disarcina

I don't think Ortega or Cunningham make the roster -- and they shouldn't -- would be terrible to have them sitting the pine on the big club when they could be playing every day probably at AA -- Choi is an interesting choice -- another Rule 5 guy -- the Rule 5 stuff has not worked out well for us -- we wasted a roster spot all last season on Featherston who we promptly gave away as one of the first transactions of the off-season and then the guy who took his spot on the 40 man roster failed a physical or something. I think Choi staying may be contingent on the Angels keeping 13 pitchers to start the season -- they might but I also think Weaver may start the season on the DL - he won't start until mid-April as it is now anyway. Who are the bubble guys? Choi, Pennington ? Bedrosian?

was that Escobar who made that stellar play at 3B in Thursday night's game.? Or was Pennington or someone else playing third. Gotta say, Simmons as advertised defensively at SS -- Angels a lot better up the middle this year -- Perez is good behind the plate.....Simmons at SS and, of course, Trout in CF. Johnny G worked hard on D in the off-season. Surprised to see Trevor Gott sent to AAA -- probably would have made the Halos roster as a pen guy.

give the rotation a chance -- let's see who shows up. last year the Halos rotation did pretty well for the first half and into the second half somewhat faltering in August/ September. the good news is that there's a few back up options at SLC. any idea when Skaggs will be ready to go? And Wilson, any hope he pitches this season? expect Weaver to be on the DL by May,

I'm leery of Shields -- Padres trying to unload that big contract. Shields led KC to the World Series vs. SF two years ago - parlays that into the big payday contract with SD to pitch in a pitcher's park - and promptly becomes among the league leaders in HRs given up. His 2015 stats in a pitcher's park in SD creates significant doubt if he's worth the salary commitment

only makes sense if the Halos carry Lucroy as a 1B/DH & third string catcher. and as others have said we have enough lumbering 1B/DH types now and it's not high on the priority list. Lucroy does have some power and it's always nice (IMO) to have a 1B/OF/DH guy who can catch if called upon (sort of like Napoli - a Scioscia favorite LOL!)

the obits for Joe G. all mention that he was a color analyst on Halos broadcasts for one year in the 90's --- I don't seem to remember that. I remember Sparky Anderson doing that as well as Joe Torre. I don't remember Joe G. with the Halos. with Scully on network and certainly with Curt Gowdy on the Game of the Week (Tony Kubek, too). on the Today Show (several stints if I recall right).......... he and Yogi were boyhood pals. The "Bob Uecker" schitck really began with Joe G's deprecating humor. I think the line "I signed wit the Cardinals for $5 -- my dad paid it" started with Joe G and Uecker adapted it for his use.

didn't realize (or rather forgot) that Butera played for a short time with us last year and then went to KC. can't hit much, but pretty solid defensively. Tony Cruz may be the better choice for KC --- he spent the first four/ five years of his career being back up to Yadier Molina so he might as well back up Yadier's heir apparent to the 'best catcher in baseball' title........and please don't mention Buster Posey to me like all my SF Giants pals do. Buster is a great ballplayer but he's a hitter and needs to be moved to 1B for at least half of his games -- he's too good of a hitter to have him catching 162 games. Save/extend Buster's career, move him to 1B for at least 81 games a year if not more.

I thought Carlos Perez played well last year when given a chance and will prove to be a good acquisition for the Halos. it's an upgrade at the catcher position this year for us. Meanwhile, look over at KC where they have Salvadore Perez who is quickly becoming the best defensive catcher in the game (as Yadier ages) and then they have Butera (former Dodgers' back up) and Tony Cruz as back ups........pretty sold behind the plate.......who-ever is odd man out to be the back up there could probably help some other mlb team.

HalosFan70s asks what stat metric do you use to rate Freese as a defensive liability. a lot of good responses in the prior posts......his fielding pct. and rating as well as the fact that he was replaced in the late innings by a defensive replacement about 60 percent of the time. but really the best test of all is this: hey, did you see him play 3B during his time with the Halos and watch him? He was terrible. Plus he's slow and on top of that was a very weak base runner....... let's stop debating Freese -- Halos got what they could out of him.....the deal for PJ Bourgis - a good CF -- fast baserunner, great defensively - and who has also moved on from the team he was traded for -- Grichuk - the throw in in the deal turned out the best of any of 'em.......Salas is still with us and I assume is back in our pen for 2016. Salas has pitched well as times for us and then again, has had some rough outings. overall positive though. but Freese is gone and isn't coming back. he's back in the NL where I predict he gets about 175 abs this year and that's it.

