moccasin

Arte has paid Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Anthony Rendon 624 million though.

Arte has paid Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Anthony Rendon 624 million though.

I'm only upset he's a Dodger because now I have to openly root for him to suck, which is unfortunate since Ohtani seems like a good dude.

I understand the pain guys. It sucks.
But Shohei deserves this. He played for us 6 years, getting payed peanuts. We may even have gotten his best years. I will be grateful he  chose this organization, the 2 MVPs, and the great joy he gave us watching. It's too bad the team couldn't win.
He wanted to go to a contender. I believe if we had at least made the playoffs, we could have extended him before FA.
Oh, and the fuck the Dodgers. They are now my most hated team, replacing the Red Sox. Fuck them.

I understand the pain guys. It sucks.
But Shohei deserves this. He played for us 6 years, getting payed peanuts. We may even have gotten his best years. I will be grateful he  chose this organization, the 2 MVPs, and the great joy he gave us watching. It's too bad the team couldn't win.
He wanted to go to a contender. I believe if we had at least made the playoffs, we could have extended him before FA.
Oh, and the fuck the Dodgers. They are now my most hated team, replacing the Red Sox. Fuck them.

I feel bad for the Japanese tourists who are going to get mugged in the parking lot.

I understand the pain guys. It sucks.
But Shohei deserves this. He played for us 6 years, getting payed peanuts. We may even have gotten his best years. I will be grateful he  chose this organization, the 2 MVPs, and the great joy he gave us watching. It's too bad the team couldn't win.
He wanted to go to a contender. I believe if we had at least made the playoffs, we could have extended him before FA.
Oh, and the fuck the Dodgers. They are now my most hated team, replacing the Red Sox. Fuck them.

I don’t know about your definitions of “a bit” or “legit return” but I think they’d need to eat a lot of money to get any sort of difference making package. 
 
Look at the Arenado trade.

Here's a fun one.  
In 154 games this season, at the end of the 5th inning, the Angels have been leading 68 times, tied 24 times and behind 62 times. 
ahead, tied, behind at the end of the inning.  
5th - 68, 24, 62
6th - 70, 15, 69
7th - 65, 19, 70
8th - 63, 15, 76
9th - 61, 13, 80
So a net of 18 losses when ahead or tied after 5 innings.  -7 from the end of the 5th to the end of the 6th.    
Anyone want to join my pen depth campaign?  

Man, I get the chills watching this.
 

These numbers tell a pretty interesting story. In some orgs, Ward might've been at a point after the end of last year where he stopped getting chances. And 2022 is definitely the year that he turns into a legit major leaguer or becomes AAA depth somewhere for a couple of years before he starts selling cars or something. BUT.... there's a lot of circumstance in those numbers up there. Obviously he became a different hitter in the minors once he stopped being a catcher. Ever since then, he's torched the high minors whenever he's graced them with his presence. 2018 and 2019 in the big leagues were basically cups of coffee where getting your ass handed to you is fairly common, even for players that turn out totally fine. And then 2020... I just kinda consider that a lost year for most guys from a statistical evaluation standpoint. Shit was weird for everyone, players included. So I'd really consider 2021 Ward's first "real" major league season. And while not great, it wasn't exactly terrible either. Add in the way things are trending so far this year, and I'd say he still has a real shot of being a solid major leaguer. Obviously the 1300+ OPS isn't really sustainable; but a dude that can (let's say) put up a 800 OPS, play all three outfield spots, fill in at the corners, and also function as a competent emergency third catcher will keep working at the big league level. And I think that's a reasonable projection for him over the next few years.
Honestly the Ward narrative/statistical background kinda feels like those dudes the A's or the Dodgers always seem to find out of nowhere that are suddenly All Star level players. Ward came this close to slipping through the cracks, but I still think there's pretty solid potential there.  

Interesting facts that you may or may not have known about Taylor Ward in both of these interviews we did with him. 
 

Dipoto turned out to be right about more things that it initially seemed. 
And Joe Maddon looks right for starting Ward every day over Adell and Marsh.

