So Cozart pretty much blows

[eligrba]

10 hours ago, Quinlanforthewin said:

And I'm the troll...

The point is there were better options available nearly every offseason than Nava, Gentry, Soto, Espinosa, Kinsler, Valbuena, etc etc etc..

This has been argued ad nauseam.  Most love Eppler.  Some think it's okay to point out he's made some bad decisions.  It's okay that we disagree.  

I agree he made some bad decisions, but I argue that those bad decisions are the result of bad options.  I will also argue that Eppler has been incredibly disciplined and successful  in drafting, keeping prospects, trying to develop prospects that benefit both the organization and the player while maintaining flexibility for the future. 

The Angels have shit players.......I agree.   I will not agree that the shitty players are the result of Eppler making bad choices when better players were available.  Use one current shitty player, of your choice, and list the better options Eppler had available at the time of that player's signing.  You can not use trades because that would be speculative, only available free agents.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Has AO coined him blowsfarts yet?

[Angel Oracle]

If Epp had the same success at finding position players for hitting, that he has at finding pitchers, the team would be decently better off these past 3 seasons.   Really, only Simba (and Ohtani, although a combo player) have worked out.

It's the only thing staining an otherwise rock solid first 3 seasons. 

[T.G.]

1 minute ago, Angel Oracle said:

If Epp had the same success at finding position players for hitting, that he has at finding pitchers, the team would be decently better off these past 3 seasons.   Really, only Simba has worked out.

It's the only thing staining an otherwise rock solid first 3 seasons. 

Ohtani and Upton say hello.

[Hubs]

Let's not over react. Seattle isn't going to be as good as they started the season, and the Angels are not going to be as bad.

 

[Angel Oracle]

28 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Ohtani and Upton say hello.

I guess Upton's terrible RISP hitting in 2018 still has me doubtful, especially with some $85 million still due him.

I did include Ohtani after your post, although he was looked at for both hitting and pitching.   It's just how horrible pretty much every other position player acquisition has been at the plate.

I guess what I am getting at is that over the past 3+ years, the % of position players acquired who have worked out is a lot less than that of pitchers.

[aznhockeyguy]

I didn't like Cozart's signing at the time and I definitely hate it now.  In answer to the question who else Eppler could've got, I found a few answers. 

My ground rules for finding players for this exercise are: Basically anyone that signed for less than Cozart's contract & an infielder with prior 3B experience within a few seasons and/or 2B/SS experience and could've most likely produced at or near Cozart's level in 2014-2017 and had a solid season in 2017.  I excluded players that were offered a qualifying offer from their previous teams.  So Moustakas is excluded from this list. 

Cozart signed a 3 year 38 million dollar contract on 12/15/2017.  Keep that in mind. 

They could've simply resigned Yunel Escobar who had .730 OPS 98 OPS+ .3 WAR in 89 games with the Angels during the 2017 season.  He made 7 million that season, probably could've resigned for 3-4 mil less even and with the savings sign a bullpen piece or two?  He was never signed and hasn't played in MLB since.

They could've signed Todd Frazier who signed with the Mets on 2/7/2018 for 2 years/17 mil.  He split 2017 between the Yankees and White Sox and had a combined .772 OPS 105 OPS+ 3.4 WAR  in 147 games.

They could've signed Neil Walker who signed with the Yankees on 3/12/18 for 1 yr/4 mil. He spent 2017 with the Mets and Brewers and had a .801 OPS 111 OPS+ 1.5 WAR in 111 games. 

The problem is two fold IMO.  One, Eppler is terrible at reading the market for free agents and two as already mentioned, he hasn't had much luck valuating hitters.  Although I like Upton, had he waited, I think he could've resigned Upton to a cheaper deal, or even get J.D. Martinez instead. 

 

Edited April 1, 2019 by aznhockeyguy

[eligrba]

18 minutes ago, aznhockeyguy said:

I didn't like Cozart's signing at the time and I definitely hate it now.  In answer to the question who else Eppler could've got, I found a few answers. 

My ground rules for finding players for this exercise are: Basically anyone that signed for less than Cozart's contract & an infielder with prior 3B experience within a few seasons and/or 2B/SS experience and could've most likely produced at or near Cozart's level in 2014-2017 and had a solid season in 2017.  I excluded players that were offered a qualifying offer from their previous teams.  So Moustakas is excluded from this list. 

Cozart signed a 3 year 38 million dollar contract on 12/15/2017.  Keep that in mind. 

They could've simply resigned Yunel Escobar who had .730 OPS 98 OPS+ .3 WAR in 89 games with the Angels during the 2017 season.  He made 7 million that season, probably could've resigned for 3-4 mil less even and with the savings sign a bullpen piece or two?  He was never signed and hasn't played in MLB since.

