ScruffytheJanitor

I always forget that Sparky Anderson wasn't as old as he looked. I was thinking he was about 98 by the late 90s.

437. I did this twice during a detention (once in 6th grade, once in 10th) and got the exact same number of licks in both cases.

This is true, but I don't think it's working. It didn't really work for the Rays last year or even this year-- What's worked is getting players like Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. Other wise, there was basically no real difference between performance for either the opener or the "main" pitcher when they are in use.

This is especially true for a catcher-- give me a solid defender that can call a good game any day. Outside of the truly elite offensive catchers, that's by far their most important role. Plus, there is some chance that Stassi is merely a slight negative on offense, too - he had a .710 OPS last year, which would place him in the low-end starter range for catchers.

I've always thought teams that do this are dumb. Why hold a kid out for a couple of months to gain an extra year of control, only to sign him to an extension his third year in the majors?

And Castellenos to the Cubs too!

I dunno, man. That Reds brawl AFTER Puig was traded might be the best baseball moment of the past five years.

He's a good defensive guy, if I remember correctly. Has a pretty good arm to boot. He's basically the B- version of the B version of whatever Lucroy is at this point.

When I heard he was garnering interest, I genuinely assumed it was the Angels.

He's a catcher. If I remember right, he was a pretty big deal as a prep player, and it was a minor upset when he signed with the A's out of high school. While he never lived up to his offensive upside, He turned out to be a decent Defensive catcher. Not sure if he's better than Garneau, but he's...something.

Agreed on all of this. He just needed to prove that he *can* turn a mistake into a run so that pitchers don't hammer him inside with fastballs. He's got a good enough eye and approach to handle anything else.

But that's not the description of a "Dysfunctional" organization; it's the description of a constrained organization. Eppler may have a poor FA track record (though you have to include Ohtani in this calculation), and literally NONE of his starting pitching gambles have paid off. But this approach (hoarding prospects, opportunistic trades, and gambling on pitching) was necessitated by the state of the franchise when he arrived--- having the best player in baseball while also having no money, a bad farm, and a pretty weird collection of talent. He has hit a few home runs (Simmons, Ohtani, Trout Extension, the Draft) and doubles (Upton trade, bullpen performance, international spending so far). He has also struck out a bunch (Any SP not named Ohtani or Caning, Cozart, etc.). While he has wasted his fair share of FA dollars (Cozart was easily his worst move), he's also had to perform on the margins. While that makes his gaffes feel big, it's also part of the reason why mistakes were made in the first place. In other words, you can criticize the strategy (which I like), the tactics (which have been questionable, especially when it comes to pitching), and the results (which have been been disappointing), but the decisions made at each stage were made as an organization.

I wonder if we are all assuming that the FO is chasing an Ace when they are really searching for a #4 starter who's arm won't fall off.

They way I see it, the Angels need to get two starters for next year. The rotation looks like it will be this if everything breaks right: 1) Ohtani-- 20 Starts 2)BLANK 3) BLANK 4) Canning - 30 Starts 5) Heaney- 25 starts 6) Barria- 20 Starts 7) Suarez- 15 Starts This puts things into perspective a bit; that's about 110 starts listed above -- meaning they need to go out and find 70-ish starts on the market. Even if you think Suarez and Barria are ready for more, there is still a ton of risk that Ohtani/Heaney/Canning don't come anywhere near 75 starts. It feels risky trusting someone like Martinez to fill this roll. IN my mind, Eppler has three approaches he can take. 1) Go get Stroman/Freeland/Baugardner/Syndergaard now and trust they can find an innings eater on the market. 2) Get their workhorse now (Ray/Roark/Bauer/Wheeler) and hope that they can sign Gerritt Cole. 3) Wait for the market to bring you two solid mid-tier starters and trust Ohtani to be your ace in the second half next year.

Yeah... remember: Kevin Appier was brought in to be a savior. (though his 2002 Numbers -- 188 inningns of 3.92 era ball--- would be welcome on the team next year).

He's had 25 ABs. I'm not saying he's the prize of the market or anything, but no one is suddenly going to change their opinion on him based on that small of a sample size.

I guess we will have to get a bargain-bin ED player and pump him full of Viagra,

I love this. I have told my wife I don't want a stuffy funeral with my dead fat ass on display-- nobody wants to see that. I want a BBQ cookout with Ribs, pulled pork, chicken wings, and cake. The only things I want to have of me is a dart board with my face on it and a cardboard cutout of me people can take pictures with. Then I want them to pay some local kids to haul my bloated corpse to the burial.

I am all about getting Anthony Rendon. It's not happening, but that doesn't mean I don't want him.

Holy Hell, the takes on this thread are ridiculous.

Man-- Josh Byrnes is seems like a cool guy or whatever, but man he dresses like the worlds biggest douche.

What's nuts is that Trout passed that when he was 23 Facking years old.

I was genuinely expecting to see a Pujols Pic from high school.

I totally know what you are trying to say, but I still feel like a "Thanks, Captain Obvious!" is in order.

This brings up a good point -- has Troll Daddy ACTUALLY fathered any trolls?