TBailey

I mean, he wouldn't be a bad 1B right?
Let's face it. Pujols playing time is going to dwindle quite a bit over the next two seasons and if Castellanos can play 1B on days Ohtani DH's, then he can DH and Pujols play 1B on the three days in a row that Ohtani will get ready to pitch, pitch and then his day off after pitching. That's a lot of playing time, plus he can play in RF once in a while when we face a lefty to spell Brian Goodwin.
58 doubles, 27 HR and .525 slugging .pct is legit. He also usually hits around the .290 mark as well, so he puts the ball in play and hits the ball hella hard. 

No one knows how much Arte is willing to raise the payroll. If Eppler signs Castellanos I’m going to view it as a good sign for the budget. 
 
Castellano can hit and get on base. I’m not going to complain about signing someone who can do those things. 
 
We don’t exactly have a 1B or a RF. I’ve seen enough of Thaiss and well Pujols is 64 years old. 

Well we need something besides the same damn ‘Angels’ across all 3 uni’s. 
 
And I for one, like the halo A by itself 

That, but with a more modern font. No stripe on the pants.
 

G. Cole
Odorizzi
Grandal

Obviously, winning ball games is fun! When the Angels started off 6-14 in 2002, it wasn't very fun until they swept the Mariners in Seattle in late April. 
That said, I believe when Joe Maddon said in his press conference yesterday "To me, you need to be in the fun part of the game" it's a direct correlation to the culture that is established first, which often results in success later. 
The Nationals season kind of resembles that of the Angels in '02, not in terms of the talent on the roster, but how their respective seasons unfolded. 
Until May 24th, when they were swept in four-straight by the New York Mets as part of a five-game losing streak which left them 12 games under .500 and 10.0 out of first in the National League East, the Washington Nationals have put up the best record in baseball. But with a 28-11 mark in the last 39, the Nationals were just 6.0 games out in the division and atop the Wild Card race at the All-Star Break. There was talk in late May and before their run, that they were considering selling at the deadline. 
The Angels had some fun with the birth of the Rally Monkey in '02, while the Nationals discovered their own Rally Monkey in the person of Gerardo Parra, who has been a huge asset in the clubhouse, creating a lite, fun atmosphere -- which has even inspired the calm, cool and collective Howie Kendrick to loosen up and get involved in the fun. 

Yes fun is a result of winning, but when the pieces are there to build off of, once the wins pile up in W column it's full steam of ahead of momentum that is tough to stop... like a locomotive going max speed with no brakes. 
Here's hoping that fun, goofy culture that Maddon had success creating in Tampa and Chicago is planted, watered and brings forth fruit sooner than later in Anaheim. 
Cheers! 
 
 

Chuck is Reddit-famous.

I don’t think they have inside info on who he will sign with. I do think they’re aware that he wants to play as close as possible to home. The Angels are an obvious fit. That’s why unless they screw it up, I think he’ll have a contract signed before the new year.  

If the Angels were going to trade Simmons, they would have already done it. Dude is staying. 

Have you guys considered how bad the left side of the infield defense would be if we moved Simmons? The separation at SS defensively between Simmons and Fletcher is huge.  Fletcher is a guy that can fill in at SS at the major league level, but he certainly isn’t an everyday SS.  Maybe that is just because of what we have seen defensively the last 15 years Simmons, Aybar and OCab.  All have big arms and lots of range.  Fletcher has an adequate arm for 3rd or 2nd, but SS is a different beast.  Now as big of a drop off it is from Simmons to Fletcher, it will be even a bigger drop off from Fletcher to Thaiss or La Stella.  We would go from one of the best defensive left sides of the infield to perhaps the worst.  Just some thoughts.  

No, I was never implying that. What I was implying was that if the Rays and A's can make smart personnel moves based on their advanced scouting with just a little bit of money, how much more successful can the Angels be if they have the right people in place with the $$$$ they have?? 
You also look at the Yankees, the reason they're successful and the Phillies were not was they've made great trades and picked up the right FA's, in addition to their own homegrown players and high priced FA's like Stanton.
I'm just saying our scouting at the big league level has been dogshit outside of Goodwin and La Stella, two guys who had their best seasons yet. We'll see if they're for real in 2020 or if they were a fluke. 

