Hoops McCann

Morin made a good pitch to Moustakas.  Moustakas broke out his 8 iron and just golfed that.  Not much you can do about that.

Desperation starts taking hold.

Cron looked overmatched there.  That was an awful AB..as if he had no awareness of what he wanted to do.

Angels now 2-26 with men on.  That right there is the most damning stat of the series.

Thats was close. 

Shields is definitely beatable.  He's missing spots w/ his FB.  Need to add on right here.

Damn..that would have been gone if it wasnt foul.  Second time through, let's see if the Angels batters can adjust.  Shields hasnt been all that great today.

Yep.  That's October Albert. 

Another $25mil pickup?

 

A little hesitant at this point. 

 

Anybody cheaper? 

Not much of a choice, really considering there doesnt seem to be a lot down on the farm.  Scherzer is a much safer bet than CJ Wilson ever was.  He's going to be vastly overpayed, no doubt, but he may actually be worth it.  As such, there are only a few teams that could afford him with the Angels being one.  Dont think it will happen, but it's a thought.

Anyone else think we need SP this offseason?

Seems as good a time as any to start considering these things.

 

Nothing else worth talking about in this thread...

Max Scherzer.  He'd be a nice pick-up.

Bring in George Brett and let him steal a base

That massive hemmorhoid may be a problem...

OK, now it may be an appropriate time to worry, but still lots of game to play.  Angles have the players to come back...

Are they really though...

Judging by this season, yes, I would say so.  The key is Trout, Pujols and Kendrick.  They've been struggling.

Well...Hosmer seems to now be channeling Pujols in the 2000's. 

Have some faith...this team is too good offensively to be shut down.  They will score 3+ runs today, just have to hope the pitchers can keep the Royals at 3. 

It aint over till its over.

Lot of weak nubbers that inning.  Have to be a bit more patient with Shields. 

this game has some 'magic Freese' written all over it.

Santiago has to pitch at least 3 innings.  I'm thinking, hopefully more, but at least 3.

At least Sosh had a quick hook with CJ.

My love for Jim Edmonds knows no bounds.  I like to call him the 'human highlight reel'.  Jimmy Ballgame is one of my all-time favorite players.  Absolutely loved watching him play CF.

This is a bit surprising as I thought a different prospect would get called up (Piscotty).  Not surprised Shane Robinson was sent down as he's not a good bench piece and there is no power off the bench.

Borjous has been nothing short of terrible (and he is essentially an easy K) and has essentially lost the starting CF job to Jon Jay, who isnt very good in his own right.

Surprised that Kolten Wong was sent back down.  The Cards had a pretty quick hook with the kid, but he was scuffling pretty badly.

Wong sent down. Grichuk first OF to graduate. Hummel has the breaking news: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_5c5b983d-b445-5a79-8c17-c44cabc5d556.html â€¦ #stlcards #cardinals #stlminors

Guess many here will be able to see if he will be a decent ML OFer.

Is it too late to return Freese and Salas to St. Louis?

Do the Cards still get to keep Borjous and Grichuck?  But, really...no one wants Salas back.

He lives off his FB which, for the most part, doesnt have great movement.  So, if he doesnt locate it, it is quite hittable and it isnt fast enough where he can just blow it by batters.

He also doesnt have a very good secondary pitch, or at least one he can consistently throw for a strike or ring up batters.  Hitters will just sit FB on him until the get one they like.

That's a problem I dont think is going away anytime soon.

I mentioned this when he was traded, but he was awful last year and I didnt hold out much optimism for him bouncing back and having a good '14 season.

His plate discipline is now almost non-existant.  He no longer has opposite field power and he seems to never lay off a slider low and away. 

As much as I like the guy, I dont think he's the solution at 3B for the Angels. 

the return the Angels got for Trumbo has a lot more overall value to the team than Trumbo's 30-40 HR's.  The team had to do it as they were left with little option for starting pitching.

Salas will not (and should not) be on the roster in June/July.  He will have been either released or DFA'd by that time and honestly, it's a telling fact about the state of the Angels pen when not only did Salas make the team, but also given the number of opportunities.  He's just not very good.

Salas needs to be DFA'd or released.  Letting him go will be addition by subtraction.

Yeah...that's pretty clear. 

I assume it's pine tar....