Inside Pitch

Sounds like Tank needs to meet Escobar for lunch so he can ask him the pertinent questions.

LOL -- is that what he did? LOLOL.....

Pitch framing... They paid hard for a sabermetric principle. BTW -- remember last year when Iannetta suddenly became a master pitch framer and apparently lost the ability to hit? He decided the hitting was better.. He's back to being a shitty pitch framer but he's hitting more like he did his first few years in Anaheim. if he ever has a season where he both hits and frames well -- that team will be stoked.

Yeah -- I honestly didn't have an issue with Santiago over Eaton. I had a preference but adding run prevention is always a good thing and Santiago has carried his weight. But as I have made it clear now several times. I have a hard time heaping too much praise on the guy for a deal that even Dipoto has said was Kevin Tower's doing. It was a great deal and the best example of Kevin Towers' best work as not the GM of the Angels.

We don't really know what his plan is yet -- unlike JD he doesn't talk and talk and talk and blow sunshine up our asses about what he believes while failing to follow through on it.. Bill Stoneman never let anyone know what he was thinking either -- fans hated it but he got crap done.. I miss those days. BTW -- notice how the constant leaking of stories to the press stopped when JD left? Funny how that started when he got here and stopped when he left... I know. I know, it was probably MS's doing, he's the anti-Christ, but still -- it's a trip how it stopped as suddenly as it started. As to Escobar et al.... I reconcile the Escobar deal with the reality that he was obtained for his bat, and to fill a need at the top of the lineup. Also, he gave up a 50 inning pitcher who is struggling to get AAA batters out to obtain him -- compare that to the price paid for Freese and let me know how that plays into the whole "GM with a plan" mantra.. BTW... pretty sure you railed against that move too, care to revisit the costs and the returns yet or are you still predicting a massive drop off offensively? Giavotella -- he inherited him, but apparently he knew the guy was a bad glove so he signed Pennington to back him up and then picked up Petit as further insurance.... Two gloves. Nava? I guess I missed where Nava was ever going to be the sole attempt to answer LF, I pretty much assumed he planned to partner him with a guy who was known as a plus defender (Gentry) and then just for shits and giggles he added Ortega as a fall back -- another defensively minded OFer.. There was also that trade he made and lost due to another team's issues with medical reports -- Michael Saunders likely would have helped the situation in LF, if not the defense. When you look at the entirety of the moves there is a pretty clear difference..... unlike the guy that traded away a proven cost controlled RP and then signed two RP who couldn't even throw a ball at the time and called it an improved bullpen, Eppler seems to consider there can be hiccups and seemingly attempts to back himself up. Unlike JD, Eppler's had his hands tied financially, there was no possibility of signing an 85 million dollar SP, or a 240 million dollar 1B, or a 125 mllion dollar OFer.. You give JD so much room for error due to the limitations imposed on him but then you dismiss how much more difficult the task is for Eppler. You can say you're not a JD fanboy, but there is an apparent bias there -- my guess is you are just very high on Newcomb, which I can totally get. As I have said -- that wasnt the sort of deal I wanted to see be made -- but, I see the value in securing a SS for five years. I'm curious to see what he does do when he finally gets a bit of financial flexibility and has a better idea of what we have/lack in the system ... also.... once he is rid of some of JD's mistakes. Lastly... if this year's draft is any indication I feel pretty confident that if he does lose a first round pick to signing a FA, he can actually spot talent in the second round and beyond. The whole "JD lost out of a first rounder" talk rings hollow IMO.. Take away Thaiss this year and it still looks like a much better draft than anything we saw the previous four years. The lack of balance and move to chase low ceiling types was just a poorly implemented plan (too heavy), that this franchise is likely to pay for for a few seasons. Consider this... last years draft there were a few of us that were very excited about Jones and Vega... Similarly there were guys high on Hermosillo when he was drafted.. They were rarities for the Dipoto era -- projectable, athletic, higher risk, potentially higher reward types... Those types of guys were always available, we just didn't draft them because it wasn't Jerry's plan. All three of those guys are creating excitement this year in a way that all of Jerry's safe picks haven't and never will. Ultimately I think we can both agree on one thing -- unless Eppler has the authority in the fortitude to tell Arte to go pound sand -- nothing's going to change.

