stanick88

While I may not have any statiscal backup for my claim, but it seems to my naked eye that the Angels offense runs a bit more smoothly when Trout is batting second. Like I said, I do not have stats to back this up, and I would encourage anyone with stats that prove or disprove this. May be when Maybin is back we can experiment with Trout staying in the two hole and moving Escobar into the 3 spot. Or some other combination. But it just seems that opposing pitchers have an added pressure knowing #27 is coming up after the lead off man. It seems to get pressure going from the get go. Just my two cents.

I also think trading for Gordon would be a good move. He would be a massive upgrade. Having coward full time at 2B doesn't inspire anything more than below average to average at best. If we can get Gordon for not much, that would fill a position of need with solid production and we could then focus our remaining resources on other positions. However, if we get a few impact bats and/or pitcher, (i.e. At 1b and left field, or a strong Starting pitcher) we may be able to give Cowart a chance at his natural position of 3B and give him his best Chance to succeed.

Modest and moderate current team + moderate and modest continued approach = continued moderate and modest results. But I guess at some point we will have a good farm system with this approach. And in 10 years when trout Is long gone we will have a good team. Well may be, we have a modest and moderate chance at that.

I wouldn't say that is completely true. Moreno routinely has the Angels payroll close to the limit. I think moreno's problem is Who that money is spent on. So the only way going forward of keeping both a team that can contend and 3 millions fans in the seats is by wiser spending and/or going over the limit for the right players.

But would he waive his no trade clause to go to the phillies at this point? I believe he has a full no trade clause right?

Very true.

And I'm not saying deplete our whole system, but if we could mix In taking large contracts like Stanton and expending some of the surplus OF prospects we have, that hybrid approach may work best to get some impacts bats.

I dnt understand the approach of selling and hoping to get a marginal prospect for someone like Escobar or Calhoun. All that does is kick the can down the road and hope one of those return prospects can be a MLB regular, so that may be we can contend for a wild card in the future? We are contending now. Let's get some bats and may be get hot.

I would do it in a heart beat. We can not sit around with our thumbs In Our butts and trade our only assets for marginal prospects. If we Can get an impact bat or two and get hot down the stretch anything can happen. Especially if we can get back a few of our pitchers back. We may not have much of a better shot in the future. I think you have to go for now while you have a chance. It makes no sense to kick the can down the road for the future when our trade assets will not give us much of a return now.

May be I am just being a pessimist, but I think we can actually contend for a wild card and even an AL West title next year. If Richards comes back healthy and our rotation can stay somewhat healthy, then we have a shot. If you remember, we were hot several times in the second half last year and finished our last ten games with an 8-2 record. Just getting Richards and Shoemaker back, along with now having Maybin, markedly improves our roster over what we were trotting out on the field in the second half. Now imaging we sign someone like Holland and Sean Rodriguez to platoon with Cowart, and take a flier on someone like CJ Wilson on a one year show me deal ( this amount of spending is what I see as likely from our front office). Or even if we spend alittle more and sign one of the top reliever (Chapman, Jansen, Melancon), and/or a Neil's Walker, and/or a starter like Hill then we really have a chance to make an impact this season. I think we are a lot closer than people think. Our Farm system is still bad. But it is coming along. We now actually have prospect that we can get excited for, and we have a protected #10 pick to see what Eppler can make of it. I remember back to 2002 when we were not supposed to be better than .500 and everyone knows how that year turned out, and that was without Trout and with a similar rotation. This year may we may be better than people think. And I can't wait for this upcoming season.

I wouldn't rely on either of them. But if we were going to sign one of them to a low risk / one year deal, I feel that Wilson has a higher ceiling and may be a better choice. Weaver is a competitor, but his body does not seem to be there for him any longer. Wilson has less mileage on his arm. So i would feel better with Wilson.

I am just looking forward to seeing Angels baseball again. I am looking forward to sporting my new on field Trout jersey, and hopefully catch a few games live at the park. While ill admit that my expectations are far lower than they have been in a long time, at least they are not as low as they are for the Lakers. I look forward to seeing our young core grow and progress. I am just excited for Angels baseball. GO ANGELS.

some of my earliest memories are at angel stadium. A fan since as early as my memory serves me. Born in 1988, so i would assume Ive been a fan since i could comprehend fandom which would prob be around 1991

I knew Arte was not going to allow us to sign Cespedes, but I still can not help but feel gut-punched at the moment. And now I can not go back to studying after this let down. ;(