Is anyone else surprised by Valbuena, Revere, Young Jr...

[Second Base]

I'm very surprised we ended up signing all three players. Valbuena and Revere specifically, I would've thought would have landed a feature gig somewhere.  Valbuena's been rock solid for three years running and Revere has been among the better leadoff hitters every year since reaching the majors with the exception of last season, which is believed to be the result of injury.  Eric Young Jr. is the type of player you compare to Rajai Davis or Jarrod Dyson in that they can be expected to play a role late in games.  But with Revere already on the team, it seems like outside of injury, that role is filled. 

It just seems like stroke of luck that we've landed three quality players like this, without paying too much money or offering too many years.  I think the injury bug basically made it so that Revere and Valbuena, both of whom should be pretty good kind of just fell in our lap. 

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

Nothing wrong with them falling in our laps!!!! Great pickups! I'm more excited about Revere than Valbuena. But, hope he can be successful!

 

[tdawg87]

Sick benches

[Angelsjunky]

I hear you and they all add something to the team, but think you overrate Revere. He's got a career OBP of .320, with a high of .342 in 2015 - hardly the stuff of legends and not worthy of the "better leadoff hitters" category. OBP is, by far, the most important stat for a leadoff hitter, and he's about average.

Now as a fourth outfielder? Nice pickup.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

3 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

I hear you and they all add something to the team, but think you overrate Revere. He's got a career OBP of .320, with a high of .342 in 2015 - hardly the stuff of legends and not worthy of the "better leadoff hitters" category. OBP is, by far, the most important stat for a leadoff hitter, and he's about average.

Now as a fourth outfielder? Nice pickup.

I this is my thoughts as well.... And I've kind of had the thought that he might be a decent #2 hitter with Trout hitting behind him in some lineups when Kole needs a day off or is DHing.... The flexibility allows us to make a deal with either Escobar or Cron......Or, maybe, Both?

[ettin]

From what I read yesterday (Fletcher I think) Valbuena wanted to play here so our signing him was geographically and possibly Trout-influenced. Our situation this year lent itself to signing someone like Revere who now has an opportunity to get an escalating salary especially if the Angels fall out of the race because we will probably flip Maybin before the deadline giving Ben more PA's. We may even flip Revere to a contender if he shows well which gives him a chance to play for a winner. Of course if we are in it then he is already on a contender. Young Jr. needed a place to play and again the Angels situation heading into this season lends itself to a player like Eric who could, if the Angels are out of it, step into a 4th OF role, 2B, or whatever the Angels want to give him. There is potentially a bit clearer road to playing time in Anaheim than some other clubs.

[Tyler]

They got EY jr too?!

[totdprods]

36 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

I hear you and they all add something to the team, but think you overrate Revere. He's got a career OBP of .320, with a high of .342 in 2015 - hardly the stuff of legends and not worthy of the "better leadoff hitters" category. OBP is, by far, the most important stat for a leadoff hitter, and he's about average.

Now as a fourth outfielder? Nice pickup.

Revere's value isn't going to show up in his OBP. It's all about the contact and speed with him. 

I saw a huge difference in this team offensively last year from year's past - the high contact approach really kept things productive, balanced, and sustainable (offensively) over the course of the full year. Obviously, we were hampered by LF/2B and our bench, but that shouldn't be the case this year. Revere's BA/OBP may not be singularly impressive, but based off his low K's, there's going to be a lot of instances where he gets on via fielders choice. Coupled with the many other high contact guys in the line-up, this should keep a constant pressure on the bases. 

I like this approach too because, traditionally, the 'big bats' in a line-up are also big strikeout guys. The Angels are unique - Albert, for all his warts, has an impressively low strikeout rate for a guy with his power. Our other big bat, who does strike out often, is Mike Trout. He obviously offers enough production to counter the high K rate. By putting so much emphasis elsewhere in the line-up on high contact guys and guys who rarely strike out, you're maximizing opportunities for Pujols and Trout and making the most of their K rates. My two cents at least. 

Simmons is a great example of that. His .281/.324/.366 is probably a reasonable expectation for a 'good' Revere. It seemed like Simmons was involved with every offensive run last season. He was either scoring, slapping a single to drive a guy in, or simply keeping the ball in play when others were on base. It didn't really show up in his counting stats, but it really stood out as I watched the game.

[Angelsjunky]

Good points, totdprods (what does that stand for, anyway? And can I call you "Tots" for short?). I tend to be a stickler with OBP, especially when it comes to leadoff hitters. It is probably a blindspot on my part, at least in terms of when a player has a lot more to offer, like Revere with his contact and speed. Regardless, Revere was a great pickup.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

4 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

It just seems like stroke of luck that we've landed three quality players like this, without paying too much money or offering too many years.  I think the injury bug basically made it so that Revere and Valbuena, both of whom should be pretty good kind of just fell in our lap. 

