DCAngelsFan

Glancing at Fangraphs pretty much bears out your thinking - his most effective pitch is the change, the sinker and curve are actually a bit below average - but the curve has improved as an effective pitch. He throws the change about 20% of the time - I mean, it's not a pitch you can throw every time and be effective, but could probably work it in a few more times a game in leverage counts. In a way, I'm fairly happy with our starters - provided they stay, well, *you know* - the worst-case coming in could have been a debacle - relatively healthy, the team will stay in contention throughout - not gonna run away, but we'll be in the mix, pending some move(s).

Heaney - but I LOL'd at Trout's shot coming off the bat - I could almost hear him thinking "Shove *that* up your azz, Showalter" - you keep intentionally walking him, you know he's building up steam ... What's the deal with statcast? Distance of NaN? Dunno about 524 feet - but it was on par with Trumbo's bomb up in Oakland a few years back.

And to "Pujols was terrible (as an Angel)" soon ...

Hmm, pretty sure "Global Thermonuclear War" happens in that timeline ... You know, maybe if we win a World Series, he'll decide he wants to go out "on top" (ahem), and may retire for 80% of his remaining salary. But even that's unlikely - he'll probably want to play as long as there are milestones within reach.

This. It's not spectacular-looking - but with that late break, it just disappears under the bat - hard to make contact with and all-but-impossible to do anything with. If he can reliably command it like tonight, maybe throw it more than 10% of the time. But what do I know, was a great outing - was a little nervy in the first inning, but after that, was in command - very pleased to see.

Not to mention, if you subtract his impact on the A's, they're going to look incrementally even better relative to other teams. Khris Davis, for example, has an overall .338 OBP - but his OBP is .368 if you remove his 6 AB's against Ohtani.

Mikes teams typically outperform their Pythagorean expectation - I mean, that's hardly definitive - but if he consistently underperformed, I'm sure people would be quick to bring it up ad nauseum. His in-game management used to be rigid and old-school and drove everyone crazy sometimes. Now, I find his decision-making to be pretty sensible - for example, his use of the bullpen, he seems to be better at using relievers at high-leverage points in the game, and not simply some formulaic approach like "setup guy in the 9th, closer in the 9th". The thing I've always given him credit for is keeping a clubhouse loose and functioning throughout the season - if there's clubhouse turmoil, we don't see it on the field. There are probably some managers that would do better with this club's talent - but a *lot* more managers who'd do worse. And we don't always know in advance which is which. Who are you certain will get more out of this team than Mike? A Mike deserves to go out on his own terms - if he's forced out, especially if this is a good season, can't help but think the players would rebel.

Did Platte River Networks do that "maintenance"?? Personally, I never trust a tech who carries a hammer in his toolbelt, but that's just me ...

Aren't like 6 of their top 20 prospects still playing in Little League? Effin' Dipoto ...

In a sense, it was the same for me - I mean, I didn't know Nick, had followed him with a little extra interest, since he was from this part of the country, drafted by "my" team, but there was no personal connection. And when I watched him pitch that night, I celebrated a bit - a kid with so much promise, who *everyone* said was a great kid, overcoming that early surgery, and finally touching that dream we all had as kids, and showing the promise we all hoped was there - was a great night to be an Angels fan. And when I heard the first rumor - of a car accident involving an young Angels player, and that it looked really bad, I somehow knew it was Nick. As details leaked out, I hoped for awhile that he'd survived, though it was clear from the description his career would be over - but turned out, the severely injured survivor was his friend, and that Nick and the others had already passed. I don't know why it hit me so hard, but it did, imagining his father seeing him start - then hours later, getting that early-morning call that's every parents secret nightmare. That's what really hurt - imagining his parents, seeing their son realize his dream, the ultimate joy of a parent, then experiencing the unimaginable cruelty of having it all ripped away just hours later in a senseless act. It was devastating. Weaver keeping Nick's memory alive the way he has is one of the most touching and respectful things I've seen in baseball. They say a person dies twice - once, when they draw their last breath. And once when their name is spoken for the last time. Safe to say Nick's memory will remain alive for many years to come.

All about the years - if it's 1 year, I sign Kershaw *and* Harper. Harper would probably be the better investment - he's much younger, plays every day, and less likely to suffer some precipitous decline in performance. Of course, realistically, we can't afford him - Pujols remains on the payroll ... But imagine if the Dodgers fall apart and well ut of the race, and are willing to trade Kershaw as a rental, fully expecting to re-sign him as a FA. What would you give up for a half-season of him (assuming we're in the playoff hunt?)

I like it - but only for the reason that I've already got nice seats for the 7/1 game in Ballmer, and watching him pitch would be frosting on that cake. Not into team jerseys, but may be worth it to get an Ohtani jersey just to irritate the Orioles fans (of course, those sections are usually full of Millville Trout fans, anyway.)

The only way you can even begin to think about Harper is if Albert retired - negotiated or outright. Blowing thru the luxury tax for Harper with GRich, Otani, and Trout all needing extensions while still paying Pujols the equivalent of a doctors annual salary for every hit he gets just doesn't seem feasible - the penalties get too high. (but I'd definitely hope to do like the Marlins - sign him to a monstrous contract, then trade him after 3 years so someone else can eat the out years of his contract.)

