Quinlanforthewin

Just now, Stradling said:

Ok Cozart was bad.  Upton opted out so he was a free agent and was a good signing. Ohtani was a good signing.  Who would you have liked them to sign that doesn’t affect the farm?   Who was a bad free agent signing?  

He is the master of finding a few productive players that everyone else has cast off, even if as I said earlier of course he's going to have success with a few  out of the dozens he brings in.  But almost everyone he has brought in with the intent to play a significant role for this team other than Upton Simmons and Ohtani has been a poor addition. Nava, Gentry, Pennington, Espinosa, Cozart, Kinsler, Valbuena, Chris Young,  Revere, Soto...I'm sure I'm missing a few more of his choices. All these guys were brought in with the expectation of having a significant role and were awful.  Not even going to mention the pitching additions because I think we can both agree the entire staff has been a dumpster fire since he got here.  Again, the results speak for themselves, we've been under .500 for three straight years with him despite having Trout, at some point he deserves some blame. 

20 hours ago, Lou said:

oh, we know him. he's in the same category as Gritty and Canadian. 

welcome back, QFTW!

(we missed you after the Ohtani signing and Trout extension) 

I appreciate the warm welcome. I don't know who those are two people are but I assume they're handsome and brilliant scholars. 

14 hours ago, Stradling said:

Yes the A’s and Rays had better years last year because of exactly what Eppler has been focusing on, they had better years because they have had more time to develop their farm system.  If Eppler spends his money available on the best talent on the market then you just helped the team short term because it will cost you draft picks and international money which you turn into more prospects.  The A’s and Rays never do that, Eppler has yet to do that, because all three of those entities understand the importance of building a team the right way.  

Welcome back, it is always nice to have a guy that says complete nonsense on here, we have lost a couple over the years.  Enjoy being the “edgy guy”.  

Really not trying to be edgy guy or a troll.  And I've been around, just not posting so I don't spend hours of my day arguing nonsense as you put it.  Just upset with losing and not impressed with at least 75 percent of the moves we've made.  We haven't won a playoff game in 9 years despite having the best player in generations.  The results speaks for themselves despite how everyone on here rationalizes them. 

I agree with developing a farm system being the best way to win and he has done well at improving ours.  I just don't agree with the majority of his free agent acquisitions.  Tell me where I'm wrong. 

For everyone saying Cozart only played a third of a year give him a chance...he's had a 7 year career in a hitters park prior to that and produced a .711 OPS.  It was a bad signing. 

3 hours ago, Lou said:

rage?

Hyperbole?

1 hour ago, Sean-Regan said:

Cozart and Valbuena (RIP) both made a lot of sense. Can’t blame Eppler for their underwhelming performances. Espinosa was a stop gap   position filler in a transition season that cost all of Trevor Gott - who has done nothing since, if I’m not mistaken. 

Cozart made no sense. He's white guy version of Gary Matthews Jr.  He was coming off a great contract year in a hitters park after a completely underwhelming career prior to that. 

1 hour ago, Dochalo said:

Upton was very good relative to what he was paid last year.  

29 other teams went after Ohtani and we got him because of Eppler. 

The first person Trout mentioned at his extension rally was Billy Eppler.  

The worst farm in baseball to one of the better ones in three years. 

A bunch of retread pitchers who have actually been functional.  

Lincecum, Chacin and Daniel Wright are nowhere close to Harvey or Cahill.  

Buttrey, Sandoval, Sratton, Pena, Rengifo for almost nothing.  

oh and Andrelton Simmons.   

Cozart is his one miss so far and he's had half a season.  I'm not overly confident in a rebound, but based on Eppler's available resources, his misses have been Zack, Valbueana and Espinosa.  

Good luck on getting better results from where this team was.  

And yet none of the teams he's assembled have come close to winning a single playoff game despite all these great accomplishments you list. And before you go referencing his available resources I'll just remind you that the A's and Rays had a significantly better record than us last year.  He needs to make better decisions with whatever money he does have available and spending 20 million on injury prone retreads like Harvey and Cahill and choosing Chris Stratton over Barria is going in the wrong direction. I don't expect to win an Eppler is incompetent argument here, but he shouldn't be blameless in this franchise's continued lack of success. 

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Why does that matter when we didn’t acquire Stratton through free agency.  I think he did well with Upton and Ohtani, who were both free agents.  I think he did poorly with Cozart.  I have no idea how he did with Cahill or Harvey.  

My rage over going into the season with this pitching staff made me forget Stratton was acquired via trade.  Upton was originally a trade and then he resigned him, so I'm not counting that, but even if we did he wasn't great last year for his contract. 

I put signing Ohtani on the same level as extending Trout.  Obviously great moves but it doesn't exactly take a genius GM to recognize you need to go after those guys if your owner says you can. 

I'm more referring to his lack of success with literally anyone that he's signed that he's had the confidence to put into a starting role

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

DEPTH.

Ideally the Angels have a rotation of Skaggs, Harvey, Heaney, Cahill, and Stratton all healthy and producing in a month with a nearly as good rotation of Pena, Barria, Suarez, Canning, and Peters in the wings at AAA.

That way when three go down again we aren’t signing guys like Lincecum, trading for guys like Chacin, waiver claiming the next Daniel Wright. 

I’m sure Eppler is well aware of the benefits Barria brings over Stratton so you have to think this is part of a larger effort to insure us against another decimated rotation.

