DCAngelsFan

We're doing everything virtually now - we could pipe the audio in from all the virtual fans watching and ... ... omg, that's a terrible idea, never mind. It'd be like twitter out loud - no one wants to hear *that* ... If it happens, I'd hope mlb.tv will broadcast the games for no or reasonable cost ...

Personally, I'm kind of used to working at home, so guess I'm better equipped than some extroverts to deal with this. But on the other hand, I always had lots of outside activities to compensate for being alone all day - and that's been shut down. The problem is many of our existing structures and habits don't work anymore - our routines are upset. And many of us feel a kind of ennui because we're used to going/doing all the time - and can't do that right now. Those upsets can cause depression. Personally, I miss my gym routine - with no equipment, I can't replicate much of it here. And the classes I went to were a kind of social thing, too - never realized how much 10 minutes of chatting with 'gym-friends' meant to me. But exercise, fresh air, sun are all good things - do that every day. (Seriously - a lot of us will become vitamin d deficient - that's not good, at all - may want to supplement that.) Routines and structure help, too. Comfort eating isn't good in the long run. I find a certain zen pleasure in planting some vegetables and herbs, getting a garden going, and baking sourdough bread and the like (wish I'd had the foresight to get some home brewing supplies.) There are many organic communities that have sprung up over zoom to do things like yoga, meditation, mindfulness, church services, etc - some people are finding some comfort in these if only to talk to and see people. Heck, you could hold a virtual baseball happy hour or what have you. People *miss* that interaction. Ben Gibbard had been doing a daily 1-hour home concert from his home - take advantage of stuff like that. Oh, and turn off the damn news once in awhile. I think it's also helpful to not stress over what you're not doing - I know some asshole is gonna tell us how they finished their PhD in quantum physics and learned 3 new languages while locked-in - not gonna feel guilty about stuff I haven't done or won't do. This will pass. Make sure you're here to enjoy the other side.

I know it's obvious - but there's a *lot* of travel in baseball - teams flying in and out of cities, potentially being exposed and then carriers again will be discouraged. It could be managed - but it could be an expensive complication. I mean, this could burn itself out in a month or two, (to manageable levels, at least), or maybe it evolves into a less serious cold-like virus, or maybe there's a treatment protocol that knocks the complication rate down to some reasonable number, say less than 2%, with a flu-like death rate of like 0.1%, or maybe someone waves a damn magic wand ... But I digress... my answer is "too early to know - ask again in a month" As for no fans? Hard to imagine the point of baseball played with no live fans. Then again, hard to imagine all that's happened in the last few weeks ...

Bonds' late 30's spike:

Well said. I didn't like the Haren trade at the time for that reason - on its face, some still argue it was a successful trade, but it was ill-timed - we needed to start a minor re-building, and certainly weren't close enough to trade away so much young pitching. The org was in denial. That trade didn't cause the disastrous Wells trade, or the squandered opportunity that was the 2010 draft, or other mistakes that followed like Hamilton. But, as you said, the org mind-set was stuck in the past, because we came so close. (the 2010 draft was simply Eddie Bane reverting to the mean.) But there are times you just have to step back, let go of the angst over coming so close, and realize you're no longer "1 player away" but now 3 or 4 or 5 and going "all in" is foolish.

But saying "kosher" is offensive, probably.

Yes, I hear that, rather than working on a vaccine for COVID-19, we're going to spend our time renaming diseases like the Spanish flu, Ebola, Rift Valley fever, Lassa Fever, Lyme Disease, Marburg, Ebola Reston, West Nile, and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever to more socially conscious and inoffensive names, because naming them after where they were discovered is extremely offense. (oops - also, "offensive") PETA also wants swine flu renamed b/c it's specieist. No word yet on what they plan to do about the Black Death.

Very skeptical after an injury and surgery like that - very few pitchers return, at all, and the number that have returned to their former selves probably stands at "zero." Give him a try-out, sure - should look under every rock - you never know. But odds are, he's done at the ML level.

Generally, I'd think it's PRP (platelet rich plasma) and/or BMA (bone marrow aspirate) - both are "biological", are drawn from the patient's own body, and can reduce inflammation and initiate healing. (I think PRP has shown better results than BMA.) There's also Stem Cell therapy, like GRich tried - which failed - also a biologic, drawn from the patient's body, but different from PRP and BMA - it's still pretty much in the early stages and not clear if there's much of a track record treating pitchers this way. But the fact they use "biologic" instead of the commonly-recognized PRP tells me it's a little different - perhaps PRP + stem cells? Like someone said, this kinda feels worse than if he'd torn the ligament and needed a TJ - that has a lot of data and a known trajectory. This could be an owie or a career-ender - and we can't tell the difference from here.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27552453 https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-prp-treatment-aids-elbow-injuries.html So 10-12 weeks to return to play, maybe. The bothersome thing here is it's not like he's worn-out from throwing 200 innings - he threw "2". I don't know what the issue is - but honestly, it sound like the docs don't know either - "I dunno what it is - let's try PRP - can't hurt!" Afaid this sounds like future bar talk fodder "Hey, remember that pitcher the Angels had, looked like he was gonna be really good, but his elbow spontaneously combusted - remember him? What was his name again?"