Forever etched in my mind was the celebration that came before the Angels selected Taylor Ward in the first round. As if the front office was on pins and needles hoping he would fall to them, despite projections pegging him as more of a second, third or fourth round pick. The arrogance of it always shocked me. 
They felt Ward was an athletic, defense first catcher that would hit for power and had a short path to the majors. 
Things didn't turn out the way Dipoto thought, or anyone for that matter. Despite his athleticism, Ward was less polished as a catcher than anticipated, and his bat would take longer to develop into even an average hitting catcher. Furthermore, pitchers didn't particularly like throwing to him. I have no further detail than that.
It seemed as if he was a bust. 
Even when the next GM, Billy Eppler mentioned that Ward would be shifting to third base, it was met with ridicule. A bad hitting catcher was moving over to third base, where offensive expectations were considerably higher. It would make sense if this is where the story of Taylor Ward as a baseball player ended. 
But then the shock came. 
Taylor Ward hit, and he hit a ton. Turns out, getting him out from behind the plate was the best thing that happened in his career because now, he could focus on hitting and sort of pick up 3B as he goes. In one year, Ward went from organizational depth fodder to making his major league debut. He wasn't successful at the plate, and he was simply passable at third base and first base for short periods of time. 
Still, if this was the end of the story, it was a happy ending. At least Ward had made it to the majors and he'd probably spend a few years bouncing between AAA and the majors in a couple different organizations. It's further than most prospects get. 
Yet here we are in 2022, seven years since he was drafted, and Taylor Ward is now a starting outfielder for the Angels, hitting typically anywhere between second and fifth in the lineup. The Angels believe his bat has enough value that he's going to impact the game, and he's good enough to send their golden prospects, Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh to the bench. The Angels are high enough on his defensive prowess that they haven't hesitated in deploying him in CF. And he's faster than anyone expected too. 
Taylor Ward had become a legitimate, top or middle of the order starting outfielder. And with that, DIPOTO WAS RIGHT. 
No, Ward isn't the athletic power hitting catcher that could be ready for a starting position in the majors in two years, like Dipoto thought. He's instead looking like a potential stud in the outfield, after seven years. But it doesn't change the fact that Dipoto and his front office were correct in celebrating this pick. 
And there's the irony. We always used the video of that celebration as a way of ridiculing Dipoto and his terrible draft record (and it was awful). Like the Mission Accomplished banner behind George W. Bush, for those that are into politics. Maybe the video of that celebration could be perceived in more of a justified context now. 

Suzuki is the better player of the 3, but here are their last 3 years in Japan for comparison.
Akiyama .322 /.401 /.515 (GG at CF, 43 SB)
Tsutsugo .284 /.393 /.545 (1B)
Suzuki .317/ .430 /.579 (RF, 24 SB)
 

He's legit, no doubt. But I thought the same thing about Akiyama and Tsutsugo.
I thought they would be at least decent, but they both have sub .700 OPSs, 2 years in.
They could both turn it around, but it's fair to suppose Seiya will struggle out of the gate as well.

Suzuki is the better player of the 3, but here are their last 3 years in Japan for comparison.
Akiyama .322 /.401 /.515 (GG at CF, 43 SB)
Tsutsugo .284 /.393 /.545 (1B)
Suzuki .317/ .430 /.579 (RF, 24 SB)
 

Suzuki is the better player of the 3, but here are their last 3 years in Japan for comparison.
Akiyama .322 /.401 /.515 (GG at CF, 43 SB)
Tsutsugo .284 /.393 /.545 (1B)
Suzuki .317/ .430 /.579 (RF, 24 SB)
 

Suzuki is the better player of the 3, but here are their last 3 years in Japan for comparison.
Akiyama .322 /.401 /.515 (GG at CF, 43 SB)
Tsutsugo .284 /.393 /.545 (1B)
Suzuki .317/ .430 /.579 (RF, 24 SB)
 

According to fWAR, it was the 11th best season by an Angel in franchise history, behind seven Trout seasons and one each by Ryan (1973), Erstad and Glaus (both in 2000).

For those of you who don't know, out of high school Ohtani clearly expressed that he wanted to be a pitcher in the bigs. But the Fighters drafted him anyway, and lured him by presenting him the plan to make history as a two-way player. After a while, they found out that he was actually a better hitter than a pitcher. He began to play in the outfield, and the DH was forfeited on days he pitched. There is a legendary story of him hitting lead-off on a game he was pitching.  The manager put him at the one-spot and told him "Hit a HR so you don't have to be stuck on the bases and tire yourself before throwing your first pitch". So he swung at the first pitch he saw, drove it into the RF stands, and started trotting around the bases.The manager ended up screaming to him to run slowly around the bases, to keep his breath.
Despite his success, the Fighters were criticized very often, and when he got hurt, the commentators piled on him. They finally came up with a solution, to use him as a DH, and on days that he is pitching and the days prior and after he pitches, he rests. He ended up having a legendary year, .322 /.416 / .588 and 22 HRs in 380 ABs, and 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA.
The Angels are following the formula the Fighters came up with, and it's working fine so far.