrown in. I agree that fans often follow players now, but none of those guys are on the market. Maybe Arrieta was one of those guys a couple years back, but his dominance lasted about 2 1/2 years. He started trending down halfway through 2016. That goes back to the whole marketable thing.

You are really nitpicking stats. Average isn't a stat that teams place a high value on anymore. Not to say that it isn't important, but it's only important in the context of other stats. Plus you can't take one season. Lind's fWAR from 2015-2017 ranks 28th among 1st basemen. Kendrick hasn't posted a WAR above 1.4 in the last 3 years and with the exception of a relatively small sample size last year hasn't shown much power or OBP. Moustakas has never been a consistently valuable player and despite his 38 HRs (which nobody really knows is he will repeat. I'll bet you right now he won't so let me know how confident you are in him if you think he's such a great add for a team) he posted a .314 OBP. Thats terrible. FYI Luis Valbuena has a higher fWAR than Moustakas does since 2013. Maybe that will put this into perspective. Logan Morrsion is basically the same. One good year and now he should get paid? I think you are the tunnel visioned one. Martinez has a supposed offer for 5/125. Why should he get paid more as basically a DH? Darvish reportedly has solid offers, but is waiting for a team of his preference. Part of this whole situation comes a combination of the big market teams wanting to get under the luxury tax, the FA market being one of the weakest in a while in terms of bonafide stars, most top FAs having Boras as their agent who is known to wait out the market, the trade market being really good, and teams needs not really fitting the market. The Yankees showed they were willing to spend for the right guy. They essentially signed Stanton to a $300M deal. Wade Davis got a huge deal. Teams are willing to spend, but the FAs keep thinking that regardless of how they actually compare to past seasons FAs that they should be getting more money. Somehow, JD thinks he should be breaking or tying the AAV record because he's the top hitter on the market despite not being in line with the type of players that have gotten that AAV. Deals are on the table, that much has been reported. It really comes down to players not getting what they want because the big spenders aren't competing for those players to drive the market price up.

I think Calhoun will bounce back. I've noticed a trend with guys who have their first born child also having a down year. Kind of shifts your focus on top of being a very draining experience. Edit: To clarify since at least one of you is confused by my statement. If you have had a child you will more than likely understand. If not, you need to understand that at the point you have a newborn child there is literally nothing more important. I don't know how it is for a pro baseball player due to the constant traveling, but you can guarantee when they are home they are spending as much time as possible with their newborn and that includes sleepless nights helping to care for the child. When they are traveling its gotta be tough. In general it takes time to settle into that. I specified first born because for most parents its just different that first time around. Experiencing bringing a life into the world for the first time is something that lasts and takes a while to get used to. Baseball is a mental sport and if there is anything that can get into your head its having a newborn child. I have just noticed a trend (and not just in baseball) that players tend to have a down year when they have a child for the first time. Makes sense that they would.

Because Yelich is proven and under cheap club control for 5 more years. Brinson has proven nothing. Yelich is what they hope he could be. How many top prospects have we seen fail to make it? Many become successful, but way more often than not that translates to a 2-3 WAR player. Yelich ranked 23rd in fWAR last year among position players. Sticking with Brinson is a gamble when you have a shot at someone who is already the player you hope Brinson would become. They want to win now and Yelich assures that they get the production they hoped to get from Brinson is realized.

Yeah this is basically how I feel about the whole replacing Calhoun thing. You can't make major overhauls and expect to compete. It just doesn't work in baseball. As it is the only reason I am confident in the Angels doing well this year with all the new additions is because they are filling holes that were constantly changing anyways. Otherwise it usually doesn't bode well regardless of how it looks on paper. Remember when the Padres went all out? The White Sox? Didn't work for them because there was no chemistry. Maybe given enough time it would have developed, but both organizations blew it up almost immediately. The one guy we are all so worried about leaving (Trout) is not gonna be happy if we get rid of all the guys closest to him on the team. Particularly when they are solid players.

I still can't wrap my head around this one. Yelich is definitely an upgrade, but I just feel like Kole is part of the core and not someone you want to remove from the equation. The Giants won 3 world series in 5 years despite not being the best team on paper at any point. That was largely due to their team chemistry. Kole is a good clubhouse guy and has been there for years and has been solid. I don't think it would automatically equate to a better team. I keep getting a little excited when I see stuff like this because part of me wants to see it happen, but when I think about it I just don't see it working out the way you would hope. Who knows though. Could be great.

