Inside Pitch

I don't remember a time when I wasn't an Angels fan, but my loyalty may have been somewhat split early on. As a kid I played shortstop and second, Bobby Grich and Reggie Jackson were my favorite players and Ryan my favorite pitcher. I was likely a closet Yankee fan because of Reggie and because they beat the Dodgers who I hated with a passion in 77 and 78... Still, I remember wanting the Angels to beat the Yanks every time they played each other in 1979 and my concern that Reggie might win a game for the Yanks. Whatever split allegiance there may have been ended when Reggie came to Anaheim. With Preston coaching 3B for Mauch and Reggie in RF it was all Angels all the time from that point on.

I saw him pitch a couple of times this Spring, he looked absolutely awful except for his cutter.... fastball was awful and he seemed to be missing with everything. Without his control he will end up grooving a lot of pitches

I think it was just a case of no DH and a park with a tendency to allow HRs.. Like Doc said - Trumbo looks exactly the same as he did the second half of last year. Right not he doesn't even look like a .255/.305/.455 guy; much less the player he was the first half of last year. I wouldn't be too upset if they Howie Kendricked him and sent him down to right the ship. If Jimenez starts off hot, and Trumbo looks this lost at the end of the month, it's something they should consider. I'm hoping he finds himself soon.

What do you really expect? At their core they are just Cowboy's fans.

Going to a direct rival stings no doubt.

His K/9 Rate the last four years; 7.8, 7.6, 6.9, 7.5 -- he's actually been above average in that regard. He gives up hits no doubt, but he misses bats more than people realize. He's a lot like Aaron Harang and Vicente Padilla, neither of which will be mistaken for a star by any stretch.

Means they lost two one run games in the other team's park? I don't think we can really gather much from these first few games. Weaver kept a team off balance, Wilson, battles his control, Blanton has a propensity for the long ball and some parks will hurt him. Unless Pujols, Trout, and Hamilton all lost the ability to hit, and the team can no longer field well, they look to be pretty much what we knew them to be IMO. Im more worried that Vargas and Hanson will also be what they are and give up even more HRs in TBIA.

Actually he misses a lot of bats, the problem is that when they don't miss, they tend to go really.. really.... far.

Or they would be talking about how Phillips posted tremendous clutch and high leverage numbers last year. People would have found a reason to be critical either way, but there really wasn't of a downside to putting Votto on base,

He's probably been "abused" much worse in Japan. I don't think he was impacted negatively in any way.

Mod's sorry if this has been posted or if Im posting it in the wrong place.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKjLI6pwNOo Ranger fans will love this one..

Steve Bisheff was the primary reason I stopped getting the Register way back when, so I've grown accustomed to not reading their work. I'd still read it at the office when I was based out of Irvine, loved Sam Miller and was happy when he joined BB Prospectus. Jeff Fletcher's posts here made me consider taking another look at the OCR but, I guess that ship has sailed now. I do wish them well. The OCR always reminds me of growing up in OC, and as others have stated, their coverage of local prep Sports was always very good.

Weaver is an interesting guy in that his motion has always been a big part of what he brings to the table and that despite pitching on a downward plane he's always been an extreme fly ball pitcher. While it's never good to see a pitcher losing velocity, with Weaver I'd always be more concerned if he suddenly started to struggle with his control/command. IMO, he's one of those oddities that leaves guys wondering how he's doing it.

Right or wrong, power has always been viewed as more valuable. Maybe because for the most part the only way to defend against it is to put the player on base or have a Mike Trout. If people are really going to use WAR as the basis for real world salaries then every team in MLB is getting a HUGE bargain. The Astros are an 80 million dollar payroll based on ZIPs projections for WAR. Ill say it again. I don't think the Andrus deal is awful, but I do believe it's a bit of an overpay. I don't think it's an overpay to where the Rangers should be mocked for it -- there are several rational arguments to be made for why it's a good deal and could end up a great deal. It's quite possible that I'm being stubborn in regards to what a team should play for plus defense, but I look at the Mariners failed experiment of loading up with plus defense at every position and i have a hard time committing to the idea. Not saying that their failure a couple years back means the idea is completely without merit or shouldn't be attempted again.

Really... Is that how it works now? Whatever their WAR is then that's what they should be paid? No doubt baseball took this to heart last year right? Michael Borne was a 6.0 WAR player last year, somehow he managed to sign for 4 years and 48 million instead of the 30 million per year your theory would have us believe. He's just a bad example right? Adam LaRoche should have been worth 20 mil a year, and yet he signed for 24 mil over two years. Jeff Keppinger was almost a 3 WAR player last year -- so he's making close to 15 mil per year right? Nope, try 12 MIL over 3 years. Ryan Ludwick was a 2.5 WAR player last year -- instead of making 12.5 mil per, he's making 15 Mil over 2 years. Angel Pagan was a 4 WAR player last year, he signed for 4 years and 40 mil instead of 20 mil per. What a moron. Nick Swisher was nearly a 4 WAR player, somehow he managed to sign for 4 years and 56 million total instead of the nearly 80 Mil he should have. I'm a fan of WAR, but I really do believe people are taking it to extremes -- it shouldn't be the final say in player payroll.. I tend to push the importance of run prevention compared to most people but, if we are now going to suddenly pay through the nose for defense then the MLB payroll structure is going to skyrocket then implode like we have never seen before. Defense gets underrated because it's more of a passive thing. A good defender plays everyday and over the course of a season it's believed they impact their team in a very plus way -- the problem of course is that defensive metrics are still really sketchy. Brendan Ryan has been close to a 3 WAR player twice in the last four years, are people really going to argue that he should be considered a ten million a year player? That's exactly what his WAR would have us believe. Ryan BTW is a career .244/.307/.327 hitter. Alberto Callaspo is not a 15 million a year player, never has be, never will be but his WAR the last couple of years would have us believe that at 4.1 million per year he's being criminally underpaid. If that's where we are heading then we may as well trade Trout now.

