Angels Claim Abel De Los Santos, DFA Oberholtzer

[Docwaukee]

We should trade for Matt Cain now.  

[ukyah]

other than the lack of pedigree from this years FA class, i believe the angels could contend this coming season. i would attack both SP and bullpen, aggressively. fortify the defense and go with a grind it out offense, anchored by trout.

that's how the angels get contend around a bad farm system.

[Angel Oracle]

I am happy with solid improvement in the 2016 record in 2017, and serious post-season contention in 2018.

Anything above that is gravy.

[arch stanton]

This guy almost has to be better than Oberholtzer so it's a net positive any way you look at it.

[Stradling]

We could make the playoffs next year, just sign Jansen, Chapman and Melancon. 

[tdawg87]

Sick bullpens!

Is Jeppy available?

[Stradling]

A lockdown pen is the easiest way to go from an average team to a very good team.  

[tdawg87]

Melancon is gonna get closer money, unfortunately. 

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

47 minutes ago, Stradling said:

We could make the playoffs next year, just sign Jansen, Chapman and Melancon. 

RELEASE the HYDRA!!!!!!!!

[eligrba4ever]

De La Rosas helps fill the body count on the back fields in Tempe. Oberholtzer clears locker space in the big clubhouse.

Garbled the unfamiliar pitcher's name. So 13 hours later: Writing on the chalk board 100 times:

De Los Santos.

[Erstad Grit]

10 hours ago, totdprods said:

Yeah only 23. Huge difference in the players Eppler claims off waivers and those Dipoto did. Dipoto claimed a ton of AAAA guys and older minor leaguers. Eppler goes after much younger players who have yup, more risk and more upside. 

It worked really well last season. Glad this is part of the plan. It won't get much press or attention, but it does a very effective job at negating our void of prospect talent in the upper levels.

You didn't like willis, Mulder, cordero, etc?

[Vegas Halo Fan]

9 hours ago, VariousCrap said:

 

Exactly. And the Angels don't need to add "big splash" guys either.  There are several second tier players available that could make a huge difference in 2017.

 

 

 

We haven't had great luck with the big splash types.

[IEAngelsfan]

2 hours ago, SlappyUtilityMIF said:

RELEASE the HYDRA!!!!!!!!

Sign them! We know that one of them can throw some serious heat.

[ukyah]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

A lockdown pen is the easiest way to go from an average team to a very good team.  

i would add lockdown defense as the "&" in that scenario, but i agree wholeheartedly and have been saying as much in various threads.

the angels have trout in the middle. they have pujols, calhoun and escobar as major offensive pieces. half of their offense is pretty formidable. they have excellent defense at 4 positions (cf,rf,c,ss). 

their SP is highly suspect in quality and health and the bullpen is pretty shoddy. spend the money there.

the angels are obviously sticking with scioscia. give him the players for his style of ball throughout the lineup.

also, trade for francisco lindor. brilliant!!!

[Docwaukee]

4 hours ago, Stradling said:

A lockdown pen is the easiest way to go from an average team to a very good team.  

My feelings on this have been made very clear........starting 7 years ago.  It astounds me that it's just ignored.  They even gave us a glimpse of how well it works in the second half of 2014 and then went back to pretending like it doesn't matter.  As a fan, there isn't much worse from a baseball perspective than watching your team lose the 7th - 9th innings on a regular basis.  

[ten ocho recon scout]

21 hours ago, Tank said:

they should just trade olberholtzer and de los santos for schwarber, bryant, and arrieta.

If you were smart youd ask for maddon instead.

[disarcina]

Oberholtzer's ERA was about 7.00 the past year.

he was never that great but was, at one time, a serviceable MLB starter, 4 or 5th rotation spot guy for a mid market non-contender (is that us these days?)

oh well.

 

 

[tdawg87]

17 hours ago, Dochalo said:

My feelings on this have been made very clear........starting 7 years ago.  It astounds me that it's just ignored.  They even gave us a glimpse of how well it works in the second half of 2014 and then went back to pretending like it doesn't matter.  As a fan, there isn't much worse from a baseball perspective than watching your team lose the 7th - 9th innings on a regular basis.  

