Angelsjunky

12-22 (.545) in his last five games. Not bad.
 
I'm going to be optimistic and say that Albert's finally warming up and he'll end up with numbers similar or a bit better than last year. He's not the player he was in 2010 and before, but he should still be good for .280+ and 30 HR.

WAR, why has thou forsaken Trout?

Maybe this will help.  
 
BOUR 

Dear Angels,
We love you, buuut....you're still a suckfest of disappointment.
 
Love,
Your Devoted Fans

I have a hard time feeling bad for billionaires who make bad investments. We can only hope that Arte has learned his lesson and will keep out of making baseball decisions, which he's clearly bad at.

Good teachers should make good money.  Great teachers should make great money.  Bad teachers should get canned.  

For the sake of engaging in a philosophical debate by which I hope to learn about the world and other people's opinions I will happily play the liberal for you, MT.  But frankly, the sooner we stop pointing the finger and playing liberal vs conservative, red vs. blue--or rather, black vs white--the sooner we can join forces, find common ground, and hopefully make some serious changes in this country.  We all agree that congress is corrupt, that too much money is influencing politics, that the government is overstepping its bounds...let's start there.  Gay marriage and abortion rights are minor issues in comparison to the potential totalitarian police state we are looking at down the road.  My point is: I think we have a lot more in common than you might think.  The more we haggle over paltry, relatively insignificant issues, the more we play into the pundits hands.
 
p.s. remember the thread a week or so ago that asked loosely what "law" we would change, if given the option?  I never answered because I couldn't decide; but now I know.  It's not a law, per say, but I would do away with the labels "republican" and "democrat" and force politicians to run without labels.  The way things are now people just flock one way or another like herds of cattle.         

Its June 1st. The Angels have won 10 of their last 13 and are 5 games below .500 vs. 12 games like they were a few weeks ago. They're getting there.

I hope Scioscia makes Bourjos eat bananas and do yoga.

It might give some pleasure to note that Vernon Wells has been playing terribly of late - his stats are down to .263/.313/.457. Wells is 2-22 in his last five games and is hitting a very familiar .229/.260/.375 in May. I personally don't wish any bad mojo on Vernon but it is nice to know that it wasn't just being on the Angels that made him play so poorly.
 
Torii Hunter's numbers--.312/.358/.427--are surprisingly similar to last year (.313/.365/.451) although with even less power, only 2 HR so far this year. Like Wells he's cooled off a lot in May, hitting .253/.306/.354. I predicted his numbers would drop this year - that his loss of power and high BABIP last year would lead to something like a .270/.750 line this year, which may end up being about what he hits. That said, it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his new high BA, low power approach.
 
Kendrys Morales started slow but is hitting better and better, now up to .300/.373/.479. I suspect those numbers are legit, although I'd guess he hits for a bit more power and a bit less average and walks going forward...maybe ending with something like .290/.350/.500.
 
At this point Mike Napoli is ancient history but I'll still give him a mention. He's been solid for a surprisingly good Red Sox team, hitting his usual .258/.338/.485 with a bunch of RBI (39). He's done as a catcher so is basically now a run-of-the-mill DH.
 
I keep expecting Jean Segura to slump but he just has six hits last night and is now hitting .365/.400/.569, which is almost exactly the same line as Howie Kendrick in the minors. I don't expect him to continue at this pace forever, but he's looking like a legit .300+/.850+ hitter and an All-Star middle infielder. Watching him play is going to hurt for years to come, especially in light of the what-could-have-been scenario of a 1-2 Segura-Trout punch. Oh well.
 
Not much to say about Jeff Mathis and Maicer Izturis. Mathis is back in the majors and has one hit in 20 at-bats for the Miami Marlins, a team a belongs on. I'm sure he'll heat up and hit at least .150 before the season is through. Izturis continues his poor performance from last year and may be close to the end.
 
If you were wondering about Brandon Wood he's in AAA where's hit .288/.320/.415 for two teams. He's currently playing for Baltimore's AAA team, Norfolk.
 
On the pitching side of things, Ervin Santana continues a strong year, although his ERA is now up to 3.33 thanks to a poor showing against the Angels a few days ago. But his walk-strikeout rate bodes well for continued success: 11-57 in 71.1 IP.
 
Dan Haren continues to give up tons of hits and his ERA is still up at 5.43, but of his 10 starts only 2 or 3 are terrible. He's better than Joe Blanton but not by much.
 
Tyler Chatwood is back in the majors and pitching well, with a 1.90 ERA through four starts. Obviously that won't continue but he could be starting a run as a solid back-end rotation pitcher. I see a Joe Saunders-esque career ahead of him.
 
Speaking of Joe Saunders, he's struggling for the Mariners with a 6.09 ERA through ten starts. So much for the "we should have signed Saunders instead of Blanton" meme. I suppose he would have been cheaper at least for similar performance.
 
Patrick Corbin is now really looking like the one who got away, or at least sharing that title with Jean Segura. He's leading the majors with a 1.71 ERA in 10 starts. Tyler Skaggs is now up as well and pitched 6 shutout innings in his first start. Ouch.
 
