Inside Pitch

Nomar Mazara? The Rangers set the record for money paid to a 16 year old when they signed him as a FA....

Yep.... He got over.. then he got over again when he played the league and "turned himself in". If nothing else he's got the gift for making himself the victim...

I comped him to Shea Hillenbrand when he was in the minors -- same potential to hit for average, same low OBP, middling in game power. Nothing he's done as a MLB player has really altered my opinion of him. I don't really understand why his raw power fails to translate, but it just doesn't... It's good that he attempts to use the entire field, it sucks that he has no apparent clue when to turn on a pitch on a regular basis. Im hoping the improvement in strike zone management isn't a mirage. He takes some of the most Ichiro-ish swings I've ever seen by a man his size.

Yep, but when you factor in all the injuries, and the bad play - to have the record they do having faced the competition they have, maybe it's not season over yet.

This is sort of why I bring up his only having had 755 at bats for his career... Have you looked at CJ Cron's numbers 162 game season numbers? http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/croncj01.shtml So, 162 games, 525 ABs, 21 HRs, 74 RBI. 728 OPS, 105 OPS+ Basically, CJ Cron is exactly what you say he needs to be -- he's just streaky as all hell and he hasn't been around long enough for him to have an established track record. His biggest problem is that because the team has so many issues at other positions, people want him to be more than what he already is.

755 career at bats -- career OPS+ of 105. He's streaky, and he offers nothing defensively, but he hasn't been a complete zero, he's been meh.... Also the people comparing him to Giavotella.... Gia has over 1000 career at bats and a career OPS+ of 83. The closest he's come to league average was last year when he was at 96. Don't look now but the average OPS by AL 2B this year is .761. For DH's it's .744... for 1B it's .732. Talk about shit being upside down. Anyway, Cron has sucked, he's also nearly doubled his walk rate and cut his K rate this year, so there are some positives in there. Hopefully he goes on one of his hot streaks.

I don't believe this report. Josh Hamilton went on record earlier this year saying it was the best his knee had felt in 5 years. There is no way he would have said that if it wasn't true. Leave Joshie alone!!!!

Truthfully.... had you not said something, I don't look. It's surprising.

Or high....

Mariners SOS is .487. They have played 15 out of 43 games .vs teams over .500 -- three .vs teams leading their division. The Angels SoS is .514 -- they have played 32 of 44 games .vs teams over .500 including 15 games .vs teams leading their divisions. Not a lot of similarity there. To the Ms credit, they have been beating up the teams they should be beating. The Halos... not so much...

You've got the touch lately...

So a guy having one bad season in three (the other three being three of his top seasons) = catchers declining for the Angels... Brilliant...

Not sure if the M's situation serves as a pro or con -- I mean, they were able to turn Griffey and RJ into 8 players, meanwhile ARod is still playing 15 years later As far as Seattle goes.... they had that amazing 2001 season and haven't smelled the postseason since.

Yeah -- okay... 3 of Ianetta's top 4 seasons in his career came as an Angels catcher. His career OPS+ as Angel is higher than his career number too... But, by all means, tell us more about catchers declining for the Angels.

That guy was named David....

Updating this.... Jason Heyward (8yrs, 184M) - .237/.342/.298 - Finally hit his first HR Yoenis Cespedes (3yrs, 75M) - .282/.364/.637 - 12 HRs -- dude owns the NL. Justin Upton (6yrs, 132.75M) - .218/.255/.321 - 2 HRs -- leading the AL in Ks.... They thought they were getting Justin, turns out they signed Melvin. Alex Gordon (4yrs, 72M) - .215/.322/.346 - 4 HRs -- lots of talk about bat speed being very very off. Chris Davis (7yrs, 171M) - .256/.373/.511 - 9 HRs. Pretty sure B-more is cool with it. Ben Zobrist (4yrs, 56M) - .317/.439/.496 - 5 HRs Zobrist got all kinds of hot the last three weeks. Ian Desmond (1yr, 8M) - .268/.333/.470 - .934 OPS home, .657 road... Dexter Fowler (1yr, 8M) - .321/.438/.527 - Has cooled off considerably -- still excellent numbers on the year. Daniel Murphy (3yrs, 37.5M) - .399/.431/.622 - NL leader in Batting average and OPS+ (174) Colby Rasmus (1yr, 15.8M) - .235/.340/.434 - .523 OPS the last three weeks after a torrid start. Matt Wieters (1yr, 15.8M) - .233/.290/.326- 2 HRs, he's not getting better. Denard Span (3yrs, 31M) - .272/.369/.358 - 1HR 5 SB -- same pace as before. David Price (7yrs, 217M), 5-1, 6.00 ERA leads AL in Ks .. Talk about a guy getting unlucky -- his FIP is 2.55 Zack Greinke (6yrs, 206.5M), 4-3 5.08 ERA leads NL in hits allowed. 6.63 ERA at home. 2.25 away. At least he got his $$$$ Johnny Cueto (6yrs,120M), 5-1 2.97 ERA -- 132 ERA+ so it's not park driven. Jordan Zimmerman (5yrs, 110M), 6-2, 2.45 ERA Where would Detroit be without this guy -- next lowest ERA is Verlander's 4.71 Jeff Samardzija (5yrs, 90M), 5-2, 2.88 ERA. I wonder if he ever wakes up screaming having nightmares of pitching in the AL? Scott Kazmir (3yrs, 48M), 3-3, 4.89 ERA. Pitching much better in May. Mike Leake (5yrs, 80M), 2-3, 4.66 ERA. Didn't get the memo about becoming a Cy Young pitcher after signing with Cards. Wei-Yin Chen (5yrs. 80M), 3-2 4.22 ERA. 3.54 FIP -- so a little unlucky. Hisashi Iwakuma (1yr, 12M), 1-4 4.38 ERA. Allowing almost 2 hits more per 9 compared to career. Yovanni Gallardo (2yrs, 22M), 1-1, 18 IP, 23 H, 9K, 7.00 ERA - DL (still hurt) John Lackey (2yrs, 32M), 4-2, 3.54 ERA. WHIP under 1.00, K/W rate 4.70 Marco Estrada (2yrs, 26M), 1-2, 2.89 ERA -- 7 starts, not a lot to show for how well he's pitched. Ian Kennedy (5yrs 70M), 4-3 3.25 ERA -- Pitching like KC's ace. Former Halos Freese (1yr, 3M) - .274/.357/.379 -- 99 OPS+. Basically the same guy he had been in Anaheim. Naps (1yr, 7M) - .252/.324/.481 - 8 HRs, not what he used to be, still above average. Latos (1yr, 3M) , 5-0, 3.40 ERA. Still undefeated, but ERA over 7.00 in last three starts after being under 1.00 in first four games. Howie (2yrs, 22M), .225/.252/.235. Starting to hit after being hurt (.300+ average in May), but not walking or showing any power. Matt Joyce (Paying Pitt to play), .383/.508/.745. 5 HRs, 1.253 OPS..... Says NL is lovely.

