Here is another installment of the Angels Minor League players guessing game. Can you guess who these guys are? The last installment was in last Tuesday’s News Crash. Player photos credit: Rex Fregosi
Guess who is Player of the Year and Outstanding AL Player.
Links From Around Baseball
Game 6 of the World Series is at 5 P.M. Pacific Time tonight on Fox.
In preparation for our upcoming round of pretend transactions, here is the MLB Trade Rumors 2021-2022 Free Agent Tracker in case anybody wants to do any window shopping. Here is the Baseball Trade Values trade simulator.
Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers has left to go explore other opportunities.
Donnie Ecker, formerly of the Giants, is now the bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Texas Rangers.
Pouting Joe Kelly is going to be a free agent. The Dodgers indicate they won’t be picking up his option.
Tommy LaStella had left Achilles tendon surgery. He will miss the beginning of spring training.
The Cubs hired Greg Brown as their new hitting coach.
Meanwhile Jobel Jimenez will not return as the Cardinals Assistant Hitting Coach.
I bet both of these guys make less than Maddy. That’s OK it’s the façade that counts, right Arte?
😠 😡 😭
Show us on stuffed Rally Monkey where the man who looked like Arte touched you bro. Why else would every train of thought run headlong into “I no like Arte.”
It wasn’t your fault bro.
No, really. It wasn’t your fault.
It wasn’t your fault.
There’s been a Rendon sighting!!
According to Rotoworld: “Anthony Rendon (hip) said during an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM on Tuesday that he expects to be ready for spring training.”
Draw your own conclusions.
Now, how is Trout’s calf muscle doing? Need him back 100% too.
Trout should be back after the All-Star break.
2023
😂
Surgery by Christmas
Amputation by Easter.
In the picture, the guy on the left is David Calabrese and the guy on the right is William Holmes. They are both top 30 prospects according to Taylor Blake Ward.
Hoping these two pick it up this year. The minors are a disgrace now, these guys did not start playing live ball until May in Arizona.
1981-1982 was a complete battle won by players and was something that was needed at the time. Both sides benefitted in the long range and was good for the sport.
1994-1995 was not good for the fans nor for the two combatants, Owners or Players. The sport of MLB was weakened ever since by Steroids, weak leadership, price of attending games, lower TV ratings etc.
Here we are about to have history repeat itself for nothing but greed of one side or the other. In the end it will be the fans that pay the price of the final negotiations and the two sides will just move on. But maybe? The fans will not return in the numbers everyone will think they will if one is to look at the attendance numbers after the last strike. Only Steroids and Bud Selig’s weak jelly spine. In the last few years Rob Manfred has changed the game so much it could be not even his “Super Ball” can save the game. (LOL).
I truly hope both sides learn by history.
I know this is not a baseball related story, but thought I should share it anyways due to the fact we have our own history with Nick Adenhart.
The Raiders Henry Ruggs was involved in a drunk driving accident early in Vegas this morning and will be charged with “DUI resulting in death.”
Ruggs is only 22 years old.
Here is a comment from “Silver and Black Pride” by MIZ DBH:
All of us here know all to well about the horrors of drunk driving.
More on the story here :
Las Vegas Raiders WR Henry Ruggs to be charged with DUI resulting in death (espn.com)
and
Raiders news: Henry Ruggs charged with DUI in fatal crash – Silver And Black Pride
Multiple lives ruined and completely avoidable. One person dead, another about to spend the prime of his life behind bars and the rest of his life trying to find a job with a rap sheet.
I really don’t care that Ruggs is only 22 years old.
The woman he killed was only 23. Ruggs will pay for this but he’ll still be alive. He’ll eventually be 24 years old, something the victim will never be.
Agree. Don’t misunderstand my stating of his age. He is old enough to have a drivers license and old enough to drink so, as an adult he is totally responsible for his actions.
I think my point there was that there is an obvious lack of maturity and wisdom at work. Not that older adults can’t also make such a horrible decision, they can. Jeff brought up the fact that he will very likely spend the “best years of his life” in prison, so that is a very real (likely) consequence for him.
yes, thanks. I probably knee-jerked a little. I have zero sympathy for him.
I know I’ve never driven drunk so I plan to enjoy posting virtuous comments about Ruggs and Nick every time this pops up in the news as he stands trial and is sentenced, etc. Thank gah the universe keeps providing people like myself, who would never drink and drive, with careless murdering scum like Ruggs for me to bash on. Every time I start wondering “Wait a minute, am I a piece of shit?” I’ll just think of ol’ Henry and say “nah” and then move on with my life.Thanks Edith Eger.
You know, posting something like this isn’t necessarily motivated by a sense of moral superiority, right?
Believe it or not, it is possible for folks to think twice about making such a decision if the more serious possible outcomes are freshly in their consciousness.
But don’t let that stop you from playing amateur Nietzsche..
Oh yeah. People can totally post stuff like this without a sense of moral superiority. Just most people post stuff like this with SOME sense of moral superiority. And most people have also driven drunk and they know it. Which often drives them to comment on stuff like this with all the gravitas a grief tourist can muster to make sure we know they are thinking the good fight.
