Inside Pitch

On behalf of "everyone" ... You first...

The whole speed/power combo seems to end up on the shelf due to injury more often than other types.. at least for humans and not Baseball demi-gods like Trout Consider Larry Walker, who Eppler is comping him to. The biggest knock on his game for most of his career was his tendency to suffer some injury or another... It's a concern for sure, but a guy with that type of ability is something this organization sorely needs..

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/general-managers-view-who-flies-below-the-radar/ Good read, Billy Eppler on Brandon Marsh and his development/upside.

Yeah, it's still hard to gauge aging curves for current players. We obviously cant look at guys in the PED era because well -- PEDs, but we can't just go back to 1976 either. Guys are typically in better shape than players used to be -- they eat better too.... but there is also so much more info on guys these days.. I worry that regardless of how well a guy ages, MLB analytics departments will do a better job of finding and exploiting growing weaknesses... Longo's already had some back issues as well. It's like you said -- it's the risk involved, the Angels aren't in a position to do it. Say they sign a guy like Nunez, or they ride it out with Valbuena -- at worst they are stuck for a year or two and 8-15 mil... Much easier to absorb and move on from than 5/86

According to BBRef.com... 2018 32 Tampa Bay Rays $13,500,000 9.170 2019 33 Tampa Bay Rays $14,500,000 2020 34 Tampa Bay Rays $15,000,000 2021 35 Tampa Bay Rays $18,500,000 2022 36 Tampa Bay Rays $19,500,000 2023 37 Tampa Bay Rays *$13,000,000 $13M Team Option, $5M Buyout They will have to pay 5 mil to avoid that 6th option year... So... 5/86 minimum.

His glove still plays and he had a nice season last year but... 2017 - .424 - 100 2016 - .521 - 127 2015 - .435 - 112 2014 - .404 - 107 Those numbers represent his SLG% and OPS+ during his age 28-31 seasons, essentially the back end of what would be considered his peak seasons -- not really the sort of numbers that make you want to commit to 5 more years and 86 mil... Trading for Longo now is trading for the worst part of his contract in what should prove to be the worst stage of his career.. Based on the glove alone he might prove to be a better value than Moustakas, but neither guy represents the best use of the Angels limited payroll, IMO.

Jetes has to make the world believe he's a super genius -- so yeah, my guess is the Marlins' starting asking price will be stupidly high.

Most people don't have a clue what pitch framing actually entails, they just know it's a trendy topic.. For many, they base their view of how well a catcher "frames" from the CF camera angle and what they believe is a catcher's attempt to steal a strike .vs the guy that is actually framing pitches. Maldonado isn't a one year wonder either he has consistently been among the best pitch framers in MLB.... anyone attaching the "questionable tag" to his pitch framing has no idea what they are talking about.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis.. aka Big Cowgill

There were people that not only called him the worst 2B in baseball but its worst player... The Howie hate was real and really stupid... White guys that make it look easy are called graceful... Sort of funny how they caught so much hate and yet the team has struggled to replace them. Same thing happened in Baltimore with DeCinces... He was cursed by having replaced Brooks Robinson... It took something like 30 different people to finally replace DeCinces in B-More .. and I think it ended up being Ripken when he moved over from SS. I'd welcome him back because the dude can fill in pretty much anywhere and has... plus his bat still plays. Also, I miss the bitching about sliders low and outside.. Just cant get enough of sliders low and outside talk ... or Lasgna talk...

I miss the days when the dumbest thing said on this board was that Howie was the worst 2B in MLB....

Physician heal thyself...

Well, depends on what version of WAR you believe is more accurate. fWAR has him being far less volatile.. in fact it leads to an opposite conclusion. 14 - 3.7 15 - 3.7 16 - 3.9 17 - 2.2 Using fWAR -- 2017 is the outlier... FWIW, I use bWAR too in many of these posts because it's easier to dig up -- but I prefer the way fWAR determines it's defensive metrics and consider it to be a better when looking at full seasons. edit: I should have known Doc or Ettin would have beaten me to the punch with the same argument...

' I think workload management may be the big deal this year -- not just to keep guys fresh but because we may see the Angels possibly mimic what the Dodgers were doing with their rotation. Not sure what to make of this recent trend but, with as many arms and different looks as the Angels could possibly have, they really could try to do the whole tandem starter BS and keep teams off balance.

Im with you and Im somewhat hoping that the other guys are all showing so much they can give him more time on the farm.

If a Japanese community is important to him then a CA team will be on his list -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_large_Japanese-American_populations Personally I believe he's known where he wanted to go for a long time. I really want to hear the details of whatever agreement MLB has made in order to allow it to happen.