I think you are the one overvaluing Yelich. Yelich has averaged 4 WAR over the last 4 years. Kole has averaged 3 WAR. You are correct Darvish and Cobb are better, but unless you are getting both of them and are certain about it, trading away 3 starters as well as their top pitching prospect (and one most likely able to add to their rotation depth this year) to gain 1 WAR is ludicrous. What happens if we have injuries to our rotation (you know, like we have every year)? How much good is Yelich going to do us (on top of what Calhoun would) to save us from having a major hole in our rotation? If the Angels are forced to put a slew of nobodies in the rotation to fill in for injured pitchers they can accumulate negative WAR very quickly. That would negate any positive value Yelich provides. You have to especially consider they are going to be trying out a 6 man rotation to accommodate Ohtani. You cannot take that many players that are essential to the roster and not replace them. You are legitimately making the team worse in that scenario. Its like why the theoretical trade for Trout would never work. A team would have to trade too many essential pieces and at a certain point you realize having four 2 WAR players is better than having one 10 WAR player and 3 scrubs in place of the guys you traded because this is a team sport and that 10 WAR player only gets one spot in the lineup and can only play one position. You can't trade for Yelich and deplete the depth in the rotation. Its counterproductive.

Yeah I went for years and the only issues I had were at a couple of games (and it was really bad only one of the games) and those were in 2012 and 2014 when both teams were competing for the division. Guys were legitimately trying to coerce me into a fight with the things they were saying. But thats 2 games out of about 10 I went to while living up there.

Don't let anyone scare you off from supporting your team. I lived in SF for 8 years. One of my best friends is from the bay area, grew up an A's fan and had season tickets. I went every season to Angels/A's games and I noticed a trend. When the A's were good you had to deal with tons of trash talk (and not the friendly banter kind). However, when they are not doing well the fans are much less hateful. You will still get trash talk and most of it will be friendly. Either way, just don't be dumb enough to get offended and keep your mouth shut if someone is taking it overboard with the trash talk because they are likely trashed and will start a fight if you say anything. One thing that doesn't change is that a good chunk of the fans will be belligerent, but most of those fans stay at the bars inside the stadium for most of the game. Better the seats you have the better the crowd around you. For food, there is a stand they set up inside the nicer bar they have on the first level that sells different foods on different days but it is always really good. I forget the name of the bar area, but it is a really large room that has a bar in the center. They set up a stand off to the side in that room. Although its been a few years since I have been to a game so that may have changed.

I think #1 and ace are two different things. One means you are one of the top 30 SPs in baseball and the next means you are an elite pitcher. Darvish has varied mostly due to injuries. He only had one year with a sub-3 ERA, 200IP, and he had 277 SO that year. He was an ace and the next year he followed it up with an ERA of 3.06 and 182 SO in 144 IP. That was ace-level production that was cut short by injury. Since then he's been injured and has shown ace-level stuff, but hasn't been consistent. All in all he is a #1 guy, but he's not been an ace overall. I can see how you would call him a strong #2 type. Richards, on the other hand, is a clear #1 with injuries being the only thing holding him back from being an ace. His stuff is some of the best in baseball. Since 2014 when he finally put it together he has a 3.06 ERA, 123 ERA+, and 3.25 FIP. For comparison, Scherzer has a career 3.30 ERA, 129 ERA+, and 3.25 FIP. What sets apart Scherzer is his recent dominance and his ability to stay healthy. Ohtani remains to be seen, but with Richards, Darvish, and Ohtani, you would likely have at least two #1 types, with a strong #2 with the upside of having three aces.

Yeah I guess I didn't specify. I've seen the MLB and now BR rankings of the Angels top 30 and Maitan is second behind Ohtani in both. I agree with the AngelsWin rankings. Thats kind of the point I'm making and is based off of something you said. Maitan came from the Braves and despite all things pointing to him being ranked lower, "outsiders" view him as our top guy (excluding Ohtani) meaning they are automatically undervaluing our prospects. Especially given what I have read from MLB.com and BR regarding both Maitan and Adell. Based on their opinions of the two players you would think they favor Adell, but then they rank Maitan higher.

I find it interesting that Maitan is ranked ahead of Adell. Adell is considered by most I have read to be at the top of the 2017 draft class in terms of raw talent. He has done very well in his limited playing time. Maitan didn't do so well and I've read mixed reviews on how scouts feel about him now. Yet, he is essentialy listed as our top prospect since Ohtani is hardly a prospect.

