The holidays are over, the calendar has turned, but baseball is still quite a ways away and the Angels have done little to improve the team for weeks. The waiting is the hardest part.
Tomouki Sugamo is no longer waiting around. He didn’t get an MLB offer to his liking and is headed back to Japan.
Not waiting around are the NY Mets, who acquired Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco from Cleveland in what can only be considered a salary dump. Cleveland fans see yet another franchise icon move on to greener pastures, reinforcing the fact MLB is a two tiered system.
While the Mets make a big splash for contention and hope to keep Lindor long term, the Cleveland payroll for 2021 is not down to about $40 million. Or Albert Pujols and a decent reliever.
Our own Jessica DeLine laid out a plan to acquire Carrasco in her off season piece. That package looks steep compared to what Cleveland took.
Perhaps the Angels are counting on internal improvements to contend again. There’s a laundry list of guys who could conceivably take a step or two forward this year. Brent was way ahead of them on Barria, and how is Suarez still only 23?
Can Dylan Bundy continue to be a stud? SI seems to think so. And once again, Brent was way ahead of them.
Really, why would you folks go anywhere else? And how can we get Brent out of the meddlesome full time career thing so he can just write great stuff for us?
While we’re waiting around, check out HBO’s new documentary on C.C. Sabathia. He bares his soul and his family discusses his battle with alcoholism.
I’ve long been a fan of CC’s because of his extensive charity work. From buying uniforms for entire Little Leagues to handing out king sized candy bars on Halloween, CC has always given back to the kids. Check out his foundation.
Can’t think of pitching and substance abuse without thinking about Dock Ellis. His first hand rendition of his no hitter on acid is classic. His name will always be synonymous with that day. But the second half of his life, in which he was an activist and advocate for sobriety and helped many others escape that nightmare is overlooked. There’s your longform read for this week.
Taking advantage of the winter lull is Taylor Cole. You might remember our interview last month where he said he was launching an online baseball academy. Strut Academy is up and running and well worth a follow on IG.
Wow. When you “Nickify” a broadcast it makes you almost skip watching an NFL playoff game.
It’s like when you have to give Barf from You Can’t Do That on Television oral pleasures. It’s awful, annoying and feels like it takes a lifetime. At first you’re scared and disgusted, you can’t quite accept this is happening, like when you have to talk in front of the whole class, but eventually you realize you have no choice, so you do your best to just toon it out and hope there’s no overtime.
Oral pleasure is when…..
God we need some transaction action.
Is that anything like a conjunction junction?
What good sir, is your function?
I think It’s both that mixed with an Action Jackson….
Release the tiger.
I feel like this organization is dangerously close to being an embaressing one, on the lines of the Bucs, Reds, Mets (pre-this off-season), and others… just needs an absolute new identity front to back.
Well, good news, you’re totally wrong. This org’s nowhere close to as depressing as the Reds/Bucs, take it from a guy who follows them. Or the Indians…. or the Rockies…. the Orioles…. the Phillies….. the Rangers… the Tigers… the current Cubs and Red Sox…. the Twins after they sell off all their players…. the D’Bags…. the Brewers are on their way to a decade of sadness….
Things could be so much worse. On the other hand, you could hop a hot new bandwagon like the White Sox. I like them and their future. Or the Padres, they had so few fans no one would know you’re brand new. I like those guys. The Braves? Their hats have an A too and I like a lot of their guys. No one goes to their games, they’d love to have you. The Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox nations are just a quick trip to the Lids website away. Their fans are fuming every three weeks if their FO doesn’t make a seemingly serious move toward being champish. You have options, you never need to feel embarrassed. But I doubt the Angels are just going to magically change everything just to save our self esteem, we’re probably at least two years away from getting to be loud mouthed dicks who think our team’s success reflects on us personally again. I miss being able to crap all over the A’ss fans I went to school with.
But hey, there’s always the Lakers…. the Yankees of Basketball.
Yeah. But….if the team didn’t have Trout it would be different I think. There is a window that is closing.
Agree, we are much better off. It’s going to take a lot more than an unscrupulous employee shoveling goo out of clubhouse in nap sacks. I cannot imagine being a Reds fan, not seeing the team have more than 1-year to figure it out after making key additions to make a run at the division. They had a pretty damn good squad on paper. They could even compete this year if they hang onto their remaining pitchers.
