bruin5

They will spend the entire season dealing with a lot of negativity. I’m sure they expect the taunts they will get from fans but the backlash from players on other teams may or may not have been expected. The season is long enough as it is but playing in that type of environment every day and deservedly being subject to all that negativity will take it’s toll. The “us against the world” mentality only works if you truly believe you are doing the right thing. Even Astros players aren’t that delusional...

Isn’t it possible that during the 5 or 6 days when details of the trade between the Dodgers and Angels were leaked that other teams approached the Dodgers with offers that they felt may have been more attractive than what the Angels were rumored to be offering? Maybe the Dodgers realized they could do separate trades for Pederson and Stradling that would net more than what the Angels were offering? I can’t see Arte nixing a trade that the organization had already had an agreement to do....

I don’t remember seeing this mentioned before but tr to be kind in case it was... What if when the rumors of this trade first surfaced other teams saw what the Dodgers were getting in return for Pederson and Stripling was not much and inquired and led the Dodgers believe they would offer more for each individually? Then, the Dodgers come back and demand more but the Angels don’t want to pay more for both or either one individually.

The most likely deal will be a 2 year with a team option for a 3rd. A 1 year deal is more likely than a 4 year deal.

I wouldn’t mind that at all. Station to station baseball blows.

To me, this season was all about Eppler implementing his vision now that Sosh was gone. He worked with Ausmus for a year to train him on managing using analytics, and totally ignored that his downfall in Detroit was in part caused by his lack of communication with the players. Then, mad scientist Eppler hires White to implement his pitching analytics without knowing if he can actually coach. Lastly, Gallegos is put at 3B because analytics must have shown that being aggressive on the bases doesn’t pay off according to the numbers. Now Eppler just pissed a lot of trust and confidence Arte had in him. If Maddon is hired he will be the one calling many of the shots, starting with picking his own staff and choosing his brand of baseball. We may be drifting back to the DiPoto/Sosh balance of power arrangement.

I want to get Ebel back just to get Gallego off of 3B.

If he chooses Maddon it kind of becomes an insurance policy for Eppler because he and Arte would be on the same page in terms of that hire. I don’t see Maddon getting fired after one year and, with a good free agent signing or two we should be a respectable team. What Eppler is not getting a leash on anymore is doing experimental hires (I’m sure he pretty much hired the entire coaching staff) and failing.

For Eppler to fire these two it’s obvious he was not happy with their work and is owning that decision (as well he should). I would assume the other coaches are being kept around to a) see if Maddon wants them, or more likely b) return them to other roles in the organization (like Gallegos had before he became 3B coach). I don’t see White’s firing as representing retrenchment from analytics, but rather recognizing that White just wasn’t good at his job.

`I think Eppler has to be in for criticism. Ausmus was his handpicked guy, and he had the Ausmus’ Detroit experience as background. Sosh got blasted for some of his funky decisions, but you always new he had a good clubhouse environment and that players seemed to really like playing for him. If it’s analytics that are driving the decisions, you better be good being someone guys was to play for. Maybe that wasn’t his forte based on this: Ausmus may not be a good communicator

Another reason Eppler may be on the hot seat is that I believe (but have no proof) that he was primarily responsible for hiring the coaching staff. I’m not sure what effect White had on the pitching staff other than throwing more breaking pitches for balls while putting additional strain on their arms. Gallego as 3B coach was adverse to sending anyone home, even guys with good speed. You have to put some pressure on teams and create some runs. Basically, from Ausmus on down this was Eppler’s staff. I still think that the successful manager deviates from analytics on occasion based on experience and the situation. It will be interesting to see in the press conference how much Eppler “owns” this decision...

This reeks of a poor decision on Eppler’s part to hire Ausmus. Nothing in his stint with the Tigers pointed to him being a good manager. My guess is that Ausmus showed to Eppler in 2018 that he could fully embrace metrics and manage by the “big book of stats”. One thing Sosh was really good at was building a clubhouse chemistry that always fought through bad times. I don’t know that I saw any of that with the 2019 club, even with all the injuries. If I’m Eppler I might start worrying about my job as well....

It’s not smart to offer money unless they know of a situation that could make them partly culpable. The combination of large amounts of alcohol and illicit narcotics is nothing more than a sign of a person that had a problem, and probably did so for some time. If a doctor prescribed (which seems highly unlikely that a doctor said “i prescribe oxy and fentanyl with a 6 pack chaser”) that would be something else. Even if it was a clubhouse attendant, Skaggs would have paid the clubby making him just as culpable.

We’ll find out soon enough because I’m sure the Skaggs family attorney has been on retainer for some time and they will file suit that will name names in short order. My sense is that he may not have been the only player taking this type of drug. And, frankly, I’m not sure I believe that Heaney had no clue this was going on....

Let’s be fair here. Stassi was set up outside and Cole did what Cole does, miss his location and instead throw it down the middle to a guy who can’t hit.