Junkballer

I tend to think that Trout is an east coast guy and that will be a factor that will, to an unknown degree, sway how he feels about the Angels when he is free to choose from any offer.  That being said, there isn't much the Angels can do about that other than do their best to make playing here fun for him.  I doubt if he'll be looking at the health of the farm system, up and coming talent and he won't give a damn about the economics that limit Eppler to an internal 165m-ish cap.  I think he'll remember the years 2018-2020 for whether, in his mind, the Angels went all out to win a title.  I'm not advocating reckless spending nor am I advocating anything in this post but I do think that the Angels are handicapped by Trouts New Jersey roots and family location and will have to try to erase the memory of the clean peanut finding years by becoming somewhat of a powerhouse in order to keep him.

I'm not understanding the reasoning behind the discrepancy in projected Command & Control, with Command projected 10 pts higher.  A pretty big difference. I know that although they are related but different, it seems to me that Command is more difficult to attain than Control.  My understanding is that Control is mostly consistency of location, being able to throw strikes, and Command is both location and pitch movement, being able to make the pitch move or break in a repeatable advantageous manner while still making location.  If that is close to correct, and I'm sure its an incomplete understanding, wouldn't Control be a much easier category to project highly in?  If so, why would Command be projected so much higher than Control with Gatto?  What am I missing?

4 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

Agreed, but it's partly about content.  Top 30 allows us to keep a consistent progression of scouting reports coming at you in late December, January and February, when the rest of baseball seems to go cold and there isn't really any news anywhere.  Creates a wider spread of information.  

I agree with the idea that Top 20 is a better fit than 30, especially in a shallow system such as ours.  The guys ranked 1-15 are really the ones I tend to be excited about. 

Also, going to 30 helps those of us who don't follow prospects that closely to put some attributes (or lack thereof) to names.  I'm not going to do a lot of my own digging for prospect info but here it is doled out in bite-sized pieces  It helps flesh things out for us type-b fans.

On 12/26/2016 at 0:08 PM, Sam Sanchez said:

By "list" are you talking about the Top 10 grossing on that list? Because, yeah I agree, none of those would touch what I consider the best of the year. But if you're talking about the whole movie list as a whole for the year, I don't understand what context you could look at an enormous list like that and say nothing interests you. What do you base that on, the title, who's in it, who directed it? I understand I'm not the "general public" as I try to watch about 50-100 current movies each year, so I actively seek stuff out.

 

Just a few movies I'd toss out that are worth checking out:

Moonlight

Nocturnal Animals

Elle (Paul Verhoeven's first movie in like 10 years and it's Paul Verhoeven as hell)

The Handmaiden

Arrival

Manchester by the Sea

The Nice Guys

Hail, Caesar (this movie got so much better on a rewatch)

The Lobster

The Witch

Everybody Wants Some

The Edge of Seventeen

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Sing Street

 

And a couple other random smaller movies that maybe only I would like but would recommend anyway to a lesser extent: Krisha, Love & Friendship, Things To Come, Indignation and Wiener-Dog.

I'm curious to know what you found interesting about Everybody Wants Some.  I thought it was a huge disappointment in that everything Linklater did well in Dazed & Confused fell completely flat  in EWS, at least for me.  Perhaps I was viewing it as D&C part 2 and didn't allow it to be its own movie but still, I couldn't help but to not care for the characters.  What would you say were its positives?

22 hours ago, Adam said:

My son's #1 on the wish list was Jabba's Lair. They don't make it anymore because apparently some civil rights group thought it was racist against muslims. So, we had to buy it on ebay, used...for $100. It was only missing one piece and fortunately I found the same piece in our giant box of legos from Christmas past. 

It's pretty dope though. He loves it. 

Pretty cool that you already had the desecrated Koran piece.  

Eppler bringing in one arm for the 2 he dealt in the Espinosa deal while swapping very close to the same catcher.  I am assuming that the deal wouldn't have been done unless Scioscia felt it was a push between the two catchers or he liked Maldonado better.   I'm sure he likes Maldonados throw to second better. I don't think we really know how well he trusted how Bandy was projecting in handling the staff.

54 minutes ago, IEAngelsfan said:

Claude is of French descent?

No wonder he's giving up so easily on next season.

Squat vs Squatch

3 minutes ago, LegendaryPujols#5 said:

I think what's happening now is that the front office is doing what Scioscia is ordering with no hesitation at all but that's counterproductive.

I'd love to read why you believe such a thing.  #lovepsychorants

I think my patio table wants me.

Was Hi-Def Halos here and AlHraboskysmoustache on the MLB Angels board

Dozier at 6m & 9m (2017-18) fills that hole very nicely but at what cost besides Skaggs/Shoemaker?  I think there has to be another legit prospect included which seems contrary to where B-Epps is at right now.

