WeatherWonk

I actually did try to post over the last few weeks, especially after the Trout signing, but the internet was pretty lame in Guatemela. I was able to log on, but the ads completely bogged down the site, much less post.
But I've been back for a few days and decided to see just how toxic the site would get towards me, if I didnt post. I actually never saw this thread until tonite.
I wasnt disappointed on the toxicity. Just not enough mature, analytical types here.
Congratulations, Chuck. You've allowed quite a culture to grow here. And to think that some of them were actually moderators at one time. 
NESN will eventually figure it out..........but I guess you wont care in another few months.
Maybe they need some prompting.

Could this be considered fraud? Would Albert have signed anything stating his age before he was given a physical in 2012, after signing?

Could this be considered fraud? Would Albert have signed anything stating his age before he was given a physical in 2012, after signing?

I dont think that Yankee or Red Sox or Astros or National fans are struggling to be optimistic about their teams. Neither are Rays fans. Probably not Brewer fans or Philly fans or Padre or Brave fans,  either. Dodger fans might be, after losing two straight WS and the team is quite different. But, hey, they made it to two WS in a row. Those are successful seasons.
I think Angel pessimism is justified. We havent won a playoff game in 10 years;  all the while having a top seven payroll the whole time and the GOTG player on our roster. Whatever the reasons why we havent, that feeds into pessimism. 
But maybe the single biggest generator of pessimism, IMO, is..............the injuries! We've had such a bad run that we are beginning to EXPECT them.

Actually, I wish we still had Clevinger and Chacin.

Actually, I wish we still had Clevinger and Chacin.

Fack that. I'd rather give up a #1 pick even for one year and minimize the risk of going three years with a guy that old who has been experiencing a decline. Mid-round, #1 picks dont pan out that often.
It's a tread-water year. Let's roll with the Young Turks. Pena, Barria, Canning, Suarez plus the soldiers still standing.

Ward' got a decent look last year (144 PA). He played virtually every game from mid August on.  And it was not pretty.
He leads all of ST in errors committed. Pitchers work on things in ST that can produce bad results. Hitters do, too. But fielders?
He's striking out about 30% of the time. Walking less than 5% of the time. Two doubles and one HR in 44 PA.
Much like last year, an injured Cozart could give him another opportunity at the ML level. But he really should be working on things at AAA, for another half season. I hope that is where he starts. 

Actually, he did.
It lasted ONE GAME. Kind of a small sample size, though.

Actually, he did.
It lasted ONE GAME. Kind of a small sample size, though.

Well, he's certainly getting a lot of practice this spring. Dude is rattling, non-stop.

That rule wouldn't hold up in a court of law, I suspect, at least with respect to any member of an organization who does not have direct control over the means to offer a competing player a contract. It would be an infringement on the right of free speech which, last time I checked, was contained in a document that has precedent over MLB bylaws. 
There is more than one rule in baseball that wouldn't stand up to legal scrutiny. Such is the nature of an anti-trust exemption.

He'll be playing baseball SOMEWHERE in 2021. And I will be able to watch him play. That's the most important thing to me.
As long as he doesn't go to Boston, I'm fine with wherever he plays. Boston is my line in the sand. Truthfully, though...........I'd still watch him.
But I can see an opportunity window in 2020-21, whereby IF our farm is as good as predicted and IF we accrued even more talent through trading Trout, then we would be poised to be the next Houston Astros in the division.
People like to point out that we would never get equal value for Trout in a trade, and that's probably true. But we would get significant value and some of it would likely be a player or two that are MLB proven, not prospects that might or might not pan out.
And the other thing that naysayers to a trade forget is that we would have an additional 34 million/year to spend when Trout is gone. Eppler could do a lot with that. After 2021, an additional 26 mil or so, with Albert gone. That's an interesting prospect to consider.
Anyway, Trout is definitely here for 2019.
 
 

He'll be playing baseball SOMEWHERE in 2021. And I will be able to watch him play. That's the most important thing to me.
As long as he doesn't go to Boston, I'm fine with wherever he plays. Boston is my line in the sand. Truthfully, though...........I'd still watch him.
But I can see an opportunity window in 2020-21, whereby IF our farm is as good as predicted and IF we accrued even more talent through trading Trout, then we would be poised to be the next Houston Astros in the division.
People like to point out that we would never get equal value for Trout in a trade, and that's probably true. But we would get significant value and some of it would likely be a player or two that are MLB proven, not prospects that might or might not pan out.
And the other thing that naysayers to a trade forget is that we would have an additional 34 million/year to spend when Trout is gone. Eppler could do a lot with that. After 2021, an additional 26 mil or so, with Albert gone. That's an interesting prospect to consider.
Anyway, Trout is definitely here for 2019.
 
 

Let's give the guy a chance. If this occurred in the reg season, he would probably be back in a week. ST gives them the luxury of giving him a couple weeks. 
I think he's still our starting 3rd sacker. 

Let's give the guy a chance. If this occurred in the reg season, he would probably be back in a week. ST gives them the luxury of giving him a couple weeks. 
I think he's still our starting 3rd sacker. 

