Inside Pitch

And Bobby Grich is 68.... That being said. Grich>Espinosa

I hate the prick and I totally agree with you.

That sums it up... He's our prick now....

I hate the prick too... LOL...

My preference going into the off-season was Walker Nunez... Walker is yapping about a 4 year deal so.. that's a hard pass for me.. But if he comes off of that 4 year deal nonsense he'd still my first choice. Howie can be had for nothing other than money, pretty sure he'd be willing to come back to Anaheim for a team friendly deal, can play 3B, LF, has played some 1B.. Both Howie and Nunez bring a lot of versatility.. Neither guy will break the bank. Kinsler as a one year rental would be fine -- but he will cost some sort of organizational currency...

1.5 mil so far for a guy they traded away last year and a 27 year old RP who is out of options.

The annoying part..... People run with it as fact.....

A strain/sprain is a tear.... The greater the grade, the more fibers torn.... The big takeaway from that blurb is that its common....

Trades four prospects in his top 10 for international money -- then uses some of the international money to trade for a player he traded away last year... Pretty much the epitome of a Dipoto deal.

Yep, it's no different than the Angels having once thrown first round money at Adenhart while his arm was still in a sling after TJ surgery... Ohtani is a long term asset.. Only he's not in need of surgery and even the actual report states he would be able to begin his throwing program in 30 days...

Everyone (MLB Teams), knew about this prior to the bidding... They have had this info since at least late November -- it didn't keep anyone from bidding on him.

I find it incredibly hard to believe the D-Backs would be willing to move a 6.3 fWAR player for a 1.1 fWAR player -- particularly since Choo cannot play defense to save his balls anymore... Mike Hazen is a pretty devout follower of advance metrics -- this seems more like wishful thinking on the part of a Ranger's beat writer than anything real... Just can't see a smart GM making a move like this..

That's the bigger issue with him -- he's a modern day Hank Blalock in that some of his splits are pretty brutal.

New Atlanta GM is a bit of a big game hunter himself... he's the guy that got Donaldson to Toronto. If anything I believe they may be buyers in part to take some of the stink off... Freeman stays there imo...

@ettin mentioned Wade Davis in one of his excellent pieces and now that Ohtani is in the mix I can see them possibly moving on a closer type.

The Angels would lose 500K of their international budget and a 2nd rounder.... I have a hard time believing the team would want to part with the pool money both in either area.

I guess those interleague games will be a lot more interesting for us as Angels fans...

Its streaming on MLB Network

http://player.theplatform.com/p/fs-rsn/_pcRETX4Iu85 Should work

Except it's not a narrative, catchers have historically had the slowest "graduation" rate of all positions -- similarly HS catchers have the lowest success rate of any position player drafted of even making MLB. Your statement is true at pretty much every position save for catcher... it's just the nature of the position and the responsibilities they carry. I know you're not banging on the guy -- I wasn't trying to bang on you either... Truthfully I think the whole catchers take longer thing has been less true the last decade or so ... in part because as the game gets more and more specialized it's become much more common for teams to bring up a bat first guy and pair him with a glove only guy.... there are also more and more teams that have the dugout calling the game for the catcher than in the past. Regardless.. Ward is entering his age 24 season -- if he splits his time between AA and AAA this year it's possible his glove first reputation might be enough to get him a cup of tea -- if he's in the majors as a back up at age 25 he's pretty much where you would expect him to be. I'm not a huge Ward fan, but he's not really being overrated in the rankings - particularly when you consider MLB.com had him as high as number 3 in 2016 and 10th this year.

Not really behind for a catcher... Jason Varitek was a golden spikes award winner and he didn't become a regular until he was 27....

Wonder how happy Boras is right now.....

