Justabitoutside

I can't believe fans trying to put blame on his extension. There's not one person on this board that wouldn't have extended him at that club friendly contract.

I think something that isn't being talked about enough is just how good Peter Bourjos is.  Smaller sample size, but he's hitting well over .300 this season, showing considerable upside offensively and defensively, as we've all witnessed, he gets to balls that no other CF in baseball can.  We say the same about Trout, but we put the "except Peter Bourjos" at the end of it.  
 
How amazing is it to have two of the best OF's in the game, young, under team control and cheap at the same time?  That rarely happens.  Last I remember this happening was that 5 year period when Anderson, Salmon, Edmonds and Erstad all arrived.  Kind of a once in a generation type of thing for teams. 

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"....Bluto, Animal House....

Don't you dare. Don't you DARE think about locking this thread. This could be a masterpiece.

I thought this thread was going to compare Peter to the Babe. MHD would lose his mind. 

This post is a special kind of wrong.
 
I have no problem debating who is a better CF between the two, because they're both really good(although I'm of the opinion that Bourjos has more range by a noticeable amount, and an arm that is significantly better than Trout's wet noddle),  but the idea that Bourjos isn't a top tier defensive CFer is just flat out incorrect.

You people that think kissing Trouts ass will keep him here are delusional. Money will keep him here. Weaver is a very rare player that put happiness above the almighty dollar. When the Skanks back up the Brinks truck, say goodbye.

You people that think kissing Trouts ass will keep him here are delusional. Money will keep him here. Weaver is a very rare player that put happiness above the almighty dollar. When the Skanks back up the Brinks truck, say goodbye.

No hes not. 

I disagree with much of what Rosenthal says in this article. First, his lead in comparison to how the Giants would have dealt with Mays in a similar circumstance. The fact of the matter is, we don't have a clue how the GIants would have dealt with an issue to having an even better defender in CF over Mays. And yes, it is a coincidence that his "tear" started around the time he switched back to CF. Again, correlation does not equal causation. Then he goes to the argument of "maximum comfort" saying Trout should play where he is most comfortable. The idea that it will have a negative effect on his psyche and ultimately his performance is just plain silly. Mike isn't some kind of fragile mental midget, he'll be just fine playing LF or CF. And let's not forget that Trout played many more innings in LF last year while putting up great offensive numbers. 
 
I love how Rosenthal uses the perspective of the three former player analyst on the psyche argument because well they know how a player feels about this sort of thing and then proceeds to discount Scioscia's perspective because while he's a former player, he's now a manager so his player perspective is now invalid. Good sound reasoning there Rosenthal.
 
And no Kenny, a broader statistical analysis doesn't indicate that Trout should be in CF over Bourjos.
 
Then there's this gem: "As one rival executive explains, a .930 OPS from Trout in center would give the Angels a far greater competitive advantage than a .930 OPS from him in left. Center fielders generally don’t hit as well as left fielders. The average OPS in center this season is .728. The average OPS in left is .765."  This may be the most ridiculous arguments of this entire topic. Having a .930 OPS from your CF or LF doesn't change the Angels competitive advantage other than bar stool banter comparing one team's CF OPS to another's. Who gives a sh*t how his OPS compares to most CF? It's just plain stupid to posit such an argument to support keeping Trout in CF. 
 
It's not a matter of disrespecting Trout as a player. He's a great player without question. He's a great player if he's playing CF and he's a great player if he's playing LF. Bourjos is also a very good defensive CF who has good reads and takes good routes to the ball. He can also make the leaping home run robbing catches. But the bigger reason for Bourjos over Trout in CF is his arm. As I have been saying from the beginning, there is no question that Trout's arm is his weakest skill. Trout is an elite player in almost every aspect of his game. He doesn't have an elite arm however. Bourjos has a much stronger arm. The arm matters. The bottom line is, all things considered, an OF of Bourjos in CF and Trout in LF is best for the Angels because it allows both players to fully utilize their strengths. 

