Dtwncbad

2 minutes ago, TroutField said:

All that writing to answer your own question.
 

He will make $35 million this year. If he doesn’t want to deal with it retire and quit crying you have to do your “job” 

So you didn’t get the point.  OK.

Not everything has to be one-sided.

Lots of things said about Rendon have been fair to say.

But it is also fair to say that being a guy on a Hall of Fame trajectory and then just crushed by a sudden inability to stay on the field, along with a very high level of criticism attached to his contract (what do people expect, for him to not accept the guaranteed money?). . . would very likely create a frustration level in most normal people that would result in them saying stuff out of anger, bitterness, irritation, and self-preservation.

I am not asking anybody to love this guy right now or love what he says.  But could we at least feather in a bit of honest perspective?

How would anyone feel if, almost instantly, out of your control, your entire existence in baseball went from celebrated loved HOF-trajectory, World Series hero to “biggest bust of all time” and “payroll cancer” and “fragile p*ssy”?

My guess is that would wear in most normal people and have them get a bit jaded and say stuff that would easily be criticized.

Rendon is a big boy and he will have to deal with it.

But maybe let’s at the very least acknowledge that it probably hasn’t been a fun ride for him and what has happened to him physically would almost certainly cause most people to get pretty prickly.

Yeah, he makes bank.  And that is just so easy to focus on to make him the bad guy.  But unless you think the guy is faking injury or quitting, hating on this guy because of the money he makes is silly.  Baseball contracts are guaranteed.  Thats just the way it is.

I hope he gets healthy and finds a better place to be physically and mentally.

He said some stuff that is annoying.  But I bet lots of normal people would too if their whole career reputation turned on a dime out of their control and they were suddenly characterized as THE epitome of failure.

17 minutes ago, Stradling said:

In hindsight they should have traded him obviously but when they made the Giolito/Lopez move (which I believe was the last of several moves) they were 1/2 game out of the playoffs. It’s tough to sell at that point.  

Even in hindsight, I still vote for go for it and try to keep him, knowing the downside is where we sit today.

The opposite hindsight of “we were only a 1/2 game out and all we had to do was improve a little to make the playoffs, and that would really help Ohtani want to stay and instead we chickened out, punted and traded away a legend” would have been cemented as the crowning moment for why it is terrible to be an Angel fan.

27 minutes ago, totdprods said:

But I also think there's a little Icarus flying too close to the sun aspect here.

Perfect

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

To be clear, I don't care that Blum is critical or has a "negative" view of the team, I think most everyone is down on them to some extent. But he seems to have an axe to grind at times and it's been most evident during the Rendon "injury-gate" issue and when Arte didn't meet with reporters a few years ago.

I mean, drag them all you want, but the constant repetitive whining about how someone speaks or doesn't speak to you is just lame.

I love how he projects what a good owner should do, but totally fails to see that someone good at his job would get the interview, or at the very least wouldn’t be deliberately avoided.

3 minutes ago, T.G. said:

The narrative that Arte doesn't have a plan is funny to me.  We don't know what the plan is and so fans assume he doesn't have one.

I agree with you technically.  I don’t think anybody can certainly conclude that he has no plan.  But he is being somewhat foolish if he fails to see how important it is for him to provide to the fans some sense that he is competent and capable of leading the organization.

He doesn’t seem to be doing anything to breed optimism that HE is the right owner going forward.

3 hours ago, AngelsWin.com said:

“I’m a business person,” he said. “If someone gets really stupid, then you have to go.”

<Insert Jim Carey dumb and dumber meme here>

I have very often defended Moreno against lots of knee-jerk criticisms.  I don’t think he has been a terrible owner forever.  To me, he was doing fine for some time historically.

But his time has passed and he is no longer somebody I want to continue owning the team.  I am very disappointed that he is now saying he is here for the foreseeable future.

I am most puzzled by his current inability to craft and deliver a message/vision for the team that fans paying attention can digest and accept.

If he must stay as owner, I would at least hope he would be self-aware enough to know that he needs to display something to be significantly different going forward.

Instead we basically get “I’m still here and not going anywhere for more of the same.”

Fuck.

24 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

I'll still watch most games if I'm free, but won't be going to any games in-person. Haven't been in...5 years, I think? I used to go to every Sunday home game, plus 10 or so other ones scattered throughout the season. Zero desire to do that these days. 

