Hey Dipoto

[Inside Pitch]

I remember you being high on Grichuk. I was never really sold on him. His low walk rate, high k rate and average-below average contact percentage always turned me off.

 

The walk rate is still a concern, it's what likely keeps him from being a legit front line player.  

[19HALO71]

We're 3.5 games out of the wild card and we have 4 months of baseball left.

 

Hello?

[Inside Pitch]

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but Randal Grichuck has been very good since coming back from his back strain.

 

He's OPS is now around .925.  This kid has a lot of upside.   This is the player, not Bourjous, that the Angels should regret giving up.  He'd look very good in the Angels OF this season.

 

Six more years of control...

[Puget Sound Angel]

Good thing we did not need Trumbow

[Jay]

We're 3.5 games out of the wild card and we have 4 months of baseball left.

 

Hello?

 

Cool, we'll be about 12 games out by the end of September.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Heres the question. Dipoto said going in this is likely a transition year, and it looks to be so. Do you alter course and flip pitching (which we finally have) for a bat that 'may' turn us around?

I agree something should be done, but i also think its smart to build a good, young pitching staff to support the next 5 years of trout in his prime. Any teal bat we chase is going to cost a shoemaker a santiago etc. So be it, if its the right guy. But im not sure who is really available. If its a rental just to try and win this season, im not sure its worth it to go back to having pitching holes the following 2-4 seasons.

Just really hoping we are willing to spend another hamilton amount of money this winter on upton. Hes about the only guy i see who can come in and change the makeup of this lineup.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Missing Kendrick's bat and not having Pujols perform like he did from the start of May last season has been the two largest holes in the lineup.

 

A lot of people really underestimated Kendrick's value in the lineup, IMO. I understand the need to trade for pitching and I know that Howie was getting close to his walk year, but the offense has sucked all season without him.

[Mark68]

A lot of people really underestimated Kendrick's value in the lineup, IMO. I understand the need to trade for pitching and I know that Howie was getting close to his walk year, but the offense has sucked all season without him.

One Howie Kendrick would not make this a good or even decent lineup.

[Second Base]

It's very much a transitional year, but just because a roster is going through transformation, doesn't mean you can't compete that year.  Just ask the Cardinals, who ended the LaRussa and Pujols era all very close in conjunction.  Things were going to be a little different under Matheny, and they needed younger, inexperienced players to step up, like Matt Carpenter, Yadi Molina, Matt Adams, Jon Jay, Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha and Trevor Rosenthal.  

 

They got the job done and ended up being just as good if not better than they were with Pujols and LaRussa. 

 

Now grated, these sort of successful transformations take a minor league system supplemented by smart free agent signings, but the Angels aren't far off.  Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano and Nate Smith are all likely ready to pitch in a major league rotation.  It's Dipoto's unwilingness to trade the likes of Santiago and CJ for bats that have prevented such a move.

 

Giavotella is likely holding 2B down until Yarbrough proves ready to take over.  The disaster in LF will likely continue to be one until the Angels either let Grant Green take over, go and get a free agent, ,trade or wait until Chad Hinshaw, Bo Way or Natanael Delgado take over, which is still some time away.  DH was supposed to be Cron, but he's all up in the kool-aid and doesn't even know the flavor.  That'll continue to be a black hole until either Cron gets it together, they use Grant Green or they decide to acquire someone else.  Catcher, that's going through a time of transition as Jett Bandy will eventually come in. 

 

But in order for all of this to happen, Dipoto needs to embrace a newer, younger age of Angels and let go of the underperforming veterans. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Scotty mentioned kool aid, then black hole right after

Racist

[Inside Pitch]

A lot of people really underestimated Kendrick's value in the lineup, IMO. I understand the need to trade for pitching and I know that Howie was getting close to his walk year, but the offense has sucked all season without him.

People do underestimate Howie's worth but people are glossing over the impact of 5-6 guys failing to even be league average players much less performing to their own established levels.   If even half those guys were at league sverage numbers this team isn't floundering.

