IheartLA

If arbitration actually was based on fair market value w/ team control, then the system would be balanced. Agents/Players wouldn't be this mad if they actually got paid what they were worth. Player's share of revenue falling from 50% to 35% in 15 years means more money for the owners. Don't kid yourself that fan's ticket prices are going down. College football is not free, % of revenue/piece of the pie is what they are fighting for. Pointing towards Hosmer/Cain/Martinez is not what an economy is built on. That's like saying Ivy league graduates are doing good so the rest of the economy is fine. Seeing Kendrick sign for $7M/2yrs, Adam Lind getting a $5M option declined even after they both hit over .300. 100 free agents unsigned. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/02/23/veterans-turn-young-players-going-too-far-little-alarming/98308700/ Same situation last year. This has nothing to do with next year.

His hitting has to be amazing to make it as a 1B in today's game. He went from the most valuable position to the least after the draft. If I had a kid that was a catcher like Cron/Schwarber/Thaiss I would fight to the death for him to remain there if the alternative was 1B. It's not like they were lucky to be drafted late round guys they were all 1st round picks. Unless you are awful defensively you can't agree to switch considering the amount of damage it will do to not only making it to the big leagues but also your potential future earnings. I would exhaust every option to remain a catcher, if a team didn't want to draft you in the 1st round, then you're still probably good enough to get picked shortly thereafter. He seems to be the opposite of Cron - high OBP/low power. A below .400 slugging is concerning even with the potential juiced ball helping him out. He has to rake now since the ceiling for a 1B is so high now. Duda/Morrison are a dime a dozen now, Lind can't even get $5M.

Same I absolutely love soccer, ever since 2010 world cup I have been hooked. It's honestly kind of boring to go back to American sports unless its the playoffs. BTW Chelsea is my favorite team, Hazard is beast :).

This is a multilayered issue. 1. The number of mound visits and catcher-pitcher talks were over the top, especially in the post season. 2. The constant pitching changes for matchups, sometimes for just one batter is being abused also IMO. 3. A pitch clock is IMO the 3rd most important issue to improving the pace. If you're Rob Manfred you're goal is to make the game more exciting for the viewer. The juiced ball was actually a success for the postseason, people are saying that WS Game 2/5 were the greatest games ever. The change to a time clock rather than outs for the HR derby was also a great step Let's take football as an example, most fans love the two minute drill when the players have to go very quickly without huddling. Ex. the epic SEA/SF NFC game in 2014 with the interception at the end. Hurrying up the players actually brings more excitement BECAUSE they're more likely to make a mistake and it seems like it's more about athleticism/instinct at that point. Some pitchers like Lester, Keuchel, etc have said that they like to think over every pitch. They don't understand that Manfred doesn't care, if anything he wants them to think less. It will create more action if more balls are put into play. Also a suggestion I would have is raising the strike zone slightly which they seem to be implementing. Don't change the size, but move it up. This would put more balls in the air potentially.

yep, remember letting Howie leave after a 5 WAR season and we were like one of Giavotella, Rutledge, Green, Featherston, Yarbrough will win the job and we'll save money. Look at how that turned out, ST meant nothing and we were stuck with a merry go round for 2B for 3+ years with Petit, Ryan, Jackson, Espinosa. We literally had something like 0 or <1 WAR TOTAL from 2015-17 at 2B. Same thing with LF, we had Joyce, Navarro, Robertson, Nava, Gentry..so much replacement level production. Calhoun has been a top 10 RF before last year, he was top 10 in '14/'15 and #5 in '16. Our OF prospects are still in A ball, their development actually lines up well with Kole's contract. Let's wait till we have too many players like the Dodgers, Astros, Indians before we start thinking of shipping out our good players. Even then, all the top teams have stacked benches that can step right in for the starters, why can't we? Why do we need to contemplate using replacement level players for our bench when the Doyers have basically two full starting outfields, three starting level catchers, 7-8 starters w/ top prospects like Beuhler, Urias, Stewart, etc.

There are 30 MLB teams so a #1 would presumably be top 30 or so. Darvish was #17 in WAR among starters. That's very good. Verlander was #14, I'm sure many think of him as an ace. Greinke was #7, some people consider him a disappointment but he is still very good. Kershaw, Kluber, Sale, Scherzer are top 5 pitchers, if people constitute that as a #1 then there are only like 5-10 #1 starters in the game. Those are ridiculously high standards.

So your saying you'd let Trout walk in 3 years basically? Trout and his agent set it up to where he'd hit FA before 30 at age 29. That wasn't be accident, they want ~ a ten year deal most likely to take him to age 40ish which is historically what big time FA's have signed through. Granted, it's become obvious that those deals haven't lived up to expectations for the most part. Trout put up back to back 10WAR seasons for $500k so I don't think he thinks to himself that since he'll likely decline at 36 he should only sign for 6 years for the betterment of the Angels. Honestly they're already paying him $34M/year which is the highest for hitters. I have a hard time seeing Harper breaking that AAV, I don't think he will but if he does it will be BARELY like $34.5M or $35M at most. An extension should be easy to settle, if Harper gets a deal to age 38-40 then Trout won't settle for less. The AAV shouldn't be that different from what he's already making though is the main point.