Stop Prefontaine ? -- --geez that's going back a ways. Nike has missed their audience by 40 years LOL!! I remember Prefontaine well as well as the unfortunate fatal accident he was in that cut his life way too short -- but I would not have made the Stop Pre connection to the Stop Trout shirt. I would have preferred a "AIN'T NO STOPPING TROUT !" slogan but then we would have all the English teachers complaining......

Arte has spent tons on F/A - quite a few of those deals were just terrible and folks on this board said so at the time. Vernon Wells, Josh Hamilton....etc. I don't put the Pujols deal in the same category -- most Halos fans thought it was for too long and too expensive of a contract, but liked getting Pujols on the roster. And, while he had a very slow start as a Halo making the first impression long lasting "aw, he's another big dollar F/A bust" -- actually, Pujols has put up some pretty good numbers as a Halo.......yes, his contract amount NOW on the down side of his long contract now limits what Halos can spend in other areas -- pitching, LF etc. But, hey, this is Arte's team, He's the owner not some corporate entity (although I'm sure Arte and the Halos are incorporated). It's easy to spend someone else's money (ask the Federal, State and local governments), this is Arte's money. If he feels he can get a better return on his investment by not signing players to long term expensive contracts - so be it. We have the most important piece signed to long term deal - Trout. Give Arte and the front office some credit for that. And I'm with Arte when he expresses concern about changes in the MLBPA impacting the payroll penalty rules. It seems that baseball economics have re-shaped the game significantly in recent years - much to the detriment of the MLBPA overall despite huge contracts for some superstars and rather generous increases in the MLB minimum salary. What I see is that unless you are a superstar who can carry a team and become its identity -- MLB careers have become shorter and the real loss is to the MLB player who provides depth and has been in the league for 2-3 seasons (including in the pen)......these vet guys used to play an important role off the bench -- NOW, with today's salary structure, MLB teams cannot afford that fourth or fifth year plus vet on a roster in a bench/ platoon role.

I gotta believe that Jered Weaver has something left -- even if his fast ball has lost (significant) velocity. I don't think converting to a knuckleball makes any sense for Weaver. the knuckleball guys mentioned in the thread, were knuckerballers all their careers. Niekro brothers, Wakefield, Hough. Wilhelm. As for Weaver and some folks knocking him here because he's not the ace pitcher he once was for the Halos -- well, he's pitched well for us and has been a mainstay in the rotation for a number of years now, signed an extension with a hometown discount proving with action his loyalty to the Halos organization.......if his fastball has lost so much velocity that he can't pitch competitively in MLB and his days with the Halos are numbered (and this is a big IF) --well, in my book he still goes down as a great Halo who pitched well for the Angels during his time here. I'm hoping he's able to contribute as a solid member of the rotation, even if he's no longer the ace of the staff.

the only thing that surprises me about this signing is Freese going back to the National League. Freese IMO is a defensive liability and is probably better off in the AL where he can be used as a DH/3B in some sort of platoon. I didn't think Freese (defensive liability, slow afoot, not very versatile) would command much on the open market and he didn't - so he signs a deal mid-ST that is fairly minimal for an established MLB ballplayer........but that's all anyone would pay for him. I don't think another year of Freese with the Halos at about one-fifth of his prior annual salary would have played well for anyone......... Having said that, and not having been much of a fan of Freese (I don't dis-like him -- actually I wish him well with the Pirates) because I wasn't impressed with his ballplaying skills......poor defense, bad base-runner and SLOW. Good luck to him with the Pirates......it will be interesting to see how many ABs he gets in 2016 if he stays on the Priates roster all season - I'm thinking 150-200.

Scott T -- thanks for the information. Tempe Diablo could use more shade but at least they have some. Have you been to a game out at Camelback Park in Glendale ? Where the Dodgers and White Sox play. This is a park that is newer andbl was built after most of the ST complexes and parks in the Phoenix area -- and yet it somehow has the LEAST shade of any park and for mid-day 12 noon or 1 PM start -- the batter (and most of the crowd) is looking right into the Arizona sun......... How can this be? How can a park architect with more than a half dozen parks already built to review, wind up with a park that has no shade and situated poorly? Meanwhile, look at the new ballparks in Mesa (the Cubs new park looks like it has the most shade of any ST park --someone there was thinking ; Salt River Park in Scottsdale on tribal land next to the Indian Casino at the loop freeway -- specific shade seats and a nice ballpark and then there's the new ballpark southwest of Phoenix where the Reds and Indians share a ST complex -- again, shade seats and nice park. I have been to several games (about three) at Camelback including an Angels-White Sox game about two years ago where the blazing sun was so hot -- no shade relief -- and looking into the sun all game made conditions so miserable -- I just can't go to another game there.