The difference between guys like Lincecum, Chacin and Daniel Wright and any of the above guys you mentioned other than injury prone Skaggs and Heaney is so minimal that it doesn't matter.  The pitching is a disaster.  Anytime you're saying "Ideally the rotation is" and then listing those five guys you know you have major problems. 

48 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

JC Ramírez, Felix Peña, Parker Bridwell, Blake Parker, Yusmiero Petit, Bud Norris, Hansel Robles.

Eppler got all of them for nothing and all did better than expected, to varying degrees. 

How's he done with the Free Agents he's actually spent money on? 

You bring in enough cast offs and of course you're going to have a list of six or so who actually were mildly productive, especially when you're thrusting them into starting roles. 

1 hour ago, Second Base said:

I mean....I guess it's a good thing they like him so much that they're willing to play him over Barria. Maybe that means there's something more here.....

That's really the only way I can explain it. Granted, they were only one year deals,  but the Angels spent a lot of money this offseason with the intent on competing. And to trade for Stratton and immediately put him in the rotation over Barria, Suarez and Canning....it doesn't match up unless there's something there that Eppler thinks he sees. 

Or it means we're finally starting to see Eppler doesn't really know what he's doing

So Kelly and Ottavino get the same per year as Trevor Cahill and significantly less than Matt Harvey.  I understand it's 3 years versus 1, but I don't think having Kelly or Ottavino for 3 years would necessarily be a bad thing. 

35 minutes ago, Sean-Regan said:

You’re right. Definitely don’t want to emulate those two teams. 

In seriousness, they could spend some more money and I hope they do. But I’d rather they spend it intelligently and in view of where the team is at the moment, rather than just throwing money at guys asking for a lot of money because of what they’ve done in the past, whether it reflects their future performance ability or not. 

Got me there, I guess I meant historically in relation to the Rays and A's ...if we didn't have generational talent I'd be fine with the thrifty approach. I also don't want to throw money at just anybody, but when Machado's best offer is $175 million why not go after him and actually try to take advantage of Trout's prime.

My main concern is they're wasting Trout's prime, clearly this year with stopgap rotation solutions who are oft injured, a bullpen of nobodies, and basically the same offense, there's not a guaranteed improvement from what we've seen since Eppler took over.  Which means Trout again likely to be back in Millville in October and dreaming of the post-season.  That can't bode well for him signing an extension. 

I understand this argument that bullpens are a complete crap shoot so you might as well fill them with cheap guys with upside, but if you're going to go with that strategy I would expect them to spend some elsewhere on proven, reliable talent. Cahill and Harvey are injury prone and underwhelming to say the least and the offense hasn't been upgraded at all.  It seems cheap with upside is the strategy for the entire team, not just the bullpen, which is basically how the Rays and As build their team and not how I would expect to see a team with Trout and Ohtani intend to compete. 

Escobar is an absolute disaster and I don't care if he hits .400

Not that it matters at all but why is Choi getting regular playing time and Ortega is in AAA? Ortega is doing pretty well down there, have him platoon with Marte in left when Cron gets back. It'd at least make this crap more watchable.  Also our pitching staff looks hysterical on paper. 

If he's not DFA'd tomorrow I don't understand this organization

This season is hilarious

Going to be an absolutely brutal end to the year watching Nolasco, Lincecum, and Weaver.  Time to DFA Timmy and see what Nate Smith has to offer. 

12 hours ago, 19HALO71 said:

14 years? Please!

Try being a fan since 1971 and waiting 31 years.

Go Halos!!!

Again, not what I was referring to but I respect your fandom.  I meant I've heard people for 14 years since the WS team justify the current team's issues by referencing the 2002 team. Not that I've been a fan only 14 years. 

10 hours ago, Lou said:

you have to remember, some people waited 30 or 40 years to get to 2002, never dreaming it would actually occur. so 14 years is nothing to some folks here. 

 

To be clear I wasn't saying I became a fan then and have been waiting since then, I was just saying I've been hearing people reference 2002 for 14 years as a reason to justify the current year's issues.  Since this somehow became an I've been a fan since thread, I've been a fan since '90...really don't want to be mistaken as a fan who jumped on board after the WS

12 minutes ago, howie said:

Angels were 75-87 in 2001- no huge rebuild and some pretty nice things happened the next year

I've been hearing for 14 years now about "how in 2002 such and such happened" so there's no worries guys...how's that worked out?

According to Fletcher's article guys like Pennington and Nava being out are some of the reasons Scioscia can't be blamed.  I mean how can we blame injuries when the majority of those injured are just as bad as their replacements.  Yes Richards and Heaney were big blows but beyond that I would argue the other injuries are barely better than their replacements. Street and Smith are the Weaver and Lincecum of our bullpen, Pennington, Nava, Gentry? C'mon now. 

“With the position of this organization and the financial strengths of this organization, it’s not in the DNA here to rebuild,” Eppler said. “We’ll continue to invest. We’ll continue to invest throughout this season, with a mind for this season, with a mind for the future and this winter with a mind towards competing and contending year in and year out.”

I truly have no idea what this means. Position of this organization? You mean having the worst farm system in baseball? Financial strengths? You mean having garbage attendance and TV ratings and being so hamstrung by bad contracts that you can't afford any free agents in your first year as GM? Does continue to invest mean continue to dumpster dive and sign other organization's castoffs like we did throughout the 90s? 

10 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Did you look at 5 through 9?

I actually didn't. Wow.

Just tuning in. Why the fuck is Nava hitting cleanup?