I can see your point of view, but this is an Angels' forum, the video could be interesting to some. I came across it and was curious to see what others thought of it. I get it you hate me, but why defend Pujols, the dude sucks. The sooner he leaves the better. Eventually we will have to cross that bridge, no way we go through 4 more years of torture peacefully.

then he needs to go on the DL-60 or be Fielder'ed. If something is enough to cripple you then you shouldn't be out there on the baseball field, Pujols will get his money either way. It's about winning baseball games.

The dude recovered from a fractured/broken wrist in two weeks, able to swing a bat against 90+ mph fastballs in '11. Now he literally can't walk, he's got like 5 different injuries. It's not uncommon for guys to break down in their thirties, but he was literally a GG first baseman who turned into an old man in like three years.

Did you even watch any of it? What you think of Dan Lozano/Pujols, even if you think he's his stated age the evidence for HGH/PED's is unquestionably high.

I'm not sure how many people have seen this, it starts to get very interesting around the 37th minute mark. I encourage anyone to watch at least the PED/Dan Lozano/Wil Pujols stuff. It's definitely not boring the way the video was, I found it easy to watch from middle to ending. I think the Cardinals definitely knew some background/dirt on him, his agents, entourage, etc. It would be like if Mike Trout was a FA and we offered him a 5 year deal, kinda just going through the motions/not very serious. In 2011, Pujols was still considered the best player in the game. I honestly agree with Wil Pujols that the culture in Latin America is so strong that it's take this stuff or live in poverty forever. Ozzie Guillen has been very vocal as well that so many latin players are taking PEDS from a young age, using false birth certificates. Miguel Tejada, Vlad, Feliz all lied about their age, all Dominicans. If someone has an agent with that kind of track record and still stands by him I'm pretty sure they're in too deep, they both have blood on their hands so to speak. Players from latin america seem to be super human compared to normal suburbanized mexican-americans. There's like 5 times the population of hispanics in the US that love baseball but all the best players seem to come directly from the caribbean/LA. Cliffs: Pujols was on minimum, HGH, he's probably not even 37.

If he was playing even at '12-16 levels then I would probably agree, at '17 worst player in baseball level no way,

LOL, some lurker is probably laughing at them though, you can literally read the entire thread from page 1 and be laughing your butt off... pujols still sucks.

I know you guys are going to say water is wet, we know Pujols sucks, etc. But every playoff team midway through the season fixed all their holes to ensure they had 2-3 WAR players at every position. Carter/Holliday weren't doing it so the Yankees got Frazier, put Hicks full time. Brantley/Zimmer got hurt so the Indians got Bruce, moved Kipnis. Red Sox got Nunez when Lin/Sandoval continued sucking. Dodgers put Barnes full time, dropped Agone for Bellinger. Astros got rid of Aoki to put Gonzalez full time, acquired Maybin who played a key role for them. Teams can no longer carry any average players as starters, let alone guys who are negative WAR. They would instantly be replaced like Carter, Aoki, Sandoval. Especially if they also offered no defensive versatility. Pujols didn't cost us just -2WAR, b/c a +2WAR player is just "an ok starter" and easy to find like Adams/Duda (teams are just giving them away) so it's actualy more like a 4 WAR swing. The Rays would have probably given Morrison away at the deadline too like Bruce/Frazier. I know WAR isn't exactly added to the wins total but it's amazing, we finished behind the Twins and Pujols was still hitting 4th. Currently we ARE a top 5 AL team, I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect a resolution to this at latest midseason if he continues putting up even a 0/1 WAR DH. No other team would even carry that type of player, let alone treat him the way we did.

The thing is what decent outfielder would look at the angel's starting outfield, which is the most expensive in baseball, and want to come and play behind these guys. If no one gets injured then your not looking at a whole lot of playing time. You'd probably go somewhere where even if you're the backup, the guys ahead of you are more injury prone/less talented. Calhoun - 159, 157, 155 games played - avg 5 days off, $8.5 M Trout - 157, 157, 159, 159, last yr injured - avg 4 days off before last year, $33M Upton - last 7 years he's played avg 153 games - avg 9 days off, $16M That's only 18 games/6 months = 3 games a month or so. I know it's just a estimate, but I was just trying to make the point barring injury, the high end of games played for these guys could be 155 each. That's only 21 other days for the 4th guy, over six months. The DH is log jammed so it's going to be hard to use that to give Trout or whoever a breather. If Trout/Upton got injured and we were doing well I have a hard time believing they would be comfortable with just playing the backup, when Brantley went down the Indians got Bruce rather than throwing out a 1 WAR player. There will be OF's available in June/July like every year, the 4th guy would have to be pretty optimistic if they any good, looked at our team and still came here.

I'm so happy that they were able to get Cozart. Seems like a very solid clubhouse guy as well.

Your not funny at all, but if that's you in the picture your hairline is.