Fernando Rodney continues to be Fernando Rodney, albeit the pre-2012 version (what was that all about?).
 
Oh yeah Zack Greinke. I barely consider him an Angel. He's just the guy that cost us Jean Segura. Anyhow, he's back and rusty but I'm sure will be fine.

Bostock and Adenhart should be in a different category - "disappointment" doesn't begin to describe.

It might give some pleasure to note that Vernon Wells has been playing terribly of late - his stats are down to .263/.313/.457. Wells is 2-22 in his last five games and is hitting a very familiar .229/.260/.375 in May. I personally don't wish any bad mojo on Vernon but it is nice to know that it wasn't just being on the Angels that made him play so poorly.
 
Torii Hunter's numbers--.312/.358/.427--are surprisingly similar to last year (.313/.365/.451) although with even less power, only 2 HR so far this year. Like Wells he's cooled off a lot in May, hitting .253/.306/.354. I predicted his numbers would drop this year - that his loss of power and high BABIP last year would lead to something like a .270/.750 line this year, which may end up being about what he hits. That said, it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his new high BA, low power approach.
 
Kendrys Morales started slow but is hitting better and better, now up to .300/.373/.479. I suspect those numbers are legit, although I'd guess he hits for a bit more power and a bit less average and walks going forward...maybe ending with something like .290/.350/.500.
 
At this point Mike Napoli is ancient history but I'll still give him a mention. He's been solid for a surprisingly good Red Sox team, hitting his usual .258/.338/.485 with a bunch of RBI (39). He's done as a catcher so is basically now a run-of-the-mill DH.
 
I keep expecting Jean Segura to slump but he just has six hits last night and is now hitting .365/.400/.569, which is almost exactly the same line as Howie Kendrick in the minors. I don't expect him to continue at this pace forever, but he's looking like a legit .300+/.850+ hitter and an All-Star middle infielder. Watching him play is going to hurt for years to come, especially in light of the what-could-have-been scenario of a 1-2 Segura-Trout punch. Oh well.
 
Not much to say about Jeff Mathis and Maicer Izturis. Mathis is back in the majors and has one hit in 20 at-bats for the Miami Marlins, a team a belongs on. I'm sure he'll heat up and hit at least .150 before the season is through. Izturis continues his poor performance from last year and may be close to the end.
 
If you were wondering about Brandon Wood he's in AAA where's hit .288/.320/.415 for two teams. He's currently playing for Baltimore's AAA team, Norfolk.
 
On the pitching side of things, Ervin Santana continues a strong year, although his ERA is now up to 3.33 thanks to a poor showing against the Angels a few days ago. But his walk-strikeout rate bodes well for continued success: 11-57 in 71.1 IP.
 
Dan Haren continues to give up tons of hits and his ERA is still up at 5.43, but of his 10 starts only 2 or 3 are terrible. He's better than Joe Blanton but not by much.
 
Tyler Chatwood is back in the majors and pitching well, with a 1.90 ERA through four starts. Obviously that won't continue but he could be starting a run as a solid back-end rotation pitcher. I see a Joe Saunders-esque career ahead of him.
 
Speaking of Joe Saunders, he's struggling for the Mariners with a 6.09 ERA through ten starts. So much for the "we should have signed Saunders instead of Blanton" meme. I suppose he would have been cheaper at least for similar performance.
 
Patrick Corbin is now really looking like the one who got away, or at least sharing that title with Jean Segura. He's leading the majors with a 1.71 ERA in 10 starts. Tyler Skaggs is now up as well and pitched 6 shutout innings in his first start. Ouch.
 
Fernando Rodney continues to be Fernando Rodney, albeit the pre-2012 version (what was that all about?).
 
Oh yeah Zack Greinke. I barely consider him an Angel. He's just the guy that cost us Jean Segura. Anyhow, he's back and rusty but I'm sure will be fine.

In other words, it sounds like you're a bit butthurt from Simers for some unknown reason

I'm not sure what offended you there, Chuck.

I'd package Ryan Bolden and Chevez Clarke for Cliff Lee.

Just like Travis Witherspoon makes Trout expendable.

Online forums are for armchair GMing.
 
Scott, you forgot "Or giving a 5-year, $125 million contract to a player whose team wouldn't offer him more than four years."

Online forums are for armchair GMing.
 
Scott, you forgot "Or giving a 5-year, $125 million contract to a player whose team wouldn't offer him more than four years."

Me too!

Here it is.

For some reason Dipoto and Moreno thought it a good idea to compound the Wells disaster with not one but TWO terrible contracts. It boggles the mind.

To be positive for a moment:
 
2012 through May 15: .212/.248/.288 (.536), 1 HR
2013 through May 15: .248/.328/.418 (.746), 6 HR
 
I'll take the latter, thank you very much.

Hope he isn't throwing 85 mph fastballs anymore.

Funny, the Cardinals have always had a solid farm, despite almost always being at least in contention for the post-season.
It's called having good scouts, something this org never seemed to get, to the point of even employing Squiggy as a scout.
It's also called not ignoring foreign scouting.