WeatherWonk

Didn't the Angels say a few days ago that Harvey would be pitching today? Is that still the plan? EDIT: Oops, lost track of the day of the week. Happens all the time in retirement. I LOVE THAT!!!

Depends on where he signs, if you are using simply ERA. Angel pitchers pitch in a lot of pitcher friendly parks. An easy prediction to make.

How many games did the Phils gain?

Has Fangraphs updated their 2019 predictions for teams, since the Harper signing? They show the Phils still four games behind the Nats. Or will they wait until the the signing becomes "official", whatever that is in this age of social media.

Too soon to tell much of anything, but the hitting by the youngsters is encouraging. Still, pitchers (on all teams) are working on pitches they havent mastered, and many of those end up near the middle of the plate. I really start paying attention to how hitters and pitchers do in the last ten days of ST. That seems to be when the pitchers really start cutting loose. It's the starters last two "starts" before the season opens.

There's no way Harper's defense is worse than Upton's, is there? I dont trust defensive metrics much.

Not sure how small to mid market the Denver Metro area is. 2.8 mil and increasing by about 2%/year. BIG corporate headquarters town. Can also draw on Ft. Collins and Colo Springs which is another 800K.

That's a great view, no doubt. But 99.9 percent of baseball fans go to see what's on the field. Non-baseball fans might go ONCE to see the view...........maybe. Maybe not with a seat, a beer and a hot dog pushing 50 bucks at many stadiums. Especially in SF.

Yeah, I've always gone to baseball games for the view OUTSIDE the stadium. Doesn't everyone?

Well, the next Verlander doesnt come along very often. He has established a relationship with HInch and the Astros NOW. If he has another great season and is willing to take a reasonable offer, why not bring him back? Cole is much younger and will want many more years, so he'll be much more expensive. Besides, the Astros have some guys just hitting the bigs now that could be a cost-effective replacement for Verlander or Cole. Not as dominant, right away, of course. Valdez, Whitley (who pitched two perfect innings today), James. Probably 2 years away are Corbin Martin and Bryan Abreu. Now, if the Astros win the WS again, maybe they just let him walk and concentrate on the future. Or maybe they look at the rest of the AL West to see how far they've progressed and see if he is even needed to win the division again.

So, now he has a shit load of money. He can now choose, as he most consistently says in any talk about his future, a winning organization. The Angels are trying, no doubt. Problem is, it looks like Houston will prevent them from most PROBABLY being anything but a WC team through 2020. Tough row to hoe, these days. The NL East is going to be wide open by 2021. I agree with Jars. I think he would be more emphatic about wanting to play here, if he was emphatic about playing here. Mebbe he has an agent muzzle on. I cant see how that would stop him from being effusive about being out here on the West Coast. But you just dont hear it. And he spends all his time back east, when he has a choice.

Then the MLBTR chart is wrong? Or is there more not shown.

Possibly big news that could pertain to Trout signing an extension here, instead of the Yankees. Yanks sign their current CF to a long extension, well past 2021. At least contractually, their outfield is set for a while, assuming they would chance playing Stanton out there much. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/02/yankees-extend-aaron-hicks.html

Doh! Rookie mistake. Thanks for the maturely-delivered information, Doc.

A bit of a fudge. They will pay Altuve 26 mil next year. An extra four mil buys a lot, suddenly. But floplag's numbers are off, too, as the article points out that the Astros are only paying Verlander 20 mil this year. 8 mil is paid by Detroit. So their freed up money is off by 8 mil.. For both the Astros and the Angels, 2019 is the year to find out if kids can replace expensive arb and impending FA players, going forward. The Astros will lose more players but still retain many good players.

Well, at least he doesnt have a thousand innings on his arm since Little League.

Strange baserunner interference call in the Angels favor. Rengifo charged another chopper, ball goes off his glove and as he goes back to retrieve it, he moves into the running path of the Reds baserunner. Geez, tough to avoid that as a baserunner. Rengifo attempted to field it in front of 2nd base and basically knocked it into the basepath.

Nice short hop by Ward at third, charging in on a Baltimore chop. Double clutch throw cost him.............but Trammel is incredibly fast.

How many pitches did Ryan throw that inning. Seemed like long counts on everyone.

Wow, this new PIP function on MLB.tv is pretty cool. You can even quad split.

I can hardly get the mlb.com site to load today. That's usually my link to audio or video. Anyone else, or is it just me and my connection? All other sites seem normal.

Heard on AW that Adell was DFAed after two ABs yesterday.

MLBTR, in their continuing look at the payroll of all the clubs, got around to the Astros this week. The article has lots of nuts and bolts and even makes some predictions. A fair amount of speculation about them landing Harper, though this was before the "latest", never-ending rumor cycle about Harper and the Phillies. Kind of an out of left field speculation to me, with regards to Harper. Yes, they almost traded for him at the non-waiver deadline last year..........could they be the latest "mystery team" supposedly in on Harper? It also addresses the outlook of ownership on salaries; based on what Crane has said over the past few months. Unfortunately, the article didnt really address the potential of when Whitley and Tucker might fit in, though it did mention them. And there's really no mention of the possibility of extending Verlander and/or Cole; which the owner or GM has talked about recently. But these articles really address existing contracts more than anything. They should be very strong again this year, of course, but should be considerably weaker in 2020. While their offense should remain solid, they could potentially lose Verlander, Cole, Pressly, Joe Smith (injured right now), Rondon, Miley, McHugh and Harris. Basically, their vaunted bullpen would be reduced to Osuna and Devenski. Of potential starters, they would presumably have Peacock, James, Whitley, Valdez. This is what the AL West is up against. Have a read. Have a take. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/houston-astros

Been listening on radio. Has the new 20 sec clock been an issue at all? What happens if it is violated by the pitcher? By the batter?

OMG. Cowart is back in the Angels fold. Possibly as a pitcher.