***OFFICIAL*** 2014 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Thread

LakerFan87

So now that baseball season is over for Angel fans, we can get the ball rolling on off-season talk. Calling the 2013 campaign for the Halos "disappointing" would be putting it lightly. Certainly, there are more questions than answers.

Jerry Dipoto? Stay or go?

Mike Scioscia? Stay or go?

What free agents should the Angels pursue?

How about trades? Who should the Angels target and who should they deal?

Personally, I think Dipoto should be given another chance because I don't believe he has been given the property authority a GM needs in order to be effective. To be fair, the Joe Blanton signing was utterly indefensible. The Tommy Hanson trade made sense at the time, so I don't knock him TOO much for that, but unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty disastrous as well.

Dipoto was hamstrung by Arte Moreno when Arte butted in and issued an ultimatum to empty the bank for Josh Hamilton when Dipoto knew that our outfield situation was fine and we really needed pitching. Dipoto said all along that pitching was the number one concern, but after the Hamilton signing (which wasn't his idea), he didn't have a whole lot of avenues to acquire adequate help for the pitching staff.

I think Scioscia needs to be canned, but I don't think he will be. I wrote a giant essay about why I believe he needs to be gone in the 2013 Angels thread (or maybe even in the 2012 thread), so I don't feel like re-hashing it here at this particular moment.

In a nutshell, I think Scioscia is a micro-manager that instills fear in his players rather than confidence and that his voice has become white noise after 14 seasons at the helm.

As far as free agents are concerned, spending top dollar on the marquee names clearly has not worked out. Besides, the Angels need to save up every penny possible to sign that Trout guy to an extension. We need pitching, but I think the Angeles are better served acquiring it through trades rather than free agency. I would not be opposed to re-signing Vargas at a reasonable price. I WOULD be opposed to giving big, multi-year deals to an overrated Matt Garza or a has-been Tim Lincecum. And I will officially boycott the Angels until Arte Moreno is no longer the owner if they sign Robinson Cano to a 9 figure deal.

In order to acquire young, cost-controlled pitching, the Angels will most likely have to do some wheeling and dealing. Contrary to popular belief, they actually have some decent trade chips. Most notably, Mark Trumbo, Peter Bourjos, Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar, and even possibly Kole Calhoun with his strong showing.

Aybar is the guy I am least inclined to trade mainly because the Angels don't have an adequate replacement that's ready to step in. Andrew Romine is a nice utility guy for the bench, but he's not an every-day player.

If the Angels trade Bourjos or Trumbo, they have Calhoun ready to step in. He may or may not become a star, but I think he is a solid player that's good enough to be a starter. He's already way better than J.B. Shuck in my opinion and his ceiling is much higher.

And if the Angels trade Howie, Grant Green is an adequate replacement. He's a decent hitter that leaves something left to be desired defensively, but he was picked ahead of Mike Trout so he has solid upside and he's versatile as he can fill in at 3B and the corner OF spots if needed. Above all else, he's cheap.

Whatever happens, it will certainly be an interesting off-season.

Let the countdown to 2014 begin.
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LakerFan87 · Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:42 pm Post subject:

The Angels have traded CF Peter Bourjos and power hitting OF prospect Randal Grichuk to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for 3B David Freese and RP Fernando Salas.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/11/cardinals-acquire-peter-bourjos.html

This is a horrible move by the Angels. They traded away two legitimate players for non-tender candidates.

Bourjos is a young, impact CF with an underrated bat, when healthy.

Grichuk is a legitimate power hitting prospect who lacks plate discipline but has intriguing upside nonetheless.

David Freese is a 3B on the wrong side of 30 with back problems and has pretty much been the definition of a mediocre player except for his legendary 2011 post-season.

Fernando Salas is a reliever who is not much better than any random guy we could pick up from the scrap heap for a minor league deal.

In the past, I have argued that the organizations main problems have been Arte Moreno and Mike Scioscia, and I still believe this to be true. However, I have defended Jerry Dipoto but with this blunder to put on top of the Joe Blanton mistake, my support for Dipoto is plummeting fast.
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lakersken80 · Retired Number Joined: 12 Aug 2009 Posts: 38780

Grammer · Star Player Joined: 25 Jun 2013 Posts: 1273

I've always loved Bourjos' defense.
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Fan0Bynum17 · Franchise Player Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 15436

Angels traded Peter Bourjos and Randal Grichuk to the Cards for David Freese and Fernando Salas.

