Inside Pitch

And going into Friday's game their SoS was .495 .... the Angels .497. Only bringing it up since it's suddenly become fashionable to talk about SoS around here.

Thats a great value signing for them -- so props to JD.

So, just want to go on record early as saying thank you @John Smith for what will undoubtedly be your excellent news-hounding of prospect info during and after the draft. I know I speak for many of us when I say it's much appreciated.

Thats terrible.... My LOL, woke the dog.

Actual write-ups about International signings by the Angels... It's been a long, long time..

I LOLed.... Well he did make it a point to say physically resembled.... Too funny @ten ocho recon scout

Both teams have to be happy with what they got. I love win win trades.

Sports can be a muthafucka!

In case anyone's wondering ... since for some odd reason the Bandy updates came to a screeching halt. Jett Bandy -- .242/.316/.442 Maldonado - .272/.341/.407 win/win.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/104599294/sources-angels-sign-cuban-infield-prospect-roberto-baldoquin/ "We're going to let him tell us when it's time to move," Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said during the Winter Meetings, "but he's a pretty advanced player. He's a confident kid who understands what he is, what he can do." Except scouts didn't say that.... The guy that called him confident did.... http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-angels-roberto-baldoquin-signing-20150106-story.html Dipoto said Baldoquin physically “looks like a cross between Yuniel Escobar and Adrian Beltre” and is polished for his age. The GM is confident Baldoquin will develop into an everyday big league shortstop.

Werent you one of the guys saying that Cron was the worst and that Valbuena needed to play everyday? Are you now actually arguing that not playing Cron is a mistake?

Eppler has made three trades now that have been completely panned by most of AW.com. Simmons, Escobar, and Santiago... And one that was mostly liked... Espinosa. So that being said... I hope the majority of AW.com hates our draft pick on Monday

Mike Sosha is why ISIS happened...

Its luck... If anything they have never been more cautious or aware than they have been of late -- shit just happens. Conversely the Angels were remarkably lucky avoiding major injuries to their SPs for a good decade. 2004 -- 3 guys with 33+ GA -- 2 guys 24+ 2005 -- 4 guys with 30+ GS -- Ervin at 23 2006 -- 3 guys with 30+ GS -- Bartolo went down, Jered Weaver replaced Jeff, Saunders broke into MLB 2007 -- 4 guys with 28+ GS -- Bartolo and Saunders shared the 5 spot -- 18 GS each 2008 -- 4 guys with 30+ GS -- Lackey at 24 2009 -- 3 guys with 27+ GS -- Adenhart tragedy. 5 spot was a revolving door. Ervin at 23 2010 -- 3 guys with 28+ GS -- the other spot totaled 34 starts, Haren replaced Saunders in the trade. Piniero at 23 2011 -- 3 guys with 33 GS, -- 1 at 25, 1 at 24 2012 -- 4 guys with 30+ GS -- the other spot shared by Williams and Grienke 2013 -- 1 guy at 33, three guys at 24+, you had Hanson and Blanton sucking ass but zero injuries... Ineffective pitching was the issue. That's a full decade where the only major arm injuries were Colon, and Escobar (a guy born without a ligament).. 50 rotation spots over ten seasons -- 2 major injuries..

Schoefield was a lot better than Disar... Bat included. WAR, OPS+, OBP... Whatever the measure.. Schoefield was better. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schofdi02.shtml http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/disarga01.shtml Disar did however have a huge edge when it came to scowls and looking mad all the time. Gary Gaetti was a pretty awful Angel..

Yeah back in like 96.. In the Angels defense it was their turn to sign him and never see him pitch. Ontiveros and Butch Henry were the poster boys of talented but oft injured pitchers in their day.

Pretty sure Newcomb and Jones are the two guys drafted by JD that everyone loved at hello. Not sure if questioning the amount of walks is an example of shitting on the kid -- but for the most part people believe he's going to be a sure thing MLB pitcher.

Here's another view of the future of the Angels pitching rotation... I kid.... I kid....

LOL.. Wonder which camp is bigger -- the people wanting to see him do well so that can question the Angels intelligence or the people wanting to see him fail in order to validate the Simmons trade. When it's all said and done -- Scotty was right in saying it's likely a win win trade. The Angels got a 4 WAR SS locked up for 5 years... For Atlanta to equal that Newcomb will need to be at worst a Chris Archer level pitcher to get the same sort of value. I doubt either team regrets the move.

I don't want to see them spend to spend but there is no denying it will be harder for him to use the fear of exceeding the tax as a reason for not spending.

Monday can't get here soon enough....

I do too.. Braves obviously believe he is ready but I'm still surprised they are promoting him.... 22 baserunners in his last 15 innings is a bit sketchy.. Whatever, I hope he does well -- it will end up having been a win win trade.

You are right -- they knew and they didn't think it mattered... http://www.espn.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/7330066/st-louis-cardinals-albert-pujols-join-los-angeles-angels Some have questioned whether it's smart to give a 10-year deal to a 31-year-old. "I will say that Albert Pujols' age to me is not a concern," DiPoto said. "He's an honorable man and a very respectful man. I'm not a scientist, but I can tell you he hits like he's 27. ... I will say this, that in regard to the evolution of a hitter, as hitters begin to age, into their 30s and to whatever point you can project, there is a certain quality and a trait in a hitter, the patience they exhibit. Albert has had an extraordinary career with regard to maintaining control of the strike zone. Albert is still as big an impact guy after 11 years as there is in this game." _____ To be fair -- nobody saw AP's decline coming the way it has. The PED era clouded the aging curve and inner circle HOFs like AP tended to have longer decline phases.... The situation just went sideways...

There was a major piece at ESPN that basically retold how the Pujols deal went down... It went into great detail regarding how the Angels contingent showed up early, how they brought a ton of people carrying books crammed full of scouting reports and compared it to what had happened the season Reagins showed up late.. It went into a lot of detail at how the pursuit of Pujols took place and when/how Arte got involved. I never understood how it suddenly became "Arte's fault" after things went sour ... well other than there was no denying Arte wanted to win. There have been changes/additions, but I don't believe he ever fully cleaned house. Many left after JD moved on -- either way the team is better off for it. But there has never been the same sort of purge reported we saw in the weeks that followed the previous front office's takeover. Why are you living in the past? Unless you believe there are mixed messages coming out currently or the GM isn't the one making decisions the talk of trainwrecks is old hat. Things have changed.... the Angels under Eppler have in fact been rebuilding/reloading -- the results aren't there yet but it doesn't mean they haven't been working at it, Rome wasn't built in a day and he's got to redo everything that was undone between 2008-2015. Also -- how is the story changing simply because Moreno met with AP? If the pursuit started with JD, if he's the one that did all the legwork and made the move to get him to Anaheim what difference does it make if Arte was the last guy to meet with him?. For much of the Dipoto era the narrative has been that the AP deal (and Hamilton) was all Arte all the time... That became the narrative only after AP tanked, prior to that JD was a hero who brought us AP and left MS out of the entire equation.

The Angels SoS is .497.. The Cubs' .499. Guess that .002 makes all the difference, eh? Now now, it's too early to be giving up on Maddon...