Even with that wall of text, you still didn't bother to explain how the Angels record plummeted during Eppler's first year as GM. All I'm saying is that the downfall was inevitable, regardless of who was GM. I am absolutely not saying that Eppler has done a great job. But do you think that Eppler single-handedly caused the drop in record from 2015 to 2016? I'm saying that Dipoto's moves made that drop unavoidable. The starting pitching was already in serious decline. Weaver's last year as a halfway competent pitcher was 2015. 2015 was also CJ Wilson's last season in the MLB. Hector Santiago hasn't been as good as he was in 2015, and neither has Matt Shoemaker. Heaney and Skaggs routinely took turns on the Injured List since they were acquired. Huston Street declined sharply, too.
All of those examples just prove my point that, sure, when they were acquired, they helped the ball club. But they had mostly passed their expiration date as quality pitchers, and we were stuck with them.
smh... I did point out why the Angels record plummeted.
Eppler brought in a change in philosophy. It really is that simply.
What point do you have? You did NO RESEARCH. I did. I shared that info. You're living off of my work and drawing your own confirmation bias. Skaggs and Heaney were here last year, and if not for the overdose, Skaggs would still be here. What type of mental Olympics are you doing? It would be Heaney, Skaggs, Ohtani, Canning, Bundy, and Teheran 6-man rotation. I'm baffled at the ignorance of pitching talent just to absolve Eppler?
Dipoto knew the pitching was in decline. That's why he traded for P Greinke and in hopes of keeping the ace pitcher. Did you forget that or are you trying to shill for Eppler still? Also, that's why I shared all those trades in order to acquire pitching help. I don't know what you're expecting when the owner hamstrung the GM with two albatross contracts in 1B Pujols and OF Hamilton while losing two consecutive 1st round picks (which no longer is implemented today as you lose your 2nd round pick instead with newer rules, otherwise we would have lost a 1st for 3B Rendon), while nixing a contract to an actual ace pitcher? But the philosophy is there, "Get more pitchers." SP Skaggs, SP Heaney, SP Tropeano, RP Alvarez, and RP Gott are youths. SP Salas and SP Santiago are good bridge #3-6 type pitchers (wow, imagine that, middle of the road talents). RP Smith and RP Street are veteran closers. Dipoto's first draft had him selecting a pitcher in the first round in Sean Newcomb.
We traded away veterans OF/1B Trumbo (for pitchers Skaggs and Santiago) and 2B Kendrick (for P Heaney).
Eppler went away from that philosophy of trying to address pitching to get hitting, which is what owner Arte Moreno loves and continues to love!
Since you're too lazy to do any research on your own, did you know when the Angels traded away C Conger that we got P Tropeano and C Carlos Perez? Why do I bring up Perez? Simple, let's look at the
Angels catchers for 2016:
Jett Bandy
Carlos Perez
Juan Graterol
Geovany Soto
That's Perez' first year in the majors. Bandy, Perez, and Graterol were all seeing the MLB for their first time (Bandy and 2 games in 2015). Soto was on his last leg.
Who did Eppler try not to re-sign? C Chris Ianetta. While his offense isn't there, his pitch framing and knowledge were highly valuable to Dipoto and pitching. So much so that Dipoto snatched him right up for that season.
Mariners record in 2015 (pre-Dipoto): 76-86 (.469); Runs = 656; Runs Allowed = 726; Run Diff = - 70 runs
Mariners record in 2016 (with Dipoto): 86-76 (.531); Runs = 768; Runs Allowed = 707; Run Diff = + 61 runs (Missed the playoffs by 3 games and better record than Yankees.)
Eppler's first year as Angels GM:
Nov 2015: Eppler trades SS Aybar, P Newcomb (2014 1st round pick), P Chris Ellis, and cash for SS Simmons and C Briceno
Dec 2015: Eppler trades P Michael Brady and P Trevor Gott for 3B Escobar and cash
That's four pitchers for three positional players. I just want to focus on the philosophy change, which you still cannot fathom as the reason for the drop! The deal for SS Simmons was a good deal for the Angels as we got younger as SS with a far superior defensive player than Aybar, but then you're missing the point about changing philosophies.
