KingJustinian

I agree more depth would be good, but what if adding 3-4 mil now prevents us from trading for a better higher priced pitcher during the year, if the need develops.

It's tough to evaluate the lack of action without knowing the true budget constraints and the future plan.

Pitching is more important than hitting.

Possibly, but that doesn't mean a team with good pitching and average offense is better than a team with a great offense and average pitching

Skaggs, Blanton, LeBlanc as depth is not even close to being the depth of a true contender. Neither is Skaggs, Blanton, Capuano. Signing mediocrity to garbage to replace mediocrity to garbage in the depth chart doesn't make sense and would be nothing more than a panic move. The Angels had pretty much nothing to work with in this year's market so they have been forced to stick with the crap they have.

Focus on extending Trout and address the pitching when worth while pitchers become available, which won't be until the ASB or 2015.

And the Cardinals need to go sign 2 or 3 hitters because their lineup isn't that of a contender.

/s

I think Dipoto is leaving his options open for a midseason trade based on what ends up being the biggest weakness. For all we know we get 5 solid starters and Blanton rebounds but the bullpen has issues.

The best pitching option may actually emerge after the season begins.  At least I keep telling myself that.  I would guess that Dipoto is laying the groundwork for a mid season trade.

 

Just a thought.

There was some article that I vaguely remember from like a week ago saying that is a possibility, such as taking in a pitcher that is good but is paid a lot. He might not want to pick up salary for a fringe starter, even if it's only a couple of million, because of that.

Seems like an excellent idea to me...he's like the last girl in the bar at 2am...

But the best girl at the bar was a 6.5/10

Being fit or in shape isn't synonymous with being thin. 

All that fat is dead weight, no pun intended. It makes him slower but not stronger. It definitely hurts his performance. Why the guy you responded to may be incorrect is because Fielder has never been in good shape, so he could be in the best shape of his life but still very out of shape.

Smart bet takes the under, chances are everything won't go right, which this team will need to happen to have a shot at decent season.

Compare this team to the 2012 team. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2012&t=ANG

Several things didn't go right for them, and they still had 89 wins.

Over

 

86-88 looks about right for this group. 90+ if they get some good luck/health as well as some breakouts from unlikely sources

This is what I think too. Without any big injuries and the big name players perform I could easily see 90+.

Most of the AL West looks underrated on here.

Give 10 year deal with opt out after 8.

Total for the Deal: 230,000 million

Year 1: 15 million

Year 2: 25 million

Year 3: 25 million

Year 4: 25 million

Year 5: 30 Million

Year 6: 30 Million

Year 7: 30 Million

Year 8: 30 Million

Year 9: 10 Million

Year 10:;10 Million

AAV is only 23 million. A bargain! He will probably opt out after 8 years for another run at FA. However, by that time, we would have had his best years.

Might as well add another 5 years at 1 million per year to get that AAV down

And also, just because we're going into the year with what we have it doesn't mean it's a rebuilding phase. We have three solid young pitchers with upside that a lot of people have wanted. If we sign someone else, Skaggs probably doesn't get a shot right away. If one of them struggles or there is a significant injury, you can still trade Howie or Aybar midseason.

That being said, I'd still prefer to sign one more veteran type to compete for the final spot.

The only guys left standing on the field since Dipoto's arrival are Kendrick, Aybar and Weaver. This team has already been completely rebuilt. Make no mistake, Dipoto cleaned house and this is his team. Names like Hunter, Morales, Trumbo, Callaspo, Izturis, Bourjos, Abreu, Santana, Haren, Pineiro, and numerous others have all been set adrift to change the future of the team. That's a lot of movement in only two seasons for Dipoto.

Dont forget good ole Jeppy

Not only that, you don't want to create unrealistic expectations among the fan base.You don't want the fans booing him because he doesn't strike out 15 in his first start.

That's my thinking. Fans having unrealistic expectations affects the media and in turn can put a lot more pressure on Tanaka, which Cashman probably doesn't want.

Bottom line is we need a lot of players to perform above what their trends based on age what expect (Hamilton and Albert Pujols). We need Freese to stay healthy and productive. We need our starters to stay healthy and productive.

Last year Hamilton as Pujols were way below the trend based on age. Pujols hitting a 850-900 OPS and Hamilton about the same next year would not be above the trends for their age, but would be a huge improvement.

I don't think he'd come over and light it up, but if he takes a one year deal and it keeps the Angels below the luxury tax, then they should get him for sure. At least consider a two year deal depending on the AAV.

Summary: All of our pitchers are either in decline or have a mediocre arsenal of pitches, so hopefully the defense is good enough for us to not have five 4.00+ ERA starters. Optimism!

What that means to me is that our pitchers know how to pitch, not just throw the ball. So they shouldn't drop off a cliff in terms of production.

On another note isn't Skaggs fastball average? And use to be above average as recently as a year ago? 91-92 is average for a lefty.

Baseball is by far the hardest sport to predict on paper. It is assumed by many that none of our big money players will produce. If they do than this could be and awesome year. If they continue to tank than the lean years will continue. I just see so much potential in our line up I cant understand throwing in the towel before spring training even starts. It almost seems like some are too nervous to be optimistic because of recent disappointments.

And this is right after a team predicted to finish 3rd or 4th in their division won the World Series, with a rebound from their 37 year old slugger.

What else would they be referring to? 2013 was the only year Blanton pitched for the Angels. Saying he could be similar to Blanton "in general" is a completely random comp. People are basically saying Arroyo will come over and suck as bad as Blanton did in 2013.

I've said Arroyo reminds me of Blanton and was referring to their whole career. I'm just saying that cherrypicking one year out of a 10+ year career is referring to an extreme, even if it is the most recent year.

Yup.

 

Welcome to the board of extremes.

And people who is saying he is comparable to Blanton maybe aren't referring to the one outlier/very bad year out of 10+ for Blanton. I could easily see Arroyo being similar to Blanton excluding 2013.

Our only high priced options were Tanaka and Garza. Garza is very risky and Tanaka would turn potentially turn it into the Pujols and Tanaka era of bad contracts.

This is a year or two old but still relevant. http://battlingbucs.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/the-average-starting-pitcher/

People here always seem to overestimate how good a pitcher should be in a particular slot, except for maybe #1's. CJ Wilson was definitely a good #2 last year.

Basically, by that definition, Richards should be a #4 with these projections. Even assuming that the #5 average is skewed because of outliers (really bad pitchers given a shot on bad teams, injuries, etc.), he still would project to a #5 with the ZIPS projections, which are slightly pessimistic IMO.

It's getting old seeing people say a guy with a low-mid 4's ERA is garbage.

That is close to how I see it. I will say it this way:

Pujols and Hamilton return to 90% of what they have done, playoffs.

Pujols and Hamilton are injured or play like last year 3rd or 4th place.

Pretty much. What's interesting is if one plays well but the other doesn't. Then it comes down to how much the pitching improves.

Balfour said the rumor about his physical was false and that it was just a ploy by the Orioles to drive down his price.

I don't buy that. Balfour is pretty competitive so I bet he has some pain somewhere but thinks it isn't an issue. That's just me speculating without knowing any details.

I guess the Angels' FO is banking on Sean Burnett and that other dipshit.

So we should get a guy who just failed a physical?

Definitely agree with your first sentence.

My concern is that Santiago, Richards and Skaggs haven't had big 200 inning workloads yet. They all can't be expected to pitch deep into games unless their innings are limited.

That's why signing another starter is necessary.

Dipoto said he's looking to sign a veteran starter still right? Idk if that was before Mulder was signed or not though.