Hi playoff performance that year was depressing. Before that, I *knew* he was coming to the Angels - I felt like he wanted to play here, he was just a perfect fit, and playing for KC, I felt he was actually a bit underrated. Then he got traded to Houston and went nuts in the post-season and suddenly *everyone* wanted him. And my feeling that he wanted to play for the Angels? Probably wishful thinking - throughout his career, he's shown he really wanted to play in NY (I mean, he chose the Mets - no one chooses to play for the Mets.) So, I'm not sure we could've ever really had him. But damn, imagine what our next 5 years might've looked like with him and Vlad in our outfield - another ring or two was in reach ... I tell myself "yeah, but we wouldn't have been able to draft Trout if we'd signed Beltran..."

Dr: " Well, Grffin, I've got good news and news and bad news ..." "Naw, who am I kidding, it's all bad news ... "

Yeah, either a high-end college starting pitcher - a no-doubt pitcher who projects to a #1 or #2 and who can contribute in a couple of years - or a high-ceiling position player, college or high school, even take a flyer on a hs player like Jordan. High school pitchers taken high in the draft rarely live up to their hype, but hs position players can sometimes be a steal.

You know, last night, I went thru some draft histories to try and characterize just how freakin' difficult and random it can be, sometimes, to draft, develop, and most importantly, "keep" that unicorn, the "ace" pitcher - I had charts and graphs and everything - but forgot to post it. Now that I see the conversation has moved on to "assbirths" , I erased it all ... (truth be told, there were no graphs, and the site seemed to lose what I wrote overnight - but I like this version of the story better)

Awesome ballsy response. I like it. Except, he sure says "shit" a lot ...

When he arrived, our farm was described as a laughingstock - the worst anyone had seen. In fact, this is what Keith Law had to saw in Feb '16 about it (Eppler was hired after the '15 season) His first draft, in 2016, we picked 16th - not exactly where you find team-changing talent - he took Thaiss - which may seem unexciting, but he does have the highest WAR of any 1st rounder that year (a couple of comp round guys did better) In 2017, he got Adell with the 10th pick, and in 2018, Jordyn Adams with the 17th pick. Those are two of the most intriguing players I've seen come along in a *long* time. Compare that to the 2010 draft. Yeah, I want better. But he walked into a wasteland - after the 2015 season, I took a look around, and thought I should just stop following the Angels entirely, that it was all downhill from there, and there was nothing, not a single reason to believe it could get better for a long, long time. No talent, no money to spend, no international scouting, no avalanche of high draft picks. He hasn't been a magician - but considering he had little but ashes to work with when he got here, he's done well. It could be worse. Dipoto could still be ruining, er, "running" things...

Another side thought - we might be looking at a new GM next season. If the Angels tank this season, he, by all accounts, won't be renewed. (which would be a mistake - he's done well given the constraints - the real question is, who's gonna do better?) But even if we do well, decent chance he bolts for a long-term deal elsewhere, anyway - Arte's hot breath on his neck and making a fool of him won't sit well. He'll take an extension if there's no better offers - MLB GM is a sweet gig. But if Cashman or Rizzo or someone decides it's time to retire, and offer him a multi-year deal, well ... I give it a 60% chance he won't be back next season.

I've never seen a speliing or grammar correction on the internet that didn't include a grammer/spelling mistake of its own. Achilles' heel.

That might be the only salvation - we don't truly know what the Dodgers were asking, so can tell ourselves they wanted Adell and Marsh as the "two prospects" to comfort ourselves. The alternative is that Arte's meddling in player decisions puts him in the same league as Loria, Angelos, and Dan Snyder. Blowing up a great deal for no reason other than "he mad" is pre-suspension-Steinbrenner behavior - and casts a new light on this club's previous disastrous decisions like Hamilton, Wells, and GMJ.

Wait 'til he finds out he's been traded to Detroit ... ... which is like going from Chili's to the Golden Bucket All-you-can-eat buffet ... ("Ask about our to-go bucket!")

Yeah, the deal as reported makes us better, at least for this season - a Pederson / Goodwin platoon and a hopefully healthy Upton will make us an entertaining offense, at least. And Stripling has a *lot* of upside - if he stays healthy, and can start, he could be a bit of a steal. Depending on the prospect we send back ...

He's just about to turn 23 - I think he's gonna be pretty good. Segura? Hmm - I can actually see that .... I know what you mean - when a Dodgers fan says "we suck", I'm conflicted on whether or not I should agree with them.

Ugh, don't say that. I'm really wanting to see what Marsh and Adams develop into, and a one-year-rental of Pederson and an upside SP with an injury history isn't worth giving up either of them. Yan, I dunno - hard to trade any of our young pitchers.