I was all on-board with Eppler for the first two and a half seasons because why not give him a chance? Only within reflection (from another poster from an Angels baseball message forum) did give way to warranted scrutiny.
You may make fun of my "wall of text", but all you're responding with false generalizations with no substance. You are incapable of accepting the change in GM also caused the change in the record. That's what you're simply not accepting to be fact when it is fact.
Record of .500 seasons for Angels
Dipoto: 3 out of 4 (1 playoff appearance)
Eppler: 0 out of 5 (including 2020 season where the Angels are 10-22, or .311 pct record)
One of these GMs knows how to win while being hamstrung with a meddling owner.
Your cognitive dissonance is showing.
You wrote: "
The starting pitching was already in serious decline. Weaver's last year as a halfway competent pitcher was 2015. 2015 was also CJ Wilson's last season in the MLB. Hector Santiago hasn't been as good as he was in 2015, and neither has Matt Shoemaker. Heaney and Skaggs routinely took turns on the Injured List since they were acquired. Huston Street declined sharply, too."
This is sad. You cite Weaver and Wilson's decline, but are completely oblivious to all the transactions Dipoto has made to acquire pitching. Apparently, Dipoto also knew about the decline in Weaver and Wilson, which is why he went out and traded for ace P Greinke in 2012! ::: mind blowning ::: Dipoto worked around not losing a 1st round pick in acquiring an ace pitcher, but owner Arte decided not to retain the ace's services and go with slugging OF Hamilton as well as lose a 1st round pick! That's devastating because we traded away a future all-star in prospect SS Segura.
While you list all the bad narrative (show me specifically, don't give me a narrative because of sheer laziness), Dipoto had a winning record and Eppler took a nose dive. Eppler is still taking a nose dive. Are you admitting that Eppler doesn't know how to scout his own players and predict how things might become? Because it seems as though you're identifying this during the Eppler era and not the Dipoto era.
Let's reiterate facts again.
Record of .500 seasons for Angels
Dipoto: 3 out of 4 (1 playoff appearance)
Eppler: 0 out of 5 (including 2020 season where the Angels are 10-22, or .311 pct record)
With the Mariners, Dipoto is given full reign. He told his owners that the current organization's makeup still doesn't possess enough to become a playoff team against the current and near future of the organizations in the AL. So he purged the Mariners of the collection of highly talented players to change the direction of the Mariners after the 2018 season. The Mariners currently have a better record now than the Angels.
Mariners: 12 - 19, RS = 132, RA = 165, Rdiff = -33
Angels: 10 - 22, RS = 150, RA = 184, Rdiff = -34
The Mariners also have a top-5/top-10 farm system. It may get better after the trade deadline.
The point of adding this bit of information is to give you a bigger scope. Dipoto knows how to GM. Did you know that Dipoto fleeced us when he was a (interim) GM in Arizona?
July 2010: Dipoto traded P Dan Haren for LHP Joe Saunders along with pitching prospects of LHP Patrick Corbin, RHP Rafeal Rodriguez, and LHP Tyler Skaggs.
Yes, the same Skaggs.
The change in philosophy went from pitching-centric to hitting-centric between Dipoto and Eppler. This is evidently seen in the Runs Allowed data. I don't comprehend why you don't accept that fact since it's part of substantiated history.
Runs Allowed under 700 for the Angels
Dipoto = 3 out of 4 seasons
Eppler = 0 out of 4 seasons (probably 0 out of 5 when doing proportions of a 60 game season to 162 game season, projected 931 runs allowed)
I thought it was just simple to show this, but, apparently, you're disputing historical facts that appears quite obvious. I guess it's easier to do when you don't do research to substantiate your narrative. I'll say this again, I was on-board the Eppler train when we signed him and for the first two and half seasons. I wasn't happy with being sub .500 and that's when you notice the pattern. It has continued today. Eppler works well in an environment like NY Yankees, who will overspend to get players. Eppler can get talented positional players as well as talented pitchers in that NY Yankees environment. Eppler is inadequate when dealing with an owner like Arte Moreno who's meddling, but also imposes a budget. Dipoto did make it work under Arte, but was bold enough to point out the organization is being run terribly. It's easy to compare and contrast now with 8 1/2 years of information. Well, I thought it was easy.
