DCAngelsFan

I liked it - the concept was pretty good - the science is almost-believable - and the acting and effects are solid, and yes, it's really more about society's varying reactions to what's happened and relationships between people and groups of people - hardly ever see the "zombies" - people are far more dangerous. (fwiw, I thought the episode with Nick Offerman was really good and touching) I appreciated that many of the episodes have a recap with the showrunner, director, etc, explaining the ideas that informed the episode. It's closed-end, and doesn't have that many episodes - I think it's worth the watch.

https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/ohtani-trout-lacob-moreno-17854204.php

If Ohtani leaves, I can't help but hope he goes to the Padres now

With the US in the final, and Ohtani's draw - yes, Ohtani would out-draw established US stars like Trout for the casual/curious fan - they definitely should've broadcast on the national network - a missed opportunity. But the US ratings will still be closer to the Women's basketball tournament than the Men's. The rating in Japan is another matter entirely - I betcha the tv share there exceeded 50. And if you don't think every other owner in MLB doesn't know that ...

In the SI interview, Arte described walking the field with a particular potential buyer: Seemed like a major journalistic fail - "who was this bidder, and did Arte take him up on it" was the obvious next question. Anyway, Arte telling that story may indicate something of what he's thinking - bringing on additional ownership partners would provide a cash infusion, cash that could be invested in many different ways, like real estate development, stadium building, or improving the organization.

Also - this: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/offseason-in-review-los-angeles-angels-12.html Chat starting now: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/angels-offseason-in-review-chat-15189.html

Ah, you're correct - I thought this was his last arbitration year.

That's not counting the value of the Padres, and his firm is a going concern and he (presumably) gets income from that. I don't know how much income Arte is making - much of his net worth seems to be tied up in the Angels and in those financial papers leaked years ago, he was drawing income out of the Angels suggesting he needs the cash draw to fuel his yacht

$3B - as a guy who made his money in private equity, I don't think he doesn't have a plan, financially speaking. The team is losing money, but I don't think he has any concerns over that. With Soto being a free agent after this season, keeping him *and* signing Ohtani seems like a fantasy - if I were Seiler, extending Soto is a greater priority than pursuing Ohtani.

Not according to Nightengale: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2023/02/28/manny-machados-350-m-extension-can-help-padres-sign-more-stars/11366012002/

Even without the stats to back it up, it was obvious to the eye that he'd changed his approach to swinging at stuff in his eyes. A couple more interesting things from Fangraphs His FB% has become awful the last couple of years - combined with a reduced EV and barrel rate, that says he's become the king of the can of corn. It's not hard to see why - look at the SW% above the zone: His injury is less important than recognizing he's developed some really bad habits and he needs to work on that aspect of his game.

* game not included

"Hold My Beer" -- Rob Manfred

Yeah, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery results depend on a lot of things - there are different types of TOS, different surgeries, and varying success levels of improving symptoms. And "success" is measured differently for a professional athlete than some random keyboard warrior. I'm glad we have some backup, Urshela should help soften the blow if Walsh isn't able to come back, but our chances of being a playoff contender will be much better with a healthy Walsh.

Well, since it's Arte, I'm thinking something like: or

Woo hoo - we're rising like a well ...

Yeah - my list had Vlad on it at first - but I thought about it a bit, and realized there were other long-time Angels who fit the bill better. Agreed - it's probably Fregosi to get bumped - or Finley - it seems like Finley is underrated, somehow?

Trout, Finley, Fregosi, Salmon Ryan spent too many years in other uniforms, and is in the HOF as a Ranger - 'nuf said. Ohtani, if he stays with the team and puts up 2 or three years like the last? The only question is who of the other 4 gets kicked off? I want to put Vlad there, but he spent too many good years in Montreal. Downing, Weaver, Grich are in the mix, and Erstad and Percy get some consideration for their hard-nosed playing styles more than their stats. Also, I always kind of felt bad about Tanana - we might've pushed him too young, and got him injured. But yeah, not Rushmore material, tbh, just he *could've* been if not for the injuries.

