Inside Pitch

Jerry knows how to pick his spots... I'm sure he's got lackeys leaking info up there absolving him of everything.

That was Ender.. Cez was more of the belief that Jerry was being targeted by Angels fans as a scapegoat for Arte's misdeeds as had been widely reported in the media. Props to Jerry and his operatives for getting that narrative out there in their weekly leaks to the media. One of the more successful aspects of his tenure as GM of the Angels.

"Challenge accepted" -- Jerry Dipoto

"After trading away Luiz Gohara, Nick Neidert, Freddy Peralta, Ryan Yarbrough, Brandon Miller, Juan Then and Juan De Paula--among others--in recent years, the Mariners' system has nothing but future relievers and spot starters, at best, outside of 2017 draftee Sam Carlson." Read more at https://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2018-seattle-mariners-top-10-prospects/#gxk5lmALZqb1my1X.99 .... Shockingly familiar...

Thank you Blarg for saving me the trouble of going over the Tony Tavares situation, I doubt I could have done as good a job or done so in as few words. People ride Stoneman for what he didn't do, which is fine but they ultimately end up ignoring the reality that what he didn't do kept the team afloat. The Angels rode on the coattails of his work/players long after he had moved up and out. But for me it comes down to this... Billy Eppler was famously quoted as saying losing/tanking was not a part of this team's DNA -- people mocked him for it... But prior to Bill Stoneman, it was. Losing, heartbreak, failure.. those were the things the Angels were famous for, that's what Angels fans expected. Before he came along simply finishing above .500 was touted as a success. Bill Stoneman changed this team's DNA... and like it or not -- Mike Scioscia was a key instrument in that.

First Guillen was a protagonist.... Now Stoneman was an utter failure... Looking forward to page 5 when the topic will likely be how Mike Trout was a waste of draft pick.

He's probably working with the Russians...

Jose Guillen spent most of his only season in Anaheim talking shit to and attempting to tear down Vlad. It's hilarious we actually have someone here attempting to defend the twat. Vlad was Guillen's primary object of abuse not MS. He gave him shit about anything and everything.. If Vlad made an out -- "Oh I thought you were supposed to be a superstar". If Guillen hit a HR . Oh -- I thought you were the big bat". On and on it went ... in any game where he felt he outplayed Vlad he would taunt him with questions about how much he was making and shit like that.. This is one of the dumbest threads in a long ass time.

Considering he spent the entire season talking himself up at the expense of others, Vlad in particular... No real suprise. He's right up there with Dave Hollins when it comes to selfish me first asshats.

You are jumping the gun and making an argument I didn't make. The CBA is the CBA, there isn't much that they would attempt to argue there but -- intent, good faith, etc etc.... they may try to worm their way through on those angles -- those areas can be somewhat nebulous and leave the door open for shenanigans. I've not read the current CBA to make any definitive statements. Anyway, as I said previously.. it's too early for them make any such claims but the argument wouldn't be that teams are actively working to avoid paying the tax, it would be that they agreed to do as a group to try to curb salaries on some level. In truth I don't care either way -- but it would make for some solid entertainment.

The last two times it's happened the union argued that the collusion was primarily in how teams avoided signing other team's FAs... They felt that the lack of competing offers drove the prices down... I agree it's hard to point to any one thing as a sign of collusion but it's early still .. It's going to be interesting to see if union lawyers will try to argue that the league wide attempt to get under the tax wasn't some form of collusion or that in holidng their money for next year, they are in effect colluding. I agree with you and others that are saying teams are smarter, but who knows how this could play out if it ever did go to court. The Union is going to really have to have to take a long hard look at itself.

Their primary 3B last year was Nunez -- their primary CF was Denard Span. If anything Parker is displacing Hernandez in LF full time -- which is what happened last year. The Giants problem last year had more to do with how awful their bench was and the way their rotation tanked without Madbum. It's good they have moved to improve CF and 3B but their bench is basically the same or worse and right now their 4 and 5 starters will be whoever wins the competition among Ty Blach, Chris Stratton, and Tyler Beede... They basically have a three man rotation right now and that's assuming Cueto's struggles last year were a hiccup and not a real sign of decline. FWIW, most projections see a solid rebound for Cueto ... so thats good for them. The Giants can't be done.. they have a lot of work to do still

Thats a pretty strong deal for the Nats...

