Fire up the Manager-Go-Round!
The Manager-Go-Round is in full swing. I know that is a mixed metaphor. The Angels, for example, have granted official permission for the White Sox to interview Tony La Russa. The White Sox want to do so. The way things are going, Mike Scioscia might even get a job. The Tigers interviewed Marcus Thames for their open managerial position. Ha ha ha ha! Here is a managerial candidate that could launch the White Sox straight up to top of the hatred charts.
Angels Related Links
Mike Trout is once again nominated for the Hank Aaron Award. Fan voting is open until Sunday. Meanwhile, Max Stassi underwent hip surgery yet again. Once again he might not be available at the start of next season. It’s déjà vu all over again. The probability of having to hire another catcher on top of shoring up the pitching situation makes it unlikely the Angels extend a qualifying offer to Andrelton Simmons. We already guessed that. Finally, here is an article entitled Dynasty Dynamics 2020: Los Angeles Angels. (A Baseball Prospectus subscription is required.)
Links From Around Baseball
Egad! The Dodgers set a record by scoring 11 runs in the first inning yesterday. The final score was Dodgers 15, Braves 3. The Astros won to force a game 5. Hyeon-Jong Yang, a left handed veteran pitcher from the KBO’s Kia Tigers will test the MLB market this off season. Beyond the Box Score finds it controversial that MLB should allow people to watch baseball in person. Meanwhile, apparently people behaved themselves at that drive-in viewing of the Dodgers game. Presumably no one drove in there sporting an Atlanta Braves banner. Jose Altuve committed his third throwing error in two games on Tuesday. Yip yip hooray! Do you remember that lawsuit about MLB selling tickets to games that became cancelled and not refunding the fans? A Los Angeles judge ruled that she sees no evidence of illegal behavior, effectively killing that lawsuit. Finally, This kid is crazy. I’d have probably broken my wrists.
One of these two or bust! 💪 👍 👈
Arte would not hire someone who wants all the control, he is not that smart as he believes his ways work.
Billy Beane leaving the A’s…for the Sux?
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/if-billy-beane-is-done-with-baseball-hes-left-an-indelible-mark/
He has been losing interest for a few years now, so new horizons are in order. Good luck and good riddance (lol) to him. He will go to the HOF.
Hope the White Sox take La Russa and the Angels hire an analytically inclined GM (and the key part, let him and his staff do their jobs).
Arte: That’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works.
I unfriend you!
I’d like to unfriend Arte, tbh.
If we’re going to go after a KBO pitcher anytime soon, I’d hold out for Chang-mo Koo of the NC Dinos. He’s only 23 but is already in his fifth season and was crushing the league before he got hurt this summer (broken forearm, expected back soon). There’s a little bit more on him and some other KBO prospects here. A few months ago when KBO was the only baseball on American TV I saw him pitch a few times and remember the ESPN crew interviewing him once via translator. He seemed like a sharp player and it sounded like there was an outside chance he could be available this year or next. The injury might change that but you never know.
There’s some great video of one of his starts in May here with analysis from a kid who needs to be in a press box someday.
Kinda liked the pitch framing of that catcher as well, question would be can he hit
The answer is absolutely yes, but the drawback is he’s 33. Still, defense usually translates well and if he even puts up 50% of the numbers he has the past few years he’d be a great starting catcher for a couple years. The Dinos were a fun team to watch when insomnia and stress had me up early enough to do so.
In Altuve’s defense, Correa did kind of “Ole” that throw. I think that was a double play ball rather than a tag play so I am not sure why he was on his knee.
I think Realmuto is going to be too pricey in view of our need to spend on pitching. I am not sure I am ready to roll with Bemboom and Briceno, though. Where do we start on catching, free agency or trade?
Stassi will probably be back in time for Opening Day but it could be nice to have a low-cost veteran grit catcher. For the Angels, it’s hard to avoid their “type”.
Didn’t Stassi have hip surgery last off-season?
Yes. I had to double check the date on the linked article because I thought MLBTR had accidentally posted something from their archives.
Edit: The Angels official site confirmed that this surgery is recent (and his second hip surgery). https://www.mlb.com/angels/news/max-stassi-undergoes-left-hip-surgery
Other hip
He only has two hips, so maybe this is the last one for a while.
Oldtimers will get this reference
hey wait! what about them? 😍
Sooooo ….. hip, hip, hooray?
There are plenty of guys who we could get to be a part time catcher. Some guy named Jason Castro or guys like Kurt Suzuki, Matt Weiters, Welington Castillo, Tyler Flowers or maybe the Reds may also be willing to trade us Tucker Barnhart to avoid paying him so much.
Or we will be stupid and pay a truck load for Yadi Molina cause MOLINA plus PUJOLS! Can’t wait to watch and listen to Yadi service Albert day after day after day. Get pumped! Big SPLASH!
I suspected there’ll be plenty of viable Cs available after the non tender deadline (Dec 2 I think). We shouldn’t be shopping for top shelf talent when we need a viable back-up. The position is too volatile to spend $$ on.
Tonight Dodgers / Braves game will probably end up 2-1 after last night barrage, funny stuff..
Scroll down from that catcher kid making a great play and watch the football player score the TD, Geesh what an effort.
As I have conveyed prior I am going to miss Simba a lot. His smile, his grin, his enthusiasm and seemingly effortless plays along with his bat were always something I marveled at watching and frankly never got tired of. Good luck Simba were ever you land.
Maybe his market will be crap. If it is, maybe we can get him for a favorable sum of money. That’d make me happy, I like him a lot.