My favorite is when they're only down by 2 runs and the pen comes in and makes it a laugher. I just get so happy.

And then the offense scores 2 runs.

[Stradling]

23 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

You didn't like willis, Mulder, cordero, etc?

CoughLincecumCough

[Lou]

46 minutes ago, Stradling said:

CoughLincecumCough

ironically, Lincecum sounds like a cough medicine 

 

 

 

*let it go, tdawg 

[ukyah]

49 minutes ago, Lou said:

ironically, Lincecum sounds like a cough medicine 

 

 

 

*let it go, tdawg

i guess you might as well throw me in there with tdawg.

[Glen]

On 10/29/2016 at 1:23 AM, Dochalo said:

My feelings on this have been made very clear........starting 7 years ago.  It astounds me that it's just ignored.  They even gave us a glimpse of how well it works in the second half of 2014 and then went back to pretending like it doesn't matter.  As a fan, there isn't much worse from a baseball perspective than watching your team lose the 7th - 9th innings on a regular basis.  

 

 

It's even weirder that it was ignored considering that for years we had what would qualify as a lockdown pen.  Maybe "ignored" isn't the right word.  I think the Angels just tried to turn scrapheap signings into gold and it failed.

I doubt there's a GM out there that doesn't realize how important a very good bullpen is.

[totdprods]

2 hours ago, Glen said:

It's even weirder that it was ignored considering that for years we had what would qualify as a lockdown pen.  Maybe "ignored" isn't the right word.  I think the Angels just tried to turn scrapheap signings into gold and it failed.

I doubt there's a GM out there that doesn't realize how important a very good bullpen is.

That's why I keep coming back to the idea of signing Chapman or Jansen if we feel like making a big purchase. Yes, it's likely they'll sign elsewhere, and there is always a risk signing a big FA, especially a reliever, but both of those guys are about as close to a sure-thing elite reliever you could ever possibly hope to obtain. It would be awesome if any of the Bedrosian, Meyer, Alcantara, or Middleton crew become elite relievers as well, and they all have the potential, but how long should we wait for that? If one or two of them develop that way alongside Chapman, then it just makes our pen that much more formidable. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

4 hours ago, Glen said:

 

It's even weirder that it was ignored considering that for years we had what would qualify as a lockdown pen.  Maybe "ignored" isn't the right word.  I think the Angels just tried to turn scrapheap signings into gold and it failed.

I doubt there's a GM out there that doesn't realize how important a very good bullpen is.

DiPoto is an 'old school' sabr GM. I never thought I'd use a phrase like that but I think it describes him perfectly. He was big on DIPs, the idea that the results of balls in play are attributed to the defense, not the pitcher (see Blanton, Joe) and of course the mother of all old school saber beliefs, the idea that a bullpen is "fungible" or 'capable of being filled up with clean peanuts (see Frieri, Ernesto). All of these ideas have large elements of truth backing them up, but are overly simplistic.

[AngelsLakersFan]

40 minutes ago, totdprods said:

That's why I keep coming back to the idea of signing Chapman or Jansen if we feel like making a big purchase. Yes, it's likely they'll sign elsewhere, and there is always a risk signing a big FA, especially a reliever, but both of those guys are about as close to a sure-thing elite reliever you could ever possibly hope to obtain. It would be awesome if any of the Bedrosian, Meyer, Alcantara, or Middleton crew become elite relievers as well, and they all have the potential, but how long should we wait for that? If one or two of them develop that way alongside Chapman, then it just makes our pen that much more formidable. 

I've been on this crusade since late last year. The one thing that you didn't mention that is a big deal to me is the make up of the current FA class. Starters, as more valuable pieces, get more money than closers. Mediocre starters even get more money than good closers.

If we look at the market this year I can't help but expect a guy like Rich Hill is going to get more money than Champman. The next tier starters are probably going to bring in as much or more than Jansen and Melancon. The truth is, I don't think there is a single starter on the market who I would expect to remain in a teams rotation throughout the life of the contract they are going to get. One or two years down the road the signing team is going to be looking to replace these guys. With one of these closers on the other hand, they are likely to be filling a spot for years to come, which is a big deal for a team int he position the Angels are in.