The whole website knows where I am coming from on this Trout extension thing. I feel the signs are stronger that he leaves. But I dont believe for a second that Arte wont pay him what he's worth. Arte's offer will be as large or larger than anyone else's offer.
Of course, it might not make a difference, if the team isn't capable of going deep into the playoffs or if Trout really does want to play closer to home. Both of those are still unknowns.
But to a certain degree, the Angels may actually have to bid against themselves on Trout. Stay with me, on this............
If the team isn't a playoff team in the next two years, and if Trout really wants to "go home" in some fashion, then it's going to take some serious money over and above what a winning, east coast team may offer, to woo him. 
Even so, I try to wrap my head around the fact that, wherever he signs, he will have been guaranteed (counting his first extension) somewhere at or over 500 million dollars. What a staggering sum! Isn't it possible a small-town guy like Trout might consider leaving maybe 20-30 million on Arte's table, if he can play close to home, on a contender?
I know, 20-30 mil is a lot. None of us will probably ever earn that in five lifetimes. But consider this. Leaving 20 mil on the table, while already being guaranteed 500 mil, is like foregoing 4K on a salary of 100K. Seriously, cant you visualize a situation where you would reject a 4k signing bonus and earn only 96k? In exchange for that, you get to be near home and playing for a team that is winning and it makes you happy? How many countless employees in the LA Basin have chosen a lower paying job because the job is closer to home and the work environment is preferable? 
Now, 4k isn't utter chump change to a guy making 96k. A guy making 96k probably still has debt to service. So, he might think twice about leaving  that 4k on the table. But a guy guaranteed 500 mil, no matter where he plays? Why not play EXACTLY where you want, even if you earn 4% less?
Heck, you might even justify taking less by pointing out that it leaves money for your new team to go out and make the team even better! That would be a PR coup, for an agent to take that tact! Sounds like something Boras would do, certainly. Of course, Boras isn't Trout's agent.
Now, nobody but Trout's inner circle knows where Trout REALLY wants to play.............and no one knows how good the Angels will be in the next 2-3 years. 
The Angels have little control over where Trout wants to play. But they have a fair amount of control over how good they will be in 2-3 years. Eppler's plan seems like a plan that should succeed, even if Trout leaves. I commend him highly for that. It's the smart strategy. 
I just hope it includes trading Trout if he refuses to negotiate next off season. That's a crushing statement to have to make. But it would be foolish not to at least attempt to trade him, in that situation. That would NOT be a smart strategy, unless the Angels were clearly able to go well into the playoffs in 2020.
 

It seems not.
Still, I'm 1,245,576,987,455,298 x 10 mentions behind the other side, so I have some catching up to do. Thanks for the motivation, though. Gotta get crackin'. 

Doesnt really matter what we want. What matters is what Trout wants.
Keeping the narrative on AW on an even keel about Trout and the team is actually more important than where Trout goes, to me. I cant control what he decides, but I can HOPE to bring some reason to the board I choose to talk baseball on. Yes, BASEBALL, not necessarily all-things-Angels. Being a fan of one team is ludicrous to me, with as great as this sport is and with as fickle as fortune shines on teams. Doesnt Arte know. FAN-aticism is for religious zealots.
I think I've mentioned before that no matter where Trout goes, as long as it isnt another West Coast team besides the Angels, It's win-win for me. If he stays, he stays with the team that I've followed the closest for about the last 38 years (though Arte's tenure has tried that mightily!). If he goes east, he is in a more favorable time zone with no blackouts in the area I live in. I get to see him more.

Well, I think signing a contract that takes away a lot of your arb years is very different than signing a contract as a free agent. Even with that contract, he knew he would still be a young free agent. It was the best of both worlds. Who wouldn't sign that?

So true.
Especially all those who think all Arte has to do is throw money at him and he cant' refuse an extension, 3000 miles away from what he calls home.

Too soon to tell much of anything, but the hitting by the youngsters is encouraging.
Still, pitchers (on all teams) are working on pitches they havent mastered, and many of those end up near the middle of the plate. 
I really start paying attention to how hitters and pitchers do in the last ten days of ST. That seems to be when the pitchers really start cutting loose. It's the starters last two "starts" before the season opens.

Yeah, I've always gone to baseball games for the view OUTSIDE the stadium. Doesn't everyone?

Well, at least he doesnt have a thousand innings on his arm since Little League. 

I could see the Cubs winning many fewer games this year. They really havent addressed their lack of offensive punch for long periods of the regular season. Lester and Hamels and Hendricks a year older, Who knows about Yu? About Morrow? 79 might be a little low, though, but maybe not by much. Brewers are about the same (strong), Cards are much better. Heck, Reds are improved, too. Pirates about the same or slightly worse.
Man, I cant believe any service would put us behind the Twins. That's depressing. I don't buy it. But it is a much weaker division than ours. Even the Indians are worse than last year.
The A's are the biggest question mark in our division, along with us. The Astros wont win it by 18 games, like Pecota predicts, but it will be handily, I suspect.
I'm really interested to see how Laureano and Martini do for a full season. Can they maintain those tremendous OBP numbers, especially Martini? Is Piscotty's resurgence for real? Deadly top of the lineup, in front of Chapman, Davis, Olson, Piscotty. The bullpen is still solid. Their season rests on whether Fiers, Estrada, Mengden and Blackburn can get them through till Puk and Cotton return, in some fashion. Sounds like Manaea and Gossett are longshots this year, but possible. I still expect a late acquisition, of another starter, by Beane. Someone who would be willing to accept a one year contract. Maybe Tillman or Bucholz or Shields.
Not sure of all their contracts, but the A's might be another team that will be much better in 2020, like us. Of course, with Beane, no one is safe from being traded, especially good players nearing FA status.