Even with Beltre and Soriano, I'd say they're still at best in a dogfight for that division with the Rangers, and maybe the A's, right now. They've really been hurt by their prospects not turning into the All-stars that they looked like.

I don't expect the A's to do jack diddly squad, but that is just me (they'll pitch but struggle to score and will win somewhere between 75 and 85 games). Rangers are solid but the Angels have a rotation that could be pretty good and is at least solid (Haren/Weaver/Santana/Pineiro/Kazmir). The lineup will be much improved with Kendry Morales and as a whole they don't have near as many problems as I think the general media makes them out to have.

 

They have holes in the back end of the pen and could use another bat or two, but if they got those things and combine it with having Sciosc as your manager, and I see no reason the Angels can't contend again.

Buster_ESPN

 

Heard this: The Angels' offer to Carl Crawford was $108 m. over 6 years,or $18 m. a year. Which means the Red Sox offer was much higher.

.337 career on base percentage

.337 career on base percentage

 

Juan Pierre - .347 career on base percentage

Assuming I get enough time in the next couple days - I should have quite a bit on Saturday - I plan on diving into the Crawford signing a little bit. I have a few points that I want to talk about right now but I have to do a little bit of research on them before I state them and make a complete jackass out of myself.

Juan Pierre - .347 career on base percentage

 

So what I'm getting here is that Juan Pierre is better.

So what I'm getting here is that Juan Pierre is better.

 

Then you need to retire from the sport as a fan if you think JP is better than Carl Crawford.

Nobody in their right mind wouldn't want Crawford, but at that price the Red Sox can have him.

Nobody in their right mind wouldn't want Crawford, but at that price the Red Sox can have him.

Yeah at $20 per year, that is just ludicrous.

Then you need to retire from the sport as a fan if you think JP is better than Carl Crawford.

All we're saying is that if you're going to hate on Juan Pierre, make sure your hate makes sense. Don't complain about his OBP and then 30 seconds later suggest having people with worse OBP leading off. Don't tell us how terrible his sabermetric stats are when he was worth $8 million in the fangraphs player value world last year.

All we're saying is that if you're going to hate on Juan Pierre, make sure your hate makes sense. Don't complain about his OBP and then 30 seconds later suggest having people with worse OBP leading off. Don't tell us how terrible his sabermetric stats are when he was worth $8 million in the fangraphs player value world last year.

All we're saying is that if you're going to hate on Juan Pierre, make sure your hate makes sense. Don't complain about his OBP and then 30 seconds later suggest having people with worse OBP leading off. Don't tell us how terrible his sabermetric stats are when he was worth $8 million in the fangraphs player value world last year.

 

Career stats can be skewed sometimes. Crawford has a .350 OBP the last 5 years. Pierre has a .337 OBP the last 5 years years. Crawford is faster, a better baserunner and a better defender and offers something more than a sissy single in his best-case scenario. There's no comparison.

Career stats can be skewed sometimes. Crawford has a .350 OBP the last 5 years. Pierre has a .337 OBP the last 5 years years. Crawford is faster, a better baserunner and a better defender and offers something more than a sissy single in his best-case scenario. There's no comparison.

No one's going to argue that Carl Crawford is a worse player than Juan Pierre, come on, that's exactly the kind of thing I mean when I talk about what annoys me on this. If you want to rip on Pierre for being a low slugging, poor RBI guy, you're right. No one would argue that he isn't. Your OBP point is the thing that I actually want to hear when we discuss this matter...an actual, factual point. A "Sissy single" though? Come on man.

No one's going to argue that Carl Crawford is a worse player than Juan Pierre, come on, that's exactly the kind of thing I mean when I talk about what annoys me on this. If you want to rip on Pierre for being a low slugging, poor RBI guy, you're right. No one would argue that he isn't. Your OBP point is the thing that I actually want to hear when we discuss this matter...an actual, factual point. A "Sissy single" though? Come on man.

 

I didn't say CC was great. But he's worlds better than JP. Crawford was a developing player his first couple years. He didn't really take off until '04. He's better than JP at every aspect of baseball. That's all I'm saying. To hell with career OBP. Look at the last 5 years or so. And yes, even most of Juan Pierre's hits are of the sissy version.

I didn't say CC was great. But he's worlds better than JP. Crawford was a developing player his first couple years. He didn't really take off until '04. He's better than JP at every aspect of baseball. That's all I'm saying. To hell with career OBP. Look at the last 5 years or so. And yes, even most of Juan Pierre's hits are of the sissy version.

This is exactly why I'm getting so annoyed at the Juan Pierre hate.

This is exactly why I'm getting so annoyed at the Juan Pierre hate.

 

You're only saying that because he's with us. Man I wish the search function worked. Everybody here was killin' him when he was a Cub.

Let me nip this one in the bud, right quick...

 

Nobody here, including Balta is claiming that Pierre is a better player than Crawford...

 

But allow me to do a little math here, which I'm sure you will hate because it's easy to twist.

