eaterfan

Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.

I still think this team is more than one or two pieces away from competing for the playoffs. This team is several years away. Forget about trading for established pitchers. Trade for guys in AA and AAA. In two years this team will be great again. I know everyone thinks this team just got unlucky with injuries but this team has no depth. Other teams have gotten injured and been able to survive. If any of our good pitchers go down for an extended period of time we are done. We don't have much infield depth either.

Manfred Man uses two gimmicks in this song; changing deuce to douche and playing chopsticks. I guess if that's what constitutes greatness then my previous post was totally wrong.

I love the George Harrison cover of Bob Dylan's "Mama you've been on my mind"

I actually think this is the worst cover song ever. I've always hated the Manfred Mann version of Blinded by the Light. When I was a kid I had never heard the Springsteen version and just thought the song was bad. The first time I heard the original I was blown away by the passion Springsteen had in his voice and I have been a huge fan of his ever since. Props to Eric for mentioning Joe Cocker.

Great story. I am actually quite interested in the history of the craft scene in San Diego. I have googled it before and not found much. I'll look into that doc. Had a semi-similar experience last night. My friends had a food dinner put on by the Bruery at their club. The food was outstanding and the beers really paired nicely with them. I'm not usually one who thinks that pairings enhance either element. The beers were nothing rare except I hadn't had the Ebony and Oak before. It was delicious. My friend brought a bottle of Black Tuesday. That was heaven. Patrick Rue was there to talk about the beers and hung out for a while after. He couldn't have been nicer. The CFO, Carl, hung out with my friends and I until the place closed and even offered to get us a bourbon barrel for our home brewing. Craft brewers are the best!

That is often the wrong move too. When we don't support a side and they win they hate us as well. Also there is a lot of interesting reading about when super powers don't step up and assert their dominance it leads to a power vacuum which can be even more deadly and costly to the world and to the country that is the super power. I forget who it was but there was a great article about the U.S.'s failure to assert its dominance after WWI was a major contributing factor to WWII happening. I will also add that this administration has gotten far less involved in the middle east than any President since Reagan at least. He has done a pretty good job staying on the sidelines WRT much of the turmoil and has stayed out of Syria much longer than most would have.

Plus we don't lose our first round pick for Hamilton.

The Yard House has started getting a lot better beers since being taken over by Olive Garden. They still aren't as good as a lot of great beer bars but they are improving.

It may be controversial but I wasn't a fan of the 120 minute. It was really interesting for about 3 ounces. Beyond that it got old.

The problem is there is rarely the right side of these revolutions to be on. It's either been strong armed dictators who build their fortunes off the people, religious fundamentalists or both.

Money goes a long way. Trout has a 20 year career ahead of him and probably another 10 of being a premier player in the league. That's a long way off and I'm sure he figures he'll win in that time. He's not a guy at the end of his career chasing a ring and looking for the best opportunity to do that. Everyone keeps mentioning the Yankees and Phillies as destinations for him. Are they in much different shape than the Angels? Huge contracts on old declining players and not much of a farm system. I think the Angels are actually in better shape. Those teams are going to be messes for a long time because they have held onto a lot of their assets a year or two too long. The Angels have a lot of tradeable pieces like Kendrick, Bourjos, Aybar, Downs, Vargas, Ianetta, Trumbo. This team could restock the farm system in one off season/trade deadline and be ready to compete again in 3 years before Trout hits FA.

Trout will have about 100 million incentives to stick around.

Relief pitchers are notoriously inconsistent. Take what you can get for a "closer" any time you can get a good haul. I saw that something like only 3 teams have the same closer they had 2 years ago. Other than Rivera few are good for more than a few seasons. I don't think Frieri is Rivera. If you can get a SP prospect for him do it in a second.

The Rangers are on pace to win 90 games this year and that seems about right for the 2nd wild card team. If I set the over/under for the Angels in 2014 at 90.5 how many are taking the over if you bet your house on it? What moves could the Angels make that would get you to take the over? I think even if they got Verlander for free I would still take the under. That's how far away this team is IMO.

Where are we getting a pitcher better than Vargas? Can we do this without effecting our run differential (ie if Howie is worth 15 more runs over the season than Lindsey and new pitcher is 15 runs better than Blanton then there was no real difference). Can we sign a FA pitcher and Vargas with what our payroll is? Is it worth our first round pick to do that? What happens in 4 years when we have to replace Weaver, Wilson, Vargas and have no farm system and a huge payroll?

I still don't understand why a team can't rebuild with a high payroll. The owner is obviously blowing a lot of money not contending, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make baseball sense. If you look at the baseball circumstances this is the time to rebuild. Putting too much money into something isn't a reason to keep throwing more money at it. There is a time to cut losses and I think this team is at that point. There are some losses that probably can't be cut but some certainly can and doing it now will just make it easier to be good again faster in the future.

Not sure it's all evaluation. Part of it might be development. I know people are hesitant to blame Butcher but when Black was our pitching coach we were pretty successful at finding pitchers. Maybe it was Stoneman, though. On the other hand DiPoto seemed capable of evaluating pitchers when he got Corbin and Skaggs instead of taking Richards which leads back to development. Or a third option it's largely chance and the Angels went through a hot streak and are now on a cold one.

I think the window to contend with those 4 being the centerpieces of the lineup and staff has already closed. Trout is the piece that will have to lead the Angels to a championship. Trout probably has about 10 years of great play left. That should be our window not the 3 years we have of Weaver and Wilson. I'd like to see this team rebuild right now and be true contenders for 6 years of the 10 with Trout than fake contenders for the next 3 and then stink for 7 years after that.

Post a review of both. I have 6 Uncle Jacob's and just haven't found the time to crack one open yet. Really want to try the Fresh Squeezed too.

There are 162 games everyone is going to have some bad ones defensively and sometimes multiple guys will have them on the same day. A one game sample isn't the best way to judge players. That being said, none of them are playing well defensively this season and Ianetta and Trumbo never were good defensively. It's just that one game doesn't prove or disprove that.

The problem with this is that we don't have any more young cheap guys like Aybar. To get them we are going to have to trade someone. Aybar, Kendrick, Trumbo and Bourjos are all cheap and young but none are as cheap or as young as prospects are/will be.

I think they should consider it. Maybe if they can get another potential arm too it becomes a very good deal for the Angels. Don't forget the pirates are only 2 back in the division. No one wants their season riding on a one game playoff. Winning the division would be big for them.

Bourjos shouldn't have been traded this past off season. He was coming off a terrible season. I think his value is decent now if he can stay healthy for the rest of season once he returns. He could be traded in the offseason.

I don't care about the tie. I didn't lose interest because of that. One reason I lost interest was inter league play. Another reason is that the rosters are too big. They are not ALL stars. They are some stars and some pretty good players. Along with the expanded rosters is the fact that too many players are playing. I want to see the starters going most of the game. The pitchers need to increase their workload. Finally, the players are too friendly. They don't care about beating the other side at all. Everyone stops to applaud Rivera. Pete Rose wouldn't have done that.