Dude this is a message board quit trying to pick a fight. Your opinion means zilch just like mine. We're here to be fans. In the pujols is terrible thread you literally tried to argue with every person at multiple intervals. The Astros/Dodgers had benches that were filled with good players, we ran out Featherston/Cowgill/Nava/Cowart/Cron/Valbuena - guys that couldn't even hit .200. Some of these even started for us at times.

Richards Ohtani Skaggs Shoemaker Bridwell Heaney Jc Ramirez Tropeano Barria If we run a 6 man rotation while abusing the 10-day DL we could get by with 20-25 starts from our SPs. I think it would be wise to be cautious with all of their innings since pretty much they're all coming back from injury. At least 2 of these 9 will be hurt before the season, count on that. Barria will be in AAA to start.

They saved Hermosillo on the 40 man, I think he'll get every opportunity to win the job. Whoever gets it will be backing up the most expensive starting OF in baseball and could only get playing time twice a month. So he should also be able to pinch run for maybe Maldy/Pujols late in games as well.

When he had a beef with Gerrit Cole he kind of went into the dugout fired up like he wanted some retaliation. Yet the dude won't even stand up for his own teammate like Featherston, Torii Hunter. He felt disrepected when Cole clapped, but he stares down his homeruns, doesn't run out ground balls, has zero self awareness, doesn't keep himself in shape. It's like everyone is forced to deny the truth and keep living as if the past is the present. I'm not saying he should give up money. That's not going to happen. But if he was released after another -2WAR season I think he'd complain to the media about no respect for what he's done for the game, blah blah. He literally says as long as he's having fun he wants to play BEYOND his contract to get to the HR record. He's so delusional, it hasn't even crossed his mind that he wouldn't even be wanted for anything other than a ST invite. He'd have to prove himself and that's a different mentality, like a rookie trying to battle for a spot anyway he can. He would probably quit rather than do that.

https://www.mlb.com/news/angels-albert-pujols-has-consoled-erick-aybar/c-174522712 "He's been very positive," Pujols said in Spanish. "That's how he is. He's going to be just fine. You just have to let him play. It's just like when I came over from the American League; he's trying to get accustomed to the National League, getting to know the pitchers. People don't think that matters. It does. You have to get accustomed to the pitchers, see how they pitch you. That takes time, man." Aybar is batting .134, drawing only a couple of walks, striking out 13 times and sporting a minus-3.4 Ultimate Zone Rating. A recent article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution called the Aybar acquisition "an unmitigated disaster" and said, "It's not an exaggeration to say Aybar has been arguably the worst position player in all of baseball." "He's going to be fine," Pujols said. "But they have to play him. If they don't play him, that's when he's going to get frustrated. He's not somebody who's used to being on the bench." Again it's almost like he thinks he's the GM. Lets say Cj Cron said: they have to play me, if not I'm going to be frustrated. I'm not somebody who's used to being on the bench." LOL. When Cron got sent down last year he said he wasn't frustrated, just going to get his at bats and improve to help the team. Pujols is literally soooooooo comfortable in his position, he thinks he's untouchable, almost like a 2nd coach. I'm serious, the guy snaps at reporters, telling them it's none of their business when they ask about his hamstring, literally says he doesn't care about the media. Wasn't he supposed to come and mentor and improve the culture? Bring professionalism to the Angels, become the company man like his supposed 10 year services contract says he should be - a TRUE leader. Kershaw took all the blame and said its always his fault. Pujols has literally done nothing but make excuses, create a negative energy for fans/media, doesn't hold himself accountable, he should be at the very minimum be a boost to the Angels brand by being a positive person for media/fans like Mauer, Votto, Wright. I can't even imagine those guys whining and making the excuses that this guy has. Wright, Mauer haven't been worth their contracts, but if they retired and put on a suit for the team they 'd still be respected by the fans for their behavior during their career. If Pujols tried to be a positive company man after he played I would literally laugh because it would be so phony.

A couple of random things about him that I've seen/read over the years. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/21/sports/baseball/billy-eppler-is-rebuilding-the-angels-but-on-a-fast-track.html Everybody wears red around the Los Angeles Angels. It has been their primary color since 2002, when they won their only World Series. They often wear red jerseys with red numerals. Their executives wear red golf shirts. Their players wear red undershirts, sweatshirts and shorts. The 3-foot Darth Vader figurine in the middle of the locker room? He wears a red jersey, too. Albert Pujols is different. He wears a black undershirt around the clubhouse at Diablo Stadium. It distinguishes him from the crowd. One morning last week, while the Angels’ new general manager, Billy Eppler, spoke hopefully in a hallway about the team’s young core, Pujols strode by, silent and stern and purposeful. “That guy’s just going to keep sitting in the middle of the order and doing his thing,” Eppler said. “He’s a pretty special guy.” It seems small but just another case of Pujols not following the company line. Remember when he got pissed at Featherston for hitting his buddy Cano. I honestly think if the Angels got into a brawl Pujols would think of the hispanics over the team.