bruin5

At this point, let’s let it play out.

It was a response to TrueGrich who said: ”I do wonder how Kay was able to hold on to his job for so long - given the information we know about him ODing and going to rehab, etc.” Tim Mead was his direct supervisor and good friend he should have known about his issues. IF Skaggs family contacted someone in the Angels it would have been Mead. The family probably knew Mead better than they did any Angels executive. Mead is described by everyone as a really good guy, would do anything you needed. Basically, someone who likes to please. Unfortunately, those types tend not to make the best leaders.

Tim Mead.

First, it seems like they have good information that Mead was told by the family. Second, this isn’t a court of law. Arte voluntarily joined an association. I’m sure he signed documents detailing ownership and reputational responsibilities. Manfred probably needs some percentage of the other owners to agree and Arte is gone.

I think Rob Manfred will have to weigh in on this case. In essence, it seems like the Angels had a drug distribution ring going that maybe a single executive, maybe more, had knowledge. This may be the thing that actually gets Arte removed as owner. Can MLB really afford to take this type of publicity hit? Either way, Manfred can’t ignore this.

I’m pretty sure for that job it’s all about who you know and probably some type of minimal interview process. MLB is and always has been about who you know.

I’m not sure you could assume that. By all accounts Tim Mead is a great guy, well liked by everyone. Although Kay reported to him, it doesn’t mean they had a supervisor/subordinate relationship. They may have been really good friends. If he knew Kay had a drug problem he should have taken action right then to get him help. If he knew and didn’t do anything, then everything else could have been in play. Baseball has it’s own code and stuff that would get you fired in a regular company gets overlooked in baseball. I know it won’t happen, but the guy that has to get fired is Carpino. Too much stuff negative stuff seems to happen in the organization. But, if he’s Arte’s buddy it won’t happen. Again, when people are good friends, a lot of stuff that should get addressed gets swept under the rug…

So, what happens when someone uses the word “Doyers” here? Sensitivity training?

Billy Beane would tell you that playing first base is easy. Ron Washington begs to differ.

By now all Yankee fans feel like this

IIRC Marsh struggled at every level he was promoted to at first and eventually adapted. I don’t give a crap about his current struggles. He needs to play every game.

The last think I want to see is a high priced shortstop. Iglesias gets the job done and seems to be a REALLY good clubhouse presence. Like others, want one veteran starter (would take Cobb on a one year deal with a second year option, bullpen, a back up catcher, and sign Ohtani to an extension.

This season actually gives me some hope. We have hovered around 500 without Trout and Rendon for a large part of the season. We’ve seen the emergence of Shohei, Sandoval, Barria, and Suarez as viable SP options. We have Deitmers on deck, Marsh has shown some flashes, Adell may be ready for next year. Raisel is a good closer and we may have some good bullpen options in the minors. Our minor leagues has shown some signs of life, especially in the lower levels. Minasian seems to have made some really good picks in MLB draft that could start paying dividends next year. We also have a crap load of cash to spend next year and we don’t have any glaring position holes so we can spend on a #2 starter and bullpen help. Given all that’s happened, this team has played better than I would have expected given the injuries and crap bullpen.

“Guardians” sounds like it would be part of the Marvel universe. I heard that one of the finalist names was the “Municipals”. A throwback to the old stadium name but could also be shortened to “Pals”. I kind of liked that one. It’s like the NY Metropolitans being shortened to the Mets.

Heaney pitched well today but it was against Minnesota. He got lit up by the Yankees, Boston, and Oakland in previous starts. Eaton, in his postgame interview talked about Heaney having great stuff. It’s too bad Heaney doesn’t believe it. If the lead off batter in an inning gets on base you can just see by his body language that he feels like he’s in trouble. Heaney is what he is. He’s 6 games below .500 as a starting pitcher and has an ERA that’s increased every year in the last 4 years. He’s at best a 4, most likely a 5 starter who consistently struggles to get through 4 innings. We now have options to take his place that have the ability to be better. A restart with a competent pitching coach on another team could be good for him but he’s probably looking at a 1 year contract with a team option for year 2.

The timing of all this makes Minasian’s decisions easier regarding the trade deadline. Bring up Detmers and Rodrigues, trade Heaney, release or trade Buddy, release or trade Claudio, bring up Barria. Trade Raicel only if there is really good return. Bring up the best relief pitcher we have in SLC. Then, let’s see what we have for 2022 with a fully functional offense backing them up. I would be hard pressed to think it would be worse than what we have now….

I’m deviating from the original question, but first and foremost Wise needs to be gone as pitching coach. Maddon is the manager and has to defend some of his baffling bullpen usage, but I would think much of that comes from input from Wise. I’m sure Maddon has a pretty good list of potential pitching coaches. Callaway at the time was a great hire - too bad they didn’t know about the skeletons in his closet.

But he went to Anaheim High School which means you add 100 points to his BA making him a .290 hitter. What pisses me off is they talk about him like he’s some type of success, a real “feel good” story.

Kind of like Heaney…

Heaney is the biggest pussy on the mound. If he suffers any type of adversity, he folds right up. Doesn’t battle, just surrenders….

I think Matt V’s point was FU Pujols....

Props to Minasian for pulling the trigger on this one. Albert is a 1st ballot HOFer but he’s been an anchor to this team for a few years.

Eppler totally lost me with the Ausmus hire. It seemed all about getting “his boy” into the role so that he could feed him data. The Madden hire was Arte’s call and Eppler had no say - at least that’s what I think. That’s when I believe Artie started to lose confidence. Eppler always seemed like a good Assistant GM type, but good GM’s have to be willing to take some risks. I don’t think that was part of his make up.

The good thing is that we still have Gubi. Any smart PbP guy will leverage him as much as possible because he always comes off as knowledgeable and likable and doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Wow!! A big time hire. However, I don’t like the Mota addition. Rather see just Matt and Gubi.