halodground

I've been a fan since I was old enough to have an interest, I'd say since 1980 or so when I was 8.  I can clearly remember the 82 playoffs and was lucky enough to go to one of the home games. There wasn't much to be excited about from 88-94, that was a rough period. At least the late 90's had some exciting talent coming out of the system. It was fun watching Salmon, GA, Edmonds, Disar, and that group play, even though they never won anything in that decade. What makes the current era the worst one (and by a lot IMO) isn't just the expectation of winning with the continuous let down of then losing.  It's that 2002-2009 was such a tease. It seemed like the organization had figured it out.  We were becoming a model organization that was a perennial winner with an owner who would spend and seemed to let the baseball people do the baseballing. The system provided continuous talent.  There seemed to be an organizational plan. Stability in the front office and the on field manager. Then we drafted Trout and the future looked that much brighter.  Was Stoneman retiring the catalyst for the unraveling? Was Arte always a meddling owner and those years of success were just the residual product of what Disney did before he bought the team? Having the two most talented Angels of all time during the worst period just compounds the frustration.  It feels like the only way out of the current situation is to burn it all to the ground and start from scratch. 

I was referring more to organizational structure and philosophy.  But yes, if they could trade the whole starting staff and/or any of their prospects for players who project to be better down the road, I don't see any reason not to. The current product is crud. Obviously that isn't a realistic idea, but I support the sentiment.

I've been a fan since I was old enough to have an interest, I'd say since 1980 or so when I was 8.  I can clearly remember the 82 playoffs and was lucky enough to go to one of the home games. There wasn't much to be excited about from 88-94, that was a rough period. At least the late 90's had some exciting talent coming out of the system. It was fun watching Salmon, GA, Edmonds, Disar, and that group play, even though they never won anything in that decade. What makes the current era the worst one (and by a lot IMO) isn't just the expectation of winning with the continuous let down of then losing.  It's that 2002-2009 was such a tease. It seemed like the organization had figured it out.  We were becoming a model organization that was a perennial winner with an owner who would spend and seemed to let the baseball people do the baseballing. The system provided continuous talent.  There seemed to be an organizational plan. Stability in the front office and the on field manager. Then we drafted Trout and the future looked that much brighter.  Was Stoneman retiring the catalyst for the unraveling? Was Arte always a meddling owner and those years of success were just the residual product of what Disney did before he bought the team? Having the two most talented Angels of all time during the worst period just compounds the frustration.  It feels like the only way out of the current situation is to burn it all to the ground and start from scratch. 

it screwed things up for most all of us who saw the movie.
i grew up just a few miles from the beach and went there frequently. i saw jaws when i was 16 and it gave me a jolt. i was still surfing at that time and wasn't too worried, but as i got older, there started to be more and more reports about shark sightings at south bay beaches, something we never heard about before the movie. the idea of sitting on my surfboard out by the waves a decent distance from shore with my legs dangling in the water just seemed like a fools errand at that point - a matter of when, not if. i quit surfing shortly after that.

I'd do it.
They have a night dive on the Big Island where they have huge lights and giant manta rays are drawn to them. It looks amazing. But also terrifying. Just thinking about doing it gives me intense anxiety. Not the manta rays, it's what is outside that circle of light, just waiting for a snack. A fear to overcome!
I spend a decent amount of time in and on the ocean. I've seen one shark (a blue shark decades ago off Newport). I still have to overcome the fear of sharks every time I go in the water. I understand the probability of being attacked is crazy low but it's one of those irrational fears. I blame Jaws for us Gen Xers.