Didn't like the trade at the time, 'cause didn't think we really were ready to compete - I think I used some metaphor at the time, like we're getting shiny new rims for a car whose engine had blown up. And I loved Saunders - his reaction to the trade was a bit heart-breaking - but he wasn't that great, and Corbin and Skaggs have taken a long time to get anywhere (I was really high on Skaggs from when he was drafted - only now is he showing signs of what I thought he could be.) Absent the Wells trade, and making a better move instead - which would have included doing "nothing" - Napoli had real trade value, and we just gave him away in what I still think was the worst trade in baseball history. So, maybe Haren could've put us over the top after that first half-season - with a better move other than Wells. So, maybe not as terrible a trade as I thought at the time. Still pointless, though.

I'd rather listen to the mentally ill homeless guy shouting incomprehensible obscenities at all the douche-beards standing in line in the DC Whole Foods store in their skinny jeans, all pretending to be deaf. No seriously, I would.

Definitely one of the better-written and plotted series ever - the dialog was brilliant - iirc, HBO was a bit frustrated with Milch and cost overruns - apparently, he was always late with scripts, so shooting days got extended, etc. And I guess he was also committed to that "John from Cincinnati" series. Sounds like they're really super-serious this time about shooting a Deadwood movie. Dunno - I mean, have you seen Earl Brown on Preacher? He played Dan - no way he carries that character anymore - now he just looks old and fat. And Powers Booth is dead. Carnivale was .... interesting - actually, it kept me hooked, they created a pretty interesting universe there, and I stayed with it to see where it was going. And then, whack, it was cut-off.

Cobb's off the market - http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22849672/alex-cobb-agrees-baltimore-orioles-four-year-deal-worth-close-60-million Not that I wanted him - fading stats and draft compensation. But funny/sad when if he's a total bust by contract end, he'll only" earn/cost $15m - such a deal compared to ...

The context of the statement was pitcher "health"" So, to me, he's saying if we (continue to) have health issues from our starters, and have to dig deeper into the barrel, the defense will help them. Not a slight on our front 5 or 6.

I assumed that when they said he was "fearless", that meant he wasn't afraid to plunk batters... On the plus side, he hasn't really killed anyone. But that 10 BB/9 and WHIP over "2" doesn't really have me thinking "Mortal Lock for the All-Star team" either ...

I thought he was a decent fit before we got Kinsler; now it comes down to him or Cowart - I just don't see the value here, when we're so close to the salary threshold. I mean, picking him up for a bargain basement contract for utility/insurance would be good for us - but I think he deserves and will get better.

I see what you did there ...

Eh, I get what he's saying, and I agree, I think there's a bit of benefit to the Arte and Scioscia approach, a little more familial and personable - I think Mike runs a pretty good clubhouse, keeps players loose and even-keeled - that's all goodness. But, I mean, it's a business - does he really think the rest of us can go into, say, Google, and tell them "yeah, my coding skills are for crap - but I'm a people person, people like me, so yeah, I expect top dollar?" You can't expect to be paid in a way that puts you in the top 0.001% of the population, and not expect teams to try to understand your potential value to their bottom line and to do their best to limit your costs and risks to them. But as a negotiating tactic, not sure a GM calling up a FA and telling them they suck is very effective ...

Relievers are such a volatile commodity - I wouldn't invest much in any but the elite. The penalties (2d pick and intl money) are enough to say "pass" at most any realistic contract amount. His disastrous August might mean he's out of work until the draft - at which point, I'm back in.

Don't really understand the idea of releasing him - what you suggest is the only way this can play out. It's not like we have Lou Gehrig stuck in the minors, blocked by Pujols. So, the only reason I see to release him is if we're trying to save some back-end money, and outrighting him pretty much guarantees he'll collect his money - all of it. If he does poorly, then that conversation you mention will give him an opportunity to go out on his own terms, without suffering the indignity of sitting on the bench for 2 or 3 years. Do that farewell tour, then retire, or work out a release settlement that saves us some money. Which he won't have to accept - but to save him the humiliation of riding the bench 162, or being "cut", there may be some room there. I don't think he'd ever actually retire without a settlement - there's way too much money on the table for that. The escalating pay was an obvious mistake from day 1 - he was already in decline when we signed him, everyone knew he'd be a disaster in the out years, and back-loading the contract encourages him to bitter-end it.

Sure, that's why Weaver elected free agency and went to play for the Yankees, to grab every last dollar on the table ... How soon we forget. I'm sure the there are half a dozen teams that are keenly aware of when Mike is to be a FA, probably a poster on some baseball execs wall, and are making decisions today to make sure they can compete for him then. We don't have much leverage with him - he's already going to make enough money to keep him and his family wealthy for life. Probably the *best* thing we can do is to build a team that has a chance to compete for the post-season every year, and has guys around him that makes spending every day with for more than half the year enjoyable to him. But what financial leverage we have will drip away every day, and there will come a point - maybe we're there now, or maybe it comes next year - where he decides he can just wait to see what the open market offers him, see what he's worth, that it's worth the increasingly small risk of a career-ending or limiting injury.