[Second Base]

@ScottyA~

 

You are correct the Cards reloaded with high upside draft picks that could hit (Carpenter, Adams, Jay, Molina, Craig) and young power arms and they still had Holiday in the middle. Not other teams retreads like Giawhateva' the Cards didn't even use those kinds of guys for fill ins......We have the Young arm side under way. And actually they (the Cards) received some of those players as Compensation draft picks for losing players. Wacha....

 

We need to draft and develop some high upside offensive players. Which is kind of the point of the thread. Offensively, we haven't had daft picks other than Trout and Grichuck for a while... Erstad and before that GA, Salmon, Edmonds, Glaus etc. etc.

 

That also is hard to do with an older experienced Manager like Sven~ If they bump Sven to the FO then I could see a rebuild not until then though...Sven is going to Tommy Lasorda the crap out of us as he gets older....

 

We've had some higher offensive position players that were drafted, but right now we're having a heck of a time developing them.  C.J. Cron has the upside to be a middle of the order bat the Angels need, but he just hasn't put it together.  Kaleb Cowart was supposed to be part of the equation, but he's since flopped.  Chevy Clarke, Ryan Bolden and Taylor Lindsey were also all part of which figured to be a strong farm system and since then, ever last one of them has flopped. 

 

So it isn't for lack of trying that the Angels have a lack of projectable bats.  They just can't develop them and when they do (Segura, Grichuk, Rondon) they end up trading them away to fill a need.  Now it was very smart of them to go out and acquire Kyle Kubitza the way they did.  He looks good.  But they're going to need to do that 2-3 more times and they'll be good.  

 

The part that's so aggravating is that Dipoto and Servais have shown a reluctance to do just that. I mean sure, trading Santiago and perhaps Shoemaker for a LF and DH would be GREAT for 2015.  But in 2016 and beyond, the Angels really need to consider trading Jeremy Rhoades, Tyler DeLoach, Kyle McGowin, Victor Alcantara and Joe Gatto for some hitters.  The fact is, Richards, Newcomb, Heaney, Skaggs and Tropeano are our future, along with Smith and Ellis at 6-7.  Those are all very young, very good starting pitchers.  

 

That means those are a lot of tradable assets.  The Angels just have to be willing to pull the trigger, and so far with the exception of Kubitza, they haven't. 

[Dick B Back]

I know this isn't school but I sure wish I could find a thread where all posts:

1. Have the first word in each sentence capitalized.

2. Have at least half way decent punctuation.

3. Have no word where the letter s has been replaced by the letter z.

[CanadianHalo]

Watching Cubs/Nats and totally forgot about Junior Lake. He looked good 2 years ago when he came up but struggled last year. With Soler not going anywhere maybe they'd be open to trading him for some pitching?

We're looking for cheap young guys I assume and I like the idea of trading for JBJ but Junior wouldn't be bad either

[Dick B Back]

I'm watching that game too and boy does Scherzer look good!

[Hardc0reFromDaStreetz]

I'm watching that game too and boy does Scherzer look good!

he better, he cost like 5 billion dollars

[Lou]

We've had some higher offensive position players that were drafted, but right now we're having a heck of a time developing them.  C.J. Cron has the upside to be a middle of the order bat the Angels need, but he just hasn't put it together.  Kaleb Cowart was supposed to be part of the equation, but he's since flopped.  Chevy Clarke, Ryan Bolden and Taylor Lindsey were also all part of which figured to be a strong farm system and since then, ever last one of them has flopped. 

 

So it isn't for lack of trying that the Angels have a lack of projectable bats.  They just can't develop them and when they do (Segura, Grichuk, Rondon) they end up trading them away to fill a need.  Now it was very smart of them to go out and acquire Kyle Kubitza the way they did.  He looks good.  But they're going to need to do that 2-3 more times and they'll be good.  

