Inside Pitch

He's not Matt Joyce

He catches more crap than he should but his OPS for that era wasn't that impressive by 1B/DH standards, he was a good but not elite hitter.. His career OPS+ as an Angels was 117. Basically he was as good as Kole Calhoun has been this year.

Strad, I'm just seeing this today -- condolences to you, your brother, your entire family. My Dad passed away 8 years ago today. Like you I thought the world of my father, I completely relate to what you guys are likely feeling. For the longest time I struggled to watch baseball as it had always been the one thing in my life my Dad and I never argued about... baseball was the one thing we both loved dearly it had always been the thing that could bring us together... The 2002 postseason will always be special to me both because it was the Angels first WS and because I got to see every game in the series with my Dad. I remember the moment when they clinched, I looked over at him and his eyes were misting, and he was just shaking his head, a hint of a smile on lips. A look of bewilderment and satisfaction.... You've done a beautiful job of conveying the love and admiration you have for your Father, it seems pretty clear many lessons were taught, and that the apple did not fall far from the tree. Thanks for letting us know a little bit about who your Father was.

Big Cowgill

So, our down years count -- their down years don't. 24-9 the last two years -- meaningless.

If Dustin Hoffman played him in a movie it would be called Rain Fan.

Yeah -- every interaction I ever had with him was really pretty positive. He's always been noted for hating autograph seekers because they tend to turn around and sell them.. He used to flat out refuse to sign for anyone by kids.

You really need to add a few songs to your playlist.

Your recollection of things is awful. Joe Torres was a 17 year old HS pick that peaked in rookie ball. It took him three years to progress to High A, where he was awful then got hurt. He was 22 years old by the time he was back in high A and again was awful, where he posted an ERA over 10.00 in his age 22 and 23 seasons.

Check out his numbers since June 1st... .169/.273/.254. Between his being a pending FA and his actual performance, Upton has completely torpedoed his value... AJ Preller's first year as GM has been a complete bust.

I've probably been the loudest critic of that trade from the moment it went down, I had been touting Grichuk to do exactly what he has done but Dipoto was quoted on more than one occasion that the Cards wouldn't do the deal unless the Angels added some sweetener -- they in turn added Salas to try to even out the inclusion of Grichuk. It's also been said in numerous places that Salas was a likely non-tender. So, no.. They couldnt get it done for Bourjos straight up.

Someone needs to catch him inhaling and then report him to Manfred.

A veritable cornucopia of page turning ...

http://www.valleybaynews.com/2015/07/24/josh-hamilton-returns-to-angel-stadium-how-will-he-be-received/ Joshy went douche level max with this.... "“I expect it. It’s funny because when I was playing with the Angels, when A.J. Pierzynski would come in they would boo him and a couple of the guys and coaches would say, ‘I’d wish they stop booing him because he’s killing us.’ So hopefully, same scenario.”" AJ as a role model... Never change Joshy -- never change.

Yup, lots of good reasons not to do it...

We can only hope he kept the HAMILTOWN boards and can get a can of spray paint and cardboard to make an S .... Claude would go straight to legend status if they flashed that during his at bats... Flat out LEGEND status.

That would be the funniest thing ever at Angel Stadium.

He just needs to have balls bounce off him at 3B til Freese gets back. The bonus is there is no concern about him putting added pressure on himself or risking him losing his confidence as there might be with a guy coming up from AAA. The only reason this deal was made was out of pure opportunity. He was there and they had nothing to lose.

Only thing I could imagine they could be clinging to is the idea that he would be a defensive upgrade -- but he's been awful there too. He was a great player -- but those legs finally appear to have given out.

It comes from reading this message board and watching as opinions that ignore all reality become facts.

Man -- he was such a beast until his legs went out on him.. 130 OPS+ and 42 WAR in what amounted to 5.5 full seasons between 2003 and 2009.

Year - Ave/OBP/SLG% OPS+ WAR 2014 - .270/.339/.407 - 110 - 3.7 2013 - .283/.348/.475 - 126 - 3.6 2012 - .256/.365/.429 - 114 - 3.0 2011 - .259/.344/.425 - 110 - 3.8 2010 - .275/.387/.445 - 123 - 5.8 I'm not saying this team should pick up Utley - he's cratered across the board, but your description of the type of player he's been in recent years is not in any way shape or form based on reality.

Stop with the reality -- the narrative is all that matters. Don't bring up the record post Dipoto, it means nothing. Jerry is the reason this team is doing well unless it's doing poorly then it's MS fault. Hope this helps and that your posts are more in line with the narrative moving forward. Best Regards, Narrative Police.

Where are you getting your numbers from? The -1.9 of off listed at FGs is not oWAR.

Yeah because Jerry never looked for any clean peanuts, right? Like... we never had a cast-off merry go round in the pen and we never traded for Joyce, never signed Ibanez, never pitched Wall.... For those of you that are missing Jerry, he basically made this same move last year only he gave up Yency Almonte for 6 weeks of Gordon Beckham.