As you know by now the Dodgers won game six of the World Series to take home the piece of metal. Blake Snell, of course, did not want to be pulled from the game but it happened anyway and the Rays lost. With the Dodgers victory in the World Series the off season begins. Here is a video of Dodgers fans burning things because of the World Series victory.
Re Justin Turner
Justin Turner is under MLB investigation for breaching COVID-19 protocols. He is probably going to get punished for celebrating with the team when he knew he had tested positive. Look at him sitting there sans mask right next to Dave Roberts, who is at very high risk as a cancer survivor. It took Trevor Bauer at least five tweets to say everything he had to say about the Justin Turner investigation. The TLDR version is that MLB is just going through a form of public theater by blaming a player for a larger systemic problem.
The Dodgers, other than Justin Turner and his wife tested negative and were allowed to fly home. The entire Rays team also tested negative and were allowed to fly home.
Other Baseball News
Rob Manfred was apparently legitimately shocked to find out people dislike him so much that they would boo him. Trevor Bauer will consider offers from any MLB or NPB team. He says the only accurate word can be had by following his agent. Everything else is just speculation. Kolten Wong is now part of the class of free agent middle infielders, and so is Howie Kendrick. The Diamondbacks have declined to exercise the options on several pitchers, including Mike Leake. Leake had opted out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19. The Rangers, for their part, plan to decline Corey Kluber’s option for 2021. The Mets declined to pick up the option on Todd Frazier, Wilson Ramos, and Robinson Chirinos. Cheap catchers are available.
Myriad guys are being outrighted right now and a number of them have elected free agency. The dumpster is chock full of “talent.” I checked, and so far the Angels have not dumped anybody this month. The off season begins with a whimper.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Command and control supersedes spin rate….. 😎  💪  👈 
ain’t no sabermetrics for that!!!
Roger Goodell got booed too. 😎 
Re: Bauer/Turner/MLB
Alot of what Trevor is saying is valid as far as a critique of MLB. HOWEVER, he also appears to have an agenda. My guess is that he’d like to join the Dodgers already loaded pitching staff and pretty much assure their return to the Series next season.
By jumping to Turner’s defense he’s showing that he would be a “good” teammate and a good soldier. This is more than a little transparent Trevor.
I’m hoping Owens or White, mainly Owens being from a now better A’s team, if they sneak in a Dodgers guy that’d be great too.
I’m sure it’ll be in the morning links… Owens, White amongst the early interviewees. Hire one of them and get on with it.
Maddy referral for sure.
I take that back, never worked with him… A’s background.
I keep seeing guys with scouting backgrounds mentioned. Really hope Arte sees the direction to true contention is scouting and development.
It’s why I wouldn’t mind Logan White. I kind of got the feeling Eppler’s approach to the minor leagues went a little overboard on spin rate and changing swings and all that. I think that makes sense to refine a big leaguer but I’m assuming it has a huge bust rate on 18 year olds.
Suarez comes to mind as a young arm that just seemed broken by whatever they tried to turn him into.
Spin rate I totally get. Most of the teams we wish we were like push a lot of spin rate. It’s really just physics, most pitches are more effective with a good spin rate. But the tinkering, especially with swings… that was a little suspect. Sure, that happens sometimes, but we seemed to do it A LOT without much to show for it.
The Angels changed Jam Jones swing 4 times in one year. 4. He takes a couple of weeks off, goes to the AFL and rakes. Next thing they do is change his swing again.
WTH?
He declined
Oops.
It would be a little weird to take a job with the Cubs and then leave the next season.
Thank you, my feed is a little slow.
Yep. As I suggested earlier Maddons’s voice would be heard and considered.
We’ll see if it goes anywhere.
Good GM & scouts who can scout and evaluate young talent, supersedes everything else.
A WS championship team takes 5 yrs to develop while a false team ( 2014 ALW Champions team can be done in 8 months with some good luck thrown in ). Griffin Canning could very well be Eppler’s only decent player that he drafted, The Dodgers core group of players were scouted and drafted between 2013-2017, plus their young Latin pitching also ( Graterol, Urias, Baez, Gonzalez )……meanwhile we were dumpster diving for other team’s refuse for a 28 yr old who we hoped would be a lighting in a bottle event for us. 😫 
See, when the owner gets involved, we can benefit. Thanks Jerry Reinsdorf.
This could be a really slow off season. Owners are coming off a year of losses and have no idea how next season will play out. Seeing if Hand is claimed will be a signal to me whether owners across the board are truly gun shy.
Osuna is on waivers. Only an absolute scumbag would claim him.
Brad Hand on waivers, do we try it?