 

The part that's so aggravating is that Dipoto and Servais have shown a reluctance to do just that. I mean sure, trading Santiago and perhaps Shoemaker for a LF and DH would be GREAT for 2015.  But in 2016 and beyond, the Angels really need to consider trading Jeremy Rhoades, Tyler DeLoach, Kyle McGowin, Victor Alcantara and Joe Gatto for some hitters.  The fact is, Richards, Newcomb, Heaney, Skaggs and Tropeano are our future, along with Smith and Ellis at 6-7.  Those are all very young, very good starting pitchers.  

 

That means those are a lot of tradable assets.  The Angels just have to be willing to pull the trigger, and so far with the exception of Kubitza, they haven't. 

 

 

Segura hasn't had a .680 OPS in a couple of years and Rondon has a whopping .672 OPS with Lake Elsinore ( in the Cal League even)

Edited May 28, 2015 by Lou

[Dick B Back]

he better, he cost like 5 billion dollars

At least the Nationals are getting what they paid for. Your point is?

[Lou]

Like 50 years.

Perennial underachievers.

Even in the good years, we collapsed in the playoffs or September.

2002 is everyone's anchor here. They overachieved and caught magic. It was special. It's been horrendous mismanagement since, both on and off the field.

Everyone here constantly harking back to 2002, sounds more and more like Red Sox fans from the 90s talking about 1918. And it will continue to do so, as 2002 fades even further into history.

There's no reason why we shouldn't have two or three titles.

Since this is relatively the same team as last year, either we are underachieving this season, overachieved last season or somewhere in between.

Bottom line is this isn't a good club. More than half the positions are extremely weak. 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, C, DH.

The rotation is pretty much the same. Bullpen is ok with Smith and Street, beyond that it's a carousel of arms that are neither good nor bad.

It's laughable to think that Dipoto can magically fix what ails this team. Your two biggest problems on the payroll aren't going anywhere. One trods along at 1B and in the 3-hole where he doesn't belong, and the other plays for Texas.

Like Strad said, this club is pretty much depleted in terms of resources that offer a quick fix. This team is your team. Dipoto may be able to slightly upgrade, but we are like 6-8 really good players from being an all around contender.

The bench is pathetic and we have zero speed, and very limited power.

We are a club that has placed all of its eggs in a basket named Trout.

Which Weaver will we see in August, the May version or the April version. Can Shoe and Santiago hang on to being just above decent?

If yo can get anything for CJ in his current form, get it. We have enough arms. He's another that possibly could fade back into mediocrity or worse.

It's comical to watch everyone, pretty much day in and day out - with the exception of an occasional winning streak - asking for a complete makeover mid-season.

 

 

2002 will never fade

[Cdaniel]

I thought we traded Lindsay?

[Lou]

@Scotty the players you mentioned Clarke, Bolden and Lindsey have done nothing here and not much above AA. It sure is an issue in development at the lower levels! But, it also goes to show the player that was drafted. you can't keep missing on a bunch of prospects. You need at least 2-3 per draft class to succeed and push for the Big League roster in some capacity whether that is a situational reliever, spot starter, utility MIF, 5th out fielder etc.. We FAIL at scouting hitters consistently. Trout & Grichuk fell in our laps due to compensatory picks. We kept Mike and dealt Randal. He could sure help in left right now. They were so afraid of not including Lindsey in anything and where is he now? Not even good enough to beat out Giawhateva'. 

 

NEWSFLASH:  Lindsey is no longer in the Angels' organization

[Second Base]

We did trade Lindsey, but even if we didn't he'd fall behind Yarbrough on the 2B depth chart. Alex started off slow this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't end the year around .300 in AAA.  Should be a solid Erick Aybar-esque type of hitter in the majors. 

[Lou]

no way Lindsey hits .300 in AAA this year

 

he's 4 for his last 28 (4 singles)

Edited May 28, 2015 by Lou

[tdawg87]

no way Lindsey hits .300 in AAA this year

 

he's 4 for his last 28 (4 singles)

 

He's talking about Yarbrough

 

Dumbass.

 

With all due respect.

[Lou]

He's talking about Yarbrough

 

Dumbass.

 

With all due respect.

 

 

shut up. i'm an genious

 

 

 

*Yarbrough .622 ops