Inside Pitch

And yet you continue to post the same shit, over and over again. You so craaazy....

Not to be difficult but neither ... my opinion of each of them is independent of each other. Eppler extending MS would indicate he believes he's still the man to lead this team, but it wouldn't make me think he's any better or worse a manager. MS has his strengths and weaknesses, Eppler believing in him wouldn't change those, although I'd argue he's had the greatest impact on improving what most believed to be MS' perceived weaknesses. BTW -- I always get such a kick out of people that talk about wanting a more saber inclined manager... For all the blathering about how they are ahead of the curve and smarter... those guys are more prone to go by whatever the data says to do -just like an old school guy going by "the book" -- a criticism often hurled at MS.. The saber types are all about trusting the process - and the process tends to be predetermined on a spreadsheet. It's funny because the more the game becomes about analytics, the more a manager's worth will be in how well he keeps the guys in the clubhouse in the right frame of mind and on an even keel... If you need an example of this.. the NY Yankees hire of Boone is a prime example. Girardi was rumored to be losing the clubhouse, Boone is said to be a guy everyone likes. The Yankees hired a likeable dude they hope will follow whatever script they give him.

Yes, brainpower -- Scioscia's lack of it why mediocre pitchers fail to perform. Speaking of exposing one's weakness -- it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt.

Don't be ridiculous.. that's clearly Catilyn Jenner..

This is how some of us feel anytime we see Scioscia in a thread title ... ........ because we know what to expect and who to expect it from...

http://www.espn.com/mlb/team/stats/pitching/_/name/laa/split/44 They faded in September but by then it didnt matter and they were overworked after all the 5 inning starts and poor SP work.

Born amd raised in TJ.. went to HS just north of the border. He likely was around the element growing up -- shame he didnt leave it behind.

That's not really fair to Walker -- Coors obviously helped but he was a near 900 OPS guy away from Coors too. Griffey Jr made his HOF case in the Kingdome and nobody seemed to hold that against him -- his career OPS+ was 136.... Walker's was 141. Dude was clean too which most of that era can't say. Truth is had he juiced he may have been able to stay on the field ... it's all the missed time that's hurting his chances IMO.

I'm not trying to make him look any way -- using raw ERA is a terrible way to look at pitchers.. This is the same exact POV that had people here clamoring to sign Matt Garza.. Also - instead of accusing me of attempting to slant things by using career numbers how about you actually check to see if the facts support your opinions? His career ERA+ is 126, his post TJ ERA+ is 123. Your Albert Pujols analogy is misplaced. Lastly... I didn't call him an elite SP -- in fact, in my response I said he wasn't in that class.. But you tried to paint him as no better than a number three.... and that's what I responded to. Well, his adjusted ERA last year was equal to Jacob DeGrom, Michael Fullmer, Alex Cobb, and, Carlos Martinez -- that's an impressive list of number 3s. Durability wise, his 31 starts were equal to Max Scherzer, and ahead of Kershaw, Kluber, and probably everyone else who's last name starts with a K. His 186 innings pitched ranked 24th overall... same total as Lance Lynn who you are fond of. Chris Archer, the MLB leader in games started last year (34), threw 201 innings - huge difference right? The dude had TJ surgery -- so did Lynn. If you consider one a health risk then you may want to reconsider how you view the other. I wouldn't pay him what the Cubs just did -- but again..... He's a far cry from being a number three.. At least through this point in his career.

He pitched his home games in Texas... so his raw ERA will always look uglier than how he actually pitched. For his career his ERA+ is 126... While that may not put him into the Ace class -- he's a far cry better than a number three.

Yep -- they are just taking historical tends for similar players and applying them to the current player -- there is no effort to correctly spread out the usage and the sort. Projection systems don't typically differentiate between a guy being injured and a guy just putting up smaller samples because he doesn't merit more playing time. The biggest volatility is always in the pen, at the two extreme ends of the age spectrum, and with guys coming off injuries... Kendrys Morales was the good recent example of a guy that the projection systems couldn't peg. His development within the system was't typical, his injuries cut short his seasons and his return from injury was delayed. Every system out there missed pretty hard on him at pretty much every stage of his career while with the Angels. It wasn't a case of the systems being shit, he just didn't fit the typical profiles.

They aren't -- but people need to understand what they measure and how to digest the information. All MLE's and projection systems follow a formula, understanding how they come to their conclusions goes a long ways towards knowing whether or not to worry about them.

