2020worldseries

Stroman is a better bet, getting him away from the offense crazy AL East.

Eppler isn’t going to sign any of the people this forum suggests.

I’d like him as the secondary piece we acquire.  As much upside as he has if he were our number one sign, I would be a little disaspointed.  

From a Hardball Times article:

Above the arbitrarily selected 106/107 exit velocity mark off to the right (younger age) is a name we all like to see. Link is here: https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/using-fly-ball-distance-to-find-sleeper-prospects/

Poop!
Regarding the 6-man rotation, Eppler said from Day 1 it was going to be flexible, not necessarily 1-2-3-4-5-6. 
It’s not as easy a label to say “a 5-days-rest-preferred rotation.”
It’s a lot to ask a team to keep 6 starters on the roster at once. It will be almost impossible for the Angels in 2019 because one of their position players won’t be able to play a position. 

Manipulating the 10-day DL is a useful tool I suppose. 

Ya Eovaldi would be another one of the pitchers I would favor going after. 

So basically what you’re saying is: “He hasn’t been that good as a starter so let’s try something else.”
I don’t think the Angels are at that point with Shoemaker yet because he hasn’t been healthy in a while. He was pitching very well for a couple months right before he got hurt in 2017. I wouldn’t make any conclusions on how he pitched this September because it was basically his spring training. 
I think he gets one more shot to start. 
I also think they may non-tender him and then sign him to a deal with a bunch of incentives. 
Instead of $4.5M, give him $3M with incentives of an extra $1M for every 6 starts or something. 

I don't think Eppler is going to spend significant money on a pen guy ever again.  
Looking through his last couple of drafts, he went very heavy in rounds 6-30ish on guys who are destined to become relievers.   
In 2017 it was Denny Brady, Connor Riley, Brett Hanewich, Daniel Procopio, Keith Rogalla, Tyler Stevens, Isaac Mattson, James Ziemba, Zac Ryan, Jeremy Beasley, Jon Malmin, Tyler Walsh
In 2018 it was Austin Warren, Andrew Wantz, Tyler Smith, Jake Lee, Ben Morrison, Cooper Criswell, Nick Frank, Luis Alvarado, Dylan King, Cristian Reyes, Dazon Cole, Darrien Williams, Jacob Voss, Connor Higgins.  
Guys in bold have had some good showings so far.  A bunch of the guys from 2018 haven't even pitched after racking up some innings. All of the above are college guys and most of them either profile as a reliever or are already working in a relief role.  Pretty much every one of these guys has a k rate around 1/ip.  A few of them are still being used as starters.  
I think this is an interesting strategy.  You are very rarely going to hit a home run or even get any sort of everyday player after the fifth round.  So why not load up on as many potential relief arms as possible.  We've seen the crazy volatility and inconsistency of the non-elite reliever and we've also seen their cost per WAR go way up out of proportion to both starters and position players.   Last year there were a bunch of relievers who got 5-9 mil per year and their performances was completely inconsistent and didn't come close to correlating to dollars spent.  Last year, philly paid 9 mil for 31yo Tommy Hunter to rock a 3.80 era and 0.7 fWAR.  And they get him again for another 9m next year.  Juan Nicasio had an era of 6.00 and he got 2/17.  There are many more examples.  So instead of filling the minor league system with high floor college position players who are unlikely to get past A+ ball, why not develop a stable of relief arms with lots of option years and create almost two teams worth of relievers that you have access to at any point during the season (8 at MLB and another 8-10 in AAA)?  
He's still trying to bridge that gap between the destruction of what Dipoto left and the dearth of relief possibilities between AA and AAA which is why he's been so active on the waiver wire.  We'll really start to see if this philosophy works come 2020 and 2021 I think when his 2017/18 drafts start to mature.  

I'm less than iffy on Bedrosian.  That dude is Kevin Jepsen version 2.0  You just never know what you'll get.  We don't need that kind of inconsistency.  Plus declining velo isn't a great sign.  I wouldn't mind selling high on Alvarez either. 

Josh Norris‏ @jnorris427 FollowFollow @jnorris427 More #Angels RHP Brett Hanewich just touched 99 in relief here at Scottsdale.
9:10 PM - 9 Oct 2018    

Josh Norris‏ @jnorris427 FollowFollow @jnorris427 More #Angels RHP Brett Hanewich just touched 99 in relief here at Scottsdale.
9:10 PM - 9 Oct 2018    

I am guessing Greinke falls somewhere between Vernon Wells and Josh Hamilton on the list of guys least likely to ever play for the Angels again. 
I love the idea of moving Calhoun if you can find a taker. If it means taking on a risky pitcher owed a little money, then so be it.

I was not alluding to anyone in particular. 
I merely meant that, while the concept of getting a bad contract pitcher is reasonable, you need to find a different pitcher.
Whenever Eppler adds someone and I don’t see right away what is good about the guy, I go right to K/9 and usually that’s where it makes sense. 

The minor league guns always seem a shade hot compared to what we see int he majors.  I remember Key Middleton hitting 101 pretty frequently in AAA.  In the majors, he sits 96-99. 
I've watched Hanewich pitch all of twice now, and he never jumped off the page to me.  I don't even remember a gun reading on him to be honest.  Usually I take a mental note of the guys that are throwing harder than 93/94 and softer than 91/92. 
But then again, the same can be said of Justin Anderson.  I might've watched that guy pitch once, I don't even remember.  It doesn't mean they can't become very good major leaguers. 

Only 2 HRs in 69 innings though 

Yeah, the K/9 is looking good but that BB/9...
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hanewi000bre

Josh Norris‏ @jnorris427 FollowFollow @jnorris427 More #Angels RHP Brett Hanewich just touched 99 in relief here at Scottsdale.
9:10 PM - 9 Oct 2018    

Josh Norris‏ @jnorris427 FollowFollow @jnorris427 More #Angels RHP Brett Hanewich just touched 99 in relief here at Scottsdale.
9:10 PM - 9 Oct 2018    

YOu should check out Cobb's second half numbers, and how he performed the rest of his career, despite being in the AL East.  Really not bad.  Could be a decent buy-low opportunity too, because the Orioles are rebuilding and will probably be looking to shed as much salary as possible.  He probably won't cost much in terms of prospect capital either depending on how much of that contract the Angels are willing to take on. 

Trevor Rosenthal is an under the radar guy. tommy john surgery august of 2017 and should be ready start of 2019. he will probably look for just a 1 year deal too

Trevor Rosenthal is an under the radar guy. tommy john surgery august of 2017 and should be ready start of 2019. he will probably look for just a 1 year deal too

solution - trade for Whit Merrifield and have Whit play RF vs LHPs and have Fletcher play 2B vs LHPs. Against RHPs have Whit play 2nd and Calhoun play RF. Calhoun is at least average or above average vs RHPs

Ottavino is one of my Top 3 choices if we dip into free agency.

solution - trade for Whit Merrifield and have Whit play RF vs LHPs and have Fletcher play 2B vs LHPs. Against RHPs have Whit play 2nd and Calhoun play RF. Calhoun is at least average or above average vs RHPs