avejoe1

I believe this will be the first year that Mike Trout (born 8-7-91) is not the youngest on the Angels roster. Cam Bedrosian (born 10-2-91) is almost three (ok?) months younger. All others on the 40 man remain older that Trout. It is surprising how much Trout has accomplished despite being so young.

I am having trouble understanding why Scioscia keeps using pitchers like Bedrosian, Rasmus, and Frieri in key situations. I don't understand why these three relievers and Santiago are still even on the team for Scioscia to use after numerous terrible performances. I don't understand why R.J. Alvarez hasn't yet been brought up to replace at least one of the relievers.

I believe many newspapers have displayed an arrogance in editorials and coverage for a number of years. The Angels were regularly shorted on coverage and minimized by the L.A Times in favor of the Dodgers for many years. The Times also forgot that many of its readers were conservative and regularly sermonized as to how its readers should think. I simply stopped buying the times as it no longer covered what I was interested in. For me it had nothing to do with the internet or smartphones. The Times left me before I left it. The Times also kept its daily price artificially low in Orange County to try to destroy the Register. I believe the Times has no one to blame but themselves.

If Dickey Stephans Park in Arkansas continues to do serious damage to Angels hitting prospects, why do the Angels insist on renewing the minor league contract for that franchise year after year?

Wow what ever happened to all the happy talk? The Angels are now 4 games out after playing only 14 games (less than 9% of the season). I was the negative guy on this board and I thought it would take the Angels until the end of April to get 4 games out. At this rate, the team would be down 40+ games before by end of the season.

With the Angels often drafting players straight out of high school, that three years is more likely to become five or six years (see Cowart).

Weaver didn't lose last night's game. Scioscia did. It is early in the season and starting pitchers like Weaver should not be expected to go as many innings as later in the year. Of course, stubborn Scioscia was oblivious to Weaver tiring in the 6th inning and should have pulled him after that second walk. But no, Scioscia didn't care if Weaver was tired and left him in so Seattle could tie the game. My gosh, a lead against Hernandez was huge and should have been protected at all costs. But no, Scioscia didn't care if Weaver had tired. Then instead of pulling him at the end of the inning after great defense saved a run, Scioscia throws an obviously tired Weaver back out so Seattle could take the lead before bringing in the bullpen. I can't remember worse Manager decisions but then last year is a long time in the past. Also, the Angels seem to make two bad acquisitions every year. Two years ago it was Burnett and Madsen. Last year it was Hamilton and Blanton. This year is would appear to be Freese and the DH, Ibanez. It makes me sick ... p.s. Did the injury to Don Baylor remind you of another early injury in the past which seemed to jinx a season? (Mo Vaughn)

Ah, classy as usual ...

So Inside is that your last, last response to this topic?

Ten; I'm sorry but I haven't been on this thread for a while. I am not a scout etc. so my arguments are apparently too simple for the advanced metrics guys which leads to me being "full of sh t". The Dodgers have a star in Puig, an international signing that cost them only money. With his youth and abilities, he may soon become a superstar. The Rangers have a star in Yu Darvish, an international signing that cost them only money. The Angels bulked up with six or seven first round draft picks over a two year period and came out with a superstar in Mike Trout, a down the road possible starter in Taylor Lindsay and two good lefthanders, Corbin and Skaggs who were traded away (Skaggs having been reacquired). This is simplistic but illustrates a point. These other teams have draft picks and international signings that they keep and build upon. The Angels are lucky to have a few high draft picks but are hit and miss as to whether they pan out and, if they do, are often traded away... The Angels have not for a long time signed any good international players. The stream of good, young minor league talent is just not there on a regular basis for the Angels. Year after year, these other teams put layers of good, young players on their team, some from the draft and some from their international signings. The Angels don't have the layers of good, young players from the draft or from the international signings to bring up to the major league club. It is hard for me to see how this problem is to be rectified over the next four to five years without the Angels jumping in with both feet into the international market. Thank goodness Dipoto kept the 1st round pick for this coming June. I am no Dodgers fan so probably should not be arguing their side. They don't care how much money they have spent because they have gone from irrelevant to relevant. The Dodgers appear committed (Yankee like) to paying whatever they need to in the future to get better without regard to a budget. I would expect that to include keeping their good minor league players acquired through the draft and through international signings as well as continuing to sign good players from both sources. I would expect the Dodgers to remain on top of the NL West as a result. I really do not like the feeling that the Dodgers are going to be the focus of Southern California sports news for quite a while to come.

I have brought this up previously. The only answer I have received is that it takes time to develop relationships with players, coaches, etc. and the Angels are just starting to rebuilt those international relationships. It actually sounds like a big excuse for not having spent and not spending now the international money.

It seems stupid to compare Joe Blantons lifetime stats against these other pitchers when Blanton has clearly reached the rapidly descending, downward end of his career. I prefer using his last years sample for comparison: 131.2 innings Hits per 9 innings 13.6 Whip 1.61 ERA 6.04 Avg. against .317 Blanton no longer belongs in any discussion regarding the 3-4-5.

Reggie Bush and his parents did break the NCAA rules on impermissible benefits. USC football had no knowledge of those NCAA violations and was not involved in them. The NCAA's corrupt investigators and infractions committee members lied, lied, lied to assure the Trojan football team was punished and then utilized that opening to put draconian sanctions in place. If you had read anything on what the NCAA report said and what the recent ruling in the McNair case stated regarding the improper conduct by the NCAA in this matter, you would not be so glib in your comments.

I just remember Bill Walsh and Eddie DeBartolo and the 49er's beating the crap out of the Rams for a number of years in a row.

I believe this year will be an early golf outing. The Angels in 2013 finished 12.5 games back of Texas and 18 games back of the A's. That's not just 3rd place in the AL West but a distant 3rd place. This team has made some modest improvements on last years team. The acquisitions of David Freeze, Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago were good trades. But they were also trades in which the Angels had to give up value in order to get value losing Trumbo and Bourjos. In my opinion, the improvements are not enough to make up that 12.5 games back on Texas much less get into the conversation regarding the A's. One could argue Texas had a significantly better off season than did the Angels adding Fielder and Choo. This team should be congratulated for keeping the first round draft pick in the 2014 draft and actually signing a couple of international players. Other than that this looks to be another rather long disappointing season.