Every team is in on every player. The dance has just started, the night is still young, and the serious pairing off is likely a ways away. Hey, I kind of like you, do you like me?
Not surprisingly, the Angels are eyeing anyone with a decent pitching arm. So far Angels GM has sent out feelers to Robbie Ray, Alex Wood, Noah Syndergaard, and my free agent of choice Marcus Stroman.
Those names are the first to appear after Minasian stated the obvious: the Angels are looking to “significantly improve” the rotation this off season.
Playing with my emotions, Stroman states he sees a “potential fit” here in Anaheim. I’m sure with enough zeroes on their checks they’d all fit here.
Is this the year the Angels finally land a premier arm for the rotation? I think the answer is yes.
Hopefully Perry realizes we need arms for the last three innings as much as we do for the first six.
How much cash does Perry have available? He says to not count the Angels out in anything. Also some really interesting injury updates in this tweet.
Add that injury news to Anthony Rendon saying he’s on track for Spring Training and you have the makings of an epic buttercup.
Pining for a dance partner is the Mets. And they just can’t help themselves. After being turned down by all the cool kids, they are now expanding their search. But not before publicly stating they’re willing to dump whoever they land if their true love becomes available.
Every school dance has that one kid constantly stirring the pot. In this case, that’s Scott Boras. Along with his lackey Jon Heyman, they will make sure we have something to discuss.
Boras took aim at the “competitive cancer” that is tanking and how it is hurting the game as a whole. I’ll just say I understand tanking, but I don’t like it. I’d love for fans to routinely think they had a shot. Maybe not as a World Series but at least at a division crown.
Perhaps some solution to tanking will come in the next CBA. Efforts on that front are apparently moving nowhere fast. Expect a long lockout, folks.
As for that new CBA, FanGraphs does their usual stellar job in breaking down where we are, how we got here, and what is really at stake.
Reading the news that a guy your age who you watched play for years has died is a little unsettling. RIP Pedro Feliciano.
Enjoy your weekend and please link anything I missed below.
A couple of key dates this week:
Wednesday is the last day the players that were tendered a qualifying offer have to decide to accept or reject the 1 year $18.4 M qualifying offer. Not sure why Raisel hasn’t responded yet unless he’s seriously contemplating taking it. Maybe the Angels are trying to hammer out a deal?
Friday is the last day that teams have to set their 40 man roster ahead of the December Rule 5 draft . We will definitely have a better idea of what the Angels think of the Plumber by then as there is one spot open on the 40 man roster, but to date, Stefanic remains exposed to the draft by any other team.
Correction. Apparently, the Angels add Kyle Tyler to fill the last spot of the 40 man roster this last week sir guess there was more of a concern of losing Kyle Tyler than the plumber in the Rule 5?
Yeah. A pitching prospect is more valuable than a middle infield prospect with big PCL numbers and no stunning tools. CtPG has trouble accepting it because we came up with a cute nickname for him and he’s supposedly gritty (I have no idea how we know that, though he does have stubble) but half the teams out there have their Stefanic already. The other half have a bunch of legit middle infield prospects. It’s a safe bet that there aren’t a lot of teams looking to give Stefanic a 25 man roster spot for a year. There’s an off chance some team will, but we’ll probably get to keep him. It would be cool if he came to Tempe and raked. It would be cooler if he could fill in at shortstop.
Perry just acquired a RHP with upside from the Pirates. Injury prove, but has a lot of potential. Hopefully Starting pitcher or a good Bullpen piece.
Do you mean Soriano?
Has to be. And Fletch reported he’s out until likely 2023 with 2nd TJ.
Thanks. So, less a ‘Perry’ move than fortuitous circumstances, but I am still happy we have his potential upside in the mix. Hope he pans out.
But feels good to have him back.
Yes, Soriano. Clubs are always after Pirates pitching so hopefully Jose learned something while he was there.
That was my first thought. Not many teams would reach out to him other than Angels.
He was a Rule 5. He was just sent back to us by the Pirates since they took him off their roster.
