Angels general manager Billy Eppler is in the final season of his contract, and with the Angels assured of a fifth straight losing season, multiple reports have linked the team to veteran executive Dave Dombrowski as a potential replacement. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal calls the Halos the “most likely” team to make a switch at GM, adding that Dombrowski is the most frequently mentioned replacement option. Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times writes that the “widely held belief” is that the Angels are in for yet another front-office regime change and that the “industry consensus” is that owner Arte Moreno will pursue Dombrowski.
It’s been five years since Eppler took over for Jerry Dipoto, who resigned from his post in the wake of a highly publicized rift with then-manager Mike Scioscia. Los Angeles has yet to return to the postseason or even put together a winning record in that time. Instead of postseason wins built around the game’s best player, Mike Trout, much of the focus has been on the Angels’ perennial struggles to keep an underachieving pitching staff healthy enough to take the mound.
Since Eppler took the helm, the Angels rank 23rd among MLB teams in rotation ERA (4.74), 27th in FIP (4.84) and 29th in overall innings pitched. Angels starters have tallied just 3490 1/3 innings over those five seasons — a mark trailed only by a Rays club that has used openers more aggressively than any team in the Majors. The trade to acquire Dylan Bundy looks superlative at the moment, but most of the other attempts to patch the rotation have fizzled. Free agents Julio Teheran, Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill, Doug Fister and Tim Lincecum didn’t bear fruit. Landing Shohei Ohtani was a clear feather in Eppler’s cap, but Ohtani has been far more impactful at the plate than on the mound thanks to numerous injuries.
From acquiring Andrelton Simmons in his first winter on the job to Bundy this past offseason, Eppler has made his share of strong moves while controlling the Halos’ baseball ops outfit. However, the team is still in need of upgrades both in the rotation and bullpen. The salaries of Trout, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon and Justin Upton weigh down next year’s payroll already, though the Pujols deal will finally be off the books post-2021. Supplementing the many holes on the roster could prove difficult with $118MM already on the books and a sizable arbitration class. Whether Eppler will make those additions seems cloudy at best.
Hiring Dombrowski or any other experienced front office exec would be something of a departure from the norm, Shaikin points out. The Angels’ past three GMs have all been rookies — Eppler, Dipoto and Tony Reagins — and each had something less than 100 percent autonomy over baseball operations decisions. It is well documented that Moreno spearheaded the team’s acquisitions of Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Vernon Wells, and Shaikin adds that it was Moreno who made the decision to dump Brad Ausmus (Eppler’s chosen skipper) after just one season in order to pursue Joe Maddon.
Dombrowski, of course, knows plenty about putting together win-now rosters with an “at all costs” mentality, as evidenced by a lengthy run of contending Tigers clubs and his quick World Series win with the Red Sox. In both instances, Dombrowski had an owner who was willing to spend money and sacrifice young talent for short-term gains on the trade market. That seems likely to be the position in which the Angels find themselves this winter, as pressure to win will build considerably following a six-year playoff drought.
Why not?
I’m all for it. Be nice to see the Angels win a ring for a change. It’s been almost 20 years.
1948. Just stop.
hang in there buddy. it’ll happen eventually for us. 2016 BS happened on my birthday :*(
I hope Cleveland keeps winning for many years it will be hard depending on what your ownership does but I love your team
Cubs waited 108 years between WS titles…
Still better than:
Tampa 0/1. WS wins
Milwaukee 0/1
San Diego 0/2
Texas 0/2
Colorado 0/1
Seattle 0/0 never even been to a WS.
….. better to have been and lost than to never have been at all…..
Just wait til next century!
Doesn’t Dombo leave every team he’s been with broke?
First on the agenda. Trade away every top prospect.
Next, sign high priced free agents leaving the Angels in even more of a financial mess for his for his successor to fix.
Dave Dombrowski ladies and gentleman.
You forgot one last point:
Finally, Angels win the World Series.
Fixed it for you.
If you’re lucky. He didn’t win it for Chicago or Detroit. In Detroit, he decimated the farm system and left a huge financial mess. Can you really give him credit for winning one ring in Boston? And, how did he leave Boston? Same as Detroit.
If I was given free reign to spend all the cash and squander farm system talent, I could do what Dombrowski did. 50% of fantasy players could pull off what Dombrowski did. 25% of those players could probably do better.
Fans everywhere should cringe at the thought of Trader Dave taking over their team. It doesnt taken crystal ball to see what the future hold in store.
Plus, let me tell you about Dombrowski’s bullpens, when the money is all gone and talent squandered.
I will grant you he and Mr I left the Tigers in a financial mess. But as for squandered farm system, that is debatable. Outside of maybe a couple of prospects most that were traded never were major league contributors.
