EE_

It was time for Scioscia to leave the minute he gave that ridiculous interview following the Hatcher firing.
He looked like a damn wet hen. White knucklin and eyes rolling. 
 
How do you repay the owner who gave you an unprecedented 10 year contract? You try to undermine his new choice as GM, that's how.
Instead of being a pro and supporting the necessary move, he acted like a petulant, pouting child that just got scolded. He should have been gone then.

It's an opinion.
We've had no shortage of snide, snippy posts of absolutely no value from you for years. You are likely the most unpleasant person I've ever encountered on this board or any other.
I bet you are much more likeable in real life. Otherwise you would be taking a weekly beating.

It was time for Scioscia to leave the minute he gave that ridiculous interview following the Hatcher firing.
He looked like a damn wet hen. White knucklin and eyes rolling. 
 
How do you repay the owner who gave you an unprecedented 10 year contract? You try to undermine his new choice as GM, that's how.
Instead of being a pro and supporting the necessary move, he acted like a petulant, pouting child that just got scolded. He should have been gone then.

A dude trying to bunt with the bases loaded and two outs has to be one of the season highlights.
Pansy ball at its finest.

Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, Joshy
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never hit, buddy.
When you say you will (say you will) but we pay you still
I loathe you (I loathe you) more than anyone, Joshy
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up)
Buttercup, start doing your part.

"My at-bats won't be lame", you told us time and again
But they are, you flail away and then (bah-dah-dah)
You suck some more, I can't take any more
It's on you, you let us down again

(Hey, hey, hey!) Joshy, Joshy try to find
(Hey, hey, hey!) A little pitch selection, and it'll make us happy
(Hey, hey, hey!) It'd be a shock
I think Little Rock, is waiting for you
Ooo-oo-ooo, ooo-oo-ooo

Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, Joshy
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never hit, buddy.
When you say you will (say you will) but we pay you still
I loathe you (I loathe you) more than anyone, Joshy
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up)
Buttercup, start doing your part.

You're Arte's boy but your killing our joy
Just want to let you know (bah-dah-dah)
I know it's true, were paying millions to you
It hurts me so

(Hey, hey, hey!) Joshy, Joshy try to find
(Hey, hey, hey!) A little pitch selection, and it'll make us happy
(Hey, hey, hey!) It'd be a shock
I think Little Rock, is waiting for you
Ooo-oo-ooo, ooo-oo-ooo

Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, Joshy
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never hit, buddy.
When you say you will (say you will) but we pay you still
I loathe you (I loathe you) more than anyone, Joshy
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up)
Buttercup, start doing your part.

If the pitching staff was performing anywhere close to their career norms, this season would be going much better. That is not on Dipoto.
The Hamilton signing, if it was Dipoto's idea, is certainly on him.
The overuse of the DL is not on Dipoto or Scioscia.
The lack of adjustments being made by the players is on the players themselves, but also on the coaching staff and Scioscia.
Bad baserunning: all Scioscia.
 
IF Hamilton was Dipoto's idea, then he shot himself in the foot in terms of allocating enough of the budget to spend on pitchers, but let's remember how the market looked after Greinke signed with the Dodgers. A bunch of back end of the rotation starters, of which he signed two and traded for one. And with the uncertainty of how Weaver will perform once he comes off the DL, two of those three guys might end up being the most consistent starters on this team (Vargas and Hanson). The other showed what he is capable of giving us last night and did not deserve to lose the game. Now, if he can just continue pitching like he did last night...
 
Downs' continued inconsistency is not on Dipoto.
Burnett being on the DL is not on Dipoto or Scioscia. When not on the DL, he has been a plus for Dipoto.
Frieri, while inconsistent, has been one of our best relievers. That is a plus for Dipoto.
Jepsen has been Jekyll and Hyde and is now on the DL. If he is really the pitcher we saw last half last year, then Dipoto will look good for counting on him. If he is really what we've seen thus far this year (possibly injured much of it) or the first part of last year, then Dipoto's gonna look bad for relying on him.
 
I think a lot of Dipoto's legacy will be tied to how Madson pitches when we finally get him.
 
The scrubs we've actually had to rely upon from SLC and Arkansas to fill bullpen slots have been simply because we have no pitching depth in the minors. That is certainly not on Dipoto, unless you count not having Hellweg (or Roach) as being part of that problem. Dipoto has been here for little more than a year now, and restocking the depth in the minors will take time. Especially when we are lacking in draft picks due to the signings of Pujols, Wilson, and now Hamilton. Yes, Dipoto is responsible for that, but I wonder if he's been given a directive to win now. If so, that's on Arte.
 
