Angelsjunky

Here's the bad news:

There goes 11 million dollars.

Can we start calling Ward, Deliverance? Taylor should be in a Where Are They Now? celebrity article.

Hicks and Moniak make me soft.

When the Angels are up by a run or two in the late innings, I just assume they're going to lose.

Trout's almost halfway to his season total of 17, in 73 total games.

The minor league numbers are pretty depressing - almost no one of note is doing well, with a couple of exceptions. I wonder if Vera, Placencia etc are going to be "Maitaned" after this year. Still quite young, so probably not, but I've pretty much given up on those guys. I'm not at all worried about Rada, but I question their decision to place him in AA. That's rough competition for an 18-year old. A+ would be hard enough.

Yes, agreed - and I got your point, was just riffing off of it.

I like the Calhoun comp, although with a bit of reverse: Ward as a 1st rounder (albeit strangely so, at the time) who didn't really start blossoming until the high minors and really the majors, and Calhoun as a later pick who emerged in the low minors and just kept on improving. Ward also has higher upside with the bat, imo. If healthy he should be able to put up an .850-.900 OPS, or 140+ wRC.

No worries, we've got Sonny DiChiara.

Which means that expectations are very different. Half of Neto's value is his defense, while maybe about 10% of Schanuel's value--as a first baseman--is defense. Not to mention base-running.

Ward remains one of the biggest surprises, and a mark in Dipoto's positive column. Of course it kind of reminds me of being right about something but just through sheer luck. Ward turned out to be a very different player than he was when he was drafted.

Trout is telling a funny Jered Weaver story when he was a rookie, including Jered paying him back for dinner with a bucket of quarters.

Trout: .290/.362/.710, 7 HR, 200 wRC+ O'Hoppe: .364/.451/.523, 1 HR, 186 wRC+ Ward: .313/.333/.612, 6 HR, 169 wRC+ After those three, only Sano has a wRC+ over 100 (118, due to walks mainly). Rendon has come around of late; after going 0-for in his first five games, he's hitting .395/.442/.474 with a 168 wRC+ in his last 9 games and .480/.517/.580 in his last six, including five multi-hit games. Thaiss's numbers look gaudy, but he's played in only 4 games. The worst offenders are Neto and Schanuel, both with 39 wRC+, as well as Hicks and Moniak both with 54. Rengifo (80), Drury (70), and Adell (99) are varying shades of mediocrity. Obviously small sample size, but clearly a weirdly distributed offensive profile. The "big three" plus Thaiss account fo 2.9 WAR, with everyone else at -0.4.

My worry going into the year was that he would try to be something he was not. He's not a power hitter, and any HR he hits will be incidental. He's a Mark Grace type. He needs to focus on making contact and getting on base, and not worry about hitting for power.

Hmm

It worked.

LOL. Moniak is such trash, and Wash is a dumbass.

2-15. Slump time.

Trout 2 hits in last 14 at bats.

Hopefully.

Seems like it is almost every American politician. Gee, I wonder why.

I think he did, and that he inspired a lot of people - including Palestinians. There's no way to measure how much of an impact he's currently having, but his statement hasn't been forgotten. And to be clear, I think it is sad that he did what he did, and I'd rather have seen him stay alive and help in other ways. But he still gets "mad props" (as the kids say).

Christian edgelords are the worst.