They could've signed Todd Frazier who signed with the Mets on 2/7/2018 for 2 years/17 mil.  He split 2017 between the Yankees and White Sox and had a combined .772 OPS 105 OPS+ 3.4 WAR  in 147 games.

They could've signed Neil Walker who signed with the Yankees on 3/12/18 for 1 yr/4 mil. He spent 2017 with the Mets and Brewers and had a .801 OPS 111 OPS+ 1.5 WAR in 111 games. 

The problem is two fold IMO.  One, Eppler is terrible at reading the market for free agents and two as already mentioned, he hasn't had much luck valuating hitters.  Although I like Upton, had he waited, I think he could've resigned Upton to a cheaper deal, or even get J.D. Martinez instead. 

 

Neither Frazier or Walker was available in 2017.

The choice was Escobar or Cozart.  I would have also chosen Cozart at that time.  There is a reason Escobar is no longer playing.

[T.G.]

56 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Let's not over react.

Never...

 

Not here....

 

Not on AW....

 

C'mon...

 

[aznhockeyguy]

28 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Neither Frazier or Walker was available in 2017.

The choice was Escobar or Cozart.  I would have also chosen Cozart at that time.  There is a reason Escobar is no longer playing.

How were they not available when they signed after Cozart during the same offseason?  Please enlighten me. 

[Tank]

13 hours ago, Glen said:

It's tiring that most of our new acquisitions on offense always seem need a month of sucking before we can be sure they really suck.

i can't disagree with you on this.

am anxiously waiting for the day when we get a new player who comes in with guns blazing and stays that way.

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Hubs said:

Let's not over react. Seattle isn't going to be as good as they started the season, and the Angels are not going to be as bad.

logic and common sense have no place in an online argument.

knock it off, buddy.

[Angel Oracle]

Dumbpoto basically traded one solid upper lineup guy (Segura), in order to get another (Mallix Smith) in a separate trade.    With Dumbpoto, it's either always 1 step forward and 1 step backwards, or one step backwards after another.  

Those hitters won't hit like that all season, for da_n sure.

[eligrba]

2 hours ago, aznhockeyguy said:

How were they not available when they signed after Cozart during the same offseason?  Please enlighten me. 

I screwed up the dates....You are correct.

At the time, the Angels needed a player to play second base in addition to multiple infield positions.  Todd Frazier plays 3B.

Cozart finished 2017 entering the free agent market as a 5 WAR player while Walker finished as a -2.2 WAR player.  After looking at what the Angels needed and how both players performed during the 2017 season, you are suggesting that Eppler was terrible reading the market because Walker outperformed Cozart since 2017.  Hindsight can certainly make any person look bad.

 

 

[aznhockeyguy]

8 hours ago, eligrba said:

I screwed up the dates....You are correct.

At the time, the Angels needed a player to play second base in addition to multiple infield positions.  Todd Frazier plays 3B.

Cozart finished 2017 entering the free agent market as a 5 WAR player while Walker finished as a -2.2 WAR player.  After looking at what the Angels needed and how both players performed during the 2017 season, you are suggesting that Eppler was terrible reading the market because Walker outperformed Cozart since 2017.  Hindsight can certainly make any person look bad.

 

 

What?  Walker had a 1.5 WAR season with Mets/Brewers in 2017. A -2.2 WAR player is historically bad.  Chris Davis last season was -2.8 WAR.  Typo maybe?

In terms of Cozart he did have 2 ~2-3 WAR seasons before the 5 war season, but the 5 war season had fluke written all over it.  Eppler did overestimate the market for Cozart based on the contracts comparable players got later on during the 2017-2018 offseason.  Your argument of the Angels needed a player to play 2nd base in addition to multiple infield positions doesn't make any sense because the Angels signed Cozart to play 3rd base because the Angels traded for Kinsler the day prior. 

See this article  https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/angels-sign-zack-cozart.html  and this one http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21778005/zack-cozart-signs-3-year-deal-los-angeles-angels

I'm only pointing out that the Angels did have other options for 3B and didn't necessarily need to sign Cozart to that contract to do it.  Yes projecting out FAs is very difficult but what I'm saying is that moves like these could've been prevented had Eppler remained patient and read the market on Cozart correctly. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

We can only hope that like fighter planes, drones will someday replace our 2B.

(And LF. And C. And 1B. And the tongue lady)

[eligrba]

5 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

We can only hope that like fighter planes, drones will someday replace our 2B.

(And LF. And C. And 1B. And the tongue lady)

Will the 2B drone pilot be wearing a baseball uniform while sitting in the control room?