Reveille1984

The team that trades away the better player usually loses. That trade they did for Dansby Swanson in 2016 hoping he'd be their Simmons replacement hasn't really lived up to the hype either (though that trade was still obscenely lopsided for the Braves).

The team just sucks, this same question comes up every year. People said the same thing with Sosh managing: his message is stale, he's been here too long, guys are tuning him out, etc. Teams that win are going to seem happier and more energized, teams that lose all the time are going to look like glum dumpster farts. It's confirmation bias.

It probably also stems from traditional SPs on the market getting exorbitant salaries when they're one of the most fickle assets in baseball. There's a reason these out of the box strats seem to come from small market teams. Why give a decent to good starter a $100M+ contract when I can just get a bunch of flamethrowers to pitch a handful of innings every once in a while and keep the opposing lineup out of rhythm as they'll never see the same pitcher more than once a game?

If Trout's head gets lopped off, I'm gonna be super pissed

I really wonder if Ohtani is just going to end up becoming a position player (RF/1B?) in the long term to preserve his health. The allure of the "double threat" is cool and all, but by the time he works his way back onto a major league mound he'll be almost 26. Another major injury/arm setback would pretty much derail his career during his prime. The outcomes for players that come back from TJ surgery, even guys that get the surgery in their early 20's, is not optimistic. Of pitchers that got TJ surgery from 2000-2010, the median for innings pitched is around 100. That's not for one season, that's total innings for the rest of their career. Only 30% of pitchers hit the 200 total IP mark. 1/5 of pitchers that get TJ surgery don't ever return to pitching. And these are obviously guys who aren't stressing their body by hitting on off days as well.

Even for the best pitchers in the game nowadays, 6 IP per outing is about average. Nolan Ryan sends his regards.

Canning has never really been a guy that pitches deep into games. Even in 2018 when he was hovering around 85-89 pitches per game he'd usually sit around 4-5 IP. Once he learns how to attack guys a little better (which he's been doing more of in 2019) and gets comfortable around 95-100+ pitches it won't be an issue. You can definitely see that his stuff is legit and deceptive. The more time he has to hone his secondary stuff, I feel like he'll settle in as a nice #2-#3 guy (or for the Angels walking dead pitching staff, our clear cut #1).

Maybe he can pick up some tips from absolute RBI god Tommy LaStella

Hell, if he can go 5 innings and give up 3 runs or less he's pretty much our ace at this point.

Yeah, Gallo's like a career .210 hitter in 2+ MLB seasons despite his "hot" .250 start this year. He's the epitome of a three true outcomes player. Doesn't really fit our identity as a low strikeout team.

Personally, I'd never trade a top 5 position player prospect like Adell for pretty much any deal centered around a pitcher (whether proven or not), even if they had 4+ years of control left. Pitchers are just too volatile and injury prone while an upper tier OF like Adell can give you value for a decade or more. It would probably have to be a package of 3-4 guys that are farther away from the bigs, with maybe two being upper tier SP prospects and two being upper tier position players. As others have iterated, teams like SD/ATL have a wealth of talent available. These trades rarely happen just because when you hit on these top guys, they usually end up as franchise cornerstones (Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna, Juan Soto, etc.) and it's hard to get fair value back for that sort of potential. It's why the old saying is the team giving up the best player usually loses the trade.

Yet the corpse of Pujols will be cemented in the cleanup spot for another three years

It's the structure of the service time rules that need to change. Obviously if a club can save potentially tens of millions of dollars by waiting on promoting a player, it's a no brainer for them.

Kind of a weird callup with how he's been performing, but I'll take it.

Nice, I need something to get excited about on this turd of a team outside of Trout's ABs.

Yes

The medical term is actually DVB

Looked more like a neck/head injury

I think he just tried to apply the tag before the ball was in his glove and completely whiffed

Still barely hitting .100, 20+ games into the season. He's really lucky this team is so thin on talent or he'd be riding the pine.

I wish this were the case, but we actually just have bad players

That is THE Kevan Alan Smith and don't you forget it

Hey we got swept in the first round one year, that was something

He started terribly, but has picked it up in the last few games (6 for 13 with 2 HR)

Thaiss and Marsh aren't playing much better so far in the minors unfortunately. Rengifo should be up sooner rather than later hopefully though.