What could have been

[Adam]

Mo Vaughn played very well for the Angels

[ten ocho recon scout]

49 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Mo Vaughn was always a weird move, but seeing as our biggest FA or trade acquisition in the 1990's was like Ken Hill or Pat Rapp, it was Nice to see. I remember Tony Phillips too. 

While Randy would've made more sense, the biggest boneheaded move was not getting Beltre, as many have alluded to, as it set the string in motion that Brought us Pujols and Hamilton and cost us Hunter.

 

And the the biggest head scratcher to me at the time was that we were in on Carl Crawford.

We had an outfield. And outfielders in the system. And there were always outfield FAs. 

We needed a 3B. We had none in the system. And very few good ones ever hit FA.

The Beltre fiasco was just such a shortsighted move.

Here, I'll continue the theme. Someone above mentioned We made a take it or leave to Beltre. We did the same with Lackey. He gave the Angels a chance to make a counter to the BoSox offer. Didn't even have to match it, and we still said no.

Off the top of my head, didn't CJ Wilson get roughly the same deal from us Lackey got?

That's another "what could have been". Rangers got quick, and took the division from us. And in doing so, we took Wilson and Hamilton from them, for lots of money and nothing to show for it. They got.Napoli, who went on to terrorize us.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Oh, and Beltre.

[ten ocho recon scout]

And they made us look pretty bad with the Vlad signing, at least that first year.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

Which I think is why Arte' tossed the kitchen sink at Rendon... Hoping to reverse the Beltre' fiasco. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

11 minutes ago, SlappyUtilityMIF said:

Which I think is why Arte' tossed the kitchen sink at Rendon... Hoping to reverse the Beltre' fiasco. 

Rendon was the pivot after we got outbid on Cole... like Hamilton was the pivot when we got outbid on Grienke.

Both times it was like "I already pulled this money out of the bank, I need to spend it"

Rendon, in fairness, should have been a legit bona-fide improvement. Just bad luck all around, starting with Covid.

[T.G.]

You know I remember the Beltre thing differently... I distinctly remember people thinking Beltre was over-rated because he didn't replicate what he did as a Dodger.  His numbers weren't great in Seattle and lots of people kept pointing to that.  Some were claiming that his Boston numbers were a fluke...

[ten ocho recon scout]

8 minutes ago, T.G. said:

You know I remember the Beltre thing differently... I distinctly remember people thinking Beltre was over-rated because he didn't replicate what he did as a Dodger.  His numbers weren't great in Seattle and lots of people kept pointing to that.  Some were claiming that his Boston numbers were a fluke...

Yeah, definitely. I never in a million years expected him to come here and do what he did in Boston. I didn't think he'd do what he did as a Ranger either.

But I wanted him for his Seattle bat, and glove. Wasn't an all-star, but super solid guy we could have plugged in and .270/25-30 HRs and a plus glove... essentially a partner and mirror of Torii at the time.

Main reason I wanted him was we needed to replace Figgins and had nobody in house. 

I initially didn't like the Rendon signing at all. Was convinced we were getting Cole. I had a friend w Houston at the time who swore Cole was coming here. When we didn't get him I threw a tempura tantrum

But then I came around to Rendon, because again, 3Bs who can hit are so rare, they never hit FA. And we were way past due to solve 3B.

Just had a ton of bad luck with him.

 

[Angelsfan1984]

What was the Angels record with Rendon this year vs without?

coincidence? probably.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

53 minutes ago, T.G. said:

You know I remember the Beltre thing differently... I distinctly remember people thinking Beltre was over-rated because he didn't replicate what he did as a Dodger.  His numbers weren't great in Seattle and lots of people kept pointing to that.  Some were claiming that his Boston numbers were a fluke...

Well, at the same time there were mass ped's being used throughout the game. His initial #'s in Seattle were based on the park and league change. And the injury issue without a cup. Which allowed him to get approval for use of a supplement due to the decreased production of testosterone. 

Arte' had been burned by GMJR (i know it started a year later) and his own previous 3rd baseman was listed in the whole fiasco at the time...

[Paolo11]

I wish we would have re-signed Nolan Ryan back in 1979.  

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Rendon was the pivot after we got outbid on Cole... like Hamilton was the pivot when we got outbid on Grienke.

Both times it was like "I already pulled this money out of the bank, I need to spend it"

Rendon, in fairness, should have been a legit bona-fide improvement. Just bad luck all around, starting with Covid.