 

I'm basing this on last season via Baseball Reference.

 

Crawford: .307BA, .356OBP, 19HR, 90RBI, 47SB, 10CS, 104K

Pierre: .275BA, .341OBP, 1HR, 47RBI, 68SB, 18CS, 47K

 

We are paying Pierre what, 3M out of his 8M contract this year?

 

So in effect -- Boston is paying 17,000,000 MORE [per year] for:

+.032 Batting Average

+.015 On Base Percentage

+18 Home Runs

+43 Runs Batted In

+57 Strikeouts

 

I'll ignore the base stealing since I think they both get caught too much, and both steal a lot...so in that effect, they're effective in making pitchers nervous.

 

All I have to say is they can keep him for that.

Let me nip this one in the bud, right quick...

 

Nobody here, including Balta is claiming that Pierre is a better player than Crawford...

 

But allow me to do a little math here, which I'm sure you will hate because it's easy to twist.

 

I'm basing this on last season via Baseball Reference.

 

Crawford: .307BA, .356OBP, 19HR, 90RBI, 47SB, 10CS, 104K

Pierre: .275BA, .341OBP, 1HR, 47RBI, 68SB, 18CS, 47K

 

We are paying Pierre what, 3M out of his 8M contract this year?

 

So in effect -- Boston is paying 17,000,000 MORE [per year] for:

+.032 Batting Average

+.015 On Base Percentage

+18 Home Runs

+43 Runs Batted In

+57 Strikeouts

 

I'll ignore the base stealing since I think they both get caught too much, and both steal a lot...so in that effect, they're effective in making pitchers nervous.

 

All I have to say is they can keep him for that.

 

Oh yeah. It's really that simple! But I digress. I hate JP. I can't help it. I will cheer him because he plays for my favorite team. But I can't be phony. Thing is there's other players I hate more like Jeff Francoeur. I hate watching guys make millions to be mediocre at what they do.

Oh yeah. It's really that simple! But I digress. I hate JP. I can't help it. I will cheer him because he plays for my favorite team. But I can't be phony. Thing is there's other players I hate more like Jeff Francoeur. I hate watching guys make millions to be mediocre at what they do.

 

IMO, it really IS that simple.

 

That's how much more they're paying for the differences in production.

 

Again, Crawford is better than Pierre -- but IMO, he's not 12+M per year better.

Career stats can be skewed sometimes. Crawford has a .350 OBP the last 5 years. Pierre has a .337 OBP the last 5 years years. Crawford is faster, a better baserunner and a better defender and offers something more than a sissy single in his best-case scenario. There's no comparison.

Wade Boggs and Rod Carew are crying.

Oh yeah. It's really that simple! But I digress. I hate JP. I can't help it. I will cheer him because he plays for my favorite team. But I can't be phony. Thing is there's other players I hate more like Jeff Francoeur. I hate watching guys make millions to be mediocre at what they do.

Almost everyone in the MLB if they survive 3+ years makes "millions" sadly. I'd rather have Pierre leading off than some of the jokers we've run out there in the past.

 

Pierre started out really slowly, but the second half of last year he looked more like the player he's always been... he hit .295 with a .357 on base percentage and 36 steals against 7 caught stealing after the All-Star Break last year.

Now more familiar with the league (come on, the dude had played 11 seasons in the NL, there had to be some adjustment), and more familiar with a lot of the pitchers he'll see in the division, I'd bet Pierre hits .300.

 

There's way worse guys to complain about than Juan Pierre. In a down season dude almost snagged 70 bases.

Wade Boggs and Rod Carew are crying.

 

What?! I can't speak on Carew as much. But Wade Boggs? Dude was a a 5 time batting champion and a liftetime .328 hitter. He had a career OBP of .415! I repeat: .415! He had more extra basehits in 1 year than JP could get in 5. I must be in the twilight zone. JP is not good. I know he plays for us. But c'mon, guys, just be f***ing honest.

What?! I can't speak on Carew as much. But Wade Boggs? Dude was a a 5 time batting champion and a liftetime .328 hitter. He had a career OBP of .415! I repeat: .415! He had more extra basehits in 1 year than JP could get in 5. I must be in the twilight zone. JP is not good. I know he plays for us. But c'mon, guys, just be f***ing honest.

 

Why don't we just compare him too Ty Cobb while we're at it.

What?! I can't speak on Carew as much. But Wade Boggs? Dude was a a 5 time batting champion and a liftetime .328 hitter. He had a career OBP of .415! I repeat: .415! He had more extra basehits in 1 year than JP could get in 5. I must be in the twilight zone. JP is not good. I know he plays for us. But c'mon, guys, just be f***ing honest.

 

I never said JP was better than Boggs. Alot of singles went into those batting titles. I would say JP is ok. I wouldn't miss him but there are worse options. Mediocore is a good description for him.

 

I guess singles aren't sexy.

He's better than Luis Polonia or John Cangelosi, lol.