Inside Pitch

LOL...

I said people hated GA, and mentioned the common criticisms... not that they wanted him gone, but whatever.. You're not really going to argue that both of those guys weren't typically ground zero for Angel fan hate are you? "Future batting champion" and "slider low and outside" had the same level of disdain that "the Fat man" and "turn the page" do.

Pretty much... Maddon has a personality, Scioscia is rumored to have one but it's rarely on display. BTW... Really looking forward to people finally getting their wishes.. Recent Angels history speaks volumes regarding the wisdom of the fanbase. Angel fans hated Bill Stoneman, many were very happy to see him step aside... Enter Reagins and Dipoto. People hated GA; he lacked hustle, he didn't dive, he was overrated.. LF's been a joke since he left save for one good year out of Rivera. They wanted the team to compete with the Yanks and Red Sox for premium FAs... We signed Albert, Nibs, and then Hamilton.. They couldn't wait to get rid of the "mental midget" Ervin Santana.... he's pitched 750 innings of 116 ERA+ baseball since leaving. They wanted the future batting champion gone... 2B has been a near black hole for three years now. But I'm sure this time it will be different..

I remember calling him Jar-Jar more than once in response but mostly I stuck with Teflon. Like everyone else I was excited to get finally get a saber inclined GM..... Then the Walden trade happened, and the signing of two guys who couldn't throw.. Once the drafts started it only got worse... He would literally say one thing then do the complete opposite. "we want guys who can control the counts, both on the offensive and pitching side" -- that one and his preaching the need for balance while ignoring large facets of the team and organization were my favorites. So, while I was admittedly excited initially I began to question his "wisdom" early on.

.... in Fenway... He hit .239 and put up an OPS 200 points lower away from home. The park index for Fenway in 1977 was 118 ... Coors Field was 117 last year.

The Angels were said to have an inside track with him -- his Dad loved it in Anaheim, his grandmother loved it in Anaheim, the kid himself was one of the rare Vlad kids to live with his Dad, so he was familiar with the area. Vlad Jr had regularly been on the field and hit in the park, most of the scouting staff were very familiar with him then came the purge..... All the scouts got fired or replaced by smarter people hand picked by JD.... and then of course there was his infamous three day scouting trip where he proclaimed Baldoquin MLB ready needing only to get some at bats... Best of all.. Vlad Jr signed for less than Baldoquin. Not having had any chance at Vlad Jr is the single biggest reason why everything about the Baldoquin signing was a mistake..

That's always going to be the question, but also sort of why he's seen such a rapid rise this year.. He's gone from super raw to really tapping into his power as an 18 year old. Some are making Gallo level power comparisons and he's shortened his swing a great deal to where there is less concern he will have similar contact issues. Adell last year and Adell this year seem like two different people -- that sort of advancement in one calendar year is uncommon. There is also a great deal of talk about his work ethic being off the charts... Basically, he's already at the extreme end of the power tool spectrum and some say his hit tool has gone up two full grades this season.

I was hoping early on -- then he went out and blew the doors off his competition and now it seems like a longshot....

Baseball teams that pick need over BTA tend to hate themselves three years later... A guy like Adell is high risk high reward -- but he's the sort of head turning raw talent that if you get a chance at him, you'd be silly not to take it. He's got legit HR power already and a cannon.. From what I've read he runs extremely well too. The knock on him was he had a bit of a long swing but most reports this year say his bat has taken a HUGE step forward.

They seem to be linked to Jordon Adell a lot and Jeren Kendall now that he's had a bit of a rough year and might last until the 10th pick. Adell has been skyrocketing up most mock drafts -- so, it will be interesting to see if the Angels actually get a shot at him.

He was looking to avoid a tragic ending.

Nice to see you posting again TG...

Bingo... You know my take on Smith -- I've been a big fan of his ability to pitch above his stuff.. He's works backwards, thinks his way through stuff... Just a fun pitcher to watch but when his stuff plays down he has very little margin for error.