Also, in other news, La Russa in as CWS manager
And people are PISSED.
Yeah for sure, bringing up things I never knew (I officially became a baseball fan in 2014, but I liked the angels since I was a kid around the 2002-2006 era) so I don’t know too much about La Russa.
He’s a 76 year old dude who hasn’t managed in 9 years. When he last managed, Mike Trout was a second half call up hitting .200, Albert Pujols was still a feared Cardinal. Time’s change, can he relate the this new generation of players, or adapt to a game that has changed?
I just don’t see how a young team like that would benefit from this. Maybe everyone is wrong, who knows.
It is intriguing, but how much would he cost? Is he 10M a year? Less on a multiple year deal (do we want a multi year deal for a 30+ reliever?) Do we have that much to put into relief pitching?
All good points, I’m just thinking maybe we do use the $10 mill option if he falls to us, I saw people mentioning claim and flip at deadline but there’s always a chance he’s too good or too bad to flip. So I suppose we could pass but it’s a reliever we could definitely use right now.
He is good, and in the before times we should jump at such a chance. I just don’t know what the budget looks like at this point (does anyone?), and if we need cash for a #1 SP, that is the priority. RP can wait (in theory).
I think whatever that happens is an early indicator of whether Arte really “wants to win” or just pretend for sake of marketting (as I’d been accusing him of late).
Money-wise, I don’t doubt most of MLB will be losing money for near future, esp b/c of lower than “normal” revenue from fans in attendance, but my understanding is that Angels have relatively larger share of revenue from sources other than fans-in-attendance so we should be able to fare through this better, but the furlough of scouts and total failure to sign undrafted FA’s after the draft made me wonder if Arte really is willing to stomach more short term losses for better chance in the long run…
I have read the California teams are tensing up to be THE LAST teams allowed to actually have any real attendance. I am hoping that, while this may be the case, Arte sees an opportunity in this famine.
I don’t think big time FAs like Bauer will really come any cheaper, but just today the off chance opened up for a team to pick up Kolton Wong, Pat Venditte, Brad Hand (for 10M, cheap for a real closer) and Darren O’Day. I don’t know if these exact guys will be a good fit for us but there will be more opportunities like this. It’s like the stock market this week. I am poor, but this was also a great week to get a 15% discount on some good stocks, so I spent.
I hope Arte decides to “eat tuna for lunch” for a period of time and signs both an “ace” if such a pitcher wants to come here, but also spend on a big quality upgrade in our depth. For example, sign a combo of Kiki Hernadez, Jurickson Profar, Freddy Galvis (or another SS) and Kurt Suzuki plus a couple pen arms.
I don’t know how cash poor the Angels are now. We paid Trout and bought a stadium, so we may not have the resources to do this, but it would be cool if we did.
In a normal year, yes. Coming off of losses and likely being the last ones to allow fans into ballparks next year, maybe not.
Is he worth $10 million?
I think the Angels should claim him. I’m generally opposed to big spending on relievers, but in this case, we have a guy who has been a good to excellent reliever for five straight years who would get a 1 year- $10 million commitment. The only thing that gives me pause is that it’s a little weird to see him placed on waivers because that indicates that Cleveland doesn’t think he has much surplus value (otherwise they would exercise his option and trade him).
and… Cleveland has a good track record with evaluating and developing pitchers, beware.
Hand is not a guy who throws hard. And that gives me pause. Usually those guys you line up for the 8th and 9th innings (or perhaps higher leverage spots in 7th) can bring the heat upwards of 98mph.
There are exceptions of course, notably Trevor Hoffman, but he had one of the greatest change-ups EVER.
I say hard pass.
Makes sense to me but I’d be surprised to see Arte commit $10M to a reliever before he even has a GM. What a bad signal that would send in interviews “hey not much budget this offseason and I just committed a huge portion of it to a reliever myself…anyway yeah you can totally trust that I’ll leave you alone”
Yeah. We may hate it, but till we have a GM I think all that can happen is (hopefully a good) “Arte signing”. Best case Arte and Friends romance a guy like Bauer or Stroman, or a SS Maddon has already declared he really wants, and they just give him a pile of cash and sign him.
Thank the FSM everyone else tested negative, and hopefully continues to.
Manfred: Please clap.
Another couple of days and they can rest easy.
Imagine being in a bubble for a month, ready to come home to finally be around your family, especially a high risk member or two, then having a caveman looking dude who knows he’s positive running around with no mask.
5-7 days and they can probably rest easy. Just to be sure.
I think I might end up on TMZ if I was in that situation.
