Comments on: The Angels can bite our gray or teal-wearing butt, sort of

By: lokiforever

lokiforever — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 02:55:41 +0000

Frank Thomas is not a left handed sock. He bats right. This did not fit within the pre-established off-season objectives, therefore the M’s FO was incapable of valuing Thomas, or recognizing potential value in acquiring him.

By: Evan

Evan — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:50:16 +0000

I don’t think the Angels pitching is as strong as you do. I see them as the low-hanging fruit in the division. I predict they’ll finish fourth.

By: Mere Tantalisers

Mere Tantalisers — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:03:15 +0000

26-
It’s really better not to ask these questions.

By: vj

vj — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:50:24 +0000

Well, only 14 teams get to use a DH in the first place, and some of them had a DH already.

Which reminds me who the M’s starting DH for the 06 season was. Man, Oakland signs Thomas, the Ms sign Everett. Tells you all you need to know about the two organizations. I wonder, what kind of difference in the standings would that have made?

By: Typical Idiot Fan

Typical Idiot Fan — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 08:06:19 +0000

Mathis, Molina, Cabrera, Figgins, Hillenbrand, Quinlan, Izturis, and Garret Anderson are all replacement level players or worse.

McPherson hasn’t done squat but strike out and will be out again with injury this entire season.

Kendrick, Aybar, and Morales are talented, but they will go thorugh their motions like most other prospects. It’s also doubtful that they’ll get the bulk of the playing time (save Kendrick) to impact the lineup.

Kotchman is also talented. The Angels also have shown some interesting lack of patience with him. Perhaps this is the result of McPherson, Figgins, and Izturis not making immediate impacts or living up to the hype they received. In any event, Hillenbrand wasn’t brought in just to spell DH. He’ll play first too when Rivera comes back.

That leaves Vladamir Guerrero, Mike Napoli, Gary Matthews, and Juan Rivera. Two fakes, a gimp, and The Consumer of your Pitcher’s Soul.

This offense scores about 750 runs and most of those are Vlad’s. See this limb? This is me walking out on it.

By: Mat

Mat — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 08:05:23 +0000

…it’s a mystery why nobody else wanted Thomas enough to pay more than Beane did.

Well, only 14 teams get to use a DH in the first place, and some of them had a DH already. Plus, I think it’s possible that Frank could’ve turned down marginally more money from other teams just because Oakland was such a perfect destination for him. He got to go to an organization that values his particular skillset, was a playoff contender, and he got to go somewhere with pretty good weather and limit his games on turf.

By: NBarnes

NBarnes — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:19:32 +0000

I don’t think anybody thinks that Piazza is as good a move as Thomas was. But everybody thought that Thomas was a crazy-good move, and rightly so. Even Billy Beane can’t pull off stuff like that every offseason; it’s a mystery why nobody else wanted Thomas enough to pay more than Beane did.

I think Piazza is likely to pay off in terms of being worth his contract and a productive hitter, but I can’t see any way that it ends up being as crazy amazing in terms of marginal salary / marginal wins as Thomas was.

The three sane teams in the AL West are all such a mixed bag of strengths and weaknesses and so evenly matched that I feel confidant saying that nobody really knows who will win the West. The in-season factors of ‘Where’d this guy come from?’ and ‘Where’d go?’ and injuries will decide the winner in ways that pre-season analysis cannot resolve.

By: Mere Tantalisers

Mere Tantalisers — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:01:48 +0000

I was surprised to read that the Angels were about equal to the M’s defensively last year. I don’t remember exactly how they stacked up against each other in PMR, but I remember thinking, boy they stink. And most recently I read the article on THT ranking outfield arms based on holding runners and outfield assists etc.

Based on OF arm strength alone (and I’m assuming that Guillen recovers fully) the Mariners should be about 10 runs better than Angels. And if range is factored in, I suss Ibanez Ichiro and Guillen will be a sight better than Anderson Matthews and Guerrero. I don’t know hiw good Izturis/Chone are at third, but they can’t be Beltre good, and we’ve got everyone but the Astros beat at SS. Lopez is at least average, Sexson’s no good, but he’s not more than 5 runs below average…

By: Mat

Mat — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 06:57:11 +0000

I think they’re taking a huge offensive hit at DH, though, and Piazza’s not going to work out. We’ll see, that’s a huge gamble in a way I don’t think even the rehabilitation of Frank Thomas was.

Yeah, Frank Thomas was just one season removed from a .321 EQA. The gamble with Thomas was whether or not he’d stay healthy. If he was healthy, he was going to hit. Piazza hasn’t had a ~.300 EQA since 2003. The gamble here seems to be more that Piazza improves by not catching rather than just gambling on how many games he can play.

Like you said, Beane’s record speaks for itself, but this move doesn’t seem as good as getting Thomas the year before. (To be fair, though, getting Frank Thomas for that price was a downright steal and many people thought so at the time. It’s tough to find moves that good just lying around to be made.)

By: junglist215

junglist215 — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 06:53:01 +0000

You know it’s not going to mean a bit of difference in the standings come sept, but Angels blogs, 6-4-2 and HalosHeaven in particular, are f’n boring. You just know you’re struggling for sensible content when you’re posting about who wore what jersey # which year. I could’ve gone my entire life without knowing Lackey shares the same # as Rich Delucia, and probably would’ve been a better because of it.