Inside Pitch

Has he said anything other than the under eye patch stunt he pulled years ago? FWIW.. What he said about how Latinos, specifically people in the Caribbean will use the term "maricon" was true... I mean, it's a common joke for people, both men and women to refer to times when they are being playful or not acting like themselves as "mariconerias mias" which would basically translate into "me being gay" or "my gayness". In some ways, it's not unlike how blacks use "nigga" it's both inflammatory and banter depending on when and how it's used. Right or wrong, he wasn't making that up, it was a cultural thing that didn't translate at all how he claimed to have meant it. Again... I'm not at all excusing it, I'm saying his explanation of why he did it the way he did, pretty much was in line with how a 20 something Cuban guy might respond to criticism in a playful way.... Beyond that -- he's a weird dude.

Runs Scored 800 - Chuck 779- CALZONE 777 - Geoff 775 - dochalo 769 - Troll Daddy 767 - halomatt 758 - Angelsjunky 740- Angel Dog and Beer 740- Inside Pitch 733 - Angels#1Fan 719 - tdawg 706 - Mark68 12 - eaterfan 748- Slappy 801 - Ettin 721 - Tank 735 - LAA Road Tripper 760- Stradling Runs Allowed 779- CALZONE 753 - Angels#1Fan 727 - Geoff 710 - Angel Dog and Beer 701 - tdawg 699 - Angelsjunky 690 - Chuck 690 - dochalo 680 - halomatt 690 - Mark68 12 - eaterfan 672 - Slappy 675 - Ettin 675 - Inside Pitch 685 - Tank 682 - LAA Road Tripper 688- Stradling Run Differential +110 - Chuck +87 - halomatt +85 - dochalo +65 - Inside Pitch +59 - Angelsjunky +50 - Geoff +30 - Angel Dog and Beer +18 - tdawg -0 - CALZONE +16 - Mark68 0 - eaterfan -20 - Angels#1Fan +76 Slappy

Racist....

All that hitting/running around is gonna mess up his crouch. He needs to stop that.

Nick Franklin is a better version of Grant Green. He always looks like he should be good, has all the moves, the presence, the physical skills.. I think the Mariners handled him terribly at age 22/23 and it's hurt him, but I also think that like Grant Green he will always be viewed as the player he should be and not what he actually is. Better glove, better plate discipline, but the same tendency to not tap into those raw tools. Was his 2016 a sign he turned the page? Possibly.... But I always have a hard time buying into a guy who upon getting promoted completely blows away what he had been doing the same season in AAA and you have to wonder how he lost a roster spot to failed a prospect and ML pseudo has beens like Tim Beckham, Rickie Weeks, and Peter Bourjos. Would I trade Marte for him? Prolly not. Marte is looking like the opposite kind of animal.. A guy with mediocre skills/tools who is actually willing himself to become a decent player. Would I dump Pennington for him. Certainly. Nick Franklin is an easy guy to root for, wish on.

RS - 740 RA - 675 RD - 65 I think the pitching staff surprises us and stays healthy.... and if they are healthy, I think I'm selling them short on the RA figure.

Honestly, I thought the guy writing the article saying "just spell it with an S".... was just kind of ignorant. The reason they spell it with a Z is because of the state's history with team names ending in or containing the letter Z. It started with the Utah Jazz, but the Buzz, Blitz, Catzz, Pioneerzz, Freezz, Starzz.. It's such a thing there that when the Raptors first entered the NBA, their motto was "All the fun, none of the ZZs", or something like that.. People that follow our minor league teams might remember that when the Buzz changed their name to the Bees, there were some locals that asked why they didn't go with Beez instead.. Anyways... the Owlz and the Blaze of the AFL are both basically following/honoring the long tradition of Z teams..

Dallas McPherson had A .755 ops as an Angel. His issue was injuries.

Well, I guess if a player was good enough to start on 5 WS winning teams and win some GG's he was a pretty solid player.. I think winning would trump everything as a player... But' I've talked a lot of shit about Disar over the years so, I'd hope that .250 average came with a really good OBP at least... Either way -- chances are pretty good I'd collect the MLB pension so, retirement would be a happy one. Good conversation starter, TD...

Honestly it's a vague meme.. A person could easily interpret it to mean -- you get to pick one. You take the red pill you become this -- you take the blue pill you become this... If that was the case, I'd ask if there was a purple pill that would let me be Tim Salmon... Dude was a well above average player who brought fans of his team their first ever WS.. Fish looked awfully happy taking that trophy on a tour of the ballpark.. What a great, happy, career...

Well, if the conversation is what would you rather have.... a great player or rings? the decision is just as easy...

