fanfromday1

"After this off-season they will only be drinking, and showering in, champagne." One can only hope.

I don't think there is any one team that could/would offer the Angels a package of players that would compensate for Ohtani's loss to the Angels. I believe that it would take at least a three or even a four team trade to accomplish that. And trades like that are really complicated.

If the Angels want to attract and sign good pitching they really need to get a quality pitching coach. Matt Wise was once a very beloved Angel player, but his name is not one that is going to attract any high end Free-Agent pitchers to want to come here.

At least the Wizard gave someone a brain. Congratulations on a great season Ohtani. Looking forward to you showing off your fantastic talents again in 2022.

The Angels aren't stupid enough (at least I hope they aren't) to just let Ohtani walk at the end of his contract.

One solution that everyone seems to be avoiding is - if Ohtani feels that this team isn't a winning organization, why don't the Angels trade him while his trade value is in the stratosphere? I'm sure he would bring back a boatload of prospects or even a couple of quality arms. (not that I'm in favor of that scenario).

If we do sign a TORS this year who are some of the pitchers who will be Free Agents after next year that other teams may be willing to trade off early? Someone who would make a solid #2 or #3 starter for us. Do you think someone like - Sale, Eovaldi, Gray, Clevinger could be a possibility in some kind of off-season trade?

Back on Sept. 11, 2001 I was still teaching school. I was watching the news on TV that morning and was just about to leave home when the first, and then the second plane hit the Twin Towers. I gradually realized that this was developing into one of those historic events that everyone would remember for years to come. Kind of like Pearl Harbor or the JFK assassination. So I put a video tape in the recorder and set it for eight hours of recording time. Then I grabbed the second TV out of the den and took it to school so my students and I could watch it in the the classroom. (back then you didn't need a cable box to watch TV). During the day my classroom was full of not only students, but also other teachers who came in on their free period to watch and get up-dates on the disaster. Many of the office staff, including the Principal and Deans stopped by as well. They all lined up against the back wall. Apparently, outside of the library, I had the only TV on campus that day. I made it a point, in each class, to ask all in attendance (students as well as the adults) for their thoughts at that current moment. Most of the answers I got back were just the expected prayers of sadness or how this event just instantly tore families apart. But some of the answers I got back were answers that I didn't even expect. Some of the replies were that they feared that there were still planes in the air that were headed to the Los Angeles area (our location) to strike more targets. Several of the students had relatives, or friends, who lived in the New York area and they were worried about them. Many questions were about whether or not we would be going to War with whoever committed this horrible attack. There were also several debates as to whether they themselves would jump out of a window or wait for possible rescue if they were trapped in the towers. I was so glad that there were other adults in my classroom that day, because there was no way that I was prepared for some of the questions or replies that were being thrown at me. I was just as confused at some of the happenings of that day as everyone else. I have visited both of the 9/11 and Pearl Harbor Memorials over the last several years. Maybe, because it was more of a current event, the 9/11 Memorial seemed like a much more somber or reverent site. But visitors at both locations were highly respectful and thoughtful, many leaving flowers or other mementos. Oh yea, remember that eight hour VHS tape that I said that I tossed in the recorder that morning before I left for school? I still have it, but to this day (20 years) I have never watched it.

I hope the whole Yankee team steps over the 1st base foul line and eventually disappear like Moonlight Graham did. Damn Yankees!

No one. Maddon uses the shift so much that we seldom need a 'SS'. Hell, it seems like the whole infield is on the left side of 2nd base for one batter and then the right side of 2nd base for the next batter. Why spend 20+ million on a '$$' (abbreviation for expensive 'SS') when all we need to do is play a 'Rover' like they do in some softball leagues.

Heaney is a Free-agent at the end of the year, so it's still possible that the Angels could resign him. No, they wouldn't do that to us would they?

Mike Trout made his debut 10 years ago today, July 8, 2011. Read what he's accomplished in that time. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/10-years-of-mike-trout-celebrating-10th-anniversary-of-angels-stars-mlb-debut-with-10-incredible-stats/

Ditmers arrives and becomes our #2 starting pitcher, right behind our off-season signing of a top Free Agent pitcher.

I remember back in the 60's, and 70's, when they use to have pitching duals between the best pitchers in the MLB that wouldn't end at the end of the 5th inning. I miss those old pitching duals where the starting pitchers pitched deep into games, occasionally even well into extra innings, sometimes 14 or 15 innings or more. They sometimes threw well over 200 pitches in those game. In 1963 Spahn (227 pitches) vs. Marichal (201 pitches) matched up in a 16 inning game that the Giants won 1-0. Both pitchers went all the way. Nolan Ryan, when he was an Angel, often threw over 200 pitches in a game too. In todays game it's almost considered a quality start if the pitcher can get into the 5th inning and throw less than 80 pitches.

It's never to early to start building for next season. I agree with what jsnpritchett said above: