beatlesrule

I'd take Crawford over Hamilton.  Speed doesn't slump at least and Crawford actually looks like he wants to play and is trying.

I'd take Crawford over Hamilton.  Speed doesn't slump at least and Crawford actually looks like he wants to play and is trying.

Saw him at the Seymour Duncan booth. He was with a friend so I didn't want to bug him too much so I asked him if I could get a picture with him and he said sure. I told him that I was there the night he hit the walkoff homerun against Texas and he said, "oh I remember that." After my friend took a pic, I told Mark I was sorry to see him go and he said thank you and that was it. Sorry the photo is kind of blurry. My friend was too close and there are a lot of people at the NAMM show so he had to be quick. Mark was not very talkative and I don't blame him one bit. He was simply there to enjoy himself and not sign autographs or anything. He probably didn't think anyone at a music show would recognize him. I was just glad he was nice enough to take a picture with me. Just thought I'd share with the board.

Saw him at the Seymour Duncan booth. He was with a friend so I didn't want to bug him too much so I asked him if I could get a picture with him and he said sure. I told him that I was there the night he hit the walkoff homerun against Texas and he said, "oh I remember that." After my friend took a pic, I told Mark I was sorry to see him go and he said thank you and that was it. Sorry the photo is kind of blurry. My friend was too close and there are a lot of people at the NAMM show so he had to be quick. Mark was not very talkative and I don't blame him one bit. He was simply there to enjoy himself and not sign autographs or anything. He probably didn't think anyone at a music show would recognize him. I was just glad he was nice enough to take a picture with me. Just thought I'd share with the board.

I do not like BR.  It seems every article on there is written purely for the traffic the site will receive.  Maybe it's better now but I stopped going there 2 years ago.  Their NBA articles were horrendous. 
 
 
Are you referring to Shields?  You really want a 33 year old for 5 years and like 90 million?  Are you talking about trading?  Dipoto has done a good job at getting younger and any pitcher in a trade would undue all that.  Richards should be 100% by May or so.  This team doesn't need to gut the farm for a #2 type pitcher.  I think the rotation will be able to hold their own until Richards comes back and then the depth will be better.  I am more worried about Pujols and Hamilton stinking up the joint.  That should be our real concern.

If an incentive based contract would be acceptable, I wouldn't mind something like 5/150 with options for a 6th and 7th year heavily based on performance that could put the deal near 200 million.  I doubt Boras allows his clients those kinds of contracts though.

I'm sticking with the Nationals. It makes zero sense for the Angels to sign him. They already have 2 bad contracts.

I'm sticking with the Nationals. It makes zero sense for the Angels to sign him. They already have 2 bad contracts.

https://twitter.com/MLBMeme/status/546000464819388416

Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal Sources: #Padres getting Upton.
 
 
Makes sense

Dipoto had one bad offseason.  
 
His first year he added Wilson to a staff that was touted as one the best in baseball.  One that he inherited and it promptly fell apart in the first month of the 2012 season.  The move to bring in Greinke was panned but what he gave up hasn't really amounted to much.  Segura still has potential but after a great 1/2 season he's been pretty weak.  Although he gets a pass because of the horrible loss of his son.  
But CJ has been CJ for the past 3 years.  He's given about what was expected.  Maybe a bit less.
Pujols is on Arte for sure.  A franchise move and his sharp decline so early in the deal is unprecedented for an inner circle hall of famer.  
But the 2012 team won 89.  
 
The following year he had to rebuild 3/5ths of a rotation and an entire bullpen.  A mess he didn't create.  Santana was arguably the worst SP in baseball in 2012 and he wasn't worth the option he was owed.  His success since isn't a mystery, but to keep him around would have been more risky than not.  
The addition of Hamilton was all Arte and left JD with very little payroll to accomplish the above.  I am fairly sure the reigns were being pulled in regards to what he was allowed to do in trade.  But the Blanton, Hanson, and Madsen moves were horrific no doubt.  He had other options and chose poorly.  The Burnett move was reasonable and didn't work out.  
 
I think last year he was given more freedom to do what he needed and it worked out.   
 
This year we'll see but what he has done so far is sound.
 
My one major nit aside from who he chose to man the rotation last year was his neglect of the bullpen for 3 offseasons and 2.5 regular seasons.  He went saber cheap at it was the achilles heel of the team until he decided that it mattered and then the team took off.  
 
But he and his staff have consistently shown the ability to do something very important and that is evaluate talent that isn't generally well known.  Both with the Halos and players on other teams.  While his track record for bringing in a known quantity hasn't been superlative, what he gives up hasn't done much, and what he keeps does.  And when he moves a known entity for a lesser known player, those lesser known players have succeeded far more than the players he's moved.  Some of that is yet to be determined.  
 
After the 2012 season when the rotation fell apart, he started 2013 with Weaver, Wilson, Vargas, Blanton and Hanson in the rotation with depth of Williams, Billy Buckner, Barry Enright, Michael Roth, Matt Shoemaker, Daniel Stange, and Garret Richards.  Our top 20 prospects had Cam Bedrosian, Nick Mutz, Daniel Tillman, Nick Maronde, AJ Schugel, Michael Clevinger, RJ Alvarez, and Austin Wood.
 
