Pancake Bear

The hell was this call?!

100% this.  I think if Friedman makes a splash, it is for Rendon, who has said he is more interested in a short-term, high AAV deal, which is exactly the type of contract Friedman likes to give out.  The Dodgers are also somewhat lacking in legit RH power, with Turner getting older and not much else beyond him.  He fits their needs better.
If they do that, then Seager becomes a trade asset for them, and they can in turn use Seager to acquire a top-of-the-rotation starter who costs a lot less than Cole, etc.
Just watching how Friedman operates, I think that outcome is far more likely than them dropping 250mil on Cole.

It would cost a lot, even backloaded (I don't see any way it's much less than 50m for all three), but if Arte adds a bit to payroll and they use some creativity in backloading stuff, we may be able to make it work.

3 pieces: 
Cole
Another solid pitcher (tougher pick; hard to know who the best option will be and whether that will be free agency or a trade).
Grandal.
Make those three moves, and this team is in good position going into 2020.

That was years ago when the payroll and luxury tax were close. That no longer applies (at least to the tax). 
That he would be willing to spend at the right time is the chief point. 

California is passing a law that allows extraterrestrials to receive government benefits.

dude,  their rotation is stacked, their lineup is stacked, and their front office and coaching staff are cutting edge.
they don't, "just know how to win". 

He’s had no major errors like Pujols, Hamilton, or Wells. His worst was Cozart, and that was mostly covered by insurance since he was on the IL most of his two years so far. The other three pitchers this year were one year deals that caused no long term damage. Stratton was a good pick that apparently was not helped by White, because he went on and flourished elsewhere immediately.  
He resigned Trout, signed Ohtani, acquired quality assets like La Stella, Simmons, Buttrey, Robles, Sandoval, and Rengifo, and built a first class farm system that is already helping the roster despite being an absolute dump when he arrived and having no really high picks any season. 
He hasn’t been perfect, but he’s been pretty close. 

How? Unless you live in Houston. I don't hate the Astros they've been in our division a couple years. 

Let's hope this is the right time.  Rosenthal, in the Athletic, indicated that we appear to be the overwhelming favorites to sign Cole.  Only time will tell.

This comment makes me nauseous. The Astros are likable. The Yankees are the Patriots of baseball. F*ck them both. 

The hell was this call?!

The hell was this call?!

You know, Bavasi Jr. didn't get the respect he deserved for what he tried to do for the Angels during the belt tightening of Jackie Autry's reign. Bavasi went about drafting talent and waiting for it all to come to a head and become a real home grown team. He had a long term plan that was interupted by that idiot Tavares, who was completely out of his element trying to run a baseball team. 
The luncheon sounds exactly like a Tavares decision making process. Ignore all of the benifits and focus simply on one inconsequental factor. I used to work with an extremely talented graphic artist that had tremors when he wasn't intently focused on his work. His hands would shake when he was eating but holding a graphics pen he could draw a perfect straight line freehand. Anderson was perfectly focused at that time and would have been the right mentor. Tavares was a complete dumbass.
And that is the Angels worst enemy over the decades. One guy making a tragic mistake that sends a ripple through the organization. Bavasi's father that let Ryan walk, Tavares meddling and picking Collins because he looked mangerial in a Disney way, then tries to throw away the entire roster of young players that Bavasi had groomed because his manager pick was a fuck up.
If it were not for Stoneman drawing the line the Angels never would have come near a World Series. Fast forward and we have Reagins that wasn't ready for the job and made free agency and trade mistakes, none franchise wrecking but mind numbing. Then Dipoto that was a wrecking ball to the entire infrastructure. Just about everything he did has required five years to repair.
Back to the original subject. Losing the opportunity to use Anderson as a mentor changed the franchise's ability to an earlier success but then again there was still Tavares inserting his influence that would have probably negated any gains. Maddon would have been left with nothing to work with after Tony went tiger and ate his young players in his own Collin's like fit of rage if there wasn't instant success. 
Joe said he believes that everything in it's own time. Well, that time period would probably not have worked well for him with the division at the top of the ladder. But now Joe has a GM with the stability of Stoneman to play the long game, holding fast on things that matter like the minor leagues and the forward thinking of Bavasi Jr., knowing he has to put the right personell in place on a budget while also keeping up with the times.
This should work for both Joe and Billy. Two guys that, at the very heart of it, are baseball geeks.

I believe Roger Lodge is a big time Angels fan.  I have never doubted that.  He just wears on you the more you listen to him. He has way too many cliches and never seems to be truly on top of what's happening with the Angels.  He's usually late to the party in that regard.  Mostly - he loves to name drop and is somewhat of a self promoter.  He's a good guy and all, but as a broadcaster/sports talk host - he's just not on the level of someone like the late Joe McDonnell.  He's a little too much schtick and not enough substance for me.  I only listen to him on very rare occasions.  I'd much rather listen to mlbnetwork radio - even if they're not talking about the Angels.
At the end of the day - I don't hate the guy or anything - he's just not necessarily my cup of tea.  I'd like to see someone else in that role, but there isn't anyone on the local scene that fits in my opinion. 

for every one of the above example where the ball nicks the zone and the catcher doesn't receive it well so it would never be called a strike, there are 2 or 3 call 3-4 inches off the outside corner that don't touch the zone but guys get wrung up.  Personally, I think it would even out and at least you'd know it was going to be consistent whereas with live umps the zone can change from pitch to pitch.  

there is something to be said about changing the narrative from 'we hope to be competitive' to 'we are going to be championship caliber'.  It's probably word smithing to some degree but as a fan, I sorta like it.  

Yes, that’s the point. Fletch said Arte cares primarily about the payroll, not the luxury tax. 

7/224. Has to beat Price and get the all time high. 

Suarez was jacked up.  His FB velo is actually 92 touching 95 btw, but he could locate all of his pitches on both sides of the plate whenever I saw him in the minors.  He couldn't locate for shit when he was up with the big club and he was missing middle middle in the zone.  

You guys are being way too conservative. 

3 pieces: 
Cole
Another solid pitcher (tougher pick; hard to know who the best option will be and whether that will be free agency or a trade).
Grandal.
Make those three moves, and this team is in good position going into 2020.

3 pieces: 
Cole
Another solid pitcher (tougher pick; hard to know who the best option will be and whether that will be free agency or a trade).
Grandal.
Make those three moves, and this team is in good position going into 2020.

This is silly. He has a no trade clause. No one is moving him.
He had a bad year fueled by injuries and lack of a real preseason. Never really got his timing. This nonsense about being a problem is just dumb. 

Most teams weren’t as bad off as the Angels. They had the worst farm system in modern history (by multiple accounts), Arte was unwilling to tank, and we had little to nothing that we could or would sell, and we were hamstrung with multiple bad contracts. That isn’t a standard 3 year fix. 
Thats not even accounting for the Astros being one of the best teams in recent memory this season. They are literally stacked from top to bottom. 
Blaming Eppler for any of that is ludicrous. 
Dombrowski got canned because, championship aside, their future outlook is really bad. Their farm isn’t great, they have bad contracts, they’re about to lose their good players like Betts and JD, and the owner is talking about reducing their budget. He went all in and effed them over.