No, you're right about the timeline. Honestly, I would have always preferred Eaton but that's me, I wanted a real leadoff hitter. Interesting enough my brother and I went at it back and forth on it. I was high on Eaton and he comped him to Cowgill -- which really was a pretty good comparison when you look at their development. As far as seeing the decline in Wilson, I'd like to believe that had he seen it, he wouldn't have signed him. But yeah, Hamilton was already a mistake.

This might hold water if he didn't double down and say the same damn thing at his M's presser introducing him as the GM or in the interviews after it.... Seriously -- I'm sure that's still up somewhere -- go watch it.. If he doesn't believe it he sure seems to like saying it because two teams four years apart -- same BS.. Even funnier -- go look at how college dominated the M's draft was..

See, this is one of those times where a JD error gets pawned on the owner way too easily... IMO there is no question that Arte put the brakes on how much more the team could spend... And that's entirely on him.. But given that reality, it was ENTIRELY on the person calling the shots to make sure if they blew that wad -- they did it on the right guy. In signing Baldoquin who Dipoto scouted and signed off on himself he was effectively putting the team out of the running for everyone coming after him for the next two years - this had to be the surest of bets... He knew the ramifications -- he signed him anways... They spent 8 mil to sign Baldoquin -- the following Spring, Vlad Jr signs for 3 million..... That's about as clear a case of myopic stupdity as we have seen since the decision to replace Ryan with two .500 pitchers. There is no way the Angels weren't aware of Vlad Jr, there is likely no team in MLB with closer ties to Vlad's family.... But in Dipotos eyes' Baldoquin wasn't a gamble, he was a MLB ready talent that just needed at bats... Arte's an asshole for not letting them spend more, fine. But JD was a moron that locked the team out of the international market just as it was trying to get back in. Stupid times 1000.

I'm a big fan of building from the bottom up and holding on to organizational currency, so I wasn't a fan of the move.... but my issue with that trade wasn't what we moved, rather the fact that it was done in a void... It wasn't backed up by anything else that made it make more sense. It was IMO a puzzling move and I do wonder if Eppler was told one thing, then another.. Dunno. Regardless, I think that like the Greinke deal this is one of those trades where people are overestimating what we gave up. Newcomb is definitely a legit talent, guys who can hit the upper 90s from the left side will ALWAYS be seen as valuable, but Ellis is more Chris Bootcheck than Michael Fulmer. It's all about projection and what he might become rather than what he is -- if he fails to build on what he can already do he's essentially Kyle McGowin. I like McGowin, but it's not likely he will ever be considered among the best SP prospects in MLB... As of now, the trade hasn't hurt the Angels, and neither one of them has done much of anything. Both guys put up raw stats that made it seem they were doing really well, but one look at the park adjusted numbers and you find that they both were actually below average... Time will tell.