But they are still underperforming and not making adjustments (I'm looking at you, Josh Hamilton), and at some point, coaching needs to step in and help the players adjust.
 
On paper, this is still one of the best teams in the American League. They haven't played like it. How on EARTH is that Dipoto's fault?

Victor has been the best Angels acquisition in the Arte era.

Another pitcher with a great arm that doesn't know how to pitch.
 
What were Butchers qualifications to be hired by the Angels? One terrible year with Tampa? Isn't it interesting how TB allowed him to take a lateral job with the Angels without requiring compensation? If they viewed Butcher as a valuable commodity would that have happened?
No. He got his job with the Angels because he was good buddies with the fat man. Nepotism. 
 
Why does an organization that aspires to be among the best in the game rely on a coach with no proven track record of success? Well, in his seventh year Butcher is very proven now. He sucks. He is incapable of getting the best out of the pitchers under his guidance.
 
I don't want to hear the blatherings of some sycophant demanding "proof" that Butcher is responsible for year after year of poor pitching. Butcher is compared to his peers and I don't think even the most pathetic pollyana could make a case that Butcher is among the best in his field. You don't need proof. You just need to believe that one of his peers is better. A very low standard.
 
I'm sure Butcher will "sleep like a baby" tonight because "he knows how good he is". In reality he probably sleeps like a baby because of who he knows instead of what he does.

Another pitcher with a great arm that doesn't know how to pitch.
 
What were Butchers qualifications to be hired by the Angels? One terrible year with Tampa? Isn't it interesting how TB allowed him to take a lateral job with the Angels without requiring compensation? If they viewed Butcher as a valuable commodity would that have happened?
No. He got his job with the Angels because he was good buddies with the fat man. Nepotism. 
 
Why does an organization that aspires to be among the best in the game rely on a coach with no proven track record of success? Well, in his seventh year Butcher is very proven now. He sucks. He is incapable of getting the best out of the pitchers under his guidance.
 
I don't want to hear the blatherings of some sycophant demanding "proof" that Butcher is responsible for year after year of poor pitching. Butcher is compared to his peers and I don't think even the most pathetic pollyana could make a case that Butcher is among the best in his field. You don't need proof. You just need to believe that one of his peers is better. A very low standard.
 
I'm sure Butcher will "sleep like a baby" tonight because "he knows how good he is". In reality he probably sleeps like a baby because of who he knows instead of what he does.

Another pitcher with a great arm that doesn't know how to pitch.
 
What were Butchers qualifications to be hired by the Angels? One terrible year with Tampa? Isn't it interesting how TB allowed him to take a lateral job with the Angels without requiring compensation? If they viewed Butcher as a valuable commodity would that have happened?
No. He got his job with the Angels because he was good buddies with the fat man. Nepotism. 
 
Why does an organization that aspires to be among the best in the game rely on a coach with no proven track record of success? Well, in his seventh year Butcher is very proven now. He sucks. He is incapable of getting the best out of the pitchers under his guidance.
 
I don't want to hear the blatherings of some sycophant demanding "proof" that Butcher is responsible for year after year of poor pitching. Butcher is compared to his peers and I don't think even the most pathetic pollyana could make a case that Butcher is among the best in his field. You don't need proof. You just need to believe that one of his peers is better. A very low standard.
 
I'm sure Butcher will "sleep like a baby" tonight because "he knows how good he is". In reality he probably sleeps like a baby because of who he knows instead of what he does.

It's too bad our billionaire owner doesn't seem to understand the simple concept of counterparty risk.
A guaranteed contract is a great example of counterparty risk. There's a reason why 10 year guaranteed contracts are never given to managers. No possible upside, plenty of downside.

Granted this is spring training, but something I've feared all along with Erick Aybar in the 2-hole seems to be a thing of reality heading into the season. Since Aybar has returned from the WBC, Scioscia has used Erick Aybar to bunt Mike Trout over THREE TIMES! 
 
You don't throw away outs with the likes of Mike Trout and potentially Peter Bourjos on base (who have speed to steal bags). I would rather roll the dice with a stolen base (Especially with Mike Trout who has a high success rate) and have Aybar in an RBI situation, than see Trout at 2B with one out and Pujols & Hamilton coming up. 
 
Mike, go for the big inning, you have the hitters to do it. Please do not sacrifice outs unless it's Bourjos bunting over Iannetta or Callaspo at the bottom of the lineup to get in scoring position for Mike Trout. 
 
