TroutField

Should I try to sell my 2018 collectible ohtani cup from Angels Stadium before it loses all its value?  

27 minutes ago, Billy_Ball said:

Detmers winning the hearts of Angels fans early, I see. 

Full interview on MLB network with no interpreter but had no idea what ippei was telling the team in the clubhouse

1 hour ago, katie said:

Why not take some questions if you don’t have anything to hide? Almost like you need to stay on script so nothing gets said that his lawyers didn’t okay… he sure is acting guilty 

I said 75-79 

I could see them being a 100 loss team with some under performance and injuries. 
 

definitely the lowest I’ve been on an Angels team in spring training in probably my entire life as a fan….

pretty unfortunate we as fans have to suffer through what… 14-15 years now of a subpar product, because Arte Moreno and the constant carousel at GM make poor player personnel decisions. 

There was 1 way to be decently competitive this year and it was to spend some money. And then he decides this is the year he grabs his check book and goes home? 
 

even if rebuilding the farm and not losing a draft pick was the goal, there were ways to go about showing the fans and Mike Trout we are still commited to a playoff pursuit. (JD Martinez, Davis, etc) 

I really don’t understand why he insists on making everyone suffer, just sell the team. 
 

4 minutes ago, T.G. said:

At the end of the day, this is kind of tragic.  I joke about the series of events, but Ippei's life is kind of a disaster now.  That's sad.  I hope he's able to straighten out his life.  I'm wondering if he'll be charged with anything.  He clearly made poor choices and I hope he gets help for his addiction.

The story changing and not fully adding up adds another wrinkle to the whole thing. 
 

I don’t think we have heard all the details, yet. 

It would be nice if Fontenelle could turn into a major league regular at 3rd 

Offense is rolling 

Wantz…. Not so much 

2 hours ago, BTH said:

I think the most informative thing from that article is that the Rendon and Trout injuries have seemingly scared him away from spending.

It’s funny that Trout and Rendon were the contracts that broke Arte. Gary Mathews, Cj Wilson, Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, just off the top of my head should have been the contracts that put more of a focus on the farm system and less short sighted expensive moves. 
 

The greatest Angel of all time and a panic signing of Rendon(also orchestrated by Arte) are what made him go full rebuild mode. 
 

They should have done this in 2017 or 2018 when it was sorely needed… 

Damn all I hoped for was a down season for Shohei.  didn’t manifest being implicated in a massive sports betting ring. 
 

I’ll take it!! 

5 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

 

Jose Mota interviewing Shoehei as a Dodger feels like such a slap in the face somehow haha 

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Kid on internet makes a joke about a yoked mlb player.  Awesome.  

Strad you really gotta get over yourself someday lol  
 

is arguing with people on here your only hobby? 

31 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

Get him on a steady diet of bananas and vagisil stat! 

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

Yeah, that was IMO again Bill Stoneman.  Stoneman had to have been a difficult guy to bargain with, he essentially drew a line in the sand and wouldn't cross it.  I think his tendency to know when to say "no", is why Arte didn't try his usual BS on him.  

The thing that set Stoneman aside from the guys that followed him was his absolute commitment to the farm system. People forget or maybe just don't know how much money Stoneman dumped into the system -- he consistently spent first round money on guys taken in the middle of the draft and on draft and follow types. Mark Trumbo was taken in the 18th round because of signability concerns and a college commitment to USC. Nick Adenhart was taken in the 14th or 15th round after having been considered a potential 1-1 pick. Adenhart's selection raised eyebrows because he had gone down to Tommy John surgery in HS but Stoneman convinced the family that his best shot at making a full recovery was to have him be taken care of by the Angels medical staff.  Weaver, Adenhart, Trumbo were all taken in 2004.   

Stoneman swung and missed on other guys but at least they tried. Chris Davis, Buster Posey, Kyle Hendricks, Brian Matusz, Matt Harvey, Brandon Morrow, were all HS guys Stoneman attempted to throw money at, as were touted college FB guys Patrick White and Jake Locker. Some have attempted to lay the blame on Arte for not allowing him to offer more, but the reality is Stoneman was able to take more of those risks and offer more under Arte than he had at any point under Disney.

Stoneman is the single most impactful person in Angels history other than the guy that set out to get the radio rights to an expansion team and ended up a MLB owner.

This was the only point I was making. I had no clue it was going to blossom into this huge conversation.
 

Arte started to meddle with the player personnel decisions rather than letting the smart baseball people run it. (Stoneman and Scioscia) Arte would have been a terrific owner if he hired the best President, GM, and Manager talent and funded whatever they wanted. Thats essentially what Dodgers’ ownership group does with Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office. 

2 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

Imagine Aaron Hicks of all people, steps up and has a huge season leading the angels into contention. 
 

