garrett_shitards

I think his injuries have somehow slowed his shutdown mentality. In 2014 he was a physical badass and on his way to being a top five MLB Ace but now he’s lost that confidence. 

Giving up back-to-back HRs should NOT be happening to him!

Swing looks just as powerful as his dads.
 
Baldoquin though!

Dipoto can climb a wall of dicks with no arms for what he did with the team’s international money. 

Mathis is garbage yet Greinke prefers him as did Weaver, and Haren says he’s the best catcher he ever pitched too.  So instead of calling him garbage understand there’s more to the game than just numbers.  
As for not trusting Sosh and his choice of catchers, well Maldonado won a gold glove last year, and Perez was a finalist a couple years back.   

Spez' HR in game 6?

Thats one of those quesrions that there is no right answer to.
Edmonds for kennedy on paper is horrible. But im not sure what edmonds trade value was back then. Pending FA, supposedly clubhouse problem.
Some probably forget 2B back then was like 2B recently. And LF. And 3B. Revolving door. 2002 aside, kennedy was a very reliable 2B for us for several years, and very liked in the clubhouse.
Id much rsther have kept edmonds. But who knows, maybe he leaves that year as a FA anyway. And we have to keep using jusin baughman at 2B.

The excitement surrounding this offseason also reminds me of the months leading up to the 1082 season. The Angels had managed to barter their way to obtain Shibolet Oxtani, the South American nemesis who could simultaneously hit, pitch, and skin a goat. They negotiated with his former team and ended up sending over a package that included 13 royal-blooded virgins and $1.7M worth of gold to obtain him. It was also potentially the last year for Mikkus Soshales, who had served as Head Chief of the team for five decades, and annoyed fans with the same response after every loss: "Turn the stone."  

The thing about the current roster is that Upton, Trout, and Calhoun are going to all play 150+ games leaving very little action for a backup outfielder. CarGo, despite his crappy 2017, will very likely not sign to be a really part-time backup outfielder. More importantly the Angels will not pay the one-year pillow contract (maybe $5M-$10M) to plug him into 20-30 games. Even with the DH position added in he's not going to get more than about another 15 games started.
Morrison could fit if we move Cron/Valbuena. Based on the sunk price of Valbuena's contract you are probably better off simply having Valbuena play there and trade Cron.
Jaime Garcia I can get behind though, I recommended him in last year's Primer Series as a possible target primarily due to his high GB% rate. That would be even better on this defensively improved squad so that makes a lot more sense from a fit perspective.
If we manage to move Cron/Valbuena (or put Luis in a bench bat role maybe) I agree with @totdprods that Todd Frazier would be an interesting add.

Nicely done, Angels. 
https://www.mlb.com/angels/tickets/promotions?partnerId=sf83491595&sf83491595=1
 

This one guy had a career 57.5 WAR, including 34.5 WAR with the Halos (9 greater than GA’s whole career) in basically 7 full seasons.   
He won 102 games (78 losses) for the Halos with an ERA just over 3.00, and unusual for back then a 3/1 Ks/BBs ratio.
Might have had the best 3 year stretch of any Halos pitcher, when he was 50-28 with a 2.50 ERA and 1.05 WHIP.

Does this mean I am no longer going to keep winning a free cell phone?

you made me have to work at my job this afternoon because of this stupid update.
jerk.

Hey, we know that the white stuff falling from Hamilton's hair WASN'T dandruff...

You have to at least kick the tires on Darvish and see what he's looking for in years and cash. If he's affordable, he makes us a better team.

Speaking with someone unaffiliated with the team, he says the Angels have to be in on Darvish, citing that they've been courting him since he was in high school.
He also says that without draft pick compensation, they won't get another opportunity to acquire a pitcher of his caliber and corner the "Japanese Market."
I realize the irony because just a few hours ago, I was telling @totdprods that we couldn't afford him.
I wonder what that contract might look like.

Okay, I finally saw Shameless for the first time ever this weekend at a friend's house (5 of the early episodes).
William H. Macy is genius as the ultimate "drunken, lazy, and looking for get rich quick schemes" guy.   Joan Cusack is classic as a former house bound woman with a new found love of being 3/32 Native American and taking it to the extreme.   The looks on her then Native American boyfriend's children's faces as she feeds his children nothing but Native American food when they want hamburgers is priceless.   I got to the episode where she marries Frank in the hospital.
From Frank to scatter brained Monica to Monica's girlfriend to Fiona messing up Liam's life to Lip trying to be the man of the family to Ian going from one thing to another, to Debbie being on the edge as a 13 year-old, etc., it's one big train wreck that is very hard to avoid watching.    And yep, Fiona is hot!    
Only seen 5 of the early shows, looking to watch more soon.    Although I couldn't get the theme song out of my head all weekend, as it has a 60s sound to it.

Taylor Blake Ward‏ @TaylorBlakeWard 12m12 minutes ago highest CS% percentage among active catchers with 3000+ innings:
- Yadier Molina, #Cardinals, 41.19%
- Rene Rivera, #Angels, 36.39%
- Ryan Hanigan, FA, 36.34%
- Martin Maldonado, #Angels, 36.23%

I remember this.  And of course that asshole Jose Guillen had to get his say.
 
 

Borass getting screwed....it's about time, owners!
Fool has played all of you for far too long.    Time to stop it!   Just STOP it!

Not sure how many are subscribers to the Athletic, but I subscribed to it recently and saw an interesting interview Kinsler gave them over the weekend: https://theathletic.com/211166/2018/01/14/ian-kinsler-q-a-on-the-angels-trade-his-time-in-detroit-and-in-n-out-burger/
I won't copy and paste the article since it's behind a paywall, but here were a few interesting snippets:
- Kinsler confirmed that Upton spoke to the FO about him and definitely recommended coming to play for the Angels if given the opportunity. 
- Kinsler's no trade clause included California and New York teams due to the tax implications.  Nothing against the Angels or the other clubs. 
- Kinsler would only waive his NTC for the Angels b/c of a variety of reasons, including Upton's push, the Ohtani signing, playing with Trout, pitching staff is healthy, and a chance to match up against the Astros.  "The World Series champs are in our division, so you have a constant barometer to see where you're at, and [you're] trying to beat the best. If you wanna be the best, you've got to beat the best. I think playing for the Angels was something really intriguing to me. I want to be a part of the [team]."
- Kinsler was honest about not really caring about the boost the farm system got this year with adding Maitan and others.  "You could talk about prospects all you want, but for a player in the big leagues, it really doesn't matter too much for us. We're trying to win now."
- Kinsler said he more cared about what they were doing to win now.  He said Eppler told him they were trying to get better and dropped an interest snippet at the end.  "Ohtani and Justin were huge parts of the equation, and then through conversations with [GM Billy Eppler], they said they're gonna try to get better after they acquired me. They did. They went out and [got] shortstop Zack Cozart, and I don't know if they're done yet." 
Anyway, interesting interview, Kinsler definitely is honest. Despite how you felt about him on the Rangers, I think he's a great addition to the team. 

Turns out he was back on crack.

I'm not on Facebook or Instagram so it's looks like you guys were the targets. I'm sure your score is like Scrabble where if you followed and liked Kurt Eichenwald you got triple bonus points. 

ESPN is a sinking ship. Fuck them. 

Marlin players starting to speak out against management ... Dee Gordon the most recent