I’m not saying your particular comment’s this crap… but the general circle jerk of outrage and sorrow we’ll be seeing on the internet will be.
And Nietzche is for bush rookies. I’m more a Camus/Cioran man myself.
Money, fame, fast cars and chicks. These guys just cannot stay out of the clubs. I guess he was not planning on exuding maximum effort at practice today.
I was a poor and hungry college student at one point in time … Didn’t keep me from doing stupid stuff.
Bench coach and offensive coordinator? Are the Rangers playing football now?
I presume that means “guy in charge of deciding when to bunt/steal,” but it’s a silly title for a baseball coach.
I thought Odor was the offensive coordinator prior to his trade to the Skanks
It probably means he’s the guy who says “Get a hit, and don’t get picked off.” when guys go out to the on deck circle.
First – Go Braves!
Second, the 500lb gorilla in the room is the looming lockout/strike. Player distrust of ownership is at an all-time low. This is partly because it’s an attractive narrative in this polarized world and partly because these players have little connection to those who saw the negative impact of 1994. The sides are far apart as can be seen in the owner’s last offer.
If I were to give this odds, I would say that it’s 50-1 the 2022 season will start as scheduled. The animosity between the sides (millionaires and billionaires) is palpable.
With a lockout on Dec 1 – no free agency signings can or will be made. Prepare yourself for a boring and uncertain winter.
As a result- enjoy the heck out of the last baseball we may see until Summer 2022.
I actually think we will see two breeds of FA signings, guys/teams who just want to know they have the chore done before things get messy, and guys/teams who want to wait till things settle down. But there are definitely players who will benefit from NOT waiting till the lock out ends and then scrambling with every other FA to find a seat at a table.
For example, Alex Cobb and the Angels. It’s not like either side is risking millions on either side of the CBA turn over if he just signs in November.
Also, I love how “player distrust” keeps getting tossed around like the players are a bunch of beaten housewives. I know it’s counter intuitive, but what about owner mistrust? Which is far more detrimental to my enjoyment of baseball.
Players are gonna play and get paid. But not all owners have to spend and many more can always choose to piss away less cash. PLAYERS use steroids in a contract year. PLAYERS use glop to become 25M a year pitchers and then turn back into geese when it’s banned. PLAYERS don’t disclose injuries that become 20M dollar years off for surgery recovery from mileage put on from innings played for other teams. PLAYERS cheat and get caught and taint an ever more expensive franchise. PLAYERS abuse drugs and die and then their families sue you. PLAYERS beat the shit out of their wives and get suspended fucking up your roster. PLAYERS demand 100M contracts and then suck. PLAYERS tell you they are 30 when they are 34.
The players are also assholes. Expensive assholes. And I totally understand why business men and women do everything they can to minimize the massive financial costs of having to trust players.
And yeah yeah yeah, I know, owners are sooooo rich and most players are only barely millionaires…. unless you’re telling me a shit contract isn’t a shit contract anymore an owner just isn’t gonna care and if you want to live in that fantasy where richer people getting screwed is awesome and justice then be prepared for more teams like the Pirates cause you can’t corner a bunch of people whose main talent is making money into suddenly making stupid decisions just because we all envy them.
That is full of good points.
It’s delightful watching billionaires fighting with millionaires – with both parties crying “poverty”.
They are both pathetic. It’s not like the MLBPA is fighting for the rights of AAAA infielders everywhere. But when I take my personal desires out of it I am most afraid of backing the owners into a situation that a large percentage of them can’t really maintain in the name of “equality” or “justice” or what ever pixie dust term we ramp up for this conflict even though it clearly doesn’t apply to either side. I’m afraid because the machine is still a machine that functions like a machine and if the price of fuel (players) gets too high than a bunch of teams will just decide to drive shorter distances less often.
And that’s how you get the Yankees.
And I hate the Yankees.
Well summarized. It’s very frustrating from a fan standpoint. My own stance is that I find things to dislike and distrust about both sides.
This could be the year I finally learn hockey… after all, sports only exist in my world to entertain me. If baseball stops doing that job I don’t really care why, my job is to replace it with something.
I just hope it’s not soccer. Please Baby Jesus, don’t leave me with just soccer. Or the WNBA. I’d rather watch NASCAR than the WNBA, and I’d rather watch people fight over parking in CostCo’s parking lot than watch NASCAR.
Go with hockey. It’s got the action of Basketball minus most of the assholery. And if the assholery gets too bad, the players on the other team beat the crap out of the asshole.
I’m meh about (American) Football, haven’t been able to stand Basketball for years, and don’t know enough about Soccer (Futbol). Hockey is great.
Soccer is only fun if you watch it with a bunch of drunk Brits. And then it’s mostly just a bunch of people drinking and singing and yelling with a game on somewhere in the bar.
Hockey looks great, I am just ignorant of it. It sounds like it’s actually full contact high speed ice soccer with men instead of instamodels playing it.
