halosfan1970

this is where i would fall on the subject,

 

 

"Beyond that, though, it was about doing the rest of the White Sox a favor, because no matter how polite they were about it, facts are still facts: Nobody on the planet outside of education or child-care wants to be around someone else's kid 100 percent of the time. Nobody. Nobody at all. Even polite people who like kids. Nobody"

Agreed. Even in a closed-door team meeting, I doubt any teammate would speak up though. It's a social media age, and if anyone did actually say something it would be leaked. That teammate would then be publicly branded as "anti-family" or something similar. It's a no win situation for the other 24 in the clubhouse.

Do you guys think, heading into the offseason, that David Freese would have accepted or declined a $15mil qualifying offer?  I got the impression that he would have scored a 2-4 year deal from 10-15 mil a season.  But then his market never developed.  It also seems like the Angels never hand out qualifying offers.  I don't think Freese is worth $15 million a season either though but maybe his mindset going into the offseason was similar in thinking he would get decent money so maybe he would have declined a QO.  If that was the case, would anyone have signed him? I don't see any teams giving up a draft pick to sign someone to 1 year 3 million?  Probably could have returned to the Angels for even cheaper than that if it all went down similarly but with a declined qualifying offer.

He would have accepted a QO in a heartbeat. I like David Freese on a 1/$5m. Freese on a 1/$15.6m is horrifying.

Our outfield depth is obviously not a strength. Grichuk and bourjos for salas now. Ugh.

I'm honestly surprised it took 9 pages on a thread (remotely) related to Freese to get to "GRICHUK!"

Escobar being capable of "legitimate" MLB 2B defense is purely speculative since there is no history or data. Freese being a "poor" defensive 3B is contradicted by the available data. 

Lot's of truthiness on multiple topics in this thread.

Ruben Tejada is a better defensive 2B than Johnny Giavotella. They are about equal in offensive production. Tejada is more expensive than Giavotella, so there is no need to worry about it.

Jose altuve ranked bottom of second baseman at a - 10.1 in 2014. In 2015 Giavotella had a - 8.6 ranking.

So completely unrelated.

You haven't said who you would drop from the 25 man roster to accomodate putting Freese's poor defense, marginal hitting and slo on the basepaths running.

 

Which defensive metric(s) support your assessment that Freese is a "poor" defender at 3B?

Is that link safe to click on?

There won't be room on the 25 man roster for either Cowart or Kubitza to start the season regardless of Freese. There is a platoon at both C and LF. Pennington is the utility infielder capable of 2B, 3B and SS. There's only one spot left for a position player and my guess is that goes to Choi.

So we gave away one of our best young relievers in Gott for Escobar, who costs 7 million and can't play defense at third base, instead of just giving Freese 3-4 million.

Makes sense.

How do you know Freese was willing to accept a one-year $3m contract back in December when the Escobar trade occurred? Realistically, he wasn't. Freese's agent was still looking for something more like 3/30 back then. 

You are assuming that Escobar could play 2b which is very debatable.

It is also an assumption that Giavotella can play 2B. His 2015 defensive performance was completely unacceptable.

Granted, that is his oWAR so his total WAR defense included is 1.0.  If he were to play average defense and show a little progression with the bat, he would be a 2.5-3.0 WAR player.  I'm not gonna hold my breath, but there were only 9 2bmen that had above 2.5 WAR last year.  

 

He did what he could over the winter to warrant consideration and if it works, he's far from a black hole.  He'd actually be a solid player.  

If his offense from 2015 is repeatable, he doesn't even need to be an average defender. If he just improves to below average from terrible, he could be a 2 WAR second baseman. Nothing wrong with that.

You're not wrong.  Another black hole in the lineup.

Is that a "black hole" or an "impostor hole"?

Daniel Nava is our best run producer.

Yep. The Angels are wasting Daniel Nava's best years. Damn you Arte! Damn you EpPler!

The original post might be the most inane of the week.

Thanks. I always appreciate when someone is willing to read my work, in agreement or critique.

Is it possible to read your article without giving your site a click?

I'm starting to remember why I never liked this board. Seems like half the people on here engage in arguments and name-calling that I used to do in junior high school. And in a game day thread, no less.

 

Are you guys, like, working on your puerile cuss words in spring training? Can we expect a bit higher level of maturity by April 1?

 

Talk baseball, man. Save the bitch-fighting for when you're beating up your sister, or something. Or take it to the bitch-slap board.

It's easier to ignore simple name calling than classless accusations of domestic violence.

I don't get the big deal frankly.  Jackson has been pretty meh 2 years in a row now.

 

Nava struggled in the first half of last year due to injury and had a .360 obp in the second half.  

 

If the intent was to platoon Jackson with Nava then your are talking about pretty limited at bats and for 5 mil I can't imagine he'd be that much of an upgrade over gentry if at all.   

Jackson clearly offers a higher ceiling than Gentry from a slugging perspective. Jackson could be a 1 WAR player or a 4 WAR player. Your point about the $4m additional cost for the possible upside is right on though. 

Has anyone really watched Kubitza play defense?

Since Giavotella can't play SS or 3B, a bench role makes no sense at all.

Come on all. The new folks from the MLB board and Red_Planet (specifically) are a small bit of a culture shock on AW. It has to be a shock for both for them coming here and for those of us here.

I've been saving it for more than 40 years. I'm gonna light the world on fire.

Raul Ibanez and Matt Joyce both had great Springs for the Angels.

That's pretty cool....

God knows I wouldn't wanna face him...

I don't think I could stay in the box. You have no idea which direction that four-seam fastball at 97 is going to move. 

Giavotella always looks very impressive just missing a diving grab or a timed jump.