Jeff Fletcher

I'm not saying the Angels are going to shove Santiago back in the rotation regardless of how everyone performs. I'm saying I think the performances will dictate that they are better off with Santiago in the rotation and Shoemaker as the long man. By the way, the game Saturday illustrated why you need a long man. The Blue Jays starter got knocked out in the 4th but then they brought in someone who pitched 3-4 innings and held it there and they had a chance to win and still had a fresh bullpen. The Angels haven't had anyone who can go more than 2, until Santiago went back there. So once Shoemaker comes up, they'll at least have a choice of Santiago/Shoemaker, one as the 5 starter and one as the long man. On another note.... I'm curious why so many Angels fans were crushed that Garrett Richards had the plug pulled on him as a starter, even though he had no track record of consistent big league success, but so many were so ready to yank Santiago, even though he's been a solid mid rotation starter for 35+ big league starts. Yes, I get that Richards raw stuff is better than Santiago's but they had a lot of the same issues. Poise on the mound, lack of command. Santiago has the stuff to be a major league starter. I know so because he's done it.

They're sitting with all the people who said Pujols was finished and Stewart should be the everyday 3B over Freese.

Yeah, he can. Santiago will be back in the rotation by June 1.

It's not about money. The Angels have already spent the money. It's gone. Actually it saves them on paying him his incentives if he's gone. I think the roster is not so overloaded with talent they can't keep him. And if he's there you have to give him some kind of chance to get himself going. He's actually walked a lot lately which is a sign that he's seeing the ball better. In a few weeks, if Calhoun and Hamilton are back and Cron is still hitting, they may decide to release him then. Not now.

I'll add that I think this is about Santiago's head more than anything. I mentioned in my story the dropped 3rd strike in Seattle, the balk in NY, but there's also the pitch selection against Texas (they had to explain to him that he can't throw a pitch he's not committed to) and handling the dropped fly ball the other night. Basically, he has very good raw stuff (the walks are part if it, not really fixable) but he loses his concentration or makes bad decisions too much. I think they want him to sit and think about things for a bit and come back with a new mindset. I say he's back in the rotation within 3 weeks tops. They won't go more than 3 turns with Shoemaker/LeBlanc/whoever. He's been a pretty good starter (in a hitters park) over most of two years, so the stuff is there.

Teams are allowed to show replays of close plays after a challenge has been initiated, not before. Otherwise the managers could be influenced by what they see on the scoreboard when it comes to deciding on a challenge. The Angels follow the same protocol as everyone else.

Remember last year when the Angels pulled the plug on Richards after 4 starts (2 good, 2 bad) and instead put him in the bullpen and let guys like Enright, Williams, Billy Buckner, etc start? This looks awfully familiar.

This whole idea that Shoemaker will somehow be better in the majors than AAA because "his stuff doesn't play in SLC" is, frankly, ludicrous. Newsflash, the hitters in the majors are much better than those at AAA, and that is a much more important factor than the ballpark. Also, regarding the earlier comment about Shoemaker's career 4.50 ERA.... You know that's from exactly one game, right? Against Seattle. In Anaheim. In the last weekend of the season. Matt Shoemaker may prove to be a serviceable major league swing man (Jerome Williams) but there's no way he'll be as good as Hector Santiago in the long run. Santiago had two starts with a bad back. Of the four since, two were good, one was so-so and one was bad. If he goes all year pitching in that proportion, you know what that makes him? A damn good No 5 starter.

Santiago is certainly in a rut now, but if you look at the back of his baseball card, he's started 30ish games in the big leagues with an ERA under 4.00. Matt Shoemaker has a career ERA of about 4.80 in the minors. (Guessing on all the numbers.)

By "bad" I don't mean it tasted bad. It was making him feel sick. So he puked to get it out. Then he said he felt better. Don't ask me. That's what he said.

I will ask about the insurance thing next time I have a chance.

Joe Smith does not have appendicitis or kidney stones or any of the things I've seen suggested. He ate a bad protein bar, then he wanted to get it out so he threw up intentionally. Then, totally unrelated, he felt some tightness (not pain) in his side. He said today it was already better. I wouldn't be surprised if he is ok to pitch on Wednesday. Certainly by Friday.

Unless you're a relief pitcher. In that case your entire career is only as good as your last pitch.

