Angels in 2030

Imagine being back in 2015 8 years ago after the season.  Finished 3 GB that season with 98 wins the season before.  Imagine someone saying at that time that the Angels would not finish above 500 for the next 8 straight years -- with Trout and with a two time MVP combo SP/hitter that rivals Babe Ruth.  Plus a top 1/3rd payroll.  To top things off, at the end of this 8 years in 2023, the Angels might be the worst off going into the post-season than during any of those previous years.  I'm not sure any of us could believe such a tall tell (some still don't want to hear it and prefer to believe otherwise).

It's gonna be a sloooooow rebuild process until 2030.  Arte is too stubborn to truly rebuild -- nor will he change his bad ownership "habits".   I think we start to see the turn upward from the Arte ashes around 2028 and 2030 starts new decade of prominence.  

I can't think of anything less likely to happen ever on this Earth -- except maybe AO having a threesome with Charlize Theron & Gal Gadot.  Even then, idk

18 minutes ago, Stradling said:

...it is your personality, posting style.  

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

Someone got their feelings hurt.  Poor kid. 

lol -- if that makes you feel better, then run with it.  BTW, i'm still super flattered about the "kid" moniker.  My kids would lol at that.  Young at heart is great.  you old foggies shouldn't take your Angels baseball and poor life so hard and make you bitter.  

anyway, here's to a great offseason -- Arte deciding to sell and a new era of Angels baseball one day (hopefully before my stated 2030) soon.

14 hours ago, Blarg said:

Hey, Farts..., I mean, Fourts, how many name changes are going to try to hide your trail of not well thought out posts? 

Huh?  Listen old man with no life who needs to spend his time on here all day and post about me with a something non-baseball related......I didn't realize a name change wasn't allowed.  I should i spoken to you Mr. Hall Monitor.  You should know, having been on here for ages and posting nearly 57K times, a simple name change does not do anything of the like.  I know you're smarter than that (i hope you are that is).  thanks for taking the fun out things.  

BTW, if you must know, i had Fourts for a personal reason...and that is not applicable anymore.  So i switched to "Skips" but then decided Angels in 2030 was more meaningful.  

If i ever decide to change my name again, i'll submit a written request to your council before doing so and await your approval.

34 minutes ago, Stradling said:

He wasn’t. 

Old & stupid is no way to go through life 

15 minutes ago, Stradling said:

You’re welcome. I am only here to provide a grown up account if things for you kids. 

Old folks always think they know better...even when things pass them by.  Eventually, old people die

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

But inside of saying they are “focusing on strike outs” what they are really saying is, “this is the most effective pitch in this scenario, from this pitchers arsenal, to get a swing and miss, against this type of hitter, based on his weaknesses”. So it isn’t some nerd simply saying throw a sweeper. 

It's awesome that you were there during these discussions to personally confirm what was said between them.  I feel much better now about our nerds and their impact on the team.

I wonder who will be the next Angels manager to be fired…err hired.

Railroaded— there’s lot of these girls…lots of them.  There’s also dumb athletes and rich guys that are prime for picking.  She found the wrong ahole.  

it won't matter -- as long as Arte is around unfortunately.  Fish rots from the head

knowing the Angels, they will sweep the A's and move into the 8th or 9th spot.  

32 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

That's as good a guess as any.

Anyhow, what irks me about this is that his agent is obviously trying to play off the surgery as more minor than it actually is, hoping to inch closer to the pre-injury mega contract. Meaning, they're acting as if it is no big deal, just a year of pitching lost, and then he'll be back to 2021-23 Shohei in 2025 and beyond.

But the fact is he's having major surgery, and basically a variant on TJS. As his second one, it reduces his chances of coming back to peak form, and even if he does, the injury risk increases as well (See "DeGrom, Jacob" - and numerous others). That hurts his overall value significantly - he goes from a mega-star unicorn, a two-way guy who has averaged about 9 WAR over the last three seasons, to a star DH who may or may not come back as a star pitcher. As a DH, he's averaged about 5 WAR per season over the last three years which is still quite good, but indicates a much lower payout than 9 WAR.