Yeah. I think FINALLY being good after investing a ton of money (by their standards) only to have the Covid Season killed the Reds more than the Rays. If they trade Gray or Castillo that pretty much means it’s reset time all over again. At least they have a nice pile of arms in their top 30 so the rebuild may happen faster.
Despite the rhetoric at the time of the hire about the 2021 season, my sense is Perry is preparing towards 2022 and 2023 as the years the team is competitive for a Championship.
Mos def. I don’t think Perry has said anything close to “We will compete this year for a title”. Not even close. I mean hell, even the Pirates SAY something like “we plan to be competitive”. If I Pirates fan takes that to mean Nutting better sign Bauer and Springer and then trade for a second coming of Cole that’s his own idiot brain’s fault.
It’s pretty easy to look at what your team has, what the system has, what it’s payroll usually is and who is available and measure the big picture both on the negative and positive end. The Angels sit a little toward the positive end. They won’t need a ton of luck to go .500. With a bunch of good performance they could be a wild card. With bad luck we get last year again. Demanding much more than that this year is what morons and children do, “JUST MAKE TEAM GOOD I SAD!”
Perry will need to build a couple more layers of good, both in the system and on the roster, before we can feel like real competitors in January. Even then we will need luck, some actual performance from players. For all the credit people give a team like the Padres, they had a stacked system for a LONG time that went nowhere. They were stacked back when Hunter Renfroe came up. Additionally, what actually carried the team? A pitching prospect that most people around here would have soured on in 2017-19 (Lamet), Jake Cronenworth (not a top prospect), Wil Myers (the Pads Justin Upton), and Eric Hosmer (also Justin Upton). Without guys like that Tatis/Machado are in the same spot as Trout/Rendon.
So yeah, we will probably look like a safer bet in 2022…. but even when we look like a good bet you need a lot of things to break right or you become the 2020 Cardinals.
So many words, for when you just could have just given a green thumbs up 😀
Very bored at work
RIP
Love those uni’s. Won quite a few bets using that picture. Both for the fact the logo was ours first and so was Lasorda. He’s a Dodger through and through, no doubt, but very few know he was and Angel first.
Apparently he was a Brooklyn Dodger before his stint with the PCL Angels, though. So Dodger first, but LA Angel before LA Dodger.
Thank you for that tidbit.
We don’t wait for self improvement, we wait for the completion to get worse first.
Like hoping Mike Tyson breaks both arms and a leg so you can finally beat him in a fight. Which is what happened in 2020…..A’s were the only team with a winning record in the division and the Astros lost Justin Verlander. Meanwhile Arte spent huge money yet again on another big hitter and five cents on pitching 13 months ago. How bad would we have been without Anthony Rendon!!!
I hate when the completion won’t get worse. So what would you have done in the 2019-20 off season to get us some pitching? Who would you have spent on?
First I heard of it. Which stadium was this photo taken?
Tommy played for Brooklyn in 54 and 55. Played for the Angels in 57. In 57 the Angel’s played at Wrigley Field, L.A.
Don’t know which stadium this was at.
Wrigley Field?
Lived in Placentia however.
Maybe he actually saw that young guy pitch out of Orange who won the 2020 Cy Young Ward.
The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ keeps playing in my head for some reason. Especially the last two lines.
I bought my frig magnet in Shepherd’s Bush right before lockdown.
You remember how our pitching staff just wasn’t quite good enough to get the job done and push the team into the playoffs last year? I have a feeling we are going to see that they still are not quite good enough to push the team into the playoffs. And no, I really don’t see The Angels getting 2 quality pitchers to get them over the hump before the season starts.
Moar pine tar.
He was selling that shit to the opponents. Dick move
We seem to have cornered the “market” on shady dealers.
At least that keeps the playing field even. Refusing to sell it to the other team would be straight up cheating, a much bigger dick move.
Would you like to buy a used trash can?
Bang-Bang
MLB is bracing for a drop in revenue in the new ESPN deal per The Athletic. Looks like about a $150 million per year decrease from one contract to the next. Or about $5 million per team per year for the next 7 years.
ESPN has evolved itself into a tragic comedy of a sports station. They are bleeding revenue due to their “programming” decisions. People want sports, not sports politics.
The MSNBC Sports thing surely plays a part but there’s also sports saturation. And talking head saturation of both the sports and political variety.
Used to be you’d tune into ESPN to watch a game or a fight. Now there are 20 stations showing them all the time.
