Bashbrothers

riverfront stadium converted to grass a year after he joined the team. i'm not saying he used steroids and i don't care one way or the other. i just think it's interesting that he's always exempt from steroid accusations due to his seemingly humble public persona.

That's not why.  He wasn't talked about because he didn't do it.

Steroids favor upper body muscle strength.  Griffey wasn't exactly beefy.

Who gives a shit what reporters think?

Reporters are dumb and it shows in the award voting.

And you really think Santana could repeat his performance in KC in Anaheim?  

 

I don't, because IMO he would have crumbled at the first sign of stress.  It's a lot less stressful preforming in an empty stadium.  22k is their average attendance in KC.

That's not why.

KC has the best defense in the majors is the difference.

42 out of 44 ESPN Analysts had the Angels going to the Postseason.  Seems like they should have been competitive at the start.

Dipoto is really awesome because ESPN said his team looked good.

I have learned a lot in my years of not watching ESPN.

Yah cuz u knew we were gonna be 53- 62 at this point right? And you knew that Weaver was injury prone right? Give me a break.

No, but I remember halo predicting no playoffs.

Exactly...if a GM makes moves that make you the favorites 2 years in a row..I dont think the GM is to blame. You did what u needed to do on paper..time for your coach and players to make it work.

Winning the adoration of the media and public perception isn't exactly hard.  Big signings for big markets almost always make them "favorites."

Nothing of the Angels actual roster production suggested they would or shouldbe favorites.  Dipoto traded away cost controlled talent for a two month rental (Greinke) and then handicapped the franchise with the Pujols and Hamilton signings.

Whether you think Dipoto or Arte had something to do with those signings is another story.

Cuban cares absolutely nothing about the issues involving A-Rod.

 

He cares only about his personal hatred for MLB for not treating him like God.  

The fact that Loria can own a team and not Cuban is horseshit.

Cuban is the type of guy that when he's the owner of the team you follow you love him otherwise he's an asshole. I don't think he was ever getting into the MLB owners box even before this because the other owners wouldn't vote him in and that's why he's running his mouth now.

No way.  I love him and I am a Warrior fan.

It's kind of a silly argument.  If there is no evidence that HGH helped players, they wouldn't be taking it.

 

Cuban's act of being a rebel is just that, an act.  He's just another power hungry super-rich dude.

He's actually right, statistically speaking. 

Users and nonusers have the same exact stats.  No variation.

I made a thread about it.

I still don't understand how runs and rbi are useless stats. I totally understand that it is because of where you are at in the lineup, but I still think they are undervalued to an extent. Show me horrible ball players that either score 100 runs or drive in a 100 runs. My guess is that a very high percentage of those players are above average ball players. To give these stats no credence is just silly.

Ruben Sierra, Joe Carter

RBI's lead to false conclusions about players.  Brandon Philips is not better at creating runs than Joey Votto.  No one should ever use RBI's.   We have better stats and using ones that we know are worse for valuing offensive player makes no sense.

Traditional stats like batting average is at least good for margins.  We know a 330 hitter is good.   RBI's not even good for margins usually.

All that said, I was surprised to find that there's one obscure Fangraphs statistic for which Trout is worst in the league. Its called "Clutch" and it measures a players performance in high leverage situations vs. his normal performance. Of 85 qualifying AL players, Trout is #85 at -2.34.

 

You know, its been kind of irking me for awhile - that it seems that Trout has performed particularly poorly in high leverage situations this year. Seems like the numbers bear this out.

That's regression to the mean.  He was the most clutch player last year I believe.  Or at least more so than Miggy.

I have watched the Angels a bit and Trout did seem pretty MEH on defense.

Remember when some people on this forum wanted to trade for A-Rod to play this year?

Sogard: wRC+ RH 103
Callaspo: wRC+ LH 108

In a pure platoon he is going to be pretty good. 

I love Alberto Callaspo. 

I am pretty sure Beane wanted to give Green a try before he traded him and decided he couldn't help us win a world series this year.   He has a ton of untapped potential with the bat, but don't expect any defense from him.

Ianneta is a great player.  The average catcher's production is wRC+ is 95.  Ianetta is is 105.  That's ten percent above the average.

is very annoying and the type of player we need on our roster. Good defense, good baserunning, very good baseball IQ. He doesn't do a lot of stupid things. And, although his stats don't really paint him as a valuable player, I think the whole package and what he brings to the team more than makes up for it.

fWAR 1.9

wRC+ 107

I would say his stats paint him as a valuable player.

Cleveland has a good offense.   Nothing bad with their roster except their back end rotation.

This article makes me feel slightly nauseous. Sullivan thinks the Royals could get at least as much as the Garza trade.

 

So what bothers me is what is wrong with the Angels that Santana couldn't find his best self? Is it Butcher? Scioscia? "Change of scenery" and going from a medium to low-pressure situation probably helps, but there's more to it. Santana is having his best season since his career year in 2008, certainly as good or better than 2011.

 

I'm hoping that the Angels FO is looking at Santana and asking, "What did we do wrong? What didn't we do?"

Royals have the best defense in baseball.  Angels have the worst.  Santana would have posted similar results with the Angels as he did last year.

Edit: Not the worst, but close to it.

Dusty Baker helped lead the Giants win 3 straight away games to clinch the 2012 NLDS after falling behind 0-2 in the series

He also had the greatest peak player in a four year period ever.

Dusty Baker has made a ton of boneheaded mistakes.  Last year he didn't intentionally walked a guy to get to the pitcher.  Cost the Reds the ALDS.

Ultimately, managers matter, but not to the point where you will or won't go to the world series.  The game is 98 percent talent. 

That's why it doesn't Leyland and Dusty Baker are bad managers. 

Angels would win the NL West if they played in that division.

The WS was eons ago. Geez, I hope that isn't a good reason to keep him.

Even Bob Brenly won a WS, and is long since no longer a manager.

Even Charlie Manual won one.

Not the only sport where someone is living off a title either.  Dumars of the Pistons (GM) has been awful since they won the title and they haven't fired him because of the title.

I don't think this is true either. 

Cardinals wouldn't be this dumb and the White Sox wouldn't be dumb enough to reject it.

Alexi Ramirez - .289 wOBA, 76 wRC+
Pete Kozma - .256 wOBA, 60 wRC+
Ryan Jackson (AAA) - .345 wOBA, 102 wRC+

And they are all the same on defense.

The A's should move.

No.