Ill say 7/218, Angels (Dec 8 )

I think trading Simmons would push this team backwards in multiple ways. Yes, he had a decline in production but he’s still one of the best all around shortstops in all of baseball. You don’t trade that type of player. 
I see similarities in this the same way i think the Angels should keep Calhoun for next season on a cheaper deal. Many people here will disagree because he’s a .230 hitter, but he still hits for 30 plus hrs and provides gold glove defense everyday in one of the hardest positions to play. 

not sure why folks want to encourage trading Simmons.
He's a tremendous ballplayer with a great team attitude.
really, one of my favorite Halos -- his presence in the line up make the team better.

I don't think this (Ausmus out after one season) happens unless Maddon is not only available but committed to come here.
Arte sees his chance to get Maddon here.
Other than that - Arte may have been content with Ausmus as a place holder and Halos drawing three million fans a year for three years even with losing record(s) - although the 90 loss mark was a bit much to take this year.
The Halos were completely out of it by August 1 pretty much - but GEEZ - they still tanked in September -- tanked from being an under .500 team - four or five games away from being somewhat respectable -- to a way under ,500 team near door mat type of club. Awful.
 

I think trading Simmons would push this team backwards in multiple ways. Yes, he had a decline in production but he’s still one of the best all around shortstops in all of baseball. You don’t trade that type of player. 
I see similarities in this the same way i think the Angels should keep Calhoun for next season on a cheaper deal. Many people here will disagree because he’s a .230 hitter, but he still hits for 30 plus hrs and provides gold glove defense everyday in one of the hardest positions to play. 

I think trading Simmons would push this team backwards in multiple ways. Yes, he had a decline in production but he’s still one of the best all around shortstops in all of baseball. You don’t trade that type of player. 
I see similarities in this the same way i think the Angels should keep Calhoun for next season on a cheaper deal. Many people here will disagree because he’s a .230 hitter, but he still hits for 30 plus hrs and provides gold glove defense everyday in one of the hardest positions to play. 

I think trading Simmons would push this team backwards in multiple ways. Yes, he had a decline in production but he’s still one of the best all around shortstops in all of baseball. You don’t trade that type of player. 
I see similarities in this the same way i think the Angels should keep Calhoun for next season on a cheaper deal. Many people here will disagree because he’s a .230 hitter, but he still hits for 30 plus hrs and provides gold glove defense everyday in one of the hardest positions to play. 

I don't like the idea of Arte being the primary driver for these changes, given his track record. If he is, we're gonna see something appalling like 4/60 for Miley. Ideally this is an Eppler decision with some minor, hands-off advice from Arte. 

Maybe it’s not that he has “had enough” (as if he is changing direction) but rather he and the other brains are simply on schedule to make more significant moves.
There really is no good reason to not be aggressive right now in bringing in a few impact players.
It’s just time.

They could be pretty good if they get 2 pitchers and one of them is a 1-2 and the other a 2-4. 
Remember, as terrible has everything has gone this year, and as bad as they are right now, they are only 4 games under .500. And 13 games ago they were 5 over. 

IMO, Eppler has been one of the best GMs this team has seen. Sure, he’s made moves that didn’t work out. In fact, a lot of them. But any GM who has a farm that was completely depleted and ranked below my boots, and was able to turn it around in a #15-#20 rank, you have my respect. Everything has improved each season that Eppler has been here, aside from the starting pitching. Unfortunately, life happens. Ohtani’s TJ last season, Skaggs’ tragedy, Heaney in and out of the IL list.......and an owner who wants him to turn the farm around and still win at the same time with virtually nothing....
how can you be upset with Eppler? He is able to keep the best player of our era (and quite possibly of all time when it’s all said and done) to a mega deal. Trout would have left, he said it himself, if he didn’t think Eppler was building something here. And the old cliche “Rome wasn’t built in a day” is so true in this case. These things take time. Injuries happen to everyone, it’s a part of the game. 
There are some things you really can’t control. I believe if Eppler went “all in” on Eovaldi and Corbin, we’d probably be upset with the results we would have been getting. And it likely hinders the chances of us going “All In” for Cole.  
Im sure Eppler is prepared to go after Cole very aggressively and for someone else as well. The team is ready to compete with the right arms at the top of the rotation. This winter is about to be that time it starts to happen...

I would like to see Calhoun transition to 1B to split time with Albert there, but it’s hard to justify paying $14 mil for a platoon player

Kole makes this team better. Some may not agree and that is fine. But imo, he makes us a better team.

You would move Upton to first and keep the GG outfielder in the outfield.