Inside Pitch

That, and while a nice hot streak has manifested itself in a lofty average the guy is still sporting a .422 Slg% in SLC, shortstop Tommy Field is putting up a .411 Slg%. Our AAA team is a wasteland outside of Calhoun and Jimenez, and that park obliterates pitchers. That park has a line drive factor (percentage of line drives that turn into hits), of 118. Consider this, Angel Stadium's LD factor for RHBs is 88, for lefties it's 81. So yeah those empty SLC batting averages are well... empty. Grichuk .372 wOBP, and Lindsey .360 wOBP, are looking really good as 21 year olds in that park. Cron, 23 years old and all 6'4 235 pounds of him at .348 wOBP (106 WOBP+), much less so. There is reason to be hopeful in Cron given he Ks looking less than 1% of the time, and Ks less than 12% of the time overall. But at some point you'd like to see the power start to show. Yes the park rough on righties but Grichuk has been putting it over the fences despite being a significantly more pull happy hitter. Not to mention the park isn't kind to Lefties and Linsey is likewise hitting the ball with authority.

So when the majority of players produce to their ability, this team can beat anyone. Being a GM/manager must not be as easy as everyone thinks. Hanson looked great.

Yes because that genius stole 1st base and his IQ will never be questioned.

So ignore the facts and base it on what you see, because what people see is the REAL truth.... I respectfully believe you're opinions are comical. If a high IQ is all we need dump the middle IFer and sign the Harvard keystone to league minimum deals, using your logic the team would prosper.

I think the Rangers were sick of having 24 other guys adjust their lives to fit one guy. They couldn't celebrate their pennants or AL West wins with alchohol because well, he might slip off the wagon and the sort. They all said the right things but it had to suck a little to not be able to let it rip after the grind of a 162 game season because your star player might go on a bender and cause a distraction going into the postseason.

My buddy in the Yankee front office compared him to Gary Gaetti in that as his faith deepened he lost some of his competitiveness. He tells me that Gaetti himself told him that as his priority became his faith, he found serenity in being a good person and saw his struggles on the field as nothing other than a minor test of his faith, so he became more at ease with the failure. Gaetti FWIW, fell back off the wagon, found some balance between his faith and the rest of his life and went back to being a serviceable player. Not saying there is a connection but, again, that's what he's stated. Hamilton, an addict needs to get addicted to baseball again.

Angels need to show Green a picture of Blanton and then say... This is what can happen if you go to UK. Scott Downs also pitched there in college. Only star player I can recall having gone there was Brandon Webb.

Ryan Howard got 3 years 54 mil after his 3rd season, then re-upped two years in for another 5.

C- is pretty generous IMHO.. 4/5 ths of the rotation are Dipoto deals, and using the article's criteria of ERA+ the only of of his buys that has posted an even league average ERA+ is Vargas, at 103. Wilson 94, Blanton 65, and Hanson 95, are all below the league average of 100 even if only slightly so. At best it's a C- with potential to improve. When you consider his relief pitching additions have amounted to less than 10 innings of work total, that throws the grades for me into the F category. It would have been even worse had he been able to pull off the Haren for Marmol trade, so, in essence the Cub's stupidity saved him from even further embarrassment. I think JD has the potential to be good, but some of the sugarcoating and flat out ignoring of what he's done and failed at doing is annoying... Saying he did a great job of avoiding the Greinke contract rings a bit hollow when you consider we have an abortion of a Rfer at 125 mil. He missed out on Scott Feldman at 1 year 6 mil. He missed out on Carlos Villanueva at 2 years and 10 Mil -- both these guys had been pitching in less than friendly home parks and are doing well currently. He had no problems risking money on injured RPs but passed on Francisco Liriano who's gone on to post a 2.36 ERA thus far this season and once again found his control. Roberto Hernandez hasn't been good, but at 1.3 mil he's been a better return on investment than any pitcher the Angels signed this year. Kevin Correia has a 99 ERA+ at 2 years 10 mil. And about McCarthy, he was absolutely dreadful to start the season and has posted an ERA of 3.22 since May... Pitching in AZ may have been a factor initially but he's looking less and less like a bust than Blanton at this point. I genuinely believe that pitching to weaker offenses in the NL has helped some of these guys but when push comes to shove Dipoto's vision has yet to work. Injuries to the OF have played into that greatly, but his usage of resources has been questionable. Lots of season left, and if placed in a sellers spot we may see JD flip some guys and make it all better. Despite how I may be coming across, I think it's a bit early still to completely poo-poo or praise his offseason.