I pretty much only go now when we just want to have something to do together as a family.  Gone are the days when I would go to the game because I specifically want to see the Angels play in person.

Ohtani was an energizing factor though, as my kids would be more interested in going if Ohtani was pitching. . .

I doubt I am my going to increase my kids interest in going to the game by telling them that Tyler Anderson is pitching tonight.  Maybe I should try, “Hey you guys wanna go see the team that Moreno is saving an additional $40m in payroll on this year?”

That will probably fire them up.

9 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

"Moreno said the plan was to “set the budget lower. … I’m not going to spend money just to show that we’re going to spend money unless it’s going to substantially change the team.”

 

The alarming part is I don’t trust him to know what would and what would not “substantially change the team.”

So if he is going to now be more of a miser, it seems like we should just expect to be terrible, but at a lower budget.  I am jacked to buy some tickets now!

With some of the details coming out, I feel like I have been kicked in the nuts but like if I had four nuts.

“Unknown reasons” by Sam Blum has the potential to be a permanent running joke.

51 minutes ago, CaliAngel said:

I hope none of them get signed.

Just for the owners to make a point that they're not putting up with his horseshit anymore.

Not putting up with him aggressively negotiating the best deals possible for his clients?

OK.

He isn’t going to panic.  He is waiting to see if a team does.  Boras is normally pretty successful on his strategies.

26 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Please explain exactly how my post included a strawman argument.

Jeez dude.  Look it up.  You are arguing against a position I never took. Nobody defends wife beating.  I said I like how he treats the nasty agenda based media.

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

So you're defending a wife beater as a person to admire. Good look.

Strawman 101.  Couldn’t be more obvious.  And boring.

1 hour ago, jeskola said:

Why do we need more people hitting their wives on camera? Weird take.

I like how he treats agenda-driven media types directly with no BS.  That wasn’t that hard to figure out, but you pretended to not get the point dishonestly.  Dana White would call you out on this.  And rightly so.

Yeah I will take more Dana Whites.

3 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

We need more 1984 versions of Vanna Whites

Fixed.  She is 66 right now 1961.  Definitely still a very pretty lady, but let’s just say we are in max one-year contract territory. 

Does it make any sense that the Angels “remain in contact with” pitchers that Arte has not given approval to pursue?

29 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Man we live in different worlds if you think I have the embarrassing stance here.

5 minutes ago, Taylor said:

n fact, next time a woman legitimately accuses a professional sports player of sexual assault, a bunch of people will look to this situation and assume she's crazy and lying. 

No Taylor.  Only stupid people will assume that.  And only stupid people will automatically take every accusation as truthful.

People with brains will be acutely interested in finding the actual truth in every individual case, wherever that leads them, including ultimately considering the accused as the victim.

7 minutes ago, Taylor said:

You mean, like the #metoo movement? That's exactly what it was about.

OMG you can’t help yourself.  Dude, literally nobody on earth ever had any problem with anyone legitimately coming forward to talk about their honest history especially in the context of sticking up for individual rights and making progress as a society.

But with that comes a responsibility for everyone to watch out for opportunists that would hijack it dishonestly and for their own fraudulent agendas.

People with a stitch of common sense will instant reject “believe all women” and will EQUALLY stick up for victims of liars and extortionists.

#metoobutwithabrain

What decade was baseball best for you as a fan?  I am not asking when it was best as an Angel fan.  I am asking when you thought baseball itself was the most fun to follow.

My answer is the 1980s.  When I watch clips of baseball from the 80’s it brings me back to what I now consider the height of my love of following the game.

I am aware that this could be age related.  I was in my late teens and early twenties at that time.  I was old enough to know enough about the game and players to really enjoy the game analytically, and still young enough to be a little naively enamored with it emotionally.

The algorithm on Instagram has somehow figured this out and is feeding me lots of clips from that era.   It has made me realize that there was something different about my relationship with mlb overall during that time, and I wondered if others feel the same way about that time. . . Or if THEIR best decade with the game maybe corresponds with THEIR age?

45 minutes ago, CaliAngel said:

Great summary of exactly what is happening.

I yearn for the days where defiance to the status quo was admirable and welcomed. Seems these days "fall in line and shut up or we'll destroy your life" has become the norm and TBH I'm fed up with it.

We need more Dana Whites.