Jeremiah

I see what you’re saying here, and I generally agree. This is where a president of baseball ops with a track record of success would be helpful. Sometimes the owner needs to be saved from himself. Arte keeps bringing in first-time GMs, people who don’t yet have the experience to tell Arte that he’s incorrect. Yes, they should have traded Ohtani two years ago. They also shouldn’t have compounded that error by trading Edgar Quero for the husk of Lucas Giolito. They did, and that was likely 100% ownership thinking only of butts in seats instead of the future. And here we are with a weak farm system and a weak MLB club that seems like it’s trying to thread the needle between competing and rebuilding.

I agree with this 100%. I don’t think the team has the organizational depth, strength or structure that allows a team to just rebuild on the fly. They need to go through a lengthy, genuine rebuild. That will involve some lean years where they let the kids play and go through their growing pains. The team needs to amass good draft prospects to restock the farm, and hopefully get the right baseball ops and player development structures in place.

First time at AW? You’ll see that kind of rhetoric is a frequent occurrence around here.

I will agree that bunting there doesn’t make sense. A team only gets 27 outs. They should not give any of them away intentionally.

I get what you’re saying, but changing batters mid-at bat is extremely rare, and usually done because the batter cannot continue the at bat for whatever reason. It would put Drury at a disadvantage to do that. By that point, Adrianza was it.

No one is crying. The fact is Jo Adell has no MiLB options left. They can’t send him to SLC. This is the year the Angels need to fish or cut bait with him. So it makes no sense to play Hicks ahead of Adell, since Hicks is not part of the team’s future plans. Now is when we have to find out if Adell has what it takes to be an everyday player.

Today’s the day. Go Kings Go! LFG!

I think the case can be made the Perry may be, though that would seem odd for a GM in his walk year. As AJ noted in this thread, he didn’t make any big ticket signings beyond the odd deal for Stephenson. It can be argued that all of the bullpen depth was meant to support the young starters. I agree on Washington, though. He’s over reliant on Hicks and Sano, leaving Adell sitting. If the team is rebuilding then the team should see what they really have with him. Then again, perhaps that’s exactly the approach the FO and Wash agreed upon, hence the seeming lack of a direction or vision.

I always figured this year, and possibly next, would time for rebuilding and seeing what they have in terms of players in the system. I never understood the the vets on one-year deals unless they were there to fill in when the younger players needed a game or two off. Some folks keep saying, “trade value,” but what are you realistically going to get for any of those guys? You may get a lottery ticket or two, but nothing of any consequence from any other org. So that argument makes no sense. I don’t mind if they need to stink for a few seasons if they have a clear plan to rebuild. My biggest issue with the team is just that it seems like this team lacks any clear direction or prospect depth, with no sense that they will set a course and stay with it.

Fletch likely doesn’t write the headlines, typically editors do that. It’s also pointing out that poor defense from Rengifo has been a big factor in the last two losses. That’s kind of a big part of how the weekend went for the team.

Okay. And the rest of my post? Does the world or MLB owe Bauer a living? If so, why?

I don’t understand the fascination with Bauer. He’s made, according to Spotrac, over $100M in career earnings. That includes $23M last year when he didn’t even play. He’s not suffering. I imagine many of the people championing Bauer’s cause would agree that the world doesn’t owe you a living, right? They would also likely agree that a private employer can contract (or not) with whomever they choose, right? MLB and its member clubs have decided they don’t want to work with him any longer. It would seem they are well within their rights to do so. Otherwise the MLBPA and his agent would have filed a grievance ages ago.

It’s okay. We get EDM again, and that’s the chance to get that monkey off of our backs. Every team in the playoffs is going to be a challenge. NHL playoffs are the best playoffs. Go Kings Go!

Serious question (and @cals may know better): would the league need to settle with Bauer? As far as I understand it, MLB and its clubs are private employers. They don’t have to employ anyone just because he can throw or hit a baseball well.

He was the Angels GM for a couple of seasons, as I recall.

Whatever to the optics. This is obviously a case of recency bias. The stats do not support the idea that Trout stinks when the game is on the line.

I get what you’re saying, but it’s early and he’s been getting more hits of late. Leadoff hitters get fewer RBI chances than anyone else as well. He needs the bottom of the order to get on base more so that he has those opportunities to drive them in.

As does Torii Hunter, who was just hired as a special assistant to the GM.

I don’t think the locale where one grows up has much to do with whether or not one can be a successful pro athlete. Shane Bieber is from Mission Viejo. Gary Carter played HS ball in Fullerton. Matt Chapman is from the OC. Lots of ball players come through Cal State Fullerton. I think it has more to do with how you’re wired and what kind of work ethic you develop as you grow up.

You kind of became the example of what he was talking about with this post. You set up a strawman, and one that isn’t even your own, and then argued against it. You then added a personal insult at the end. You, I mean Lou, may not like his argument for Nevin, but Swordsman wasn’t talking about that in this thread. You took the bait and proved Swordsman right on this point.

I like what Detmers has done so far this season. Hopefully he can continue to make good strides into a more TOR starter.

You can also include Dipoto quitting midseason. I don’t this is a great point for the Angels, though. It definitely speaks to the quality of executive that the team hired since Stoneman stepped down. It has also been reported by local press that the Angels GM job is not very attractive to experienced GMs.

This is an overly broad generalization, but there is definitely a kernel of truth there. I’ve been around on this site for a long time, generally on the periphery. There are definitely users who get very defensive when negative critiques of the Angels are presented. I also agree that some users will go beyond disagreeing on a point, and insult the other person as well, which is unnecessary. A good argument will be able to stand on its own merits.