Reveille1984

Yuck... what is the point of that.  Only under contract two more seasons and is almost 30.  Plus he's been mediocre to bad the last two seasons, while pitching in the NL.

Angels trade porn is like hiding under the bed hoping your abusive daddy Dipoto doesn't find you.

Seriously though, what the hell is Cowgill doing here and why is he starting games? We have Trout, Hamilton, Shuck and Calhoun for outfield spots... I'm pretty sure there should never be a situation where Colin  "Who Am I Again?" Cowgill should be starting over any of them.

Has a 1.72 ERA with a 5.4 BB/9.... seems sustainable.

Jerome: the black Blanton

And he has the Ervin chinstrap going, sexy stuff

I would be surprised to see him moved, simply because I don't think we'd get much of value back for him.

I don't see teams giving up pitching for a one-dimensional power bat.

Trying to promote thought exercises here is like teaching a monkey astrophysics

He's trash until he hits at least 4 HR in a game

I think one way or another things will work out.

If Trout wants to stay, he'll get paid and have security and we'll have the best player in baseball locked up.

If he makes it clear that he's going to test free agency or is leaning towards the east coast, imagine the package we could get for trading Trout in the last year or two of his contract if he keeps playing like this... his stock level would be astronomically high.  Could probably get a haul of top-end prospects that could replenish our team just as Hamilton, Wilson and Weaver's contracts are coming off the books. 

Obviously we'd all prefer him to stick around and be an all-time franchise player type, but the longer things go without any extension talks the more pessimistic things will look.

His POS+ level is steadily rising however

At least Richards has the stuff where he can have good starts every once in a while even with his terrible command.  The upside to Blanton starting is pretty much nonexistent at this point. 

At least he has the trainwreck factor going for him, and the possibility of 20 losses.  And we got to see him eating a banana in the dugout for comedy relief. 

Maybe his hideous goatee is throwing off his balance on the pitching rubber, I think I've seen at least a few woodland creatures living in there.

Edwards is looking to be the real deal; he's putting up a 1.83 ERA in 93 IP as a starter in A ball.  Not too shabby.  Him alone is worth it for the Cubs IMO. 

LOL at thinking Garza is going to get anything less than 80M++

Yeah... no way Garza gets three years.  The guy's averaged a 3.70 ERA and a 1.2 WHIP the past six seasons and is fairly young at 29.  He's basically a poor-man's Greinke, and is only a year older than him.

5 years - $80M-$90M at least.

I think we'll be hearing this from Pujols a lot the next eight years: "I feel that I can still compete at the highest level, I just need to get healthy"

Wopphil pretty much summed it up perfectly.

I couldn't care less whether Scioscia stays or goes honestly.  No manager could have saved this trainwreck of a season.  We moved out all of our young talent for hopefully a few years of deep playoff runs and instead Pujols has crashed and burned, Hamilton is doing the same and the pitching has been patchwork for a couple years now.  Since everyone is locking up good young pitching and the free agent market gets thinner every year, we're really running out of options as Weaver and C.J. get older and we have zero arms to match up with them any time soon.  I could honestly see the Angels sucking for 4-5 years as they slowly replenish the farm and let some expensive contracts die out. 

Imagine how terrible things would be if Trout didn't develop into the best player in the game.... ugh.  This team would be an unmitigated disaster, even more so than it already is.  If we're on a downswing, at least it's happening while the Rangers and A's are having some of their best seasons in years. 

Williams pitched better yesterday?  I didn't watch much of the game, but his stat line sure looks terrible (5 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 3 BB).

Since June 1st:

Hamilton: .228/.275/.434, 10 BB, 40 K

Trumbo: .193/.255/.400, 13 BB, 41 K

Iannetta: .197/.319/.250, 2 XBH

Pujols: .249/.333/.457

Williams: 7.25 ERA, .940 (!) OPS against

Blanton: 5.00 ERA, 48 hits in 48 IP, 13 BB

Hanson (before injury): 5.10 ERA, 1.552 WHIP

I mean, even if we had average and not terrible 3-5 starters, the bulk of our lineup (outside of Trout and Kendrick) are either injured or having some of the worst seasons of their careers. 

Ahhh, the dreaded RBI, if no player was responsible for them then all pitchers would have an ERA of zero.

 

But if we remove the RBI from evaluating a MOTO bat why do we put any value on that player? After all the point of the game is to score more runs than the opponent so there has to be some tangible value for a guy that seems to find a way to push a runner in scoring position across the plate.

 

Unfortunately for Trumbo his value doing just that is squat. With runners on base he is hitting .217 with a .681 OPS. With runners in scoring position .216 with a .645 OPS. That means he sucks at generating the one redeeming value of keeping him in the lineup and that is offense.

 

But you are right, RBIs are a false stat but only in a false theory of how baseball games are won.

Ahhh, the dreaded win, if no pitcher was responsible for them then all teams would have a win total of zero.

The point is to remove as much circumstantial and extraneous statistical data from an individual player's performance as possible.  The very definition of an RBI is that it's dependent on what the players hitting in front of you are doing.  Would Cabrera be on a 160+ RBI pace on the Marlins?  This is why stats like ISO, wRC+, WAR, OBP and etc. have been seeing more light of day.  The same way a 4.50 ERA pitcher can get 15+ wins if pitching for a great offensive team, or a middle reliever can pick up a win in specific circumstances. 

RBI's are a byproduct of being a good hitter, since good hitters tend to hit in run-producing lineup slots.  Trout barely cracked the top 50 in RBI's last year but was far and away the best individual player in baseball.  They aren't a false stat, they just aren't a particularly valuable stat.

Yeah, the only reason he's valuable is because he's making the league minimum and is under team control for three more years.  Still striking out at over 25% and not disciplined enough to balance it out.

I don't really see us getting anything valuable for Trumbo anyways.  He's pretty much a one-tool 2 WAR guy with mediocre defense.  Would probably have to package him and Calhoun to get any decent arms. 

I want to see Albert and Josh hit back to back homers, just so I can see Josh pass Pujols on the way to the plate.

Calhoun is hitting around .340/.410/.560 in 50+ games now, and has almost as many walks as strikeouts (25/28).  Also has 10 SB, 5 3B's and 8 HR.  

If he's not forcing their hand by now, I can't imagine what they're waiting for.  

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2013-trade-value-the-top-10/

"Without knowing how conversations went, it’s impossible to know why the Angels haven’t locked up Mike Trout yet.  Just back up the truck and give him whatever he wants.  The rest of the Angels are kind of a disaster, but this guy is single handedly keeping them from going off the rails."

I'd hate to be Blanton's dog

All you classy mo'fukahs playing golf.  Those ballz be expensive.