disarcina

Who gets the big deadline deal prize? SONNY GRAY? Pitching much better these days and is signed through at least 2018 and perhaps a year after that. A's likely to deal him to get several MLB ready younger players 'under club control for 4 to 5 years' to control their payroll costs. Yankees perhaps the best bet? Kershaw is going to be placed on the DL -- reports say 'indefinite time table' --so LA Dodgers in the mix? Washington Nats? Fragile Strasburg went down again today. I think A's and Billy Beane are staring straight ahead at a SELLER's market........Someone's going to over-pay.

i like Arte as owner -- but I think reality has set in for him. my post is not a criticism of Arte at all -- just my opinion from a very distant vantage point with zero 'inside' information about what I see -- as Yogi Berra once said: 'you can observe a lot by just watching.......' The Hamilton deal -- we've discussed that ad nauseum here -- bad deal the day it announced (and most poster here said just that) and turned out to actually be worse than most posters predicted it would be (and the posters' predictions here - ON THE DAY OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT -- were not optimistic to say the least) -- the Hamilton deal was on Arte pretty much. He owns that one -- and fair criticism is directed at him for that signing --- but overall -- I've always like Arte -- I do think the MLB ownership gig competing against corporate conglomerates and then and the sour relationship with the City of Anaheim has worn thin for him. Just IMO -- that and five cents won't buy you a cup of even terrible coffee these days......

good deal for them -- Halos pay the majority of his 2017 contract for the last two months of the season. Also good for Halos because Halos were going to pay the entire amount of his 2017 contract and now it's the entire contract minus the MLB minimum for the last two months of the season. OK deal for Espinosa - why? Because he was going to get paid his 2017 contract even if he didn't play anywhere -- now he goes as a potential rental player to a team that's not in contention -- so unless DiPoto told Espinosa (and he may have -- 'we are going to give you a shot in ST to win the second base job next year -- (Don't they have a guy named Cano?) -- Espinosa is playing out the string of meaningless games when he could be getting paid for staying put where-ever home is and working out. I thought Espinosa's best fit was with a contending NL team to be a rental player as a late inning defensive MIF who perhaps could PH and sacrifice a runner over......... now he'll probably be spelling Robinson Cano who may DH a bit more down the stretch. Don't really see any future prospect of Espinosa being with Seattle in 2018.

I continue to believe that one of Arte's best moves was to change the Angels name to Los Angeles Angels (the original name of the team). The Halos had to add 'of Anaheim' to the name to meet the terms of the deal the Disney Corp. cut with the City of Anaheim. In addition, it should be noted that in 1960 Gene Autry was granted 'the second Los Angeles franchise' -- he paid 'ransom' money to the O'Malley's for at least four years in Los Angeles...building the Big A in Anaheim did not change the 'second Los Angeles' franchise status. The City of Anaheim spent a lot of money and goodwill suing Arte and the Angels franchise. They lost and then continue to pour more money into pursuing the case further only to compound their losses in dollars, goodwill and precedent in essentially confirming that Arte could name the team Los Angeles with or without "of Anaheim" or "Anaheim" as part of the name. Today the "Anaheim Angels' conjure up images of periwinkle jersey's and uni's -- UGH !!!! Also, today, I think the Los Angeles Angels name resonates better and has greater recognition nationwide -- whether that translates into more sales of hats, jerseys, Halos logo shirts and other stuff is subject to debate (I think it has - but when you have a team that has not seen the playoffs in a while -- well --sales of jerseys whatever logo/ name is on them will be down) . Clearly -- in terms of selling the club to a new owner -- the Los Angeles name is a brand that helps with that effort. Me? I like the Los Angeles Angels name ---but I was perfectly happy with and would have been satisfied with keeping the team -- the CALIFORNIA ANGELS.

