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IGNORED

Tommy La Stella


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5 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Seriously, @Jeff Fletcher do you think that's true of most beat writers (not being a fan of a given team)?  Is that a conscious decision or something that just happened?  Is to remain neutral or something else?  I'm genuinely curious.

I think it’s true of all beat writers. You can’t be a fan of the team you cover. 

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1 hour ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I was as die-hard a Mariners fan as you can be from about age 12 to 27. When I was kid growing up in Ohio, I thought they had cool uniforms when I was 9 and they also had the All-Star Game in the Kingdome that year. So I’d stay up listening to staticy radio broadcasts when they’d be playing the Indians or Tigers or Yankees or some team whose AM signal I could get. Otherwise I’d just keep waiting for those bottom line updates at :28 and :58 on ESPN.

The pinnacle moment of my entire life as a baseball fan was - sorry - 1995. 

Then in 1997 I started covering MLB and quickly lost all emotional attachment. 

Now I root for me. I root for interesting stories. I root for outcomes that help me get trips to make platinum (one round trip to the east coast in October gets me there). I root for games to go fast so I can make my flights. I root for whoever is winning in the 7th to hold on so I don’t have to rewrite my story. I root for the stories I’ve already planned to still work when they run. (The story on the Angels hitting coaches was going to be much different when I did the interviews in spring training than it ended up being after game 6.)

In general, I prefer the Angels win simply because more people read my stories when they do, and my job remains more relevant. But it doesn’t bother me when they lose. 

I used to work with a guy, same age as me, who grew up in Seattle. It was interesting because '95 was the fundamental foundation of our baseball fandom from our childhood, just on complete opposite sides. 

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9 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I think it’s true of all beat writers. You can’t be a fan of the team you cover. 

I can sort of understand that.  I just think it would be incredibly hard to not be.  I mean if you grow up loving the game and cheering for a certain team and to one day just turn all that off would be just about impossible, I'd think.  I wonder if you could remain "not being a fan" if you covered the Mariners.

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16 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

I used to work with a guy, same age as me, who grew up in Seattle. It was interesting because '95 was the fundamental foundation of our baseball fandom from our childhood, just on complete opposite sides. 

Your friend was probably an asshole.  

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9 minutes ago, True Grich said:

I can sort of understand that.  I just think it would be incredibly hard to not be.  I mean if you grow up loving the game and cheering for a certain team and to one day just turn all that off would be just about impossible, I'd think.  I wonder if you could remain "not being a fan" if you covered the Mariners.

I asked him this at fan fest a few years back.  While he didn’t say it, my guess is he grew disenfranchised by the actions of the players or the business of the sport.  

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38 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

I used to work with a guy, same age as me, who grew up in Seattle. It was interesting because '95 was the fundamental foundation of our baseball fandom from our childhood, just on complete opposite sides. 

why did you get fired?

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16 hours ago, True Grich said:

I can sort of understand that.  I just think it would be incredibly hard to not be.  I mean if you grow up loving the game and cheering for a certain team and to one day just turn all that off would be just about impossible, I'd think.  I wonder if you could remain "not being a fan" if you covered the Mariners.

I can’t answer for sure because it didn’t happen. I know there are other writers who do cover the teams they grew up cheering for and they get over it. Maybe it’s just years of being unable to physically cheer in the press box, maybe it’s talking to players and realizing it’s a business to them, maybe it’s just the nature of realizing what’s best for them isn’t always best for you. 

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Tommy is one of those players who you might strongly "dislike" but they "grow" on you. Heck if the Cubs fans (who can be pretty rough on players) like Tommy, he can't be that bad of player!

Initially I wasn't a big fan of "Tommy Boy", but as the past week has shown, you have to give him a chance.

Love this GIF response on todays Angels Lineup post on twitter:

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 3/29/2019 at 10:49 PM, Chuckster70 said:

Oh man, don't get me started on Stella. 

 

On 3/29/2019 at 11:09 PM, RBM said:

Yeah, I think this is an Eppler miss but it’s an easy fix. La Stella is not an everyday player or a defensive replacement/utility player. He’s a lefty pinch hitter off the bench. That’s it. Fletcher should be and will be the guy for now.

 

On 3/30/2019 at 11:53 AM, Chuckster70 said:

Stella has appeared in 398 games, Fletcher just 81. 

I know that our future 2B is probably one of Jones or Rengifo and that Fletcher is more of a utility guy, but right now I believe he's the better option as Stella provides just a walk here and there and nothing really else. 

 

On 3/30/2019 at 11:55 AM, TroutTrumbo said:

Eppler really screwed up with this signing. There were so many options available way better than LaStella. Trade him or release him and bring up Rojas or Rengifo.

 

On 3/30/2019 at 1:31 PM, angelsnationtalk said:

Absolute disgrace that LaStella gets the opening day job over Fletcher who is a spitting image of a true baseball player. Fletcher should start today vs a lefty and should be the every day from now on.  

 

On 3/31/2019 at 11:36 PM, GrittyVeterans said:

None of Fletcher/La Stella/Cozart should be starters on a contending team. It’s the sad reality that two of them have to play everyday for us. 

Eppler did a poor job this offseason of filling holes

 

On 4/1/2019 at 9:35 AM, RBM said:

But Eppler already made a move. The wrong move IMO. He replaced Fletcher with La Stella. Fletcher was proficient last year. La Stella is a career bench player but Eppler decided he was suddenly a starting second baseman. Fletcher is probably more suited as a utility guy but he is much more capable than La Stella.

 

On 4/1/2019 at 10:01 AM, RBM said:

No, instead they handed the job to a 30 year old career lefty pinch hitter with subpar defense who has averaged 147 PA's over the past four years. Makes no sense for Tommy La Stella to be one of 30 starting MLB second basemen IMO.

 

On 4/1/2019 at 11:07 AM, AngelsFaninGA said:

It's pretty much written into the league rules at this point that every year the Angels are required to give 200+ PA's to at least one horrifyingly awful player for no reason (Espinosa, Joyce, Valbuena, La Stella, etc). 

 

On 4/1/2019 at 1:27 PM, RBM said:

I said this on another post. It appears the decision Eppler made is to platoon them with La Stella getting most of the starts. I believe that is wrong. La Stella is a bench player/spot starter. He’s has had 96 starts in the last four years so about one per week. Now he’ll get 4-6 per week? Not good. 

 

On 4/1/2019 at 1:45 PM, RBM said:

Jeff, this thread was started by Doc discussing La Stella not looking like an MLB starter. I agree and don't think he should be starting or in a platoon. He would have been fine as a Lefty bench guy and a spot starter. There are/were other options. My hope is that Rengifo kills it in SLC and takes the job in May.

 

I agree

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On 3/30/2019 at 1:05 PM, Stradling said:

I think I will wait more than two games before I am ready to release the guy.  We have zero idea if Rengifo will be any better since last year was his break out year.  If he gets off to a hot start and LaStella is still struggling then make the move.  But to make a move before April might be a little bit of fan silliness.  

I agree

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