I may be misremembering, but I know my league had pitcher rest requirements back in the 70's, (I played and coached) - and I *think* you were subject to forfeit if you violated them. Seems a simple solution - use an ineligible pitcher, the game is forfeited. With the info public, a hyper-competitive coach is more likely to check to make sure their opponents didn't violate than to violate the rules themselves. (wouldn't help the situation with the kid already scheduled for surgery - but that kid suing that coach for ruining his potential baseball career and getting damages would put an end to that kind of thing pretty quickly.)

https://twitter.com/PRPBaseball101/status/1613967735481827345/video/1 No predictions - but happy to see his velo seems to be back

Indeed, that was a big fail last season - we depended far too much on Adell and Marsh - got lucky with Ward (but injuries to him and Trout doomed any hope for the season.) Perry should've been fired if he entered this season depending on Adell again. I hope Adell succeeds - but he has to be realistic - he's not been able to contribute at this level and if he wants to play in the majors, he has to improve. I hope he's not harboring some resentment because he thinks he deserves a roster spot - because if he's honest with himself, he doesn't.

That morning, watching the news before work, I saw the video of ice on the boosters, etc, and there was obvious concern - I felt a bit queasy about it, but decided they'd play it safe like they usually did. Our office admin was listening to to the launch on her radio and I joined her to listen, and we both heard it the live - we were in utter shock, couldn't believe what we heard. Some co-workers saw us listening, wondered what was going on, and soon, most of the officer were gathered around that radio. In my memory, we didn't say a word, but that's probably not right. I decided the two other guys in the office who hadn't come out should know, and the admin and I went to their shared office where they were having a kind of heated discussion about some work related thing, and they didn't stop, and I didn't, couldn't interrupt them - I was trying to figure out what words I'd say - and I just couldn't imagine myself saying "the shuttle exploded after launch, and it doesn't sound like there are any survivors." Finally, after what seemed like 5 minutes of me just standing there, I spotted a radio on one's desk - I went to it, turned it on, and tuned to the news station. Said something like "Listen to the news" and walked out - I couldn't bring myself to say what had happened out loud. As as kid, I watched the Apollo missions, including 11 from launch to recovery and I ditched school so I could watch 13's re-entry on tv, and built the Saturn V various components models several times, and many of friend's fathers worked in aerospace, including Douglas and Rockwell and whoever that was with the manufacturing facility in in Hawthorne - Northrop? To me, the Challenger was one of the most shocking moments of my life.

The one reason I can find for optimism is what seems to be his personal character - I maybe I misread him, but he really seems happy to be on this team. "Winning" or the lack thereof is probably the single issue that may make him stay or leave. I think if we were a slam-dunk 95-win team, he'd sign an extension now. But we're not so ... ?

Ohtani leaving will definitely reduce the value of the club *and* will make the club less competitive which is related, but not the same thing. So, I agree, Arte must think he's keeping Ohtani - but Arte's been dead-wrong so many times on these things, that's hardly definitive. My fear is that we keep him 'til the end of the year, miss the playoffs, he walks, and leaves us with nothing. Fear "b" is we trade him in a Marlins-like trade where we get a bunch of high-value prospects who all tank, and the Angels are forever known as a team that traded the modern Babe Ruth for a bunch of "No,No Bodies"

Agreed, it's not just the original mistake or failure, it's that decision-making process that led to the original mistake didn't change. One way to look at it is as a perspective problem - we see "oh, we need a left fielder *now* because the current one sucks and we have no one to play the position" - without asking - "Why haven't we developed any left fielders in forever? Or any players for that matter? What's wrong with our talent acquisition process that got us here and how do we fix it?" But the overpays and desperate quick fixes nearly always cost us greatly down the road, and so the pattern would repeat (even if the events weren't necessarily connected, they represented symptoms of the same disease) And I think you're right, too, I feel the same - that the Wells trade as a signpost, if you will, signaled something was really, really wrong with the way the club made decisions and built a team. Any fool could see that Well had an unbearably bad contract, and 1 season of decent hitting performance that was easily seen as a mirage didn't change that. But *someone* in the org figured he was the one piece of duct tape that would solve our problems. I'm glad things under Eppler, then Perry seems to be moving in a direction to fix those problems. But in baseball, it can take years to see the benefits of an improved draft/development operation - and this is the destructive view I think Arte put into place, the need to invest in winning now, not in some future he can't wait for.