I've been a fan since I was old enough to have an interest, I'd say since 1980 or so when I was 8.  I can clearly remember the 82 playoffs and was lucky enough to go to one of the home games. There wasn't much to be excited about from 88-94, that was a rough period. At least the late 90's had some exciting talent coming out of the system. It was fun watching Salmon, GA, Edmonds, Disar, and that group play, even though they never won anything in that decade. What makes the current era the worst one (and by a lot IMO) isn't just the expectation of winning with the continuous let down of then losing.  It's that 2002-2009 was such a tease. It seemed like the organization had figured it out.  We were becoming a model organization that was a perennial winner with an owner who would spend and seemed to let the baseball people do the baseballing. The system provided continuous talent.  There seemed to be an organizational plan. Stability in the front office and the on field manager. Then we drafted Trout and the future looked that much brighter.  Was Stoneman retiring the catalyst for the unraveling? Was Arte always a meddling owner and those years of success were just the residual product of what Disney did before he bought the team? Having the two most talented Angels of all time during the worst period just compounds the frustration.  It feels like the only way out of the current situation is to burn it all to the ground and start from scratch. 

The thing about the 80’s and 90’s was that there wasn’t an expectation of winning and so the losing wasn’t as big of a disappointment. 
 
The last 15 years have been singularly the worst because they spent enough to win, there was an expectation of winning and they simultaneously had two of the greatest players ever in the lineup and they still lost. Every time it has been a disappointment and now we’re left with a fan base that expects the worst.
Two tragic unexpected deaths. Uniforms 20 years outdated? Stick with it. Need a new stadium? Nope. Relocate? No. Need to rebuild the farm? Never. 

Somewhat related… I was fishing from a float tube in Silver Lake up in the Mammoth area and my ankle went between a fork in a branch in the water that I didn’t see and it felt like someone was grabbing my ankle. It scared the crap out of me. I think I screamed a bit…

I get that. I saw Jaws when I was 12. It didn't keep me out of the water but every time someone bumped me or some seaweed wrapped around my ankle I shit my swim trunks

We are more than a few. This team is screwed for the long term. Not only does the major league team suck, the farm is among the worst in baseball. We are in for a long, long drought. 

Come on now, that's a 70-75 win team at least!
Seriously though, Neto and Schanuel are guys who could be nice complementary players on a good team. I think it is unrealistic to think of them as players to build around, but good teams need guys like them. O'Hoppe could be a bit more, but playing catcher really limits how much you can count on a player for a full season of star level production. Still, he definitely seems like a guy who could develop and be a leader on a championship team if things progress well. Adell is a guy to dream on, but still very much a work in progress and has as much probability of being a career AAAA guy as he does of being a quality major leaguer. The pitching is dismal. Detmers is a 4-5 guy at best at this point in a good organization. He could still develop, but I think mid rotation is a good deal of improvement away for him. Anderson is a known commodity and shouldn't be anything more than a backend of the rotation guy. Sandoval and Canning both are backend of the rotation guys or Triple A insurance on a championship caliber roster. Nothing reassuring in the bullpen either. I don't think Minasian can take the full blame, though he certainly hasn't done anything that makes me hopeful for the future. The organization is a mess, top to bottom. I don't see that changing until Arte either sells or brings in an Epstein type and divests control to them entirely. Restructuring from the ground up is needed.
It would be great if Ward, Rengifo, Drury, Anderson, Estevez, etc. can perform well enough to get some value in return. 
There isn't a single player in the organization that shouldn't be available for the right offer.
I tend to be a homer but anyone looking at the organization at this point and seeing anything other than disfunction is deluding themselves. It works for Arte, he's gotten an amazing return on his investment and continues to benefit from the market he was fortunate to buy his way into. But the on field baseball portion of Angels baseball is very broken at all levels.
 
 

Pussies.  Needing a shark tank.  

oh, absolutely. he loved albert.
"hey, steve, mang. ju did good."
 

Congratulations, @Tank on your 40 years of teaching and on your retirement! Nice way to wrap up a career!
Good luck in your next career as yacht captain for Arte. 

