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Halos of Anaheim

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Posts posted by Halos of Anaheim

    In Eppler we trust?

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    And again, if it came down to a prediction of any sort, I think the team is going to hold onto any and all draft picks for the next 2-3 years because we critically need to rebuild the farm system. The result will be Yoenis Cespedes at 4/80. Gentry will be the 4th OF. Nava goes down to AAA to join Hinshaw and Berry in their OF.

    Last week of Spring Training, some contender is going to get desperate after some injury and not particularly like their depth, so the Angels will trade Wilson, save about 10 million dollars (15.5 million off the luxury tax because of the AAV of his contract) and get one or two decent prospects in return. It will put the Angels around 1.5 million over the luxury tax, making the penalty about a quarter of a million. Couch change for Arte. Rotation will be Richards, Heaney, Weav, Santiago and Shoemaker with Skaggs, Tropeano and Smith in AAA to start the season. I think chances are Tropeano replaces Weav by June and Skaggs replaces either Santiago or Shoemaker who will move to the bullpen in July.

    And we'll all laude Eppler for his patience in building a great defense, maintaining a deep pitching staff, improving the offense, keeping the payroll at an easily manageable level and beginning to rebuild a dry farm system with the draft picks retained and the prospects landed in the Wilson trade.

     

    A lot of wishful thinking here. Lets hope you're right.

    White Sox will only go three years for Cespedes/Gordon

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    "Cowart/Kubitza" is not an actual player under contract for the Angels. For all those that want to slide Escobar to 2B and replace Freese at 3B, you should at least be willing to propose one or the other. 

     

    For a semi-anonymous internet board filled with random opinions, it seems lazy not to have one here. Make up your minds. Do you want to go with Kaleb Cowart or Kyle Kubitza at 3B?

     

    Platoon.

    Best move of the offseason (so far)

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted · Edited by Halos of Anaheim

    I don't completely disagree, but my problem with the Gott / Escobar trade is that we were once again trading away future value in exchange for present value, when we should be buying present value on the FA market. Maybe Gott never amounts to anything and it's no big deal, or maybe he simply maintains his value next season and we are able to trade him next offseason to plug a new hole in a weak free agent class. Instead we trade him this year, weakening our already weak pen, to acquire one year of a third basemen, because we didn't feel like spending the money on the free agent version.

     

    True. It also makes less sense to acquire a 1 year rental (two if we pick up his option) for a cost controlled young pitcher (regardless of his talent ability/upside), if we aren't trying to win this year (as shown by our lack of interest in the FA market).

     

    Even with all that taken into consideration, I like Escobar as a player and he definitely helps our lineup improve this upcoming season. If Trout had a .350 OBP guy hitting infront of him for 150+ games, we would have probably made the playoffs. I just wish we could do more in free agency to help improve this team and take advantage of the years we have with Trout.

    Best move of the offseason (so far)

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    Gott for Escobar. We pretty much replaced Freese for cheap, and may have gotten a slight upgrade offensively as well. Escobar will also give us the leadoff hitter that we always wanted due to his high OBP. Gott is a one trick pony, and relief pitchers like him are a dime a dozen compared to infield position players that play every day and produce 2-3 WAR seasons consistently.

    Bunch of whining children here

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted · Edited by Halos of Anaheim

    I feel the irony of making a whining and bitching post to start a thread complaining about whiners and bitchers will be lost on the OP.

     

    But you see, Erstad Grit loves playing the oh so mature momma gimmick -- telling off all the immature little boys and showing everybody how much of an enlightened, level headed Superfan she is. Totally ignoring the ad homs, 4th grade level analogies and flawed logic in her post.

     

    But..you know, we're just whining children after all. Go Angels!

    Official 2015-2016 Hot Stove Thread

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    He had a terrible defensive season and is 32 year old now. If you're signing him, it needs to be a 3 year commitment at most for 10 million a season, and we need to get Upton with him because giving up a draft pick for just Kendrick wouldn't be smart.

     

    More than 3 years for Kendrick seems really risky to me...He's not the greatest athlete in the first place...any more decline in skills and he's just an average ball player or worse. I wouldn't commit to someone for more than 3 years unless the ceiling is high or they are young (I'd give Upton 6 years)

     

    He had a 5 war season the year before with us. I still believe he can be a good defender, who knows -- maybe he wasn't used to playing without Aybar by his side after playing with him for 9 years in the majors. 