Jeff Fletcher basically summed up everything I would say about Spring Training, but I'll add a couple things: 1) Go to http://www.springtrainingconnection.com/ and you will find information about the various stadiums such as the ever important where to find shaded seats. 2) Last year we took our son (5 years old at the time). We went to the city of Mesa which is a 15-20 minute drive from Tempe. They have a natural history museum which is pretty cool to spend a little time at depending on what your son is in to (ours loves dinosaurs and they have animatronic dinos as well as fossils). They also have Joe's BBQ which was a cool spot to grab some really good BBQ in a family environment. They have a back patio area where you can eat and the kids can play. There were a bunch of kids throwing around a football and playing random games and they invited him to come play with them and he had a blast. Kids playing with him ranged from 5-12. If your kid is a bit older it is still a very good BBQ spot I would recommend. 3) If you would rather spend your time in Pheonix area then one place I would recommend eating is CIBO. Great pizza (and other food). Hope this helps.

Yeah I understand that. I guess the difference with him, and the thing I am most curious about, is his hitting. He signed with the Angels under the agreement he would get a solid chance to hit. As it stands now we have at least 3 more years with Trout and the team is just starting to come together. Giving him a shot at hitting this next year and letting the ups and downs ride out isn't such a big deal. That would seemingly change if we are in Trouts last year before free agency and are trying to be competitive as possible. If he get half way through the year and then goes down what happens when he comes back? I presume if he hits well up to that point they would hvae a spot for him when he came back. If he had been terrible they would likely not give him much of as shot. If he had shown glimpses then I think that is where it would get tricky. I guess its hard for us to speculate because we don't really know what the extent of their agreement is and what stipulations it may or may not have. Plus like you said it hasn't happened yet. This was just something that popped into my head when these reports came out and even though they were exaggerated it still makes me curious.

In regards to my post above, I'm just curious. I was originally a bit bummed out because of the original statements coming out about it. Now I feel a lot better about it, but it still makes me wonder. Even without this minor sprain there is always a chance he goes down with injury as there is with any pitcher. I just wonder how it would play out. They have obviously promised him the chance to be a two way player and at the current moment they don't have anyone outside of Pujols to full time DH. So in a scenario where he ends up out until 2020, what happens? Would the pick up someone else to DH if Albert keeps digressing? If not, would Ohtani be on a short leash with the bat? Who knows, maybe by then they will have extended Trout and the whole 2020 scenario becomes a different picture.

This may have been brought up already. It's a hypothetical based on the worst case scenario if this recent news. I'm curious how this all plays out of he does end up needing surgery sooner rather than later. Say he ends up going down some time during the season. He won't be back until mid 2019 at the very earliest but likely would miss all of 2019. Then we are stuck with Pujols at DH basically full time. If Pujols doesn't pull it together and ends up retiring or not playing full time then the Angels will be forced to go out and get a DH. By the time Ohtani comes back the Angels will be in what could potentially be Trouts last year. What happens then? They can't sit on their hands. They will have to fill the DH roll. Do they then let Ohtani hit as they originally planned? At that point they won't really have the luxury of taking the wait and see approach. They will need to be as competitive as possible that season. Curious how that would play out.

Thats true.However, Morrison had hit 23 HRs as a 23 year old back in 2011. After that his HR totals looked like this: 2012: 11 2013: 6 2014: 11 2015: 17 2016: 14 I guess I just find issue with using up more of the payroll for someone like this. He could end up like Daniel Murphy who suddenly turned a corner during the pastseason a couple years ago and hasn't looked back. Or he could be like most players who have a fluke year and you never see anything like it again. Knowing the Angels luck, it will more than likely be the latter.

Lets see: .245/.330/.763 career while averaging about 23 HRs and 28 doubles per 162 games. .262/.307/.756 career while averaging about 23 HRs and 27 doubles per 162 games. The first is Morrison and the second is Cron. They are virtually identical with the distinction being Morrison's numbers would be quite a bit lower than Cron's if you take out what I would consider a fluke year. Cron is a couple years younger. If you are going to upgrade then it needs to be for someone worth upgrading for. Unless you get someone to bite on a trade involving Cron.

I'm definitely not going to blame anything on Trout. However, for all the talk of getting him to the postseason he has had plenty of chances to affect that the last couple weeks. He has come up 23 times with RISP since Aug. 18 and has 3 hits. Angels wouldn't be where they are without him, but he's taken a dip the past month and it is likely the difference between them having a wild card spot or not. So, on one hand, he's a big reason they don't have a wild card spot at the moment. On the other hand, he's the biggest reason they are even close.