TroyVan the Tigers were perennial WS contenders for a bunch of years and should have beat the Red Sox in 2013. He helped give them a chance after taking over a mess that was the Tigers.
He won another ring with Florida. He helped start the process for 2003.
If you don’t want a proven winner and want to hire loser, stat geeks like many other franchises have at it. Complaining about a guy that is a proven commodity makes you petty and your argument weak. Plus you didn’t know he won a ring with Florida. That hurts your opinion.
True dat.
First: The Tigers didn’t win it all because Jim Leyland couldn’t manage a pitching staff, not his starters nor his relievers. He had dog houses at the most inopportune times. All his teams swooned. Not only the Tigers but the Pirates. Dombrowki brought a great team to Detroit with great one sided trades and under-the-radar agent signings. Mike Illich chose the Manager. Second: The financial burden left for the future is on Mike Illich. Player agents often bypassed Dombrowski altogether and negotiated with the advanced aged near senile owner. Dombrowski was dismissed when he tried to fix the team by ridding high end salaries for new prospects. Third: The Tigers never had a great farm system and was much better after he left. Dombrowski inherited a gutted system. Yes, he traded some assets but, the Manager didn’t play youth.
Finally, Dombrowski did not gut the BoSox system. Other than Moncado, who did he trade that a Manager would use?
Please name two of those minor leaguers DD traded away that amounted to anything. Then name all of the big bats and arms he brought in with the minor league trade bait.
Finally, someone who knows what was going on in Detroit. I am from Detroit and agree with everything you said.
DD brought the Red Sox three straight division titles (2016, 2017, 2018), and a World Series after Ben Cherington wasted $300,000,000+ on Sandoval, H. Ramirez, Rusney Castillo, Allen Craig, Joel Hanrahan, and others….which resulted in three last place finishes and one surprise WS.
Thank you DD for saving the Red Sox from Cherington. The Red Sox ownership has now moved on to Bloom who had the mandate to cut payroll, spend little to no money on free agents, and no prospects to trade to improve this year’s team has done well trading veterans for prospects Potts, Rosario, Seabold, Wallace, and mlb starter Pivetta. Adding these prospects to Casas, Duran, Mata, Groome, Houck, and others, the Red Sox look like they could compete for a Wild Card spot in 2021.
If they sign Bauer and 3 BP arms
Exactly how should they have won?, The bullpen sucked, It doesn’t mean Detroit should’ve won……It was a good series
The Red Sox spending on a starter and a couple of relievers is a given now that CBT is not an issue. CF will also most likely be a FA as Bloom said yesterday the RS will look to George Springer or resign Jackie Bradley now batting .280 and an OPS .778.
2B looks like it may be Christian Arroyo or another internal option.
He also created the Marlins ‘97 championship team
He got lucky. He was in Miami 9 years. The only team he produced that had a winning record were those ’97 Marlins. The very next season, they lost 108 games!
Maybe because he had a fire sale because of the horrible ownership, genius.
When it came time to distribute rings for the 97 WS, half the players from that team were scattered across the country on other tames. So the 98 season is on the ownership.
Wayne “Blockbuster” Huizenga bought the 1997 WS team (I believe the umpires too) to make his team attractive to sell then sold off the higher priced players during negotiations.with potential buyers. Dombrowski then built the farm that produced the 2002 WS and much of the 2006 phenomenal rookie class.
That is Dombrowski to a tee. In the modern game of Major League Baseball, he would be exactly the wrong choice for the Angels. Pitching staffs are developed, not acquired via free agency. The Angels should model themselves after the Dodgers, who have their payroll under control thanks to superb drafting and the game’s best player development program. A five-man rotation and an up-the-middle defense that is 100% homegrown.
I think the first order of business will be locking up Albert Pujols to an extension.
He’ll also trade for Cabrera and assume 100% of his contract.
Could you imagine Pujols and Cabrera hitting back to back? That would be the best 1-2 punch of 2005.
Would you not trade for Cabrera TroyVan? They gave up next to nothing. As for the contact, the first was a bargain. The second one was a problem. But, Mr I wanted Cabrera to retire as a Tiger and go in the HofF as a Tiger, so he paid dearly.
Halos should have gotten Sonny Gray from Yankees last off season. I told everyone who would listen.
I hear what you’re saying. But in this case two top prospects are Marsh and Adams. They are superfluous and could help bring back SP.
The Angels need top-tier starting pitching. That’s something teams aren’t trading in today’s game. Do you have any particular SPs in mind?
Detroit is loaded with pitching prospects and needs outfield help. The Angels are full in the outfield and need pitching. Seems a match could be made there.
