Rod Carew: Angels leadership doesn't want me involved with the club

[Erstad Grit]

To make sure I don't spam I only share when it has an Angel connection. I'm involved with pop fly pop shop which makes comic book style baseball art every week. This week is Rod Carew. There is a Carew autograph option if you'd like to get it signed.

 

https://popflypopshop.com/products/71-sir-rodney-7-x-10-5-art-print?variant=42335700615408

[Blarg]

Dead daughter angel is a bit much. 

[Lou]

4 hours ago, Slegnaac said:

And yet Albert will be getting paid $1M a year.

If I'm Arte, I'm putting him to work. He'd be selling churros at the stadium. 

 

Upper level. 

[Blarg]

Albert hasn't officially retired so he is getting nothing until then and only if he opts in. 

[Lou]

5 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Albert hasn't officially retired so he is getting nothing until then and only if he opts in. 

Link?

[Blarg]

18 minutes ago, Lou said:

Link?

Pujols' contract includes a 10-year personal services contract that was seen at the time as a lifetime commitment by the player and the Angels for life after his retirement. It is worth $10 million, and it is an option he has to accept after retirement. 

That element of his contract with the Angels continues with them regardless of when he retires, or the team he's on before retiring. He can decline that contract too.

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/birdland/angels-release-pujols-in-final-year-of-record-contract-that-lured-him-away-from-cardinals/article_fad54275-4ad4-5d6f-a1f3-f900f972a878.html

[Jay]

2 hours ago, Lou said:

Upper level. 

Parking lot.

[disarcina]

Unfortunate.

Rod Carew was a great Halo.

Yes, he went into the HOF as a Minnesota -- and that's correct IMO -- but he's still a Halo great.

A great player -- but sort of has a rep as being kind of prickly.

Not sure what role he would play with the Halos other than some PR type appearances.

If he has more of a player development or scouting role with Minnesota involving club operations -- it's probably a conflict for him to do much more than a few PR type public appearances each year. 

And he can do that without having an official role with the franchise.,

Oh well, great player, great Halo - like all 'families' sometimes things get complicated and relationships strained.

[eligrba]

Carew, for me, will always be a Twin who played for the Angels.  With no logic, Nolan Ryan will always be an Angel who left because of a bad GM.

[Dtwncbad]

12 hours ago, Lou said:

If I'm Arte, I'm putting him to work. He'd be selling churros at the stadium. 

 

Upper level. 

Bad idea.  Too many churros would disappear while his waistline would continue to expand.

[bruin5]

2 hours ago, eligrba said:

Carew, for me, will always be a Twin who played for the Angels.  With no logic, Nolan Ryan will always be an Angel who left because of a bad GM.

That’s the way I feel too.  For me, I will more remember his inability to get clutch hits when we needed them.  

[Dtwncbad]

2 hours ago, bruin5 said:

That’s the way I feel too.  For me, I will more remember his inability to get clutch hits when we needed them.  

I also 100% feel like Carew wasn’t really a true Angel but rather he was a lifelong Twin that had the last chapter of his career in an Angel uniform.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t like him or pulled against him or anything like that.

Bit it does mean I fully understand if the Angels specifically decide to not “spend” one of their limited roles (that they might use for past players) on him.

If that’s something Carew wanted and he had conversations with the team about it, it sure seems possible that at some point the team may have been open and honest with him in the context many of us fans share regarding him.

That sure would exactly explain him saying the team wasn’t interested in him playing a role in the organization.

Of course of course there certainly could be some details or bad blood that we don’t know about.  If this is the case I give both Carew and the team credit for keeping that private.

But just because the team doesn’t see a role for him doesn’t necessarily mean it is anything more than them simply sharing the same view of Carew as I (and others) have.

If there are only so many available roles, I would choose a lifelong Angel over a guy that was just here for a few seasons at the end of his career, even if he had a superior overall career and was a HOFer.

 

[DMVol]

3 hours ago, bruin5 said:

That’s the way I feel too.  For me, I will more remember his inability to get clutch hits when we needed them.  

I am sure the stat guys could prove us wrong but he was way down the list of guys I wanted at the plate in a clutch situation....we had better clutch hitters on those 79 and 82 playoff teams....

[Dtwncbad]

21 minutes ago, DMVol said:

I am sure the stat guys could prove us wrong but he was way down the list of guys I wanted at the plate in a clutch situation....we had better clutch hitters on those 79 and 82 playoff teams....

Part of the problem with Carew in a clutch situation was emotionally all you felt you could even hope for was a single.

Carew is #9 all-time in singles.

Carew is #255 all-time in extra base hits.

Just knowing he was a singles hitter really limited how much I wanted him specifically in a clutch situation versus someone that had a different set of offensive skills.

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Dtwncbad

[Blarg]

The Angels would have gone to the World Series in 1986 with a single. 

Carew retired in 1985.

