Inside Pitch

Sort of funny that the player with least upside in the deal is the one Jerry targeted.

Third year in a row where his velocity ticks up as the season wears on. Dude needs to possibly start throwing earlier or not lose so much weight every offseason.

Mostly because Kevin Towers orchestrated the Trumbo trade, Jerry just had to answer the phone.

Good story -- I love fan fiction.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/play-709926-contact-angels.html

Racist

Dude shit the bed in an epic way...

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.