Napoli Retires

[Inside Pitch]

Mathis on Napoli --- this is the greatest...

 

[WeatherWonk]

From 2012, the time we signed Pujols, thru 2017, the year Napoli last played, Albert accrused 12.8 WAR. Napoli accrued 11.2 WAR.

Napoli would have cost us 66 mil, based on what he ended up earning. Albert will end up costing us 240 mil..............and a lot of other free agents we might have been able to afford.

The year before Albert joined us, Napoli had the best year of his career. A 5.5 WAR in Texas. Playing 1b, C and DH.

We had started the trend to using him at 1b in 2010, where he delivered a respectable 2.0 WAR while earning only 3.2 mil. 

Seriously, Napoli is tied to two of the top four worst decisions in the Arte era. Trading him for Wells and not continuing to use him at 1b. If he had performed the way he ended up performing for other teams, for us, we might have never felt the need to sign Albert. Which is probably the second worst decision of the Arte era, behind the Hambone signing.

Well, it's water under the bridge, of course, but this is the point in time you reflect on it. Napoli certainly got the last laugh. His stats against the Angels was the cherry on top.

 

[mancini79]

Retirement PARTY AT NAPOLI'S!

[Tank]

16 hours ago, mpcincal said:

<<In his career, excluding three NL teams that he only played a total of 8, 10 and 12 games against, his highest career BA was against..............the Angels, naturally. .317.>>

I'm shocked it ended up being that low. I would have guessed .400 .800 at least.

fixed.

[Tank]

[Glen]

3 hours ago, mancini79 said:

Retirement PARTY AT NAPOLI'S!

If his mom is there I'm in!

[tdawg87]

3 hours ago, Tank said:

There it is!

[Lou]

9 minutes ago, Glen said:

If his mom is there I'm in!

something tells me you'll be taking a number 

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 12/8/2018 at 12:39 PM, popo85 said:

Nap,  Weav,Kendrick, Aybar, Morales, Santana all came up around the same time, pretty solid careers

We used to be a freaking factory. Throw in joe saunders, too. Even kotchman spent a decent amount of years.

[Blarg]

Tony Reagins was in charge of the minor leagues back then. Then they Peter Principled him. 

[GrittyVeterans]

Guy liked to booze...I like it

[WeatherWonk]

Is that a photo from one of the clubhouse chicken and beer parties?

If so, what was the problem?????

[Lou]

ummmmm . . . 

[T.G.]

He will probably s hit a couple homers against the Angels next season - even in retirement. 

[Pujols4MVP]

I still think he'd hit lefties better in 2019 than Pujols will.

[ScottT]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

• Interestingly, Mike Napoli interviewed with the Chicago Cubs before they filled their recent coaching vacancies, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). It’s been less than a month since the former All-Star announced his retirement, but now that the Cubs went in a different direction, Napoli will have no trouble enjoying his time off. Napoli was always touted as a positive influence who buoyed clubhouse morale with intensity and charm, and there’s plenty reason to believe there is a future in coaching for him, if he so chooses.

[mtangelsfan]

So Maddon didn't want him.

Interesting.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Interviewing on the phone while at Goat Hill probably didn't help his cause.  

[ScottT]

Interesting is how labels/perception (maybe, reality) can either change or differ based on the situation. Not sure Napoli was ever labeled as a clubhouse cancer, but the popular theory on this board seemed to be Scioscia didn't like him because he was lazy... or something to that effect.  Now, he's widely considered a good clubhouse guy and was immediately considered for a coaching job.  

Maybe Scioscia will hire both him and Mathis as coaches in the future. That'd be amusing.

[Pujols4MVP]

2 minutes ago, ScottT said:

Interesting is how labels/perception (maybe, reality) can either change or differ based on the situation. Not sure Napoli was ever labeled as a clubhouse cancer, but the popular theory on this board seemed to be Scioscia didn't like him because he was lazy... or something to that effect.  Now, he's widely considered a good clubhouse guy and was immediately considered for a coaching job.  

Maybe Scioscia will hire both him and Mathis as coaches in the future. That'd be amusing.

I'd like to see Napoli manage a team. He'd do the complete opposite of Scioscia just to troll: rookie phenom catcher hits 2 HRs in a game, next day Naps has him bat cleanup.

[Inside Pitch]

52 minutes ago, ScottT said:

Interesting is how labels/perception (maybe, reality) can either change or differ based on the situation. Not sure Napoli was ever labeled as a clubhouse cancer, but the popular theory on this board seemed to be Scioscia didn't like him because he was lazy... or something to that effect.  Now, he's widely considered a good clubhouse guy and was immediately considered for a coaching job.  

Maybe Scioscia will hire both him and Mathis as coaches in the future. That'd be amusing.

Dude wasn't considered lazy to my knowledge -- he was seen as more of a party boy that you didn't want younger players gravitating towards because well...   not everyone can be Napoli, or Bo Belinski...

Pretty much everyone loved the guy.

Edited January 4, 2019 by Inside Pitch

[Pujols4MVP]

2 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Dude wasn't considered lazy to my knowledge -- he was seen as more of a party boy that you didn't want younger players gravitating towards because well...   not everyone can be Napoli, or Bo Belenski...

Pretty much everyone loved the guy.

Napoli was basicly John Belushi as a baseball player & Scioscia was like that guy in Animal House that pointed out Belushi had a 0.0 grade average aka squat ratio.

 

[Blarg]

[Pujols4MVP]

6 minutes ago, Blarg said:

If they ever do a remake of Animal House, Mike Napoli as Blutowski is a must.

[NJHalo]