Dave Saltzer

Hey guys, I just want to point out that you should be listening to Sam Farber on the Beast 980. He is the former play-by-play man for the Angels Cal League affiliate, and really knows our system inside and out. Congrats to him on getting the radio gig and the interview with Jerry Dipoto.

Did Glenn do a point/counterpoint piece on the wisdom of getting married? Congrats Glen.

Not that I'm entirely opposed to signing Lester, but I want to go on the record and say that if we're going to commit that kind of money (let's say 6/$150 million), I think a better use of the money would be to sign Moncada and Lopez and still have $50+ million available, even after signing penalties. Long term, those are better moves.

If we can get one or both of these top Cuban prospects, we need to do it. I know about the penalties, but, our farm is truly in need of some top tied D talent and we need to start building for a future team around Trout. If we are going to be a perennially contending team, that means that we will always be drafting near the bottom of the pack and will have one of th lowest spending amounts. With such restrictions, it makes far more sense to binge every few years and get some waves of talent to rise up to the parent club so that we can may tain our winning ways. For the cost of one Hamilton, we could have one Baldoquin, one Moncada, and, one Lopez, with money to spare. It's a better risk, and depending how these deals are structured, they might not have the same impact on the luxury tax that signing of Hamilton will have. Count me in for signing these two guys (Moncada and Lopez).

Thank you Victor. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Thank you for doing such a great job every year bringing us all the baseball that we need.

Why shouldn't it have been picked up? It was a great article, and Part 2 is coming out now! Good job Robert!

From what I hear, I really do hope we break the bank on him. We need to fill 3B long term, and this is the year to go big on developing talent instead of signing a big named FA.

Agreed. I don't believe that money would count towards any luxury tax, and would still be a far bigger bargain than trying to sign a comparable FA. Since we've already blown our allotment for the international market, we might as well go in all the way on it and sign Moncado.

I would love to add Moncado on top of this signing.

Wow! This guy looks solid. At least worth 3 Rondons.

Robert, I love reading your articles! You've been a great addition to the site. Hope to see you at Fanfest next year!

Even though the Royals didn't win, I still congratulate them for pushing it all the way to Game 7--and a 1 run game at that with the tying run at 3B in the 9th. It doesn't get much better than that. They can hold their heads high.

My mistake. I should have said in all Wild Card Team in the 2-team Wild Card Format. I have updated and changed it. Thanks for catching that.

I was the one who tossed out the idea of getting a leadoff hitter. Scotty is just building on that. I'm a big Calhoun fan, no doubt about that. But, he'd be far more valuable as our #2 hitter than leading off (if we can get a good leadoff hitter). Trout would be far more valuable as our #3 hitter, and Pujols as the cleanup hitter. It's not a knock on Calhoun, it's about getting the most value and production from each person in the lineup. I will be honest, I don't know who is out there that we can get who would be a better leadoff hitter, but, I do believe that adding one would make the lineup better. In my first interview with Dipoto, he did talk about wanting to have a "layered" approach to ages on the team so that there is a constant mix of veterans and youth in the clubhouse to create a rolling cycle of players on the team. There is a dearth in layers in the lineup, so I can see something being done there, if possible. We won 98 games last year, and that was with the bullpen early on being in shambles. It is not any more. I don't see major moves, but I could see Cron being traded (power is becoming a commodity that can bring back some pitching). I sure hope that Hamilton figures out whatever it was that was missing and gets healthy this offseason. I don't think he can be moved, so, I'd rather see him getting back to what made him worthy of such a contract.

I think it's way cool that after a long and exhausting season grinding daily stories (often multiple per day) that Jeff Fletcher is still here reading our threads and also willing to look forward to next season. Thanks for letting us know Jeff and I'm looking forward to seeing you next Fanfest.

Any time you want to come out while I'm up in Orem doing interviews, feel free to join us.

I love me some baseball mom!

Here's a thought as to what I want, but I'm not sure who would best fit the bill. So, I'll post the idea out there and see what you guys can come up with to fit the bill. If I could get anything, I'd want a true leadoff hitter with speed so that we can drop everyone down 1 spot in the lineup. That would make the offense work a lot better. My second target would be a DH type, preferably one who could backup 1B occasionally. That way we could trade Cron for a younger starting pitcher. While I like Cron, and like what he brings to the team, we will need another starter. Unless we can get Lester (who won't cost us a draft pick), we're going to need to find a way to get another starter. I'd rather keep Kendrick and trade Cron at this point.

The Royals had at least 2 scouts at every Angels home game studying our hitters and figuring out how to get everyone in our lineup out (and often had 4 scouts). They did a damned good job of that. Their pitchers still had to execute the pitches to get our guys out. I am sure that we did the same thing to the Royals, which is why our starting pitching in games 1 and 2 did a great job. And, by and large, for the innings pitched, our bullpen did a great job. Yes, Wilson had a meltdown, but that wasn't why we lost the series. When it came down to crunch time, they out executed against us and were able to string hits together while we could not. They sawed our offense in half and kept guys from getting hits with superb defense. I have no problem admitting that they were the better team during that series. As much as we "lost" the series, their team still had to "win" it.

Serious question: Why is it so hard to admit that the Angels were outplayed by a hotter team? Yes, we may have been the better team on paper, but, on the field, the Royals just sawed us in half. Even if our bats were struggling, they still made the pitches, the outs, and flat out beat us. If we had done the same thing to the Royals, we'd be bragging about steamrolling them--even if their bats fell flat. Why can't we admit the same? I think setting a new record for consecutive playoff wins says that they are a buzzsaw going through teams right now.

Thank you for equating a well-spoken caller with me. But alas, no, I did not call in the show (was busy at work). Maybe he read the article on here either from our Twitter feed or some of the retweets it got. I stand by my viewpoint that it was a buzzsaw. The team's offense was kept off balance by good timely pitching (even if the pitching across the season wasn't great), incredible defense, and a team that refused to quit. Look at Detroit: their aces all got shut down and lost 3 straight like we did even though they were the better team. Sometimes you just run into a buzzsaw, and there's nothing you can do. I have my ideas for the offseason, which I'll write about after the WS.

Thanks Joe for another great piece. Looking forward to Trout's first of many post seasons with the Angels!

I like that image of the old man at Spring Training. That will be me, thankful to have made the cut again. We definitely do sound a lot alike!

Great interview AJ! Love having you here!

Anyone have any connections with these people? It'd be cool to get some interviews for our website . . .