TroutField

I dunno but the Dodgers really should stop wasting this once in a generation talent. It's a disgrace for them to waste his services by losing to the Padres. Hey this is now kind of fun 😄😄

I don't think we talk enough about how good a signing Abreu was for the Angels.

It's a fun story to see from the outside but I doubt anything will come of it punishment wise to Ohtani unfortunately 

One thing is for certain, MLB is not going to let it's golden boy nor it's favorite franchise go up in flames without a serious fight.
Ohtani is lucky he isn't on the Angels.  He'd have been Bauered by now.

It was staring us in the face the entire time…
 
Did You Know…?
     In 1893 Tungsten Arm O’Doyle was suspended from the Cairo, IL Irish Beaters for betting on baseball. Later that same year he was arrested for having a donkey sleeping in his bathtub after 7:00pm.

No idea what's up, but the obstacle MLB has to overcome and the likely reason why the 180 turn from Ohtani's camp is this....  MLB's CBA prohibits players from making bets or using illegal bookies.
 
 

I am chatting with my friend who is at the game in South Korea. She said Ohtani got some boos

Ippei still owes me $20 for his March Madness bracket pool picks.  He better pay up 

Jose Mota interviewing Shoehei as a Dodger feels like such a slap in the face somehow haha 

Damn all I hoped for was a down season for Shohei.  didn’t manifest being implicated in a massive sports betting ring. 
 
I’ll take it!! 

Jose Mota interviewing Shoehei as a Dodger feels like such a slap in the face somehow haha 

I wonder who Ohtani will use as his interpreter at his FBI interview.  

I manifested this whole reality by drafting Ohtani in the first round. You're welcome.

So the gist is Ippei went from saying Ohtani covered his debt to Ohtani's camp saying he was the victim of major theft.

I blame the Angels... the Angel games were so boring last year, Ippei had to find an outlet.

I mean there's no fucking way Ohtani didn't know about this. Like, come on. 
Manfred gonna try so hard to sweep this under the rug.

How the fuck did Ippei have access to “millions” of Ohtani’s money without Shohei knowing? This is fucking weird. 

I mean, maybe not Arte, but with the Angels’ luck wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if as more emerges the Angels somehow still wind up looking bad. 

No.  Is saying dumb shit about players your only hobby?  

This was the only point I was making. I had no clue it was going to blossom into this huge conversation.
 
Arte started to meddle with the player personnel decisions rather than letting the smart baseball people run it. (Stoneman and Scioscia) Arte would have been a terrific owner if he hired the best President, GM, and Manager talent and funded whatever they wanted. Thats essentially what Dodgers’ ownership group does with Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office. 

Always good to be coming to the conclusion that you don't have a real leadoff hitter one week before the regular season begins.

Get him on a steady diet of bananas and vagisil stat! 

Bro, you could make a comment about liking McDonald's egg McMuffins and it will turn into some inane argument about Arte, Rendon, or some other Angels hot topic if for no other reason because the entire fan-base; die-hards and bandwagon types alike are frustrated with the team and looking to vent. People are antsy AF, and yet the fan-base has probably never been more united on a lot of things, mostly that things need change. 
You say Arte could have been a great owner had he hired a great GM ect.. That's part of the frustration, most everyone here either remembers when or lived through the era of Angels baseball were they were considered an elite team with one of the best front offices in baseball so the current shit show is even more annoying. I seriously have come to wonder if part of why Stoneman retired was due his having grown weary of Arte trying to interfere.  It's not like he wasn't out in front with his opinions in those days too, the dude loved Tejada, openly sang his praises to the point where the A's at one point had the Angels looked at for potential tampering charges. Most of MLB believed the Angels would be all over him and yet when they had the chance Stoneman said nope -- we have a couple guys we like.  
For whatever reasons, Stoneman managed to keep Arte in check...  it's been very different ever since.  IMO, Arte went off the rails the winter Reagins showed up late to the winter meetings.  It's been stupid ever since.
 

This was the only point I was making. I had no clue it was going to blossom into this huge conversation.
 
Arte started to meddle with the player personnel decisions rather than letting the smart baseball people run it. (Stoneman and Scioscia) Arte would have been a terrific owner if he hired the best President, GM, and Manager talent and funded whatever they wanted. Thats essentially what Dodgers’ ownership group does with Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office. 

Yeah, that was IMO again Bill Stoneman.  Stoneman had to have been a difficult guy to bargain with, he essentially drew a line in the sand and wouldn't cross it.  I think his tendency to know when to say "no", is why Arte didn't try his usual BS on him.  
The thing that set Stoneman aside from the guys that followed him was his absolute commitment to the farm system. People forget or maybe just don't know how much money Stoneman dumped into the system -- he consistently spent first round money on guys taken in the middle of the draft and on draft and follow types. Mark Trumbo was taken in the 18th round because of signability concerns and a college commitment to USC. Nick Adenhart was taken in the 14th or 15th round after having been considered a potential 1-1 pick. Adenhart's selection raised eyebrows because he had gone down to Tommy John surgery in HS but Stoneman convinced the family that his best shot at making a full recovery was to have him be taken care of by the Angels medical staff.  Weaver, Adenhart, Trumbo were all taken in 2004.   
Stoneman swung and missed on other guys but at least they tried. Chris Davis, Buster Posey, Kyle Hendricks, Brian Matusz, Matt Harvey, Brandon Morrow, were all HS guys Stoneman attempted to throw money at, as were touted college FB guys Patrick White and Jake Locker. Some have attempted to lay the blame on Arte for not allowing him to offer more, but the reality is Stoneman was able to take more of those risks and offer more under Arte than he had at any point under Disney.
Stoneman is the single most impactful person in Angels history other than the guy that set out to get the radio rights to an expansion team and ended up a MLB owner.