Pancake Bear

Possible. But, like the Yankees, the Dodgers haven’t gone big on years. I doubt either team offers 7. They don’t need to take the risk. Kay gave them names. Skaggs didn’t need to lie about it - they’re both addicts.

Exactly. It’s a big scandal, but the players are still going to play next season and they’ll still need a manager. And I don’t see that as having a negative effect on free agency either. Arte will have a fun year, between that and all the stuff with the stadium. Possibly some players on the roster will get outed. I hope they don’t. I hope any who are abusing drugs quietly get the help they need without getting dragged out in the public eye. Probably too much to ask, but anyway.

It's like a freaking trainwreck. Makes me sick, but I can't stop looking.

"Kay also told DEA agents the names of five other players who he believed used opioids while they were with the Angels. Skaggs asked Kay to obtain the drugs on those players' behalf, he told federal investigators."

Eric Kay's statement added a new detail. Yesterday it was mentioned that Kay gave the DEA the names of five players believed to have been taking drugs while members of the Angels. In Kay's statement, the names came from Skaggs who asked Kay to acquire drugs for him to give said players. Given the previous info on ESPN stated that Kay first started supplying Skaggs with drugs in 2017 (where Skaggs was getting there before that, if anywhere, is less clear), that would mean said five players wouldn't date back very far, just in the last 2-3 seasons. Edit: The other thing that occurs to me, is if Skaggs is getting drugs for five other players he must not have been too secretive about it. That makes me wonder how honest the players were being that none of them knew anything about this. Edit 2: Of course, Kay could be lying about this as well as about Mead. I wouldn't considerable him necessarily a reliable witness. That said, I don't know why Kay's mom would lie about telling Mead, but neither do I know why Mead wouldn't do anything about it if he did know. I guess I hope more than believe that it was just Kay and Skaggs, and Kay is just trying to cover for himself in some way.

A lot of money, yes. A little bit? That happens a lot.

Not a chance. 35 would be the absolute most, and that's a stretch. Compare what everyone was saying about Bryce and Manny. They didn't come close to contract expectations. Analysts get paid for hot takes. There's not a chance he gets over 35 unless a lot is deferred. Even then, it won't be much over. Boras as an agent is overrated. His success in recent years has diminished substantially. He used to be hot stuff for two reasons: First, people didn't know enough to recognize his client pitch was full of crap - front offices are far smarter now. They have their value for the player set and don't usually go much beyond it. Second, more importantly, Boras went straight to the owners as much as possible. These days, with Illitch and Steinbrenner gone and the Nats working on keeping Strasburg, there aren't enough owners who want to go big to bid against each other.

Tell you who it won’t be: Ron Washington. I still think it’ll end up being Maddon. They just might hold off a bit until the current news cycle blows over. (And make it clear at the press conference that Skaggs/drug questions are off limits).

Its possible, but doubtful unless there is evidence it goes beyond Kay. Not just his word, but actual proof. Its too early to know whether or not that might be the case.

All except for a player dying is. The point, which a few of you seem incapable of grasping is that this kind of culture is likely in many orgs, the Angels just happened to be the one where the guy OD’d.

Apparently a dude whose nickname is “Gritty Veterans” is a troll. Who knew?

The point is that most organizations do shady things. If you don’t think so, you’re hopelessly naive. Skaggs died because Skaggs was abusing drugs with alcohol. That’s a ticking time bomb. The Angels or some in the organization may or may not have known. I would imagine a lot of organizations could have easily had this happen. I think the players are well aware stuff like this goes on. Only reasons I could see this becoming a issue is if I’m completely wrong about how widespread the problem is, if there’s evidence taking it up high into the organization leading to big names getting banned, or if the publicity is bad enough that guys like Maddon and Cole don’t want to get mixed up with it.

Between the Braves stuff and Dodgers a few years ago - and wasn’t it the Astros who got hacking into the Cardinals proprietary data? - it’ll blow over. If this kind of stuff is fairly common in MLB, the only reason it might have an effect is if the publicity makes it so. Hard to tell at the moment.