I think we are due for something like that 

Any reason there has been zero interest in Montgomery all along? 
 

5 minutes ago, Stradling said:

He bought the team in 2003, not 2002.  Then the team became the media darling and was considered for nearly a decade the best ran franchise in sports especially for fan experience. Then the product went to shit because of poor allocations specifically to the farm and then to free agency. 

It was the 02-03 offseason. It was voted that because it was put on a tee for him with Mike Scioscia, Bill Stoneman, a top farm system, and fresh off a World Series championship. Riding the coat tails for another 7 years before completely ruining everything is exactly what I’m saying. 
 

he was the owner that let it all go to shit because he didn’t allocate resources to the farm. 

17 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Ron was optimistic about Stephenson also so I’ll believe it when I see it lol 

32 minutes ago, Stradling said:

You left out that he was a big part of it being “one of the best run franchises in sports”. Disney won the World Series and immediately was fine with the team being contracted by MLB just as long as Disney got paid.  

Thats wrong. 
 

he bought the franchise in 2002 from Disney who put Stoneman and Scioscia in charge and let the baseball people run the baseball club. 
 

as soon as Arte started putting his hands all over the franchise and even more so player personnel decisions, and stopped listening to smart baseball people things went the wrong way. 
 

things were fine for 7 years while the pristine farm system kept chugging along. 2010 on has been a cluster fuck. 13 years of a bad franchise vs 7 years of a good one that he took over. 
 

I won’t derail the thread with this topic but wanted to make that point 

2 hours ago, UndertheHalo said:

Ah well.  It’s genuinely baffling what the Angels are doing.  Won’t trade to get prospects.  Won’t sign anyone, even relatively low risk short term commitments.  Still spending 170 million.  Just completely rudderless.  Not signing Snell on its own isn’t a big deal.  There’s plenty to not care for about his game.  It’s just the total non commitment to anything.  
 

Artes main achievement as the owner of the club is establishing being incomprehensible and incompetent as the teams most noteworthy brand. Jesus.  

He took one of the best run franchises in sports and ruined every single aspect of it from top to bottom. 
Im not mad about Snell not being signed, I just can’t believe what this old f**k has done to my favorite sports franchise

19 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

Absolutely. At this point, it's totally fair to wonder whether we'll get anything from Trout and (especially) Rendon, but you also don't have to squint too hard to see strong seasons from either or both. Neither is particularly old. The vets, like Ward, Drury, Rengifo, and Hicks all were above average hitters last season. The kids - O'Hoppe, Neto, Schanuel, Moniak, and Adell - all have to some extent the ability to break out in a big way. 

But, like you said, Trout and/or Rendon could have just another crappy injury-filled season, the vets could regress, and the kids could fail to take the next step, and we could have a bottom tier offense. There's a ton of volatility - and my biggest concern is that we really need more infield depth. Bringing in a JD Martinez would be huge, imo. 

I agree with all of this. Let the kids play but get some major league depth in here in the event they don’t take the next step and or injuries happen. 
 

Martinez and a starting pitcher would be a huge boost to this team going into the regular season. I love Trout, he’s my favorite player of all time but I’m just not sold on him playing 150 and not going into any extended slumps. He’s getting to the age where the injuries and games played are going to start to hit the stat line, unfortunately. 

47 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

I’m waaay over Snell at this point.

Move on.

I’ve became a little pessimistic about the overall outlook of the team. I was feeling a little better at the start of spring but the lack of offense has worried me. I’m not even sure signing Snell and losing the pick is worth it at this point. 
 

roll with what you got and let the rebuild play out. Stephenson, Estevez, Drury, Ward, Sandoval, etc can all be dealt at the deadline if they are having solid seasons. 
 

Let Schaunel, Neto, Rengifo, Moniak, Adell, O’hoppe etc take their lumps and build a good core. 

13 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Still think it's best to have him in the majors.  If he's not the starting 1B, then who from the current roster is?  Anyone who moves into that spot (Drury, etc.) just creates a big lack of depth elsewhere.  I can't imagine they're going to make Sano the starting 1B.  Let Schanuel take it from the start (assuming he's healthy) and worry about it a month from now if he's struggling.

That’s why I wanted them to snag JD Davis. It made way too much sense to have insurance at 1st and 3rd and also a good bat. 
 

oh well 

25 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

If Trout and Rendon are relatively healthy and have solid seasons, the team could have an above average offense.  If they're hurt and/or don't perform particularly well, then you basically have to have all three of O'Hoppe, Neto, and Schanuel be healthy AND improve on their performances from last year in order to have an above average offense. 

Normally we have the offense cookin in spring training and it at least gives you some optimism. 
 

I saw we were being 1 hit through 6 innings today I agree with your assessment of the offense and I really don’t wanna see Mike Trout decline but get the vibe he is going to take some time to get rolling