Pucknut22

Angels collecting .200 hitters. GM's just laughing at the Angels management.
 

Here's my opinion.  Yes he is a good ave hitter but not a manager favorite. He has alot of easy 1 pitch outs. He makes bone headed running mistakes. Below average fielder. Also lives in his own world.  Your team loses 6-0 but he goes 2 for 4 and he's singing in the dugout. Then the team wins 6-0 and he's pouting in the corner because he went hit-less. I played Baseball many years and these types of players drives managers insane. 

12 minutes ago, xboom28x said:

The Twins haven't developed young pitching in quite a while. It could be an organizational thing. They ruin what prospects they do have by moving them up and down. Meyer could be a symptom of that dysfunction. Worth a shot. Santiago likely would have received 8-10 mil in arbitration, then cost more than that as a FA.

 

One thing to remember... Santiago hasn't thrown 200IP yet in a season. I personally don't think he has it in him. Meyer, if he's right, can do that. Nolasco too.

Oh and pigs fly right.  Santiago for Meyer maybe but taking Nolasco contract and giving another pitching prospect too? Well at least he won't be the worst pitcher on the team Lincecum has that covered. One more move to solidify Trout leaving when his contracts up. 

The only reason this trade would make sense is if the Twins promised him the GM job in Minnesota next year.

This is what happens when you throw 95 and you start to command your fastball. Bedrosian's fastball is pretty straight so he just cannot fire it down the middle when behind in the count. Then I like him as a 8th inning setup guy for now until he gets that confidence to be a closer. Street has been a great closer for years but he no longer throws 92+ to make his change a dominant out pitch.  

The part that is confusing for me is that Dipoto wanted to use metrics and Scioscia did not. This was a big part of contention between the two. Now this year Scioscia and the Angel staff are going metrics crazy.  They lead the league in shifts. Here is another point I see watching many games around the league as well as every Angel and Giant games. Teams that enforce the shift why do they not move when there are two strikes on a batter? I have noticed many hitters with 2 strikes going to contact mode and when pitchers pitch them away they just punch it in the hole. Why not just move back to standard shift when a hitter has 2 strikes? 

As a long time SF Giants and Angels fan living in Orange County this is both fantastic and terrifying at the same time. 
 

Yes. Terry Smith talks through the action to much. That May be ok for TV but on the radio you hear the action from the play and Terry is still talking about something else. His timing is off. Terry does have the better voice though compared to the SLC guy which is a little tinty.

Have people here ever seen G. Richards pitch? He always pouts that is his demeanor. His biggest problem last night was he was to pumped up.  Relax and Trust your stuff and back off throwing four seam 98 MPH because that's the pitch that doesn't move.  He needs to throw that 92 to 94 two seamer and allow his pitches to have that natural sink. That is the pitch he will get alot of ground balls and early count outs. 

Why all the panic? It is December 17th.  I personally don't like Gordon, Cespedes, or Upton.  What I have learned is you do not give a long term contract to FA when they are over 30.  It always

bites you in the butt.  Angels had injuries and terrible LF play and no backup infield and they still got it down to the last game of the season. Oakland and Seattle have not improved. Texas and Houston are good but not much better than the Angels. If the Angels can get a OBP with speed to play left they will be right there.  Simmons is going to be a fan favorite when they see this kid play every day. 

I don't blame Arte for not wanting to go over the luxury tax.  

One thing we need to do is let Dsar go after the season.  He has been horrible as a 3rd base coach.  What is surprising is he was never a fast runner but a very smart base runner when he played.
As for Scioscia dream on guys he is here for as long as he wants to be the Angel manager.  I didn't agree with taking Gio out because it was only a 2 run lead after 6 and would bat again in the 8th or 9th.  If he would have hit in the 7th then maybe. Anyways I don't blame the loss on Featherston though he does seem to be a little bit of a jinx.  One thing that amazes me about Featherston is his cockiness for a guy hitting .150 and as a fielder who does not have soft hands and susceptible to errors.

