wopphil

That assumes we replace their 200 or so innings with much better pitchers.

Arte wasn't being booed, but also wasn't being applauded. Jackie got a much better reception. And the stadium has the fewest number of people I have seen here since 2002.

He turns 38 in a couple of months. Or 44 in Dominican years. He is in the middle of yet another monster season and is showing no signs of slowing down. I know everyone thinks Ortiz is juicing, and I am skeptical too, but I have to wonder how the guy has been able to skirt the system for so long (if in fact he actually is juicing). How is that so many others have been caught, but Ortiz hasn't? Is the testing system not sophisticated enough to keep up with whatever Ortiz might be using? Maybe Ortiz is just really good. Derek Jeter was great in his age 38 season. As was Frank Thomas. Chipper Jones was great in his age 40 season. If Pujols can age as well as Ortiz, we might actually start liking his contract.

Good points Doc, but there is no way an arbitrator will cut his pay. So the question is whether or not he is worth 3-4 million to have as a backup starter. Perhaps he is, I really don't know. I think Jerome has been better and would be a better use of that 3-4 mil. And we don't need both guys. And if course, let's not forget Mr. Blanton.

Non tender

And the worst part is that your tax dollars were probably paying several hundred dollars per hour for all that "work."

I think that is too much to pay for 10 years. If you are going to offer $200 mil, I think you need 12 years.

This. I would offer 11-13 years, 200-240 mil. Yes, he will get more if he stays healthy and productive for four more seasons, but there never any guarantees and I think most people wouldn't be so egotistical as to turn down $200 mil+ employment offers.

What about Jeppy, would you guys tender him a contract?

AJ, I rarely read the entire articles posted on here, but this one was great. Good work.

I like what I see from Calhoun. Looks like he could be a David Murphy type, and I think he probably makes Trumbo or Bourjos expendable. Unfortunately, both Trumbo and Bourjos are killing their trade value.

The Angels would be insane not to offer him a qualifying offer. With how weak the market is, some team will certainly offer him at least 3 years, meaning that even if the Angels don't want to make him a multi-year offer they will in all likelihood still net a draft pick. And in the "worst" case scenario, he accepts the qualifying offer and you have him for another year with minimal risk (or you trade him at that point).

He does have an .810 OPS over the last two+ months (since June 25), so maybe he is making adjustments. I don't expect him to become a .900 OPS player ever again, but at least he won't be a total waste if he can put up numbers between .825-.850 (which of course is no given).

I am convinced he was a PED user.

When is Howard coming back? Would be nice to get his bat back into the lineup. These guys are unbelievably fragile.

All one needs to do is look at the basic stats of our pen to see that it has been dog shit. Our best relief pitcher has been DDLR, with his 3.50 ERA. Good teams have an average pen ERA of 3.50 and three or four guys with ERAs under 3.00.

Yep. The guy is all punch and Judy.

This is the kind of shit that drives me crazy about Scioscia. Calhoun is clearly the higher-ceiling player. Why the fu*k isn't he playing every day?

I think this team is far better than it is shown this year. If Pujols can come back healthy and Hamilton can hit more like he has the last month than the first few months, the offense could go from being good to being one of the best in the league. I think a starting four of Weaver/Wilson/Vargas/Richards is solid enough to keep us competitive (with a good offense, that is). Of course, I am by no means assuming Vargas will be an easy re-sign, and the team definitely needs to bring in another high end arm to fill out the rotation. The bullpen will be far trickier to repair, IMO. Our two best relief pitchers have been DDLR and Kohn, and both of those guys should be the third or fourth setup arms out of the pen, not the first or second. They really must add two top relief pitchers, and I think that is going to be very hard to do. But luck plays into things as well, and I expect it will be a component next year.

None. But because he was a great player, he must necessarily make a great manager, right? Just like Tim Salmon would be a great hitting coach, Percival a great pitching coach, and Erstad a great defense coach.

His character change is one of the best things about those movies. You go from liking and respecting him in part one, to disliking him in part two.

Good point man. Maybe it just goes to show the lows to which Michael had sunk. Rather than take action to exact justice, he just went after everyone who could potentially have been involved.

The pantangeli suicide scene happened after Michael's trial, I believe. So I am not sure why the suicide was necessary. And if it was Roth who had tried to have Michael killed (along with fredo and johnny olaff), then I don't see why Michael would have wanted Pantangeli to die. As for Barzini, you are confusing the two movies. Barzini collaborated with Carlo to have Sunny killed.

Great topic Torrid, easily two of the best movies ever made. To answer your question, I think he settled for Kay. Being Sicilian was huge to Michael, as made clear by some of the "jabs" he took at Tom throughout the movies. In his perfect world, he has a Sicilian wife. But kids and a wife were also important, and Kay was a convenient choice (she was young, decent, and submissive). I have always wondered something about Part II, and maybe some of you can help me with what is probably a basic question: Did Michael ever come to a conclusion about who was being his attempted murder? Was it Roth or Pantageli? It seems to me that at various times he believed different things, and never came to a hard conclusion as to who was the real culprit (though with it more likely being Roth). Any thoughts? And why does he want Pantageli to kill himself?

And he laughs at you and says add three more years and a $100 mil and then we can talk. Seriously though, for as good as Trout is, Kershaw is his pitching equivalent.