Pancake Bear

The Angels pursued him last offseason. Grandal just didn’t like their offer.

@Jeff Fletcher Any word on who the other three interviews are with? And am I reading correctly that all four interviews are scheduled for today?

Cole is almost certainly not getting 35. Until a few weeks ago, 30 was considered a high estimate. He will get 30 aav, certainly. Trout’s aav is only 35. The highest pitcher to date is Verlander at 33 aav (on a two year deal), followed by Greinke at 32 aav (deferrals reduce the aav). Could he? Maybe, but I’m doubtful. 32-33 is probably where he tops out. 224ish would be my guess. To me, if you skip an ace (really just Cole, and maybe Strasburg), I wouldn’t feel at all confident going into next season. Not with how this staff performed this year. At this point, grabbing two mid tier guys seems far more dangerous to me than just grabbing one ace. Then I don’t know what you’re disagreeing with. I already said that. What I was rejecting was the notion that Arte’s happy just owning a team and will only spend as proportionate to roi. I disagree with the notion that he will not spend more if he thinks we’re competitive.

Starter gets pulled. Reliever gives up runs. Fans: “Manager is an idiot. Starter was rolling!” Starter is left in and gives up runs. Fans: “Wtf? Dude was ready in the bullpen. Couldn’t the manager see he was cooked?” Fans just want to pretend they’re smarter than the guy with the data, and they invariably whine when it doesn’t go well. Same thing with pinch hitters, etc. People just want something to blame for losing an apparently winnable game. “They just beat us” doesn’t sound as cool as “the manager screwed up”.

He'd be better off standing pat in that case. We need a top of the rotation arm. Anything less would be essentially what we have now. I never said that. I said I think he values winning more than you think he does. Also, you seem to be ignoring the possibility of backloading the contract. I'm not sure why since Fletcher already indicated that's the most likely scenario. EDIT: On the other question - I don't see him spending substantially more than he is at present. But I think he may add on a little bit more if we're close to the playoffs. Uh, okay, chief. Whatever you say.

wut

I can’t believe we didn’t get Corbin. Nate so lucky.

I think we disagree fundamentally on what drives Arte.

Rebuilding situation in the past. And this is a situation where they’re at least 2-3 years away if they don’t throw money at the problem. You don’t spend big when you’re rebuilding. You spend big when you’re close but need to fill holes.

That's inconsistent. Which is it? Prestige or money he wants? If it's money, he'd sell the team. If it's prestige, he wants to get back to the playoffs. He sure as heck doesn't want to be the guy who never got Trout postseason glory. Having 3mil fans and never going anywhere with it? That's what you do when you own the Pirates. Arte has spent money. He obvious cares about competing. This is just silly that he'll go cheap. You can point to prior years, but the reality is that he knew we were rebuilding. That is no longer the case.

That's the difference between you and me. I think Arte cares a lot about his bottom line. I don't think that's the only thing he cares about. If it was, he would've sold the team by now. Besides, signing Cole or Strasburg and another starter on the cheap (3-5mil) won't be outside the team's budget. They have 30-35mil to spend.

Arte knows the fans are impatient. He's pissed after losing 90 games for the first time as an owner. He knows Trout's legacy is in his hands (Arte's also). He's almost certainly pissed about the Harvey/Cahill moves falling apart last year. He won't settle for 2-3 mid range guys again. Even if he only gets one guy, he'll insist they go after an ace, whether that's Cole or Strasburg.

If we treat a Ausmus as the analytics guy and Scioscia as more of the old school manager, Maddon would be kind of an in between on that. He’s not as much straight analytics as Aus, although more so than Sosh, but he also runs a similar clubhouse dynamic to Scioscia (from what I read, I think better, actually), which would be probably an improvement on Ausmus. Obviously I don’t know those things for certain, that’s just my impression.

So you want a rich man’s Justin Bour.

They’d have to have multiple starters have bad games to have much of a chance of losing. They’re a heavy favorite.

Not liking my chances of going 9/9 in my picks. To be fair, the Twins pick was probably at least 50% wishful thinking. Still, Houston should stomp all over NY, so I’m not overly concerned about the overall damage.

Don’t get excited, I was just too lazy to post my own link.

You’ve been misinformed. See Lou’s post.

The assumption is he’ll opt out. I’m not convinced he will, given he’s 31, not 29, but it’s possible. He may also use his opt out as leverage to add a year to his contract. But it’s certainly open for speculation that he may be available, especially given the year that he had. Greinke did at age 32 and got a six year deal with insane money.

Doubtful. Angels would have to backload the contract, and it’s doubtful Cole would be interested in an opt out unless it was 2-3 years. But that would require front loading, and the Angels can’t do that or they’ll get no other quality pitchers.

Hamels and Hill both for 10 each is also a bit optimistic. If we get a third, it’ll either be a trade or a really cheap option.

Throwing low isn’t nearly as effective as it used to be.

It’s a meaningless question. Honestly, if Trout is still all-star level the next decade, that would be amazing. Obviously any Angel fan wants the team to be successful.

Ron Washington won’t even get an interview. Not with his drug history. He will not be considered for Angels manager.

This is why Hamels has been my top pick for second guy after Cole. Will we get him? Hard to say. If I see it, other teams definitely see it and that will raise his price. Unless of course they see something I do not.