wopphil

I follow the Angels organization very closely, and I can honestly say that I have never heard of Justin Thomas and Jarrett Grube.

But not a bad problem to have. I'd love to see Jeppy, Kohn, Salas, Rasmus, Moran, Morin, and Maronde battle hard for some pen spots.

First of all, I love these threads. LOVE them. I think we should have a firefighting thread at least once a year, because no other threads are as entertaining. Second, I work with a bunch of attorneys who make decent money. Almost every single one of us would turn over the bar card in a heartbeat for a $142k per year firefighting gig. Most of us wouldn't know what to do with all the free time and PTO we woukd suddenly have. We would all be in better physical shape, we wouldn't have student loan debt, and we wouldn't be planning to work until we are 70.

One thing (maybe the only thing) I love about the federal government is that it generally doesn't screw around with respect to legal matters. I wouldn't be surprised to see this guy receive a harsher penalty in the federal proceedings than he did in the state proceedings.

I'd definitely be interested. Not only would he add some innings, but we'd pick up four games in the standings merely by virtue of not getting shut out by him four times. Wonder what a fair trade would be?

And I can't wait to see Trout sacrifice bunt with a guy on first, nobody out, down by one, late in an April ballgame.

Just please make sure you photo-shop out Scioscia's boner before posting.

Great news, definitely a sign of good progress being made. I will be stoked if he signs a deal that keeps him here the next seven seasons.

Not saying I wouldn't do that, but even 7/160 is kind of high. Assume he breaks all arbitration records and goes 15/20/25. That means you would be paying him $100,000,000 for three free agency years (which would shatter all annual salary records). Again, not saying I wouldn't do that, because obviously if you can pay him $33 mil per year for only three years, as opposed to $33 mil for ten-plus years, then you are mitigating your risk. But at the same time, it is still a ton of money to guarantee a guy who is four years from free agency. And most likely, my arbitration figures are way too high. If his actual numbers were closer to 13/18/22, then you would be paying him closer to $36,000,000 for each free agency year.

Great write-up, again, Scotty. I have to wonder if Cowart was to some degree victimized by bad luck. His K and BB rates weren't terrible, and his .280 BABIP seems rather low. Perhaps he was just making really weak contact, or maybe bad luck slightly depressed his numbers.

There is a huge difference between the contract buying out two years of free agency rather than three. I would agree that 6/150 starting now would be horrible, but 6/150 starting in 2015 is more palatable. And while i agree that a ten year deal would be optimal, I wouldn't surprise me in the least if Trout has made it clear that he won't consider a deal of that length.

It would still kind of be a seven-year deal (from this point forward, at least), in that we would have Trout for the next four years of club control, plus three free agent years. Of course, all of this is speculation at this point. Who knows what is actually being discussed.

I would agree that guaranteeing him $150 mil (or anything close to that), for the next six seasons, would be a bad deal for the Angels. However, if a 6-year, $150 mil extension were to start in 2015 (thus buying out three free agent years), then I think the deal becomes fair for both sides. It all comes down to whether we are getting two years or three years of free agency.

Almost never do these new arm motions, new deliveries, and new pitches result in meaningful new results. I guess Joel Piniero added another couple of seasons to his career with a new pitch, but I can't think of many (if any) guys who started doing new things at age 30, with different results. I will believe Jeppy is a better pitcher when I actually see better results.

If I were the Angels, I wouldn't hesitate going as high as 12-13 years, at just over $300,000,000.

My credit score has been about 780-790 for a long time, and nothing I do increases it. I pay my mortgage, student loans, and car payments on time, every month. I have no credit card debt. All family debt is in my name, so presumably I get the "credit" for paying it off/down, yet my wife has the better score. I think a score of 760 is the magic number for loans, so my score is fine, but I would love to get it into the low 800s.

This. Which is probably too many.

His career is just about over.

I just saw a recent photo of Norwood - total white trash, looks like a white supremacist. I hope to God someone stabs him and then kicks his teeth in as he bleeds out on a sidewalk in Rialto. The world would be better served if he didn't exist. And I am sure Sanchez is just as bad, seeing as how he fought Stow because apparently his chica had been disrespected.

I think some of the numbers being floated are a little absurd. Keep in mind, Buster Posey was extremely accomplished at a young age as well, and he signed for 9/167 (which was, I believe, a record deal at the time). I gotta believe Trout can get locked up for something like 9-10 years at 180-220 mil.

The scary thing is that Trout put up a 1.078 OPS while playing center, and "only" an .851 OPS as a left-fielder. If there is any truth to what he is saying, it makes you wonder what he could playing comfortable for an entire season.

The Dodgers have a good farm too. It will be interesting to see if they let their wave of talent break through at the big league level, or trade it all away for established guys.

So they will actually serve half of their sentences for "good behavior" (I cannot, for the life of me, comprehend why California operates this way; just sentence them to the actual amount of time you want them to serve). And I assume they will get credit for time served. Since Norwood got arrested almost three years ago (and I assume, again, has been in custody since that time), he will probably see the light of day this year, with Mr. Sanchez getting out sometime next year.

Ditto what Scotty said. Clearly a starter.

The Royals farm system was this good several years ago too, but then several guys flamed out and several more were traded for established guys. The Astros will have to add major league talent in order to compete, and that talent won't come exclusively from free agency. That means they will have to trade away some of their minor league talent. I am not saying I don't expect them to be good eventually, but just that their strong farm is no sure indicator that they will be competitive. Of course, another #1 pick (especially if Rodon is as good as claimed) could go a long way toward making them a force.