He couldnt decide on just one... so, everyone went home a winner.

Nah, it's more a case of guys not missing him enough... He's your classic hard FB/Slider type.. Wood throws hard, average velocity for his career is almost 97 MPH, but he will flatten out and sometimes leaves the ball up. When he's on he's a GB inducing machine with a couple out pitches. When he's off he can't locate anything, leaves the ball up and bad things can happen. I think the Angels with Nagy are looking to change his sequencing and the sort.. He's essentially been someone else's GB inducing Kevin Jepsen for most of his career. By that I mean everything he brings to the table argues he should be better than what he's shown to date...

Not comparing the players, just the situation -- in both cases the Angels were hoping teams would pass due to injury concerns. Jenks had only managed 8 starts the year before he was waived as he was still being used as SP. The Angels gambled they could sneak him through due to injury concerns and Chicago pounced. Another somewhat similar example would be Mason Tobin when he was exposed to the Rule 5. Tobin was set to miss the 2010 season after TJ surgery in 09. But despite the injury and having only gone as far as High A, the Cubs picked him and then the Rangers traded for him only to stash him on their DL for the entire season. In 2011, having never pitched above HigH A, Tobin made his MLB debut.... sadly, he blew out his elbow again. Anyway... Hopefully he passes through waivers, I think he will but all I was saying is the risk is a team with an open roster spot might see the value in picking him up. Regardless of what people think of him as a prospect, he managed to turn some heads with his showing in the Pan Am Games.

I think this is what they are banking on, but a team with an open roster spot may jump on it and then stash him on their DL after opening day. Angels lost a few guys trying this under Stoneman, the biggest example probably being Bobby Jenks.

Props to Matt Garza -- dude got his yearly injury out of the way early this year, thus saving some team from spending money on him... Via MLBTradeRumors.com Free agent righty Matt Garza is set to undergo surgery for a torn right shoulder labrum, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. It seems the injury was sustained in a mid-season collision that knocked Garza out of commission for a time but did not end his season.

He hasn't shown he's ready for AA... IMO anyway... He hit well, made hard contact but his K/W rates in high A were not where they need to be before he moves up. Soon as the K rate stabilizes and walk rate bumps up I'd move him to AA... but you don't want him in AA finally seeing advanced pitching and turning into a hack.

I think Eppler's front office will push guys as they see them capable of doing -- it wouldn't surprise me to see them go slow with Adell and maybe push a little harder with Marsh given he's been in pro ball for a bit longer, even if he hasn't been on the field. I think a big part of the equation is adjusting to the everyday life of minor league ball. We haven't really seen any set patterns yet in how they will advance guys ... well, other than in that first season when it was pretty clear he was trying to get a gauge on the system's talent or lack thereof as it may have been and he went slow. One thing I have noticed... and it may just be that the lack of FA activity has limited the number of guys being released or made available on waivers but, he's been a lot less active in the 6 year minor league FA market and waiver wire.. So, maybe that's an indication he is more confident in the farm system's ability to generate players who could help than he was in the recent past.

150 Mil! right at the league average.

Thanks for sharing that -- great read.

Kemp maybe?

Some of that had to do with the crazy number of arms the Angels blew out in the minors. They were taking guys coming out of college and having them throw 175+ innings their first year of pro ball.. Even more after they sent them to winter ball to "get more innings in". They were brutal, particularly in AA.

Why 5 years? Just my opinion, but I wouldn't give anyone but a GM a five year deal.. and even then I'd rather go 3 years and two option seasons. Maybe a farm director too since their work actually takes time to show it's worth. If I were running a MLB team I don't think I'd ever go more than three years on a contract with a manager.. Seems kind of weird you'd be willing to go 5 years on a guy you pretty clearly hate...