MacNasty

Haven't been this excited and happy about this team for a long time.  Actually I'm more excited now than when they signed Sciosh.  We're gonna win.  All Arte has to do is open that checkbook and it seems like he trusts Maddon enough to do that.  We're in for a beautiful era of Angels baseball.

But Eppler is preparing the 500 question test still and is set to include a round of Jeopardy for the finalists.  

9 hours ago, Sean-Regan said:

What concerns me more: Last year, most of Eppler’s interviews were with guys without managerial experience. Now we hear after Ausmus is let go that the Angels are looking for someone with a lot of experience. That implies to me that Arte is on the same page as Team Whine Country Club on this site. That means Eppler has very little autonomy to do his job. In case anyone needs a reminder, bad things happen when Arte meddles in things he knows jack about. 

What really matters here is that the right decision gets made.  I'm with you on Eppler and the interviews at large that produced Ausmus.  But whether Eppler was pushed or not, a mediocre manager was shown the door and right now the Angels are in the mix for what would be the right guy to build a winner.  Go get Maddon and then sweat the details of how involved Arte is while we watch this team contend.

Eppler recognizing he hired the guy who got the best coffee and reversing that decision gave me hope for not only him as a GM but for this franchise.  But the rumors on Maddon push that hope into the excitement range.  This is a huge deal for us, just the chance we might land that dude as manager.

Bad pitching requires a quicker hook.  I'd love to draw parallels here to bag on Ausmus (who I don't like) but it wouldn't be fair to him.  This is a cause and effect deal.

9 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

They did hire Stoneman. And that was a phenom decision.

But he got here in 2000. None of the World Series core was him. The only positives he added were trading Mo for appier, and signing Sele... neither long term fixtures.

Stoneman's strength was his eye for coaching and managerial talent.  He hired not only Sciosh but a pretty nice bench coach who was also instrumental in that championship.

Eppler said they liked him because "he can miss bats."  Which at the time I translated from GM-speak to "They both suck but he has more talent than Alvarez."

Lot of talk re: the spin rate on his ball so maybe the Pirates' pitching coach did something right this season.  

1 hour ago, Jason said:

I don’t think condoned is the right word. They are more vocal, organized and seem to be placing themselves in the spotlight. I don’t think the MSM is stupid enough to condone their tactics. 

Doing nothing is condoning.  Hate is hate but in today's climate it's ok to look past it depending on your political affiliation.  Which is wrong in ALL forms.

Difference between ANTIFA and white supremacy groups is ANTIFA is condoned by the press at large.  

4 hours ago, Dochalo said:

no one is claiming that we're set for the next 6 years. But that they're not the finished product and at least a couple of them will likely solidify rotation spots going forward while being better than we've seen over the last couple months.  

It likely means that we don't need an entire rotation but maybe 2 guys in addition to Ohtani.  

And the check is always in the mail as it relates to baseball.  

I'm tired of pitching coming up short.  So If I were the guy reporting to the boss on the product I'd go way beyond tinkering with a couple additions to ensure we're good and by God we might suck the next year but it wouldn't be from pitching.

I'd load a few new arms at a minimum who pitch to contact who can utilize our solid defense and ensure we can log innings.  And a big name FA on top of that to head up the rotation.

This conversation is the baseball equivalent of "check's in the mail."  We have youth in the rotation so everything's gonna be good someday.  And that may be correct.

But I'm sorta feeling like the landlord right now.

22 hours ago, AngelsWin.com said:

“For (the changeup) to be effective, you have to use the fastball, which means you have to locate it,” Ausmus said.

The real problem is keeping score.  Do away with that, and the Angels are primed to make a move.

38 minutes ago, Sean-Regan said:

Any team that sustained the problems with pitching that we have this year would suck. Any. Team. 

 

Because pitching falling apart is a new thing right?

My prob with Eppler is the dude got out from under the "weight" of the inherited coach and then hired the guy who fetched the best coffee.  I don't think Ausmus has the right feel for the top job.  That's gonna be on Eppler.

On 4/7/2019 at 8:31 AM, eligrba said:

I think the point of the article is the Angels increased use of data for determining the strengths and weaknesses of players.  Obviously, if his pitch had greater movement, he would be using it because the data would support the pitch's effectiveness.

The article focuses on the pitch going out of style due to current trends and uses that to soften the blow of him needing to stop throwing it.  Trends come and go in this league, round and round.  Dude had a garbage two seamer, but if you enjoyed reading it that's cool my man.

Laptop doesn't fit on the coffee table when you break out the hookers and blow.

If his sinker was heavier he'd still be throwing it.  Trends and cycles aside, when your stuff is good it works.

Everyone thinks they're in the middle lol.  I do too, but if I gotta choose, it's nutswinga.  I just don't look up.

Trouty be like...

Gotta wonder what's goin through Trouty's mind right now...