thevisiontm

Is it possible for Josh Hamilton to strike out so many times he will create a worm hole?

The Angels are 8.5 games out of the WildCard currently which is Boston & Balt.  Angels would have to jump CLE, DET, KC, Tampa, Seattle, Minn, Oakland, Chisox, and Toronto or as SmallSample said half the teams in the Free World.  Angels are not close to sniffing WC.

This article was good.  It shows value of big free agent deals in recent history.

http://mlb.si.com/2013/05/07/hamilton-upton-greinke-bourn-free-agent-busts/

When many classless Rangers fans booed him in his Texas return he said it hurt. He cares.

Classless?  He booted a routine ball in center, laughed about it, and then went to go 0'fer at the plate.  This after months of futility at the plate which helped lose the division.  If anyone was classless, it was Hamilton.  There were plenty of Rangers not performing, but he was the only one being boo'ed. Why? Because the fans could see he didn't care.  It was his nonchalant attitude that was being boo'd because the fans cared about winning more than Hamilton.  

@Austin724 - The Rangers have 13 different pitchers this year.  10 of the 13 pitchers were grown from the Rangers farm system.  Even after bringing these players up, the Rangers remain to have the #1 farm system in major league baseball.  

It will help the Rangers that the Halos will be embarrassingly bad with their horrid farm system and the ridiculous big league contracts.  Let's look into the Halos future... where Pujols will need help to walk to home plate to bat and Hamilton is snorting cocaine off of random fans in bar restrooms.  You honestly think Borjos is going to save you from that?  I think the Rangers chances are much better to be top of our division.  Just sayin..

That's cool. Just know that I'll get a hearty chuckle whenever I look at the boxscores for the next 10 years.

@Stradling.. the Rangers have one the best records in baseball and have the #1 rated farm system in the Majors.  The Halos have one of the worst records in baseball and THE worst rated farm system in the MLB.  

Rangers GM John Daniels represents the real Rangers fans.  Analytics and Metrics based sports fans that believe in Data and Performance over Big Names and imaginary friends.  This is why we let Hamilton and CJ leave the organization.  JD wouldn't give Josh the contract the Halos did because we knew his limitations. We also knew CJ wasn't worth the market demand.  Now for the next five years you will see how they will continue to drag your team down.  Bad contract after bad contract has given the Halos a bleak, disastrous future.  

Let's look at another example.  The Rangers trade for Cliff Lee and give up Smoak.  Smoak has done nothing and is barely in the majors.  Halos trade for Greinke and give up Segura.  Segura is on his way to become one of the best SS in the league.

I won't bring up Gary Matthews Jr because that would be below the belt.

"But when the game is over I stop thinking about it."  Glad he is not worrying about his performance for the last 9 months of his career.  

It was against the Astros.  The HOUSTON Astros.  You know, the team with a combined payroll less than Josh Hamilton.  Arguably the worst team in the last decade.  Let's talk again in a week when Josh has struck out 10 more times and is still hovering around .200.

I also doubt you could get *STARTERS* for Joe Blanton.  Lifetime he is 83-80 with a 4.41 ERA and climbing.

@Cat - I don't see how the Angels could get much for either Howie or Aybar.  Certainly not enough to make any noticeable impact, because there is no real talent in the minors to fill in the gaps.

In Texas, it was always rumored that he was on something.  His body was exceptionally frail and injured on pretty normal plays.  This could be from the damage the years of drug-use had on his body though.  I agree though, showing up dramatically lighter than in Texas and Nelson Cruz being tied to BioGenesis says a lot to me.  They were both friends here so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he was using.

The primary concern I would have if I was the Angels is the increasing age of the "star" players and an atrocious farm system.  Sometimes you have to trade your best young players to get back several above average young players that might have potential to be great.  The 3 or 4 above average young players on the Angels do not provide the kind of core you need to become a perennial threat every year.

I think it would be jumping the gun to fire sale, but I definitely think it is something the Angels will need to do if they hope to have a competitive future in this division.  The Rangers and Seattle have top 5 farm systems with Oakland being top 20.  The Angels being ranked last or nearly last doesn't bode well for the future especially when the "win-now" mentality has failed the team.