bruin5

2 minutes ago, Blarg said:

The center fielder almost caught the ball at the wall. He played that perfectly to get to third without getting caught in a double play or thrown out at the plate. You can't assume the center fielder is going to smash his brains in against the wall to take the extra 90 feet.

The CF was tracking back quickly. I thought it was actually going to be a HR the way he played it. Assuming he makes the catch, even if it’s just short of the wall, I don’t see how he Drury doesn’t make it easily back to first.

Only going halfway is very conservative given the ballpark dimensions.  

What is the purpose of hidden comments? Why does someone use it? In this case it’s like finding an Easter egg and it turns out there’s a dog turd inside of it. 

Meanwhile….
 

With the different versions of this story, and awaiting whatever law enforcement bureau is handling this, it should be an interesting summer…..

26 minutes ago, ScottM said:

"There are so many potential crimes here, state and federal, and the big dangers with violating the anti-gambling laws is they're all written to go after organized crime, which means all the organized crime statutes can kick in, like RICO and money laundering," said Nelson, who has served as a government consultant to entities including the Arizona Department of Gaming, the Delaware State Lottery, the Illinois Gaming Board, the Michigan State Lottery and the New Mexico Gaming Control Board.

If Ohtani did knowingly wire the money to pay Mizuhara's debt, either to Mizuhara or directly to the bookie, he could be considered complicit in helping an illegal gambler collect, according to Nelson.

"In other words, he's helping the bookie collect the debt. It gets extraordinarily bad if he knew any of this was going on and agreed to it," Nelson said.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/could-shohei-ohtani-face-punishment-for-interpreter-gambling-scandal-what-legal-expert-mlb-rules-say/ 

If Manfred has access to FBI evidence, and it’s compelling, then he has to take a strong stance. We’re talking Federal crimes and a violation of MLB players association agreement. If Pete Rose got a lifetime ban (who I know bet on baseball games) then what does Ohtani merit. 

And, since Ohtani was kind enough to defer his earnings, what are the potential damages from being suspended for 1 or 2 years? 

There is probably a plea deal in his future as well as the FBI will probably go hard on this because they like the headlines. 

Of course, Manfred has never been accused of doing the right thing…

I actually didn’t. Thanks. 

So, they will spend probably over $1 billion to provide shade on 100 degree nights? I’m not a fan of enclosed ballparks, but this design makes no sense given the location. 

I’m good with standing pat at this point. At least we would have a direction and hopefully we will stop making short term moves (unless it’s offloading relievers at the trade deadline). 

10 hours ago, arch stanton said:

Or maybe they could just teach him how to run out a grounder without crippling himself

That would work as well. 

On 2/4/2024 at 5:24 PM, tdawg87 said:

Yeah I'm not sure why we haven't signed Urshela. You'd think he could be had on a relatively cheap deal.

Then again no one else has signed him so maybe there's health concerns.

I actually thought Urshela was really playing well before his injury. Maybe we could pull an Eppler, sign him, and immediately put him on the IL. 

31 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

 

I wonder if he still tips pitches to fellow Dominican players on opposing teams…

Sorry to interrupt the football bashing, but 9 players that make the MLB from a team’s draft year doesn’t sound bad to me. However, I don’t have the context say good or bad but there were years in the early 10’s that seemed like we purposely drafted players with no talent or athleticism. 

I’m sure someone else probably mentioned this, but anyone else get the feeling that Arte is trying to recoup the salary tax paid last year by limiting spending this year?

1 hour ago, Dtwncbad said:

Roberto Baldoquin says hello.

I don’t remember anyone saying Baldoquin was ready for anything. I saw him play against Visalia and it was clear he didn’t have the skills and/or the athleticism. DiPoto is the only guy that thought he was all that and a bag of chips. 

33 minutes ago, Second Base said:

And silver lining, I think the Angels are in a perfect spot to be giving a guy like Silseth a guaranteed spot to work through things at the major league level. There will be hills and valleys throughout the six month season and if the Angels are unlikely to unseat Texas, Houston or Seattle, then Silseth can work through those so that come 2025, he'd be better off. 

Agree 100%. I would rather look at 2024 as a developmental year instead of pretending that Snell and Bellinger make us a WC contender. 

4 hours ago, Blarg said:

Nearly every Japanese league starter has had elbow/arm problems after a year or two in MLB. Ohtani didn't last one season. Darvish was out by his third. Maeda had years of breakdowns. Kikuchi one season. 

It's not a great history of adapting quickly. I expect Yamamoto to follow suit and the Dodgers may be looking at him swapping positions with Ohtani in a year or so. 

I don’t have the data to back this up, but I’ve read that the splitter is hard on the elbow and leads to more arm injuries. Ohtani throws the splitter, as does Yamamoto. Not sure if it’s used extensively by all pitchers in Japan.  

1 hour ago, BTH said:

I’d take Urshela for like $5M as a bench option.

But I’m not guaranteeing him playing time or multiple years.

Agree. He was starting to play pretty well before the injury (at the very least I thought this was a loss of a good player). 

11 hours ago, Biergott said:

Man.  Maybe baseball needs a salary cap after all .  What’s the point in a luxury tax if you can skirt it and only get dinged for 65% of what you pay someone?

MLB really needs to close the loophole. I think if you told the union that all the luxury tax penalty money would go evenly to all teams that didn’t incur the tax and only used for player salaries that they would be fine with that. 

I’m surprised that Bobby Valentine said this. He and Minasian are pretty close so I’m sure Arte will have some questions for Perry. It also could be Valentine trying to be sure to get the narrative out that his good friend had a plan but it was vetoed by Arte. 

20 hours ago, Taylor said:

You were so triggered you had to post this twice.

I’m in therapy now so I’m feeling better. 

3 hours ago, Taylor said:

The Angels don't owe us anything. Typical entitled boomer mindset.

Completely stupid comment. However, I am going to a safe space tomorrow to share my pronouns, discuss what has triggered me, and share my truth. 

3 hours ago, Taylor said:

The Angels don't owe us anything. Typical entitled boomer mindset.

Completely stupid comment. However, I am going to a safe space tomorrow to share my pronouns, discuss what has triggered me, and state my truth. 

I would wait on trading Sandoval, Ward, and/or Rengifo. Next season is a throw away year but these guys could provide better return at the trade deadline (assuming they have good years). 

3 minutes ago, cals said:

How do you defer MOST of 700M?  His grandkids will be getting checks from the Dodgers in 2100?

Now he’s upstaging Bobby Bonilla day. He’s dead to me. 

I was in favor of trading Ohtani but I can’t fault Moreno and Minasian trying to make a go of it and try to win and keep Ohtani. 

LOL at “Luxury Tax”. Freeman, Betts, Kershaw, and now Shohei. I know Shohei provides some monetary return, but still…