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“Failure to have an oversight system, failure to make sure that players are not involved in this opioid pandemic of sorts is something that they’re going to be held to,” Barhoma said. “They have a duty to ensure against this kind of thing. … This is someone who used to work for the (Angels) and was entangled with them for years. Trying to say ‘We didn’t know.’ I don’t know how far that’s going to go.” This is the kind of thing that is 100% “rear view mirror” stuff and pisses me off. I’m not sure that any employer has or could create a viable system without 100% employee testing being part of the program. Everybody has or should have some type of “code of conduct” hotline for these situations and some type of “open door” policy. You just know that players are not going to report teammates so both of these programs aren’t going to help. However, it sure would have been helpful if Skaggs wife and mother had reached out to the club with their concerns…

Save the time and just assume the answer is yes on both counts. Instead of f’n around on an ass covering sham of an investigation, just come up with solutions. Maybe actually be a leader in professional sports. Baseball has always had an issue with substance abuse. First it was alcohol, then steroids, greenies, viagra, and now opioids. It’s probably a very small percentage of players. The issue are probably even worse in the NFL and NHL because of the amount of physical contact in those sports.

So far there seems to be little doubt that Kay did supply some pills to players. What’s not been proven is if Kay supplied pills to Skaggs in Texas. In a larger context, the Angels can’t be the only team with this problem. It’s a national issue. Seems like some player testing should be considered.

Most employees with addiction issues are able to hide it from their employers. If they get fired, it’s usually because of attendance issues. The only way a manager could be fired would be if they discovered the issue and didn’t report it. That’s because employees in California are allowed ONE chance to enter a treatment or rehabilitation program. The sad part is that 99% of them decide to do a short outpatient program and end up getting fired because they can’t stop their addiction.

This goes back a bit, but Willie Mays Aikens. Big left handed hitting first baseman. SI did a cover story on the Angels farm system that said, “The Angels Prospects are Heavenly”. Aikens was on the cover. Aikens spent 2 years with the Angels and then was traded to KC where I believe he was part of a WS Championship. In the 80’s there was no such thing as playing prospects (except for Joyner). Otherwise it was win now for Gene Autry.

And the prosecution has to also show that those pills were distributed in Texas. I don’t know that they have a witness to corroborate that….yet.

According to a LA Times article, Skaggs mother said he developed an addiction to pain killers after his TJ surgery. There is also some information that he tried to go “cold turkey” before he died but it’s from the Daily Mail so I’m not totally sure…

Exactly. We have a huge hole in our minor leagues system. Pitching never seemed to be a priority for Eppler. And, as I heard Taylor Blake Ward say on a podcast, you can draft really athletic guys, but they still need some significant development. If we are waiting to see if our AZL and Low A teams play out, that mean potentially two years of waiting to see if they are keepers or have any trade value. I applaud one of the prior posters attempt to put a positive spin on this situation, but this seems to be a really bad situation to be in for the organization. It’s good to see that Law likes the pitching picks Minasian made the last draft. But, we still have big organizational holes in infield and catching depth.

Another California example of why it’s so hard to do business here. Next up environmentalists will say that the asphalt parking lot is a native habitat for a rare ant species.

I have a certain ambivalence as well. The issue with umpires is that there is no accountability for poor performance (I’m looking at you Angel Hernandez). This is mostly because of their union. For as long as I can remember, some umpires have become bigger than the game and that doesn’t help the game.

In general, all sports have made substantial moves to take judgment out of the picture. All leagues have replay rules (including MLB) and while they delay the action, it’s good to have calls be made right. There is supposed to be a consistent strike zone rule but umpires who deviate from that (especially within games) can change the outcome of the game - and that is something no umpire should ever be able to do. At least with the robot umpire pitchers and hitters succeed or fail based on their own judgment and abilities, and not the umpires.

Manny Ramires and David Ortiz were a tremendous 1-2 shot punch….

You are right. Don’t know why I thought it was only one. I was at the game. Maybe I’ve tried to forget it over the past 35 years.

Isn’t it more accurate to say they would have gone to the WS with a decent sacrifice fly?

Didn’t say it was his fault. Said I had no confidence that he would come through in that situation. Even a single would only tied it up. And, post was meant to establish it was 1982 and not 1986.

Wasn’t Carew the hitting coach for the Angels for one year. I seem to remember that seemed to end badly. Could be some memories of that in the front office. I can’t imagine he was a nurturing type of coach.

It was 1982 against Milwaukee. 2 outs, man at second, Angels down 4 to 3, hits a soft one hopper to Robin Yount. Game over. During broadcast Keith Jackson says no one better that you’d want at the plate. Other announcer says he’d rather have Fred Lynn.

That’s the way I feel too. For me, I will more remember his inability to get clutch hits when we needed them.

Barria. He’s like a utility knife in that he can easily be switched between long reliever, sport starter, or added to the rotation. A staff needs someone like him who has experience and shown flashes in all three of those situations. I would like to see Dietmers get some more experience but I’m leery about how pitching in SLC, helps him work on curveball location.

I wonder if Dietmers should be in Double A rather than at Salt Lake City. He needs to continue work on pitch placement, especially his curve. I’ve heard about issues in SLC regarding the thin air affecting breaking pitches. Maybe it’s not that big a deal, I just don’t know.

I really like that Minasian hires guys from successful organizations. It MAY also be a sign that Arte has decided to invest more in the organization as a whole. I hope the Angels start to adopt the organizational philosophy of the Rays and Dodgers of emphasizing winning at all organizational levels. That may mean sacrificing a bit of development, but I would consider having a winning mentality as part of development.

I was a diehard Rams fan and grew up about 1/2 mile from Rams Park. When they left I just could not root for them. I still don’t root for them now that they are back in LA. I feel like it would be the same for me with the Angels

Is that a positive? They didn’t have that many promotions to the MLB club. There are going to be flameouts of draftees, but to get labeled as “youngest” means you either promoted a lot of guys or had a greater than average flameout rate of prior draftees.

I used to listen to Noory as well. But, after some time, you find that he rotates the same guests over and over. And, every time you hear one of them, they sound a little more batshit crazy.

We have three or four guys like this?