Homebrewer

MT, you're way off base.
 
Going into 2012, all of the experts had the Angels rotation in the top 3 going into the season. You're going to blame Dipoto and Santana sucking ass, Haren falling apart, C.J. Wilson's poor second half?
 
Going into this season, the Angels had three solid pitchers with what was thought to be an explosive offense (again, the experts/pundits all agreed). Blanton and Hanson were here to give us innings, with insurance in Garrett Richards if any of those failed. Not his fault Weaver missed a big chunk of time, as did Vargas AND Blanton turning into a pile of shit... Hanson was a wildcard, but a good gamble, but even he hit the DL twice, as well as missing time when his brother died. Back to Blanton. He was ten times worse than he's ever been at any time during his career. All we needed him to be was career average. That means we're getting 6-7 innings with 3-4 runs a game given up. With the offense that was assembled and with the spectacular defense in the outfield, Blanton was a decent gamble.
 
We tried at Greinke, but the Dodgers had big pocket books. It was a solid effort trading for him to help the Angels chances down the stretch last season, with a good chance of signing him in the offseason. Greinke even said that it was a tough choice he had to make, but the Dodgers were simply offering a heck of a lot more. 
 
I just don't get the Dipoto hate on here. You all need to look at the entire picture instead of cherry picking and posting half-ass opinions. 

Or.... they sat on a used needle in church.

That is a Badger. They are pretty bad ass animals, sluethy, and seldom seen. One would not walk up to a human by mistake.
That had to be taken by a game cam..my guess is that his defense reaction was to fresh human scent from whomever set the cam, or a noise from the cam...or probably both. The only thing a Badger is threatened by, and has any fear of in the wild, are humans.
Amazing to see his flight reaction when he spooked!.

Am I not the only one who finds what the Angels immediate plans for 3B to be fascinating?  And by immediate I mean 2014 and 2015, Cowart should be ready to go in 2016.  We know the Angels won't going into a full-scale rebuild, so clearly they intend to compete the next two years, and the monetary primary focus will of course be in the rotation.  
 
So this pretty much means Chris Nelson, Grant Green, Andy Marte and Luis Jimenez will be battling it out.  We'll probably see a timeshare of sorts but my goodness, that's a lot of uncertainty for a team with championship aspirations.  And personally, I love it.  If any one of those guys succeeds it'll be an amazing story you'd never get sick of.  Nelson hits .301 with the Rockies, is sent packing for nothing, ends up actually being a good 3B.  Grant Green, the man without a position suddenly has a position and replaces the man he was traded for.  Andy Marte, once a great porspect, abandoned by so many finally figures it out and lives up to the potential.  Luis Jimenez, with his million dollar smile and winning attitude, written off by pretty much every major publication comes up to the majors and does exaxctly what he did in the minors, hit.
 
It'll be really exciting if any one of those guys pan out.  My money is on Green and Lucho.    

They should sue for special edition Bobbleheads with two heads attached, to be available at each give-away.

Maybe we can send sneaky flute into the angels clubhouse to check and see if AP's testicles are shrunken.
Roid side effects:
Early baldness (HMMMMM)
Large head (HMMMMM)
Now all we need is confirmation of tiny testicles and we can get the contract voided.

Pretty  F'n  Pathetic

Iannetta can't even get close to throwing crucial runners out on a f'n pitch out.
Yet Conger needs to sit, watch, and learn.
Young players in this org must pray at bedtime to PLEASE get traded.
 
Now as I lay me down to sleep,
I pray to not wind up
On Scioscia's trash heap
If I can be traded before I awake
I'm hoping I go to the Redsox and rake.
Amen
 
(or the Rangers)

Even the related articles are bein craiged (guilty)
Guess we all badly crave something fun to talk about.

I'm giving myself a 100% discount on my 2014 seats. A big thanks goes out to Pujols and Hamilton for helping me choose my new seats for next season which are located 25' away from my refrigerator. Free Parking included.