Zimmerman is a free agent.
I respectfully don’t agree with the premise. It very well might not be all about a top tier SP. They need health and depth and RP too. And a lot of variables are considered, notably contract length, rebuilding status, unique needs of orgs. Re: Kendrick for Heaney years ago.
The Angels don’t have much of a farm to gut.
Zimmermann? Hahahaha! Go back to your Sports Illustrated for Kids, over your head here.
Angels problem is their owner not the GM. The owner forced them to sign Hamilton and Pujols against better judgement. Now he forced them to sign a 3b when they needed a starter or 5. Moreno is one of the most egotistical owners in baseball.
That was a joke. I thought DD signed him, but my mistake. That dubious distinction belongs to AA
Are you saying Alex Anthopoulos signed Jordan Zimmerman? Because he didn’t when he was with Toronto OR Atlanta. Forgive me if there is another owner or GM with the initials AA though.
AA = Al Avila.
Even so, the Jordan Zimmermann and Justin Upton signings are more Mike Illich than Al Avila…. Just as the Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander extensions were on the owner vs. Dave Dombrowski. Player Agents often bypassed Detroit GMs straight to the owner.
Detroit shouldn’t trade any of their starting pitching depth for outfielders. SP prospects bust at an extremely high rate. It’s a good thing the Braves had about 7 top 100 starting pitchers the last few seasons. And due to guys not panning out and injuries they’re starting guys like Tommy Millone and Josh Tomlin.
You can never have enough arms and you better be damn sure when you trade one away he isn’t the special one. I’d take a pass on trading young Sp’s and spend some money on my outfield. The guy that was worth trading was Boyd and they missed the window there. Turnbull would be the only one I’d consider moving. And I don’t think he’s bringing back top talent like Marsh.
Halos should have gotten Sonny Gray from Yankees last off season. I told everyone who would listen.
I want to see Trout go to the WS, and then just watch the Angels crap the bed, Dombro scurries away, and the Angels are left having to pay off huge contracts to random 36 y/os.
isn’t that what the rangers did? 2 years in a row? like crapping in pants?
Yep, and I want the Angels to feel that pain lol.
Only difference is we spent on Beltre and Vlad, but those contracts turned out well. We screwed up Feliz and Ogando, but besides that, not many huge contracts.
F’d up bad when they held on to Jurickson too long.
Rangers29 Shin sho choo and odor entered the chat. So far in the last 20 years angels have more rings than you do.
Beltre was a great signing. As was Rendon for the Halos. But they need PITCHING.
I was in favor of the Red Sox resigning Beltre, instead of trading for Adrian Gonzalez!!!!
Anthony Rizzo would still be playing first now for the Red Sox if that trade had not happened and Beltre could wear a Red Sox cap in the HOF after a great career. Sometimes I really wonder about the thought process that goes into many of the moves GMs make
Remember A-Rod, Texierra…
i wish the angels hire a baseball op president and get a young g.m.
Thank God Cherington is with Pittsburgh (just in case the Angeles were interested)….lol
Don’t do it. He’ll bankrupt your farm system and your owner’s wallet with no guarantee of a title.
I mean, I don’t really think the disclaimer “no guarantee of a title” is necessary here. What GM doesn’t fit this category?
Most GMs do not trade away the number of prospects DD does…….they exercise more self control.
That being said….of the 17 prospects DD traded away from the Red Sox only two have really been meaningful losses.
Moncada and who?
Nope, this is a HORRIBLE idea. The tigers and sox had farm systems to sell from. Dombroski is great at harvesting, there aint anything to harvest.
Of all the moments, this article and rumor hurts the most as an Angel fan. let Eppler build an org, hire his own manager and invest in baseball opps you Vincent Price looking dummy (arte).
The Angels are a disaster.
But hasn’t Eppler done all that in the last 5 years? Like those accountable on the field, professional sports is all about performance. To be fair though, Eppler is still digging out of a poor situation from when he came in.
Padres had a lot less and are a lot father along in the same timespan.
I’m not sure I agree. They weren’t bogged down by a lot of bad contracts (Meyers for Pads), didn’t lose high draft picks from free agent signings, and happened to stumble upon a low level little known prospect in Tatis for an aging SP.
Angels have the madres number this year what is the 3/4 wins this year?
Didn’t he join the Nashville group though?
that is nothing until it is something
Yes but I recall him saying that he wouldn’t back out of that until Nashville was eliminated from being considered as a Major League city.
that is nothing until it is $omething
– H
The Angels need to “win now” because they’ve wasted so much of Trout’s time. But, they don’t have the pieces or young talent to acquire “win now” tools. I would argue Dombrowski is not a good fit for the caught-in-between Angels.