So as I remember, there seemed to be alot of gnashing of teeth when PTP didn’t protect Soriano and he was lost to the Pirates in last years Rule 5 draft. As it turned turned out this worked put pretty well for the Angels. They got their prospect back while gaining $50,000 form the Pirates ($100,000 Rule 5 fee less the $50,000 the Angels pay to get him back) Plus the Pirates end up footing the bill for Jose’s second TJ surgery.
Now that’s just another Halo victory! (on paper of course)
Yeah? I think? I’m not that knowledgeable on Rule 5 injuries, etc.
Hmmm. This is interesting.
I saw this a couple of days ago and am now seeing it again : Max Scherzer rumors (mlb.com)
Trout is stumping for Scherzer and wants the Angels to sign him. I find this interesting because historically Mike has been relatively silent as regards the Angels and their activities or lack thereof in Free Agency. He has not really publicly shared his desires for the team or expressed any preferred direction.
One wonders if he was perhaps influenced by the Shohei comments this summer in which he stressed the importance of winning in regards to his future location, be it Anaheim or elsewhere.
I like this. This happens regularly in the NBA and now it is happening in the NFL at an increasing rate. Stars are recruiting other stars and influencing organizational direction. The players have more power than they have in any previous era. This would have been unthinkable in the 70’s or 80’s. Now it is commonplace.
We’ll see how much influence Mike’s voice has. But to me this can only be a good thing in terms of keeping the pressure on the organization and not allowing them to “settle.”
I am also surprised that Heyman lists the Angels as the second most likely landing spot for Mad Max. Of course we all know that the Dodgers are the favorites to land him, but the fact we are supposedly second is surprising and encouraging. I would have thought we were fourth or fifth on that list.
I can see the Angels signing him if Mike is stumping for him. Perry did say in an interview this past week that he wanted to find a pitcher who was aggressive and a tone setter for the rest of the staff. Perry’s statements are usually non-committal and an open to everything type of comments, found this one to be specific.
You know, I am an aggressive tone setter AND you can technically call what I can still do with a baseball “throwing” which is a lot like pitching. I am also pink skinned and shave once a week with plenty of head and knuckle scars…. so grit.
Also, I am totally willing to go year to year on my contract (suck it Bauer, you big talkin wuss.)
I’m just sayin….
The statement was lifted right out of Perry’s interview, you can reach out to him to perhaps cool his head off…for being so GRTITTY.
By watching and listening to what the Rays preach to their pitchers as part of their development, go inside, own the inner half and don’t be afraid to back hitters off the plate. In my eyes, that has been missing around Anaheim for quite a while.
Yeah. I will totally do that if the Angels just sign me. I also think the yelps of pain I omit when I throw will intimidate and confuse many hitters.
We might have to go for that third year to get him interested.
Ummmm, yeah. I think a pre-req for commenting that the Angels should sign Scherzer should be opening up a Google Doc and trying to do an “If I Were Perry” where we sign Scherzer for 33-35M a year, have 180M as our payroll (so about 50-55M to spend), and you go ahead and fill all our needs and build us a winner.
I have tried. It’s really hard. You can’t even add another rotation arm without resorting to most of the pen being made up of guys like Griffin Canning and having a middle IF of Valasquez and Fletcher. That or you have to pull a bitch move and declare that the first step in your plan is that Arte raises payroll to 195M.
One has to wonder if Mike Trout came out and said “I want Arte to sign Scherzer” or if some media drone asked him if he’d like Scherzer and he said “Hell yeah, it would be great to have him.”.
I will be over the moon happy if, come March, Arte just threw on his sleeveless t-shirt and aviators and bumped our payroll up to 200M, got us Max and a closer and Jonathan Villar and Alex Cobb and Aaron Loup to boot. I just don’t want hoping for that to be the only plan, especially because it doesn’t have to be. There are a lot of options, though some have less grit and angry face.
