Hey! Remember all the times we said something like “We need a clubhouse leader.” or “Somebody on this team needs to step up and mentor the kids.” Mike Trout is contributing, even while he is injured. Here is the video of the result of Mike Trout’s tutelage.
Mike Trout himself resumed on-field workouts.
The 2022 Angels Spring Training Schedule is here.
Unfortunately, Patrick Sandoval has a lower back stress injury that might even end his season. I guess there’s a lot of that going around. Here is our local coverage of the injury.
Links About Former Angels
Michael Hermosillo hit a two run homer in his first start as a Cub.
Well that didn’t last long. Chris Ellis, selected to the Rays big club just two days earlier, was designated for assignment yesterday.
Andrew Heaney continues his string of *ahem* noteworthy achievements.
Trevor Bauer’s Restraining Order Hearing
Sheryl Ring goes into a great deal of detail about the questions and answers in Trevor Bauer’s restraining order hearing for those of you who are gluttons for punishment. Day one. Day two.
Links From Around Baseball
Major League Baseball proposes a salary minimum of $100 Million per year. In order to make it happen a corresponding lowering of the luxury tax threshold to $180 Million is also being proposed. It looks like Perry Minasian’s job just got a little bit harder.
Jake Arrieta is apparently injured.
Chris Bassitt will undergo surgery to repair facial fractures he sustained when he was hit by a line drive.
Jack Morris was suspended indefinitely for his mock Japanese accent during Tuesday’s Angels-Tigers game.
I guess the honeymoon is over for Steve Cohen.
Here is an article about a bunch of former baseball players who went broke in various ways. Some of it is sad. Some of it is more in the nature of “What was he thinking?”
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
What Stephen A Smith said was far worse, but he has black privilege so he’s off the hook
Black privilege? Is that like reverse racism or something?
Let’s stop this exchange, please.
I know what Halo is trying to say in a very flawed way, but considering the backlash Screaming A faced, it really doesn’t apply here and I’m not going to explain it.
Understood
Amen.
I don’t care about broke dick ex players and there problems. I never was bless with what God gave them and the money they earned and it certainly is not up to me to save them from being less than sharp.
Dykstra is such a criminal as was Denny.
Dykstra is an ongoing train wreck.
And it would seem that he has covered all the major food groups.
https://www.nj.com/news/2018/05/lenny_dykstra_a_history_of_legal_woes.html
I wasn’t aware of Denny’s 3 decades in the clink.
My dad is a huge drag racing fan. I watched Jack Clark’s top fuel dragster for years. He’d drive into the pits in his Ferrari. His race team didn’t have a sponsor, it was just Jack Clark Racing.
My dad said back then (late 80s) that was a great way to go broke. Sure enough, he did.
Zero and I mean ZERO chance the players Union agrees to a salary floor unless the owners agree to an elevated cap (ie luxury tax) above $220 million-plus.
Even then I’m not sure they would agree to a floor because it’s such an obvious ploy by ownership.
I’ve linked an article about team revenue sharing several times. MLB could already do a floor of about $125 million without changing anything.
From BB-Ref: “In Major League Baseball, 48% of local revenues are subject to revenue sharing and are distributed equally among all 30 teams, with each team receiving 3.3% of the total sum generated. As a result, in 2018, each team received $118 million from this pot.”
If you have $118 million from the get go, still get 52% of your local revenue, AND you get an allotment directly from MLB, you can easily afford $125 million.
The problem is owners like Nutting pocket the other owners money and put out crappy teams while crying poor. Then the owners who lose money on revenue sharing get to host crappy teams in half empty stadiums because nobody wants to see them.
I have an entire article about this coming out early off season. Maybe an off day next month.
It’s a 180 scam to take as much as possible in before everyone starts clamoring for COVID discounts.
So I am still totally ignorant here. How does establishing a salary floor act as a “ploy” buy ownership. If the point is to get jagoffs like Nutting to spend the money he’s given on players doesn’t a floor do that?
Changing the salary structure is just stupid. Why? Paying low pay end player’s now is reasonable but raising their pay as they make up a lot more of the percentage of players is giving them a large raise. This is being done trying to avoid Albert/Redon deals. That is a preverbal cutting of your nose to despite your face. Trying to put a cap lower than now hurts the Angels and weakens them, this is a move that the players should put this Manfred bullshit a stop to. Owner’s want to save money? Cut Manfred salary by 30 million a year. Do the math.
I had no idea Steve Howe had died. I remember him being a lights out reliever who got 80 or 90 chances to turn his life/career around. Sad he was never able to shake those demons.
Didn’t Dykstra say he was like a high end gigolo at some point? Ah delusion, you make life fun.
Like Pepperidge Farms, Rev Halofan remembers Steve Howe died in a drug fueled traffic accident.
He was coming over from AZ on the 10 and crashed in the middle of the night just at the bottom of that big hill east of Coachella and Indio.
Coming down from Chiriaco Summit
The home of the General Patton Memorial & Museum.