I love you.

And bat to bat.

John Elway Vs Mr Ed.

You hit a guy in the face --- pretty much can't really be too surprised if it comes back in some way. Kennedy was going up and in, sure it may have gotten away from him but, if he's willing to risk beaning a guy he should be willing to risk getting his guys beaned.

I think he's getting a free pass and a lot of BS is being pushed onto Arte, at least as it relates to Pujols. People seem to forget all the fawning in the press about how Dipoto used back elevators to keep his interaction with Pujols on the down low. He was praised for spending hours in the hotel talking to the guy once they made contact with AP. A lot was made of his having shown up with a force of like 40 people at the Winter meetings etc etc and even Wilson said that JD hinted something huge was going on as the Angels were trying to sign him. So, was all that for show and in reality JD sat and watched cartoons while Arte did all the work? If so, he should get fired for doing nothing. Now that things have gone tits up its seems it's all on Arte and JD is just some poor pawn. Let's not forget the universal praise he got for going after Pujols and keeping MS completely out of the loop. I still remember the snickering that seemed to bring out and how people were mocking MS for saying he was hoping the team might add more pitching only to be excluded from the AP conversations. Throw Hamilton at Arte, that seems a bit more realistic but the AP deal had JD's fingerprints all over it. Some of this is starting to remind me of how many Angels fans made excuses for Bill Bavasi, arguing his hands were tied by Disney and that if only they had let him run the team it would have gone right. That theory went to crap the minute he went to Seattle, repeated every mistake and removed all doubt as to what a moron he truly was. I think JD has the right plan overall, I think he's made some mistakes but whatever, if they lose and lose ugly for a season or two in order to right the ship I'm all for it. I don't care if they haven't made the postseason the last three years, I want them to be a legit contender, not a team trying to make headlines and win the media war with their cross town rival. My biggest issue with JD is that despite being soooooo freaking smart he made little to no effort to exploit the international market in the one season he could have. Puig, Soler, were both known entities and the Angels made little effort to sign either guy. Also, the win now to keep people in the stands BS needs to stop. Long term, I think his plan works, but I do worry about his yapping about stuff like hitters than control the count and pitchers that limit base-runners when he turns around and signs a SP who struggles with the strike zone in Wilson. He trades for a RP who at times makes Krod look like a control pitcher in Frieri, and then caps it by adding and a power hitter noted for being a hack with blind spots. If Hamilton wasn't his guy they he should have been really loud about it to Arte. In short... I can buy into what JD says is his plan. I can't hack the BS he's actually assembling. He says all the right things but I have a hard time looking at the actual moves and giving him credit for being true to his word. And if he doesn't have the balls to stand up to the owner IMO he needs to be gone yesterday.

Move: Signing Pujols. Disbelief. Didn't see it coming, didn't think it was possible, then I wondered why not the younger fatter option that would have likely cost the team less. Move: Signing Wilson Liked him as a number three. His control issues made him a bit of a wild card. But, I thought given the prices being talked about it was a decent buy. Move: Trading for Greinke Sad to see Segura go, didn't care about either of the two stiffs people considered pitching prospects. Was actually very impressed that given the state of the farm that JD was able to obtain the best arm available at the deadline. Segura has broken out, now he's being tabbed a star by many and really my opinion hasn't changed. Was a great move that seemed impossible given the lack of talent. IMO, JD got absolute best value possible. Move: Trading Santana Was worried about dropping him and Haren without replacements in place. Move: Signing Blanton Wanted to see if he would actually live up to his peripherals. Last year's defense maybe. This years defense, not even close. Was a risky move, but I wasn't against it. Move: Dumping Haren See Santana comment. I would have been more likely to bring back Haren because he wasn't a fruit fly mentally -- but seeing him throw in ST was alarming and his performance in the NL to date this year has IMO validated JD's decision. Now, when he tried to trade him for MarmolMeh.... Well, I thought JD was a moron. Move: Trading for Hanson Guy with a hurt arm who was trending as a 5 inning pitcher on a team with a weak bullpen. Didn't like it, but saw value in moving a RP for a SP. Made me worry about the pitching staff. Move: Trading for Vargas Meh... Vargas was and is an innings eater. I thought, great, we have a 1, a 3 and three number 5 starters. Move: Signing Hamilton More shock, and wonderment. Didn't get the move then, didn't get the move now, likely won't ever get the move. But I never expected him to flounder like this. At worst I felt he would at least be equal to what Torri would have given us.