It's been an interesting couple of weeks of constant speculation and hand winging in some cases -- but now that it's done and all played out (and at the risk of being accused of kicking someone when they are down), I can't help but notice and appreciate the massive differences between how two organizations in direct competition with each other are working towards their goals... This was out BEFORE the Ohtani signing.... So, before the entire thing blew up in the M's faces.. http://www.ussmariner.com/2017/12/08/mariners-acquire-dee-gordon-to-play-cf-are-you-not-entertained-shohei-ohtani/ There’s an overarching issue here, I think, that makes me skeptical of the moves we’ve seen so far. Last year, the M’s ranked 5th in walk rate in the AL West, which has 5 teams. They ranked 4th in ISO, and 5th in baserunning runs. The M’s divisional rivals are improving on the offensive side of the ball, and meanwhile, the M’s project as an offense that will be *worse* in on base percentage/walk rate and *worse* in slugging. 144 players qualified for the batting title last year. Of these, Ryon Healy ranked 140th in walk rate. One spot behind him, in 141st, is Dee Gordon. Now, the M’s figure to strike out less, and that’s great, but the M’s have spent the past two years getting absolutely flattened by the home run explosion and how it’s changed the game. This year, the M’s are trying to build a team around balls in play. The M’s tried last year to build a great pitching staff around the idea that you could run a really low BABIP with great OF defenders. They did it, and watched it come to nothing thanks to a flood of dingers. This year, the M’s appear to be betting that with Gordon, Segura and Gamel, they can run a freakishly HIGH offensive BABIP. If league HR rates stay where they are, the same problem may occur: the M’s will have a high average and lots of base hits, but as many or fewer runs than plodding teams like Oakland who’ll rely on the three true outcomes. Keep in mind, Jerry went to great lengths upon taking the job in Seattle to talk up the importance of controlling the count and getting on base -- it was gonna be their big thing and they even went so far as to give the campaign a name -- "Control the Zone", but true to JD fashion.. the first step in implementing the plan was to part ways with the guy who had developed the program ... former (and now current Angel), Jack Howell. Not only was it hilarious to see him prancing around talking up someone else's work, but he actually cut the guy who had put it together loose.. Still -- the premise behind "control the zone" was spot on.... so what do the Ms do with their first two moves of the offseason?? Trade for two guys who are among the absolute worst in MLB at actually controlling the zone.... Is anyone really shocked? As we saw in Anaheim, JD says one thing, does the complete opposite and then puts on that shit eating grin and talks up how great whatever it is he's doing now is. The dude isn't stupid, he can spot a good idea and talk up it's merits but he consistently shows himself incapable of putting together a long term plan or any idea how to implement it.... One minute he's trading for prospects to obtain yet another guy, the next minute he's DFAing or trading away the guys he made moves to get. First it's FIP, then it's OF BABIP prevention, now his new kick is positional flexibility and beating BABIP... The dude is always trying to come up with the next big innovation while never perfecting the one he's working on -- it borders on insanity.. Compare the schizophrenic way JD jumps around to the methodical way Eppler has gone about pursuing his master plan -- the concerted effort to add talent to the organization from the ground up and add players that fit his particular blueprint.. namely defense. Night and Day doesn't even begin to describe it. The Ohtani thing was just another in a long line of differences .. JD couldn't walk into a room without looking for someone holding a microphone -- he had been on a Hollywood-like press junket in the weeks leading up to the posting telling anyone and everyone on every possible media venue what his plan was, how much time and effort they put into their presentation, and how awesome it was gonna be -- "Pulling out the Big Guns"... Meanwhile I think the most we heard out of Eppler was the confirmation that the 1Mil obtained in the Johnson trade was for the Ohtani chase.. Yes, he praised the player and yes, he talked about how big it would be for ANY team to sign him, but compared to the all out onslaught by Dipoto the Angels' efforts seemed downright muted. IMO, one of the greatest days in Angels history was the day JD rage quit... I can't even begin to imagine how bad things could be right now had he not chosen to bail... Instead, I find myself finding it hard to believe that so much has gone right in the short time since he's been gone -- even with the massive bad luck as it relates to pitching injuries... The organization seems so much healthier top to bottom ... and it's pretty evident that Eppler is always working on his master plan.... even as they chased the biggest upgrade on the open market, Epp managed to make moves to improve the farm system. It's like he noticed everyone was fixating on Ohtani so, he snuck an end around and swung deals for Maitain and Soto -- Absolutely priceless... Eppler has a lot of work to to still but, I find myself not worrying about the path he ultimately will take to get us there... Eppy has a plan and he is never not working.... Thanks, Jerry!

DirecTV Now. $50.00 a month gets you a package with mlb network. No contracts....

Jerry saw a youtube video of Dee Gordon throwing a ball from the baseline into the front row of seats in RF and is drawing up plans to convert him to a SP...