Youre like begging me to go on a Terry Collins rant...

The moths were a legit event... those moth eating contests were about as close to living on the edge as a 7 year old could get.

So "largely sucking" isn't really based on anything other than whether or not a team makes the postseason? Gotcha. My opinion of suckage is obviously different than yours. Vive la différence.

They averaged 87 wins the last 5 years, only once in that span did they finish below .500, which was the only time they failed to win at least 85 games. Please, tell me more about realistic expectations.

Gotcha -- I still don't know that I agree. Skaggs tossed 100 innings as an 18 year old then, 160 innings as a 19 year old... That's a good 60-80 innings more than a college SP typically throws.. Consider this... Jered Weaver, a noted workhorse in college didn't hit 160 IP until he was 24 years old and in the majors. I think people forget how young Skaggs is... He actually started his career as a true 17 year old and despite likely having missed nearly two years by the time he steps back on the mound in a MLB game he will still only be 24 years old... I'm actually glad to see the Angels playing it safe with Skaggs -- the ghosts of Pete Janicki, and Jason Dickson are all too fresh in my memory.

Ha... I remember the 80s well... I remember when the best part of going to Angels games was to sit in the upper view level of LF watching the tortillas fly towards the field and the moth eating contests. I remember Bobby Grich's catch being ruled a trap and the team blowing that two games up lead in the ALCS in 82. I remember the dread I felt when Donnie Moore was summoned from the bullpen on October 12th, 1986. You're absolutely correct when you say nothing in the 90s compared to the utter heartbreak of the 80s... Those demons weren't exorcised until Darin Erstad wrapped his mitt around a lazy fly ball in 2002... Minus the 80s and the 90s, I don't think 2002 would have been as sweet. In that respect all of us that survived those days were very fortunate to have lived through it.

??? The guy was in the majors at age 20, three years after he was drafted. If anything he was rushed -- Pat Corbin who was drafted in the same class and also made his debut that year was 2 years older..

I'm not Strad but the 90s was an interesting time for me as a fan... I wasn't that far removed from playing college ball, I was still very much one of those anti-stat old school types that felt his having played in thousands of games from little league through Div1 ball gave me a greater insight into the game than it really did. So as the Angels went about stinking I went looking for reasons to be hopeful. That led to following guys I had played against in college and how they were progressing... that in turn ultimately led to following minor league baseball. Seeing guys who I knew had all the physical tools to be something utterly fail, I started looking for reasons why... which led to reading a lot more about the game and ultimately this guy named Bill James. The best part of being an Angels fan in the 90s for me was watching the farm system start to produce, and how certain statistical indicators lined up as predictors... Learning to spot the difference between George Arias and Troy Glaus and playing in places like Midland .vs Cedar Rapids also cut down on the amount of letdown -- that's helped me survive ever since, it's also why this is probably a harder time for me than even the 90s... As bad as the 90s were -- the farm system was a lot of fun to track. At one point between 1985 and 1999 the Angels had put more people into MLB than any team in baseball -- not many star players but a lot of solid everyday players you could build around. But if there was really ONE thing that helped keep the 90s together it was the advent of the internet and coming into contact with others that shared my love for the Halos, and my growing interest in stats. Having lived through that with people I never would have met, Tank, Brian, Superdave and my favorite Indians fan of all time, Bads85 made the trip much much more enjoyable -- the common hate for the Dodgers was a nice bonus too. Looking forward, I'm optimistic when I hear from people in the Marlins and Reds organizations telling me they have lost scouts to the Angels since Eppler took over. I'm overjoyed to hear the international staff has guys in the DR full time for the first time since Stoneman. I'm happy to hear that many of these guys are being put through a stats boot camp before being assigned... Right now all it's all just hope. Maybe come June there will be reason to believe it's more than just that.. Be good to each other you asshats -- you're all here for the same reason. Go Halos...

People tend to see in others what they know they are guilty of themselves... So, there is that.