I think it's mostly tied to our BP -- they were supposed to be awful last year and produced the 4th best WAR in MLB.. Bullpen volatility is a thing, they are missing a couple of cogs from last years pen. Where I think they miss the boat is they aren't allowing for the possibility that some of our healthy SPs will likely pitch out of the pen. But a case could be made that is the pen was as bad as they predicted last year (and again this year), it could have a chain reaction on the entire pitching staff.

The producers of Rainman wish they could have seen your posts prior to casting the movie.

If I had a do-over... I hire Eppler in 2012...

Walker, Nunez are both significantly better gets than Chase Headley..

To that end... .240/.339/.400... Those are the career minor league averages from age 23-25 for a former Golden Spikes Award winning catcher who went on to multiple all star games and was named the Captain of a WS team with Manny and Papi.. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=varite001jas Catchers are notoriously slow to develop. HS catchers still have the lowest graduation rate of any position player -- Ward was a college guy but the point is it's a volatile position. When you consider Jason Varitek put those career minor league numbers up at a time when offense was significantly more rampant it makes what Taylor Ward has done easier to swallow. In some ways, Ward catches shit for having been thrust into the situation he was.. namely... the first round pick of a franchise with a floundering farm system. The fan base wanted/needed someone to get excited about.. Taylor Ward isn't exciting -- he may yet be useful and if that happens -- props, Jerry.

They are both ESPN -- Keith Law is the tools guy -- ZIPS is the stats driven MLE type of deal.. So with ZIPS.... basically, what they do is they look at every player they have data on to try to formulate a projection.. So basically based on minor league performances -- and their projected performances based off those numbers Ward would be the 93 most productive prospect at the MLB level this year.... They don't mean much, but it's nice to see a wide spread of prospects showing up on different lists. So from a stats and tools standpoint -- our guys are projecting well.

Seems that way -- I think with ZIPS its just a lack of data...

ESPN Insider article... Ohtani not ranked due to the lack of statistical info.. Four Angels... #61 - Jahmai Jones #63 - Jo Adell #71 - Chris Rodriguez #93 - Taylor Ward! So... You know the system is doing well when you have multiple outlets using vastly different systems and measures all listing multiple guys as top 100 guys... http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/22319407/who-does-zips-project-top-100-prospects-2018

Apparently anyone that sees Headley for what he actually is .vs the mythical beast some are trying to make him out to be is just blind or missing the point. Meanwhile back in reality land .. Headley is a more expensive, ill fitting piece (anywhere but at third base), who will require organizational currency to obtain. Downgrading is the new upgrading it seems.

FWIW -- I offered no opinion on whether or not they should spend -- I responded to a post talking about the kind of money available in the game by pointing to the additional 50 mil teams have been given to play with this year. .. Nothing more. Personally my view is that the players may have painted themselves into a corner. 1- They have been driving down the earning potential of players coming into the league for years (to get more themselves), and have recently agreed to a new CBA that did little to slow that.... The end result is that teams can now legitimately argue it makes no sense being penalized in the draft by having their resources and ability to spend there TAKEN AWAY. 2 - There has been no report of them making any sort of effort to include language into the CBA that would keep teams from selling off and tanking and yet they willfully accepted the tax parameters as is, including the penalties for going over ... but setting no limits as to how much a team can benefit from gaming the system or purposely tanking. 3 - They seemingly failed to see how teams becoming better at the usage of analytics may have made it easier for them to avoid potential land-mines. It was super cool when agents showed up at the bargaining table with a dossier on how their player was great and favorably compared to Willie Mays but now that info works both ways... The union has been caught flat footed IMO. 4 - The "Boras effect", also helps temper collusion argument IMO .... For years the top end guys set the bar for the rest.. For years he's held his players back and waited for offers.. This year it seems to have bit the players in the ass. Do I believe something might be going on? Maybe.. Do I believe the players have any real argument -- No. We can however safely say the players are beginning to dig their heels in a bit and the rhetoric is starting .... I fully believe the MLBPA will do everything that can to try to invent one.

It's guys like this and the affect he has on their fan base that led my generation of Angels fans to hate the Dodgers and their myopia....

I think I'm in the minority but -- Deveaux isn't even a guy for me until he plays in actual games. I can't formulate an opinion on a guy I haven't ever seen do anything -- one of the reasons I didn't cast a vote for him in the top 30.

The 2016 version of AP you can live with for a couple years... the 2017 version.... not so much. I have no idea how this plays out, I think we all knew the end would be ugly -- dunno that anyone believed it might come as soon as it possibly has. Hope is all we got, mang!