Inside Pitch

Pretty much the entire scouting department thought he was in his late 20s or early 30s when the trade happened, then he turned gray at 24 and pretty much everyone else assumed it too. The Felix situation was possibly the biggest factor in the demise of Herzog and the elevation of Bavasi... Fontaine, Bavasi, and Preston Gomez were all sure he was older, Preston particularly so. Whitey dismissed their concerns as it being a case of them being unfamiliar with Latin players... Preston Gomez, born and raised in Cuba, found that to be somewhat humorous.

Gaetti found God and lost interest in baseball. When he found the bottle, he misplaced God and started hitting again. Not even trying to rip him.... that's his account of what happened.

The funniest part of the Jr Felix situation is that even to this day -- nobody knows how old he really was. MLB was able to rule out his initial claims, and the closest they were able to get was a birth certificate that showed he was 30 when it was believed he was 25, but the only legitimately documented paperwork that was actually certified that listed his given name in the town he claimed to be born in showed him to have actually been 35. They were never able to verify that he was actually just 30 nor where they able to rule out he was actually 35.... So, the best that is known is that he was at least 30 at the time he was drafted away from the Angels...

Interesting that years later the Angels would bring in Herzog in an attempt to manufacture their own quick fix... He was the defacto GM (Dan Obrien Sr held the actual job title). The only thing Whitey did was prove the game had passed him by. He traded for or signed every over the hill broken down former STL Cardinal or NL washout he could.... Von Hayes, Hubie Brooks, Joe McGrane... The Hayes acquisition was particularly costly as the Angels had to send their first round draft pick (9th overall), and at the time one of their best prospects (Kyle Abbott), and future Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr to Philadelphia to get him. Hayes had managed all of 77 games the previous year and a .590ish OPS -- well below his career norms but Herzog was sure he would rebound despite what everyone else in the organization believed.. Hayes was out of baseball that year. It was at Herzog's suggestion that the Angels pulled the trigger on the Jr Felix deal and chased after Gary Gaetti over retaining Chili Davis... Gaetti flamed out and Felix was revealed to be as much as ten years older than his Dominican paperwork claimed.

Nobody was going to turn Gary Disarcina into Cal Ripken but you're sort of going to extremes in completely dismissing a guy who's teachings were in fact lauded all over MLB. Anyway, while I agree that Brett greatness was mostly a result of his talent his own assessment of Lau's impact on him as a hitter should carry some weight IMO.. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/03/19/White-Sox-batting-coach-Charley-Lau-who-made-some/6932448520400/ 'Charley was a guy who took me when I was just an extra utility player and made me into an everyday player,' said Brett. 'He said, 'You've got to start going to left field a little more. Will you put the time and effort it's going to take?'' The article below names some of the other hitters who Lau was credited as helping or making better.. https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/cooperstown-confidential-the-tale-of-charley-lau/ Now the guy that doesn't get enough credit when it comes to Brett is the dude that taped this.... Talk about HOF worthy...

Thanks for the update Jeff.. While I've pined for Davis to be the hitting coach, I'm sure Eppler will get us the person he sees best capable of pushing forward his offensive agenda.

.... a chance he takes that job before the Angels reach out to him.... Still hope they do.

"I'm not racist, I even have a _______ friend" A new spin on an old line -- always funny.

He's won two at least -- apparently by virtue of being on a team full of great defensive players... but he's done as much to earn them as Raffy did the year he won the GG at 1B while being a full time DH. In his best defensive seasons he had a DRS tally of 3 -- same as Cron has had in each of the last two seasons. Albert Pujols posted a DRS of 6 in one of those years and in Hosmer's other 3 DRS season both Nick Swisher 8, and Mike Napoli 10, blew him out of the water. Clearly Cron should be awarded a GG.

Sample size has to be taken into consideration but the guy is sporting a .654 OPS in Angel Stadium for his career... his worst among any park with at least 100 PAs -- he's also a butcher with the glove. To date he has never posted a positive dWAR, for his career he's a negative 8.0 WAR defensive player. Cron's worst defensive season he put up a dWAR of 1.3 -- Hosmer has four seasons with a dWAR of negative 1.5 or higher. So besides his track record of failure in Angel Stadium, bad defense, and offensive inconsistency year to year, there is also the concern he might be offered a QO -- it's believed that both Cain and Hosmer might end up with QOs. Personally, I believe the Angels days of throwing big money at players on the bottom end of the defensive spectrum may behind them... But if they did sign Hosmer it would IMO be a sign the team has learned nothing in recent years.