Agreed. Over the long and short-haul, Dombrowski would set them back even further. As an organization, the Angels are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Their only commodity that would excite potential trade partners is Trout. Since that’s not happening, they are probably going to waste all of Trout’s prime.
Odds are Dylan Bundy would excite quite a few teams. I’d bet Shohei and Fletcher would as well.
They could definitely tear down and get a significant haul of minor league assets.
Angels have a lot of high performers at the top of their roster. The problem is the bottom of their roster is so bad it takes away from the others. Saying they have no commodities is just trolling. Or being ignorant.
Three of their starters (Bundy, Heany and Canning) are top 20 fWAR performers. Barria has been fantastic this season. Their only high performer in the bullpen is Meyer (and to a lesser extent Pena). But their offense has some great talent (offset by the bad talent). Rendon, Trout, Fletcher, Shohei (bad season) are a great start. Walsh and Ward have performed well in the minors and have seemingly figured it out this year (I have more faith in Ward’s breakout). Adell and Marsh are high end talent that are very young, but close to ready. I’ll also add that Stassi, already a fantastic defender, looks like a steal, if he can keep his offensive up. The angels tweaked his swing in the offseason and he’s been awesome.
Saying they have no commodities is BS.
Bundy had a good year, Heany is average, and Canning is a back of rotation starter. They are not top 20 starters in the AL. The problem is they have a third of their payroll tied up in 2 players. They need talent to trade for players they need so they lack anyone worth trade chips. Addell or Fletcher trade chips which open up more holes. Its another couple of years to rev build and hope to draft quality players..
I think you need to look closer at those pitchers. ERA is not the end all be all.
@arc89 angels don’t have holes in the outfield, I think they should have traded adell for Clevinger because we really don’t need another upton type outfielder. I think marsh is greater than adell.
ac89. No, they don’t have a slew of top twenty starters. Is that what we are talking about now? So if you don’t have a top twenty starter you have no pitching?
I don’t know how we got so extreme. You’re either great or you are terrible. What happened to perspective?
How would he accomplish anything with the Angels? They don’t have a good farm system.
That’s a blessing in disguise if they hire DD. Can’t ruin what you don’t have!
The payroll is also a wreck.
He can make it worse.
Mookie Betts is not longer a Red Sox because of this man.
Good point.
The sox won a championship…
And he was fired less than a year later for a reason….
I get the impression Mookie didn’t really want to stay there so it may not be Dumbs fault.
Mookie Betts is no longer a Red Sox because if John Henry.
Mookie is no longer in Boston, because Mookie did not want to be there…..no team would give him the $420,000,000 / 12 years he was asking for….
If I did not want to stay somewhere I would have done exactly the same. He might as well of ask for $800,000,000 for 20 years….
Do not blame Henry for not giving a out a stupid contract.
The starting pitching staff is not this team’s main problem. The Bullpen is this team’s main problem. It hasn’t entered the season with a dependable bullpen arm in years. Sometimes they figure it out, sometimes they don’t, but there is always a learning curve.
This team throws away so many games because they take too long to figure out who can pitch, and those pitchers are seldom the pitchers who were able to pitch the previous year.
Starting pitching is the problem. It’s where building an effective pitching staff begins. The Dodgers have five homegrown starters who are preferable to anyone on the Angels. And they always draft lower than the Angels. Not just in the first round, but every round thereafter. Pitching aside, the overall talent level for the Angels is poor and there is little in the way of real depth. A total rebuild is needed, which includes trading off their superstar. It’s a hard reality for Angels fans, but there are no quick fixes in Major League Baseball. Since they won’t trade Trout, the expectation is that the Angels will just keep spinning their wheels.
Cey,
I can see why you think that, but I watch this team every day.
Compare the Angels Starting pitching to Oakland. Compare their bullpens. Go to Baseball Reference. Is there a huge difference?
Angels Starters. 3.26, 3.29, 4.02, 4.29.
Now compare their bullpens. Compare the players who were used in high leverage situation in July and Aug.
And when the Angels starters leave a game, the bullpen doesn’t prevent inherited runners from scoring. If a starter leaves a player on base, he scores.
Every team has bullpen concerns. The Angels problems run a whole lot deeper. Since they make a ton of money, the baseball part of the equation has been left for dead. All things considered, they are not a talented team.
Cey Hey.
They have not played liked a talented team.
Agreed, Cey. Starting pitching is the engine that pulls the train. The Angels fastest way out of their self-inflicted mess is trading Trout. A tough spot.
30Parks, two different things. You’re right, starting pitching is the engine that pulls the train. If you have great starting pitching, that is certainly huge.
