Junkballer

They should keep the name and just change the logo. Or change it to the Fighting Patels.

I hear thats Maddons go-to 8-track to close deals in his shaggin wagon.

Depending on several factors, such as how Ohtani looks in spring, whether Barria (or fill in the blank) is included in a trade, whether they get a true TOR arm and a 2nd starter, I can see Canning in AAA to begin the year. His elbow, by his own admission, is something he will have to manage the rest of his career and he hasnt pitched over 100 innings since 2018 (113). If Barria is still around, I could see Canning having a shorter season, giving Ohtani time to re-prove himself and Barria, having no options, a slot.

I just see a straight up swap as unlikely in the extreme, one reason, of several, that the risk/reward being much higher for the Rays than Angels. Snells floor and upside are pretty well established, and the three years remaining on his contract mitigate injury concerns to an extent. Adells atrocious debut has exposed flaws. Not saying that the Rays would not consider him to still be a prime prospect, however, we can be sure that their view of his floor has lowered. On top of this, I have little doubt that they will get several offers that include at least more than one prospect, which by the nature of dealing with prospects, mitigates the risk of a one to one swap, and that some of those offers will include higher end pitching prospects.

Wang Luitai is no Iron Balls McGinty

It will be interesting how Minasian and his staff evaluate our prospects and how that affects going after SP trades. While getting Bauer leaves prospect currency in the bank for other moves, it tightens payroll flexibility for several years even with other big contracts dropping off. Going after Snell +1 through trade and seeing how they manage the prospect list is interesting The cost will be high, but Minasian may be confident in his staffs ability to draft, procure and prune a restructured farm. Bauer may be financially possible but Snell or similar gives Minasian more elbow room in the overall scheme. My guess is that he is prepared for Bauers ask being too high anyway.

Not to mention the decline of cable/satellite/regional sports network subscriptions and revenue.

A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and one night he is doing a show in a small town. With his dummy on his knee, he starts going through his usual dumb blonde jokes when a blonde woman in the fourth row stands on her chair and starts shouting: "I've heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype women that way? What does the color of a person's hair have to do with her worth as a human being? Guys like you keep women like me from being respected at work and in the community and from reaching our full potential as a person. Its because you and your kind continue to perpetuate discrimination against not only blondes, but women in general and all in the name of humor!" The embarrassed ventriloquist begins to apologize and the blonde yells, "You stay out of this, mister! I'm talking to that little bastard on your knee!

700 TG (47) 424 Hubs(24) 380 Ukyah (14) 346 Capital_Dave (8) 318 Duren, Duren (12) 300 Pancake Bear (10) 294 AngelsNationTalk (16) 274 HaloSpurs (7) 256 ScruffytheJanitor (18) 250 Dochalo (9) 223 Junkballer (6) 193 Angelsjunky (9) 172 Happybat4 (2)

424 Hubs(24) 380 Ukyah (14) 346 Capital_Dave (8) 318 Duren, Duren (12) 300 Pancake Bear (10) 294 AngelsNationTalk (16) 274 HaloSpurs (7) 256 ScruffytheJanitor (18) 250 Dochalo (9) 223 Junkballer (6) 193 Angelsjunky (9) 172 Happybat4 (2)

Minasian's priority to retain budget flexibility in his pursuit of starting pitching, which infers that the likelihood of seeing a signing for Pederson or Bradley money is low until after he has the SP piece(s) in place. If he acquires a RF before front end SP(s), I expect it will be through trade, or a low-cost, lower-tier FA.

This^^. Im fine with them going lower tier for RF and slotting the remaining dollars on their more pressing needs. Priorities.

Or "Yes Ve Gan"

Id be surprised if Andriese is non-tendered. He had a bad stretch from 7/31--8/16 where he gave up 12 runs in 9 1/3 innings (4 appearances). Outside of that he gave up 4 runs in 23 innings (12 appearances). His WHIP was an even 1, even with the bad stretch. I get the impression that Maddon is comfortable with him going back to his days with the Rays.

AO, I know its off-season and all but please review your AngelsWin thesaurus. Cano is an Idoit. Losing out on 24m deserves the proper depth of the AW meaning.

The angled mirror so that I can drive in this position better come as part of the option.

We finally got a guy that looks like he works on 2 hours of sleep a night. Eppler and Dipoto looked waaay too rested.

Obtaining a good defensive SS would be optimal. Fletcher is an outstanding 2B and a good SS. Having Fletch at 2B as the Ace in the Hole for SS injuries, days off, etc. would be ideal as Rengifo (or Jones if LR is traded) fills in nicely at 2B. If Fletch is starting SS, when he is out, there will be a noticeable dropoff there. Outside of pitching, this is the position Id like to see Minasian get creative with more than any other.

At least Minasian should be able to offer Bauer a backloaded contract and still fill other pitching slots through trades. Although Bauer is an unlikely signing, I still want to them to throw their hat in the ring.

While Im thankful for Tony Two Bags summary of the interview, it was a summary and paraphrase of one persons recollection, not a transcript. Arte wasnt going to give anything more than some limited insight into broad ownership concerns and it is easy to infer predetermined meaning into what is not meant to be a treatise. It sounds to me that he has come to a conclusion whereby he agrees with some of Maddons ideas (as I see it) and does not wish to take an analytic-centric path but to increase focus on player development, with analytics pushing the development cart as opposed to the inverse. That is a positive in that there are few that would say that the Angels have excelled in the player development arena.

I take this as him saying that they wont allow a Dipoto type to gut the farm and wont allow an Eppler type to RELY on clean peanut arms, nothing more.

Shouldnt be a surprise to anyone but the Angels are clearly preparing to evaluate Ohtani in spring 2021. Whether the new GM will be counting on innings from him is anybodys guess but hopefully he will proceed by setting up his rotation by viewing Ohtanis contributions as a bonus that will allow him to be flexible in the trade market at some point before the trade deadline.

The number is probably pretty low, but still, he has a repaired elbow and knee. Getting shut down in 2020 was not directly related to his reconstructed elbow as far as we know. IMO he was clearly learning how to pitch again, failing, and with the forearm strain and shortened season that they thought they needed every win to advance to the playoffs, they werent willing to let him work things out during the season because they had another option. Its my belief that had the Angels not have the option for him to DH, they would have let him work things out in Long Beach and brought him back during the season.

He had 20 months to recover from Tommy John but also had the COVID crazy two part spring training in which his pitches lost the movement he had in the past. Im confident that with a full spring training facing unfamiliar batters he will find some of that movement and command back. He may never be the 2018 Ohtani but even as a solid #3, cross fingers, he gives the Angels more versatility. Also, I feel more comfortable with Canning having his starts spread out because although he managed well this year, his elbow is known to continue to be fragile, whereas Ohtanis elbow should be pretty solid after all this recovery time. Its more his command and effectiveness that is my concern.