disarcina

4th starter at best..........more like a 5th..........perhaps even a long relief guy except it's the Halos rotation........ does any one think Jered Weaver is having second thoughts about signing that 'hometown' discount extension? Halos should have gotten him some more rotation help than this -- oh well, Weaver does have a fairly offensive good line up behind him.......

LAAMike -- wasn't aware you got lambasted for mentioning Maholm -- he's worth taking a flyer particularly at the price the Dogs are paying. Now, I would not give Maholm the kind of over-priced contracts we've seen for some other starters -- but for what the Dogs signed him for? heck of a deal.

heck of a deal for the Dogs.......... not paying much and upside could be pretty good.

LAA Mike -- thanks for the correction on the freeway series games -- so the Dogs games in Australia must be March 20th or so -- because I know they play Arizona when they come back and then three with the Angels?? Expect some of the Dodger regulars to sit out some of these games entirely.

if we dumpster diving --- how come we let the Dodgers sign Maholm (spelled wrong) -- the former Atlanta lefty who may be a fifth starter guy for the Dogs.......they signed him to a pretty reasonable contract price- wise. he's not the best but spent time in that Atlanta rotation - always among the best in baseball -- and seem to eat some innings........ Dodgers have something like seven or eight legitimate MLB starting pitchers in camp (well, at least two of them, including Billingsly, are expected to start the season on the DL)...... It would be nice if we could say we at least have our rotation spots filled........oh well. Jered Weaver's gotta be wondering -- I signed a long term hometown discount contract for this?? As for the Dogs, the heart of their rotation (number 2 and 3 spots) are Greinke and Haren..........may be we should ship Blanton back over there, too.

apparently they will be dumpster diving (for a starting pitcher) at the end of Spring Training.

Am sure this is a Failio but am also sure you all saw that CHONE FIGGINS is a non-roster invitee to the Dodgers' Spring Training camp vying to be a back up middle infielder guy. He's probably slowed up a step or two and with a player like Figgins where speed is about 90 percent of his game, if he loses a step or two, well, that's real bad news for his chances of sticking around. Another guy who sought riches in Seattle and ended up with a decent bank account but a career in tatters........oh well, things could be worse, I guess, a career in tatters and an empty bank account. Don't see him sticking with the Dogs -- should make a few of the Angels-Dodgers games interesting. I don't think they are doing the traditional freeway series this year because the Dodgers are opening up the season in Australia.....on March 25th or some date like that..........then the Dodgers come back stateside and play something like three exhibition games against the D-Backs before 'resuming' the regular season.......... Because of this Australia trip -- which seems like a logistics nightmare for the players -- expect a lot of the Dodger non-roster invitees and minor league players to be kept around so they can be in the line-up for those three exhibition games vs. the D-Backs...........what great games those will be -- three meaningless Spring Training games with players who have already been told they're not making the 25 man or 40 man roster......... Figgins may start all three games..........may be the last three of his career.

HaloFan85 nails the answer in less than a sentence!! Good work!

SPRINT 7438: "Did he ever have a full workout as a member of the Halos?" LOL!! Now, that's not only funny but the answer to the question is probably -- NO. I don' t think he ever even made it onto the field in pre-season!!

I'd stay far far away -- some team will sign him though, probably to a minor league deal only after he's been in their camp as a non-roster invitee. if a team does sign him, it should probably be an inning by inning incentive laden deal. otherwise, he'll sign the contract and then be out for the season again --- been there, done that.

If he could make it out of Spring Training NOT on the DL and on the roster as a long relief/ spot starter guy -- I'd call that a win. If he could possibly make 10-15 starts the first half of the season -- that would be a success -- even if he got shut down with arm fatigue by July 1.......which could happen. again, if he is hitting 90 mph in work outs -- this is a guy who really has not pitched since '06 -- expecting a full MLB season out of him as even a 5h starter rotation guy is asking a lot...too much,

not a bad pick up for them -- could have been ok for us, too, Hansen not great. Probably better than what we have right now as a 5th starter.

could we be limping any more into the Olympic break?? remember four years ago? The Kings had some real momentum going when the Olympic break approached, the break interrupted the MO and the Kings came back after the break as a significantly cooled off team from before the break. this year, hopefully, it's just the opposite. Kings couldn't get any colder than they are now..........what's it been -- loss of the last 10 of 13 or something?