Last thing the Angels had Josh Rutledge sitting around in the minors. He was the leader to start the season at 2B but had a uneventful spring. Why was he never recalled to be that SS/2B/3B utility?
He hit .269 last year and has over 800 MLB at bats. Boston got him for I think Victorino he has hit .300 though small sample size.  But with Rutledge you at least get quality at bats compared to Featherston where he was basically a pitcher hitting. You cannot have a C/2B/3B all hitting around .150 for a month and expect to win many games and they didn't.  If Angels don't make the playoffs you can point to that time when it would have been so easy to tweak that position instead of getting a bunch a left fielders to replace Joyce.

Until Trout starts to get on top of the ball the pitches above the belt are going to be swing and misses or pop ups to the right side. He has a natural short uppercut swing and until he adjusts pitchers will just keep going up the ladder. Trout is smart he knows this and so with 2 strikes he is so up conscious, pitchers also can go with change ups and off speed stuff in the dirt away too. Trout has that closed upright stance.  He will need to bend his knees a little to give the pitchers a little different view. He is also going to have to start swinging at the first pitch just to give a pitcher notice that they just can't get ahead 0-1. **When your batting .000 in the top 3 quadrants not hard to figure out his weakness.

I know I gave up on Jepsen a couple of times.  He tried changing his arm angle to get more movement but looked to be uncomfortable and went back to his original delivery.  The key for him is he is getting his breaking ball over. That was the same for Kohn earlier in the year then he lost his breaking ball and players just sat on the fastball and now he is in the minors.  

Is it just me or does Hamilton lead the league in strikeouts.

No that would be Mike Trout. If were going to be blasting Pujols and Hamilton, Trout needs to get alot of blame for his fruitless hitting after the allstar break.

With his early power success he seems to be trying to pull to much. He just needs to think middle out like Howie and he will be fine. Ever since he came up I always thought his weakness was pitches above the belt. He is a beast on pitches below the belt middle in. Maybe just maybe him signing that big contract he's trying to hit a homer every at bat. 

Alvarez and Morin can't get anybody out at SLC how are they supposed to do it at the Major League level? 

Look we could have probably avoided 3 of these late inning blow ups if Mike would just guard the lines late in games like every other manager in the league. That shot down the line last night should have been a 5-4-3 DP to end the game. Same with the Donaldson hit back in the last home stand.  

Read about it here.

 

Cameron nails it here:

 

"The Angels needed a third baseman, I guess, but they traded a good player for a worse player who costs more. Anaheim keeps spinning their wheels, while the Cardinals keep marching on towards sustained excellence. Some things really do stay the same."

 

Its almost embarrassing. I'd say that the Angels are on their way to becoming a joke of a franchise, but the thing is the last four years have been terrible so we're already there. This trade just confirms it. I was hoping that we'd see a shift in gears this off-season, but it looks like more Dipoto being Dipoto.

You know what that means right? The Angels are going to win the division because the last 2 years people were all excited about the team and now according to you we are a joke of a franchise which means we will win. Look maybe you don't know much about Freese except for his stat line this year but he is a upgrade at 3rd.  The one thing I like is unlike most Angels he works the count.  Look at the success of Calhoun and Schuck both players who work counts.  We have to many first ball swingers Hamilton, Aybar, Kendrick, Trumbo, Jimenez, etc.. Now we have Trout, Calhoun, Ianetta, and now Freese.  Don Baylor will also help because the last two hitting coaches we had were free swingers when they played. Baylor will teach patience and he will be respected by the players.  Look for our team OBP going up.

The emergence of Calhoun made Bourjos expendable.  I guarantee Freese will become a fan favorite - He works the count, has some pop, and from I have seen comes up with clutch hits throughout his career. The downside is he is a below ave fielder and injury prone. I love Bourjos but with Trout, Hamilton, Calhoun, and Schuck, not a lot of room for him. Tough for my daughter as Peter is one of her favorite players.