I used to love the NBA. It is sad now.
There is always curling – for all your winter sport needs.
&ct=g
Speaking of which, do you know how to stop Canadian Bacon from curling in the pan?
Take away its little brooms.
Dude, I weirdly like curling.
That’s actually about right, and you use sticks instead of your feet.
The other thing about hockey, is that it really is best seen live. You miss a lot on TV, mostly strategic stuff like line changes (they don’t stop the clock for substitutions — it happens while play is going on).
Soccer and hockey are great for action, minimal time stoppages and predictable lengths of matches.
That’s the thing I don’t get about soccer. I keep looking for this “non-stop action” people keep telling me about but it seems like 80% of it is dudes running half speed together, or just standing on the other end of the field, watching two dudes run a little faster together trying to kick a ball. Then, every now and again, they get close to the “end zone” and something might happen and the whole place is excited for 15 seconds.
Then someone flops on the ground and acts hurt.
It doesn’t seem like all that much more action than any other sport.
Hockey is probably good though, I like watching it and I don’t really even understand any of the nuances of what they are doing. Trouble is, there’s fights and crashing the boards so assume the game will be outlawed soon. The match time things is cool. I also like how soccer has relegation and advancement. I can still remember how excited my Brit friends were that Man City made it back up to the Premiere League and stayed there in 2002. It was like the Columbus Clippers making it to the MLB.
I’d bet the farm on a work stoppage. Really, the “players vs. owners” divide is the reason why. The NFL, NBA, and NHL have revenue sharing models which make the players and owners more partners than employee/employer. It also requires transparency.
I have an article I’m working on suggesting a change to the player/owner dynamic along with some concrete numbers I think would work for the foreseeable future.
It must be my inner Steve Forbes, but I wish that MLB contracts/career arcs were structured more like the NFL… but with some extra stuff. I wish there was a standard 4 year rookie contract based on draft position or prospect ranking or something. Then I wish players signed contracts of some standard length… say 5 years… with a version of the NBA “max” contract where the best players, like Trout, get a very large signing bonus and each team is only allowed a certain number of those in a time period, say a limit of three MAX players on a roster at a time. Then, after that 5 year deal is done, players sign 2 year deals, again with bonuses, which allow them to “chase a ring” if they want.
BUT those contracts are just the bonus (and many players won’t get one), PLUS a low minimum (say 1M a year to every player, Trout to Mayfield. PLUS PLUS PLUS a set amount of money per .01 of WAR, say $350,000 per .01 of WAR. This WAR pay scale kicks in as soon as you play an MLB inning. So a rookie with a 10 WAR season makes 35M that year. But if he falls off a cliff in year two and only has 1.2 WAR he gets 4.2M for that season.
Young players get paid. Failed free agents don’t get over paid (other than their bonus). WAR is easy to calculate, payroll goals can be set this way, if an owner’s teams WAR is high then they will likely make post season and other money and can thus afford their payroll, but when the team sucks and has low WAR their expenses are lower….
You’d have to figure out some added ways to accrue WAR that value relief pitchers and defense first players a bit more probably, but it could work well.
If owners need a little bit of wiggle room to find bargains then have a slightly lower WAR rate for rookie 4 year deals and “lower tier” veteran deals maybe.
Problem solved…. accept this would mean no more Chris Davis contracts for the MLBPA.
I think you are wrong. An hourly wage guy who knows his union’s contract is coming up for negotiation can save, scrimp and plan to withstand a typical work stoppage to a certain extent. Most MLB players have far more at risk. And there are always risks to both sides in labor-management work stoppages.
Hitting Coaches are shuffling around more than usual this off season. AB approach is changing to work the count more. Getting on base is after all this time being understood by the approach of the hitter being more responsible by working the count and pitcher.
So how does that work? Several ways. First is studying how the starting pitcher has worked in the past in starting the hitters off. Then learning how the history of how you have been worked by that pitcher. Being more selective on the pitches you swing at and looking for your pitch or the pitchers mistake.
But the best hitting coaches are the guys that can adapt to a wide range of players and can be satisfied in allowing input from the players and work from a players point of view. But alas there are some hitters like Adell who needed to make wholesale changes to better themselves and successes that will followed. Marsh is next.
I still think the Braves will win tonight.
Is this some kind of a veiled attack on President Biden 😂 ?
Why? is he Native American?
Who? I thought he was a NASCAR driver? 😂
Brandon Biden?
He was seen doing the chop at either game 4 or 5 (I can’t remember which)
I get the joke, but I believe it’s a not-so-veiled attack on the Trashstros.
Game 6 of the World Series is at 5 P.M. Pacific Time tonight on Fox.
A line like this should be in every daily link during the season. I hated looking for the game on Fox sports, MLB network, ESPN to find out in was a Facebook or YouTube game when not on Ballys
Yeah, games that are not on the usual network being noted would help. Just offhand, any ideas on how long Sinclair will be broadcasting the games? They are in serious financial distress with their Fox Sports purchase.
Ha! Online betting will save us all.