RIP Phil Niekro, who passed over the weekend at the age of 81. You just don’t see people pitch 24 seasons in the big leagues. What an amazing career!
Angels Related Links
A crowd sourced ranking of television broadcasters ranked Victor and Gubi very well, particularly in the area of coherence. I guess it’s always a good thing to be able to understand what the guys are talking about. Rhett Bollinger explores the history of how the Angels got their name. It’s a nice little recap of the shenanigans at the winter meetings in 1960, just in time for Jim Fregosi Week. Captain Obvious says the biggest holiday wish for the Angels is “Help.” Max Stassi discusses his off season training regimen. (video link) BoyWithApple brought us a FanPost about the American League West all-time home run leaders. Also, he wrote an article about the top ten bench players in Angel history.
Links From Around Baseball
Here are nine budget pitchers to keep an eye on ranked by Joel Reuter on Bleacher Report. Garrett Richards on the list was not surprising, but Trevor Cahill? Matt Shoemaker kind of got an Honorable Mention. Speaking of budget pitchers, Corey Kluber’s showcase is going to be about January 12th or 13th. It looks like the next battleground of rule changes might be aimed at eliminating the shift. Bud Black, though, has an idea that is aimed to be a deterrent to the opener strategy. Kohei Arihara is off the table. He went to the Rangers for $6.2 Million over two years.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
+ GOAT in CF and we couda had one of the greatest outfields EVAH!!!!
But, alas we chose Caleb Cowart in 2010 at #18 ( 5 spots ahead of Yelich )……and we’ll wee neber were good at finding diamonds inda rough, so there it goes……. 😣 😥 😠 👎
If I were Perry the Platypus I’d wish I were the SD GM.
Peller paid a pretty good price to get Snell. Better than average chance Patino and Wilcox will shine. Ray’s might be able to develop Patino much better than the Padres could. Paid a lighter load to get Darvish but had to swallow his contract whole. We knew that was an undesirable factor attached to Yu. Zach Davies had a decent year for the Padres but is a 4th or 5th rotation arm in Chicago. While I feel Preller is a tool and has made many gaffs, he has been aggressive the past few years and positioned the Padres to contend. No, would not want him in Anaheim.
As gitch has pointed out, we don’t have the players that would have been needed for either deal.
These two trades are probably indicative of the price pitchers will cost. Some of our musings had us deal Marsh or Adell but if trading teams want young pitching back we’re sunk. Detmers would be it and since he has no MiLB record it’s less likely he can be dealt as part of a package for a top flight pitcher.
So…free agents, I guess.
I’d just want the farm system he had prior to the trades. I found it interesting that many of the players he traded we international signees. It must be nice to have an effective scouting department that can find talent outside of the draft.
I’m gonna be watching a ton of Padres games this year.
Gonna be so fun to see a challenge to LA.
Well, depending on who the Padres send off in the Darvish trade this probably means guys like Marquez, Castillo, Gray and Musgrove/Brault will have more down to earth asking prices…. I’d take any of them, probably like em as much as Snell/Darvish or more.
Or the asking price for Plan B’s just went up?
Nah. Pretty much just the Padres and maybe the Braves and Dodgers have the prospect depth to throw around like this. Those other two teams lack the desperation/motivation. At least one of those four options will be available for a team like us, but it depends on what a team’s GM thinks of our prospects compared to other teams looking to trade.
Opps…. looks like it’s Zach Davies, shortstops Reginald Preciado and Yeison Santana, and outfielders Owen Caissie and Ismael Mena. So basically a big chunk of the middle 3rd of their top 30 plus a good starter.
So, I guess today means the Padres were the first to get their new stimulus check. Must be nice.
Kinda fun to watch a team that built up a war chest farm system just go hard. I would have liked either Snell or Darvish but I like the Padres and hope these 2 pan out better than Clevinger did.
And next year they’ll have Clevinger back. With Snell/Darvish at the top of the rotation they can be patient with him.
Your point about wanting Snell is a very good one. While most folks here are praising the Padres for their aggressive approach they are missing the fact that by SD getting him it means that WE don’t get him.
If Bauer goes to the Dodgers or Giants then we’ll again be left out in the cold for a stud SP.
Well, as long as the Yankees, Red Sox and Doyers aren’t after him maybe we’ll actually land Bauer and you can be happy until his arm falls off or he stops using sticky goo and then you can be all “stupid Perry” when he turns in a 4.25 ERA.
Do you think he will want to pitch every fourth day after TJS?
Don’t know, but I’ll bet he’ll say he wants to on social media.
I’m on the fence with Bauer. It’s got to be 3-4 years or less with me, no mega deal. Not on this jackass.
I don’t see the problem with the Opener. It does not attack the fabric of the game the way the silly extra inning man on 2b did/does.