Mota just sent out best wishes to Cookie Rojas (former Phil. KC and Angels broadcaster) - Vic's father. I like Rojas - but Terry Smith's call on TV is pretty good -- the radio side guys seem to be better PBP guys. Halos should think about alternating TV radio guys the way it used to be with Scully/ Doggett (for the Dodgers, that goes back a ways) and even Enberg/ Drysdale........primary PBP guy would do something like innings 1-3 on TV, 4-6 on radio and 7-9 back on TV and switch off with the radio PBP guy. not going to happen but I used to like that. Caught Enberg on the MLB TV broadcast of the KC-Padres game Friday night from Peoria.

Scott T-- looks a bit overcast there -- comfortable game watching weather -no blistering sun. I will there at the park Tuesday, March 15 - Mariners/Angels. Section 14, row Z several seats. Behind the plate, to the third base side I think, last row -- if you look over to that section now --start of the third -- is that section in the shade yet??

if Cron can field first base a bit --that would really help could lead to better season numbers for Cron and Pujols -- Pujols should DH about half the games in 2016. Escobar's throw - GEEZ. nice play by our new SS defensive wonder, Simmons, to end the inning.

'lots of Royals fans' -- a World Championship with back to back W/S appearances will do that. Plus - where would you rather be this week - in Arizona sun or back in KC? good first inning for the Halos -- Trop pitches well, Cron makes a nice defensive play at 1B (YES - Cron !!) Escobar rips a solid single to LF...Halos have two guys on with Trout and Pujols coming up no dice and now Calhoun hits a lazy flyball to LF to end the inning..........

proxy server -- taking your Direct TV server with you when you move and maintaining your old zip code. It affects which teams get blacked out. they blacked out the Angels games in Las Vegas?? Las Vegas is considered part of the LA media market for blackout purposes??

Did Joyce sign a minor league contract with invite to ST? I read that somewhere -- forget which team.

Doc Halo has it pretty well pegged. I think Albuquerque will be one of the pen guys. He pitched got into a fair number of games and pitched a number of innings last year with - where was he? Detroit? So I think he makes the team. Choi? We're going with another Rule 5 guy? Is that because the Rule 5 thing went so well with Featherston last year? GEEZ.

ah little Johnny G --- when I think of him at second, I recall watching Zorbist (6 foot 4 or however tall he is) paying 2B for KC in the post season last year. Zorbist would stick his arm out and snare a line drive heading for base hit to Right/ Center field, perhaps even a potential double into the alley --- Johnny G would leap as high as he could and stretch his small arm reach out and the ball wuld be by him for a two run single.

for out of area fans it's probably worth it and they are running some sort of discount price if you sign up during ST. I don't get it anymore because I can get FSN on cable without the MLB premium package. Between FSN, ESPN and MLB channel games, I get enough baseball. Plus I get the MLB audio package which remains the best deal anywhere -- all season long, all MLB teams radio broadcasts both home and away for all 162 games for all teams -- $19.99 for the entire season.

if Freese has anything left -- and that's a big IF -- I can sort of see the comment made in the post above. Halos sign Freese and move Escobar to 2B and see how that works out. you'd have essentially a platoon of Freese at 3B and Giavotella at 2B with Escobar playing full time. One thing that has changed is that Halos have Simmons at SS who has good range and can sort of cover some of Freese's limitations on defense......Escobar would probably be a better DP partner than Giavotalla for Simmons. You'd still PR Givoatella for Freese late in the game and move Escobar to 3B. Not a good plan, not a bad plan, but a plan -- I don't see the Halos doing this. But it's possible, I guess. Worth a minor league contract invite for ST at this point ? Maybe.

I am not that surprised about Freese being unable to find a spot -- He was a spotty hitter who hit in streaks and did have his share of clutch hits over the season and over the years. But Freese is a real defensive liability at third. As a seasoned MLB vet he has certain salary expectations and, quite frankly, for what he brings to a team (and, at this point, I would think a guy with Freese's level of skill set where it is today, is pretty much limited to an AL team where he could DH in some sort of platoon role) he's just not worth even the lower range of his current asking price for a one year deal........so he sits by the phone -- presumably guys like Freese have a work out regimen, perhaps even with a local area college team or something, to stay in shape during March while everyone else is at ST camp. The problem facing Freese is that it's sort of tough to make him the 25th guy on your roster given his lack of versatility, speed and defense.......