Second Base

If ever there was a "see the ball, hit the ball" player, it was Vladdy.  
But what if there really was a method to his madness.  Obviously, he was naturally a better hitter an 99% of any major leaguer ever, but the fact that Vlad rarely slumped suggests that perhaps he was very in tuned with the subtle nuances of hitting a ball.
Or put it like this, if Vlad Guerrero ever told me to do something different with hitting, I'd listen.  I'm not saying he knows what he's talking about, but he's freakin' Vlad Guerrero, and Jabari Blash is Jabari Blash.  Blash should listen to Vlad. 

I cant picture anderson carrying a gun and beating the shit out of his neighbor and or mailman with a bat. And having an uncle that could get you an off the books Mac-10.
Dont see the connection with percy.

Turns out a majority are operating under the belief that major leaguers now are better than they were 100 years ago.
Yeah that's weird. 
But yeah, your belief that Babe Ruth is better than anyone ever despite being fat and never training holds up. 
If he faced Shohei Ohtani he'd hit a 700 foot 6 run homer while eating a hot dog and if he pitched against Trout he'd strike him out in one pitch while drinking a beer.

https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/measuring-the-change-in-league-quality/

I'll just leave that here.

Fletcher or JMF. 
But I wouldn't count on it. Kinsler doesn't look bad or lost like Calhoun does. The hits aren't falling, yet. But he's still an amazing defender. Having him and Simmons up the middle is a treat.

Blash did something today that Calhoun hasn't done since April 11th.  - get on base twice in one game.  

Blash looks different this year vs years past. He's still pretty upright, slightly lower, but he's more aggressive through the zone. He looks more comfortable and he also looks a little angry when swinging, which is pretty cool to see. He's perfectly fine defensively in RF.
I legitimately think Blash's career is going to take off soon in a more honest manner than someone like Nelson Cruz who also broke out in his late 20's.

Fleshlight!

And Quinny 5th.

I'm gonna go with Maicer batting third.

I'm gonna go with Maicer batting third.

And Quinny 5th.

Glancing at Fangraphs pretty much bears out your thinking - his most effective pitch is the change, the sinker and curve are actually a bit below average - but the curve has improved as an effective pitch.  He throws the change about 20% of the time - I mean, it's not a pitch you can throw every time and be effective, but could probably work it in a few more times a game in leverage counts.
In a way, I'm fairly happy with our starters - provided they stay, well, *you know* -  the worst-case coming in could have been a debacle - relatively healthy, the team will stay in contention throughout - not gonna run away, but we'll be in the mix, pending some move(s).  

I'm gonna go with Maicer batting third.

I find it amazing that there are four hitters better than Taylor Ward in the Southern League. That doesn't seem possible.

Yeah that's what I'm seeing too. And even if Kole returns to who he was 2-3 years ago, I'd still replace him after this season. We've got done OF depth and I think Herm across a full season is just plain better.

Basically, Kole has been completely unable to find any sort of rhythm at the plate since 2014. 
Fourfreakin' years ago.
In 2015, on a month by month basis he hit .315, .252, .234, .320, .205, .237. 
One or two good months separated by months of not hitting.
2016: .267, .324, .269, .244, .224, .296. 
Again, bouncing all over the place in production.
2017: .255, .158, .324, .169, .300, .245.
2018: .168.
Even when Kole is having a good month, he is not a hitter that can be trusted. You never know when he'll lose it and be useless for months at a time.

One theory is that as a major league player, he really can't hit. 

It sure seemed like Kole tried using the whole field approach in ST, but as soon as the season started, he fell back into bad habits fast.

To be fair, Steve Finley was freakin' 40 years old when the Angels signed him. On the other hand, he was better at age 39 than Kole has been at any point in his career.
Like I said, I'd have pulled the plug on Calhoun before our season even started. But maybe Scioscia is right. Maybe he just needs reps.

On that point, Steve Finley says hello.

The fact that Calhoun is still in the lineup and Blash/Hermosillo are still in AAA says a couple things to me.
1. Scioscia believes that Calhoun's struggles will be worked through with reps. If he didn't believe that, then Chris Young would be starting in RF for the Angels right now.
2. Eppler believes that Blash's performance is being inflated by the AAA environment and Hermosillo still has some development left in him.
I hope they're right on number one at least. Personally, I'd have dealt Calhoun over the winter and went with Herm already. He's cheaper, younger, faster, gets on base more and can play the same defense in RF. But watching Herm this Spring, I get the feeling that trading Calhoun last winter would've been premature. Hermosillo wasn't using the whole field, he became pull happy and would've been all too easy of an out for major league pitchers. Herm the past few games has come back and is now dialed in, making an effort to go back up the middle.
It's an adjustment, because he could continue pulling the ball and put up the numbers in AAA. But it would hurt him long run I think. So Herm's sacrificing more of a guaranteed current production for something that will make him better in the future.
But  I think obviously he needs more time to become a more proficient professional hitter. Blash on the other hand, well I think he couldn't do worse than Calhoun right now and would love to see if the power would indeeed play.
Vlad Guerrero was working with him in camp, and he seemed legitimately impressed with Blash and felt that an adjustment in his feet would ultimately unlock that potential of his. 
Right now it looks like Vladdy was right, and Blash should be our starting RF right now.
 

Spoken like a dirty whop!!

No, Sabathia is fat.  Ruth was big boned, farm strength.  If he had actually lifted he had the capacity to be yoked.

Ruth would have a heart attack the first time he saw a slider in the batters box