Actually, I like the Opener as a selective strategy, and wish the Angels used it more. The main thing is that it acknowledges the importance of getting an early lead,
Stats show that the team to score first wins most of the time (Langely quoted the Angels stat frequently on radio broadcasts).
Of course having reasonable pitching depth is a must to implement it fairly consistently. The Brewers and Rays showed that it can and does work.
I agree. I think both the opener and shifting are natural evolutions of the game. It’s managers and FOs thinking outside the box how to get an edge on their opponents. And it’s up to the opponents to figure out how to adjust to those changes. If they do adjust, then those strategies will stop being used. If they don’t, then it means we have an era of defense-heavy baseball. It isn’t the first time that’s happened. Banning certain strategies just because the casual fan wants dingerz is not setting a good precedent. It’s unnatural. Do that enough and before we know it MLB is just another WWF.
Banning the shift is not about casual fans wanting dingerz. It’s about the problem of three-true-outcome baseball being subjectively boring to many fans, causal or not. I’m not quite ready to ban the shift, because I’d like to see if the younger generations will respond by learning to hit to all fields, but I do have concerns the shift might be a bad evolution.
I also like having openers, as long as it doesn’t become so prevalent that no-hitters go the way of the dodo bird.
The three true outcomes thing is the real problem IMO. Baseball has become stand ball far too often.
Steals, first to third, hitting the cutoff man….motion. These things are lack in the modern game.
Thank you.
there are two solutions. One, the most obvious, I think, would be have hitters figure out how to hit the other way. That’s a Little League skill. Two, stop juicing the baseballs.
Eliminating the shift brings MLB closer to tee ball.
Some smart GM is going to get a bunch of cheap, fleet footed contact hitters and fill out his line up, then move the fences in his park back 10 feet. Take some pitchers who give up 2HR/9 and watch em turn into late 80s Bob Welch. Win a ton with stars who hit 50 doubles and a sub 100M budget. Watch half a dozen other teams try to do the same. Problem solved. Once baseball gets too lopsided in one direction some team like Detroit is going to build a team taking advantage of it.
While we painted a yellow line halfway up the right field wall to induce more home runs from our launching pad pitching staff? . It figures
Angel’s stadium gets renovated soon enough…. or a new one gets built…. why not 340 down the lines and 410 to center with Marsh/Trout/Adell/Adams as OF?
cue evil laugh…..
They’ve already “moved in” the fences by lowering the line in RF.
Otherwise known as the 2007 Angels.
And the 1975 Angels as well
Let’s play a little Pepper, Dr.
I hear you. That’s why guys like David Fletcher are so exciting, cuz he’s the rare type that hits to all fields. But if he can do it, so can others. A team doesnt need a 1-9 able to do it. Just 1 or 2 guys in a lineup like that makes the game interesting enough. It’s like choosing your team in the NES Ice Hockey – one fat, one skinny, and two medium and you’ve got all the diversity you need baby.
You could create an all time great rotation with guys who passed away this year
Don Larsen, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford, Phil Niekro.
one lineup I’ve seen
C Hal Smith
1B Bob Watson
2B Joe Morgan
3B Tony Taylor
SS Tony Fernandez
LF Lou Brock
CF Jimmy Wynn
RF Al Kaline
I guess Dick Allen would be DH
Padres sign Kim. Wow, they are having a solid week to say the least.
I pretty much jumped on that bandwagon last year and I’m staying on it. The Not-Dodgers of SD, fellow stepchildren of the SoCal sports market, are a blast to watch and play in a great stadium.
I’ll cheer them on unless they play my Halos.
And Preller is not done. Word is he’s in serious talks to acquire Yu from the Cubs along with multiple players. Preller is going all in just like in 2015. But this time he’s going for good players in their prime.
And this time he has a much more solid core. Tatis, Machado, pitching prospects near MLB. It is a good time to be a Padres fan.
That’s what I have been telling my friend who’s a Padres fan. In 2015 the Padres had nothing and tried to go for it all with washed up players which a fair share of the consensus thought was dumb. But this time Preller already has a great core that made the playoffs and would have had he done nothing, but is now adding on some serious players that are in their prime. Like you I also jumped on the Padres bandwagon for the same reasons.
I think the key move was bringing back the brown and gold.
Yep. They are my NL rooting interest. The fact that they’re competing with the Doyers in that division is the key.
Same here. Tatis jr and sd will be fun to watch next year. I invested alot into his cards, lol. It’s also funnto watch herbert light it up as a rookie.
RIP Niekro. Can’t imagine we’ll see a star emerge with such little velocity and such an unorthodox delivery in the day and age of velo and spin rate.
Padres snag Snell and look to be in the drivers seat for Kim and Darvish. As constructed they probably win 5 of the divisions in MLB, but can they win the 1 they are in?
As far as Snell, I’m fine on missing out on him. The Angels need innings in bulk and he doesn’t provide that. 5 innings from Snell is great but that means you need 3-4 relievers to hold his lead each night. 7 innings from Gray or Carrasco might not be as dominant as 5 from Snell but then you only need Iglesias and maybe one other guy to hold a lead.