If the Angels had good to great starting pitching, then the lack of bullpen would be much less of an issue.
But the Angels staring pitching is good enough that if they had the A’s pen, you’d have a completely different season. It took six weeks to figure out which high leverage bullpen guys to go with, and in September, the Angels are 12-7.
Go to Baseball Reference, look at the Angels pen. Look at the A’s pen.
Fastest way out of this mess is signing some front line SP and RP, not trading Trout.
30 Parks, a really tough spot as they would be trying to sell a rebuild to fans. But baseball-wise, the best solution is to restructure the organization so the team can contend on a regular basis. That would of course be from top to bottom. I would bring in someone like Kim Ng to oversee the rebuild and make the proper hires. Trying to fill holes with free-agent signees is old school and never really worked, to begin with. The Angels need a different philosophy centered on drafting, player development, and smart payroll management.
No to Kim Ng. No way a woman can be a baseball GM. Sorry NO. No way she would understand the athlete mentality nor the culture on the field or in the dugout. Furthermore, I am really sick of these Harvard educated types running teams. We need to get them OUT. They have ruined baseball as far as I am concerned. I hate the shift, so-called “openers”, idiotic rule changes and analytical-driven economics that have infiltrated the game. It’s damn near unwatchable now.
Trading a sure bet Hall of Famer who will go in as an Angel and in his prime. Yeah smart! Real smart.
Asking price for Trout would be way too high, he’s worth the asking price, for any gm to pull the trigger imo.
Naw, hes right, If the Angels blew even a league average amount of saves (instead of a league high) theyd be comfortably in the playoffs.
Over the last 10 seasons, the Dodgers, Indians, Mets and Tigers have had the best starting staffs. Each in different years. All have had Bullpen issues. Those 4 teams over the last 4 years combined have the same exact number of championships as the Angels do. Now granted the Angels need to improve their rotation. But just because you have a dominant starting staff, doesn’t guarantee a Championship.
I meant over the last 10 years.
They’ve been rebuilding over last 3-4 years. And now their youth is starting to figure it out, but it’s mostly position player heavy. They have to supplement the pitching side much like the Cubs had to when they won their championship.
1 ace starter and 1 reliable innings eater starter, 1 closer and 2 go to bullpen pieces and this team is in good shape. But that is quite a lot. When was the last time the Angels got a reliable reliever on the free agent market? Joe Smith maybe?
It wont matter who they hire until Moreno stops making decisions
Right, because Stripling and Pederson are great. Arte got that one wrong….NOT.
Rengifo is a real animal himself……
I’ve never like Rengifo, but it wasn’t just Rengifo.
Maybe it was Walsh. Who knows? But Stripling and Pederson have stunk.
Please Angels do this! Love to see them in the basement until 2050.
They don’t have a farm system and they already have a vast budget
Jo Adell should wait to buy a house considering he’s probably getting traded this winter
He should buy the house in SoCal and hope he gets traded to a team that makes the playoffs every now and then.
Padres have no need for a guy who can barely hit and Orange County doesn’t like to trade with la
I meant he should still live in SoCal regardless of where he plays. The weather is good when the state isn’t actively on fire.
I’ve had this strange feeling for the past year that Adell gets traded to the Rays for Snell. I don’t know how or why I started thinking that but it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if it happens. If that trade does indeed happen you can refer to this post and call me Nostradamus
Adell cant hit and won’t hit in the Majors. EVER. Swing is too long. Major League pitchers will exploit that all day long. Halos have Marsh coming, they can afford to trade strikeout machine Adell for pitching.
Put me in the, “oh hell no” camp.
Arte, if you love the Angels like we love the Angels, you will sell the team… or at the very least get out of the way.
Hire a President of Baseball Operations (not named Dombroski). Hire the next Andrew Friedman. And for the love of Mike, get out of the way. We appreciate that you spend freely, but please let the experts do it.
Well said. This is an organization crying out for a shift in philosophy. If they go analytics-based with a focus on farm system development (not Dombrowski) so much the better.
Courtesy of the OC Register:
When asked what has to happen for Eppler to earn an extension, Moreno said: “I think there’s a lot of pieces. It’s just not one thing. There’s just a lot of pieces. Just like anything. As a group, we need to win. I probably should fire myself.”
If he really feels that way he should make a smart hire and stay out of the way. The results haven’t been there… a culture change seems in order.
He’s not selling the team after buying the ballpark and the land around it
The only two pertinent questions are: How old is Arte? And how bad does he want a Championship?
The bigger those numbers, the more likely they add up to Dumb-rowski
Angels could bring back Branch Rickey from the dead, it won’t matter until they either buy starting pitching or develop it
Yaaaaaawwwn
Good bye farm system. Unless he trades Adell, fletcher and Walsh. Plus kochaniwocz amd Aaron Hernandez. Wonder what they could get for those pieces. Who would want them ?
