Inside Pitch

No amount of rationalization will change the fact that it was an epic failure in scouting and the repercussions have carried over until this July... Dipoto made the decision to sign Baldoquin knowing full well it would lock them out of future signing periods .... that meant he willingly chose Baldoquin over everyone in his signing period through this year... Yeah signing others would have made it less of an issue -- but there is no downplaying how awful a decision it was or its impact on the organization. The rest of MLB all scratched their head at the signing, meanwhile the Angels publicly stated the guy they signed wasn't raw and simply needed at bats...... epic failure doesn't even begin to describe it. Edit: What I'm saying is that arguing that the team didn't spend enough isn't really a valid excuse -- spending money hasn't been a problem. The problem was they spent that money foolishly... When you consider that Baldo took more to sign than Vlad Jr did ... well... Speaks volumes IMO.

Yeah -- no biggie. Dickson is really one of the dark spots in Angels history. Not sure if it was just Stoneman, or maybe a reaction to what happened with him, but the Angels completely changed the way they handled their minor league arms shortly after they wrecked him.

As bad as that one is -- this one is worse.. Dude went into the hall wearing the uniform of the team he spent the least amount of time with....

That's not really fair to Dickson. Dickson was legit good.. his ERA at the break that year was 3.41 while the league average was near 5.00. What Terry Collins did to him was criminal and cost the Angels what should have been a centerpiece for the rotation. Dickson had flown through the minors, reached the majors in his second full season. Every single MLE out at the time projected him as a number two at worst -- he was a legit workhorse too, he went from pitching in college to throwing 217 innings in his first minor league season as a 21 year old and followed that up with 228 innings in his second season.. People understand how crazy a hitters park SLC is -- Vancouver wasn't any better... His ERA at AAA his final season in the minors was almost 2.25 runs below the league average for that season. But Terry Collins felt he needed to pitch through pain and toughen up...

The one and only -- guy was always a schmuck.

If so, you're welcome.

Erasmo Ramirez used to do a pretty good number on Angels teams that could actually hit -- this could be interesting tonight.

Clubhouse thumb-wrestling champ since 2005.

Dude.. Look at his picture.... You've seen/read the "Florida Man" memes and Twitter account... Mathis is from FL. If that dude shows up holding a bat and asking for a job -- no way you say no.

Seth Etherton was one of my first ever grand scale internet hissy-fits.... He was the one guy I didn't want and sure enough... with the 18th pick the Angels take.... Seth Etherton.. ARRRRGH......... His entire game was built around throwing a palm ball, it was his go to K pitch all through college and really -- it was an amazing pitch. The problem was the seams on college balls were a lot bigger than MLB balls and there was NO way he would replicate the sort of movement he got in college as a Major Leaguer. BTW, the guy I wanted them to draft and wrote a freaking essay on prior to the draft was a fat kid from the Bay area named CC Sabathia... As per usual, Stephen Smith was quick to point out I was a nobody on the internet and the Angels knew what they were doing. Nope!

Typically excellent piece by Sam Miller... http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19436437/for-jered-weaver-end-coming-not-bang-whimper

Dunno if it will make you feel better but the guy that gave him away for a bag of peanuts just watched his current team get outscored 34-3 in their last three games. Personally, it does me.

Yeah, he's done surprisingly well in his recent spot starts. Funny thing is, if and when he gets hurt, we likely get to see Scribner or Bridwell. Epp did one hell of a job of creating real depth.

I think you need to alter that to include backs and obliques.... Lats (Street), groins (Bedrosian) too.

Pep Harris had the best real name since Reginald Martinez Jackson.. His given name was Hernando Petrocelli Harris.

The problem with using Sickles final evaluation as the end all be all of measures is that Adenhart had hit a snag, struggled and his prospect status had dimmed some at the time Sickles made that last projection. I mean, the actual comments have less to do with scouting and more to do with results which IMO was a reach given it was in fact the PCL and he was a curveball first pitcher... In truth, he was essentially arguing in favor of disregarding the scouting reports and paying greater attention to the results - given his age at the time, that seemed a bit rushed IMO.. Regardless, the B- was a solid grade when you consider he was 21, nearly 6 years younger than was the average age in the PCL that year and 3 years below the optimal age -- he wasn't close to a finished product. People can speculate all they want the thing is nobody knows what he was going to ultimately become -- he never got the chance to grow into it.

Bill Stoneman had never been a GM either prior to taking the Angels job. Like Dipoto, he had a stint as the interim GM in Montreal but Anaheim was his first GM gig...

The crazy part was it wasn't his arm that gave out -- it was his knee. I was sad to see him go, but he made no bones about why he was leaving. Classy to the last pitch. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/28/sports/la-sp-angels-athletics-20100929 Dude was just a stud and this article does a great job of talking about how he impacted not just the Angels but middle RPs in general.

You know whats sad.... The Angels have had exactly ONE season with a positive or even ERA+ since 2012..... that year we won 98 games. I think after tonight, the team might be at an even 100 ERA+ again.

Shields was IMO the best RP the Angels have ever had -- not the most talented mind you -- but he made everything else work. The ability to induce GBs, strike people out and pitch every day or go 4 innings if necessary... He did everything well and against every type of batter. He was such a rare bird and IMO the flexibility he brought to the table made the rest of the BP go. Didn't matter what the situation was -- MS could call in Shields, and he would hang in there until they found a favorable match-up. I think the one thing we can all agree on that MS is a different manager when he has a quality pen. This year is adding to the evidence already on hand.

It likely had less to do with Eppler's experience and more to do with JD being a pretty smooth talker. Dipoto has the gift of gab and the ability to get you pumped up about whatever he is talking about. Eppler can come off like a Gomer Pyle by comparison. It seems fairly obvious why in an interview process JD would pull ahead. Given there is no open warfare between Eppler and MS, and that for the most part his moves have shown promise, my hope is that Arte learns to trust Eppler in the same way he seemingly trusted Stoneman.

I think all the Bond movies are currently on Prime, if you get that -- I'm gonna do a bit of a marathon this week.

Clearly they just needed you to get salty with them. Good job, Sir.

Maybin's recent surge has vaulted him to second on the team in bWAR and 31st overall in the AL, just below Manny Machado, and ahead of guys like George Springer and Josh Reddick. His OPS+ currently sits at 103, one of only 4 Angels at 100 or better. His 10 SBs lead the Angels and ranks 3rd in the AL. A useful player once again...

... again...