Check Brent Maguire’s trade proposals, #’s 3 and 5. Rays got a (much) better prospect package from SDP; two 1st Rd quality P (Wilcox in 3rd Rd only because of bonus expectation). Snell’s arm will probably fall off, with Pads luck. Preller at least providing content.
Brent pretty much matched the values provided by the simulator. The Rays ended up netting about 10 points higher than Snell’s value in the simulator.
That was a fun article; and interesting that two of the target P listed (at the least) will likely change teams. For me, a reminder that if a potential trade partner wants farm P in return, better to be the Padres.
I have a lot of childhood memories watching Niekro pitch with the Braves ain’t the WTBS Superstation. Just his name is synonymous with the knuckleball. He made that pitch so famous and had great fortune to pitch beyond 40-years old. How cool is that. I was a fan and he had such class.
Patio and Wilcox were nice arms to take a flyer on. Rays did well. Don’t think the Halo’s we’re ready to send Detmers and Rodriguez as that might have been an equivalent request.
Knuckleball! is very good documentary that’s about, obviously, knuckleball pitchers and how MLB clubs view them. It’s probably available on one of the many streaming services.
It’s on AMazon Prime
Bud Black’s idea is too harsh on teams that have to pull your starter early. Not only are you losing because your starter did bad, but you now have less of a chance to come back because your bullpen has to hit.
Here’s an out-of-the box idea for a DH compromise. The first person to PH for a pitcher is given the role of DH. The DH position lasts for 4 consecutive innings. If you have a 2-way starter or the starter comes up with 2 outs and nobody on, you let the starter take the first AB and bring your DH in for the second AB and most of the rest of the game.
If there are baserunners when your starter comes up to the plate, or your starter is leading off, you bring in the DH right away (2nd or 3rd inning) and will need to pinch hit a couple of times at the end of the game (unless you have a 2-way closer).
Or I suppose you could just add the corollary to Bud Black’s proposal that the DH can stay through the first 5 innings. That encourages using a starter that can go 6+ innings but isn’t quite as punishing if the starter has a bad day and gets pulled early.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/padres-trade-rumors-yu-darvish-cubs.html
Holy crap, now The Padres are trying to trade for Darvish. damn, putting The Dodgers on notice that they won’t have a cakewalk to the playoffs this year.
Phil Niekro really hurt the Angels in 1985 when he was pitching for the Yanks. The Angels finished the year in second place just one game behind the KCR. The Angels had a fantastic record at 90-72, and one more win would have forced a play-in game with George Brett’s Royals.
Niekro finished the 1985 season with a mediocre 4.09 ERA, so you would think the Angels could have beaten him at least once in the three times they played against him, but he beat the Angels 6-0 on May 17th, 7-2 on May 29th, and 4-0 on August 29th. He went at least seven innings in all three of those starts. His ERA against the Angels that year was a perfect 0.00, which meant that against the rest of the league, he had a 4.56 ERA.
The Angels hit a horrible .108 against Niekro in those three games. Among the 15 Angels who went to bat against him, eleven of them were unable to get a hit off of him.
There were only three Angels who did well against Niekro in those three games. One was Brian Downing who went 0-for-6, but he did work four walks, so a .400 OBP is nice. Another Angel who did well against Niekro was the lead-off hitter for all three games, Gary Pettis, who went 3-for-9 with one walk.
The Angel who handled Niekro’s knuckleballs the best, though, was catcher Bob Boone. He went 3-for-6 with a walk as well. And one of Boonie’s hits was a double, which turned out to be the only extra base hit the Angels would get off of Niekro in 1985.
I was barely alive then, but just judging by the stats the Royals would have just thrown Saberhagen and Quisenbury at us and that would have been it for that 1 game play off. Those two were nails that year.
Or of course, Gubicza. We would have never heard the end of that.
And The Padres swing a trade for Blake Snell.
Bad break with Clevinger, but overall it’s easy to like what the Padres have done with their roster.
Snell was the one I was really kind of hoping for. Oh well.
The “prize” in the deal for the Rays was a pitcher – Luis Patino. If the Rays wanted a front-line pitching prospect in return, Beyond Detmers – we just don’t have the prospects to make it happen.
And the Rays down the road will proved to have picked the Padres pockets,lots of laughs. Padres are going to chase the Dodgers in ‘ 21 and stay on their heals all season no matter what kind of season that we are given. But yup it would have been nice to………..
That is less than I thought Arihara would go for. Texas got a good deal there, imo.
If Richards or Walker could be our second SP pickup (at a reasonable cost), I would be pretty happy. Ideally with a top of the line pitcher like Bauer. Without trading, we could perhaps swing Tanaka and one of them (and keep our farm (or what there is of it) for other pieces?).