My personal belief is that the Angels will not pursue anyone that will cost them a pick.... not because they care about the pick itself but rather because they don't want to lose the pool money that will come with that pick. Eppler has done a really good job spreading money around in the draft and while it's still got a ways to go it does once again have some depth and tradeable assets.... it's the only reason Justin Upton is an Angel. I think any move for a name will likely come via trade but more likely I see him going after value guys..... Nunez, Walker, etc etc.. The lone area he may spend some name brand money on is possibly at the closer spot and that likely depends on if his analytics department is a bigger devotee of the "relievers are volatile" school of sabermetrics .vs the "don't spend money on the pen" school. Again this is all my opinion. I don't believe Eppler is prone to rash judgements.... I do believe Arte trusts him. Arte may be all about filling the stadium (Aw.com fact), but the team is no longer a FA superstar away from being the talk of the town... so, winning is the team's best chance as sustaining 3 mil in attendance in the long run.... More importantly if this board is any indication.... the casual fan will look at any signing as either ''the next big mistake'' or ''oh look he went cheap again".... People are hard core jaded right now .... winning is the only thing that will change that.... IMO. if Stonemans voice is being heard, I think he's telling Arte to let Billy do his thing. It's hard to argue with the job he's done... Simmons and Upton are likely the two best additions dollar for dollar we have seen since Vladdy and while they did have to pony up another 18 mil to keep Upton neither guy was a splashy FA signing.. So, let him do what he does. Lastly...... If Arte decides he wants to throw his schlong around and yell hey look at me.... wait a year.... next winter will lend itself to much bigger schlong waving potential.... Give Eppler another draft and the farm another year to show it's value... I think the team would be much better off.

BC of that plethora of inexpensive 1B options, Cron's trade value is likely at an all time low... Young controllable players are MLBs currency of choice right now, so unless there is a team looking to move the 2B version of Cron I can't really see why teams would trade a young player for a player they can get for just money on the FA market.

Check this out..... http://nypost.com/2017/11/08/mlb-has-tentative-shohei-otani-agreement-with-one-hurdle-left/ "Major League Baseball and its Japanese counterparts have reached a tentative understanding to grandfather the now-expired posting system for one more year, clearing yet another hurdle to facilitate Shohei Otani coming to an MLB team this offseason." If they do that it's essentially gift wrapping him to the Yanks. Up until now MLB had been saying they would act and act hard if there was even a trace the team that signs him ends up giving him a follow up contract out of line with the normal one for a second year player, but given how MLB knowingly and willingly tampered with the balls in the postseason after allowing a juiced ball during the season I have zero faith they would actually do anything, particularly if it were the Yankees and if they do grandfather the old system in they dont even have to deal with the possibility.

Smartest thing Eppler has done is getting Upton set up early before the Boras hype train gets rolling -- check this ESPN article chock full of Boros quotes.. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21344607/scott-boras-expects-arizona-diamondbacks-involved-free-agent-bidding-jd-martinez "Do any of them hit 40-something home runs and hit .300?" Boras said. "Neither have hit 40 in a season. You have to look at performance and say, 'Where is the performer who is comparable?' And you go from there. I don't believe any of those performers are in that place." "He's a superstar talent," Boras told the Republic. "He's done things that few players have done." Jay Bruce is also telling people he wants a 5 year deal... So, yeah.... Getting an extra year and loweing the AAV may end being quite the deal.

They are a year away from that even being a possibility IMHO... He could have been even worse than he was this season and I think the team would still give him that much -- he may have looked like a shell of his former self even before last season but the reality is he is only one year off of having put up a positive OPS+. My guess is this is his mulligan season and if we see more of the same then you might see the team approach him about moving into a different role.

So ... which is it? J-Mo bunting or MS pinch hitting for B-Mo? Are you going to keep moving the goalposts anytime someone points to how stupid your argument is? Maybe it had something to do with Bengie having hit .234 through that point in the WS and Palmiero having hit .287 that season as a pinch hitter. I really couldn't tell you but I know they won that game and that Jose Molina bunting didn't hurt them. Have fun BOB...

This dude is going to go wherever the hell he wants to go most -- it's all chump change and I find it hard to believe he would want to be somewhere he wouldn't be happy just to make 3 Mil for one season. Remember -- year two he can just be renewed for the league minimum -- so he's got zero guarantees and MLB had already said that if any team gives him a ridiculous contract in year two they may void the entire thing and declare him a FA again.

The game resulted in a win -- the play resulted in the runners moving up, the inning ended with Adam Kennedy striking out. But I guess in your world of make believe the back up catcher who had two plate appearances in the 3 weeks before that game would have come up with a big hit.... What would you be bitching about if he had let him swing away and he grounded into a DP? "STUPID SCOSCIA!!!!" You're an insufferable bore.

You beat me to it.... I love how Bob fails to mention that J-Mo came up after the Angels had already taken the lead and that he succeeded in moving both runners up 90 feet. Not bad for a guy that had all of two plate appearances in the entirety of the 2002 postseason.