I'm not being nonchalant about losing Greinke. I'm being factual. He likes to hit and wanted to face easier lineups in the NL - that was widely reported. The angels might have been able to overpay, but he got a massive deal from the Dodgers which is where he wanted to be.
Moreno then panicked and signed hamilton.
And for the record, I was in favor of the Angels re-acquiring Greinke last year (when houston did). Would have been a great acquisition with only a few years left on his oversized contract and Arizona looking to trade him at a discount. That is the type of deal the Angels should have been making, rather than throwing free agent dollars at retreads.
You are because you're not accepting how big a loss we had in not returning Greinke AND losing a first round pick. A first round pick is how you improve your farm system. We traded a future all-star in SS Segura for Greine, which took away talent from our farm system talent level.
1. The moment we traded for Greinke, there was already articles citing Dipoto was intent to re-sign Greinke.
2. Now, you may have forgotten that Hula Dula (Torii Hunter) was not re-signed in 2013 off-season because Moreno told him there was no money.
3. Dodgers paid ace P Greinke $147 mil for 6 years, an average of $24.5 mil per year on Dec 10, 2012.
4. Because the P Greinke was traded for mid-season, the Dodgers did not have lost a first round pick and the Angels do not obtain one, as per
mlbtraderumors article.
5. Angels paid slugging OF Hamilton $125 mil for 5 years, an average of $25 mil per year on Dec 12, 2012.
6. Hula Dula tweets that he was told there was no money to dish out, which is why he wasn't re-signed, but Hamilton got got a contract for $25 mil per year.
You can't have be on both sides of the story. We already know current history that Moreno favors hitters over pitchers. Could the Angels afford $25 mil per year? Yes. Hence, the Angels could have afforded Greinke to stay with the Angels. Greinke is an ace pitcher and you belittle his talents as an ace pitcher by saying he wants to pitch in a weaker league? You also belittle the conversation that he wants to only pitch in the NL.
All about the Benjamins
From
Greinke wikipedia:
"Greinke agreed to a six-year
free agent contract with the
Los Angeles Dodgers worth $147 million, on December 8, 2012. The deal, which was finalized on December 10, was the largest ever for a right-handed pitcher at the time it was signed.
[53] It was surpassed a year later by
Félix Hernández's seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the
Seattle Mariners.
[54] Greinke later claimed that he chose the Dodgers over the
Texas Rangers, who also were pursuing him, primarily because they offered more money.
[55]"
Just how good was Greinke for the Angels and in 2012 total?
Again, from his wiki page:
"Greinke made his first start for the Angels on July 29.
[51] After a stretch of four unproductive starts from August 3–19 (1–1, 7.20 ERA in 25 innings), Greinke followed up with four consecutive starts of at least seven innings and two or fewer runs — all of them wins. In those starts, he produced a 1.88 ERA in 281⁄3 innings.
[51]
Greinke became the first pitcher since 1920 to record 13 strikeouts in five innings or less in a game against the
Seattle Mariners on September 25. He then combined with four other Angels pitchers to tie an American League record by striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning game.
[52] He finished his time with the Angels with a 6–2 record and a 3.53 ERA in 13 starts.
[51] Overall in 2012, combined with both teams, Grienke made 34 starts with a 15-5 record, 200 strikeouts, and a 3.48 ERA."
Moreno wants sluggers over pitchers. He doesn't place the same value on pitchers as he does hitters, obviously. Dipoto learned this the hard way and it cost him the 2013 season. Then Dipoto traded for younger pitchers so he could still retain them longer without the possibility of losing them soon because Arte doesn't want to re-sign them. Let's review the runs allowed under Dipoto and Eppler once again to fully comprehend the difference in philosophies.
Angels | | | | | |
Year | GM | PCT | Run Scored | Runs Allowed | Diff |
2012 | DiPoto | 0.549 | 767 | 699 | 68 |
2013 | DiPoto | 0.481 | 733 | 737 | -4 |
2014 | DiPoto | 0.605 | 773 | 630 | 143 |
2015 | DiPoto | 0.525 | 661 | 675 | -14 |
2016 | Eppler | 0.457 | 717 | 727 | -10 |
2017 | Eppler | 0.494 | 710 | 709 | 1 |
2018 | Eppler | 0.494 | 721 | 722 | -1 |
2019 | Eppler | 0.444 | 769 | 868 | -99 |
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Dipoto knew his pitching staff was on a downward trend and nabbed an ace without losing a first round pick during the 2012 season. Moreno simply had to pay up for the ace, and, apparently, had the money to do so. Moreno chose to go after Hamilton. There were other pitchers the Angels could have also chased for a lesser salary if Moreno didn't want to get into a bidding war for Greinke. As we already know, Moreno was intent on signing Hamilton.
To this day, the Angels haven't acquired a high-end pitcher only player since Dipoto left. It has been dumpster finding and hoping to find a gem like Bundy has turned out to be this year. Ohtani is a two-way player, not a pitcher only - yet, he would be our ace.
We paid a heavy price for Greinke and it set back our farm system by losing SS Segura for nothing, no compensation for losing Greinke in the off-season, and losing a 1st round pick by going into a different direction by signing FA Hamilton than retain Greinke.
If we didn't trade Segura, then we wouldn't have had to trade for SS Simmons. Then would could have kept 2014 first round pick P Newcomb. Maybe our system could have developed Newcomb a little bit better.
Re-signing Greinke was Dipoto wanting to go after the World Series immediately, than wait for a few years was going big. And seeing his track record with the Angels, he was on the right track. Eppler's track record isn't great at all. Again, Eppler may work under an owner willing to overspend because Eppler has a knack for grabbing high end talent, but needs a lot of money to extend that to acquire high end pitchers as well. In Anaheim, Eppler has many constraints under Arte. It hasn't worked. Dipoto made it work, but also was fed up with it when he quit mid-season in 2015.