DCAngelsFan

Remind me again how much money the Angels are paying him to "give back to the game?"

True. But my point is that Arte's personal vibes haven't served the team well in the past - and he needs to stay the eff away from personnel decisions. Leave that to the GM, the manager, and even the players.

Really, that's the only question worth asking - if Washington and/or the players don't want him, it's a dead horse. They have to live with him for 162, we don't - they get the full veto - I respect that. Sure, he's an ass - but newsflash, a *lot* of professional athletes are asses. But If the staff and players are ok with him, under whatever conditions, and think he can help them win, and is willing to sign up to some rules of conduct, sign him. And cut him the instant he acts out. But if this is just Arte saying "no" 'cause he doesn't like him, I can only say, once again, gfy. This isn't Hamilton, who cratered the team with an expensive long-term deal.

What an awesome experience, it'll be 120 degrees, 100% humidity, reek of alcohol flop-sweat (Nashville is worse than Vegas for binge-drinking) and BO, and you just know that someday, someone will be crushed by a falling sheet of polycarbonate ... Nashville is "next" but needs to find a better architect.

Interesting to me is the use of the term "trained" with regards to the model. Applying machine learning in this way is a way to understand "what" happened - but it's a very short step to using models in real-time to make predictive pitch selections - factoring/weighting what the pitcher is good at (that day), what the hitter is bad at, against all pitchers, similar pitchers, and this pitcher, weighing count, pitch sequence, time of day, game situation, his bat speed today, what the last pitch was/result, what the desired outcome is (strikeout, popup, ground ball), what he had for breakfast - so, not static pitch charts, but real-time. If it's not being done yet, it will be soon. Sure, the Luddites will roll their eyes, but this will increasingly be an advantage to those that make use of it, "increasingly" as the models get better, and are fed more data.

I recall that's what he did, and I remember wondering at the time if the team "made good" on what he stole (or even could we?) I know it's a little naive, but I just felt like the right thing for the club in the aftermath would be to pay back what he stole, and to do some public works to help repair our image, like open a new academy or something like. So, I guess my question is, did we do anything like that? Or did we just tuck tail and run?

https://x.com/BACHMAN_SZN/status/1744469803132440749?s=20

This is part of the blowback from Ohtani leaving. When we had Ohtani and Trout, that was the most attractive time for an FA to come to the Angels. If there was ever a time to go all-in, it was before the 2022 season. Now, Ohtani's left, which speaks volumes to every other FA - did you really think Yamamoto or Imanaga was going to go to the no-hope team that couldn't keep Ohtani? They have their pride - no one wants some other guy's reject. We're pretty much a place to get a paycheck when a top-tier team doesn't want you. There are stories about how the Braves and the Dodgers orgs are great places to play, while the Angels is kind of a "meh" place to play - they take care of their players and their families in ways large and small, while we have stories about starving minor leaguers sleeping in their cars. The story pretty much says everything to me https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-04-29/dodgers-owner-anniversary-kasten-magic-mark-walter-colletti-mattingly-kershaw Arte could've lured away every Dodger scout and development guy with McCourt in charge - I said so at the time. He could've bought their development system at fire sale prices. Arte's not cheap - he's just an idiot in what he spends his money on. He's the guy who spends $4000 on custom rims to put on his 1998 Honda Civic with rust spots and a bad transmission.

I was a bit cynical coming into this story, but gotta be impressed with a guy who's come so far on his own - I mean, who gets TJ on their own? I really hope this works out for him - and for the team - I think we both could use a win

At the time, in order (as best as I can remember these): Vladimir Guerrero - he was such a criminally underrated talent, I was psyched we did it, since it appeared we weren't even trying. Shohei Ohtani - so pleased he chose us - said maybe the franchise was going in the right direction ... Rod Carew - I always loved Carew, unconventional and classy, and was happy to see him come over Fred Lynn - Limited by injuries, he still did well for us. Torii Hunter - Hunter was always such a pleasure to watch with the Twins and a great personality Reggie Jackson - Felt over-the-hill, but I under-estimated him he still had some gas in the tank And still, he was Reggie so ... Zack Grienke - thought we gave up too much for him, but ... Bartolo Colon - between him and Vlad, thought we were building something Bobby Grich Mark Teixeira - never much liked him for some reason, but liked his production. Hated him again when he left. Bartolo Colon - between him and Vlad, thought we were building something Mo Vaughn Dan Haren - just felt like the right deal but at the wrong time Mark Langston Nolan Ryan - my memory is kind of fuzzy, here - we gave up a lot for him (I thought) and he sounded intriguing but no more - he quickly became the most interesting player on the team) Anthony Rendon - always had bad vibes about him - living near DC, it was clear to me the club had reservations about him, people should've loved him - but they didn't Albert Pujols - Cardinals fans did a great job of pointing out his quickly declining production before the signing, and I didn't like it. I figured we'd get 3 or 4 good years out of him, then years of regret- turns out that was optimistic - I knew his contract would cripple the team, and the Cardinals seeming so relieved he declined their offer never set well with me Josh Hamilton - Criminal stupidity - weirdly, his stats don't suggest he was a bad player, but I thought he was overrated Adding: GMJ - The best thing about the GMJ signing was the discovery that a casual fan like me could still be smarter than a baseball executive Vernon Wells - I was livid over this - like GMJ, I was astonished to realize just how stupid a baseball organization could be. I no longer remember the number, but did a back of the envelope calc that suggested the Blue Jays needed to send us somewhere between $40m and $60m to make that a fair trade. (don't really recall my reaction to Frank Robinson)

I take it you mean ElAttrache will use this as a scalpel on Yamamoto's first TJ surgery?? Maybe he and Ohtani can share that "Buy 6, get one free" TJ punch card?

What's kinda funny is I noticed "SELL THE TEAM" was trending on Twitter/X last night - I took a look, thinking it was directed to Arte. Outraged Red Sox fans, mostly, with some Detroit Pistons fans, and a few Angels fans, bringing up the rear, appropriately.

I figured this was coming. Next up, they'll sign Hader. Then, they'll buy the biggest billboards they can find near Angels stadium and put Ohtani on them in his Dodger uniform. If I were the Dodgers, that's what *I'd* do.