DJO

So we all should realize it will take a bit of time to develop the depth you feel we need , years away from happening . "The guy" who signed off on the re-signing of Trout at 35 million, signed Rendon at 35 mill and may sign well sign Ohtani for 27 to 35 million ..All well and good but if the owner WILL NOT exceed salary cap and get hit with luxury tax then you can't have three guys making half the team salary cap budget .. It totally handcuffs the ability to put decent players in the other positions , have a quality starting staff , relievers ,bench ,etc.... If you get off on having Trout ,the best player in the game ( when healthy) on your team AND Rendon AND Ohtani you will be a .500 team for the next few years -just how many stud years does Trout have in the tank ? Who signed Josh Hamilton ? Albert ? Upton ? Is it possible he can learn from his mistakes ?? I doubt it .

Sorry - I am a long time Angel fan who lives in NY - NOBODY and I mean NOBODY knows what to expect from Noah next year . When he was rehabbing he was under the strict guidelines of no breaking balls and his velocity was down . That is to be expected coming off TJ surgery but he is a question mark . If the Mets were totally convinced he was going to be strong and durable they would have offered him more to stay but they weren't sure and they didn't offer him the deal he sought . What is astounding to me is we all know our pitching staff needs proven help and it really wasn't addressed but they delude themselves that its mission accomplished .They bring in Noah who may be solid but will not be over-worked his first year back ( less than 140 innings I would bet ) and Lorenzen who is a question mark as a starter . We will be going to the bullpen in the 4th inning in May next year because these guys can't give you innings . Nothing like burning your middle relief out by before July comes . Don't blame the GM's we've had - fire the owner !

On the contrary -it makes perfect sense to me . There has been a consistent theme running through Angel land for quiet a while now - we have an owner who doesn't believe in spending big money on a pitching staff . In his narrow minded view of baseball he will spend money on players who play 150 games a year but guys who only play 28-32 games a year ( aka starting pitchers ) are not worth the risk and money . I have read posts about prior GM's lack of ability to sign big name starters but it is NOT on them - its on him . Notice how Eppler had zero problems signing Max to a huge money deal ? Its the difference in owners and their ideology . Lorenzen is on the team because he comes cheaply . He is totally unproven as a starter and thus gets less money than Ray , Gausman or Strohman would get and therefore along with Noah who hasn't really pitched in 2 years and can't possibly be expected to pitch more than 135-150 innings tops ( and for one year no less ) we can expect another year of not making the playoffs .

Well done ! I love statistics in baseball more than any other sport . The season has been sadly disappointing but I would find some solace in it on a individual players note if Calhoun rebounds from his terrible first half . He plays his ass off every night and to his credit never brought his offensive woes into RF with his gold glove performance . That type of collapse often spells the beginning of the end of someones career so its great for him and the team he may be finding his offensive mojo again . The Angels will need Calhoun to continue his resurgence as they pull off a 23 win month of August and get back into the wild card race .. Hey -it ain't over until its over .

I love him - he was great in The Last King in Scotland ... He can probably out perform half of our starters . ?

Since it isn't a lock he will be hitting all these home runs in an Angel uniform I find the question slightly depressing . If he stays in an Angel uniform and they don't get support around him , protecting him ? He will walk 160 times a year and be denied an incredible amount of swings over the course of a career . Depressing aren't I ? You should hear me at parties .? How many homers will he hit if he walks 1,700 --2,000 times in his career ? The equivalent of standing in the batters box not swinging for three seasons ...

Teams trading a superstar usually only do so in the players walk season - many times its half way through that walk season so the acquiring team knows they only have that superstar player the rest of the season and may not retain his services after that season . The more time the acquiring team possesses that player the more you could expect back in compensation . So based on that -if the Angels are not showing an improved team outlook by July of next season - I would first ask Trout if he would willing to sign a new contract and pay him accordingly -if he balks at a contract extension - take it for what it is -he doesn't wish to remain after his contract expires - so halfway through next year -let it be known he is available and start the process of rebuilding - from the ground up . It hurts to think about that scenario - but NO player is bigger than the team .. The ultimate goal is winning and since we aren't able to do it with him perhaps getting some high ranked prospects who are ready to play and some draft picks is the way to improve the team overall . I am not thinking we should do this if next years team is battling for a wild card - and if he can be resigned of course do it .. But if next year looks like a repeat of this way -and he won't sign -see what we can get in return for a player under contract until after the 2020 season ..

Middle of the pack offensively I can live with if you have a boatload of rookies or young players learning the game . when you are paying roughly 100 million plus for this offense -it is disgraceful .

Pretty funny saying that as we can't seem to beat the Sox isnt it ???

In those blown save games -did the Angels respond with more runs from the sixth inning on ? Lets say the Angels are winning 3-1 after five but lose 4-3 are we letting the bullpen take full responsibility for that particular loss ? Injuries have hurt the relievers and starters but the offense has been relatively intact for most of the year - so there is no excuse for the low numbers . And overall team stats can be shady . The Angels score 15 runs in a three game series --I would think they won 2 of 3 at the least but suppose the scored 12 in one game - two in the next then one run . So they explode for one huge win and lose the other two games ... Statistically 15 runs gives you a 5 run average -which is awesome but in reality your offense failed two of those three games .. That is what the Angels are to me - one game pile on stats then disappear the next few ...