Cards should trade some pitchers for Adell.
I don’t know what good he’ll be to them without a good farm system to deplete.
He’s a team killer. Ruined the tigers and ruined the red Sox. Gets rid of the entire farm system. Trade for terrible long term contracts. Might make a deep playoff run once or twice but after that 2 year period the team will be ruined for a decade.
Maybe ruining a ruined team will result in a good team?
Isn’t it funny though that about a year later the Red Sox farm system is just fine. Loaded with Talent.
I think it’s better than it was, if you’re being sarcastic, it’s still bottom five though probably, although there have been some bright spots in this awful season
Credit Bloom also for adding Potts, Rosario, Seabold, Pivetta, Jacob Wallace, Downs, Wong to the group rising through the system…Casas, Duran, Mata, Groome, Houck, Downs,…
Bloom added 4 of their top 20 in the last month.
Is it me or did this guy skate out of the organization at just the perfect time to avoid any punishment, have a hard time not seeing the favoritism given to dombrowski over lunhow etc.. the timing of his exit always made me wonder if he was manfreds buddy.
5tunt – ….what are you going to suspend a guy from a position he does not work any more ???
There was no favoritism toward DD just common sense….
Dombrowski won’t take this job. No farm system to trade away. Already bloated payroll. This would be a career suicide for Dombrowski.
Sure he won 1 World Series in Boston but this is an awful idea for Anaheim. Just look how Dombrowski left things in Detroit and Boston. Terrible teams with terrible farm systems
Less than a year later the Red Sox farm system is in excellent shape.
Those are some mighty fine rose colored glasses you’ve got Gary. Red Sox farm is not close to good, let alone excellent
Seriously? I thought they’ve been replenishing the last calendar year. Haven’t they added like 10 guys or so to their top 30 prospect list?
Yes, Gary the Red Sox have added:
Jeter Downs
Jeisson Rosario
Nick Yorke
Connor Seabold
Hudson Potts
Blaze Jordan
Connor Wong
Jacob Wallace
SoxProspects.com lists these 8 in the Red Sox top 20 prospects, so not just a number of prospects, but really outstanding quality.
Add the new comers to the nearly ready:
Tanner Houck – 11 innings 0 earned runs – nice star to his mlb career
Triston Casas
Bryan Mata
Jarren Duran
Bobby Dalbec – 7 HRs is still a prospect
Jay Groome
Thaddeus Ward
A lot of these prospects will be making mlb debuts in 2021 and 2022, so yes Gary the farm has had some significant restocking at a minimal cost…..thanks Bloom.
I can think of no worse choice to take over the Angels, or any team, than Dave Dombrowski.
I would take Rox GM Jeff Briddich before I would take Dombrowski. And its an understatement to say I’m not a Briddich fan.
I don’t know if Eppler is the answer, but I would take one more year of Eppler over Dombrowski.
The truth!
The problem here has never been the GM, it’s always been the owner. If Arte wants to get involved and force devious, then he needs to be willing to exceed the salary cap. He’s unwilling to do that and has hamstrung this franchise with his hardline stance. Wells, Pujols, Upton,Hamilton – awful deals -all on Moreno. Hire a GM and let him do his dang job, otherwise it doesn’t matter who you hire. If you want to continue to meddle in BBOPS affairs, open the checkbook to cover for your horseshit mistakes.
Force deals*
I hope DD gets. Terrific job, he deserves it! He’s done his job anywhere he went n the fans were grateful. Please don’t yap about fleecing the minor leagues, that’s what you do to win. Good luck DD!!!!!!
Every team has windows of contention. Dombrowski goes for it when the window is open. Sure the dodgers have been contenders for years, but never won. He builds winning relevant teams and the Angels really need that right now.
I just remembered that Arte hired Tony LaRussa as a Special Advisor last year. LaRussa and Dombrowski are good buds from their time together in Boston. That may help explain Arte’s infatuation with Dombrowski.
I can see it now:
LaRussa – Special Advisor
Dombrowski – President of BB Ops, and
Dave Stewart – GM
The worst front office in MLB history.
Actually, Hawk Harrelson in his one year stint as White Sox GM in the 1980s fired both LaRussa as manager and Dombrowski as Asst. GM. That’s one HOFer and potentially another. Mercy!
