Inside Pitch

TUE -- nuff said....

D-mac didn't lack for athleticism AO, in fact it was his ridiculous athleticism that likely destroyed his career. He was 6'4 240 when he finally made it to Anaheim and while he wasn't stealing bases the guy could flat out fly for someone his size -- he had a huge arm, amazing first step and an absolute mule strength wise... He broke down in part because he was pushing his body to extremes for someone his size. He wrongfully gets lumped in with Wood all the time -- people forget he was actually pretty good when he was up.. Injuries not a lack of talent of athleticism wrecked his career. But seriously -- he may have been the single most athletic player in that Stoneman era...

Didn't Cowart pull something and that cut into his playing time when he was going well?

Clearly why you got my 88 reference.... And yeah -- the guy is hilarious.

If only Dan Haren could run 88....

Poor Dan Haren....

Geesh... have a day Jam Jones.... 4 for 5 last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0CDtEz_Bo "the mofos don't even work!" LOL...

I'm hoping he has his Mike Schmidt moment and walks away... I've always believed his refusing to be anything less than a truly great player added to his legacy. Schmidt was less than three years removed from an MVP season but he saw the writing on the wall and called it a day.

It was easier to argue there weren't better alternatives to AP earlier in the year than there are currently... AP's is currently sporting a .586 OPS the second half.. Valbuena .984, Cron .950, Simmons .852, Calhoun .746, Cowart .729... Even guys like Revere .727 and Penning at .670 are outperforming AP... Even worse, his second half OBP is .242. Thats 12th best ... I get the Angels are in a tough situation given they want to respect what he's done throughout his career but the time to honor his past should have ended when they got back into the playoff race. Winning, not respecting who AP used to be should be the priority now -- and there are at least 5 guys who easily give them a better chance than AP currently.

His first draft he spent his first pick on a RP. RJ Alvarez, 3rd round.. His third pick (5th round) was Sappington. He didn't have a second rounder because of Nibs Eight of his first ten picks were spent on pitchers. To date the most accomplished MLB player from that draft is Mike Morin -- a RP taken in the 13th round. His second draft, his first pick was Hunter Green. The first 7 picks of that draft were pitchers -- the only one to spend any time in MLB is Middleton, both Greeen and his third pick that year are already out of baseball. Ten of the first eleven picks were used on pitchers. To date the most accomplished players taken from this draft class (at the MLB level), are Middleton, and Busenitz. Two RPs. His third draft, the first 5 were spent on pitchers - Newcomb being the headliner and only one with any MLB time. The first position player taken 6th round, is already out of baseball. Ellis is in AAA, Rhoades and Jewell are in AA. Joe Gatto, his second rounder just got promoted to High A. Of the 19 pitchers taken in the first ten rounds of three drafts you have one SP Nate Smith (who Im a fan of) in AAA while 6 of a potential 15 top five picks in those drafts (one of them a position player), are out of baseball. 1st rounders or not -- that's a pretty putrid showing IMO.

Yes... but outside of Newcomb, none of them have amounted to diddly.. Clevinger pre-dated Dipoto. The Indians walked away with a better return after trading Manhattan to the Dutch.

This despite the previous regime spending three years making drafting pitchers the priority...

LOL.....

Ill behave....

LOL. Four hours later and after some limp tripe about Midol and others not needing to get worked up.... you're still trying. So.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_picking Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position, while ignoring a significant portion of related cases or data that may contradict that position. It is a kind of fallacy of selective attention, the most common example of which is the confirmation bias.[1][2] Cherry picking may be committed intentionally or unintentionally. This fallacy is a major problem in public debate.[3] Apparently pointing out his usage for his entire career is "cherry picking".... Or maybe you took the contrast between his overall numbers and that smaller sample as an attempt on my part to say he's been bad in longer outings. Let's assume that's the case.. I put the numbers out there for the sake of discussion, but I fell well short of offering an opinion as to what those numbers meant -- why? Because the sample size would have made that sort of argument ignorant. Both the opening and closing comments you quoted point to the largest sample possible (this season, and career) and how he's been used throughout his career. But hey -- keep ignoring what has been said in favor of what hasn't. (Now behaving)

Criminy..... MLB umpires to wear wristbands in protest of 'escalating verbal attacks' from players https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-umpires-to-wear-wristbands-in-protest-of-escalating-verbal-attacks-from-players/

Quit trying to lawyer your way out of your childish BS... At no point did I call you out for disagreeing with someone -- I did however call you out for questioning their logic when you in turn used NONE yourself. You have had multiple opportunities to argue why it is you believe those guys should or could be used as multiple inning relievers and chosen not to -- possibly because you know damn well there isn't anything to support it other than your opinion. The comment about the Scioscia Hate wagon was independent of anything else - I further stated I looked forward to seeing how things will go when the Angels eventually do get a different manager. Your position that it was solely directed at you rings hollow. There was nothing offensive in my response to you -- I responded to your rhetoric with facts. You didn't like the facts and you bitched out.. Not really anything else that needs to be said.

Good lord man... It had nothing to do with your response to him, it had everything to you with your response to me.. "You're right, MS is right, the bullpen has been managed perfectly, sorry for daring to disagree". Look, I responded to your questioning Fletcher's logic by pointing out how he's been used -- essentially questioning what besides opinion you had to support your argument.. In response you gave me the above.. So yeah. "Ok, whatever"

Look, just because the facts don't support your stance doesn't mean you have to go bitch-mode and argue what's not been said. MS fucks shit up, he's not perfect but he's not as delusional as you want to make it and if he was it would be pretty easy to point to the facts and actually have them support you -- give it a try. So, while you're free to continue acting like a petulant child, the reality is you questioned someone else's logic with nothing to back it up other than opinion.. someone with significantly more access to information than you will ever likely be privy to despite your immense fortune and vast mental abilities. So, spare me the idiotic bullshit about having a different opinion.. You're the one stomping his foot because others don't agree. Last night sucked ass... Everyone is pissed about it, but FFS, let's not all go retard on each other.

Me too -- sometimes by family.

Two game losing Grannies have a way of making it look way way uglier. Besides that -- there was no question something was off with him, there is no denying he turned into a pumpkin. It just didn't take that long for MS to pull the plug on him as a closer. I get why people think it was longer... It may have just been 4.2 innings but they were some of the worst innings of Angels baseball all season.

Day later -- still annoyed... Effing baseball.

Respectfully, a person should maybe take the time to look up some facts before telling someone else their logic is flawed... Parker has made 58 appearances this year which is already a career high.. Of those 58, all of but 5 have been one inning. Only once has he pitched 2 innings -- overall he's allowed 34 hits in 53.2 innings -- and 6 in those 5 multi inning appearances. In his entire MLB career he's pitched in 149 games totaling 144 innings. It appears that his track record as a one inning guy is pretty much established. In one breath the Scioscia hate wagon rips him for ignoring the analytics, in the next they rip on him for adhering to it. I look forward to our next manager and people's opinion of his tactical prowess. Should be priceless.

He mentions two guys, you conveniently fail to mention Trumbo and focus on Joseph. If you're going to try to dismiss someone's take then at least be honest and include both of them. Why would you not? It's chickenshit.