Yep. Sports is becoming like shows about cooking or guys doing shit in Alaska. There are 100 shows about it, people are also into a wider variety of it, so having one or two “BIG NAMES” that want billions to show it on cable are getting unpopular…. PLUS half the time they are underinformed and over opinionated, both on the sports and the politics they seem to think will entertain us.
It’s ENTERTAINMENT. People find ways to be entertained with minimal pain. Sans government supervision, suppression, etc it won’t shock me if there are all kinds of YouTube channels dedicated to individual teams based in various towns, regions, or even parts of towns (The Venice Beach Hobos) who play some sort of supped up fast and acrobatic version of 5 inning baseball 40 years from now.
I honestly think the days of massive lumbering multibillion dollar baseball leagues with expensive restrictive viewing options are not short, but they are limited. A game will develop where six guys play on a diamond with 40 foot baselines and the outfield fence is a half hoop from 150 ft down the line to 350 ft at center with an infielder getting a running start from 2nd and pitching from a line throwing a dead ball and weird rules about throwing the ball AT runners who can dodge it to log outs and hit’s needing to travel 15 ft out of the box or they are a strike…. you get 5 strikes. Kids will watch the crap out of it on YouTube. Their will be regional leagues, tons of teams, and players will all be minor millionaires and some of the best teams will be from El Paso, Texas and Bend, Oregon etc. It will be played with a huge soft infield matt and short fences that can be rolled out anywhere so games can be played at random locations on varied terrain, even in snow…. The championship is a 32 team tournament played indoors that draws 100,000 fans per game over Christmas Break.
As people find more and more reasons not to pay all that much or work all that hard to watch baseball (or anything else) I just don’t see the ESPN model, or even MLB model, being around in 75 years.
So, Blurnsball
I don’t know what that is…. but yes, you are probably right. Accept they will play it on skates.
Oh, and in extra innings they release a f***ing tiger.
Would not be surprised if in 20 years gaming skill is appreciated societally more than actual sporting ability. Folks will watch imaginary teams play seasons on their phones with professional gamers playing each other.
Wait – did I say phones?! – I meant air screens in their minds.
Way back in the days before China unleashed hell I went to a major boxing match at Staples. I then got the usual slew of emails about future events and saw a video game tournament had sold the joint out for several days but that I could still pay to watch other people play video games via a stream.
I realize gaming is getting big, but what a fitting illustration. In two generations we’ve gone from Ali being the biggest figure in sports to venues packed to watch people play video games.
My son made his first trip away from home by himself to Staples Center to see some video game tournament. Now he travels, to travel, by himself all the time(pre COVID-19). Some good comes out of it.
But people travel, and fill up arenas, all over the world for things that might otherwise seem strange to others. We have been doing this for ages.
Yeah, even by todays standards, the baseball and football I love are odd ball sports to the rest of the world. It’s weird being in other countries where the only baseball news you get is a Yankees score and an update on JRod’s relationship.
You mean sports shockjocks who scream at each other every morning like Shannon Sharpe? I prefer the breaking news insiders ( Adrian Wojnarowsk in basketball, Adam Schefter in the NFL and Jeff Passan in MLB ). A-Rod is the only guy at Faux Sports who’s actually good and not silly.
Tommy Lasorda, who did indeed bleed Dodger Blue, has passed and maybe considered one of if not the best coaches or managers in SoCal’s many greats leading the charges. Rest in peace Tommy as you will be missed.
Fucking Tommy. Give’um shit wherever gates they let you pass through
It’s time for the Kingman tape.
What a great sound bite that was, absolutely one of the funniest ever. Kingman and his HRs.
Kingman #2 clip. Bevaqua #1.
you rang? I’d just listened to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iuZHXAhvkg
Thanks for that!
Tommy Lasorda passed last night of heart failure. He was 93 years old.
Rest well Tommy, baseball will never forget you. “Heroes get remembered but Legends never die”
He used to have a restaurant out here in Lakewood years ago. I’m sure a sad day for Scioscia.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2021-01-07/fired-angels-employee-bubba-harkins-names-players-illegal-product
Harkins claims, he identified Cole, Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber, Joba Chamberlain, Adam Wainwright and Tyler Chatwood among the pitchers who previously asked for his specific blend of pine tar and rosin, which became popular throughout the league after he made it for former closer Troy Percival more than 20 years ago.
Harkins also named several current and former Angels — Percival, Brendan Donnelly, Kevin Jepsen, Cam Bedrosian, Keynan Middleton, Yusmeiro Petit, Luke Bard, Matt Andriese, Dylan Peters, JoseSuarez, Kaleb Cowart and Dylan Bundy — who used the blend.
