Pancake Bear

Ohtani, Upton, Trout, Simmons, Fletcher, Kole and Cozart.  This is my list of hitters that are currently on the Angels and will be better than Albert next year.  Obviously I could be wrong and I don’t hate Albert, I just have no faith he will be better and I expect him to be worse.  

Yeah, that’s not even close to true. 

He beat the Pythagorean 3 of 4 years.  Eppler knows and has worked with what we can call the top 5 candidates, Ausmus, Chavez, Espada, Paul and we will throw Girardi in there since a lot of fans like him.  Eppler has worked with all of them, he then interviewed 4 of those guys, and put them through 2 hours of testing and another 7 hours of interviewing.  At the end of it he went with Ausmus.  This was his choice with one year left on his own contract.  We heard what he said were the qualities he was looking for in a manager.  He has spent a year getting to know Ausmus and seeing his thoughts on the game.  He has to know that if push comes to shove and they disagree on something, Ausmus will defer to analytics, because that is what will be expected.  He also has to know that Ausmus will put team before any one player.  So if Albert is playing and playing more than we want, that isn’t a Ausmus decision, but a front office decision.  This is now his guy.  Whatever Ausmus does is a reflection of Eppler, good or bad.  

The pecking order is from worst to worst:
Yankees fans
Red Sox fans
Pick your poison
So, respectfully, the Chowds can get worse.

I don't even know you anymore. Anyone who is rooting for the Red Sox deserves to be spayed or neutered.
 
Look at the hats.

My bottom choice. Not who I wanted. That said, Eppler has more info than I do. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. The good news? This year isn’t our window, so we have wiggle room if he sucks to sack him. 

my first reaction was meh.  
then I realized the rigorous process to choose the new manager would weed out the Ausmus who managed detroit.  So I can only assume that he's grown and learned from his previous mistakes and isn't the same guy.  So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.  Many managers have had a rough first go and then succeeded in their next gig.  Ausmus is highly intelligent.  Hopefully that translates this time around.  Clearly, he has to be on board with advanced metrics or they wouldn't have hired him.  
As far as I'm concerned, he's got one job.  Don't f up the clubhouse.  
No matter who was chosen, it was going to be a wait and see approach.  So we'll see.  

That’s called the off season. 

Idiot.

I’m definitely pro-Dodgers on this one. Boston sucks. Never understood the anti-Dodgers sentiment from Angels fans. Strikes me as kind of insecure. They aren’t division rivals and they don’t meet in the playoffs. Literally nothing but city rivalry, which is kind of silly, imho. 

Kinsler wasn’t a miss. He was an average 2B with an elite glove who returned two controllable relievers with upside in trade. That’s closer to a home run than a whiff.
Cozart is too early to judge. He had a rough start, but the contract made sense in context. 

I’m definitely pro-Dodgers on this one. Boston sucks. Never understood the anti-Dodgers sentiment from Angels fans. Strikes me as kind of insecure. They aren’t division rivals and they don’t meet in the playoffs. Literally nothing but city rivalry, which is kind of silly, imho. 

There’s been no indication that his rehab will prevent him from pitching anywhere close to half the season. I’m quoting from memory, but Fletcher mixed that notion a week back or so and suggested 500+(iirc) AB’s is more likely. Anything can happen with rehab and injuries, but you never trade for a top 1B because you assume Ohtani will play only half the season. That’s lunacy.

Yeah, that’s not even close to true. 

It’s hard to judge depth, but based on this, it looks like contact right over the fence to me. I have no problem with the call. 

Kinsler wasn’t a miss. He was an average 2B with an elite glove who returned two controllable relievers with upside in trade. That’s closer to a home run than a whiff.
Cozart is too early to judge. He had a rough start, but the contract made sense in context. 

Kinsler wasn’t a miss. He was an average 2B with an elite glove who returned two controllable relievers with upside in trade. That’s closer to a home run than a whiff.
Cozart is too early to judge. He had a rough start, but the contract made sense in context. 

When I say this offseason is important, I mainly mean three things:
- Locking up Trout: I 100% agree this is Priority No.1
- Who he picks as Manager: I'll at least raise an eyebrow if it's Ausmus and I'm curious why he's even interviewing Vizquel, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; it's an important decision, though, and I want to see how it turns out
- Offseason work on the team: And I agree partly with you in that I'm skeptical we're contending next season - in some ways, I think he can do more to mess up the future this offseason by being too active than in doing less. Point is, what he does or does not do will be important for the future (albeit, not as important as the first two) things.

Blue and black. 

Kinsler wasn’t a miss. He was an average 2B with an elite glove who returned two controllable relievers with upside in trade. That’s closer to a home run than a whiff.
Cozart is too early to judge. He had a rough start, but the contract made sense in context. 

You're a few months too early. This will be his most defining offseason to date.
- New manager (and probably coaching staff)
- Contract extension for Trout (hopefully)
- Keeping competitive while effectively rebuilding for another season or so (most likely)
That said, there have been good moves so far. Ohtani coming to Anaheim alone is a big mark in Eppler's favor. Given the apparent constraints he is working under, I don't have any major complaints against him, but I'd like to see what happens over the next three months.

You're a few months too early. This will be his most defining offseason to date.
- New manager (and probably coaching staff)
- Contract extension for Trout (hopefully)
- Keeping competitive while effectively rebuilding for another season or so (most likely)
That said, there have been good moves so far. Ohtani coming to Anaheim alone is a big mark in Eppler's favor. Given the apparent constraints he is working under, I don't have any major complaints against him, but I'd like to see what happens over the next three months.

Related:
https://www.mlb.com/angels/news/angels-interviewed-omar-vizquel-for-manager/c-298304890
"I was surprised by a lot of the questions they asked me. There were a lot of sabermetrics involved in all of their questions. They're apparently going far beyond what it means to be responsible and wise about the moves that you can make. They want someone who is very interested in the numbers and can weigh the percentages." - Visquel
I like it. I like it a lot.

Took me multiple times watching to see this but that is correct. Betts clearly was tracking it - his timing on the glove was perfect yet he inexplicably closed his glove early? It’s plain that he made contact at that point, but it’s hard to see. 
As to Joe West? He sucks. Needs to retire. Makes the game too much about him. But I can’t fault him for the call. Betts may have gotten the benefit of the doubt since he’s well known as an elite fielder. 
Where it’s difficult is on replay. To my eye, the ball looks over the wall when contact is made, but it’s difficult to be certain. Betts’ arm is reaching towards the wall, but his body doesn’t hit the wall until after the catch is missed - that’s what makes it hard to be sure. Depth perception on video is a tricky thing and we don’t have a camera on the actual line. 
Opinion: Probably a home run, but I think it’s too hard to overturn on video definitively and I don’t think West’s call was particularly wrong. Unlucky for Houston. 

The fan caused his glove to close, so no. The only question was whether he went beyond the fence to attempt to catch it or not.