No established manager wants to come here. Welcome, new manager, Johnny Washington!

Say what now?

The article seemed to suggest that the drugs from that night were not from Kay (at least so he said). Implication being that the fentanyl was new and/or Skaggs didnt realize what he was taking.

Unless drug use is a lot less common than I suspect, I tend to doubt it will directly affect signings. But I don’t think Maddon will be signing and getting a press conference or this will dominate the questions. The bigger question is who knew and who will get fired. Tend to doubt Eppler will since unless there’s something directly linking him, he’s probably as safe as Carpino or Kuhl. Heck, I’m not even convinced Mead will suffer anything because of it. Really just depends how much evidence there is.

This kind of thing probably happens a lot more in professional sports than we realize, as sad as that is.

Per the article, Kay’s mom said she asked him about it at the hospital when Skaggs texted for more drugs. Maybe she’s just trying to cover for her kid, but it doesn’t look good. That said, whether he knew or not, unless there’s evidence he knew, I doubt anything happens with him.

Unless there is some kind of paper trail, it may end with Kay. Like Mead, they can just deny having heard about it.

I read that as guys who are not currently Angels that Kay believes used while they were Angels. I may be misreading, however.

If it’s with us, nom because we would have to backload the contract. So I don’t think we could make that work. That’s assuming Cole even wants to come here after the latest report.

What a freaking mess. These aren’t just random clubhouse attendants. Eric Kay was pretty prominent in the PR dept. And obviously I can’t say for certain, but it sounds like Mead would have had to know. I also wonder how Scioscia could’ve had this going on for so long without being aware of it. I don’t want to speculate anymore than I already have, but this has the potential to be a lot worse before it gets better. Does every organization have stuff like this going on, or are the Angels just a particularly screwed up organization?

He plays a lot on short rest against good opponents. Bumgarner - who everyone talks up as the most clutch guy ever - almost never pitched on short rest: In particular, it was one crazy relief appearance in the WS where he came in to pitch in the final game on short rest. Sample size issues. Kershaw this year in the playoffs, on normal rest: 6ip, 3er. Not great, but against a good team not a disaster either. World Series Game 1 last year: 4ip, 5er - although he had pitched an inning in relief a couple of days before. On five days rest, in game 5, he gave up 4 runs in 7ip. Not a great WS for Kersh. Go back to the NLCS last year: Game 1 was garbage - 3ip, 4er. Game 5, though, he was 7ip with only 1er. He returned in Game 7 to to pitch a scoreless 9th. Game 1 was after a full week of rest - sometimes extra rest may screw with guys' rhythm. I've heard people say that. Still, a mixed bag. NLDS against Atlanta: He pitched Game 2 only - 8ip, 0er. In 2017 WS vs. Houston, Kershaw threw 3 games: 1, 5, and part of 7. Game 1 he pitched a 7 inning, 1er gem. Game 5 he got shelled for 6er in less than 5 innings. But he came back for 4 scoreless innings in Game 7. I could go back further, but it seems like the problem is just that Kershaw's stuff gets worse under fatigue. That isn't uncommon, but Kershaw has a crapload of innings in the playoffs against good teams. As many good games as he's had, he's also had some really lousy ones. He pitched four scoreless innings in relief in Game 7, 2017. He closed out the NLCS last year with a scoreless frame. People forget where he's done well because it doesn't fit the narrative. The reality is that his overall numbers, and far too many playoff outings of his career, have been poor. But the narrative that Kershaw simply pitches lousy in big games is juvenile and wrong. There's more than enough evidence that that isn't the case.

Agree with a lot of your picks. But don't see Klentak wanting any part of Sosh. And I suspect both Mets and Cubs go a different direction. Angels: Maddon Padres: Showalter Giants: Kotsay Mets: Beltran Phillies: Girardi Royals: Matheny Cubs: Espada Pirates: Farrell