If we average out the last three seasons with the bat, he's hit .277/.379/.585 with a 156 wRC+ and 41 HR a year. That 156 wRC+ is fourth best among all hitters for 2021-23, surpassed only by Judge, Alvarez and Trout. But he is a DH until he can prove otherwise. If it was stated that he would never pitch again, as a top 5 hitter his likely contract would probably be something like 8/$280M. Pre-injury he was probably going to get at least 10/$450M, maybe more.

If we split the difference, we get 9/$365M. Someone will probably give him a tenth year, so I think he gets 10/$400M. But I'd be very leery of giving that to him, all things considered.

meaning his agent is doing his job

2 hours ago, Jason said:

This is pretty clever. I give it an A. 

The Big A

It’ll be one of LAD, Mariners, SF or SD (in that order).

2 hours ago, John Taylor said:

I'm ready to move on with our prospects and ideally a revamped coaching and medical staff.

Honestly give me a young team similar to the 1999-2001 team that was hungry and building towards that 2002 season. I know baseball has changed and is more stat heavy but seeing guys with that grinding attitude like Neto, O'Hoppe and Moniak does give me some hope for a few years down the line.

 

....also Arte sell the fucking team you old crusty bastard.

2030

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

You act young for your age. Don’t mistake that for a compliment. 

You act old for your age.  Don’t mistake THAT for a compliment.  

I'm sure in ST/February we'll be hearing how Rendon is finally injury free, feeling great and in the best shape in a decade. 

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

No I don’t admit or believe he’s up with the club in some desperate way to win games. He’s up here because he can get on base at an elite rate at the major league level. 
The power will come but it might be double power. Do a search and you’ll see who I compare him to. 

Case in point -- as i said

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

yea and you come across like a typical twenty something know it all. 
 

LOL, i wish.  But Mahalo for the compliment 

57 minutes ago, Stradling said:

It was a small sample size. You remembered him as being a power OBP guy.  He was in college with one of the highest slugging percentages in college. I’m guessing they believe he will grow into a doubles and OBP machine. Nothing wrong with that. If he’s above a .400 OBP in the majors he will be very valuable. 

I feel like you are always there to counter-point any post that has a criticism of the Angels.  Always changing the narrative to a potential positive.  But not in an optimistic fan-boy way (which would be fine).  But in a "i work for the Angels organization" type way.  Not that you do obviously.  But it comes off that way.  Like there is no way to criticize the team/organization at all with you.  Let's be real, there's a lot to do so with them.  You can be hopeful and supportive of the team, while also acknowledge the failures and problematic issues. 

Even you have to be able to admit that the lack of any power at all is a concern at this early juncture in his career; and that the majors with a desperate to win team is not an ideal place for such a youngster to immediately jump from a mid-major college to now learn how to hit with a wooden bat, go against the best Ps in the world, etc.  

20 hours ago, Stradling said:

You are misremembering.  There was talk about his lack of OPS in the cape cod league prior to being drafted.

If that's the case, and ultimately it turns out to not be an easy fix/adjustment (e.g., getting used to wooden bats), then it makes the selection of him and full slot payment even more of a questionable decision.  I don't care how elite the OBP/eye is for a guy -- he needs to have more elite skills than that to justify.  The problem is, he's negative or average (at best) for all other spots.  Negative power (especially for the position), defensive negative, speed negative.  I love the OBP and patience/eye...but not at the expensive of everything else.  Especially at 1B. 

He has time to adapt and improve.  But doing that in the majors is not the ideal place to do so.  Worse when it's a team that is so desperate to win.  Maybe if it's the A's or some full-on rebuilding team like the O's a few years back.  Peculiar management decisions.  I hope in the end they end up being on the right side of things here.  History hasn't been their friend though.