techjunkie714

Japanese characters (Kanji) was an import from Chinese characters in ancient age.
Names are written with surname-first order in East Asian cultural sphere including Japan.

'Oh' means 'big' or 'great', and 'tani' means 'valley'. 
'Ohtani' means 'big valley' in Japanese, ...has nothing to do with Barkley Ranch.
Ohtani-san's first name is after the activity of the younger brother of Shogun in the medieval (more than 800 years ago) of Japan and the name of the headquarter (near Ohtani-san's birthplace) of the independent local regime that temporarily protected this younger brother of Shogun.　(Details omitted. From the interview article of Ohtani-san's mother (2013)).

Chinese character (Kanji) 'sho' can be divided into two parts. Left part means 'fly high', and is a hieroglyphic 'sheep', which was a symbol of property and an auspicious animal in ancient China. Right part is hieroglyphic 'wings'.
'Sho' means 'spread wings and fly high', this character is popular for naming boys in Japan.

Chinese character (Kanji) 'hei' is often used for a boy's first name.
---------

'Ichi' means the number 1, often used to name the first child.
In Japanese, pronunciation is shortened from Ichihei to Ippei.
 

Chinese character (Kanji) 'ro' is also used for a boy's first name.
In the case of Ichiro, the pronunciation doesn't change.
Both of 'Ippei' and 'Ichiro' are usually the name given to the eldest son (*).
*, Usually, it is the name that can be worn by the eldest son, but Ichiro is the second. 
He was named "Ichiro" using the letter "Ichi" from his grandfather "Gin-ichi".

I'm not as results oriented as the rest of you but at the same time I questioned some of his offseason signings; of course many of which blew up on him this past season.  There are so many things a GM can control but it's also their job to plan for contingencies.  So I'll break down how I graded.
When I grade transactions I always ask, was there a better move available?  With some of these moves, I would have to say definitely yes. While, we don't know if they would've signed here, the deals they eventually did sign, I'm sure if the Angels offered a bit more, they would've signed with the Angels. 
I was very low on the signings of Harvey and Allen.  I don't know why Eppler targeted them, as they both weren't very good and/or effective.  So I will blame him for those signings being terrible as the signs were there and he overpaid for both of them.  Definite F grade moves for me. 
Alternatives: Starters: Gio Gonzalez, Wade Miley, Martin Perez, Jordan Lyles.  Relievers: Shawn Kelley, Greg Holland, David Phelps, Tony Sipp.
The DFAing of Shoemaker and Parker seemed like mistakes at the time until they too got injured (Shoe) and DFA'd (Parker), but I didn't understand why, especially Shoemaker when the Angels needed starters. D-grade moves for me and compounded by the extra money they paid for their replacements F.
Signing of Bour and Lucroy.  I thought these signings were at the time, fairly decent, C and B level grade moves.  While both weren't very good last season, they were signed for cheap for a combined under 6 mil.  They obviously weren't very good, but the price was right to gamble for these type of players.
Cahill I was especially high on.  Pretty decent track record in the AL West and the price was pretty decent as well.  I graded this move an A.  Unfortunately he got shelled this season as a starter with mediocre results as a reliever.  This I can't blame Eppler on, this caught me by surprise how poorly he's been performing. 
Cozart: Another deal I wasn't high on.  I covered this in another thread but this was a D/F level move.
Waiver wire and minor trades:  Of course I'm talking about La Stella and Goodwin. On the surface these were expected to be low impact moves and of course it broke the Angels way.
Even before the season, a lot of things had to have break right for the Angels to succeed in terms of injury and performance and unfortunately it didn't.  The rotation fell apart which is a key reason the Angels aren't doing very well.
The saving grace:  drafting.  The key to sustainable success is drafting and developing.  Eppler has shown that he has a knack for that.  Hopefully Eppler can continue to do this as we have some of the seeds bearing fruit, but the Angels will need a lot more to compete for titles. 
TL;DR summary: Eppler's mistakes are for one season, Dipoto's mistakes were for many.  Eppler's saving grace is drafting and development.  This past offseason signings sucked but nothing too big that'll hamstring the Angels next season and beyond.  Given the time needed for farm system development,  I'll give him another 4 years without playoffs, because Eppler wasn't given a total rebuild to build up a farm system.
 

You missed the Simba/Aybar trade by Eppler.

You missed the Simba/Aybar trade by Eppler.

