Inside Pitch

Blash's swing and miss where he ended up on his knee..... still looked taller than Altuve...

Meh -- I think most people would have thought the same thing. I was aware only because I looked up Chatwood at the start of FA. That said.... Chatwood and Rich Hill are two examples of pitchers with spotty health and track records that got paid. Richards is a low mileage arm with massive upside. Add to that the fact that he's the king of spin rates so .. all the smart teams will be interested. At worst he's a sure thing qualifying offer guy.

Richards has tossed 702 innings in his career and has yet to have a Tommy John surgery. Chatwood has thrown 680 innings and has had two Tommy John surgeries. His career high innings total is 158.... Richards has topped that twice.

This is all reasonable but, it will ultimately come down to whether or not the Angels view the potential upside as worth the investment -- his upside is better than any pitcher currently in the system other than Ohtani. As far as financial limitations go... They have what 20 mil space this year still, they'll lose 30 Mil in FA's this coming year, the contracted players only go up 7 mil now that Trout's deal is static the next few years, and the cap goes up to 208 mil in 2019. They are sitting at 116 mil before the arbitration guys come into play. People like Hermosillo and Fletcher could easily slide into the lineup/bench replacing people like Young and possibly Kinsler. They will likely continue to look for value at the C position if Maldonado goes Bengie Molina and declares he wants to get paid... They won't have the free $$ that the Phillies and others will have but they have more wiggle room than people think and the farm system is getting closer and closer to filling needs internally on the cheap.

Talent wins out... There are a ton of layers of process involved now that picks are tied to slot money but the players know teams are tied to certain bonus amounts, so their only recourse is to go back and improve their draft position... Much harder for them to dictate financial terms than in the past. In the debate between high floor .vs high ceiling..... Imo you take the highest possible ceiling.

The Phillies are itching to throw huge money at Richards, the Dodgers too. Teams chase upside, even if there is some risk... Rich Hill was an even bigger injury risk, older, with a lot less upside and look what he got..... Thats likely the starting point for his future deal. The Angels best shot at resigning him is to extend him before he reaches free agent imo.

I missed where it was considered against the rules for anyone including a mod to necro old posts....... Or where it was mandatory to offer an opinion anytime someone posts a trade suggestion.

Neither did you.....

I had not seen you refer to him as a 1st ballot HOFer -- wasn't really directed at anyone... But as far as lead-off hitters in the last 30 years.... Kenny Lofton says, Hello. Like Ichiro, he was a lead-off hitter. Like Ichiro, he posted a career OPS+ of 107. Like Ichiro, he was a plus plus defender -- only he did it in CF where he was graded against other, better, defensive players.. Despite having played in fewer games, Lofton posted a higher WAR total 68.3 to Ichiro's 59.4 . Lofton ranks 9th all time among CFs for WAR, all those ahead of him all are HOFers save for Carlos Beltran who won't be eligible for 5-6 more years. Ichiro ranks 17th among RF WAR. His 107 OPS+ would be lower than any RF ever voted into the hall and ranks 233rd among RFers. Dude was a hell of a defensive player but he was not a dominant offensive force in the traditional way, particularly for a RFer. Rock Raines, another great lead-off hitter with a better WAR total and a higher career OPS didn't get into the HOF until his final year of eligibility. He is 8th all time among LFers in the WAR category -- his 123 OPS+ ranks 67th overall... Ichiro's case for the HOF is as you pointed out, milestone related.... he was a bit of a compiler and IMO he's the poster child for what Bill James spoke of in his book The Politics of Glory, as a player who was singularly unique. There really wasn't anyone like him, partially due to the M's keeping him in RF, and because he was the first Japanese position player to make the leap to the US -- whether that is enough to make him a first ballot HOFer or not -- I dunno, but he wasn't remotely close to the best leadoff hitter beyond Henderson. (IMO). He's all HOFer all day.... If he gets in on the first ballot or not -- doesn't matter to me but the fact that Lofton was one and done is IMO a travesty.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fringe-five-baseballs-most-compelling-fringe-prospects-106/ Fletcher and Rengifo both getting some props...