We should just refer to him as the clean peanut. Or Peanut for short.

You're a Law fan -- that's fine. I think he's in love with his own opinions and has always shown certain biases... To me he's Rob Neyer light with a larger focus on player evaluation. There is also no denying he found it easier to be a critic than an exec. That's not an attack so much as it's a accurate depiction of his career to date. I personally just happen to think that his online presence has given him more clout than others who went the way of print and the sort. While you're free to sing his praises, he's wrong enough to where his opinion is just that -- an opinion. I personally find that when he strays from the statistical analysis he trips over his own BS quite consistently. The Astros are doing a really good job of mixing old school scouting with statistical evaluation, IMO his decision to not join their organization can only serve to benefit their organization. BTW, Keith Law can't hold a candle to guys like Tony Blengino. Go back in time and check out any of John Benson's Future Stars books, if ever there was someone who was ahead of his time and adept at player evaluation and player analysis it was the Benson/Blengino duo, particularly their method of incorporating player age vs league and park effects. It's no small surprise that the Mariners farm system has turned around the way it has since Blengino bolted the Brewers for them.

You can't possibly be this dense. Can you? How is Andrus' situation different? Are you capable of even mounting a "lousy argument?" You're either trolling or the human equivalent of iridium.

So Keith Law is okay with paying what WAR dictates despite it's defensive shortcomings -- that's great. Have you ever looked at what Keith had to say when Wells signed his contract? Or how about what Ricciardi had to say about him once he left? How about Keith Law's opinions of David Price before Price made him look like a moron? Keith Law has found it easier to be a media mouthpiece and critic than he did an actual baseball exec. His time in Toronto and influence on player acquisition and contract negotiation left a lot to be desired.

Those contracts are in fact complete overpays. They were also free agents. I'd love to hear your argument for why Andrus is worth 75% (6,5 M), more per year than Erick Aybar. I'm not interested in your rampant homerism, I'd like to see what you base it on other than the name on the front of the uniform. They have been essentially the same player the last two years. Buster Posey plays a significantly more demanding position. He is likewise a plus defender, and has amassed a higher career WAR total in almost 300 fewer games. He just signed a contract for 9 years and 167 mil, a per year average of 18.5 Mil... Posey has won the ROY, an MVP and lead the NL in OPS+, WAR, and several other saber-metric categories and yet he's only making 3.5 mil more than Andrus.... Andrus 6.5MIl > Aybar... Posey 3,5MIl > Andrus? Go ahead -- tell me how Andrus deal isn't an overpay.

To be honest, that's not the argument. But you're deluding yourself if you believe his past performance in no way shape or form impacted his asking price. Regardless -- you brought up Pujols. A free agent on the open market into a conversation about adding 8 years to a player under club control, IMO, it was at best lacking in substance, particularly given we have a perfectly good comparison in the name of Erick Aybar who signed for significantly fewer dollars. I don't think the Andrus deal is awful,but the reality is that much of his value is tied into a defensive quotient that is still very much under debate. Anyone that's read the things I've posted knows I firmly believe that most people underestimate run prevention and defense as a whole, but I'm not willing to pay through the nose for defense, at least not until the metrics are refined to where there is less fuzziness.... In essence, i think paying 15 mil or whatever for Andrus is as much of a overpay as it would have been to pay Callaspo ten mil a year. Callaspo's been a criminally under-appreciated player IMO, but you wouldn't see me locking a player of his ilk to anything more than a three year deal and for nowhere near the money his WAR totals would indicate he deserves. The Rangers obviously see no problem with paying for defense -- it's their money, and they know what they are building. But they are in fact taking a bit of a leap of faith.

Listen if you're going to act like a little bitch, then maybe you shouldn't enter into the conversation or at least bother ready whats been said. I didn't bring up Pujols you dolt.. Someone else did -- which is why I asked if they were actually comparing the two sitiations.. Your rampant homerism and inability to handle ANY form or opinion of the Rangers that doesn't come close to your myopic hero worship makes it impossible to have any semblance of actual debate so really -- just take your own advice and learn when to shut up.

Not to mention they aren't in the same world when it comes to actual accomplishments.

I get get the point you're making, but, are you really equating Kinsler and Andrus with Pujols? BTW, based on the career arcs of 2B historically -- I wouldn't have done the Kinsler deal. I wouldn't have done it for ANY 2B... I used to know the number (of games), but there had always been this drastic sudden drop in performance from 2B that wasn't as common at other positions. Morgan, Grich, Rhyno, are some obvious exceptions but as a whole it's a risky proposition past age 31-32. Throw in his home and away splits and I just wouldn't have done the deal for Kinsler. I think the Andrus deal is priced decently given it won't kick in for another two years and could be a better value should his bat improve.

You really think Bourjos, a RH guy with 208 Ks and a .301 OBP in 851 career at bats was a better option than the LH guy with the .359 OBP and 7 Ks in 81 career at bats? Looking forward to your defense of Peter Bourjos when he has a poor game.