[ SECRET POST #3681 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3681 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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['Allo 'Allo!]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #526.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Discussions you're tired of having

[(Anonymous)]

From an organizational perspective, they shouldn't, but you do have to ask, what's the path forward for the organization? Like - and you'd know more about this than I do, so correct me if I'm wrong here - but it does not seem, looking at the roster, like they have enough about them to be real playoff contenders. They don't have a good farm system. They have a lot of money tied up in contracts at the moment - I guess after this season they can take some more swings at the free agent market, but even that's tough these days. So, like, the question has to be, what are they trying to do?

I totally get why, from an Angels perspective, you're never going to get fair value back for Trout, and from an Angels fan perspective, you want Trout on your team as long as possible. He's great and he's great to watch. But it just feels like a real bummer. Don't know if it's an ownership thing or a FO thing but it's a bummer.

Re: Discussions you're tired of having

[ginainthekingsroad]

It's an ownership thing, in that Arte Moreno wants to make decisions that should be left in the hands of the FO. Which is how we traded Mike Napoli for Vernon Wells, signed Joe Blanton in 2013 instead of resigning Zack Greinke or picking up Dan Haren's option, and signed Josh fucking Hamilton instead of resigning Torii Hunter short-term. Not to mention overpaying for Pujols and CJ Wilson, but those at least have had a little upside for us.

They actually have a much lower payroll now than last year- Jered Weaver (despite everything that extension was worth it ♥ ) and CJ Wilson are off the books now, and only one more year of paying for Josh Hamilton (fucking kill me). #1 priority with the money is keeping Trout.

The plan for 2017, and more likely 2018 more seriously, is to contend with elite defense (Simmons/Espinosa is an amazing keystone, and a Maybin-Revere/Trout/Calhoun outfield is speed and strength like the 2014-5 Royals OF) and solid pitching. The pitching right now is a bit of a question mark, but it has great potential. 2017 depends almost entirely on how well Richards (torn UCL), Shoemaker (skull fracture), and Skaggs (continuing TJS recovery) come back. Next year we get Heaney and Tropeano back from their 2016 TJS.

The bullpen picture depends on who's not making the rotation, but should be okay? It's not unrealistic to expect a rebound from Huston Street, who was hurt all last year; and Cam Bedrosian is the new breakout setup guy (his '16 also ended with a freak injury- blot clots in the arm). Some of the better late-season acquisitions like JC Ramirez (could be starting?), Deolis Guerra, and Andrew Bailey will be back.

After not making any big FA moves the past 2 years, the farm is improving slightly. We're not the worst-off of all now! And hopefully that #10 draft pick this year is a good one. And Eppler has made smart moves for depth at the higher levels- Luis Valbuena is the latest, a nice lefty bat and versatile infielder who'll see time at 3B and 1B.

If we're out of it, we'll be sellers on the one-year guys: Street, Escobar, Espinosa, Valbuena, Maybin or Revere, Nolasco, Norris, Chavez, etc. Can't get the best prospects for them, but depth is depth!

Fangraphs projects the Angels to go 84-78, 2nd in the division behind the Astros and 4th overall in the AL (1st wildcard). They could be surprisingly good. I'm at "cautious optimism" myself, with .500 and as few injuries as possible as the goal.

Re: Discussions you're tired of having

[(Anonymous)]

That's a really good summary, thanks! I guess having a balanced lineup with strong defense is a pretty good place to be these days, and having Trout does make up for a lot of sins. I guess the pitching is the question mark & I don't know how to feel about that - I'm definitely pretty hinky about teams that don't have established rotations; on the other hand, that's the same reason I was skeptical about the Cubs a couple seasons ago, and we all know how that turned out, so maybe I overestimate how hard it is to sort out pitching. Anyway, I hope they're competitive, for your sake and for Mike Trout's.

(Also Cam Bedrosian is Steve 'Bedrock' Bedrosian's kid so I'm rooting for him too, go Bedrock)

Re: Discussions you're tired of having

[ginainthekingsroad]

It seems like I can barely remember the last time we weren't hobbled by injuries to the rotation (2012, I guess), but none so bad as last year. So a bounceback would be really, really good.

Getting excited about Cam Bedrosian is very weird to me, because he spent September 2014-March 2016 being completely awful every time we saw him. We were convinced he was hanging around on the famous name, he was walks and dinger-central. The phrase Shit-the-Bed-rosian may have been used. He sucked in 2016 spring training and we were expecting more of the same.

Someone that year, probably new pitching coach Charles Nagy, told him to stop throwing his changeup and PRESTO BINGO suddenly there was magic! He got to be our official closer for 2 days last year and it was going okay, before getting hurt because that was how 2016 went for us. So I am looking forward to what he does next. I'd also love to see if we can fix Mike Morin too, because his peripherals are really solid and that changeup is too sexyyyy for him to be stuck at AAAA meh-ness/unlucky. Plus, dat booty.