FYI-

http://twinsdaily.com/blog/449/entry-8592-thoughts-on-brian-dozier/

Autocraigrotic duplication

17 hours ago, Lou said:

why would a guy with those numbers be available? 

Found this on a Mariner site:

Quote

 

RHP Osmer Morales, 6’3?, 180 lbs, 10/30/1992
(A): 0-0, 7 G, 3 SV, 0.63 ERA in 14.1 IP, 10 H (HR), R, 16/2 K/BB, HB
(A+): 5-6, 25 G (14 GS), CG, SV, 3.69 ERA in 102.1 IP, 101 H (7 HR), 44 R (42 ER), 118/25 K/BB, 4 HB, BK, 5 WP
Pros: Components trending in the right direction, full arsenal of pitches
Cons: High-80s heater?

So, Morales again? We have slightly more data on the fellow this time around, and whereas last season he had a 24.1 K% and a 6.5 BB% in Clinton, this season we were looking at a 27.8 K% and a 5.8 BB% in Bako. The wacky thing about it all is that he actually fared better as a starter, with a .228/.278/.351 line against, relative to his work as a reliever, which had him with a .302/.347/.424 line against. There are some weird blips in the profile though. One is that he was mentioned in the league chat over at BA where it was revealed that he only throws in the high-80s. The second is that there’s nearly a 200-point OPS difference between when he faces RHB or LHB, and it’s unfavorable to the lefties. I’ve read a bit on him and it seems to praise his breaking pitches over his change-up, but regardless, RHP with reverse splits aren’t a hot commodity, even if they can start a bit.

 

17 hours ago, Jobu said:

Doctor says he needs a backeotomy. 

Sir Smoka-Lot reference FTW!

8 hours ago, Mark68 said:

Just like Shaq eventually worked out his free throw issues. 

Fun fact: He shot career FT's at .562.  Had he averaged .800 he'd have scored 3066 more points and would have ended up 5th on the all time scoring list, behind Kareem, Mailman, Kobe & MJ but passing Wilt and Nowitzki.

"When keepin' it real goes wrong" ?

3 hours ago, Blarg said:

I'm sure they mulled over "Sit on Your Ass for Cancer" but realized that Congress has a monopoly on that.

I think the prostate cancer folks are considering that and "Give Cancer the Finger".  Running neck and neck.

Well, it is phrased as a command as opposed to an invitation to stand beside. I have no professional insight as to the effectiveness of that as a tactic but I thought it was noticeable. IMO, a March of Dimes slogan like "We're helping babies" elicits a different natural response because it points to something good they are doing and implies invitation to come along. "Stand up to" seems like a different connotation. I'm naturally inclined to be sympathetic to cancer related causes because of my personal experience but if that were not so the phrasing might feel like social pressure to do something that I would perhaps be more likely to do were it were an invitation. Metaphors are useful when a subject is not understood. I think the phenomenon of cancer is pretty well understood. I don't find it useful to correlate my mother's illness to a war however, we all think and respond differently and I certainly sympathize with the need to make sense of something that seems so senseless.

33 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Emotional manipulation?  Ok.  I kind of thought it was less about trying to manipulate you and more about raising awareness to a large audience to try and raise money so other people may not lose their mom.  

I'm for raising awareness and the advancement of treatment and don't mean to criticize the entire effort but that particular element of choosing the slogan falls short for me.  It is nitpicking, sure, and if this thread had an actual effect on future cancer awareness campaigns I would hold my tongue.  Yet, there is only one reason to anthropomorphize a disease and that is to manipulate the heartstrings.   Perhaps I'm the odd one but I listen carefully to what any advertisement says and implies and I don't particularly care for the tone of the slogan and the wording that dovetails into the new idiom of "cancer is war".  

I'm generally against anthropomorphising diseases and I don't care for the whole "survivor", "fighter" terminology bandied about.  Not being purposefully insensitive as I lost my mom to cancer after 4 years of treatment, surgeries, remission and recurrence.  Still, I don't care for the emotional manipulation involved in using catchphrases that turn cancer into a physical entity that one "stands up to".  

12 hours ago, CaliAngel said:

How do guys play with those bell bottom pants that hang way under their cleats? That would drive me nuts. I always liked my socks pulled up to under my kneecaps. 

On the replay that I think you're referring to, Smoltz made it clear he wasn't a fan of it.  He said something to the effect that it is an injury waiting to happen, which I can't say I agree.  I like the stirrups look or at least high socks but whatever.

They should put Lackey on the mound tonight.  His father was a mudder.

I'm not sure if I'd pitch Lester head to head with Kluber again.  They have the depth to switch things up.  If Lester lost games 1 & 4 there's no way you could bring him in for a game 7.