GoWings2008

December 13th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^

How many times?

Cuz...

 

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFuck.

I hate this.

Facenorth

December 13th, 2017 at 10:00 PM ^

Definitely not fun to watch but highly necessary.  If you're going to do it, go all in and do it right.  That means trading Fulmer and getting a great return.  Chances are we aren't going to be contending before he's a FA if we do a full breakdown.  Painful, but necessary.

Lloyd's Boy

December 13th, 2017 at 10:14 PM ^

Agreed that this is necessary... but it is sad that Miggy is going to end his career on a number of 100+ loss teams. Nobody is going to take his salary on unless we absorb a huge chunk of the remaining money on his contract. Fulmer is the last asset left that teams would be willing to send talent back for. It's amazing that with all the talent over the past decade that they didn't take home a World Series. Eerily reminescent of the Lloyd Carr days in our program. Remembered fondly, but disappointing that they didn't accomplish more with the talent they had.

mackbru

December 13th, 2017 at 10:24 PM ^

The depressing thing isn’t that they’re starting over and releasing longtime stars. It’s that they’re getting such paltry returns, mostly just a bunch of second- and third-tier prospects. That’s not all on Avila. A lot of it is on dombrowski who went all-in and failed. Lousy farm system, bad long term planning. They won’t be competitive for years.

bronxblue

December 13th, 2017 at 10:33 PM ^

I kind of wish they had pulled the trigger on getting rid of Kinsler a couple years ago, when his value was higher.  Still, this is what a rebuild should look like.  I just wish they'd stop trading players with LAA, a team with even less talent in their farm system than the Tigers.

ca_prophet

December 14th, 2017 at 5:10 AM ^

He's being paid a ton, coming off his worst year ever at the plate, and is on the wrong side of the 2B age curve.  The Angels sent over a 19-year-old pitcher with mid-90s stuff and an OF who held his own in AA at 23, and we're not sending any money back.

That might even be more than Kinsler was worth.

If we'd wanted more talent, we would have covered Kinsler's salary (or at least a piece of it).

I don't see anyone else offering more, and we could have done worse, so I think it's a painful but necessary step.

 

Sam1863

December 14th, 2017 at 5:49 AM ^

Reports say that the Mets and Brewers were both offering more. Unfortunately, with Kinsler's no-trade clause, the Angels were the only place he'd agree to go.

The other options were trying to trade him at the July 31 deadline, where they run into the same no-trade clause problem. Then maybe they get a better offer - or maybe they get nothing.

Or, let him play out the whole 2018 season, swallow his entire $11M salary, and get nothing for him when it's over.

This isn't much, but it might have been the best of three bad choices.

Best of luck, Ian. You gave everything you had - and you were a whole lot better than having Prince Fielder around for the past four years.

LSAClassOf2000

December 14th, 2017 at 10:29 AM ^

The #20 and #24 prospects in a farm system that is reportedly not exceedingly deep does cause some concern for me in that moves like this are almost like buying another year of rebuild unless something fantastic clicks in all this talent. That being said, I get the logic and financial prudence of such moves, but when it is your team being dismantled, it is not fun to read the sports pages for a while. 

matty blue

December 14th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^

but he's D-U-N DONE.

he's 35 years old, is owed $11 million next year.  i'll eat my bo hat if he's still with the angels a year from now...i won't be surprised if he's gone by september.

ca_prophet

December 15th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^

Despite his declining numbers, he's not bad in the field and one of the few teams getting less from 2B than Detroit was LAA.  He's a modest improvement with no on-field cost, and the Angels are clearly going to be a contender; pairing Otani with Trout adds an all-world talent to last year's playoff team.  The deal makes a lot of sense for them unless he falls off a cliff (and 2B increasingly tend to crater at his age).

Overall, it's a win-win and hopefully a win for Kinsler too.