Great link. Thank you.
That definitely gives me some sympathy for Harkins. It seems he is absolutely right. He was turned into a one-man scapegoat for doing something that was implicitly endorsed by the MLB and appreciated by most players simply to avoid another scandal.
But I don’t think he can win on defamation, because the truth is a defense to defamation and he admits he provided an illegal substance to away-team pitchers. It might not be fair that his reputation was destroyed for doing so, but it isn’t defamation if people judge him unfairly for something he actually did.
I don’t feel any sympathy, he just got ratted out or got clumsy and got nailed. Now he is coughing up names….way to go. Sure, a lot of this has been tolerated for years or a blind eye turned but now, in the era of spin rates, MLB decided to enforce the rules and sent out a report to the Angels they have a “violator.” Bubba is complaining he did it get the memo…lol. Another attempt to drag down the organization.
I find it appalling that he is a dealer for this substance to the opposition. I’m sure Bubba was getting kick-backs. Or, exchange for game worn sports memorabilia. Something.
Just take ownership, go away and write a book.
Pic looks like Canning is wearing a Coonskin Cap.
Davey, Davey Canning! King of the wild frontier!
I’ve seen him throw a few pitches into the wild frontier.
And a few got hit into same.
I miss Eppler. We would have at least some minor league signing or some claims to keep us busy.
Yeah, miss that off-season process of picking up slimy banana peels and soggy chili-dog wrappers off the ground and trying to sell it to us as potpurri.
There is always this guy – he has longevity, and I think a curveball.
I got banned from that sub
That sub will never give you up.
This Arte’s W6G season.
With no guarantee that the season will be no different than last season. He will not waste any of his budget on areas that there is already money allocated within the organization.
We still have players getting paid to play in the Minor Leagues, that will need to earn their keep when they have no place to play this year. Arte will run this organization like a WWII team.
How does a team that’s actually making way more money than the 2000’s since the being awarded the Fox Sports West deal get way worse?
More money and resources should=more success It hasn’t, Gitcho…..please explain!!! I’m stupid.
It’s a complex brew. The key is you have to sign Josh Hamilton and pay Vernon wells. It will also help a lot to pay a quarter billion dollars to a fading all time great from another team who is even more super old than you thought (Pujols). Then swing on over to the other side of the equation and extend your fan base’s sentimental favorite pitcher so he can also fade and fail on you (Weaver). Then pay ace money to a nibbler who strives to pitch like a #3 starter (Wilson) and maybe throw a pile of money at some hardcore relievers that will hardly or maybe even never pitch for you (Burnett/Madson) plus a closer who can’t close (Allen). Finally, add a dash of 20+ million dollar LF who will fail to provide line up protection to Trout by being hurt all the time and sucking when he can play (Upton).
Also buy a stadium, pay Mike Trout a ton of Money, and sign Anthony Rendon. It’s like Brewster’s Millions, you can totally find a way to spend all that cash if you work at it.
If you want to spend to win you gotta either be the Yankees or Dodgers and be able to just stash David Price/Jacoby Ellsbury and spend even more to replace them or you need to spend your big pile of money on players who actually work out. It’s actually a stupid way to work, it’s why the Yankees don’t do it as much anymore. The Braves, Twins, Brewers, A’ss, Cardinals, Royals, Rays, Indians, Reds, Pirates and Blue Jays of recent years have all shown you can win without spending the most championish dollars.
Those are all great ways. Remember Wells was needed because Gary Matthews Jr. didn’t work out and after Weaver and Wilson left we’ve used such luminaries as Matt Harvey on on the hill.
Yeah, but if you are truly committed to spending a ton of television revenue but not winning anything YOU NEED A CHAMPIONSHIP LEVEL MONEY PIT. Harvey just won’t do. You need at least one Pujols and probably a couple other 50M busts at least. GMJ and Harvey were penny ante shit that didn’t show any real commitment from Arte when it comes to burning huge stacks of cash and laughing.
It’s pretty obvious you don’t care about the angels sucking and being expensive the way a real fan like myself does. Be better Jeff.
Harvey was a great name. Batman, hell of a nickname. I bet he doubled Arte’s money. Don’t you remember all the hype? They pushed him as long as he lasted.
He was on of the regular, beginning of the season, “names” that fans will recognize, and have some kind of knowledge of the team.
We are only here for the East Coast teams to have a reason to play in front of their road fans.
