Griffey's Corner

It's not okay. But he should have done something this last winter when prices were a lot cheaper. Now in the middle of a pennant race he will be paying through the nose in prospects and currency to acquire what he should have been doing all winter..... which to this board's credit pretty much everyone on angelswin was saying for it to be done. At this point do we really want to trade some stud prospects for questionable, marginal pitchers who will not log a lot of innings and are probably 3 month rentals anyways? Honestly I think we have to start looking towards next year. The offense is bad The bullpen is bad The starting pitching cannot stay healthy and cannot log a lot of innings anyways.... so it is bad also. If it was not for Mike Trout you could make a case that the Angels are one of the worst teams in the league. If they can do a Simmons or Upton trade on a player they are confident that they can extend than I am all for it. But after the first 2 weeks of the season this team has played .444 ball. And looking at all the injuries.... it is probably going to get worse before it gets better.

The bullpen has been bad. The bullpen has been terrible. The bullpen has sucked. The offense has sucked too. This thread is about the bullpen so that is probably why people are on here posting about the bullpen. There is lot's of other threads on angelswin talking about how crappy the offense is and certain individual offensive performances. I have no doubt that certain members will come to your rescue. And I already understand that the Angels can do no wrong in your eyes. But seriously the bullpen has sucked.

I would be thrilled if the Angels were to be seller's.... instead of buyer's for example Greinke for Segura who is currently hitting .334 playing middle infield for the Mariners. If we could get a decent return for Richards and get rid of some of the crappy contracts such as Valbuena or Calhoun or Cozart that would be awesome. Free up money and play the young guys and make a huge run in 2019. Although if we can do a Upton or Simmons trade that would be cool.

Who is the other healthy starter that you are referencing besides Heaney? Sorry I am having a brain fart on this end.

It literally makes me sick to my stomach. Without a new approach to medicine & training & diet & whatever the medical staff is doing wrong. It is impossible for the Angels to play on the same deck as everyone else. How would a NFL football team do if they were rolling out there 9th string QB?????? They would not be winning half there games.

Richards- Out Ohtani- Out Shoemaker- Out Meyer- Out Skaggs- Out JC Ramirez- Out Heaney- Healthy & Playing Tropeano- Out We are having to go deep into are depth. Are 12th best starting pitcher would now be are #5 starter. I am probably forgetting a few starting pitchers. I do not care what anyone says the entire Angels medical staff should be fired as soon as the season ends. Nate Smith- Out.... I forgot one.

Your comment is wrong. The lack of a true closer was obvious even to the dumbest fan. 90% of this message board was screaming all winter about not adding BP arms.

To a large extent everything in baseball is volatile. Overall I think Eppler has done a really good job. And my gut feeling is he works extremely long hours leaving no stone uncovered. That being said you can take what Fletcher said and also say that you can take a good Angels bullpen in 2017 and therefore there is a very good chance it will be bad in 2018.... just reverting to the mean. 1. They were never that good to begin with. 2. None of them had no great track record. 3. The best RP was Petit who they chose not to bring back because he wanted half of what Valbuena receives in salary. 4. Eppler so far has shown not to put a lot of emphasis or importance in the bullpen. 5. The results speak for themselves. 15 blown saves..... even with just 5 games turning from a loss to a win they would be 44-30..... on pace for 96-66... 97-65 record. 6. Eppler knows what Fletcher knows and the odds of them being good 2 years in a row is extremely unlikely.... so all the more the crime to stand pat and do very little in this off season. He did add Jim Johnson and his 5.56 NL ERA. Even with all the injuries, even with all the bad luck, even with all the offensive shortcomings.... a lock down bullpen would have this whole season turning out a lot differently. Of all the places to add to the talent level on a team the bullpen is the cheapest & easiest way to go..... and even than he did not. There is a lot of relievers who are very consistent year in year out.... in the 10 years since Darren O'Day was an Angel.... and the Angels got rid of him.... I think twice..... O'Day in 9 of those 10 seasons has had an ERA of 3.77 or lower. Career ERA of 2.54. To say the bullpens in baseball are volatile is true..... but so is hitting and so is starting pitching. Before everyone freaks out and disagrees just remember all of us casual baseball fans were screaming this winter to bolster the bullpen. All of us casual fans turned out to be correct.... How could the Angels brass not see what we did and see the obvious?

At the risk of pissing off True Grich who does not like this conversation I will chime in & say that most people are overthinking this Trout thing. A couple of obvious things to help the clarity.... 1. If he knew that he wanted to stay an Angel for the rest of his career one can safely assume that he would have already signed an extension. To risk an injury without cashing in would be crazy. Trout does not need for any other player to sign. Trout will set his own market and I think the Angels along with some other teams will meet that market and pay the man..... So at this point Trout does not know what he is going to do yet..... I think lately Trout has been more vocal about wanting to play for a perennial winner. In his subtle way he is telling the Angels front office to get there sh.. together. 2. I think Trout will stay an Angel out of loyalty and no team will ever love him like the first team..... if he ever does doubt this notion all he has to do is watch what Pujols is going through right now. 3. If Trout goes to another team it will be the Phillies or the Red Sox. Trout is an obsessed Philadelphia sports fan. The Red Sox to me make sense because every year they compete, they can afford him, protection in the lineup, great hitters park, close to home, great history, & he can DH when he needs to..... in my mind no other teams make any sense at all other than these three.

