Inside Pitch

I hope he gets sent down ....

Never doubted the kid or Jerry.... Yup..... Anyone know how Salas is doing this Spring? Was always a favorite of mine...

A week ago people were losing their shit because the starting rotation was giving up HRs in AZ and Arrieta was the savior..... This week it's the pen and Holland is the messiah. I'm sure everyone was stoked when Blake Parker, Yusmero Petit, and Bud Norris, were being looked at to log significant innings out or the pen last year. I'm not a fan of Blake Wood, but I'm not as terrified of the rest of the bullpen candidates.

It's just money... Let's go for it now!... How do you know prospects will amount to anything? Who cares about losing a pick.... We Got Pujols!!! 2012-2015 says hello...

You can trade players you may no longer see as essential, or where you have depth. When you trade a prospect you're actualizing his value... or at least trying to. When you throw away bonus pools you're pissing value away. Because of the changes to the CBA, pool money carries much more value than its real world equivalent. It's a pretty simple concept.

They were trying to sneak him off the 40 man... They had more talent than they did spots on the roster... The scouting department had no power over who Stoneman chose to keep on the 40 man.... He gambled and lost.

Good Lord you're ignorant... Perhaps you should take your advice and go look it up.... To argue that Maddon was guilty of false modesty is to insult the man... You're basically saying he's an egotistical fake.... "Look it up"... What a clown....

2002 - Angels win WS , the third place team in AL West won 93 games. 2004 - Angels win west, the third place team in the AL West won 89 games. 2005 - Angels win west, the third place team in the AL West won 79 games. 2007 - Angels win west, the fourth place team in the AL west won 75 games. 2008 - Angels win west, only team over .500 2009 - Angels win west, third place team in the AL West won 86 games. Hate to break it to you BOB, but the only time the AL west played like a weak division was in 2008... For most of the Angels golden run under MS, the AL West was one of the stronger divisions in MLB.... Go year by year and check the .vs Division records for all the teams, in many of those seasons the weaker AL West teams had winning records outside of the AL West.. Facts are a dangerous thing.

He did it in a pretty neutral AAA park too...

Except they didn't. Jenks had missed most of the previous season due to injury (and an unreported stint in rehab/AA), which led to his having only pitched late in the year. The Angels had hoped teams would be scared off by the injury risk and possibly the concerns about behavior so, they exposed him to waivers. Jack Uhey (the scout that signed him) himself told me what they were thinking and Preston Gomez later told me how upset they were that he had been taken -- at the same time they weren't really surprised given one of the guys who had been in on the scouting process had moved on to the CWS... Pretty much everyone on the scouting side in the organization was super high on Jenks and were pretty shocked to see him exposed.

Maybe!? I have no clue which way it will go. The QO has seemingly given teams an excuse to not bid on guys -- MLB can say it's not colluding but the easiest way to work together to keep salaries down may be to give out QOs because it provides a rock solid excuse to not pursue guys with compensation attached. Keep in mind teams will be using the QO as a way to gauge value, so anyone capable of a 3 WAR season is likely worth handing a QO too given the team will likely get that value back -- it's also why guys like Moustakas got shafted -- he's reached 3 bWAR once in the last five years. Bill Veeck famously said "It isn't the high price of stars that is expensive, it's the high price of mediocrity.".. it seems with the QO owners finally found a way to keep the latter down.. The big guys and high end talents are still gonna get paid...

When do you find time to be lonely what with your busy lunch schedule?

Numbers crunch .. Back when our farm was stacked we lost Trumbow, Gregg, and Jenks for no reason other than they didn't have enough room for everyone worth keeping.

I don't think people are aware how the changes to the CBA made the money lost more important than the actual picks... Teams that pay into revenue sharing (like the Angels) lose their 2nd, and 5th rounders plus the slot money for those picks -- additionally they lose 1 mil off the top of the international money pool... Given how Eppler has spread his money around in his first two drafts, it always seemed extremely doubtful the Angels would pursue a player with any compensation attached...

Tell Joe Maddon he is wrong... He's the one making the claims...

No, you pretty much got it down. 10-40 maybe even 50 are all pretty tightly clumped together... Some people have said that a fourth rounder in this years draft will bring the same value a second rounder did last year. No inside info, nothing I've heard from anyone .. I just think he wanted to get his three full drafts in before he started losing picks and bonus monies...

Living in FL, I watched a steady stream of Rays games... Was always hilarious to hear the local guys talk up how Maddon would heap praise on MS and how much he taught him and how he learned how to manage a clubhouse from watching Mike work the room. Meanwhile on the field it was like watching Angels light baseball with the constant lineup changes and small ball. I get that Maddon has fans -- and I would easily classify myself as one of them.. I don't get where people think they manage differently... Maybe now that he's in the NL Maddon is different but he was a MS clone while managing the Rays.

Bob, I don't care what people say -- you're a good person.

Yes, unique like the Phillies, Twins, Indians, Cubs, Red Sox, Rangers, and Braves.... Meanwhile, there is one team in MLB that uses red on red... http://www.sportslogos.net/uniforms/

Also the Mets, also the Indians, also the Braves, also the Red Sox, also the Cubs, also the Astros, also the Mariners, also the Padres... There are a shit ton of teams that use blue as the primary color on one of their uniform variants...

I love the red. Hated the periwinkle garbage... I miss the sleeveless unis. As an aside.... while I don't have an issue with the name change I'd loved to see them break out the ANAHEIM jerseys on some throwback jersey day. Don't care for blue much... Shouldn't really need to explain why...

I'm sure MS could ride Theo's jock to the WS.... Dusty too. Maddon is a MS clone and people who act like he does anything different are completely delusional. Being a good quote doesn't change the fact that he does all the same exact shit during games. I dig Maddon, would have loved to have him in Anaheim but he's just a thinner, wittier, MS...

I'm quitting your fantasy league .... you went too far...

Glad I was able to help you get your message out.

Yes, Im sure you were happy that the Yankees' LHBs would have an easier park to hit in when they come out West.. But I asked when you were enthusiastic about the Angels...