Ty for the update.

But he's injured.. Jim Edmonds was a legit SP prospect in HS who while showing off in a showcase hurt his arm. It was so bad that he started his pro career as a 1B before finally being able to move back to the OF... Scouts grading during instructs is a bit silly.. they are out there working on particular mechanics and individual skill sets for the most part.

Poor guy.... That Tribe performance had to hurt.

Worse off how? They didnt play him due to a shoulder issue -- are you saying that they believe the injury is worse than they believed it to be? I haven't heard diddly about it.

If a Yankee connection is made - Rick Down (also a former Angels coach) is possible. Both were pretty widely praised by people in MLB while with the Yanks.

Chili all the way. Tim Salmon goes out of his way to say how big an impact Davis had on him when he first came up and how often he would point something out after an bat... He also famously put Jim Edmonds into a wall in the clubhouse when Edmonds was being "Jimmy", so he's the sort of guy that commands respect or will thump your melon if you don't act right. Davis is a big proponent of patience, believes in driving a ball, and spent a lot of time under the tutelage of Rod Carew who basically knew everything else there was to know about hitting a baseball. Been wanting Chili Davis for eons -- this might be our best shot.

Since you didn't bother to quote what you were responding to I'm going to assume you're responding to me.... At no point did I or anyone else say you suggested trading Trout or Simmons, what I did say was that they had all of two players who had any real value beyond Trout and Simmons -- reading is fundamental. This was in response to your prattle about how the team would have been so much better off if they had only listened to you and traded off last offseason (2016) like you were "pining" for. So whatever was said in that podcast "years back" the reality was the Angels had two legitimately trade-able assets beyond Trout and Simmons in July of 2016.

While juicing.... Next up, a comparison to Adrian Beltre that ignors his TUE and career revival since obtaining it.

Drafted in 2014 -- so, I don't believe so... Selection eligibility Players are eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft who are not on their major league organization's 40-man roster and: were 18 or younger on the June 5 preceding their signing and this is the fifth Rule 5 draft upcoming; or were 19 or older on the June 5 preceding their signing and this is the fourth Rule 5 draft upcoming.

Just who exactly where they going to trade off that would bring in this talent? Did you actually see what the team put out on the field last year? Jefry Marte was among the top ten WAR earners... So -- lets recap the amazing tradable assets... Their .209 hitting 25 year old catcher? The guy that was obtained as part of a package deal along with Tropeano for Hank effing Conger? Their 26 year old 1B/DH still looking for his first .500 slg% season? Their 28 year old 2B who couldn't catch the plague in medieval London and got DFA'd despite the massive gaping hole that was 2B? Simmons? Who they traded away two pitchers for 3 months earlier and who at 26 is arguably the best SS in the AL? Mike Trout?? because nothing says "we are serious about winning" like trading away a generational talent. Rafael Ortega was the leading at bat getter in LF -- he was so in demand his only taker last off-season was San Diego where he spent the entire season in AAA. Pujols and his 24 mil AAV? Escobar who they did try to move and the guy who covers the team repeatedly told us nobody wanted? They had ONE guy with any semblance of value -- Calhoun. One. Pitching wise they had Weaver, his magically disappearing FB and Jhoulys Chacin two guys so much in demand they too ended up signing with the Padres. Street was injured. Richards, Skaggs and Tropeano were injured and gone for the year. Salas WAS traded. Santiago WAS traded.... So you had Bedrosian at 24, and Shoemaker who was sporting an ERA of 4.50 at the deadline... I think people who believe this probably wanted to see the team spend like the Yankees and Red Sox and were happy to see the team jump into the AP sweepstakes. Because -- "Oh boy, they were REALLY trying." Yes, yes..... The only way Moreno can show he really cares is to spend even more money... Angel fan logic 101.

I had friends in the Cinci system when he was there -- pretty much to a man they all said that Dusty for all his warts connects with players across the spectrum. So you're likely right that his willingness to cover their asses plays into it. For good or bad, they all believed Dusty had their back and it was them .vs the world.

South FL is Yankee Red Sox country.... All the Boston drama makes it way to the sports stations down here -- the Red Sox were a huge melodrama all season long.

Shame is one hell of a motivator... Props to him for going from pussing out to balling out.

So basically after the entire clubhouse refused to make eye contact with him he went to Dusty and asked to pitch... Vaginasburg...