If people are really stupid enough to believe that Trout is hitting better because he is playing CF.  Then the Angels should put Hamilton and his $125 million contract in CF, because it's obvious RF is affecting his hitting.

Not on this board.

Are home grown.
 
Can we stop signing big name free agents and stick to a great minor league system while supplementing with the once in a while FA signing?
 
 

Pujols long term contract @ $250M = $3B Fox contract over 20yrs.  Probably closer to 36, now off the roids, sit him, play him, Arte doesn't care, he's already got the chicken in the sack.  Astute business move.  Scioscia and Hamilton, not so much.

Most fan reactions are too high or too low, they way overreact.  They jump on the bandwagon when things go right with a player, and when things go wrong they run the issue into the ground.  To use Mathis as an example, I don't think he was as bad as many made it sound on here.  He is what he is, a poor hitter with good but not great defensive skills, had good communication with the pitchers, worked hard, and had above average athletic skills.  His poor hitting got magnified by the extra base hits that Napoli accumulated.  Once a player's poor skills are exposed, the fans go over board to ridicule the player in general.  Mathis wasn't the first, and won't be the last.  This year's edition - Hamilton.
 
Fans, in general, are impatient and not really supportive of many players.  Part of it is the salaries they make compared to the general population. There really isn't much empathy when players struggle in almost any organization. 
 
That's also partly why some fans have a problem with Scioscia, he's even keel and doesn't overreact either way - to the good side or bad.  Fans go overboard both ways, but mostly on the bad side of things.

To say you disagree with Scioscia and want him fired is one thing, but to make asinine comments like he doesn't care, he wants to be fired, he's lost his f-ing mind is silly and inappropriate.
 
Next will we see you guys claim Scioscia is the anti-Christ?

What a stupid thread

If we traded Weaver after the hometown discount he gave us so he could stay in SoCal, that would be a total douchebag move.

My guess is that the Angels are looking for a Home win before sending Scioscia packing.
 
While I believe that letting Scioscia go would be possibly the biggest mistake the Angels can make (simply because he's better than any possible replacement that could be named) the fact is, the drumbeat this season is louder than I've ever heard before, and I don't think anyone can deny the fact that the Angels just flat out stink this season again and are highly unlikely to make the playoffs yet again this season, despite there being an extra setting at the table called the Playoffs one game wildcard.
 
Personally, more than Scioscia, I blame both Arturo and Jerry.  Arturo for backing up the Brinks truck on Hamilton and Jerry for the way he went about building the pitching staff.
 
Right now, there's nothing working.  The starters are giving up too many runs early, the offense is not producing, the baserunning is out of control, the bullpen is blowing too many leads, the defense looks like the Bad News Bears, the coaching looks like the Marx Brothers, and there doesn't appear to be a player in the dugout who's stepping up in a leadership role.  I would not be surprised if we don't see a couple of players come to fisticuffs over the course of the next week.
 
This thing is like watching a Nascar wreck in extremely slow motion.
 
So, yeah, there's going to be a scapegoat, and the likelyhood that it's Scioscia is high, but the reality is, to me it looks like Scioscia is the victim of situations beyond his control.  The front office is letting him down, the players are letting him down, and he's doing the best he can with a shit sandwich he just took a big bite of.

Oh and if he pulled Ianetta early and Conger got injured, how do you defend that? Having a guy catch that has never caught in the majors. The only player that may have caught at all in the majors on the Angels is Harris and that is a long shot.

Point well taken. There are many legitimate criticisms of Scioscia but leaving a catcher in a game for 19 innings is not one of them. 

OK does anyone else see the irony in those last two posts? 

Give ME a break. You guys are so quick to hate on this team, why don't you just go root for a new team since you clearly can't ever be happy with this one. A 20-0 win would be greeted with "Hamilton struck out twice, when he hit three homers" it's ridiculous. You don't think pitchers spent a little extra time preparing for Trout over the off season, especially since they finally got film on him? So sorry he isn't hitting .400 with 30 steals 10 homers and 30 RBIs yet. Oh wait, that still wouldn't be enough for some of you.
 
Calm down and have a snickers.