[ten ocho recon scout]

18 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

To make sure I don't spam I only share when it has an Angel connection. I'm involved with pop fly pop shop which makes comic book style baseball art every week. This week is Rod Carew. There is a Carew autograph option if you'd like to get it signed.

 

https://popflypopshop.com/products/71-sir-rodney-7-x-10-5-art-print?variant=42335700615408

Love these things. Its crazy how much they go for in the secondary market

[Dtwncbad]

55 minutes ago, Blarg said:

The Angels would have gone to the World Series in 1986 with a single. 

Carew retired in 1985.

And Carew would have been a lousy candidate to get that single in 1986 since he was the epitome of a replacement level player in 1985, and wisely retired to not put a team into that position to have a guy like him at the plate with the season on the line.

[DMVol]

1 hour ago, Dtwncbad said:

Part of the problem with Carew in a clutch situation was emotionally all you felt you could even hope for was a single.

Carew is #9 all-time in singles.

Carew is #255 all-time in extra base hits.

Just knowing he was a singles hitter really limited how much I wanted him specifically in a clutch situation versus someone that had a different set of offensive skills.

 

Would have to disagree with you....it doesn't have anything to do with Carew's lack of power....I am open to being proven wrong by the stats but I always thought he was average or below in clutch situations, compared to his overall numbers.....i.e., he should  have been better, I guess is what I am saying...flip side (and again prove me wrong with the numbers and I won't be shocked) is that I always thought Bengie Molina was pretty clutch as a hitter....average hitter who upped his game in clutch situations.....   

[Dtwncbad]

21 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Would have to disagree with you....it doesn't have anything to do with Carew's lack of power....I am open to being proven wrong by the stats but I always thought he was average or below in clutch situations, compared to his overall numbers.....i.e., he should  have been better, I guess is what I am saying...flip side (and again prove me wrong with the numbers and I won't be shocked) is that I always thought Bengie Molina was pretty clutch as a hitter....average hitter who upped his game in clutch situations.....   

No issue with what you are saying.

My post was about my personal emotional recollection of how I felt with Carew up in critical situations and my (probably vague) recollection of how that normally worked out.

If Carew singled to extend the inning I was probably happy, of course.

All I am saying is the “clutch” moments we probably most remember over the years (building our opinions on how players are either clutch or not) are are less likely to be a guy slapping a single the other way to extend an inning versus a game winning double or home run.

That’s all.  Just saying Carew specific skill set would not make it easy on fans to view him as clutch compared to a Don Baylor or Bobby Grich or Brian Downing or Fred Lynn. . . .

My guess is most Angel fans have a lot more clutch moments stuck in their brains attached to players that have skill sets different than what Carew had.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Dtwncbad

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, Dtwncbad said:

And Carew would have been a lousy candidate to get that single in 1986 since he was the epitome of a replacement level player in 1985, and wisely retired to not put a team into that position to have a guy like him at the plate with the season on the line.

[Dtwncbad]

1 minute ago, Blarg said:

I understood what you meant.  A single can be a very “clutch” hit.

But as discussed already fans are just organically going to be less likely to have a lasting impression of a guy being clutch (compared to other players) when that player’s likely clutch moments are singles that might be doing nothing more than extending an inning.

[bruin5]

2 hours ago, Blarg said:

The Angels would have gone to the World Series in 1986 with a single. 

Carew retired in 1985.

It was 1982 against Milwaukee.  2 outs, man at second, Angels down 4 to 3, hits a soft one hopper to Robin Yount.  Game over. 

During broadcast Keith Jackson says no one better that you’d want at the plate.  Other announcer says he’d rather have Fred Lynn.  

[bruin5]

Wasn’t Carew the hitting coach for the Angels for one year.  I seem to remember that seemed to end badly.  Could be some memories of that in the front office.  I can’t imagine he was a nurturing type of coach. 

[Blarg]

He was the hitting coach for multiple years and Tim Salmon praised his help and instruction. The year that went badly was Collins complete mismanagement of the Angels in 1999 that ended up clearing out the entire coaching save one. That guy is the Angels manager today. 

[Blarg]

30 minutes ago, bruin5 said:

It was 1982 against Milwaukee.  2 outs, man at second, Angels down 4 to 3, hits a soft one hopper to Robin Yount.  Game over. 

During broadcast Keith Jackson says no one better that you’d want at the plate.  Other announcer says he’d rather have Fred Lynn.  

Rod Carew was 6 for 8 in the last 3 game series against the Royals to put them into the playoffs. 

In that Champioship series against Harvey's Wallbangers, Decinces grounded out with the tying run on in game three, ending the game. 

The Angels were destroyed in Game four when Tommy John pitched like he needed his own surgery. 

Downing grounded out in front of Rod Carew with a runner on second in the final game 5 but the loss was all Luis Sanchez with two out and an 1-1 count gave up a 2 run single to Cecil Cooper. They had kept his bat silent most of the series limiting him to two hits over 19 previous plate appearances.  

But, it's all Carew's fault.