I like both Mr. Meesseks and tomsred 'four things to do' lists. Is there any doubt here that Arte is biding his time waiting for the right time (coming soon) to sell the Club? Pujols -- nice double last evening -- but he can only go so long and certainly not to the end of his contract (when does that ten year deal end again?) Scioscia will be here (in some capacity) as long as Arte owns the team. I think the scenario plays out that Arte sells the team, Scioscia retires, new ownership finds a new role (hitting coach, special assistant, stadium tour guide) for Pujols. I agree that everyone but Trout (and I would add A, Simmons) are expendable subject to trade. I would keep some of the young arms - we got Meyer from Minnesota (and Nolasco as well) in that Hector Santiago deal -- I'd keep Meyer around. He is a serviceable mid-rotation starter with an upside......between Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs and Shoemaker -- one of them should be able to return and be productive -- we can't trade these DL type guys now anyway. I guess the question of the day is -- when is Arte going to sell the club and what is his time line for doing that. I am convinced he's waiting for just the right time when the team has reached a certain level of value and overall gain/ profit for Arte. I think the bloom is off the rose for Arte owning an MLB team and now he's just treading water competing against corporate conglomerates........

well -- trade Simmons? I guess it could be considered and perhaps we could get a top quality starter for him. but I have to say, A. Simmons has very quickly become one of my favorite Halos of all time -- he's a fabulous defensive SS -- perhaps the best the Halos have ever had at that position..........I think the only other Gold Glover we've had at SS was Orlando Cabrera -- I don't think Jim Fregosi won a gold glove there but not sure -- I think the SS gold glove awards were likely dominated by Luis Aparicio of Baltimore back then........ But A, Simmons is a fabulous defensive SS as he has shown this year -- he's not quite there but certainly in the same league as an Ozzie Smith/ Omar Vizquel. And now A. Simmons has found himself at the plate as well..........I wouldn't trade Trout and I like to build a team up the middle with a solid SS and that's A, Simmons -- Me? I wouldn't trade him. I think he's a tremendous ballplayer with a great attitude.

1, wait until the magic date (which means club control for an additional year) and then bring Cowart up and play him. 2, trade Nolasco (he has some value), Norris (his value from this point on will never be higher than it is right now); 3. Can we get some value plus for Escobar right now? Then trade him. 4. Trade Bedrosian -- his value moving forward may not be higher than right now....

Madsen will pitch more in Anaheim tonight in one inning than he did during his entire "Angels' career. It's easy to calculate Madsen's Angels career record -- ZERO's all across the board. G, IP.......etc. at least his ERA was rock solid.

Derreck Turnbow was a Rule 5 guy for us I think -- but didn't he get some innings with us -- I remember being impressed by his stuff -- he was not MLB ready when we got him and had to keep him on the roster -- like a lot of young pitchers walked a lot of guys -- but I liked his stuff -- and I thought the Halos held on to him for more than a year and really gave him a shot to be part of the pen.......he then was part of a trade or something and went to Milwaukee? where he had a few very good seasons. The Edgardo Alfonzo comparison to Danny Espinosa is dead on in terms of Halos acquisitions that became total busts for us. Both were 2B/ 3B types -- Alfonzo actually played pretty well for a few years with the Mets and then went to the SF Giants where he didn't do much and his performance deteriorated......but our front office couldn't detect that apparently and traded for him (we sent Steve Finley to the SF Giants -- so not much given up at that point). One thing Alfonzo and Espinosa share is that they got their biggest pay day (contract) with the Halos for the least amount of production in their careers, Both were starters for their previous teams getting 450 to 600 ABs in several seasons -- without big contracts. Alfonzo got his biggest pay day ($5.5 million or so) to play about 50 games with the Halos and bat .100,,,,,,,,,,,Espinosa signed a $8 million deal (biggest contract of his 5 year career) to hit .160 or whatever he was batting for us this year. While Alfonzo had a few good seasons with the Mets, Espinosa is a career ,221 hitter ---to expect him to do much more than that was asking too much. And there were Angelswin.com posters who pointed that out back when the Halos signed him -- they said - AT THE TIME OF THE SIGNING - he wouldn't hit for his .221 career average - and they were right. Me? I sort of liked the signing, it filled a need at 2B and I liked the solid, strong defense at the keystone with A. Simmons and Espinosa........A, Simmons, a great field, no hit rep -- is hitting way above his career average this season and fielding like the Gold Glover he is. Espinosa is DFA'd batting .160 and , quite frankly, I was not all that impressed with his D at second base........he wasn't bad -- but he wasn't gold glove like as A, Simmons is at SS either......and I thought he would at least hit his weight which he didn't. Now if a guy like Bartolo Colon hits his weight...........(he lost his Minnesota Twins start tonight).