Correct me if I am wrong.  Didn't Huntee Sign with Tigers before Grienke signed that year?

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Yeah, definitely. I never in a million years expected him to come here and do what he did in Boston. I didn't think he'd do what he did as a Ranger either.

But I wanted him for his Seattle bat, and glove. Wasn't an all-star, but super solid guy we could have plugged in and .270/25-30 HRs and a plus glove... essentially a partner and mirror of Torii at the time.

Main reason I wanted him was we needed to replace Figgins and had nobody in house. 

I initially didn't like the Rendon signing at all. Was convinced we were getting Cole. I had a friend w Houston at the time who swore Cole was coming here. When we didn't get him I threw a tempura tantrum

But then I came around to Rendon, because again, 3Bs who can hit are so rare, they never hit FA. And we were way past due to solve 3B.

Just had a ton of bad luck with him.

 

Wasn't Wood given the job that year?

[ten ocho recon scout]

Just now, stormngt said:

Correct me if I am wrong.  Didn't Huntee Sign with Tigers before Grienke signed that year?

Don't remember who signed first. But I know we told Hunter they couldn't afford him.

The we gave Hamilton that massive deal.

Torii was understandable pissed.

There's rumors he and Pujols didn't get along. I dunno. But personally, though he was only here 5 years, Hunter felt like one of those guys you bend for.

He was great to the fans and community, and I know the guys in the clubhouse adored him.

[stormngt]

Just now, ten ocho recon scout said:

Don't remember who signed first. But I know we told Hunter they couldn't afford him.

The we gave Hamilton that massive deal.

Torii was understandable pissed.

There's rumors he and Pujols didn't get along. I dunno. But personally, though he was only here 5 years, Hunter felt like one of those guys you bend for.

He was great to the fans and community, and I know the guys in the clubhouse adored him.

It makes a big difference. 

We told Hunter we couldn't sign him because we were all in for Grienke. 

We didn't pursue Hamilton until we lost Grienke.  Was Hunter even available at that time?

If not mistaken we let Hunter go fir Geienke, not Hamilton.  We didn't sign Grienke so we signed Hamilton.  Hunter was already a Tiger at that time.

[ten ocho recon scout]

3 minutes ago, stormngt said:

Wasn't Wood given the job that year?

Not sure, probably. Which is a whole other topic.

Not to keep shutting on the FO, but I think Wood was the hangup in the Cabrera trade if I remember correctly. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Just now, stormngt said:

It makes a big difference. 

We told Hunter we couldn't sign him because we were all in for Grienke. 

We didn't pursue Hamilton until we lost Grienke.  Was Hunter even available at that time?

If not mistaken we let Hunter go fir Geienke, not Hamilton.  We didn't sign Grienke so we signed Hamilton.  Hunter was already a Tiger at that time.

We literally had no need for an outfielder at that point, with Trumbo able to take over in RF. Whether Torii was still available or not was moot. Grienke made it known long before the season ended he was going to the highest bidder.

If they were outbid, fine. Spend the money where it's needed (another pitcher not named Grienke. Or the bullpen, which was about the biggest reason we missed the playoffs in 2012).

It's the same story as Cole / Rendon. Kudos to the team for being willing to spend. It's stupid as hell to spend it where you don't need it, and not spend it where you do.

[stormngt]

49 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Not sure, probably. Which is a whole other topic.

Not to keep shutting on the FO, but I think Wood was the hangup in the Cabrera trade if I remember correctly. 

Actually I think is the requirement to include Dontrelle Willis in the deal.

Wood and Aybar were rumored to be in a possible deal for Ray Holliday.   

 

[stormngt]

50 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

We literally had no need for an outfielder at that point, with Trumbo able to take over in RF. Whether Torii was still available or not was moot. Grienke made it known long before the season ended he was going to the highest bidder.

If they were outbid, fine. Spend the money where it's needed (another pitcher not named Grienke. Or the bullpen, which was about the biggest reason we missed the playoffs in 2012).

It's the same story as Cole / Rendon. Kudos to the team for being willing to spend. It's stupid as hell to spend it where you don't need it, and not spend it where you do.

Oh I agree.  We didnt need an outfielder, and should have saved the money.  However there is a constant narrative that we let Hunter go for Hamilton.  That isn't really true.