ADHB

If Arte stays, it probably doesn't change much for the team or anything regardless of who the manager is, but at a minimum at least this message board just got a lot better.

4 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Problem is Arte Moreno fancies himself baseball knowledgeable.

Not based on the past 8 seasons, he isn’t.

I’d like to think that he is listening to Minasian, since they didn’t sign Turner.  But who knows with Moreno.

Arte thinks he's a smart baseball man, but in reality he's just a casual fan.  When they signed Rendon, at the press conference he said something like, "I watched him in the playoffs this year, and he's really good."

Thanks for that in depth analysis, and great justification as to why you should sign someone to a mega deal.

Looks exactly the same as he did before.  Getting fooled by off speed is one thing, but if you can't catch up with low to mid 90's fastballs right down the middle, then there's a bigger problem.  Him and his tongue in cheek remarks about the team not having his back, and declaring that he's back to 100 percent, it's all noise.  He's clearly not the same player he was before.  Getting lucky and running into a couple for home runs doesn't change that.  His numbers in Salt Lake were horrendous as far as contact.  I'd be shocked if he got tendered a contract.  Maybe if he was younger, but not now that he's in his 30's.

1 hour ago, BTH said:

Well, most beat writer’s jobs are focused on covering the major league club and their games.

The Athletic was created with the idea that the writers wouldn’t have to write 2 articles per day, for 162 games. Rather, they could work on longer, feature stories that are bigger picture.

But regardless, this was a great piece and I’m definitely rooting for Zack to make the majors.

For sure. And in that sense, this doesn’t really fall under the responsibility of a typical beat writer.

I guess this story wasn’t a great example for my comment, but in general I mean that it’s nice to have features like this (and a lot do focus on the major league club or a player/staff member). And also not saying that Angel beat writers are like this at all. They’re mostly great. But for other teams I follow, you’ll see 4 beat writers (including ones from The Athletic) all write the exact same story on the exact same day, because they all got the same interview from the same player the team made available that day, and none were seeking out their own story.

In any case, this was a great story. And I always appreciate things that go beyond just basic coverage, similar to Jeff Fletcher’s in depth series about the minor league system.

32 minutes ago, BTH said:

You can’t watch that half-inning and not realize that the Angels have a player development problem.

Paris and Adams were raw talents out of high school, and the Angels staff and player dev have done nothing to help them.

They suck in all facets, because the org doesn’t help them get better in any facet.

Exactly.  They're probably up too soon, but it shouldn't affect basic fundamentals like base running or getting a bunt down.

Going back a few years, you can include Adell as a prime example.  He was in the minors for 3-4 years, yet somehow no one ever realized he was a terrible outfielder, or taught him how to play out there.

Big brain Nevin strikes again.

Blum takes things a little too personal at times when it comes to the major league club, but there's no doubt he's a good writer, and I appreciate the fact that he goes out of his way to find stories like this, as opposed to most beat writers who simply all write the same stories based on the information that's made available to them by the team.

2 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

Haselman is a completely dogshit 3rd base coach.  His decisions have cost the Angels a few games this year 

I can’t remember the exact situation, but I remember a game where he tried to put up the stop sign after the guy had already rounded third, and something bad happened… guy stumbled and got caught off the bag or something like that.

He also got Neto injured when he sent him to the plate on a play where he was out by 30 feet.

Add new 3B coach to the list of needs in the offseason.

(And not just because of tonight. He’s been horrifically bad this season.)

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

They didn’t send Velazquez down for financial gain. And as someone (BTH) pointed out the team would have saved more money by calling up Fletcher, Walsh and Phillips as they are on guaranteed contracts. 

I was basing it on the fact that Fletcher said they did save a little by replacing Velazquez with Thaiss.  Maybe that wasn't the main reason, but I assume it didn't hurt.

Just now, Stradling said:

That’s not how it works. Read this thread. 

What's not how what works?

Just now, jsnpritchett said:

Someone did the work for him, pointing out that he was incorrect, and then engaging in a back-and-forth dialogue with him to explain their work.

Oh I see. Well in any case, at least he was willing to be corrected.  Give credit to whoever challenged him on it then, I guess!

Neither writer seems to know anything for sure, or at least not definitively.  Fletcher was questioned about why the amount being saved was so low, and he responded with an answer that it turns out was completely wrong, something about the $940K being divided by the length of the contract.  Give him credit for doing further research (or asking some people) and then correcting it.

In any case, the team certainly knows, and guessing they'll do whatever it takes to try and get under, seeing that it's sort of pointless to roster players with higher salaries at this point unless they absolutely have to, like sending Velazquez down.

Give the team credit for paying Stassi this whole time, when they probably didn’t have to. Only when there was some tangible benefit to putting him on the restricted list did they actually do it.

It’s not a big deal, and doesn’t say anything about the team being cold hearted or cheap or anything stupid like that. They put Trout on the restricted list when he was away from the team after the birth of his son. It’s pretty standard procedure around the league I’m sure.

For someone who only plays because of his defense, Velazquez is a pretty shitty defender.

What in gods name was O'Hoppe doing throwing the ball to first when one runner was standing on second base, and the other was caught between second and third?  It's like when Mathis threw the ball to first on a stolen base attempt.

That was the best performance by Escobar since he’s been an Angel.

Also the best pitching performance of the night.

Nevin showing the ump the gameday screen on the iPad as they're walking off, ha.

The home plate ump has been atrocious beyond belief all game, for both sides.

Enough with Velazquez.  The guy can't hit, and his fielding has been atrocious this season as well.

Why does Wallach keep calling for fastballs against Baez when he's missing the breaking pitches by like 3 feet?

3 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

So you’d lose Moustakas and have one less pinch hitter (with Cabbage and Velazquez due against a lefty) just so you could have a faster runner and have Wallach bat 8 spots away instead of 9 spots away. 
 

 

With what pitching they had left, guessing the game would have been done, one way or another, in the next inning anyway. Having Rengifo on second instead of Wallach, and letting Cabbage or Velazquez bat instead of Rengifo, seems like a net positive to me. But glad it worked out regardless.

47 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Sure they could have done that and had Wallach hit. He’s in an 0 for 30 though. 

Well, they could have easily put Wallach in Moustakas' spot in the lineup, and whichever new infielder could have played 3rd in Moustakas' place.  Then Wallach wouldn't have been due up for another 8 batters.

Neto pretty much has to get on. Otherwise they just walk the next two guys and Velazquez is up.

Why in holy hell was Thaiss asked to bunt on the first pitch? Took away his whole AB.