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Wrong. .194/.306/.419 which still sucked but the point was that he did come up big in a big game. How did Figgins do in the playoffs (bat and glove)? Nice 21 at-bat sample with Mathis. Why are you so grouchy? Go change your depends.

In 2008 he was. The Angels had lost 11 straight playoff games to those Boston MFs going back to '86. It didn't even seem possible to win a game against them, let alone a series. In game 3 Napoli hit two homeruns over the monster off of Beckett and then scored the winning run in the 12th to finally break the streak. In the previous game he was benched by Dear Leader so that Mathis could hold Santana's hand (Santana was bombed anyway). The Angels lost the series anyway and wouldn't get the monkey off their backs until '09 but it seemed like a very big game at the time. Sucks to see him helping two of our most hated teams the last few years.

I commend those that have been able to reframe the debate to require proof that Butcher and Scioscia are specifically to blame before a coaching change is possible. Well done. Demand proof of an unproveable. You don't need proof. You just have to believe that one of their peers can do a better job. Teams make coaching and managerial changes all the time based upon a desire to improve. They aren't constrained by some absurd notion of having to prove unequivocally that the manager or coach is to blame. After four consecutive disappointing years the burden of proof should be on the coaches and manager to clearly demonstrate their value to the team.

Sleeping like a baby.

This will certainly be addressed by the players in the next CBA. It definitely costs borderline star players some money. On the Angels side, it definitely makes sense to offer a qualifying offer to Vargas. If he accepts then yeah, it's somewhat more expensive than he probably deserves on an annual basis, but the team avoids the large counterparty risk associated with long term contracts (WIN). If he goes elsewhere the team gets a compensation pick (WIN). The added benefit is that forcing opposing suitors to forfeit their 1st round draft pick serves to lower his price, so even if you do sign him to a long term contract his price will likely be lower than by not offering a qualifying offer (WIN). The negative scenarios are to lose Vargas with no compensation or to sign him to a long term contract t the highest possible price. Avoid those scenarios for a change.

Even in '11 the Angels had the most blown saves in the league (toronto had a slightly worse save%). ERA was fine but hardly a consolation when they can't close a freakin window.

WTF? Try harder.

Replays and live broadcast here: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericasCup 50 mph on the water is fast.

Howie hits into double plays (15 this season) as a consequence of his high ground ball rate. He also almost never hits infield pop ups though. Just 14 total in his 8 year career. I can live with the DPs. Forcing your 2nd or 3rd best hitter to make an out to earn the privilege (if "successful") for the opposing manager to avoid the best player in the game only to setup a Hamilton Vs Lefty situation (.187/.213/.345) is indefensible and imbecilic.

Rob Picciolo had zero walks in his 87 game Angel career. Not even Disar could match that as much as he may have tried. Picciolo also accumulated a -3.4 fWAR over his career.

Ugh. What a nightmare. Why even employ a GM if you're not going to listen to him? Shadow GM and Arte-the-not-so-Smarte making all the decisions? I may owe Reagins an apology.

It wouldn't matter if he made all the right trades and free agent signings if the minor league system is in shambles. No GM is going to avoid all mistakes when playing on the free agent market. Friedman has been the best (by far) but even he signed Pat Burrell. Is Dipoto's methodology bad? Maybe. Blanton had a career high K rate last season while still having a very low walk rate. Was it bad reasoning that adding him to a pitcher's park (in a pitcher's division) and surrounding him with an excellent defense would suppress his hits allowed? If those trends had continued, Blanton would be a valuable #5 with acceptable production. Instead, Blanton and the defense took 3 steps back. Why did Blanton and the defense take 3 steps back? The Marmol attempted trade is harder to defend. That appeared to be wishful thinking at its worst, particularly with the track record of our pitching coach. I doubt even a competent coach could do anything with Marmol. The health of the minor league system is far more important than any "Shouldn't have signed..." or "Should have traded..." scenarios. I've argued against almost every free agent for a long time (yes, even the ones that worked like Hunter or would have worked like Beltre). You don't try to build your team via free agency. The exception is if you can get a star player in their 20's (damned rare) or you use free agency to add a complimentary piece to an already contending team. Too many times I've read about how Dipoto failed to fix the bullpen as if that is some easy task. I've posted the list of available free agent relief pitchers the last few years and it's been full of expensive, usually injured non-performers with a few rare exceptions. A good pen comes from an abundance of pitching talent in your minor league system and good instruction. We have neither. Failed starters work well. You won't fix this pen by signing a couple more broken down nags coming off of good years. If this team continues to emphasize pitching in the draft (as was the case in 2013) and improves instruction then the pen will no longer be a problem. An instant solution is not going to happen.

Butcher walked more batters than he struck out in half his seasons in the league. He's just teaching what he knows. Can we replace this clown before subjecting more young relief pitchers to his "guidance"? Or maybe we can continue to believe that every relief pitcher called up for several years is just completely unable to locate their pitches.

Just looked up Butcher's stats as a pitcher. Career 82 walks to 96 strikeouts. It's always good to have relief pitchers who walk everybody but can't get the strikeout. By itself it means nothing, but I think it's odd that an awful relief pitcher who didn't know how to pitch would be the teacher to a bunch of awful relief pitchers who also don't know how to pitch.

Almost angelic.