Manfred has the clap?
https://youtu.be/OUXvrWeQU0g?t=20
Should’ve listened to Jimmy Dugan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U8pNjwn7jU
The unrelenting booing for Manfred, I think, has to do with his handling of the Trashtros and lack of punishment of those players. To me it’s an unforgivable decision that shakes the foundation of the game.
That, and his incessant need to make the game worse.
I think both of your opinions are right on. For me he is a menace to the game that he only thinks he knows, kinda lie Arte and collecting Baseball Cards, neither know or are aware or even care that they are messing things up bad.
Really. I mean, if ManBearFred is so fracking concerned with game length, then put a frickin’ clock on the game and be done with it. Just don’t call the resulting monstrosity “Baseball”.
Let him go start a new league that can fit in TikTok videos, no one truly cares about an extra 20 minutes of game time. I’ll gladly sit through 20 innings if it’s a compelling game.
By trying to appeal to fans who would never watch the sport anyway, he’s gonna lose the ones who watch every game if this keeps up.
Considering the stadium was 99% full of Dodgers fans I think you are absolutely correct. If there’s one fan base who truly hates him, it is them.
I’m all in on Wong, Bauer, and Stroman as our top three FA priorities. Assuming we get at least one of those two pitchers, maybe take a flyer on Kluber and Richards for back end/long relief depth.
Then we can move Fletcher primarily to short, and give Jones, Rengifo, Barreto, etc more time to earn a spot or develop trade value.
Sounds good to me. I just saw the item about Wong and figured I’d better get on CtPG.
I know we lack depth, but I’m ready to move on from rengifo.
Ah I see I’m not the only one! No hate on the guy but he’s not ready yet
Wong is nice but there are a ton of middle infielders who would likely help us, so I’m not sold on spending big there.
Hernandez, Profar, Simba, Schoop, Wong, I’d take any of them.
I think signing a SS and keeping Fletch at 2B (with Rengifo/Barretto/Jones in reserve) is the smarter move. Fletch can back up both Rendon or SS (Simba at 3/30, please), but I don’t see anyone else on the roster that can really do that if Fletch is our starting SS (makes it harder all round – better extra SS possibilities, imo). Ward can spell at 2B, but not SS or 3B.
Somebody posted Profar as a nice fit for the team. I wouldn’t rule out Kike Hernandez either.
I definitely prefer Fletcher at second and as quality depth around the infield, though. We’re on the same page there.
So, I think I had always bought into the Profar as a bust (so hyped with so little production in Texas). Do we really trust that he figured it out this weird 2020 year in San Diego? That stint in Oakland doesn’t look like it was good, and he doesn’t even come out an average player career-wise (wRC+ of just 90, boosted by this and 2018).
SD paid signed him for 5M, and I think we would be better served paying Simba more. We already have our Profar in Ward, imo, with higher upside, similar positions, and a 10th of the salary.
That was me, and you are right when you say I am right, both OF and 2B are shaky, why not sign a guy who help at both?
Depending on the cost and contract issue, guys like Semien and Gregorius might be in the price range. Our old friend Tommy LaStella might be useful too, but I would prefer a SS to a 2B since I prefer Fletcher at 2B.
The backlash on Turner reappearing on the field to celebrate is massive on the “net”. Even on some sites that deal with politics blasting Trump took a time out and put Turner squarely in their sights as their target. Some pointed out the celebration was to much to resist after 7 years of being in Dodgers Blue, but that was indeed no excuse for being out there as was pointed out here yesterday. Selfish indeed, disrespectful of others, oh yes, and should he have been out there, no, but the Series would have been cancelled if the Rays had won or at least put on hold for two weeks. This will cost him as a free agent I believe. Again MLB and the Dodgers are to receive some of the heat too.
LeMahieu, Tanaka, and Paxton all FA’s all at once. Hmmmm, do we need at 2b and pitching?
I’m kind of holding out hope Tanaka takes a somewhat low deal to end his career on the West Coast.
Would be great, but is he thinking of a career end already? Isn’t he only 32?
I’m thinking a 3 year deal. And also that he’s older than 32 ha ha.
I know right. Apparently he is only 31 (that 7 year deal went fast, was he that young and that hyped from Japan? – color me impressed).
Also, some suggest he might be done with the US, with 25M a year on offer from Rakuten. Who knows?
I am shocked, yes shocked, that Robert Manfred was boo’d so loudly, where was the guy on the audience tape reel who constantly whistled during the World Series games?……OK reality check, the surprise is only Manfred thinking that he was loved by fans for trying his hardest to wreck the game and it’s credibility. Truly the Owners are under the ether to really believe that this is the guy to lead them to new found momies and riches. The true fans of the game do not believe that the game needs to be changed as much as Manfred believes and it showed. IMHO of coarse.