Fueled by the annoyance of last night's loss, I was on a mission to point out Eppler's and Co.'s failure in regard to acquiring several under performing players over the last couple of off season.  In particular, the most recent.  What I found was an important reminder which is to consider the starting point and the body of work since.  
The halos had come off the 2011 season with a winning record yet they had clearly lost faith in Tony Reagins to the point that most speculated him as a mere figurehead with Scioscia and Arte involved in quite a bit of the duties normally taken on by a general manager.  The truth or accuracy of which is only relevant to the point that it led to the hiring of Jerry Dipoto.   But the stage was set for having an atypical dynamic between owner, gm and manager.  Jerry said all the right things and looked good doing so.  But behind the scenes it was a much different story.  He was very aggressive in his approach of gearing all resources toward the major league club.  While the lack of harmony in the front office wasn't all his fault, his method was like gas on an already smoldering fire.   Which is ironic considering that he burned the Angels farm system to the ground as well.  So when all the fires got out of control, he grabbed his flame thrower and walked right out the front door mid season and 30 days before the trade deadline leaving the halos to finish 31-37 and 1 gb of the WC as well as 3 gb of the division.  
On Oct 4th, 2015, the halos hired Billy Eppler.  I feel like Arte was the 'bad deal' direct tv guy and Eppler was the guy answering the door.  
'Can I interest you in being the GM of the mediocre Los Angeles Angels?'    No
'Ok, Ok.  You want me to sweeten the deal?  That sweetener is a broken front office dynamic and you can't bring in your own manager.'   That's a bad deal. 
'Oh, we got a haggler.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm gonna give you the worst farm system in baseball with an international signing lockout and zero payroll flexibility to work with.'   That's not a good thing man!  Do you see that everything you are saying is worse than before?  
'What I see is someone that wants to play hardball.  Ok.  Batter up.  I'll give you a broken down former superstar that makes $25mil per year that has to bat in the middle of the lineup, an ace who throws a fastball 84 mph, an offense that finished 21st in baseball last year, a terrible bullpen, and in less than 6 months, pretty much every pitcher worth anything on the roster will be injured and out for over a year. Oh, and the team has the remain competitive.  But that's my final offer. '
'Shut the door in my face trick huh?  We have Mike Trout!'  
And the door opens back up.  'Fine.  I'll take the job'.  
Let's all be very honest.  This franchise was circling the drain less than two and a half years ago.  
Here is what Keith Law said shortly before the start of the 2016 season:
I've been doing these rankings for eight years now, and this is by far the worst system I've ever seen. They traded their top two prospects in the Andrelton Simmons deal and had no one remotely close to top-100 status. They need a big draft this year to start to restock the system or we're going to start talking about whether it's time to trade Mike Trout.
So that's how his mission started.  
His first order of business was to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with Scioscia.  
Next, he traded for Simmons.  A controversial deal from both sides.  But he's become one of the top 10 most valuable players in baseball.  
Then the entire pitching staff fell apart.  Richards out.  Heaney out.  Trop out.  Skaggs couldn't come back.  CJ Wilson done.  Huston Street done.  Rafael Ortega led the team in LF at bats.  Giavotella at 2b.  Made some small moves like grabbing the serviceable Yunel Escobar and Jefry Marte.  Claimed JC Ramirez.  Got Nolasco and Meyer at the trade deadline.  But importantly, had a very good draft.  
At the start of year two, still hampered by payroll restrictions (189mil in 2016, 176mil in 2017), he grabbed Blake Parker off waivers.  Shortly after, he got Cam Maybin for Victor Alcantara.  Signed Jesse Chavez, Traded for Martin Maldonado, Signed Ben Revere, Traded for Espinosa, Signed Bud Norris and Yusmeiro Petit.  Grabbed Luis Valbuena.  So lots of minor move again.  Almost all for expiring players due to a lack of payroll.  Again, another good draft with Adell and Canning as well as a leap back on to the international scene with Deveaux and Knowles.  Got some good mileage out of Bridwell.  Got some time out of David Hernandez and turned him into minor league depth piece.  Grabbed Noe Ramirez mid year.  Then, of course, shored up LF for the first time in a long time.  
Before and in year 3 he locked up Upton, grabbed Ohtani, Cozart and Kinsler.   Got Rengifo for Cron.  Signed JMF and Rivera.  Let a lot of pen arms get away due to understandable inflation.  Got some additional intl prospects in Maitan, Soto and a few others.  Had what many consider to be another good draft.  And that's where we stand.  At 37-30 in 3rd place and five games back in mid June.  
This exercise was important for me and I hope it was helpful to you as well.  We are currently a solid major league team with a real chance to make the playoffs.  We have a farm system now at least in the top half of the league and many of those players are actually do well in the upper levels on the verge of actually providing help at the major league level.  Should I repeat that?   Yes, Calhoun and Cozart have sucked.  We've sustained some injuries again and the pen is more than shaky.  We need Simmons back.  It would be great to get Ohtani back back as well but I won't hold my breath.  A pen arm or two is a must.  A few other things could stand to go right as well.  
But jog your memory back to mid 2015 through early 2016.  Did you ever imagine this team would be a playoff contender with a good and improving farm system and be on the actual upswing as a franchise by 2018?  Not everything Eppler and company does is going to be perfect.  But to date, Billy  and the Halo IMF have done the impossible.  
 
