beatlesrule

7 hours ago, mmc said:

 

You can ask him if he has as much grit as Erstad.

I have stated this before but I just don't understand this way of thinking. Ohtani is not going to be able to sustain 2 positions at an elite level for the next 8 years or whatever. I'll be surprised if he's still an All Star 2 way player in 3 years. He is not worth 50 million a year for 8 years.

I somehow missed that Ohtani got 30 million.....WOW!

5 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

I'll bet you that Rengifo/Fletcher combined have a higher WAR and productivity than the 33-year old Miguel Rojas in 2023.

Both of them sure but Rengifo isn't really suited to be a SS as of last year so will he be the starting shortstop 150 games this year? 100 games for him and the rest for Fletcher? Vice versa?

Rojas is a SS was the point and he was better than Angels SS in 2022. For this year, I do agree Angels should be better.

4 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

The Angels got 1 fWAR from SS last year and the Marlins got 2 fWAR from SS.  fWAR has Rojas at 1.2 WAR for 2022 because bWAR gave him a ton more value for his defense.  fWAR uses statcast data for it's defensive calc and I find it to be more consistent because it takes starting position of the player into account.  With the shift going away, that may even things out a bit.  

Either way, he had a stellar defensive season in 2022 yet it was an outlier to pretty much the rest of his career.  Entering his age 34 season, I wouldn't bank on that again and his bat tailed off a fair amount last year.  

Overall, he's about a 1.5 win player.   Fletcher actually has similar rate stats both offensively and defensively and there's some hope for him to show more of the bat he's had in the past.  

Point is, we essentially already have Rojas.  

 

It was more geared towards Chuck's comment that he is meh. That means our STARTING SS is also meh or even worse than that. Rojas is there for depth though. Lux is better than Rojas and Fletcher combined. Fangraphs projects Rojas to be better than Fletcher in 2023 so hopefully they are wrong.

Rojas had a 2.5 bWAR last year. I'm having a hard time finding the Angels combined SS bWAR but I imagine it's close to that.

Why exaggerate though? When have I exaggerated? Doesn't make any sense to post that no one makes trades in the off season unless they are salary dumps when teams do in fact make trades that are not salary dumps. It's not an exaggeration, it's just flat out wrong. It's also even more odd that it's coming from an OC register writer.

35 minutes ago, Setzer said:

Angels signing Bauer gives us a legitimate shot at postseason so I'm all for giving him a 1 year deal.

Can't say I'm a fan of what he chooses to do on his own time, the fact is, he wasn't charged with any crime.

And his accuser is a flat out liar.

He stated no one makes offseason trades anymore that aren't salary dumps. He's wrong.

On 12/21/2022 at 4:03 PM, Jeff Fletcher said:

Let me rephrase it 

People are not making off-season trades in which the idea is to exchange talent and not just clear salary. 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/phillies-tigers-agree-to-trade-for-gregory-soto.html

Salary dump? How about the trades that have happened between the last post I made and this post? See, talent exchanging trades are alive and well. To say they never happen in the offseason is just wrong.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/mlbtr-poll-american-league-west-favorite.html

Los Angeles Angels – 2022 record: 73-89, projected 2023 fWAR: 40.4

The Angels have continued to disappoint despite having two of the best players on the planet on their roster. That was the case again in 2022, as Mike Trout was limited by injury to just 119 games but still produced 6.0 fWAR while Shohei Ohtani produced 3.8 fWAR at the plate and 5.6 on the mound. Still, the club fell out of contention in the summer and never really made it back.

Despite years of falling short of expectations, there are reasons to think 2023 could actually be the year they deliver. They didn’t lose any key contributors to free agency, with players like Michael Lorenzen and Matt Duffy marking some of the most notable departures. They’ve also patched some of the holes that have caused their ship to sink in past years, as a lack of adequate depth has continually wasted the star performances at the top of the roster.

