Pancake Bear

Worked out well for us last time.

This feels awfully familiar.

So, we're presuming that the Red Sox medical staff is so bad that when signing him they didn't notice a freaking UCL tear? Seems incredibly unlikely.

"Roger Lodge has been sacked" "Arte Moreno has completed a silent sale of the Angels"

TIL 43% = no way. Seems closer to 50-50 to me than it does to 0....

Lodge is such an ass kissing dolt.

The price has clearly gone down if Bellinger is any indication. If Arte refuses now, he has no interest in winning.

Weren't Sandoval, Detmers, Anderson, and Suarez supposed to be in the rotation last season? We've basically been going heavy on lefties for a while now.

Bellinger would've been a good add to the lineup, but with five outfielders, it wasn't an obvious fit. At this point, JD or Chapman would add depth, and neither should be prohibitive in terms of cost. As far as pitching, I'd be okay with Snell, since his deal probably looks similar to Belli (higher aav, but likely a one year deal with player options) but I'd prefer Montgomery slightly. I'd be fine with Lorenzen since he should be cheap and I really think our biggest need is another rotation arm. I doubt we spend enough to bring in Martinez and Snell/Montgomery, but the cost has clearly gone down and it would improve the team quite a bit. Even Lorenzen and Kike would be useful depth that we kinda need, and if we won't even spend on that level, I don't know what the hell we're doing.

With Schanuel, Drury, Rengifo, Neto, and Rendon, isn't obvious room for a starter. Even if you assume Rendon is likely to be injured (which, counter to popular opinion, is not in fact a certainty), middle infield is pretty full. One of those five at the moment is either sitting or slotting in at DH every day. Considering how solidly Drury and Rengifo performed last season, unless you're bringing in someone clearly better, there isn't really room for more than a part-timer, and guys like Urshela, Anderson, and others like that may have felt that there wasn't a clear enough path to an everyday player spot here, odd as that sounds.

I'm curious to see if we actually do start running more. Maddon wanted to do that, but I don't remember it really happening. Someone who remembers better can correct me on that if I'm wrong. Clearly that's what Washington wants, though, since that seems to be the key factor in moving Schanuel from leadoff to batting second.

Really hope so. We need one or both of Adell/Moniak to break out. Moniak was good last season, but there's reason for concern with his BABIP. Adell has the raw tools, but just hasn't been able to hit consistently enough to be a big leaguer. If he can hit, he'll play even if he sucks in the field because we have DH open.

Lot of people doing this. Just shows most people don't actually know how to read.

Is your contention that he isn't trying or doesn't care? Lot of people are saying that and it feels like people seeing what they want to see. I see zero evidence that he doesn't care or isn't trying. If anything I see the opposite.

Dylan Hernandez is Sam Blum's hero.

I know this might be hard for you to understand, but Rendon was always that guy and he was one of the best 3B over the last decade prior to coming to Anaheim. Literally nothing changed for him aside from him getting injured constantly. Nothing. But sure, go off with your superficial narrative. It's par for the course for you.

Yeah, he'd better not get injured because if he does, he doesn't care about the game. He'd better help guys be better (oh wait, O'Hoppe said he already does that). Nah, he should just lie so Duran respects him more.

So, your contention is he isn't trying? Was that true in 2020 when he had an MVP caliber season? Or when he won a WS? He didn't care then either.

The fans who bitch about this are really stupid people. Dude has literally always been this way. It didn't matter when he was one of the best 3B in the game and winning a WS. It doesn't matter that he's helping guys like O'Hoppe out with his swing (probably others, too). People suddenly care because (1) he's injured, (2) not performing well, (3) not lying about baseball being a job. Apparently people would rather he pretend to love the game. Rendon isn't the childish one, the fans upset about this are. Pathetic.

Thought it was Arte that said we weren't trading him and Minasian wanted to move him? Did I hear incorrectly?

Would be interesting to see how many people ended up signing if someone started an "Arte sell the team" petition. Not that it would change Arte's mind even if the number was super high, but I'd be curious. The Athletic had I think around 2,000 responses on their poll and they reported about 90% of that wanted him to sell, but I suspect a lot more want him to and didn't vote on the poll (like me).

I'm not sure I would trade Rengifo straight up for Bieber and there is zero chance I would trade Ward even value.

Rosenthal agrees: "Why did commissioner Rob Manfred punish former Mets general manager Billy Eppler for improper injured-list placements when it’s believed that virtually every team has committed similar infractions? Simple answer: The commissioner wanted to set an example, and Eppler made for an easy target. Manfred did not anger any owner by placing Eppler on the ineligible list through the end of the 2024 World Series. Eppler, already subjugated to a lesser role under David Stearns, resigned on Oct. 5 after the league began its investigation, and is currently not employed by any club." Basically, Manfred wanted teams to stop doing it and Eppler is a convenient patsy because nobody cared if he's suspended since he's not running any team at this point. Sucks to be him.

To paraphrase Scott Boras Jon Heyman, it depends if Arte wakes up one of these mornings and deciding he feels like trying to win. Sure, this could be an over .500 team if everyone stays healthy, but when has that ever happened? The kids all take a step forward and the vets get back to their former glory and this team could make some noise. But that's all beyond unlikely. So, unless Moreno just plans to rebuild - which is possible - he needs to at least take a shot. Regardless, though, I think we need another infielder and at least a decent SP type like Lorenzen. Outfield is tough to improve without moving on from Adell.