Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Angels News
Anthony Rendon has an interesting take on fan noise in empty stadiums. At least he apparently hasn’t lost his sense of smell yet. He also cracked a joke about his World Series ring. He is ready to get the season started. Meanwhile, Matt Chapman says something even more interesting about fans…
David Fletcher displays some power. So does Jo Adell. Julio Teheran and his family are experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and he self-reported. He is still awaiting his test results, but he says he is not feeling well. Get well soon, Julio.
General Baseball News
There is talk of showing baseball on a big screen out in the parking lot like a drive in movie. I wonder how they will keep people from social distancing failure while they have tailgate parties going on. Sheryl Ring makes the case that Rob Manfred is a diabolical egomaniac who is bent on taking total control of the game of baseball away from the owners and giving it to himself. The MLB Umpires Association issued a statement emphasizing the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. They didn’t mention anybody by name, but we all know why they saw fit to make such a statement at this time. MLB has announced the 2021 schedule early this year. MLB Trade Rumors is maintaining a list of the players who have opted out of the 2020 season.
Weird News
Mike Fiers’ teammates are wearing Mike Fiers masks. Are they mocking Mike Fiers or supporting him? I wonder. Andrew McCutchen is having fun with the empty stadium.
looks like we’ll end up with zero UFDAs.
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-undrafted-free-agent-signing-tracker
28 teams have signed at least 1. So it’s us and Tampa.
I thought we got one, but I might be wrong.
We did, Elijah Greene from Cal Poly. (His page on Cal Poly’s website seems to be removed.)
No real stats at MLB though.
CBS Sports has the key storyline for each team and, I believe, they have ours wrong. They say it’s the return of Ohtani-san as a two way player. That’s big, for sure, but, as we’re all saying here, the biggest story is whether or not Mikey will play and, if he does, for how long.
If Jessica is due towards the end of August he may play a couple of weeks, but I won’t be surprised if we get less.
CBS thought process was likely “They need pitching, Ohtani can pitch again!”. Bundy, Fletcher and Adell are gonna be our wild cards, I think. If those 3 perform well, we have a chance. Rendon will at least make up for Mike’s offense, and Adell could explode.
Next year, if they play a full season, is gonna be fun.
Time to call it a day Mike. No time to take any chances bruh.
http://home.lww.com/news.entry.html/2020/07/10/covid-19_can_be_tran-7V88.html
Yikes. My daughter was a micropremie born almost 3 months early at 2 lb 3 oz. She lived in the NICU for her first 9 weeks of life with respiratory complications and other issues. I wouldn’t wish that kind of stress on my worst enemy, let alone my favorite baseball player. The helplessness you feel as a father, not able to do anything beyond being there and praying…it tears you up. Stay safe, Trout.
I sympathize, RM. Miss UCSB was 7 weeks preemie. Fortunately, outside of needing the bili-lights, she was healthy. But those three weeks in NICU were among the longest of my life.
If you haven’t gone through it, you have no idea how horrible it is to come home from the hospital without your baby.
Extremely complimentary article by Fabian Ardaya on The Athletic about Fletcher. Damm, I like watching him play. Does things right. He’s just… competent at so many facets of the game.
I’m really starting to like Anthony Rendon. I like his attitude. I’m looking forward to seeing him play.
Regarding what to put in the stands, if I had my druthers I’d like to see all the audio-animatronic Presidents from Great Moments with Mister Lincoln behind home plate. Maybe they could have Lincoln himself throwing out the first ball.
When I learned more about Rendon last year, I liked what I saw. Laid-back dude, makes a ton of contact, hits the ball hard, and plays a mean third base. I think he’ll fit in really well.
Really, Upton is the only decent starter who goes against the “make contact” mantra that the Angels seem to have.
We’ve been watching miscellaneous games from mostly the 2006-2011 seasons the past few days, games we recorded on DVD to watch later, and seeing guys like Hillenbrand and Collapso over at third really makes me look forward to seeing Rendon there.
Or all the leftover electric bears from Country Bear Jamboree!
Rosenthal questioning Billy’s job in his piece today. I think Arte shoulders a ton of blame lately, but 4 losing seasons is 4 losing seasons…
Farm has improved, though.
Dombrowski would be a good candidate for a soon to come opening, although it is tough not doing much or having a chance in your last year. But our pitching staff is not much better, if at all, so there is that. l think a change is needed, but l’m not sure that Tony L. is the one to point the way. l do hate to see Simba become a F.A. as he has not signed yet yet unless it happened while l was gone for awhile. Dombrowski has won while 3 different teams and as Darth Vader said to Luke Skywalker “Impressive, very impressive”.
Can I be a advisor…..PLZ PLZ PLZ!!!
and I also want M&M’s and bunch of Mr Goodbars. Advisors are cheaper and more expendable than a fulltime executive.
Oh, when they learn how stalwart a defender of Arte and Eppler you’ve been, I’m sure they’ll welcome you with open arms.
Werner Blakely to SS Werner Blakely to SS Werner Blakely to SS!!
SS the most crucial fulltime position in the game.
Posey opting out due to adopting a pair of twins might be a preview of what is to come once Baby Trout comes into the world. Hard for me to imagine Trout returning once that happens during the season, especially with an isolation window once he does come back, it could end up being like 25% of the season at minimum.
And, to be clear, I feel like that is what he should do as a parent and husband. But, could have an adverse impact on the Angels chances in this short, strange season.
They will sub in Adell to cover for Trout and have him either play center or right field. I would expect Trout to miss all of August through September at least.
Nah. Subbed with the GOATlette, Lil’Davie Fletcher
All I’ve heard is that the baby is due “in August” and now that we’re approaching the start of this season “August” is not specific enough. August 3rd? August 30th?
I understand they don’t know the exact date but what I’m saying is if it’s early in August I think Trout will be done at that point and we might only get a week or two with him in the lineup. If we’re lucky we might get a month.
Honestly he shouldn’t even be trying. Babies come weeks early all the time. Even if the due date is Aug. 31, there is a chance his wife could go into labor on opening day.
And if he waits for his wife to go into labor before dropping out, he risks getting exposed and missing out on the first 2+ weeks of his first child’s life.
Good point, both my youngest were early, it could happen and with the best of intentions miss out.
And huge respect to Posey. He’s changed those babies lives immensely. Always liked him and he’s gained an ton of respect from me.
Another class guy I’ve always liked is McCutchen. Glad to see him back having fun. He’s changed a lot of lives through his charity work.
l am truly concerned with anyone who has this Covid 19 virus and wish Teheran and his all the best and for them to get well soon………..Manfred is very dangerous to the professional game of Baseball. l have no confidence in him and his motives. l have believed and written about this since he became Commissioner. He does have only his own agenda to carry out and the newer owners only care about money so if he makes them money they have no issues with completely changing a game that is steeped in history, Professional Baseball History. Manfred has no real roots to the game and is moving towards change rather than honoring traditions.
Can’t wait to get to know Rendon, he’s gonna fit right in. Loved what I saw of him in October.
Thoughts are with Teheran and his family. Hope he takes all the time he needs.