I'll bite -- what did JD do that filled you with hope.. note I'm asking what he did -- not what he said. We both know he talked a lot and it all sounded really pretty (I bought into the talk too), but when push comes to shove how much of it was just talk? -- Also, I'm not trying to be a prick or argue for the sake of arguing... you're typically a well reasoned guy, I'm asking because I'd appreciate the insight -- can you cite some examples of actual deeds by Dipoto that made you believe he knew what needed to be done? Becuse as I look at this team I struggle to see many of them (Heaney and Trop). Mostly I see a guy that constantly took from Peter to pay Paul and ended up building nothing. I know the easy argument is that Arte got in his way but sorry, that doesn't fly when it comes to the farm system so, no... not everything can be pinned on Moreno.. Off the top of my head, I loved the Grienke trade -- great value on what he gave up regardless of the fact there was no net gain long term -- that was a deal that made me think he had a clue. I loved the Conger trade, IMO it was just a flat out steal and as time is passing may end up being his best move. Getting 6 years of Heaney for 1 year of Howie was good for the long term health of the franchise and showed the ability to capitalize on another team's frustrations, but beyond those moves what else did the guy do to suggest he was going to take us somewhere special? I know the Trumbo trade is often brought up as a great JD move but if he's going to get a pass on AP and everything else because of Arte then how much praise does he deserve for answering the phone when Towers called? The Dude wasn't even smart enough to take Eaton and Skaggs for himself - Boom, LF and leadoff spot taken care of for the next 5-7 years... A person could easily argue that the Trumbo trade was a missed opportunity -- one that may have kept us from making other mistakes (Hamilton). But again.. the thing that chaps me is all the lip service... Remember the thing about building via balance and exploiting age windows? Well, those lopsided drafts and the age of the current roster (and farm system), seem to indicate he didn't actually do that but it sure sounded pretty at the time he said those things. The Howie deal is really the only example of us exploiting a guy's best years then moving him for younger, better, talent and people can argue it was a wash after moving Chatwood for Iannetta. Remember the talk about controlling the counts both on the mound and at the plate -- can anyone really point out where he actually acquired those types? Frieri? Nibs? Santiago? Tropeano and Smith are possibly the best examples among the pitchers and we can argue that Freese was a decent OBP guy but again -- where did he actually impact the system the way he claimed he wanted to? Is it time to cue the Arte's fault narrative yet.... Seriously -- after one draft, Eppler has shown a greater ability to deliver on the things JD talked about than JD did in four years... It's interesting that you would punt on Eppler after one deal but still believed in JD, even after four years of what pretty much amounted to meandering.

Link?

still could win cause he's Mike Trout.

He's got pitchers breaking down left and right and being Terry Collins, he leaves DeGrom in the other day to throw 117 pitches through 7 innings because "he would be getting a rest" during the all star break. Doesn't matter how many arms break down under his watch, Terry Collins has yet to understand why pitchers break down... Just leave them out there to fatigue.... that's never been the root of an injury.. nope...

Man... the High Desert Mavericks have had a lot of craptacular teams over the years....

I saw that -- glad to see it. I hope McGowin and Ruxler end the season strong.

I wouldn't go that far... He just wasn't the golden boy we had hoped for. Really outside of Theo, not sure anyone could be. Let's hope the future takes a turn for the better. Jones, Vegas, Ward... etc etc.. There are still guys brought into the system we all need to root for and hope they pan out.

So the other part of the Andrelton Simmons trade was named Texas League player of the week... Texas -- Jose Briceno, Arkansas (LAA): .455/.478/.909, 5 G, 10-for-22, 6 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 4 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 CS Would be sweet if he ended up amounting to something....

Thanks Jerry?

Man the lols..... http://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-angels-20141210-story.html "He looks like a cross between Yuniel Escobar and Adrian Beltre," Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto said. "He has a live body, he's strong, he understands the strike zone, he has good power and he knows how to put together an at-bat. "He's not a raw, let's-wait-and-see-how-this-turns-out projection. He looks like a major league player now. He needs a little time in the minor leagues to adjust to a new country, but he's a pretty mature kid." Dipoto scouted Baldoquin, who bats right-handed, in the Dominican Republic for three days in late October. _____________ But, I'm sure it was someone else's fault ... like always..

He's Napoli-ing them....

I'd say it's less about realizing it and more about accepting it... As far as realizations that need to be made -- how about the one about run prevention generally being more important than run production?.... that would be pretty sweet.. Anyway, I know some people think money can solve everything that's hurting this team but it's not been the lack of dollars spent that's been the issue -- it's been the lack of sense applied to where those dollars went. Pray Arte has yielded control of the franchise to his GM, if the draft is any indication he has a pretty good idea both how to spot talent and spread his money around intelligently.

The Angels have the 5th best team OBP in the AL... Last year they ranked 13th. Baby steps.

We don't know how the draft will pan out but this was the first time in ages where I didn't find myself wondering "why?" on nearly every pick.... It's nice to see some projectable types again and to be able to talk about upsides. Like Scotty said.... hopefully we look back on this draft as the year things started to get better.

We have said this many times - but thanks again John.. Your work in this thread every year is amazing...

You're Welcome! Technically they did win -- they split a DH...