We have certainly had enough free agent luck fall the other way. About time that we got a break on something.

[totdprods]

23 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

Good points, totdprods (what does that stand for, anyway? And can I call you "Tots" for short?). I tend to be a stickler with OBP, especially when it comes to leadoff hitters. It is probably a blindspot on my part, at least in terms of when a player has a lot more to offer, like Revere with his contact and speed. Regardless, Revere was a great pickup.

It was a film production thing I had back a decade ago or so when I was still in high school, stood for 'Town of the Damned' haha. I've been registered here for a loooong damn time but didn't really start posting until last year.  

I fixated on OBP a lot too, but Eppler's really shown me the benefit of contact and cutting back on strikeouts. Like I said,  I think he recognized we have a unique situation when he stepped in, where we didn't have a number of high K guys like most teams. We probably had fewer strikeouts from the clean-up spot than any other team. Since you can't alter time and stop Pujols' decline, your best bet is to try and exploit what he does well, which is put the ball in play, see a lot of pitches, and hit some homers. Since we don't (didn't) have the fastest team, best bet to create pressure offensively was just put the ball in play and work the count, instead of waiting for the walk. 

Really curious to see how it all coalesces this year, but we've improved our black holes, added a lot more speed, and added a lot more power. If our health holds up, I think this could be one of the best offenses in Angel history. 

[Second Base]

11 hours ago, totdprods said:

It was a film production thing I had back a decade ago or so when I was still in high school, stood for 'Town of the Damned' haha. I've been registered here for a loooong damn time but didn't really start posting until last year.  

I fixated on OBP a lot too, but Eppler's really shown me the benefit of contact and cutting back on strikeouts. Like I said,  I think he recognized we have a unique situation when he stepped in, where we didn't have a number of high K guys like most teams. We probably had fewer strikeouts from the clean-up spot than any other team. Since you can't alter time and stop Pujols' decline, your best bet is to try and exploit what he does well, which is put the ball in play, see a lot of pitches, and hit some homers. Since we don't (didn't) have the fastest team, best bet to create pressure offensively was just put the ball in play and work the count, instead of waiting for the walk. 

Really curious to see how it all coalesces this year, but we've improved our black holes, added a lot more speed, and added a lot more power. If our health holds up, I think this could be one of the best offenses in Angel history. 

I think Eppler is a genius or a fool after this year. But I respect that he's trying something new by bringing back what was old. Simply put the ball in play and play great defense.

[Angel Oracle]

11 hours ago, totdprods said:

It was a film production thing I had back a decade ago or so when I was still in high school, stood for 'Town of the Damned' haha. I've been registered here for a loooong damn time but didn't really start posting until last year.  

I fixated on OBP a lot too, but Eppler's really shown me the benefit of contact and cutting back on strikeouts. Like I said,  I think he recognized we have a unique situation when he stepped in, where we didn't have a number of high K guys like most teams. We probably had fewer strikeouts from the clean-up spot than any other team. Since you can't alter time and stop Pujols' decline, your best bet is to try and exploit what he does well, which is put the ball in play, see a lot of pitches, and hit some homers. Since we don't (didn't) have the fastest team, best bet to create pressure offensively was just put the ball in play and work the count, instead of waiting for the walk. 

Really curious to see how it all coalesces this year, but we've improved our black holes, added a lot more speed, and added a lot more power. If our health holds up, I think this could be one of the best offenses in Angel history. 

+1, except I am not expecting the offense to be one of the best in franchise history.  It will be solid though, and capable of putting pressure on the opposition through increased speed and making contact.

[Docwaukee]

I am most surprised about them taking payroll to near $170 mil.  

[AngelsLakersFan]

15 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

I think Eppler is a genius or a fool after this year. But I respect that he's trying something new by bringing back what was old. Simply put the ball in play and play great defense.

 

12 hours ago, totdprods said:

It was a film production thing I had back a decade ago or so when I was still in high school, stood for 'Town of the Damned' haha. I've been registered here for a loooong damn time but didn't really start posting until last year.  

I fixated on OBP a lot too, but Eppler's really shown me the benefit of contact and cutting back on strikeouts. Like I said,  I think he recognized we have a unique situation when he stepped in, where we didn't have a number of high K guys like most teams. We probably had fewer strikeouts from the clean-up spot than any other team. Since you can't alter time and stop Pujols' decline, your best bet is to try and exploit what he does well, which is put the ball in play, see a lot of pitches, and hit some homers. Since we don't (didn't) have the fastest team, best bet to create pressure offensively was just put the ball in play and work the count, instead of waiting for the walk. 

