Fake Chow

Oh no!  Overall MLB top line revenue just went down $15.

John Kruk

Im late to the stroman news.
@Dochalo and his charlie brown football are, of course, reality.
Ive defended arte a ton, and on some things still do. But I hate to say it.... he really has become a shit owner.
Scherzer was in play because hes a name. Syndegaard was (might still be) a name. Pujols. Hamilton. On and on and on. 
Names vs talent. 
Both Ray and Stroman signed for very affordable deals. We could easily have afforded them. But they arent big enough names. 
And like others have mentioned, we'll be in the same boat next year.... with trout older, ohtani closer to FA, etc etc. 
Some young guys might breakout, I guess. But we're also going to have setbacks. 
Going into the year with ohtani and syndegaard as our staff front end sounds great on paper.... as long as syndegaard is healthy, and ohtani doesnt get injured running the bases. But both are on a 6 man rotation. So they wont be used as much as normal pitchers. Are the next 4 good enough to make up the difference? (Not to mention sandoval isnt an innings eater, nor is lorenzen). (Lorenzens never even been a starter).
Thats a bad recipe. 
Maybe they work some magic going forward. But not spending this year is stupid. They have the money. Its been a decade since a playoff win, and only 3 playoff games in 11 years since then. 
So you save the money this year and prep for the ohtani mega deal. Better hope he is on board with it. 
7 years since a playoff appearance, 11 since a win.

The problem is non committal. People laugh when you say "Arte is cheap" because they have one of the higher payrolls in MLB. But that's all due to a few players making huge amounts of money and you know it's justified only because the ends justify the means from a marketing perspective.
You can't pay Trout and Rendon a combined $75M and not also be willing to spend in other areas and stretch the budget. Unless of course you have an great farm system, which they don't because Arte saves cash there also. You either have to be like rays and A's and trade your top guys away before free agency to keep a low payroll and keep the farm filled with talent. OR you have to be willing to spend to fill your needs. The Angels haven't committed to either approach and that's why they have sucked and will continue to suck until it changes. 
And yes, this is a direct result of Arte Moreno. We've had 2 GMs that have been hired elsewhere despite their lack of success with the Angels. That's because it's known being under Arte is a handicap.

100% 
Anything left to do now that will really impact the team will damage the farm. It's so hard to believe they didn't sign Ray, Gausman, or Stroman given what they signed for. And it doesn't seem like they really tried very hard. I can't believe after all the talk about impact pitchers being added, they didn't add a single TOR arm that's pitched in the last 2 years. Honestly unbelievable even given the Angels history under Arte.

Is it just me or does it feel like there was so major missed opportunity this off season.  I know it's not over but I can't help but feel like there was so much more that could have been done and that this was the year to spend a bit extra.  

Ray was their guy and they should have paid to get him. In a sense, Arte is cheap and there's no way around it. The only reason Angels payroll is as high as it is, is due to certain players that Arte knew he could market and it would be financially worth it. It's clear the bottom line is more important than winning. 
Literally everything that front office says is total bullshit because they still have failed to address pitching as a whole. As it stands, they are marginally better off than last year IF Syndergaard is healthy and pitches well. 
I'm still waiting to completely judge them because they can still make a trade. However, they shouldn't have had to.. Arte is forcing them to mortgage the future because he refuses to go over.

Ill add here.
IMO, viewing Ohtani as a starter is "unique". Hes one of the best, for sure. But hes a once a week guy. And if he gets tired, less than that.
And at any point he could miss time from sliding into 2cd or something..... (someone needs to say it).
Syndegaard should be back, and has the motivation (2023) to crush it. But my understanding is he will be limited, too.
Lorenzen is a giant unknown.
They need another starter. Im just not sure they want to spend on one.

Why doesn’t Perry tell Arte that Stroman is a shortstop and show him highlights of Lindor to prove it.
Seems pretty simple to me. 

On one hand this lockout had made for an action packed free agency so far.  Couple that with us striking first with Syndergaard, and a GM at hat his been vocal about multiple targets, all the money off the books, and all the options available, how could you NOT be excited?
but the flip side is instead of the normal three months of paper it’s between our toes, we get brutalized with sledgehammers to the sack over and over every five minutes today. And not even to the NL or even other AL teams outside our division.  Nope, instead it’s our past two GMs that we blamed for never getting us pitching…
this has been a monumentally deflating and frustrating few hours, especially after going to bed fired up that Ray was actually obtainable and fit the narratives.
buttercupped again
 

Boys, it's time to storm the stadium.
I'll meet you there.

Athletics and Astros have stepped down, Mariners and Rangers have stepped up. 
The Angels, who have the two best players on the planet, are still at the pawn shop.

Sign a SS and trade for an arm.  That is how the pivot should go down if you have to pivot.

If the Angels somehow get shut out of signing the big free agent pitcher, I absolutely want them to pivot and sign a beast SS with that money instead (and then trade for someone like Castillo).
My point is your post suggests it would be a stupid move when the pivot move would be the correct move.

Yes, but theve all been multi-month deals

Chuck's source is revealed!  It was Angels 1961 all along...

I hope so. Just worries me we are rumored favorites for Ray if we technically haven't formally met yet. 
Angels need to close deals quickly before left out teams with TONS of $ swoop in. 

Does this mean we will finally stop seeing Frazier mentioned as the centerpiece of every Yankee fan's trade proposal for a prominent player???  
 

If Eppler can put together a better group of major league scouts he'll have a lot more success.  That was the biggest nit.  He did a terrible job when he finally had a bit of money to spend.  Upton, Cozart, Harvey, Allen, Cahill, Espinosa, Maybin, Revere, Valbuena, Nolasco, Chavez, Lucroy, Bour, Teheran.  That's a pretty awesome list of how to waste a couple hundred mil.   Otherwise he did a really nice job.  
But damn if this franchise wasn't headed for a black hole when he got here yet was still essentially forced to try and keep the team somewhat competitive.  And even with his failures, he left the team in much better shape than he started with an actual shot to be a playoff team.  

Dipoto was just the wrong fit here with Arte and Scioscia. Doesn't matter who was at fault. That setup was just doomed to fail based off each individual's own egos and way of running things. 
Eppler, I think, in hindsight will be seen as being a really great GM who fulfilled his role more than was apparent. Sure, we all wanted to see the Angels win and will point to his record as to being a "failure", but with a greater lens of time, the work he did in rebuilding the farm, getting the team out of the dark ages and more into analytics, acquiring Ohtani, locking up Trout, his drafting...it will be a crucial part of the architecture if not immediately, further down the line.  

Canadians are supposed to be nice. Are you a transplant from Jersey?

And when he pitches 25 innings this year? I guess everyone will just chalk it up to bad luck 

I think its funny that tots puts out a discussion thread and it gets shit on by some regulars.  
I will say this about the idea.  I want to add talent, period.  If you can get Freeman and that creates depth that you can use to acquire pitching, then go for it.  If you can sign Sterling Marte and that creates depth to trade for pitching, go for it.  It is about adding talent and moving the team in the right direction.  If they think the team is better with Freeman plus the starter they trade for than it would be with a free agent starter and Walsh/Marsh/Adell then so be it.  

It would be worth losing my job as a newspaper headline editor to write "Marlins get head from Rays, for cash"
Or "Rays agree to give Head to Marlins for cash"