    Winter Meetings Final Day

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    The Angels roster is still largely an unfinished product.  But I think Eppler showed a couple things this hot stove season. a. He's patient and willing to play his chances on the market, which wasn't the case with Simmons, but I think that shows how much he wanted Andrelton. and b. Eppler doesn't care about priorities, he'll fill the roster any time an opportunity arises, regardless of whether it's a pressing need or not. 

     

    So here's a rundown of what happened in an exciting day for the Angels. 

     

    1. The Angels selected Deolis Guerra and Ji-man Choi in the Rule 5 Draft.  Guerra realy doesn't look like anything special to me, except for the change up.  We'll see whether he impresses enough this Spring to earn a spot in the Angels bullpen.  Ji-man Choi was actually a pretty good signing by Eppler.  There's more power than we've seen from Choi, as he's still been refining his swing, coming back from injury and suspension.  But overall, we're looking at a VERY good hitter with the ability to reach base on a consistent basis.  If Albert isn't ready for the start of the season, we should see Choi get his opportunity.  Once Albert returns, Choi should be the first man off the bench. 

     

    2. The Angels selected a few RP's in the minor league phase, including Blayne Weller, Ariel Ovando and D.J. Johnson in the minor league phase of the draft.  Weller is nothing of note besides a depth piece.  D.J. Johnson falls into the same category.  Ovando has a cool story attached to him.  He was once a highly touted position player that just switched to pitching this last year, with electric results....in Rookie Ball.  Still, from what I understand he can reach the mid to upper 90's.  The Angels will work him him at a higher level to see if they've caught lightning in a bottle. 

     

    3. The Angels were a finalist for Jason Heyward, and then they weren't, but then they said that can change. This continues the pattern we've seen for several months now, that no one actually has ANY idea what the Angels are and aren't doing.  Not Heyman, not Rosenthal or Morosi, nor Brown, heck not even Scott Stedman.  I mean we can have fun predicting but I don't think anyone would've guessed Simmons, Gentry and Escobar a month ago. 

     

    4. The Angels traded RHP's Trevor Gott and Michael Brady to the Nationals in return for Yunel Escobar and 1.5 milion dollars.  There's some debate as to whether Gott was a fluke or the beginning of something special.  We'll let Nats fans finish that debate for us.  Brady was a nice story but a non-prospect.  Escobar meanwhile, is coming off his best professional season, can play a solid 3B, SS and 2B, gets on base, doesn't strike out much, and is only making 5.5 million this year after the money the Nats sent.  He also has a 7 million dollars option next year that seems like a strong wager for the Angels to pick up.  In Escobar, the Angels have landed their 3B, and it came at a much cheaper price than David Freese, but still gives the Angels the opportunity to move him to 2B if they resign Freese or if Cowart or Kubitza prove they're ready for 3B.  The Angels got better defensively at 3B, and found their leadoff hitter.  Probably the best move of the offseason so far for Billy Eppler. 

     

    The Winter Meetings have come to a conclusion, one which saw a lot of inactivity from the Angels, but a wild final day.  Intriguing note, NONE of the top OF free agents have signed yet, and the Angels don't have a LF yet either.  We also aren't sure if they'll exceed the Luxury Tax.  In the coming weeks, we should hear the Angels connected to every OF's name until someone actually gets it right. 

     

    Weeks? I'd say days. I think we get our LF by the end of the weekend imo.

    Eppler on MLB Network

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted · Edited by Halos of Anaheim

    Two things I took from that interview. 

     

    #1 - He sees the importance of the next 5 years. We have Trout, the best player in baseball locked up through his prime years and must be looking to win in all 5 years.

     

    #2 - He said if a player is young (Heyward) and provides a lot of prime years (Heyward), ''I think you have to be aggressive to sign that player''.

     

    Good to hear. I'm liking this guy already.

    Season has left me bitter...

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted · Edited by Halos of Anaheim

    I just don't understand Arte being gun shy in free agency. You spend upwards of 400+ million dollars on Pujols, Wilson and Hamilton -- three guys with clear holes in their game/reaching the latter part of their careers..all three disappoint in some way or another and you stop spending money? A contract like Heyward or Cespedes would be much smarter than those 3 contracts, actually help the team and put us in a much better position next year offensively. Taking on a bad contract for a good pitcher by giving up literally nothing gives our younger guys another year to work on their craft until it's their time to go. 

     

    But no, we'll most likely sign Murphy/Victorino/DeJesus level talent, a bullpen arm or two and go into next year with the same under-talented team. Just because our stupid owner spent big money on guys who everybody knew were going to flop, and is now scared to spend anymore.

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