WeatherWonk

Oh God, not another ceramic-doll pitcher on the roster..............puleeeezzzz!!!

OK, it's Day Three. How bout an injury update? Who went down today?

BTW, what is the "LA Valley", Jon Heyman. Is that the SF Valley, the SG Valley, the Simi Valley? I guess he means the SF Valley, since he went to Chatsworth High. Not sure how much incentive that is for signing with the Angels. If he still has a place out there or his parents still live out there, can you imagine having to drive to and from Chatsworth to Anaheim for night games? Ugh!

Yeah, it would be a one year deal for Moose, with all the control we have over Fletch, Ward, Rengifo, Jones plus two more years of Cozart. But he could be worth it right now. He will likely have a higher OPS+ than any of the others this year. And he could probably play some 1b.

I found this rather interesting (as well as a future predictor?) of where baseball could be going; given the disdain for long-term contracts. From MLBTR. From a payroll perspective, the Twins have zero issues fitting Polanco — or virtually any player in baseball — onto the long-term ledger. Minnesota is the only organization in MLB that doesn’t have a single guaranteed contract on the books for the 2020 season, with the only dollars they’re technically committed to beyond 2019 coming in the form of a $300K buyout on Nelson Cruz’s one-year contract.

Yep. Happens to me every time I click on a different topic or even move to the next page within a topic. The URL of the new destination appears but it doesnt load until I hit reload. Just get a blank white page. Started about 24-48 hours ago. Using latest version of Chrome on a Win 10 laptop. Dont know about mobile devices.

Two days in, two potential starters down................... "You only changed the names on the roster, you bastard, YOU NEVER REMOVED THE BODIES !!!!"

And I thought that Ausmus was now allowing televisions as well as some type of rap jukebox called a Rapsodo.

Little wonder that pitching has become so dominant in the game and Ks and hits are moving in opposite directions, with this type of technology. I really dont see how technology can help the hitter much, to balance this. Yeah, analyzing launch angles exit velocity are moderately interesting stats. But they are more difficult to duplicate than how you throw a baseball. It must be difficult to pick up different spins, as a batter, when they are measured in 1500+ rpm.

Says the hamburger guy to the retiree in Mexico. Did you write the note from him mum in April, saying "Mikey can't play in the big leagues right now, he's sick.But traveling the PCL circuit by bus and plane would be fine for his virus!" He still needed 100 PAs in SLC in 2012, according to someone in the ORGANIZATION. They had an overload in the OF that year. They had salaries they weren't going to sit, without cause. Abreu. Wells. It was a numbers game as much as anything. He came up when they released Abreu in late April.

For sure. And he started 2012 in AAA, after struggling in 2011.

I dont understand how people can think that Ward will be able to break camp and be an option at third, barring an injury setback to either Fletcher or Cozart. The guy actually hit worse in September against September call ups. What could he have done between now and then that would generate this kind of consideration? Even if he has an unbelievable spring (when pitchers are really just working on pitches, not trying that hard to get guys out), the guy starts the season in AAA. He has work to do on his swing, his fielding, etc. Fack et cetera, what else is there, besides those two traits, for a third sacker?

Wow, HOU still with seven in the top 125. And one of them, #98 Joshua James has already pitched well in the bigs.

Eppler's got a good plan; given the uncertainty over the extension of Trout and needing to be ready to throw a bunch of money at him, if he shows a willingness to stay. Heck, it's a good plan for ANY scenario. Always competitive, to a certain extent, with a chance at making the playoffs.

Then again, it's not like you can take your services elsewhere as a player, with comparable compensation. The MLB anti-trust exemption insures this. The media contracts cement it. The owners are holding most of the cards.

Except this pitcher never hits when he's pitching.

I heard on MLB radio this week about a discussion between some baseball writer (didnt catch his/her name) and the former agent-rep-turned-GM for the Mets, Brodie Van Wagenen. Basically, the writer asked him how he could justify taking on Cano's contract, given how back-loaded it was. The writer basically said that it doesnt make any sense; given that Cano is now in the NL and there is no DH. Van Wagenen stated that he expects the DH to be in the NL well before the end of Cano's contract.

It's not "us" that baseball is concerned about reducing the length of games for. They got US. And we aren't increasing enough.

I never realized that Houston is banned from signing extensions for some of their best players, while the Angels are a lock to sign Trout to an extension. Oh yeah, and a pitcher coming off TJ surgery is the "next big thing" the following year. Thankfully, I read AW to learn all this. As someone wise once said, if you're not the lead dog........... We will not be the lead dog even in 2020.

Feinsand is reporting that the Rockies and Arenado are close on a multi-year extension. https://www.mlb.com/news/nolan-arenado-extension-would-have-big-impact/c-303722844

Wow, Lou, that's a good find, good representative image. Nicely done. You are a Pac 8, Pac 10, Pac 12 whiz!

Man, that is so true. Injuries can change everything across 162 games. So can unexpected trades. I realize that predictions and immediate results are the life-blood of baseball analytics and fantasy leagues these days. But it is often a path to disappointment, when random injuries or trades intercede. Let the season come to you; rather that try and "job" the results, beforehand. Seriously, who predicts the results of the stock market, with any degree of accuracy, seven months out? Stocks will move in concert with overall trends in the economy; good or bad. Black swans and outlier results still happen. Baseball teams can live and die by injuries to their team or other injuries within their division. Unexpected signings or trades (like the Astros acquiring Verlander and Cole) can make huge swings in predictions.........or be completely unpredictable at all! Fewer variables than what affects stocks, have great effects in baseball. Regularly successful teams in baseball buy "insurance" against "black swans" (like major injuries), by making sure that they have the depth, or excess in quality, to overcome these occurrences. That's really not the Angel way, lately. Arte is hoping to strike it rich in penny stocks from the farm.

Still to early for this thread. While the Angels may be done, in terms of roster changes, other AL clubs are probably not. The best deals at a swap meet are always in the last hour. And there's still the injuries that can occur in spring training............ Hey, I get that this has been a boring off season for Angel maneuvers or AW topics of SUBSTANCE (excluding the effects of Angel heights, weights and girths, of course!). But the time to make predictions about records is in the final week of ST. You will look the fool, if Trout or Simmons badly sprains an ankle on March 25th.

yeah, really. Once a clock is instituted in any form in baseball, it loses its essence, and what separates it from all the other major sports.

And it will, including the declining number of butts in the seats and eyes on the tube watching baseball, if everything remains the same.