I think you can blame Dipoto for Blanton. The question is, is he to blame for Hamilton? If Moreno pushed for Hamilton and got what he wanted then Arte needs to STFU and let his GM put his team together. Hamilton was a bad fit for the Angels, a bad for the manager, a bad fit any way you slice it other than he was a lefty. Best of all, he cost the team a draft choice and 125 mil. I didn't like that he signed injured pitchers but, 5 mil for Madsen could just as easily be viewed as high risk high reward for a pretty easy to swallow amount of money. But if he was actually COUNTING on him to be ready by opening day you have to put that on him too. I like JD's vision for the team, I do wonder if maybe his faith in some of his hires is a bit misplaced. Pujols being hurt, the defense falling apart.... Not sure how anyone can blame either MS or JD for that. Guys forgetting how to hit with men on base. Hard to blame JD, if you try, you can blame the manager. The failure of the defense has really impacted this team in a very negative way. Captain Obvious comment, I know.

And the hallmark of Angels fans commentary consistently false statements. Angels led MLB in defensive efficiency last year -- they were 4th the year before that. This year, they cant play defense to save their lives ... Mark Trumbo makes routine plays at 1st base look extremely difficult. Possibly the worst fielding player in Anaheim since Chili Davis.

Best post in thread.

Problem for me is I think the FO/ownership is far more responsible for the steaming pile of embarrassment than the manager (Why Hamilton again?). That's not to say that I don't think the team could benefit from moving someone else into the managers seat. My sincere desire is that the people who are actually making the decisions are looking at this roster, and where they want to be in 5 years and get the people in place that will get them there. Whether or not Scioscia is a part of that... meh...

Stating the 90s were worse is not superfan BS.. Stating there were fewer fans then is not Superfan BS. But stating both those comments apparently does threaten some people. The reality is you were right, if people think this is bad, they would have jumped out of buildings then, the difference is they weren't expected to win so when they didn't, nobody much cared. Angels fans today have a different set of expectations, and with it come a different perspective... look no further than the love for Disar and the hate for Howie.. I personally don't blame anyone for being bent, although I disagree with the cause and course of action needed. Really, neither side is wrong but, there is a lot more knee-jerk stuff these days than in that past.. Homebrewer to his credit just plain hates Scioscia and sees him as the crux of all things bad in Angel-land, Drinking or not, he wasn't reacting...he's been pretty consistent with his criticisms and beliefs. I never liked Terry Collins, even when the team did well, so nothing I'm saying is meant as a slight to you Homebrewer.

Being outside of California, most of the outside coverage says the same thing. Pitching and defense were boring though. Big names are fun and generate buzz. Mike Scioscia will go somewhere, be allowed to manage to win and not make headlines and do well. We clearly need more bats.

Likely less than moving the overpaid "names" for role players that actually fit a niche and a need on their roster. Like we used to have. Angel fans love the names though.

Yes because Joe Maddon and Ron Reonicke were stars, right? Bud Black maybe marginally, but none of the guys the knee-jerks want to give credit for past successes by this team were stars by any stretch. Tony LaRussa hit under.200 for his career. What a schleb, nobody would ever listen to him. Bobby Cox, .225 career hitter.. Another schleb. Sparky Anderson, Leo Durocher, Walter Alston, Casey Stengel, Earl Weaver,.... All stiffs, You guys that want name recognition in a new manager were likely complaining when the Angels were boring, pitched well, ran the bases, played defense and won 90+ games a year.. Things sure worked out well the last time you got your way.

In AAA

It's been said that the talent in FL this year is pretty well below average.