Griffey's Corner

Normally you are always right so I have a hard time disagreeing with what you might say. But in this instance I think the Angels are above average team. Before the season started I predicted they would win 90 games, & I will stick to it.

i just cannot see it being the Yankees. My 2 cents would be... 70%- Angels 20%- Phillies 5%- Red Sox 5%- all other teams combined

Great post. I would assume it's more the manager? As it was happening before Eppler ever arrived.

True it is already a stressful environment.... but my point was to add even more stress and compound it by the very fact you know that any given at bat might be your last if you don't hit a HR..... it's insane to expect a lot. For a lot of these players are just kids in there 20's. I remember last year Cron hits a grand slam HR and still gets sent down the very next day????? It is not surprising that away from that this year he his having his best season. He is on pace for what 35-40 HR's. Napoli when he left said that he could finally relax and just play the game.... you cannot do that when you are always looking over your shoulder. Napoli's first year away his OPS went from .784 to 1.086. Some players get an incredibly long leash and than others keep getting jerked around. How can we expect the short leash guys to perform? How many of them have? trout's 1st season he hit .220. If you are going to call them up and bench someone else in the process than stay the course & play them and give them what they need to succeed..... and give them 100-150 at bats.

Probably every player if they had there druthers would want to go to a constant winner. It helps there career & legacy. Imagine if Scottie Pippen had never played for the Chicago Bulls? No matter where Trout goes he will get paid. The biggest advantage the Angels have is loyalty and no team and fan base will ever love Mike Trout as much as the Angel fans...... & he knows that. Look at what happened to Griffey once he left Seattle the first time. Look at Pujols now. Odds are for this reason Trout will stay an Angel. But if 2020 rolls around and even if we are competing I would much rather trade Trout and get a boatload of stud prospects than walk away with nothing (draft pick). I think Trout will 100% have a decision by than and have communicated it to the Angels...... for all we know the Angels may already know something? After all I would be surprised if they are not already trying to extend him.

Is AO Angel Oracle? The one holding the beer? He is extremely nice. Seems like a very cool guy!

You guys are probably right. Blash probably will never be a good MLB hitter. But can you imagine even something as all the stress he is under? Playing in the big leagues knowing if he has 1-2 bad nights than he will be sent packing to AAA and may never get back & his dream dies. It's kind of similar to Cron last year. You cannot put players in such a stressful environment and expect them to produce at a high level. The yo yo of Salt lake City is not the best way to get these guys to perform at the highest level. You cannot try harder and will yourself to hit a baseball. Maybe he was nervous and his bat speed was a little slower? He has only had 14 plate appearances on the year.... 4 times he has reached base. Yet he has already been sent down and benched once for it. That is crazy! Baseball is a game where to perform at a high level you have got to be calm & relaxed.... it's not football.

So you were overreacting off even less of a sample size. His total plate appearances for the year amounts to 14.

I just don't think I can think that far ahead right now.

Are the Astros going to even pay all their players? I think as long as the Angels keep trending upwards it will be the Astros & the Angels going forward for a long time.

Way overreaction. How many at bats as he had. Granted odds are he will suck. But to base it off a few games is really silly. stat wise he is still doing better than Calhoun. in 14 plate appearances he has had 2 walks and 2 hits. His OBP is probably the highest of all the Angel RF's all year. hate to be in a foxhole with some of you.

I agree. But we need to give the guy a chance. It's way too soon to tell.

They are a good team. Probably on pace to win 87-88 games? Maybe they don't make the playoffs this year. There is always next year. Let's look at the positives 1. The farm system is looking good. 2. The arrow is pointing up. 3. Mike Trout 4. Ohtani is a stud pitcher and he might be a good hitter.... small sample size..... & he brings in revenue for the owner. 5. Simmons- one of the best SS in the game.... having a career year at the plate so far. 6. The starting pitching overall this year has been really good... look at years past and compare. 7. Fernandez is 5 for 12.... if he turns out to be a hitter that will be huge. 8. Eppler has had some good drafts and good player acquisitions 9. Team defense is awesome. Gold Glove catcher, SS, etc. 10. If the manager stays great..... if not this is the last year of a 10 year contract. Negatives. 1. Eppler's acquistions on offense have been questionable.... although not a complete failure.... He did get Upton for very little prospect currency. 2. Pujols is one year closer to retiring.... and he kind of is chugging along.... he is giving his best effort. 3. Blash- give the guy some time. Very very small sample size..... maybe he only hits .200 with a HR every 20 at bats..... still better than any other RF right now. 4. Injuries to the pitching staff.... whatever they are doing it is wrong.... workouts, diet, training, stretching, throwing splitters, workload, ???? I do not know.... but whatever it is they need to do the opposite of what they have been doing. So overall the team is looking good. It will get better. and maybe just maybe it's a blessing sometimes to not go to the playoffs..... I still have nightmares about 1986. And anyways the season is not even half over plenty of time to win some more games and see what happens. With the payroll we have and the young players coming up the Angels will be a force to be reckoned with for quite awhile. The Mariners in 3 years will be a disaster..... I guarantee it.

talk about a small sample size... check his game by game stats since he came off the DL. If we can buy low on him why not? He still will probably outperform all the Angels RF's this season.

if i was the Angels I would be more aggressive with promotions right now. Especially with the manager coaching for his job this season. Quit wasting time on the Chris Young's of the world.

I think people are upset because Valbuena is getting the nod over Fernandez tonight. Or are you referencing tomorrow's game?

And that is true. I was in the minority that liked hoarding prospects. But the team was winning a lot. The core of prospects Weaver, Santana, Napoli, Kendrick, Aybar, etc.

Don't forget about Pujols.

sometimes the best trades are the ones you do not make. A lot of people on here talk about the golden era of Angels baseball from 2002-2009..... the one thing about that era was we kept the core of prospects intact. We did not do a lot of trades for rentals.

Great post. Too funny.

Just like in recruiting they look at a player's junior year not his senior year. Tout will be looking at what is going on in 2019. Next year is when we better be good. By 2020 it will be too late. Who knows??? Maybe Trout is tired of seeing a lineup surrounded by over the hill crap. Who is to say Fletcher or Fernandez would not outperform anybody we could get in a trade.

I respectfully disagree. The trade was a unmitigated disaster for the Angels. Grienke left and we compounded the problem by trying to use that money to sign Josh Hamilton. The void at 2b for all these years with Espinoza & other crap. Think of it this way if the Angels had Segura & the Mariners did not we would be in 1st place and they would be in 3rd place.

The future of Angels baseball is pretty exciting.

Unless we are doing a Simmons type trade I would pretty much let the season ride with an infusion of youth from guys playing well in the minors. To give up stud prospects for a rental when the odds of the Angels even making the wildcard game is probably 40% at best. The odds of winning that game in New York or Boston is probably 40% at best. 40% of 40% is 16%. It's not worth it to me. Any trades the Angels do will probably be similar to what Eppler has done in the past..... the one thing I do not see him doing is giving up stud prospects for a short term rental. The last thing we should want is a Grienke trade.... we gave up Jean Segura for 10 starts of Grienke and did not even make the playoffs anyways.

Marte is 3 for 5 with 2 HR's in his career vs. Leake. So who knows?