Starting pitching has long been a struggle for the club but the rotation seems like it could be in the best shape in years. 2022 saw encouraging developments from Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and José Suarez, all of whom are slated to return to the club this year. The Halos also supplemented that group by signing Tyler Anderson away from the Dodgers. That gives them a solid front five with Tucker Davidson, Griffin Canning and Chase Silseth on hand as depth options. On the position player side, they’ve added Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Drury and Gio Urshela. Those aren’t stars, but the Angels already had stars. They needed adequate role players to supplement their stars and seem to have added some solid options.

Well that took a long time to go nowhere.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-trade-market-reset-top-players-who-could-be-dealt-before-opening-day-and-teams-that-could-make-moves/

If you still think the Angels are going to pull off a trade, here is an article for you. Some of the names are: Liam Hendriks, Max Kepler, Pablo Lopez , Bryan Reynolds, Gleyber Torres, Chris Flexen.

3 hours ago, T.G. said:

Hosmer, Bellinger... it's like a half way house for bad baseball players.

Bad? Not according to their f and b WAR.

1 minute ago, Docwaukee said:

people who don't understand how numbers work shouldn't make posts about numbers.  

Pretty sure what he is getting at is everyone year we think the team will be better than it is. That goes for the 2023 team too. I think they've improved sure but they have also proven they can't stay healthy year after year after year etc so this year is likely to be the same. The only outlier is that Arte will HOPEFULLY not be the owner come April so that just might change things right there. The staff he has hired clearly should not be employed by a major league club. That's my hope for 2023. A new owner would be amazing.

1 minute ago, Second Base said:

2016 Projected 79 wins, actual 74 wins
2017 Projected 79 wins, actual 80 wins
2018 Projected 84 wins actual 80 wins
2019 Projected 81 wins, actual 72 wins
2020 Projected 30 wins, actual 26 wins
2021 Projected 84 wins, actual 77 wins
2022 Projected 81 wins, actual 73 wins.

------

It's called, "data." I think you need to "trust the science."

21 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

We're due baby!

1 minute ago, Second Base said:

I like the way you see the world!

1 hour ago, Second Base said:

According the Fa graphs depth chart and ZIPS projections, here's a brief history for the Angels

2016 Projected 79 wins, actual 74 wins

2017 Projected 79 wins, actual 80 wins

2018 Projected 84 wins actual 80 wins

2019 Projected 81 wins, actual 72 wins

2020 Projected 30 wins, actual 26 wins

2021 Projected 84 wins, actual 77 wins

2022 Projected 81 wins, actual 73 wins.

If we could all take off our Homer glasses for just one second, we could see that the Angels underperform their projection, pretty much every single season. If FG projects 85 wins, it's more likely going to be 80. If they project 90, it's more like 85. 

You can call me a pessimist all you want, but me saying 85 wins sounds about right, is even too optimistic given recent history.

The Angels have some bright spots right now, and I like what Perry is trying in his effort to build a winner, retain Ohtani and keep his job.... But realistically, there's nothing that sets this team apart as a surefire playoff team. There isn't, and that's just the truth. 

Can they make the playoffs with this roster? Yes. Will they? Maybe. I'd say it's a toss up. But all these posters predicted 90 wins or whatever else. It's just nonsense. 

Has your mind changed? Here's the latest billionaire to inquire on the Angels

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/how-al-teams-have-addressed-their-weakest-positions-of-2022.html

Angels (First Base, -1.0 bWAR The top-heavy Angels are known for superstars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, but the club also had sub-replacement production at a whopping five positions.  First base was the lowest of the bunch, as Jared Walsh struggled through a rough season that was cut short by thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.  While Walsh is expected to be ready for Spring Training, the Halos picked up some depth and insurance by acquiring Gio Urshela from the Twins and signing Brandon Drury, either of whom could see action at first base when not playing elsewhere around the diamond.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/the-opener-padres-adell-tigers.html

Jo Adell was once among the most promising prospects in the game, but after three consecutive seasons of struggling in his opportunities at the major league level, he appears to be in danger of being pushed off the roster in Anaheim entirely.....