It's funny but Valbuena has been performing in 2018 exactly like his whole career. His lifetime batting average is .227. He has hit .216 this year. 2 extra seeing eye singles. Over his career he has averaged 3 HR's every 100 at bats.... same thing he is doing this year. As far as Eppler & company are concerned he is meeting expectations. He is exactly who they thought he was. Why would they cut him for that? Now why he was ever signed for $8 million a year in the first place.... I will never know???

Sure. I was not counting the AL Central.

I think to get to the playoffs in the AL a team will have to win 90+ games.

It looks like a lot of fun. That is awesome of you to invite members from here.

Lately I have been reading & not posting. There is 5-7 members on here that I can only handle in small doses. But from the reading I have done it seems like a lot of members are unhappy with this season. Even with all the injuries they are on pace for 86-76 season. Last year they only won 80. My prediction of 90-72 may not come to fruition. But if the team goes 90-72 misses the playoffs.... it does mean the Mariners get in..... but let's say they lose in the WC game. Are people happy? Chime in if you feel like it. I am curious if the 13-3 start raised the bar. My vote is I would be happy.

It's a lonely world being right all the time.

Not to be an Eppler apologist. But the bullpen was already crowded at the start of the season without bringing in additional reinforcements. Middleton & Wood & JC Ramirez went down with injury. And even than while that was going on we still did not have enough room to keep Luke Bard. Now true I was hoping the Angels this off season could turn 2 or 3 of there average pitchers into one stud.... but that did not happen..... maybe Eppler tried and no one was interested? I would have liked to get a stud closer as I have said in some of my other posts.... but it did not happen. A lot of times when we bring in a stud closer they turn to crap.... we just finally got rid of Huston Street and his contract.

I was never a fan of Blash to begin with. That being said how about we give him more than 18 at bats before we decide. It's good to know that anyone with any baseball sense knows this..... I guess you are saying the manager & Eppler do not have baseball sense.... as they still have him on the MLB roster & still with the organization. FYI if you have not put me on ignore.... please feel free to do so. You are not Nostradamus just because you root & predict someone to fail coming up from AAA.... and seem very happy when they do. The odds are the majority will fail. If for every 5 guys we call up one turns out to be a cheap stud.... I would call that a success.

What you do not seem to understand is that it only takes one team to bank on Richards being healthy and rolling the dice. Welcome to the cost of doing business as it pertains to MLB baseball..... where players come and go and under perform..... players do drugs..... players get injured.... yet you know what????? Every cent that that team agreed to pay them is 100% guaranteed. Why should he take 3/40.... when some other team (It only takes one) will certainly offer him more money. And please keep in mind that very good MLB starting pitchers do not grow on trees..... especially ones with his stuff. If you want to say Richards is injury prone than you can say the same thing about just all pitchers on not just the Angels staff.... except the crappy ones they always seem to be healthy. But you can say that about pitchers all across the Majors.... it is an epidemic right now. The numbers I am basing this on also is predicated that Richards stays healthy this year and puts up that 3.21 ERA that was previously discussed.... that was the whole premise of my point. But if he does that.... he will be getting a LOT more than $40 million.

Statistically speaking it would be better not to sacrifice in that situation. Instead steal 2nd base is maybe 80% chance of success... and than with no outs either do 2 sacrifices or hope for 1 hit and a fast runner. To sacrifice over and give up the out in that situation. You still have to get a hit in the next 2 at bats.... if the players are average Angels meaning a .249 batting average than the odds of even scoring is still only around 50%.... assuming the sacrifice was successful in the first place..... which is probably around 70%... so the odds of scoring that way has been reduced to around 35%..... which is about the average in any given inning without having the lead off batter reaching first base. So by trying to sacrifice we forfeited the statistical advantage. Normally when a lead off batter reaches 1st base than the odds of that batter coming around to score is over 50%. Since the stolen base, based on the Angels stealing vs. sacrificing they have been converting at a much higher percentage rate in stealing a base, that would have been the better way to go.... and it than would give them 3 opportunities not 2 to score the runner from 2nd. So yes you are correct and the right call from a mathematical standpoint would have been much higher to score with trying a stolen base vs. a sacrifice. Or even just swinging away would also be a much higher chance of scoring vs. a sacrifice.

I would not be angry at all. 1. Trout has a right to play where he wants. He has earned that right. 2. Trout would have done more for Angels baseball than almost anybody else. 3. Baseball is just a game. There is more important things in life. 4. Trout in his 30's may not be as good as Trout in his 20's. 5. The Angels could get a boatload of prospects for Trout and save $40 million a year and sign 2 or 3 additional studs.... the year after Griffey left the mariners went 116-46.... I still cheered for Griffey.... but despised the Mariners. 6. Even if Trout goes to a different team we can still root for his success. 7. Even if Trout leaves does not me he may not come back someday.... again the Griffey example. 8. Trout may be justifiable in his reasons for wanting to leave.... be closer to his home & family or whatever his reasons may be.... he has the inalienable right to feel whatever way he wants. 9. it could end up serving as a wake up call to the Angels organization and motivate them to work even harder to be successful. 10. Trout would still probably go into the Hall of Fame as an Angel.... see Griffey & Pujols.

I agree with not wanting to pay the money to Richards. But unfortunately it's the cost of doing business. Which is the reason as soon as his hamstring heals up in the next couple of weeks I would trade him for a couple of stud prospects.

Richards will not agree to that. The Angels have already paid him $24 million for his last 25 starts.

What's the right price for Richards in your mind?

It always can get worse. We should appreciate what we have. Every night we get to watch one of the greatest baseball players of all time play. Most teams cannot say that.

Eppler. Is this a serious thread? Or are you joking? I can be slow on the jokes around here.