ThomasSutpen

UZR counts all plays as pass-fail: compared to an average MLB player, did you or did you not make a play in a certain spot on the field?
DRS does that, but also includes the number of bases you saved or cost your team by making or not making the play, and that is converted into runs. 
If you’re comparing apples to apples (OF to OF, SS to SS) either works just as well.
UZR is probably better for comparing raw defensive skill. DRS is better for comparing impact on winning games. 
Another thing for OFs: HR robberies really skew the DRS. That’s why Trout’s numbers were so high in 2012. He had 4, I think. In other years he had maybe 1 a year. That’s more a factor of opportunity than skill. (Also of the fence height in your home ballpark.)
Also, neither of them take positioning into account. If you start a play shaded way deep and in the gap and a ball comes straight to you, you get a lot of credit for your “range” even though you didn’t move. That’s the main reason all these defensive metrics are of limited use. 

*cracks knuckles*
Pretty sure this is money and time better spent on violent crimes. The war on drugs continues to incarcerate minorities.

Can you imagine being so bad at baseball statistics that you extend a GM because his team is outplaying their Pythagorean record? Like damn dude.

Albert Pujols said he'll know when to retire.
Pujols is under contract through 2021 but insisted that money won't be a factor in whether he continues playing. "The day that I feel like I can't compete in this game anymore, it doesn't matter how much money I'm going to leave on the table," said the former MVP. "To embarrass yourself and not be able to compete—dude, that's not me."   The end may actually be coming...

Grandal. He's a switch hitter but would obviously be batting LH most of the time. Angels certainly could use some more LH bats in the lineup

That's a ridiculous hypothesis.

I would say they are. Spending a ton of money AND having a consistent, quality farm system? 
Also, if we want to get literal they've won more WS Championships in the last 2 decades than any other team.

I’d rather anyone on our current roster bat than throw Pujols out there. It’s tired, old and just not enjoyable to watch. 

No. 
Eppler and Paul spent more time together with the Yankees than Paul spent as a player with the Angels. Eppler got to see him work as scout, manager, player development guy, not just a player. 
If I had to pick one guy on earth to be the next Angels manager, it would be him. 

Luis Valbuena is truly a zero sum player. He does not provide any special defensive skills (-.2 dWar), he does not provide offense warranting a corner infielder (-.4 oWar) and yet he has started 62 of the 73 games played this season with a WRC+ of 68.
Over the last two seasons his batting line is .206/.285/.398/.683. This season .218/.268/.337/.605 or in perspective, Cliff Pennington brought more to the table. 
He is not heating up with more playing time, his June stats are .154/.211/.212/.422. the Angels DFAed the sad clown Espinosa last season for putting up those kind of numbers. I've never liked the swing for the fence/high strikeout players and Valbuena got a long leash last season because he popped 22 home runs. This season he's just a high strikeout player with 66 in 193 at bats. That is 34% of the time he is going to produce nothing at all but an out, not even a productive one. His failure rate is around 74% of the time he won't reach base. His 6 home runs this season just doesn't justify him entering a batters box.
The Angels have corner infield prospects that could use the experience at the major league level. Guys like Thaiss and Ward that are playing well in AAA. No, I don't think their numbers will translate straight across but they at least will get the at bats to adjust to the major league level and be ready to fill a full time role next season.
Valbuena is not part of next season and shouldn't be a part of this at this stage. He doesn't move the Angels forward towards a playoff and is blocking the development of players the Angels need to know if they can play at this level next season.
It's time to trade or cut him loose.
 
 

Great fantasy  but as usual it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Kole Calhoun will be back sooner than two shakes of your lizard?. 
I must say,  I’m intrigued with the thought of promoting Matt Thaiss. 
FYI Cozart isn’t going anywhere  ... now isn’t the time to throw in the towel with a record of 8 games above .500.
This type of post always follows a loss. 
Plaster me with troll emojis ... I dare you guys!

From 1901 to the present - the start of the two leagues - there have been 12,880 qualified player seasons. Kole Calhoun's 2 wRC+ is dead last of those 12,880 seasons. #12,879 is at 23 wRC+.
OK, that's hardly fair including him within full season players. What about those with 150+ PA? (Kole's at 161).
30,575 player seasons. Kole's 2018 performance is #30,566.
In other words, as a hitter Kole has been worse than every single major leaguer from 1901 to the present with 150+ PA, except for 9 players. Of 30,575.

For those who like the human element, it's not a problem to program in random false outcomes.  In fact, they can program games so there is an uptick in false outcomes in late innings of close games.  They could set it so it appears that the entire program is malfunctioning on certain days.  They could set it so that it appears that false outcomes occur for the Angels moreso than their opponent.  It would be so human-like and familiar as to be virtually unnoticeable.

I was one of the main proponents for this 10 years ago here. At the end of the day it's team versus team, not team versus team versus umpire which is what we have in baseball. If strike zones can be had, use them. I'm all about eliminating the human error element. F*ck nostalgia, history, etc....just get it right and let the best player, team, etc. win.
if anyone disagrees with me, my key witness is AJ Pierzynski.
We have the the tech, stop with the bullshit history ad nostalgia argument. It gets it right.

I wonder how many games we are giving up because we have to play Pujols instead of Cron. IMO this is a more significant cost than the money. To put it in financial terms though, if Pujols finishes around 0 war, and Cron finishes around 2 that costs the team about $16 million this year alone before you even consider salaries.

K-Hole Calhoun 

They are giving him 1st base, and he refuses to take it. The "manager" should bench him for that fact alone.
Kole and Scioscia are both guilty of hurting the team.

I have an intense need to high 5 someone right now. 

This is disastrous for his potential to make any kind of substanital impact as a big leaguer in Ward's career. I see nothing in his offensive profile or approach that suggests his bat will be anywhere near good enough to justify playing him at a corner infield spot.

Also told his wife a different age, also showed up in middle America claiming to be 16 with a goatee and a man's body. When combined with the "early regression", followed by the steep cliff, litany of injuries typically associated with older players, as well as the well documented history of kids from the DR doing this, and you begin to see a picture painted...
It doesn't make Albert a bad guy at all. Vladdy did the same thing and the baseball world was very understanding and it was out of the news cycle as quickly as it came. Now he's in the HOF, a national hero and one of the most beloved Angels of all time.
But then again, I suppose Mark McGwire was just a naturally incredibly strong dude that got himself on a good workout regimen.

I subscribe to the theory that Albert is a couple years older than he really is. It's just too convenient that he showed up stateside when he did, and just happened to go to a community college not far out of St. Louis (no one leaves the DR for the Midwest), and just happened to be drafted by the Cardinals. Then there's the fact that he told his wife he was two years older than his reported age when they first met.
So yes, I think Albert Pujols is actually 40, not 38. And if we assume he's 40, then Pujols HAS aged at a very normal rate just as I said he did.

a big fat nope on the animal fries. tried them once and couldn't stand all that thick, noxious salad dressing on the fries.

They can still succeed without a good year from Richards, they can not succeed without a good year from Parker and Bedrosian.