This weekend was alumni weekend at my school, and it turned out to be a terrific weekend.
On Saturday, we have a church service (part of our tradition as Seventh Day Adventists), and it's a time to remember and honor certain classes who reach milestone anniversaries of their graduation. There was also a segment to honor me and my 40 years of teaching middle school, 37 at this school in Glendale. There was a video tribute in which they had some wonderfully nice thoughts from friends and colleauges, remembering stories  and moments that they shared with me over the years. 
My favorite one was from a teacher buddy who's a huge Cardinals and Blues fan. His name is Steve, and we taught together for five years, were roommates for a year and a half, and were in each others' wedding. He was recounting a story and then said something like, "let me have another friend say something." The video then cut to Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, who gave a nice personalized congratulations message to me. The whole video tribute was so touching, and the segment from Bench just dropped my jaw to the floor. He filmed from inside his office at home and showed some of his memorabilia, stuff with the BRM, and his induction plaque. It was beyond epic. My buddy Steve has done stuff like this before as there's a service where you can contact celebrities and they'll send a personalized video message to someone for whatever price they charge, and Steve went above and beyond to get a message from my all time favorite ballplayer.
Sunday was our spring festival, and it's well attended by former students and parents. I got a lot of love from people on Saturday, and even more of it on Sunday. There were several people who wanted to say thanks in their own special way, and it meant the world to me. 
I've been blessed with a lifetime of memories from my time in Glendale (and two other schools) in my 40 years of work. This weekend was chance to enjoy a lot of those memories with the people who helped create them. 

I'm sorry, but did you just say that Brett Kerry was "untouchable?"  Seriously?  That's absurd.  He's off to an ok start this season, but he's not exactly Paul Skenes...
I really don't think Drury has much value at this point, even if his bat picks up.  He's not super expensive, but he's also not a bargain, given what he seems capable of at this point.
Estevez will be traded, but, again, unless he starts to do better, I don't think he'll bring back all that much, either.
At the end of the day, I'm not sure the guys with expiring contracts would even bring back a collective haul that would more or less replace the talent that the Angels traded last year in that ill-fated attempt to stay competitive.  It would likely require trading Rengifo, maybe Sandoval if someone thinks they can make him less of a headcase, etc.
 

Fixed

Isn’t it time for the Halos to have a HOF player for his entire career?

Same old crap.  Different day.
Mike Trout is happy in Anaheim.  At least publicly. 
The Angels suck. 
Arte sucks.
Rosenthal sucks
AW rocks.
Next...

Their stats are eerily similar for their Angel careers.
 
 
 

Yes, even more than Fuentes. Fuentes sucked, but his suckage made sense to me. Estevez annoys me because A) he has some tools and the stuff to be solid but is emblematic of the general issue with the entire staff; he can’t or won’t stick to a plan and regularly implodes, I assume by overthrowing. Just throw fukin’ strikes. And 2) people seem to think because he throws high 90s he’s good and he gets way more credit for his save count than he should. 
 
 

There's a hundred things to look at here, but I just can't stand Estevez. He's been bad since the All Star Break, but he acts like he's a dominant closer. His quotes are just outlandish. I actually went back and looked at some Rockies ones from blown saves. It's always, "Look, Ok, it happens. Guys get lucky. Tomorrow's a new day. I am full of confidence." 
He has no confidence. I watched this guy end our season on a grand slam last year to a guy that is currently struggling in AAA. Quote? "It's tough, but we got a lot more games." And still, it's always excuses. The Rays blown save? "It's unfortunate we lost on a weak grounder." Giants? "Honestly I feel good. Felt really good." 
Tonight? Castellanos "Cheated fastball...he's really strong...and unfortunately it went out." Rojas, he of the 3 career HR? "It happens...hopefully next time I'll go out with the same mentality." 
The arrogance and ignorance just bugs me. You have an ERA over 7.00. As a closer. Have some pride and acknowledge letting Anderson, Rengifo, and your entire team down. 
 

Let me tell you the tale of a reliever named Brian Fuentes.

It was fun until it wasn't, which is something I feel frequently when Estevez closes.