Edwin Jackson has always shown flashes of really nasty stuff........has a great start/ game and then mixes in a bunch of lousy starts, walks guys, let's too many on --- gives up the three run dinger.........but at one time in his many traveled career -- he was among the league leaders in K's, Lot of teams wanted him and traded for him, signed him -- lot of teams dumped him. He must not fit in in the clubhouse --- for a guy with his kind of stuff to get moved from team to team like he has -- there's something else going on......

seeing eye ground ball.........Wee Willie Keeler -- "hit 'em where they ain't'

Angels_Make_Me_Drink: I would agree with that -- Kershaw only one in Trout's league re MLB elite player over past 5-6 years.

Correa hurt and out with same injury as Trout?? First I've heard of that -- OUCH.

ok -- all the more reason -- now we're taking 4 or 5 days.......maybe 4 games.

farther........

Take that HARPER. you hit one, I hit one further.

that was 2B with the tag,,,,,,,,,Difo

slides around the tag-- sort of stumbles, rumbles in. was that the SS with the tag -- I am always amazed when MIF'er reach to tag the runner. bring that glove right down to the bag and hold on...........the runner will literally run into the tag and he's out. reaching for the tag allows for the leg or the hand to get to the bag first. Maybin will be OUT here on the re-play and then Maybin probably out for the game,

base hit -- nice grab by the SS. EDWIN JACKSON -- long ago Dodger prospect. Has had 'potential' to be great for years..........you want to talk about bouncing around MLB, He's had to have been on about 8 teams or so,,,,,,,,,,,

Maybin's BA tanking......???? May need a new lead off guy.

Harper goes yard.......... He's really ripping the ball this year, What a difference a year makes......... this year he is really challenging Trout (and now Aaron Judge) for FACE OF THE GAME status....... last year - it wasn't even close.............this year, ADVANTAGE HARPER so far.

regardless of whether he is ready right NOW or not -- what is the magic date for his contract issue -- July 27th or something. Heck it's July 18 now. So if you bring him up now - you have him for NINE days and for those NINE days you LOSE an extra FULL YEAR of CLUB CONTROL. Makes no sense. Even if you trade the guy -- an additional year of CLUB CONTROL is a commodity with value for teams looking to contain payroll (most small market teams) and makes the player that more valuable in a potential trade. But all you folks know this -- and, yes, it's not like back in the day where if the guy was good or you needed that player, you just called him up.......... with the big dollars in MLB contracts and the MLBPA collective bargaining agreement -- which has made even the marginal bench depth 25th guy on the roster expensive - this stuff matters,

why would you bring Cowart up now and lose another year of club control. if that were to occur, the front office personnel should all be fired.

Cesar Hernandez of Philly is preferable over the retreads -- Aybar, Kendrick even EY Jr. where we are headed on this reminds me of are some of those August/ September games back about a decade ago when we had Trent Durrington in the line up starting at second base with a patch quilt line up playing the string of meaningless games out........ oh, wait, I forgot -- 'we're still in this thing for the second wild card........' let's think about this for a second -- we have Houston running away with the AL West we have AL East teams playing well above ,500 and then we have the bunched up also-rans in the AL West -- all about 4 games under .500 right now and some 16/17 games back of Houston....... so - let's say one of these teams, Texas, Seattle or the Angels get hot (not too tough, they're playing primarily the weak teams within the AL West in September) and manage to snag the second wild card (because AL East and Central teams are beating each other up and splitting series) they play a ONE game playoff game and somehow win (perhaps they have their ace going and the other wild card team used him on the last two days of the season) and GEEZ they win. now suddenly, the 2nd wild card entry with a 2 or 3 game over ,500 record is on equal footing with 25 games over .500 Houston as one of the playoff teams......... yeah, not a fan of the new second wild card -- even if it keeps 'a lot of teams in the hunt' and makes for a 'great final day of the season' oh well.

Featherston, good, bad, indifferent was less of an issue than the fact the Halos had him on the roster all season taking up a roster spot that could have been used to fill a need -- either bench depth with a power bat off the bench or another arm in the pen....... but a prior post rings exactly accurate -- DiPoto with his Rule 5 'strategy' was trying to out-smart everyone. Of course, like DiPoto, Featherston came from Colorado and DiPoto probably over-saw the draft where the Rockies picked him out of college. I think he played at TCU and was a pretty good college player with a program that did well in the College World Series that one year, at least. oh well. spilled milk to be sure - but along with a lot of Halos moves, signings that don't make sense, the keeping a Rule V guy on the roster all season, not playing and then just cutting him loose right after the season was over -- seems one of the oddest ones.....