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Wake up Erick. Jesus crimity

Wasn't Ackley a can't miss prospect at one point?

Hamilton. Taking two fastballs over the plate and swinging at a breaking pitch in the dirt. Worthless crap

I saw an interview with him on one of the ST shows and he seems like he has a vision and plan. It's refreshing seeing someone on the staff talk to the press and not answer like they were being asked a trick question.

Who cares if he was one of the best players in the game without steroids.  PED's vaulted him into consideration as the best player ever which he never would have been without those four ridiculous seasons from 2001 to 2004 from age 36-39.  Folks would be less inclined to worry about it if those seasons were just excellent and not iconic. 

 

Sammy Sosa has over 600 hrs yet the level of controversy surrounding him is far less.  Why?  Bonds cheated to be the best ever.  Not just a potential HOFer. 

Sammy Sosa is whiter than me these days.

Sigh. Are they really playing with themselves over having a winning ST record? Nothing else to write about?

I must not be the only person who finds basketball boring.

I think we can both agree on this:

He may have juiced his whole career and if he did, there was a part where he juiced a lot more than he previously did.

Regardless, he was still the best baseball player during both phases of his career.

I never understood the hate for Barry Bonds for the PED's. He used steroids during a time when all his competitors were using steroids too. And he was still day and night better. It's kind of like condemning somebody for being a drunk during the 1920s. 

The few times I've been there, Seattle's never struck me as dangerous. 

Now Oakland is another story. 

Finally this franchise gets it. 

I had good seats during a game he was pitching. I'm not positive but I want to say it was a Sunday game against the Orioles. He was just getting raked. It reminded me of Pony League baseball with sixth graders how everyone was getting extra base hits or getting walked. I probably saw about 15 pitches in a row that were right down the plate and I would check on the radar gun and every pitch was between 80 and 85 MPH. 

Why is this my favorite Joe Blanton moment? That stretch of pitches made me temporarily believe I could've been a major league hitter. 

Meh. He's Jesus Christ reincarnate compared to Reagins. If he can get a stud catcher in this year's draft, and find a way to help Butcher find the door he'll be alright in my book.

No. This team already has enough guys that are going to get worse before they get better.

On paper this looks like a good deal. Romine will never be anything more than a "toolsy" type middle infielder who hits in the bottom of the order.

All of the sudden, this franchise gets it. Now all we need is to fire Scioscia and Butcher and release Hamilton, and it'll be all good.

I'm not too worried about him. Hamilton is the real cancer of the lineup and organization.

 

Willits 2.0

 

Look how much their minor league numbers mirror each other. 

 

Shuck: .301/.382/.381/.763

Willits: .293/.391/.378/.769

 

Hey I got fond memories of both so don't blow my buzz. :drunk:

Numbers look good.

577 hits, 624 K's in 638 innings.

I say go for it...

That could never happen so as long as Josh Hamilton is in the organization.

Just cut the guy and take your financial losses now...

Long has more upside and probably needs everyday ABs so I'd keep Shuck on the 25 man, since he'll probably never be anything more than a glorified Reggie Willits.

Can't complain. Romine was never going to be the guy and Alvarez's minor league numbers aren't the worst I've ever seen. Gotta believe we got the better end of this deal.

It would make the most sense to bat him cleanup in general. It's almost impossible to be less productive than Josh Hamilton versus righties or lefties...

That link is a whole lot misleading. Try sorting by qualified and the results would put Conger and his .24% CS at about 13th in baseball. If you look at range factor which is how much area a catcher can cover then Conger ranks 2nd. But you have to toss out all the guys that logged less than 200 innings behind the plate.

 

Then you have to look at the pitching staff and ask yourself how many Angels pitchers give a catcher a chance, with their delivery to the plate, to make that throw in time? You can cross Weaver off the list right away and probably go down the line and see that holding runners and getting a quick release is not a strong suit in the Angels rotation or relief corps

1. Conger didn't catch enough innings to qualify

2. If you were to sort by qualified and throw Conger in there for kicks and giggles he would be 13th out of 16 qualified catchers. Now matter which way you slice it, 24% is poor.

202.1 innings pitched, 159 hits and 203 K's in his minor league career. Not too shabby.

1) You're talking about Spring Training stats, which have very little meaning. 

 

2) Conger was great defensively last season. He's a great pitch framer and blocks a lot of baseballs. Torrealba isn't better defensively. 

I'm all for Conger getting the spot over Torrealba but statement #2 is horse puckey.

Conger didn't even place in the top 40 in the majors in terms of runners caught stealing %

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding/_/position/c/sort/catcherCaughtStealingPct/qualified/false/order/true

@Inside Pitch, as long as Jackson is as good as advertised on defense, who cares how he hits?

The Angels are desperate for catching but not that desperate...

That would be sweet if Alex Jackson fell to them.

Their quality prosepcts are in the lower levels.