For me Dombrowski is not the answer. The tough question for me to answer is how much of the rash of injuries do I place at the feet of Eppler? Enough to give him a 1 or 2 year extension? Probably not. While I appreciate the general improvement of the farm system, it sure seems like our scouting is weak. I appreciate all the “rock turning” Eppler has done, but that is not scouting. I know the Angels have tried to land several top tier FA’s, but there has to be something amiss in the front office to have so many turn us down. Can we land a Trevor Bauer, Robbie Ray, Alex Colome, or Kirby Yates? Not sure with Eppler…
I am tired of the phrase “raising the floor”! I want to raise the ceiling!
As “uncle” Joe’s schtick gets old quickly you may find it even tougher to get players to want to come to the Angels unless its a gross overpay
Dombrowski, DiPoto, what’s the difference?
The farm was stripped of quite a few quality arms in the major leagues now by DiPoto looking for bullpen help. Dombrowski could be worse!
Only so much Eppler could have done, but made it worse by drafting “athletes” and dumpster diving for bullpen help. Still looking for bullpen help today!
Eppler should have been stockpiling arms to make up for Dipoto’s ignorant moves.
The difference is in the rings.
Wait for Theo
Will both Theo and DD make the HOF?
No way Eppler is back next year. A disaster of a GM. If Mareno wants to win a World Series, he will back off and allow his next GM to call the shots. Mareno is destroying this Franchise thanks to his inflated ego.
Dombrowski has his issues, and his freewheeling and willingness to decimate a farm system aren’t for everyone. But for a team in the Angels’ position, he’s a perfect fit. They need to be competitive around Trout right now. At that point, the future is less important because you won’t have Trout in his prime forever.
If Eppler goes can we get rid of Artie Moreno too?
Wishing Dave the best of luck.
It’s fine that so many of you beat those of us who sound the alarms about Dombrowski. I get it. I’m a fan of baseball, and I have my team, too. As a Tigers fan, I can tell you Trader Dave f’d us in Detroit. I get it that baseball has changed a bit. There’s supposedly a cycle, where you’re not good and load up on top draft picks. When those prospects mature into fiscally controllable top players, you go all in and trade away whatever top talent you have in the minors to fill holes to make a run at the World Series while your window is open.
I’m not a fan of that philosophy. I believe that you can put a competitive team on the field with good development first and foremost. I believe you can go out and sign free agents when you need them, and trade away rentals to get you situated for the future.
I don’t believe you have to play the cycle of tank, stank and eventually rank. I want to have perpetual competitiveness. It’s been 4 years since I’ve been to a Tigers game because I cannot fathom spending the money to drive 3 hours and watch them lose.
Put your eggs in the Dombrowski basket and you’ll see your team tearing down and rebuilding in 2-3 seasons. Maybe he’ll give you a WS, but is that worth 4-5 years of 100 some losses? That’s what will inevitably happen
Yes. It is worth it.
Isn’t that the whole point of having a minor league system? To develop players for the major league roster to win it all? Some people here their objective is to continually have a strong farm system. What that’s worth I really don’t know. Those are teams that are constantly two years away from being two years away. What’s so great about that?
Who wants to be the Padres who are always top 5 minor league systems but haven’t won a darn thing in the last decade. The only time they were exciting is Preller’s first year when he made all those trades and went for the whole shebang. That was exciting !! Doesn’t work then take 3 4 5 years to rebuild again. What’s wrong with that? YOU ALWAYS GO FOR IT.
It’s fine to trade away some of your talent, as long as you are really truly in the thick of it. But, with Trader Dave, every year he thinks he’s in the thick of it. Every year, he deals away a team’s best talent to “win it all”.
I watched him do that with the Tigers, and then with Boston, for almost 2 decades. No matter how underachieving his squad, he always dealt away whatever he could to make his team “better”.
The problem with that philosophy is that those big free agents eventually become complacent. When there’s nobody waiting in the wings to take their job, they just don’t care as much as they otherwise would.
Underachievers. The late stage realism of Trader Dave’s teams.
And, crappy bullpens.
Oh, if it weren’t for the bullpen. I said that for years.
Who are these super star prospects DD traded away? I can think of two.
The 2020 Red Sox were not a “go for it team”! They had too many injuries and needed to turn over the roster like they did from 04, 07, 13, 18. RS had 80 percent turnover between each WS. It takes a couple years like adding Price in 2016, Sale in 2017, JD Martinez 2018.
The Padres over paid for Hosmer, then added Machado and still finished under .500 last year, so “going for it” can take a few years of adding to get to the point of winning a WS.
The Red Sox under Tom Yaukee / Harrington (owners from 1930s to 2003) spent enough to be competitive, but never enough to win a WS, and there is a difference! So “when a team goes for it” there has to be a plan so that all the prospects become productive about the same time and your super stars are not too old by the time the prospects are ready.