I took it to mean which player would you rather have -- not the actual rings. Luis Sojo was on the roster of 5 WS teams... I can't see anyone taking Luis Sojo over any HOF caliber player.

Does the red guy even exist? GG weren't a thing til the late 50s.

Body snatched.. Possibly by aliens...

He seems to run out of gas in the fourth -- at worst he's the perfect long man. We haven't had a guy who could shut teams down for multiple innings in a long time -- if he fills that need. Yay us.

Mike Trout on how to improve umpiring... http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post/_/id/16376/mike-trout-proposes-umpire-change When Trout’s idea was conveyed to baseball officials over the last week, they loved it. "It makes a lot of sense for a lot of different reasons," said one official. Added another: "That’s Trout -- he’s always paying attention to stuff beyond what he’s doing."

A real hard nut to crack?

Why are you still blathering on about his poor defense?? Who exactly are you trying to convince? I think he's a bad defender, I don't know of anyone here who thinks he's not a butcher out there... but good lord man try to see the forest for the trees -- he's not here because of his glove and nobody wants him here for his glove. He's here because he does a decent job of getting on base. To that end... His career OBP is .351 over 4965 at bats... The last three years it's .352. He's played to his established norms. You expect him to regress -- that's great.. I do too but I'm guessing it's for different reasons -- I'm doubtful he hits over .300 again. But guess what??? Even with regression he likely finishes with a better OBP than the two .320 OBP out machines who also can't play 3B.. So please.. So stop trying to cherry pick stats to try to make your argument less stupid.. It seems pretty clear from your chickenshit cut and past job where you conveniently ignored I agree he's a bad defender that you're just trying to save face... Revere and Maybe don't address your perceived "hole" at 3B.. the guy who could is out for 4-6 weeks... Marte's got a very limited track record defensively and his OBP is atrocious... This is pointless. Have at it -- I'm out.

He really has -- but it seems like he's finally comfortable out there. Just looks like a different player on defense this spring. Would love to see him continue to up his walk rate -- he's becoming a much more well rounded player.

Legit question -- WTF taught CJ Cron how to play defense? He's been picking it all spring.

Well.... that escalated quickly.. 4-0 Halos in the first...

my turn at a Calzone Impersonation: "Maybin didn't get a hit in that game either"

LOL... the "hole" at 3b compiled the 6th best bWAR on the team last season. So, is that what you were doing when you mentioned Maybin or Revere ??? You were looking to plug the hole at 3B? You Sir, are briiiiilliant. Look, at no point have I argued that Escobar is a good 3B, I responded to you saying that two below average OBP guys could replace him as our everyday leadoff hitter. They could, but realistically we would be worse offensively unless they did something completely out of character with what they have done for their careers. Maybin and Revere are to leadoff hitters what Aybar was... fluke seasons where they got on base at decent clips do little to erase their career averages. I'm pro defense -- probably more so than most here.. I've long argued that run prevention is more important than run production, but given Valbuena is on the shelf for 4-6 weeks I don't see how creating another problem helps. Marte's got all of 212 innings at 3B in his career -- he's DRS neutral to date but it's a limited sample size and his career OBP of .304 leaves a lot to be desired. Escobar is here for one reason only .. to be at the top of the order. It seems Eppler understands making outs is a bad thing, so they seem willing to look past his bad defense for the time being. I doubt that would still be the case should his OBP drop to Maybin/Revere or worse .. Marte levels.

Pretty sure if an American takes pride in his country or preaches it's exceptionalism it's considered a bad thing. The term Nazis is often used... Rest of the world.. Totally okay. Not trying to be political, but when you grow up hearing how being too into your country is a bad thing .vs a place where National pride is a huge thing and love of country is the norm.. Well..

Wow - -congrats, you can read baseball cards.. Last year it was .383, the rest of his career it was .313. Gary Disarcina had a season where he batted .307, he still hit .258 for his career. Dismissing a career based on one year... and not even a full season's worth of results.... is the sort of stupidity that leads to signing GMJ to a 5 year 50 million dollar contract. Revere? Throw out his poor season last year and it's still sub .330 -- again, the AL average last year was .333. I haven't looked at all the projections for him but Steamer has him putting up a .307 OBP. The guy is fast, and he makes a ton of contact, if it was 1975 people would be raving about him as a number 2 type hitter.. But it's 2017 and he'd be an awful everyday lead-off hitter unless he singles himself into a career season... when dealing with possible .vs probable, I'd side with probable. It's funny, you talk about Escobar only scoring 68 runs.... Revere for all his speed has scored more than 71 runs in a season all of once.. ONCE. Maybin? ONCE... So yeah.. Tell me more.. I like it when people poke holes in their own arguments.