This is fun to debate but I can guarantee you 3-4 weeks from now, when Hamilton or Calhoun is ready to come back, something else will have changed. Someone else will be hurt or someone who looks great now will look terrible, or vice versa. Three weeks is an eternity

Actually very few of them are. That insurance is very expensive so teams only get it on the for very special circumstances. I'm guessing the Angels don't have it for anyone. The ones who have it are probably the pitchers with long deals (Felix, verlander, etc)

Richards and Santiago shouldn't have a problem because they've been around long enough. Skaggs is the only one who is maybe a concern and I don't think anyone expected that he'd pitch well enough to push a number he couldn't handle. If he keeps going like this, that will certainly be something to watch.

I'll just say this: no one really can tell if a coach is good or bad without watching very closely behind the scenes and talking the players and other coaches privately. I'm not saying I know either. I know enough to make about a 30 percent judgment based on my time in the clubhouse. So much of what happens goes unseen even by the media who is there every day. I find it interesting that, among a group that so often understands why things aren't simple when it comes to stats (more RBI = good player), there is still a knee jerk perception when it comes to a coach (pitchers don't perform = bad pitching coach). All I've seen as evidence that Butcher isn't good is references to guys like Kazmir, Santana, Haren, walden, etc. There are a lot of other factors at play with any pitcher, too many to make assumptions based on a small sample size. All I can tell you is this: I've asked several Angels pitchers who I have a good relationship with, privately (off the record), what they think of Butcher, and no one has said anything bad about him. And, to reiterate on Skaggs, I did not ask him about Butcher. He brought him up unprompted.

McDonald is not going anywhere. He's the only one who could competently play SS. You could maybe throw Green out there for half a game but if something happened where a Aybar needed 2-4 days, it couldn't be Green. They basically have 3 weeks to decide anything because it'll be at least that long till Hamilton/Calhoun are ready to come back. A lot of things could happen in 3 weeks.

Would you rather have CC Lee? He has not allowed any of his eight inherited runners to score. He also has allowed five runs in 7 innings. The most important skill for a reliever is not preventing inherited runners from scoring. It is, as it is with every pitcher, getting hitters out. If you do that, you'll also prevent inherited runners from scoring. If you're somehow doing one but not the other, like Salas, it's a fluke that will correct itself.

A couple things I want to point out... 1. There is no such thing as "skill with inherited runners." Salas has had a bad streak of allowing runners to score but it's just a small sample fluke. Prior to this season he was pretty much average (32 percent) 2. Do you guys really think Morin's handling of a bad debut at AAA means anything for how he'd handle a bad debut in the majors? There's a little difference. It makes perfect sense to me that a manager would want to find a soft landing spot for a rookie. And you don't call up a reliever because you want to use any of them. What you want is your starter to pitch a complete game shutout. Failing that, you use only the relievers you have to use to get through the game. It's not a showcase or Little League, where everyone has to play a certain amount of time. That being said, with the amount of work the other relievers have had lately, it's a safe bet Morin will pitch pretty soon.

To elaborate, I never asked Skaggs about Butcher. Was just asking about the improvement he's made since the start of spring training and he launched into this long answer about how much he likes Butcher.

FYI, a scout in New York told me he's been impressed with how much Shuck had improved defensively.

FYI, as I tweeted last night, I don't expect Frieri to be the closer on Friday. Last night when we asked Scioscia he couldn't really say he's changing closers 10 minutes after the game, before really discussing it with Frieri or Smith (or whoever he wants to close) and Butcher and even Dipoto. You just don't do that in 10 minutes when emotions are raw after a loss. So feel free to freak about Frieri, but don't freak out about Scioscia. If he repeats on Friday that Frieri is the closer, freak out then.

A few comments on this... 1. A no trade clause doesn't necessarily mean you want to stay in your current city forever. It means you want to have control over where you go. 2. Why do so many people just assume that Mike Trout is going to be awesome forever? It's possible, but there are a lot of things that can happen over 13 years. There are a lot of things that can happen over the 7 he is signed for. It only takes one awkward dive to change everything. I think it would be insane for any team to guarantee a player 13 years for something like $350-400 million. The Angels did want to go to about 8 (9 including the one year in 2014), which itself is a lot of risk. But Trout obviously wanted to make sure he could get his second bite at the apple at an optimal age (29) to get the maximum deal, instead of 31.

He pitched 3 games in the minors in his rehab assignment. By voiding the option the Angels preserve the option year for now.