Really curious to see how it all coalesces this year, but we've improved our black holes, added a lot more speed, and added a lot more power. If our health holds up, I think this could be one of the best offenses in Angel history. 

I think it has more to do with trying to build a team around what is generally available on the market without blowing up your wallet. Power costs money and typically comes with K's. Pitching costs money and doesn't come with any guarantees. But speed and defense aren't usually too expensive or hard to find, and teams haven't really ever paid for contact (because they are paying for power).

[AngelsLakersFan]

3 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

I am most surprised about them taking payroll to near $170 mil.  

Are you more surprised that they took payroll to $170m or that they did so with the only pitcher signing being Jessy Chavez?

[Docwaukee]

6 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Are you more surprised that they took payroll to $170m or that they did so with the only pitcher signing being Jessy Chavez?

yes to both.  I think Arte took a lot of heat last year for not supporting the Trout window.  So he showed that he's willing to spend at least on short term deals.  

I get why they wouldn't want to spend on a high priced closer even though I think they should have.  Even with that, I doubt they would have had a chance to pry Jansen from the dogs or Chapman from the yankees.  

Nova's deal was fair but 3 yrs and I think they are hoping the return of Heaney and Trop negates any need to sign a pitcher for more than a year or maybe two.  

I still think Ross was our best bet.  Potential front line starter on the cheap.  1yr.  lots of incentives.  I get that adding another potential injury is risky, but he satisfied a bunch of criteria for this team and even if he only pitches 150 innings, they are going to be better innings than anyone else on our staff.  Anyway, time will tell, but I think that's a big miss.  Or maybe he just didn't want to come here.  Either way, I think he's gonna do well.  

We missed our opportunity to add FA pen arms at a better value than what's out there.  I totally get why they wouldn't want to spend 7-8 mil per on marginal relief help.  But that doesn't change the fact that our current pen as constructed is poor.  Yes, there is some depth with actual potential, but that could take time to come together and it may not.  

Our biggest risk is health.  Our biggest hole in terms of talent is the pen.  The former is much easier to stomach than the latter.  170 mil and going to battle with that pen is annoying.  I hate Josh Hamilton.  

[Angelsjunky]

I like your optimism, @totdprods, and have been known to be maybe a bit too optimistic, but I agree that the offense will surprise, although be far from one of the best in franchise history.

Overall I think the Angels will surprise most and be serious contenders in the AL West, or at least for a wildcard spot, and win close to 90 games. The offense has a much higher floor--barring a Trout injury--than the pitching staff, so for me the real question is how good the staff is. If the starters are generally healthy and the bullpen coalesces, this team could be very good.

[Mark68]

I like the Valbuena signing. Revere, I like as a 4th OF type, and EY Jr as a 5th OF is OK. EY Jr is not his father (whom I loved as a player).

However, I believe the best deals the Angels made this offseason were trading for Espinosa and the Calhoun extension.

I just wish more had been done on the mound. The Angels will go as far as their pitching allows...and I'm apprehensive about the pitching. I suppose if we find ourselves in the thick of things around the deadline, we may be able to utilize some of our new-found depth to get an additional starter or lock-down bullpen piece.

[Troll Daddy]

22 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

I think Eppler is a genius or a fool after this year. But I respect that he's trying something new by bringing back what was old. Simply put the ball in play and play great defense.

Somewhere Mickey Hatcher is smiling

[AngelsHilo]

Rookie here.  Why is there a lack of new articles?

[Blarg]

There are article feeds posted daily but little is going on with the Angels and pretty much the league is moving rather slowly. Watch MLB Channel and there is a lot of filler since there are so few transactions and very few that are moving the noteworthy needle. 

[California Cajun]

This year's signings seem to be more promising than in previous years. 

[Second Base]

23 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

I like your optimism, @totdprods, and have been known to be maybe a bit too optimistic, but I agree that the offense will surprise, although be far from one of the best in franchise history.

Overall I think the Angels will surprise most and be serious contenders in the AL West, or at least for a wildcard spot, and win close to 90 games. The offense has a much higher floor--barring a Trout injury--than the pitching staff, so for me the real question is how good the staff is. If the starters are generally healthy and the bullpen coalesces, this team could be very good.

I thought I was an optimist until I read this. I just don't like bullpen at all. I'm thinking with all things evening out after last year, this is an 85 win ball club.

[Make Angels Great Again]

Yeah, this pen is going to blow chunks unless Street and Bedrock stay healthy and pitching at their full potential, and guys like Meyer, Morin, and Bailey take huge steps forward.

 

I don't see all that happening.