If Arte actually won like in the 2000’s, he could charge higher advertising prices, thus more REVENUE!!!! OMG!!! Instead of parking a Lamborghini and Ferrari in a junkyard ( Trout & Rendon ).
So you agree. Good idea.
How much was the team purchased for, and how much is it worth now?
How much does the team make on the TV deal, and for how many seasons?
This is a business, and it is ran to make a profit with the least amount of financial input that will not provide the required return on investment.
The team invests in names that will bring in a high return. The team is built on talent to win, but to just be competitive. Winning costs too much, and does not guarantee a profitable return.
I know, totally. Why own a team and try to win? Arte’s just like Bob Nutting. Just cruising along building equity with a minimal payroll and just enough names to draw the stupid people we look down on. If Arte really cared he’d (???blank???) some pitchers and (??blank??) pitching by (?blank?) and then Lindor the Realmuto. He should also have a policy where if a prospect doesn’t work out well he threatens to kill their family. If he really cared he’d do that. But he doesn’t because winning makes too much money and he only wants a big pile of money, not a huge pile. If I were a true Angels fan I’d just kill myself, or worse, become an MLS fan.
Soccer it is then
Death/Soccer…. one kills the body, the other the soul. Tough choice.
Futbol.
Donald Sterling and Ted Stepien on the baseball diamond.
At what point will Arte sell his first round draft pick for cash like Charlie Finley did with his great Three Peat WS players ( Joe Rudi, Reggie Jackson, and Catfish Hunter ) in the 1970’s? I just wish Arte would buy a bunch of Pep Boys franchisees 😥 😩 👎
If only we could sell first round picks. Then Arte could buy a whole bunch of kettle chips.
We’ll a team in Florida that has MLB’s lowest payroll figured out how to be competitive, including a tough World Series loss vs the Dodgers. BTW this same team was also in the World Series 12yrs ago vs the Phillies. Loyalty matters more than competence. 😣 👎
Jesus I would love to watch some of the people on this site root for the Rays….. always letting players go, never signing anyone you’ve heard of, constant dumpster dives, always two bad decisions away from the cellar….. you’d be able to smell the hair fire through the screen.
I would be good with that. Firstly, I cheer for the team. Players change. You can have a different hero every season, game, inning, to bring up your fandom. Watching your team win is fun. Teams never change, at least not yet, but Arte may be fueling the fire in my soul to just watch baseball for awhile. Getting too old to cheer.
No kidding, folks would be lighting up The owners ass big-time. I could not even imagine being a local Rays ticket holder where you could hear a fart from the second deck. The Halos owned the division in the 2000’s, became stagnant in the 2010-2020 decade. Yes, I am demoralized as everyone else by some bad long-term contacts and inability to crank-out pitching aces from the farm. But we are waaaaay better off not being run by Disney.
“Our Star Wars films and new Star Wars land didn’t make as much money as we thought so we couldn’t extend Trout.” Being part of a corporate “family” would suuuuccck.
Yes the Fans of Tampa/St Pete et al are so loyal they never attend a Rays game except when the Yankees are in town. I doubt the pandemic has really impacted their revenue stream.
THAT is the team that needs to move to Nashville. They deserve a fanbase that isn’t all retired Yankees fans.
Or Montreal?
French Canadians deserve nothing. Just a bag of hot cottage cheese. The Expos were a total failure and I’m not sure why people think a new team in a new building will make those hockey fans love the baseball more long term.
Yep, just buy the cap, and lookup them Hall of Fame rosters the fans never supported until it was too late.
I saw a couple of games at St. Pete. Talked with the fans in the stands about the attendance.
Weekday games are always empty because the majority of the fans live on the Tampa Bay side of the bridges that normally take less than twenty minutes to cross. At the time they would be going to watch a game it can take at least two hours at times.
On weekends, the crowds show up. They have deals on the St Pete side for a park, ride, watch, and stay, at most business style hotels in the area. Shuttle busses take you to the game if you stay at the hotel. Lots of fans will take in a weekend of games this way. Met some fans from as far away as Alabama and Georgia. Lots of D’Ray gear in the stands. The place is run like a Minor League team, but with great players. Too bad they need the dome. Everyone said they built the place on the wrong side of the bridge.
They really do need that stadium in Ybor City. That would be like Petco in the Gaslamp, a really good location. THEN they may make some headway.
I can see this but I also see pursuits of McCann and Contreras.
Too soon.