YES -we all see the problem in our own way . How is the bullpen to blame when our starters can't get out of the fourth inning or fifth inning on a regular basis ..Early in the season and if I have to I will just go over the stats I had reviewed , but the starters struggled too often too early this season . We can debate what came first the chicken or the egg - but there isn't just one problem here - thats clearly true . But "on paper" is a bullshit term . On paper our starters earned run average hold up pretty well but early in the season Skaggs was hitting 90 pitches somewhere in the fourth inning and the same goes for the rest of them . Too many pitches too damn early in games , too damn often . Even casual baseball viewers know if you are going to the pen that often early in the season they will be dead armed by the heat of the summer . Offensively -the Angels play out like a decent offensive team but again -stats can be misleading . I said this early in the year when the debate arose about blown saves - THEY DO NOT HIT ENOUGH . !!! You can't score 3 runs or less in half your games and expect to win a large percentage of those games . Certainly 2 runs or less seem extremely impossible to pull off and the Angels have a large amount of games scoring two runs or less . When the Angels line up performs as they are expected to perform - scoring four or more runs a game AND their bullpen blows those games then you have me convinced that that is the major problem but not at this point . The on base percentages are f***ing horrible .. The Angels don't steal bases anymore - they don't hit behind the runners to make productive outs . Todays numbers are dictating a batters swing should have an certain angle to hit more flies , less grounders . But we simply don't hit - we get guys to join the team with a history of hitting and then they no longer hit .. Its not that Calhoun was bad at the plate- he was disgustingly bad and only marginally better were Cozart - Kinsler and Valbuena .. You can't have four highly paid hitters in one lineup batting .220 or less who can't spell walk -let alone take one ..The one solid addition at the plate this year was Ohtani and he wasn't playing every night . The games start here after 10:00pm on the east coast - I watch these performances until 1:00 am and then scream into my pillow so as to not wake the neighbors ... We can't beat the WhiteSox now ? Are there any games scheduled against high school teams soon ? We might have a chance .

Sorry I don't buy the injuries excuse . Sure the pitching staff has been hit pretty hard but have we lost that many man power games with our starters . Clearly my view will be different than most here but I just witnessed and predicted a while ago that the NY Islanders would NEVER be able to keep Tavares on their team . They should have looked to make a deal last year when he wouldn't negotiate a new deal . The writing was on the wall for all but the naive Islanders fan . Their team had issues , one of which was the perception of no chance for Tavares to win a cup with that team . So he balked at signing during his walk season then shoved it firmly into Islander managements hind quarters .. They lost arguably one of the best players in the game for nothing . I fear the Angels will lose Trout for zilch when he can walk away in a few years . This team sucks ass and they aren't a good free agent offseason away from changing anything. We can't get rid of Albert quick enough and excluding Simmons the Angels seem unlucky at free agent acquisitions . The league is becoming difficult to grab younger players in their prime while they are locked into longer deal by their clubs . So what is the solution ? The only way to build a team is by drafting well and developing players . The problem is that will take a few years and we don't have a few years if the Angels wish to get Trout to a playoff series . So is it satisfying to you as an Angel fan to have the best player in the game on your team , your losing team or would it be better for the Angels to get a ton of prospects in his trade ? Blasphemy ! Crazy ! Sure but in case you haven't noticed teams seem to be winning games , championships without Mike Trout in their lineup . Life will go on with or without Trout in an Angel uniform . I'm also sure the Angels will continue to be mediocre the next two years with their line-up and this is why I bring up . Its not injuries that dictate the other teams feel the way to thwart the Angels offense is by walking Trout as often as possible because NOBODY can pick up the slack . I wonder what the return could be for a superstar locked up contractually for two more seasons - I would love to hear the offers . I would rather be winning without Trout -than losing with him .

Could he ever play RF ?

Not a huge haul coming back but his 15 doubles and 11 homers put him on estimated 50 plus extra base hit year . Much higher numbers than most 2B men ... I am not thrilled with his batting average or on base % which are dreadful but his pop especially in June may draw some interest . In June he had 5 2b- 8 HRs . I would be curious to see what the Yankees would offer for Richards . Assuming the standings don't change the rest of season . This is a small sampling I grant you but Richards over his last three starts vs Houston has pitched 18 innings and given up 1 earned run I believe . Earlier this season he was shutting out Seattle through 6 innings - oh course his last outing vs. Seattle he was injured early . Those would be Yankee opponents come playoff time and they have little pitching strength beyond Severino . Torres fell into their lap from the Chapman to Cubs trade a few years ago --- But where did they find Andujar and Judge ? Don't know who their scouts are but they are pretty good at their jobs.

I've often wondered about other Angel fans feeling about the Jose Guillen fiasco . Or do we call it a debacle ? He gets thrown at repeated as does Vlad - and our pitching staff doesn't back them up . Guillen confronted a few Angel starters and they did nothing . Went to Fat Mike who told him - yea thats not our thing to retaliate . Its such a Gandhi-esque like approach - I didn't realize Mike was such a pacifist - of course he was the ONLY manager who would take that stance - I can't think of one other manager who told his staff to stand off ..On the record of course -we don't retaliate but in actuality ?? It was the first time I began disliking the way he managed . Its off the point so forgive me - just my two cents . Guillen threw his helmet after another HBP - the helmet was thrown too hard and reached the dugout and Mike .. So the team votes him off and we look like shit in the playoffs - but wow -point well made - nobody is better than the team - and Mike you have not done anything since - and we sucked in the playoffs and missed Guillens offense - but I think we all learned a very valuable lesson from our Fat hypocrite manager . The Dodgers staff never purposely plunked batters in his catching days . Ok -enough of my rant