This really concerns me and was one of the main reasons why I wanted Callaspo in the 2-hole (not as accomplished bunting as Aybar). 
 
With the pitching staff a concern going into the regular season, it would behoove Scioscia to manage the team's offense in a way that will maximize its potential for scoring as many runs as possible.
 
EOM, Discuss.....

"just to protect their rights?"
A government that doesn't protect the rights of the citizen has no reason to exist.
I am amazed that anyone would so gladly surrender their rights. It seems to me that so many people in the past fought, bled, suffered and died to secure and protect those rights. I can't say "thank you" to them. They're dead. But I can damn well remember their sacrifice and hold the gift that they earned for me in the highest regard. I won't cast aside those rights to make it more expedient for some f*cking bureaucrat to sign a death order. If someone is suspected of breaking the law then they can be arrested, tried, maybe convicted and executed. Due process of law in a free country, not execution at the whim of a King or a group of democratically elected tyrants. 
 
Here's the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution in case they never taught that one in whatever Rockefeller Indoctrination Center known as public schools you may have attended:
 
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Way, way faster. Good decision. The shared site was lagging hard at times.

the odds of a guy on third scoring with 2 out is is 25%
the odds of a guy on second scoring with 2 out is 23%
the odds of a guy on first scoring with 2 out is 13%
 
these numbers are across baseball and estimations.  they obviously do not take into account individual situations that could increase or decrease the odds relative to a players speed, hit ability, contact rate etc.
 
for all comers, it makes sense that if you can get that runner to 2b then your odds of scoring are virtually the same.  Problem is that the guy gets to second about 25% of the time so your averaged odds are .25*23 + .75*13 or about 15%.  So you drop from a 25% chance of scoring to about a 15% chance.  So if the contact play never worked in 100 chances, you would score about 15 runs and if you never ran it in 100 chances you would score 25 runs. 
 
So in order to break even, it has to work 10/100 times or 10% of the time.  BUT, when it works, you also have a man on first and 1 out with a probability of scoring at 25% so for every time it works, you add an additional run 25% of the time.  So if it works 8% of the time, you get about 10 runs in 100 chances. 
 
So with 1 out, it needs to works about 8-10% of time to justify it. 
 
I agree with lifetime that it should be more situational then automatic. 

Greenspan: "We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and whatever size you like. But we cannot guarantee their purchasing power."
 


 
With $85B a month of newly created money being dumped into the economy I think we will soon see what Greenspan was talking about. Sure, not all the money created since 2008 (about $3T) has been put into circulation yet, but that is only a matter of time. The status of the dollar as the world's reserve currency is a big part of why the effects of that inflation has been so slow to show up. The merchant in Sri Lanka or the whore in Thailand who accept dollars are getting screwed just as much as anybody in America. She has no idea that she just got f*cked twice. When the world no longer supports the dollar as a reserve currency it won't have that buffer. China has been accumulating massive quantities of gold for 4 years in a row- about a 1000 tons per year. If they chose to offer a gold backed yuan it would hasten the transition.
 
​People have been indoctrinated with the Keynesian bullcrap that some inflation is necessary and even good.
Between 1800 and 1900 there was more than 100% deflation. The value of the dollar more than doubled. $1 would buy slightly more than twice the goods in 1900 as it did in 1800. Nobody took half of the monetary base out of existence. The healthy deflation was due to huge increases in productivity during that century.
 
So how did the purchasing power change in the 20th century? Despite continued increases in productivity the $1 in 1800 that bought $2.04 in goods by 1900 now only bought 8 cents of goods by 2008. Thanks Federal Reserve!
 
Inflation has always been the most insidious of taxes. Double everyone's taxes and they will riot in the streets. Debase their currency and they'll blame the greedy farmer or gas station guy. It's not just a confiscation on earnings like income tax, it's a confiscation of existing wealth for people who have bank accounts and 401ks in addition to social security. The elite hold commodities, not cash. 
 
Hyperinflation is Bernanke's last play. Who the hell is going to keep funding our ever expanding debt when it is obvious that the FED must use inflation just to avoid default. Does anyone really believe that QE is "stimulus"? Paying one credit card with another. Would you buy a 10 year Treasury bond with damn near zero yield (1.84%) when the FED is actively debasing the currency?  You can get an inflation adjusted bond (using the dubious CPI) that actually gives negative yield. Here, use my money for 10 years and then give me back less than what I started with. This shit is going down. If anyone thinks they can keep up this ponzi scheme for very much longer is naive.