Been there, done that. Stopped to visit one year on the way to Spring Training.
Did he ever! 😇
Took me a second but then I honestly laughed out loud.
The old “coddled hillbilly” story – a classic bedtime tale
Cecil Fielder losing that much gambling is pretty dammed depressing.
Gambling? I thought he lost all that money on food.
I also seem to remember he was stealing from his kid, Prince.
Food or $$?
The tales of woe link was pretty depressing.
I wonder if Mike Trout stepping up as a mentor is a by-product of Pujols being released. Now that Trout’s mentor is gone, Trout might have realized it is his turn to be the mentor.
Just some fun speculation, as it is equally possible Trout has been a good mentor all along or that he would have done so even if Pujols was still around.
I hope he is also talking to Marsh. Those guys need to be confident in their abilities and it can go a long way if a guy like Mike Trout has an encouraging word.
I always looked at Tori Hunter being Trout’s mentor. I felt Albert has a jealous streak and as soon as he saw Mike in 2011, Albert knew Mike would eclipse his status on the team by the middle of the decade.
I thought grandparents always spoiled their Grandkids.
Trout has talked specifically in the past about how much Albert has helped mentor him.
I know he says it but has he? Maybe it has all been behind closed doors. While being interviewed and asked about Mike, Albert really refrained from talking about and expressing good things. Now Tori, was quite the opposite. Huge support of Mike and went out of his way to help him get acclimated.
You search “Albert Pujols Mike Trout” and this is one of the first things that pops up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-iZgy3V3Q0
It’s okay to be frustrated with Pujols for the way he left without making things up. Both Trout and Pujols have given multiple interviews about how much each respected, admired, and appreciated the other.
“Maybe everything Trout has said publicly is in fact the opposite of reality because of a narrative I’ve formed in my head that I want to be true”
“My tin foil Angels hat really makes my scalp sweaty.”
Trout’s MLB mentor wore number 48 – I don’t care what links anyone provides
Why is Trout limited to a single mentor?
Exactly. Torii was a perfect mentor to Trout but that time was fairly brief. Pujols has been in Trout’s shoes as the best player in the game, would know things Torii did not.
He’s gone totally mentally mentored. 😂
I’m a Heaney fan and that tweet is out of date after his good Heaney performance last night. Reading Pinstripe Alley I see the Skank fans are already into “which one will we get?” and calling him Heandog.
Not very creative over there, aren’t they?
Probably one of our plants.
A Jerb I would not take one for the team
Kinda glad about the bad press for Cohen. He’ll always be one of the slime balls that unethically “enriched” himself during the financial crisis. The team friendly nice guy thing always seemed like a facade.
The owners salary cap offer for the raising of the minimum floor will be seen as a joke by the MLBPA. This is a low ball tactic to start negotiations from. I don’t see the salary cap being less than 230 million with yearly escalation. Of course, in the past the MLBPA has just demanded better luxuries for travel and larger locker room spaces, so who knows where their heads are at. if they accept the owners offer, then the billionaire owners are going to get even richer billionaires.
MLBPA has been railing on the lack of a salary floor for years now. essentially allowing the tankers and small markets to pocket the CBT monies collected from the big boys. As I understand it, under the terms of MLB’s proposal, the monies collected from the CBT would be redistributed to the low payroll teams so they have to use that money on overpriced aging ballplayers. So its kind of weird if you think about it. The big spenders like Doyers, Red Sox & Yankees will now be directly & overtly funding a large portion of the “small market teams” payrolls. If that isn’t encouraging a collusionary system I don’t know what would.
A big loss from our extended Angel family.
https://twitter.com/VictorRojas/status/1428249285569699841
Who is this? Twitter is blocked for me.
Victor Rojas and Roger Lodge are reporting the passing of Radio Producer James Allen.
James Allen, “Producer to the Stars”
Sad to hear. I stopped listening to Lodge but remember the guy well.
Cohen probably fancies himself a Mark Cuban type with the tweeting and emotions but I imagine some players will sour on that really quick when he’s telling them they suck and its going viral. Cuban has smartly stayed pro-player and anti-league with his criticisms.
Imagine if Arte was like this while the team has sucked. Probably wouldn’t have extended Trout or landed Ohtani if we had the weird crazy Twitter owner.
Thanks for the links!
Good to hear about and see Trout’s influence on the rookies!
Good for Hermosillo, too bad about Ellis.
I have faith that Heaney can break Myers’ record.
Bauer is still garbage.
Not good: Arte absolutely doesn’t need an excuse to lower the payroll.
Arrieta and Hamels went down fast…..let it be a hint gong forward about ol’ timers and comebacks.
A big Anaheim welcome to the latest whiney billionaire: Steve Cohen. Yes, life isn’t fair when millionaires don’t produce.
We have our own guy like that as our owner.
Why beat up on another team’s owner’s? His team got to the 2015 World Series BTW which way more than our owner can say.. 💪 💪 💪
Sorry I don’t want the COVID