LINK

Okay, grace period for Dipoto is officially over for me. He sucks.

LakerFan87 · Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 8:02 pm Post subject:

The Angels have agreed to a 3 year contract with free agent reliever Joe Smith:

https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/404439778914861056

I like Joe Smith as a pitcher and he'll help out the bullpen along with a (hopefully) healthy Sean Burnett, but I've always hated the idea of giving 3+ year deals to relievers, unless they are the second coming of Mariano Rivera. And besides, we still need starting pitching help.

At least the Angels didn't shell out a large dollar amount.
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venturalakersfan · Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 8:43 pm Post subject:

LakerFan87 · Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:00 pm Post subject:

kwest80 · Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 1:01 pm Post subject:

Trumbo traded.

The Los Angeles Angels agreed Tuesday to trade slugging outfielder-first baseman Mark Trumbo to the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a three-team deal that also includes the Chicago White Sox, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press.

Pitcher Hector Santiago is moving from the White Sox to the Angels, outfielder Adam Eaton from Diamondbacks to Chicago, and left-hander Tyler Skaggs from Arizona to Los Angeles.

rwongega · Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 1:04 pm Post subject:

Another Dipoto fail. And this somehow had ties to the Reagins fail-trade where Angels sent Skaggs, Corbin, Saunders for Haren. Fail all around.
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RIP Jonathan Tang
RIP Alex Gruenberg

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LakerFan87 · Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 1:36 pm Post subject:

Steve007 · Franchise Player Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 13221

Skaggs is super young but he had terrible numbers in the National League. Now he is moving over to the American League. That doesn't make me confident in him. The other pitcher actually looks pretty decent.

LakerFan87 · Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:21 pm Post subject:

Naf_srekaL · Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:07 pm Post subject:

I don't know how anyone could view this deal as a fail.

It's a great trade for the Angels, even though it's unfortunate that we had to lose Trumbo.

A 22 year old top prospect, whose only issue seems mechanical (Dbacks requested he change his mechanics last year for some reason, causing his velocity to drop) and a solid back end of the rotation starter, both cheap and under club control, saving us more money to go after Tanaka or Garza.

Big win imo. I think both players could be in our rotation this year. Certainly they are upgrades of Blanton / Hansen / Williams

waterman40 · Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:14 am Post subject:

It has to be a big picture trade for the Angels - they get two low cost pitchers and get rid of a decent offense/bad defense player. Although, we did trade for the Cardinals bad defense third baseman

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LakerFan87 · Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 1:49 am Post subject:

Now that Tanaka has officially been posted, if the Angels can somehow land him (realistic) and one more bullpen arm such as Grant Balfour or Jesse Crain (probably not realistic), then I would consider them legitimate contenders.

But even if they don't get another bullpen arm but land Tanaka, they'll be in pretty good position.
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32 · Retired Number Joined: 04 Nov 2009 Posts: 73062

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rwongega · Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 5:40 pm Post subject:

The FO better treat Trout like royalty. If you're going to give Pujols and Hamilton those kinds of contracts, Trout's better be much bigger.
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RIP Jonathan Tang
RIP Alex Gruenberg

Free KBCB

Naf_srekaL · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:47 pm Post subject:

Well, time to resurrect the thread.

It's been a great week Angels fans!

Romine traded for young, controlled, left handed pitching in Alvarez!
Blanton let go!
Trout signed to a 6 year extension!

And the team is having a really good Spring Training, pitching looks MUCH improved, Pujols and Hamilton swinging the bats well, Trout being Trout.

Looking forward to this season!

rwongega · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:53 pm Post subject:

BigBallerBrand · Star Player Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 5790 Location: LA

so happy that pujols is finally on steroids again! 500 baby!
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Theseus · Franchise Player Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 14166

The first time we've seen a clean 500 in a long time. Best player of our generation, playing alongside the best player of this generation. Pretty good times for the next few years.

lakersken80 · Retired Number Joined: 12 Aug 2009 Posts: 38780

Irvine Angels?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-angels-irvine-ballpark-anaheim-stadium-20140501-story.html

raffi · LG Contributor Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 9987

This may sound nuts, but I actually think this team can do something special this year.

The biggest question is the bullpen and whether we can establish effective roles on a consistent basis moving forward. All those 1 run losses and blown games certainly hurt, but the guys keep putting forth the effort to win games.