Man.. I would love to hear what @Jeff Fletcher thinks about this leak... I have a hard time believing the Mets didn't leak this, and it's likely step one in trying to get the fan-base to be okay with them moving him.

There are a lot of guys that have done well in the park -- like I said, it tends to favor RHBs -- but there have been a few guys like Arod that saw their game elevated in Angel Stadium. Just something about the dimensions or the way the park is built that suits their styles -- it's interesting because Arod also tended to absolutely destroy the ball hitting in KC -- a park that used Angel Stadium as it's base blueprint.

Not to mention he was sort of shit on in his previous start -- the Mets decided to pitch him on short rest and nobody bothered to tell him.. Dude supposedly had a hard core throwing session the day before and then subsequently got rocked... He's still a slapdick though...

"it's a little known fact that......"

The ballpark has NOTHING to do with it right -- all that data that shows player after player failing to hit to their established norms in Anaheim... fake facts right? David Ortiz, your answer to everything whenever the subject is Pujols put up a .706 OPS for his career in Anaheim. Angel Stadium deflates offense, it's kinder to RH batters than LH ones, but overall it tends to bring hitters down some -- Naps, Arod.. there have been exceptions, but when years and years worth of data shows that most players see their offense drop in a place -- well... smoke, fire...

Not sure if will make you feel any better but I think everyone is frustrated. Having gone from also-rans that had to catch breaks to a team that you could almost count on being competitive it's hard to find ourselves back in that second division category. But you know what we all know -- they effed up and are riding out the damage. This is IMO temporary, the organization seems smarter than at any point since Stoneman left and thankfully they haven't bought any concrete shoes in a few a years. It's been painful given they have tge best player on the planet on the team but probably the smartest move they could have made. People just need to separate what they are doing now and their most recent motivations from what they did previously -- the PR coming from the team will always be happy horseshit stuff -- it's just how it is... There are problem spots on the roster and the farm is still very much a work in progress but there is reason to believe things are on the mend.

He was another victim of the Terry Collins arm meat grinder. Hill had a history of elbow issues -- specifically bone chips... Angels traded for him, he did well.. Needed off-season surgery but they resigned him anyway. Guy comes back and throws over 200 pitchers in his first two starts -- never making it out of the 5th in either one but pitching well. Collins complains he needs to go deeper into games -- next two starts he gets spanked -- velocity is clearly down but Collins goes on record as him having to pitch through his dead arm period... Hill gives up 15 runs in 7 innings over two starts -- 170 pitches in two April blowouts... Hill hunkers down and throws 112 pitches in his next start... velocity continues to dip... His final start he throws 63 pitches in two innings -- can't find the zone -- clutches elbow... Gone for two months... Elbow went boom. Terry Collins had a guy who was four months removed from elbow surgery throw almost 800 pitches in under 35 innings... Jason Dickson had already been ground into dust -- so good old Terry needed a new guy to make a man out of...

Talking about it while ignoring what caused the problem isn't really an example of someone wanting to talk about anything -- its whining. You know why they are where they are... The people chiefly responsible for the mistakes at the farm level are gone. Pretty much anyone paying attention knew they were biding their time this season while riding out the final year of the Hamilton fiasco and opening up some payroll. I don't think anyone knows what the quick fix is, but I think most agree we have to start by infusing the system with better talent than it's had in a long, long time. It's gonna take time -- and if the topic is purely pitching, a little luck.

You forget they are trying to recover from having made some premium mistakes.... This team was run into the ground -- welcome to the painful recovery.

I know Maybin and Espinosa are popular targets but for me nobody has been a bigger disappointment so far this year than Shoemaker. Given all the injuries they really needed him to step it up a bit, instead he's become almost predictably awful anytime he's given a lead. I know he's a slow starter and I get that there may be some lingering issues after having his melon cracked last year but I still believed he would be the closest thing to a sure thing in the rotation and he's been anything but that... Hopefully he starts to turn it around soon.

"Magnifico? More like Magnificoh-no" -- AO in the near future...