Hire the new manager and coaching staff now, and give them the last 50 games to get to know the players and vice versa.
Schedule some mandatory winter meetings and team workouts in Arizona.
Players that don't like that can request a trade.
Get a rolling jump start on 2014.

You play the young guys who have legitimate potential to help you in 2014 and beyond....that means Tommy Field and Chris Nelson don't play over Grant Green....it means you play Kole Calhoun over Colin Cowgill and J.B. Shuck....it means Garrett Richards gets his starts even if he is wobbly at times.....it means Rasmus gets recalled soon and pitches more than Stange or the latest reclamation project in the bullpen....

Albert might come back and be decent for a few seasons. Not 8, and never a dominant force, but maybe he can hit 300 and pop 30 for a couple years. Another in the long line of FA 1B busts. Nobody has made 250 mil at it ...But he listened and prayed.. and then GOD told him to leave STL, so who am I to question that?
GOD led him here. AP told us that, and everyone needs to remember that.
 
God told Hamilton to come here too.
Pretty sure I remember him sitting with his wife and kids, telling me on TV how GOD spoke to him and told him to take Arte's 125 Million offer.
Hamilton is toast. His drug addled mind is fried, and his body has given out.
He might very well be out of baseball before his contract is over, and HE doesn't even care.
But, this being GOD's will, who am I to question it?
 
.
 

Iannetta can't even get close to throwing crucial runners out on a f'n pitch out.
Yet Conger needs to sit, watch, and learn.
Young players in this org must pray at bedtime to PLEASE get traded.
 
Now as I lay me down to sleep,
I pray to not wind up
On Scioscia's trash heap
If I can be traded before I awake
I'm hoping I go to the Redsox and rake.
Amen
 
(or the Rangers)

I think they are having a team meeting so they can apologize to Trout all at once.

The fact that the Rangers wont make the playoffs is the only bright spot for us.
So ....thank Cruz and the guys for us.

So weird.  I dreamed of having an owner that would spend on par with the other big name teams (even with Dogs some...100M over us?), but little did I realize how un-fun it would end up feeling.
 
Guess I can't blame him for trying as the effort was at least a fun experience but...yeah...the Lakers will recover much, much quicker than us I'm afraid.   And with the Dogs getting all this national attention, it's the kick in the nuts.
 
Give me scrappy small ball again and even if we barely can fight for the last WC, I don't care.  I'd actually watch instead of just have the game maybe on in the background, then check boards later.
 
I _literally_ don't know an Angel fan who has any idea what this organization is trying to do at this point - game after game.  Not one.
 
Sadly, I don't think they do either.

When he sees half empty stands in an August game against the Rangers, that should tell him something.

Conger needs to learn the intricacies and intangibles of the game from watching Iannetta (read Mathis) from the dugout.
Developing young players, especially backstops, is a science, and this is the Scioscia way.
Hard to argue with over a decade of success.

Maybe that would make sense if Cowgill was actually better than Calhoun or Ianetta was better than Conger.

The pen is so weak, and at least with Blanton you know what you are getting. He throws strikes and stays healthy. Bullpen arms are hard to judge from season to season.
For all these reasons, I say keep him.... plus this..you KNOW as soon as he goes elsewhere he will be an all-star.
REPLACE BUTCHER-KEEP BLANTON

Didn't know he ever had anything else in his repertoire.

The pen is so weak, and at least with Blanton you know what you are getting. He throws strikes and stays healthy. Bullpen arms are hard to judge from season to season.
For all these reasons, I say keep him.... plus this..you KNOW as soon as he goes elsewhere he will be an all-star.
REPLACE BUTCHER-KEEP BLANTON

The pen is so weak, and at least with Blanton you know what you are getting. He throws strikes and stays healthy. Bullpen arms are hard to judge from season to season.
For all these reasons, I say keep him.... plus this..you KNOW as soon as he goes elsewhere he will be an all-star.
REPLACE BUTCHER-KEEP BLANTON

If he stays strong as a reliever, they should keep him.  They'll need him in that role next season too.