The arrival of winter in Game of Thrones

2002 rotation was very solid. 8th in MLB in ERA (4.00 starter ERA) and middle of the pack in WAR. They were durable that year though. I think IF healthy and playing to potential the current rotation would be better, but that is not and never will be the case. The 2002 rotation was healthy and played mostly to potential. A couple had career years. Ramon Ortiz had over 200 IP and had the best season of his career. Washburn had over 200 IP and had a very good year that was also the best of his career. Lackey started in the second half and pitched over 100 innings of very solid work. The team did so well that year largely because so many of their position players and relievers collectively had the best years of their career. Including: Scott Spiezio, Adam Kennedy, David Eckstein, Garret Anderson, Erstad had his second best year (had two years above 6 WAR and that was one of them), Brad Fullmer, Ben Weber, and guys like Sheilds and Donelly having breakout years. Add to that K-Rod and the fact the starting pitchers were keeping them in almost every game. They weren't the type of team that had guys who could routinely threaten to shut a team out, but as a whole the staff was allowing an average of 3-4 runs a game and the offense was averaging 5. Compare that to the current team who is averaging giving up 4.23 runs while the offense is averaging 4.231 runs per game.

I always have something light (bud light, michelob ultra, etc.), something in the middle (fat tire, longboard, etc.) and then some IPA. That usually does the trick. Maybe a 6-pack of blue moon or shock top. Like someone else has said, if it's someone close to you where you actually care and you know what they want, grab them a 6-pack. Otherwise, you really shouldn't worry about it. When I go somewhere and I intend on drinking I always bring my own with extra to share. If someone cares that much and they want to drink they will bring their own. If they don't care that much they will take the chance and not drink if it isn't there. If they do care and expect you to meet their needs then screw them because they are a selfish A-hole.

So they are donating bud light Edit: But seriously that's pretty awesome they are doing that

I can agree with this because I get the same BS from people who think I am a beer snob telling me a should just drink the bud light because beer is beer. I don't tell people what to drink. When I have people over I provide a craft option and a lite option. This makes everyone happy and saves me money anyways. It just bugs me when I go somewhere and they give me crap for not wanting to drink their cheap (and in my opinion poor tasting) beer. To me there is no point in having a beer unless it tastes good.

I'm not really sure what they could do at this point. They traded away Hernandez for nothing, but held on to Norris despite getting interest in him (even after those two grandslams) because Eppler said he didn't want to get rid of too much because he felt the Angels were still competitive. Not sure why he made that move. I don't full understand how some of these trades work (like PTBNL trades) and the Angels do a lot of trading with the D-Backs so maybe it was a good faith type of trade. Or I could be completely wrong. My point though is that Eppler has basically took the position of standing pat, which I agree with. Messing with what you have to get players that may or may not have an impact will often do more harm than good. Going to get a real impact player costs money, talent, or both. You can usually get an impact player towards the end of their career with a bloated contract without giving up too much talent. But then there goes that money that was freed up and the Angels are stuck with another aging overpaid vet in the coming years. You can trade for a half a season of an impact player, but you have to trade talent to get him. Then if this year doesn't pan out you have mortgaged your future for a long shot. This isn't even a team that you can look at and say, "these guys are definitely making the playoffs". You are supposed to bolster your team FOR the playoffs; not in the hopes of making them. This team still has a year or two to go to reach their potential and any big moves will risk ruining that. I know you keep saying that they should at least explore options, but what do you think Eppler is doing? Of course he is exploring options, but the reality is that impact players come at a cost. Period. Name me one example that proves otherwise. So many people have been impatient with this team. I love where this team is headed. Eppler has slowly, but surely been building up the minor league system as well as the major league system. He is getting guys off the scrap heap and they are producing very well for us. However, we have nearly a full starting rotation on the DL and a couple of gaps in our lineup. Some guys are starting to step up (Cowart and now Cron), but we still aren't sure what we have with them. We still have money coming off the books and much better FAs the next couple of offseasons. In two years our farm system should start to produce MLB players and we will have been able to sign solid FAs. At that point we should be competitive for a while. Trading away future controllable assets is not a great idea in most instances. When you aren't great yet it hinders you from getting there. When you are great and expedites the amount of time you stay that way. You have to make smart trades when they are available (like the Simmons trade) and otherwise make smaller moves. Eppler has already been doing this and will likely continue to do so. Until he does something to prove me wrong I will continue to trust he is doing the best he can, exploring all options, and choosing not to do much of anything if it will hinder his long term plan. You want to make a push for a chance at the playoffs in a year where they have been mostly ok with some flashes of great. Eppler wants to give the Angels a chance at the playoffs every year for years to come. He just needs to get to that point.