angelduck

I think the government was in on killing JFK. Think about these three things:
 
1. They knew exactly where to find Lee Harvey Oswald (The shooter)
 
2. They somehow knew that Lee Harvey Oswald was the killer IMMEDIATELY. Seems fishy.
 
3. JFK was going to attempt to get rid of the CIA because of Bay of Pigs. This is why CIA killed him.
 

I know...it's genius. Just sleep on it for the night and tell me if you think I'm correct. The evidence is overwhelming

Mattingly and Scioscia are both equally awful. If I was a Dodger fan...I'd be concerned that my stacked team is going to be a bust...Just like we were last year.

To be honest, with Mike Scioscia and this pitching staff you just don't know what you will get.  My guess would be 13-14.  Hope I am wrong.

Man I hate bunting.
 
I am so ready for a new manager.

This is not a well-coached team. That goes for Butcher and Scioscia. I know, I know...Spring Training, but..........

Stealing is only worth it if you can steal successfully 80 percent of the time.  Anything lower hurts your team.  

There's a new theory about SBs - some of the stat meisters have calculated the risk factor with SBs.  They believe the SBs are not worth the risk.  They argue because someone is on base it is less risky to have him try to steal, instead put pressure on the pitching and defense to prevent the runner from scoring.  The extra base is not that important.
 
My view is when you have someone with Trout's talent than can not only steal 2b but 3b, it is a worthy risk.  

This hardly comes as a surprise. Only the most optimistic didn't see this coming back when we signed him.

How is it that Conger has made it this far as a catcher and all of a sudden his defense is a deal breaker?

At the time my thoughts were to keep Morales, knowing it would be for one year only, and sign Joe Saunders to a one year deal to be a lefty #4, instead of trading for Vargas. (Ironically the Mariners actually did just that). I never wanted to see either of Bourjos or Trumbo be traded. 
 
Morales for 1 year at $5M would've been cheap insurance against any of Trumbo, Bourjos, Pujols, Hamilton, or Trout getting injured or being grossly ineffective. Then then trade Wells + a truckload of money for a low level minor league player. If we need another OF at some point call up Calhoun.
 
If everyone is healthy then platoon Morales with whicher RH'er is the least productive on that list of players (likely Trumbo or Bourjos). If any of them are out then Morales gets regular playing time. 
 
 
 Of course I'm aware it's quite possible we actually tried this and Saunders (or other pitchers comparable to Vargas) simply didn't want to play here. We also know that Arte didn't want to take as much of a haircut on Wells as most teams were asking for. Finally if Vargas ends up pitching better than expected here, he's more likely than most 1 year players to re-sign later so I don't feel too bad about the trade. I'm mostly bummed we didn't get to see a ridiculous murderer's row lineup featuring Trout, Pujols, Hamilton, Trumbo AND Morales.

Did you not watch the last two months of the 2012 season? Trumbo was worse than Brandon Wood. So don't give me the poor couple weeks excuse. The guy has been a mess at the plate for a while. I like the guy, but you should at least acknowledge that he has terrible plate discipline...oh wait I forgot you like to paint a rosy picture about every single player in the Angels system. I remember you telling us Richards was ready to be a 3 starter last year, and is going to be a future #2 starter at worst...1.5 WHIP...enough said. I remember you telling us that Trumbo is a  future .900 OPS bat...still waiting (he's now 27), You've also said in the passed that Bourjos would be a .290 hitter with 15 home runs, 40 steals and gold glove defense...seems pretty rosy to me...we'll see if you're right. You're pretty high on a guy like Cron for a guy who had a 3% walk rate in A ball as a 23 year old. My point is, take off the homer goggles please. Try evaluating players without a bias. I have yet to see you say something negative about an Angels prospect..even the one's with clear red flags. 

Scioscia is still pissed at Dipoto for letting Bobby Wilson get away

I have wondered why our catchers at best stagnate under a manager who played the position at the major league level. As far as Mathis goes, if Scioscia improved him, I don't want to know how much he would have sucked otherwise.

Yeah, and I have a nose hair fracture. 
 
Nice phantom injury there, Mike Scioscia.  Just tell us the truth, you want Conger gone. 

There's still the issue of pitchers being flip flopped between starter and reliever though.

It's not helping Feliz and Ogando in their development, that's for sure.

I am no longer excited about this season. Time to fire Scioscia and Butcher. Right now Scioscia couldn't manage a little league team.

Well, based on those criteria and the fact that they waited this long to start looking for catching help, there seems to be a very high chance we're getting a bad baseball player.
 
If they find someone who is actually talented, great, but the odds of that seem pretty slim.

Shouldn't it be a concern that even a marginal catcher doesn't improve with Scioscia as a tutor? Shouldn't he be a manager that can actually make catchers better? And yet Mathis seems to be the only catcher who suggests Scioscia made him better. 
 
Maybe what Scioscia actually wants is to be a player/coach.

Ya, if they really weren't as convinced that Conger could be a backup catcher as was indicated, they should have added someone who isn't Luke Carlin.
Now they've backed themselves into a corner where they're likely looking at using someone terrible in that role, or overpaying for someone who isn't terrible.

Scioscia : Piazza :: Mathis : Napoli

conger will be traded for a catcher that squats correctly behind home plate, has the extremely mathematically important low cera and doesn't bend to kiss sciocia's ass. the guy does have throwing trouble, but the bottom line is that our manager doesn't like him. probably doesn't block the plate with the legendary efficiency our manager had either.

I'm sorry, but this is Mike Scioscia flexing his micromanaging muscle yet again...

how about the term "wake and bake"

Not being able to lay down a sacrifice bunt is a positive thing. Don't waste outs.