Rally Gorilla

Gross.

Who said I was even talking about you? Narcissist.

I don’t think anyone is giving Arte a pass. I think he himself has even said he shoulders some of the blame. But he owns the team, and he’s not going to fire himself and/or all the players if it doesn’t work out. Fairly or not, the GM and the manager get the hot seat since blame must be placed
For the record, I like him as a team owner for a lot of reasons. He’s made some missteps to be sure, but he’s done far more things right IMO.

I don't give him "complete pass" but I am going to place the majority of the blame on Tony Reagins and Jerry Dipoto for fucking up draft after draft and trading away what little talent we had for a handful of magic beans leaving Eppler with a bloated payroll and a 30th ranked farm system by 2016.  Moreno is "responsible" by default since he signs the checks and makes hires likely based on advise from people close to him but sometimes people just have to do their jobs well. 

I'm pretty sure the culture of the Astros was hammered into place by the ownership and management making this level of moral turpitude acceptable and as such I doubt you would see the Angels or Trout put up with any of this nonsense. Some guys are just wired to play using a Sportsmanship code that doesn't require an MLB rulebook and some sub paragraph to tell exactly what cheating is. That and Scioscia would have put whoever was banging on the tashcan in the trashcan then had him traded to the Guatalmalen league for some Oroz con Pollo. 

To be fair to the Dodgers they lost in 2017. By the time the Nats faced them in the 2019 series they were so sure the 'stros were cheating that they were changing up their signs without anyone on base.

They won all four games on the road. That says a lot. Apparently the Nationals had strong suspicions that the Astros were stealing signs (although they weren't quite sure how at the time), so they changed up their catcher signs.

Strange how you can cheat in other ways and get no suspension.

That was more J. Pierrepont Reagins and Dumbpoto.
Important things are, they are no longer the GM, the farm is in much better shape, and hopefully the post-season drought is coming to a close soon. 
Anyway, the season is just  days away.

Agreed!   Go Halos!

Man, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Arte actually did nix the Pederson/Stripling deal......unbelievable.    That deal would have put us in a very realistic position to earn a WC spot, and maybe even the division with a lot of luck.    Just unbelievable.

Geez....so, he won't overpay for front-of-the-rotation guys  (which I agree with)....but he also won't allow his GM to bring in a solid mid-level guy like Stripling?    That doesn't pass the smell test.     And he also chooses the same time to talk about firing his GM if he doesn't win in 2020?      

That's just ludicrous.
RG - I don't have anything against you. You clearly want to see the Angels win like the rest of us.  We just disagree on what Arte brings to the table as an owner.
I'm willing to just agree to disagree with you and move on because I don't think this dialog is going anywhere.
Go Halos!

It was a crap shoot both with Harvey and Allen but at time nothing else was out there. Most important signing last year was Trout. Need to be healthy this year team has improved now we roll the dice.

You are not Joshing about that

IMHO, Eppler has done a great job while being handicapped by Arte's past poor contract decisions and strange penny pinching rules.   Arte will spend huge money on high PR moves like Pujols, Trout and Rendon....then go into rigid self-imposed budget lockdown for lesser deals...forcing his GM to dumpster dive.    If Eppler gets fired, good luck finding a top rate GM who will want to take his place. 

right now I give him credit for doing a very good job.  I'll call it exceptional when it starts translating into major league wins.  
but Arte gets credit for doing a good yet not exceptional job as well.  
sometimes the combo of everyone being good combines into exceptional.  sometimes it doesn't.  

agree on all fronts except the wise man thing.  
but at some point, those not flashy signings have to work don't they?  that's still money and space on the roster occupied by guys who are supposed to perform.    
At what point do we hold Billy accountable for that?  

In all fairness to Eppler, I think Arte’s reluctance to pull the trigger after Hamilton’s deal did kinda delay more progressive off-seasons. Eppler inherited a very empty cupboard. Arte didn’t give him a blank check right away. The Upton trade didn’t take place until late in the last season of Hamilton. Eppler had to temporarily work with table scraps and still managed to extend Trout (like you predicted) and somehow lured Ohtani to Anaheim. That couldn’t have been easy. In 2020 we could’ve been looking at NYY Ohtani and Trout entering his walk year. Even dealing with that he’s managed to make the farm (ranked last at one point) very respectable again. 

Geez....so, he won't overpay for front-of-the-rotation guys  (which I agree with)....but he also won't allow his GM to bring in a solid mid-level guy like Stripling?    That doesn't pass the smell test.     And he also chooses the same time to talk about firing his GM if he doesn't win in 2020?      

Yea well Arte can’t be fired.  So if he’s the problem there’s zero solution. 

IMHO, Eppler has done a great job while being handicapped by Arte's past poor contract decisions and strange penny pinching rules.   Arte will spend huge money on high PR moves like Pujols, Trout and Rendon....then go into rigid self-imposed budget lockdown for lesser deals...forcing his GM to dumpster dive.    If Eppler gets fired, good luck finding a top rate GM who will want to take his place. 

Man, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Arte actually did nix the Pederson/Stripling deal......unbelievable.    That deal would have put us in a very realistic position to earn a WC spot, and maybe even the division with a lot of luck.    Just unbelievable.

Geez....so, he won't overpay for front-of-the-rotation guys  (which I agree with)....but he also won't allow his GM to bring in a solid mid-level guy like Stripling?    That doesn't pass the smell test.     And he also chooses the same time to talk about firing his GM if he doesn't win in 2020?      

So, you think that frontline pitching becomes cheaper during the season?   So much cheaper that you can get a top guy for the off season price of a mid-level guy?   That doesn't ring true for me at all.