 
 

Pujols chokes with the bat with 2 strikes, if that counts.

So say the doc recommends Ohtani needs TJ surgery, he will miss most of not all of this season and next, which means we won't see him until the 2020 season. 
We all know Ohtani is amazing on the mound, but he's also incredible with the bat and can beat you on the basepaths as well.
I say inject some cells in that elbow (which they have) and let him DH the rest of the season after his 3 weeks are up. If he needs TJ surgery, just get it done in Oct or after our playoff run (yep, suck it haters). 
I mean, if he's going to miss all of 2019, why not let him bat (and not throw) the rest of the way out. 
Hell,  when they reevaluate him in October maybe the UCL will be completely healed like Richards, who also had a grade 2 sprain. 

We are missing that clubhouse leader. Someone like Erstad or even Torii.

We are missing that clubhouse leader. Someone like Erstad or even Torii.

I think it's a great decision.  They will have his bat for all three games vs just two as batter/pitcher.  Also, they won't have another Monday off until July. Mostly likely they are transitioning him to pitch Weds to take advantage of the Thursdays they have off in June.
 
 
 

I think it's a great decision.  They will have his bat for all three games vs just two as batter/pitcher.  Also, they won't have another Monday off until July. Mostly likely they are transitioning him to pitch Weds to take advantage of the Thursdays they have off in June.
 
 
 

I think it's a great decision.  They will have his bat for all three games vs just two as batter/pitcher.  Also, they won't have another Monday off until July. Mostly likely they are transitioning him to pitch Weds to take advantage of the Thursdays they have off in June.
 
 
 

I think it's a great decision.  They will have his bat for all three games vs just two as batter/pitcher.  Also, they won't have another Monday off until July. Mostly likely they are transitioning him to pitch Weds to take advantage of the Thursdays they have off in June.
 
 
 

I think it's a great decision.  They will have his bat for all three games vs just two as batter/pitcher.  Also, they won't have another Monday off until July. Mostly likely they are transitioning him to pitch Weds to take advantage of the Thursdays they have off in June.
 
 
 

Here’s my top 16 reasons Johnson pitches a lot despite the fact he isn’t good
Cam kinda sucks
Parker has sucked
Alvarez was great now sucks
Parades sucks
Pena probably sucks
Akeel Morris sucks
Blake Wood is hurt
Middleton is hurt 
Noe pitches a lot too
Richards pitches 6 games last year
Ohtani pitched 6 games last year
Heaney coming back from TJ surgery
Trop is coming back from TJ surgery
Skaggs is two years removed from TJ surgery
Shoe is hurt
Barria is 21 years old
 

We are one game back in the lost column to Houston.  However Houston has not played Cleveland, and Boston, 
We are tied with Seattle in loss column but they have yet to play Boston and Yankees and only played Houston 4 games while we played them 6.  
The schedule evens itself out in the long haul of the season.  I feel pretty good about our position right now.  Kole is going to play better.  We do need to improve the Pen.  But i feel we have a good shot at the division!

No, but when someone points out a philosophical change and you can’t get past your hate to actually consider it a possibility, well you may want to ask yourself  why.  My biggest issue with you is you tend to get super active when the team isn’t playing well.  I too had an issue with what he did tonight, should have gone to the pen again with Alvarez up.  Where I completely disagree with you is you want a 21 year old kid to crank it up to well over 100 pitches when he hasn’t pitched over 90.  That is not what is best for the pitcher.   We as fans have the luxury of not having to think of the ramifications of such things.  As a manger he doesn’t have that luxury, and he has to manage the team for at least 162 games.  

Honestly I still can’t believe this guy is on our team. What he’s doing is historic. 

Ohtani has a 4.10 ERA after making his first five career starts against 4 of the top 10 offensive teams in the majors. 
I don’t think he’s an “average pitcher.”
I also don’t think the injury risk is the primary reason he’s not playing the OF. It’s a lot of extra strain on the legs, standing out there and squatting every pitch and running. He’s already doing more than every other player in the majors. Plus he’s going to have to practice to be good. 
Also, I really don’t think he has any desire to do it. He stopped doing it in Japan and, by all accounts, had little interest in playing in the NL.

Watching these pitchers bat makes me appreciate Ohtani a lot more.

Watching these pitchers bat makes me appreciate Ohtani a lot more.

It still blows my mind to think about all he accomplished in the Angels' first month+ of the season.  It was a pleasure watching history unfold.  It was special in so many ways.  I feel blessed to have had the chance to see a lot of it in person.  I can't wait to see what he does next.