The Angeles are not ready for a DD
Hard for the Red Sox to contend when their top two arms were MIA due to Covid and TJS. Plus Eovaldi. An arm and a bat puts the Red Sox back in the AL East mix with E-Rod and Sale’s return.
Agree.
The Angels have no farm system to gut so thst means bad contracts coming in free agency with Dombrowski on board. You can probably say goodbye to Brandon Marsh in the first trade or two
Why hire DD when anyone can deplete a farm system for proven veterans with bloated contracts?!
this will happen mark my words today September 22nd 2020
I just wonder when fans will realize the problem isn’t the GM’s.
The GM’s weren’t the ones not properly addressing their pitching? Love to find out what flawed logic you’ll use this time.
Halos have has 3 terrible GMs in a row. Here’s a doozy: Mike Clevinger to Indians for Vinnie Pestano! Yep, that’s right Vinnie freakin Pestano. Thanks DiPoto!
I love the fans who dump on Dombrowski because they study prospect lists and all he does is put together World Series teams.
The Tigers went 0-2 in those World Series and the Red Sox won on the backs of David Price and Nathan Eovaldi
Todays game is less about buying championships and more about developing sustainable talent. Buying a championship worked in 1997, but not so much today
Welp, I like Eppler but it’s time for a change. Dombrowski. or whomever, will add a fresh perspective with Maddon and the rest. We need two things this winter:
1 – completely overhaul the pitching staff with very few exceptions
2 – sign Simmons or LaStella
If those two things don’t get done, nothing else will make a big enough difference. In fact, if the first doesn’t get done, the second is a moot point too.
LaStella should not play anywhere but first base. Teams will over value his bat. Ignore his horrible base running and base running decisions. When Pujols is pulling up to you after hitting a line drive into the left center field gap and you were on second when he hit it, you might need to learn how to read line drives. Btw the Angels lost that same game in extra innings by one run. Another game he coughed up to easy ground balls in the same inning. Which led to 4 unearned runs in that inning. That resulted the Angels to lose by 1 run in extra innings. Yes he has a good bat. But will cost the team more games than he will help win.
LaStella mixed well with the team and he’s far better than Rengifo or Barreto as an everyday option. I’ve seen LaStella make some amazing plays too. My preference is Simmons, but LaStella is a close second for me.
Don’t get me wrong on Simmons, but you can’t pay him 15 million per season, as often as he is injured. Could go get Galvis, on a three year deal at 5 to 6 million per season. I would rather bring in Vallar to play second. Then you could have Vallar lead off with Fletcher batting second. Would create more RBI opportunities for Trout and Rendon. Or go with Rengifo and Barreto next season. If they don’t work out, go after one of the SS FA that will be available after next season. Cory Seagar would look great with the Angels. So would Trevor Story.
Good luck!! Dumbrowski ♂️♂️. Angels must have good farm system (for now) for Dumbo to be looking into taking gig. BIG MARKET ✔️. BIG PAYROLL ✔️. Good farm system to trade away and leave in shambles ✔️. All the signs point to Dave.
And a possible WS championship ✅
It will be a shame to see Billie Eppler leave. He had the hardest job with an empty minor league system and limited funds.
With due respect to Dombrowski the Angels only World Series was won basically with home grown talent. I have learned through the years, that win now attitude is not the way to go.
Then how do teams win if they don’t have a win now attitude?
Been an Angels fan since 1989.
Arte is content with putting out the Mike Trout slugger show. It draws the fans to the ballpark and he makes his money, no investment in pitching needed. Its sickening that hes reduced this team to this, what I like to call “Baseball Entertainment”, with no plan for contending.
They’ve had a plan for contending. They have went about it the wrong way.
They overpaid Upton, and for those who want to justify the contract because of OPS and the other stats that don’t help teams win (ask Oakland), the area of need was pitching. They did not need to sign Upton at the time.
They’ve overpaid for guys like Harvey and Cahill, albeit for one season. They just want to throw money around without a plan. Dombrowski, love him or hate him, has a plan.
As good as Simmons is, Angels are proving they can play well without him. They need Bauer, badly. Stroman might not be bad either. But the Angels love to self sabotage themselves.
They needed pitching coming into this season with plenty of good free agent pitching and did nothing, got another slugger in Rendon and some bottom shelf pitching. Got fortunate with Bundy tho. How’d that work out Arte? (he doesn’t care, just sell tickets to the Trout show. SELL THE TEAM ARTE ( why would he sell his cash cow tho. Trouts gotta be wondering what the heck he’s doing on this team.
Leave Eppler there. Let him continue his efforts. Our minor system is greatly improved and talent is working its way up. The main reason for the struggles during his reign are TJ injuries.