eligrba

Blanton has a new challenge

A's could have five starters to open season on DL and still have a 5 game lead by May 1st.

My god your act is getting old. By the way in baseball as well as other avenues, leadership is needed with the people doing the work as well as the boss or the manager.

I am glad he looks the same.  I was worried he looked worse.

Blanton looks like he has eaten enough innings. It is time for the Angels to consider putting him on a diet.

It is not about scoring runs in spring training, it is about getting your swings in.  I really like the way we are swinging the bats at this point.
 
Guess Who?

It is not about scoring runs in spring training, it is about getting your swings in.  I really like the way we are swinging the bats at this point.
 
Guess Who?

Blanton looks like he has eaten enough innings. It is time for the Angels to consider putting him on a diet.

Blanton looks like he has eaten enough innings. It is time for the Angels to consider putting him on a diet.

I think Bruce Bochy is very underrated and Mike Sciocia is very overrated.  I would like to see the same stats for the last 5 yrs.  Me thinks it would be a different story.

It might turn out to be an even trade after all.  Bourjous with a leg injury and Freese healthy.....both producing similar offensive numbers and covering the same amount of ground defensively.

Thats how I make it through life.  Gotta do what you can with what you got.....

It might turn out to be an even trade after all.  Bourjous with a leg injury and Freese healthy.....both producing similar offensive numbers and covering the same amount of ground defensively.

I think some of the "chemistry" or rather the "identity" this team had created for itself has been lost over the years as the reliance on free agents has grown.  
 
People forget that when Stoneman first took over and the team's primary source of talent was it's farm system, the Angels preached  the "Angels way".  A lot was made of the team (under MS's direction), having created a system up and down the farm system patterned after the old Dodgers system.  It was said that the Angels success was in part due to players knowing what to expect when they got to the big league club having already been asked to do the same things at every level.  The loss of coaches, the erosion of the farm, the reliance on FA's and yes -- the shift in organizational philosophy from Stoneman, to he who has no name, and then to Dipoto, all factored into that.   I found that article the other day talking about the Cardinals values to be more than a little comical if for no other reason because I recall quite vividly that the Cardinals organization was once quoted as saying they liked former Angels because of the professionalism and fundamentals they typically exhibited.    That air of confidence and competence has been lost in recent years and it goes beyond the changes in the W/L totals IMO.
 
When a person looked at the Stoneman era Angels and you saw a team that pitched well, took the extra bases, and played defense --  you look at the current team and there isn't a single thing you can point to as it's identity other than possibly a bloated payroll and sloppiness.  Whether or not an "identity" develops this year remains to be seen, but I do believe the infusion of coaches may have been done in part to try to address the lack of Troy Percivals on the team.  It used to be that when you joined the Angels you were met my Troy Percival, John Lackey, Darin Erstad types -- guys who had come up through the system and paid their dues in house, now it's just a bunch of guys getting paid.  I'm not saying that big budget guys are incapable of leading, it's just that by and large they come in with their own ideas of how things should be done based on their own personal experiences.  Sometimes those guys don't buy into the system, and the erosion starts.
 
I find it interesting that Mike Trout has talked up Kole Calhoun and how he carries himself.  He talked up their time in the minors, the things he saw in him over the years etc etc.  Those are the guys that MS, JD and the coaching staff have to win over and invest in -- those are the guys most likely capable of creating the team's new identity -- Albert Pujols' is all about carrying on as not being Stan the Man, and what he meant to StL.   Josh Hamilton is all about being whatever the hell he decides he is or isn't or whatever personal demon he's given up this week.  Those guys may have been great players but they both strike me as guys who believe their way is the best way and their legacies were made elsewhere.   Mike Trout pointing out that Jeter was all about winning and nothing but winning is probably the biggest insight into his psyche a person could ask for.  He's the guy to mine for a team identity and he needs to be surrounded by similar players,.  
 
The one thing I'd have love to see the team do besides add pitching was bring Percival back in some capacity -- it's rare that a RP carried so much weight in a clubhouse but Troy Percival was far and away one of the best examples of the old Stoneman era Angels.  He was old school, bristled at the idea of failure, and was a fierce competitor.  Nobody on the current team comes close to bringing what he did to the team IMO.  It's been said that the biggest impact MS made on the Angels when he got here was that he changed the team's mindset from let's hope we can win, to expecting to win.   Nobody  exemplified that win or GTFO mindset as well as guys like Erstad and Percival did.  Not saying the current group of guys doesn't like winning, they just don't seem to hate losing as much as those guys did -- and that's an area that took another hit when Torii was alowed to leave via FA.

The Angels are the only native LA baseball team, born in 1961 thanks to the singing cowboy. 

The Angels are the only native LA baseball team, born in 1961 thanks to the singing cowboy. 

The Angels are the only native LA baseball team, born in 1961 thanks to the singing cowboy. 

The Angels are the only native LA baseball team, born in 1961 thanks to the singing cowboy. 

YoT is summonsed, just like aqua man with fish, every time he can bash Albert. It's really quite nauseating. It certainly isn't entertaining. Remember in grade school that girl who answered all the questions basically to hear herself talk? Well her name is YoT.

My body is ready. My erection has reached a critical point. The time is now, Michael Nelson Trout. The time has come.

In retrospect, thank God the Angels did not sign Tex.

He could be Mr. Universe for all I care.  I want to know if he figured out how to hit an offspeed breaking ball over the winter. 

Funny that TJ does not strike me as a teenage girl but his writing style suggests a yearning for girl drama.
 
What a meaningless and insignificant article. 

I am sure they will work something out with the city of Anaheim, but to make Arte out to be greedy in this is laughable. He is a business man and he is willing to put out $150 million of his own money to fix, by todays standards, a very old stadium. All he is asking for is the ability to make that money back with development, which by the way is something that would also benefit the city. I am guessing that Arte sees the possibility of adding revenue as a chance to continue to build a competitive team, one that makes it into the playoffs.

I hope he becomes the greatest Angel player...ever.