WicketMaiden

Nice idea, I'm not sure we're quite there yet though HB, it looks more solid than strong to me. Will be very happy to be proven wrong on that one though.

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You're definitely Mickey Callaway.

You're a good sport @cals.

Well, from our previous exchanges I assumed that you use crayons and then ask an appropriate adult to type it up for you. A bit like this:

Have you seen the film Jerry Maguire?

Why is that@cals, do you have a new packet of crayons to try out?

I suggest a job-sharing arrangement: I'll tackle the language and entrust @EnglishCop to continue his excellent work addressing the grammar. Between us there may be some hope of delaying the seemingly inevitable decline of English into post-millennial text speak.

That Dodgers team is an absolute juggernaut. Minasian will have to be a baseball genius to get the Angels close to that level of quality and depth in the next few years. The fact that their no5 starter would be our no1 or 2 says it all really.

Meaningful baseball in September would be progress. Getting past the wild-card game and into the ALDS would be success.

Yup, it's a messed up language for sure, mostly because it's an imbroglio of other languages. Every word in English that ends in "tion" is spelled exactly the same in French for example. We say 'in hospital' if you are staying there as an in-patient, and 'in the hospital' if you are just visiting, working there, or an out-patient. Do you guys also say 'in the college', or just 'in college'? 'While' and 'whilst' are slightly different to each other - e.g "I have been using my mobile phone whilst driving for a while now" - the whilst infers a certain duality of action. 'Often' and 'oftentimes' are both a variation of 'oft' and both have a degree of redundancy. All three are correct so it's just personal taste for those. 'Irregardless' is just plain silly and probably used only by pretentious numpties. One of your sayings I can't stand is "my bad" - for some reason that one really grips my shit.

Thanks @AngelsLakersFan, that's a really interesting take. If he was converted to doing just one of hitting or pitching would that sway you? Personally I'd like to see his bat in the line-up everyday and his athleticism and 100mph arm in the outfield taking runners down. Do love a good cannon arm in the outfield.

I like what I've seen from Minasian so far. He seems to be a bit more interested in raising the floor rather than catching lightening in a waiver-wire bottle to raise the ceiling. My report card: Rotation - B minus - No ace acquired, but solid arms that should keep us in games without relying on the luck of the gods to hold their limbs together or re-kindle their youth. Bull-Pen - B plus - Got a legit Closer (A real one), and some solid late pick-ups creating lots of potential variation from the pen. Got some depth too. Line-up - B minus - Lagares is a nice late inning replacement, Fowler isn't great in RF but may hold his own (and I put that one down to JM), Iglesias was a great pick-up and Suzuki looks solid. Farm - C - didn't really add to it, didn't blow it up either. Overall - B minus.

OK, I'm calling out @cals as Mickey Callaway. The name, the opinions, the defence of the indefensible, yes, I see it now.

What isn't true @Lou?

I guess I'm not speaking American because you guys have totally missed the original question, which was in two parts: How much, and how long would you wait? So, essentially, how long would you want him to prove himself before you tried to tie him up long term. It's a risk/reward equation - wait the full two years and his final arb year before you offer a big deal and the deal may cost more but will be lower risk. Tie him up early and the risk is higher but the cost likely lower (with Ohtani having a fall-back position of having a floor of an elite hitter if he fails as a pitcher, some of this risk is mitigated). A similar equation to Tatis etc - buy out the arb years and the FA years become less expensive - the Padres didn't have to sign Tatis for another 5 years, but they locked him up early because they preferred that risk/reward ratio. Just trying to establish other Angels' fans views on where they feel they would pitch their risk/reward for Ohtani and saying "we don't need to think about that now - we don't owe him - he's got to prove himself" really doesn't add anything interesting or insightful at all.

So, can I assume that most of the posters in this thread thought the Tatis Jr extension was a mistake and premature?

That was my first instinct, but I'd counter that @Lou by saying firstly the longer the Angels wait, the more expensive Ohtani becomes (if he's a proven 25 game 200k starter and a 25 homer 15 steal bat he will be worth a record breaking AAV), and secondly that the only leverage the Angels really have is to buy out his final arb year of 2023 and offer an increase on his $5.5m salary next year.

Writers who fabricate quotes or plagiarise other people's work are very few and very far between, and those that do try it are unceremoniously dumped from the profession with their reputations in tatters. Sports writer is a great gig and like all great jobs the competition is fierce, far too fierce for 'lame ass fake writers' to make a living at it by making stuff up. Ask a 100 finance guys if they want to be sportswriters. Then ask a 100 sportswriters if they want to be finance guys. Which career do you think supports more lame ass employees getting away with doing a sub-standard job? It's not like Twitter or a message board comment that can be waved away or laughed off as out of context, when a writer writes something under their byline their reputation (and their possibility of future earnings) is on the line, and fabricating quotes is simply anathema to any writer or reporter hoping for a future career.

Watching Ohtani looking supreme at the plate again the other day, and then seeing him strike guys out from the mound with elite level stuff. Good guys too. A string of thoughts ran through my mind: 1. If he keeps this up he's going to be unreal 2. If he proves this over a full season he's going to be worth a fortune in free agency 3. The Angels need to get the big extension done before his cost gets too high. Then I spent the next two hours utterly failing to come up with a number that worked for both sides, because what do you pay a guy like Ohtani? What do you pay a player that is basically Springer at the plate and could be Scherzer on the mound? A player who even if he fails as a pitcher is worth at least $25m as an OF or 1B/DH. A player who is a marketing dream and is worth tens of millions per year in extra marketing revenue with the Babe Ruth narrative, the boy next door clean-cut image, moon-shots and stolen bases, along with the Japanese market to tap into. If he got to free agency, imagine the contract the Yankees would throw at him. So, fellow keyboard GMs, what would you offer Ohtani, and how long would you wait before you offered it? If he's healthy, I'm going for an extension of 8/240 at the all-star break this year - but I don't think he takes it.

Snowflake.

Add Syndegaard to that rotation (and maybe another lock-down arm in the bull-pen) and this team is a contender.

Lots of things point to a good year from Upton: he finished 2020 strong; looks good at the plate this Spring, looks fit, healthy and agile; is it just me or does he seem more relaxed at the plate now he's hitting down the order (?); no niggling injuries disrupting his swing and his training routine. We think of him as an old guy but he's only 33 and should still have plenty left in the tank. Sure he can be as streaky as a cheap bacon sandwich and occasionally looks like a dazed mole just released into the sun, but when he's on a tear and carrying the team for a few games he's as fun as hell to watch. A hot version of J-Up hitting 5 or 6 in this line-up is going to be fun.

Plate Appearances (Foreign and Minor Leagues only): Jo Adell - 1002 Acuna Jr - 1212 Tatis Jr - 1375 Guerrero Jr 1402 Bo Bichette - 1445 Gleyber Torres - 1602 (That's the quoted article's top 5) Mike Trout - 1326 David Fletcher - 2032 Adell just needs a little more time. (EDIT: I left Soto out because I think he went to the same birth certificate doctor as Pujols.)