They have been awful but every team goes through funks and that division is pure garbage... The Tigers at 13-17 are the second place team..... They have plenty of time to get healthy playing stiffs...

I don't really get his logic -- ie.. the Thaiss reference. The state of the farm system is vastly different than it was when Thaiss was drafted and more importantly it's a vastly different draft class. I can see them taking the best talent available regardless of position but, I don't know that Steele Walker would fit that description at 17.

M's are trying to win games -- they will be facing a division rival and seemingly wanted to have their best 25 available... They made a baseball decision IMO, I'd rather give them props for putting winning ahead of a drawing well on a Sunday. It's silly IMO to venture guesses into it being anything more than that.

Nicest thing I've been called on this message board.

I get why you used it -- but you missed the glaring difference between the two players and what the stat was telling you in their respective cases. Trout's OPS+ puts him among the greatest hitters to ever live. Ichiro's career OPS+ is equal to that of Howie Kendrick. Being 96% of an inner circle HOFer isn't the same as being 97% of Howie Kendrick. I don't really get the fascination with first ballot HOFer or not, if a guys a HOFer he's still awesome... But if the message being sent is that a first ballot player was one of the greatest to ever play his position then I don't' view Ichiro as a first ballot type and yet I think it ultimately comes down to who is on the ballot when he comes up. He may very well end up as one and it he does -- good for him. IMO, Ichiro's best argument for the HOF is that he stood out as being very different -- in some ways he's a perfect example of the sort of player Bill James was talking about as being singularly unique in his book, the Politics of Glory. There simply wasnt any RFer like him during his playing days. Dude was a lot of fun to watch and a definite HOFer.

You don't really understand what you just posted, do you? Mike Trout has a career .979 OPS .vs all of baseball.... Good for an OPS+ of 173 and a .960 OPS .vs Seattle... You listed his tOPS+ which compares his numbers .vs a particular team .vs his overall numbers.... Ichiro has a career OPS+ of 107... For perspective... Trout's career OPS+ is 6th best in MLB history. Ichiro's 107 is tied with Howie Kendrick. Mike Trout 's tOPS+ of 96 doesn't mean what you think it does... Good talk...

Erstad was the king of grit... Disar was 6'1 or so.....

And yet it happened.. Different type of hit balls tho. Trouts was a rocket, Greene used to hit these absolute moonshot -- they seemed to take forever to go up and twice as long to come down. As Dave points out, he saw him leave the park once on a foul ball.. The dude could launch balls... and launch is really the best way of explaining them -- they carried straight up for days... it's been a long time but people that remember Greene remember the crazy amount of hype around him all of it due to his power.

The izzy Alcantera kick to the face is the most hilarious basebrawl of all time... the way the catcher disappears from the frame is hilarious

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23395195/ichiro-suzuki-joins-seattle-mariners-front-office-rest-2018-season Dipoto said. "We really don't want him to change anything that he's doing right now, with the exception that he will not be playing in games." LOL... Dude is gonna make one hell of a politician....

17. Los Angeles Angels: Ryan Weathers, LHP, Loretto (Tennessee) HS. The son of longtime big leaguer David Weathers started his spring late after leading Loretto to the state Class A basketball championship, winning tournament MVP in the process; he hit 95 mph his first start but has pitched more with average velocity since. The interest in him seems to start in the mid-teens. The Angels are one of a few teams I've heard, with Adams, too.

D-Mac and Greene were both stupid power .. Both were done under by their bodies and IMO both get mislabeled as busts.

Nobody was ever better at hitting a 45 foot dribbler for a hit. That's not meant as a slam -- the guy knew what his game was and he worked it, Carew redux... He was listed at 175 pounds -- 150 of that must have been in his arm. Dude had a cannon.

People forget about him, but he had stupid power... You know whats crazy is Im sure most people think he flamed out here and disappeared. Dude actually went on to get 1500 at bats in MLB . Finished his career with a 730 OPS and 71 bombs... His 162 game average worked out to 20 HRs... He's another guy that people think was just a bust, but if not for injuries he may have made a bigger mark.