Fast forward to the 2014 offseason, and our rotation is Richards, Weaver, Shoemaker, Santiago, Wilson, with depth of Skaggs, Heaney, Tropeano, Jose Alvarez, Rucinski, and Newcomb.  And our top 20 prospect list has maybe 4-5 guys that were present when Dipoto was hired.  
 
Not to mention he remade the entire pen in 1/2 a season, and it's stocked with depth.  Plus, the system has a bunch of major league capable arms that could find their way to the pen if they don't succeed as starters.  
 
This org was in real trouble after the 2013 season.  No farm.  No pitching.  No international presence.  Where they have come in 1yr is pretty amazing.   

I am just going to miss the Jeppy-Percy look alike.
 
 
 
 

I like this.  I always trade for Matt Joyce in my MLB The Show franchise. 
 
Why do I keep seeing Trout hitting 3rd in projected lineups?  Do you really think Scioscia is going to move Pujols to 4?  Did I miss something here?

Why so much C.J hate?  He has the same exact career ERA as Shields and is only one year older.  He also throws left handed and is already under contract for less than Shields will get.  Wilson had a down year but he did pitch really well at times.  I don't understand why people want to replace him so badly with a very similar pitcher that is more expensive.

Why so much C.J hate?  He has the same exact career ERA as Shields and is only one year older.  He also throws left handed and is already under contract for less than Shields will get.  Wilson had a down year but he did pitch really well at times.  I don't understand why people want to replace him so badly with a very similar pitcher that is more expensive.

Shields is only one year younger than CJ. He is going to turn 33 before the end of the year. CJ is 34. Hamels is just about to turn 31.
 
Scherzer is going to be 31 next season after the All-Star Break. Dan Haren is also 34. I only say that because earlier this week, I thought we were getting him back.
 
I don't understand the fascination with older pitchers. I am fine with getting a guy who is affordable when he is in his early to mid thirties, or even in his late thirties. But to trade our #1 prospect for a guy like Hamels is not how you build a winning team.
 
I also don't understand why people don't think Hector Santiago has the #5 Spot locked down. I know DiPoto said earlier this week that there would be a competition for the five spot, to say that Heaney or Tropeano have it right now (as Mike DiGiovanna said in today's Times), is not giving Santiago enough credit. Sure right now if Skaggs was healthy, there might be a competition between he and Santiago for that fifth spot, and Skaggs has better stuff, so he might have the edge there, but also because Santiago is likely out of options, and can pitch out of the pen, whereas Skaggs likely has options and can't….then maybe there is a competition. 
 
Now however, the rotation is locked in my humble opinion.
 
Weaver is guaranteed the #1 spot in the rotation.
 
Richards is likely to slot in at #2 based on his performance last year. If he is healthy enough to start the year in the rotation. Which is not sure yet.
 
Wilson is likely the #3, because he is under contract for $19 AAV the next two seasons, and while he pitched poorly for the end of June, July, and August (plus the playoff game) he had been excellent at other times. And was good in 2012 and 2013 for the Angels. He'll want to get it right, he's a competitor. No one will take him in trade.
 
Shoemaker is guaranteed the #4 Spot. He'd be the #3 based on last year's performance, but they'll probably want to separate the two lefties.
 
Santiago had a 2.98 ERA in the 2nd half. He was better as a reliever (0.00 ERA), but as a starter once he regained his spot in early June, he had a 3.58 ERA  the rest of the way. Everyone is going to have a frustrating start once in a while, but a 3.58 ERA is right in line with his career mark. He's just about to be 27. I think he'll be that guy going forward. In 2016, there will be many choices (Skaggs back, Heaney, and Tropeano ready), but for 2015…Santiago has this spot unless someone takes it from him with an outright brilliant spring.
 
 
Also, let's not forget that Heaney, Tropeano, Rasmus, Alvarez all have options. That means that even with a brilliant spring, if everyone else is healthy, and the pen is set, then they end up in the Salt Lake rotation.

I'm sure glad you aren't the GM.

I'm sure glad you aren't the GM.

He is not nearly as good as he used to be.  He's look over matched in a lot of at bats.  A hall of famer like him should not have looked so clueless against the Royals.  I don't even see him hitting 600 career home runs.

I'd like to see Rasmus at least get a shot at being a real starter

Don't worry about Weaver.  He is a gamer and I really think he will be a good to serviceable pitcher for the rest of his contract with the Angels and I hope they resign him and he is an Angel for life.  Barring something crazy like him forgetting how to pitch or a serious injury of course. I think Weaver will retire if he starts to stink it up.  He will most likely go out on his own terms much like Willingham just did.

He will cost way too much.
I like how Steve Adams states that he had to rewrite the article after the trade.

Hamilton came up guys on base a couple of times in games 1 and 2.  A single would have given the Angels the lead. It's why Scioscia bunted guys over for Hamilton.  He looked absolutely lost at the plate.  At least Cowgill or Navarro don't look lost.  Defend Hamilton all you want but the fact is playing him was the wrong move.  I guess Scioscia is more to blame because Hamilton most likely didn't ask Scioscia not to play me because I am terrible.

Trout OPS: .600
Ianetta OPS: .582
Cron OPS: .495
Freese OPS: .864
Hamilton OPS: .000
 
Which one of those is not like the others?

Who hit 30 hrs?
 
LOL at comeback season.  Pujols numbers are not anything that special from what he used to put up.  Do you really want to know where he ranked overall this year out of all players??  I didn't think so.