This guy has been washed up several times now. With Detroit. Wasn't he with Tampa Bay or someone like that? Then the Halos -- towards the end of his time here, he couldn't get anyone out. Was terrible in several different pen roles. then he had that great what? 2012 season? now to Seattle. of course, Seattle is a place where many players' careers go to die or to get seriously side-tracked.

You are right -- time to have a more positive attitude.........so here goes: I'm going to have a fun time going to some Angel games at the ballyard this 2014 season even if the Halos are terrible and finish third. There!

4-A guy at SLC or is Conger in danger of not making the 25 man roster? Has Scioscia given up on Conger's D behind the plate? Then again, Ianetta spent time on the DL last season -- so it's more likely a 4-A move with a plan to store him at SLC for a quick call up, if needed.

this is from Salmon's book -- Always an Angel -- I think that's the title of it.

We are in the playoff 'mix' only because of the expanded playoff format allowing two Wild Card teams to play in a one game 'sort of' post -season playoff..........

according to site, contract terms include, $1 million if he makes the team and then a $3.25 million (top value) contract if he meets specified incentives. so essentially a 5th type rotation guy for $4.25 million.......not too bad in today's market. Baker had some decent starts for Minnesota last year........not too flashy, not dominant.........in a good year could win 10-12 games from that fifth spot. good year would be 12-5 or so, 4.50 ERA with 150 IP........... not a bad pick up for Seattle..........but then F/A don't quite seem to work out for the M's, so, we'll see..........

no mention of all at Bobby Knoop at 2B..............I agree with Grich as the choice -- but Knoop deserves at least an honorable mention....... there's a reason why the Fregosi at SS teams had a great DP combo. also Marcialino (Spelled wrong) Lopez deserves an honorable mention in the pen............he was a closer guy in the pen before there were closers.

My SS would probably be: GARY DiSARCINA, 1995 Halos........big surprise here. I'd also find a way to get GA on that list. Darin Erstad's 244 hit season or whatever his amazng total was that year, is a no brainer. interesting (but I agree with it) that one of the TWO Angels' Cy Young Award winners, Bartolo Colon, didn't make the list. Best overall 26th player: Gene Autry.

well, not the way I like to my team built but if we stay with the pitching rotation we have now -- well, yes, scoring 12 runs a game not only will help, may be needed.......

wow........for some team to sign him it would have to be a per game, IP type contract...........

Cory and others -- thanks for the reports. Cory -- thanks for the on scene account. Since folks say the opening ceremony was great, I hope FSN is smart enough to utilize it as a regular feature and re-play it several times. what they could also do is couple that with that great interview on FSN (might have been all Prime Ticket back then) with Vin Scully, Chick Hearn and Bob Miller.......that must have been what? At least ten years ago if not longer..........they had all three of them together.......and I remember, you have these three LA legends together and the guy that really stood out that night (in the interview) and was praised the most by the others (even Chick Hearn, rest his soul and all, but let's face it Chick was always pretty impressed with Chick -- Scully's always had that humble and modest approach) was Bob Miller.... so an opening ceremony co-emceed by Bob Miller and Vin Scully has to be special. just wished the Kings would have played better......they're in a bit of funk right now -- perhaps we need the break for the Olympic competition this year (remember four years ago, the break didn't do the Kings any favors - it sort of de-railed some winning streak momentum they had going into the break). Again, thanks, Cory and others - the Dodger Stadium game will truly go down as a historic first in S. Cal hockey.

with the contracts these guys are getting, perhaps we're better off just inserting Blanton into the fifth spot, try to get four innings out of him and let our new pen guys go to work....... $50 million for Garza??? Geez. right now our options are to finish third with a relatively stable payroll from last year or perhaps agree to one more over-priced contract and either finish second or perhaps, still, third............ oh well. at least there will be baseball to watch -- it's been a long off-season.