Having Max past 2 years (and he’ll get 3) could be a much bigger impediment to extending Ohtani than Ohtani’s secret quiet awareness of the evil hiding within the Big A and his mother’s soft spoken hope that he escapes with his life. Unless, again, Arte wants to live 3 or 4 years at, near or above the tax threshold because he’s ALL IN…. and then go way past it if we ever need another expensive pitcher. That would be fun, just don’t know if he’ll do it.
At his age I’d totally do it though. Make my last ten good years of life a drag race baby.
First, fuck the “pre-req.”
Who are you to make pre-requisites for the comments of other posters?
Besides, what I was doing here was simply reporting. “Reporting a report” if you will.
So please don’t shoot the messenger. My positivity was as much about Mike being proactive and speaking up as it was about the subject being Scherzer. I would have been just as positive if he said he wanted Stroman.
As far as the budget is concerned, I know Rahul is speculating $180 million. But actually, we don’t know that. The payroll went up significantly from 2020, so what is to say it can’t or won’t go up again?
I am not saying it will, but it would be stupid not to consider the possibility based upon Ohtani’s comments, fan sentiment and a host of other factors.
And at the end of the day I don’t know what the payroll will be, and I am pretty damned sure you don’t either!
Just to be clear, I am not crazy about the idea of signing Max for 3 years. 1 or 2 would be ideal, and as you say it would likely only work with a payroll around $200 million.
I am not expecting the Angels to land Scherzer, and am not even sure that would be the best thing for the team from a financial and strategic standpoint.
One thing I DO know is that if you bring him in we immediately have one of the best 1-2 SP punches in MLB.
Scherzer followed by Ohtani gives you a hell of a good shot to win any playoff series you might find yourself in. Which is what it is all about anyways,
Calm down there champ. Note those first 2 words, “I think”. No one’s making any rules here. I’m not even saying you want Scherzer (who are we kidding, you obviously pine for the guy, and why not, he’s good), I’m saying I’d like to know how anyone, even Mike Trout, thinks we pull that off. Just take a breath and look at how many times I used the word YOU in that comment, as in referring to you.
What I was saying is that anyone that wants to wile some time away doodling on about signing Scherzer should maybe think it through first. If said person’s core logic is “you never know, no one has said we won’t have a much higher payroll…” well, those are also thoughts I guess. Flimsy, but thoughts none the less. I am pretty sure I can guess pretty closely what our payroll will be unless Arte comes out and says otherwise… between 6th and 9th in the MLB. By the way, our prorated payroll went down between 2020 and 2021, not up. 192M to 182M.
So… I guess if you’re not stupid, then there kind of are pre-reqs before you advocate for signing Scherzer…. like explaining how exactly signing Scherzer will work with all our other needs. Get all fumy about it all you want, in order for a thought to be good thinking it has to have some thought put into it, otherwise it’s just bullshit, and someone is likely to say something like, “Hey, this is kind of bullshit.”
I’m sorry if this makes you feel challenged. Actually, I don’t care. Throw all the bass in your voice that you want, I still just get a mental image of Rowlf from The Muppets saying “f**k”. You’ve got your “real man demand a champion” thing going and that’s cool. I have a crippling case of math. I can’t wait to see your If I Were Perry. Maybe you’ll totally bowl a strike and see a bunch of options I’ve missed.
Okay Mr.” Lack of Reading Comprehension.” My original post on this was about “Trout is stumping for Scherzer and wants the Angels to sign him.”
BTW, you did use “you” several times in your response (admittedly at least one of those uses was clearly plural). The comment was clearly directed at me, and your response to my response was therefore another case of you clearly being disingenuous. That is why I am now suggesting that you call up Mike Trout and yell into the phone until your face turns red about how stupid you think he is.
Yep. I used “You” 4 times, All four times times as a hypothetical 2nd person while describing a situation where “you” is trying to do something. I also don’t know how to make it any clearer that I have always realized you were talking about something Trout said, Trout and the rest of the universe is part of the great “YOU”. I’d love to ask Trout, who gets almost 40M a year, how he thinks we’ll afford Max.
You (the actual you) brought up the point that someone wants Scherzer (to what extent? Don’t know.) which is exactly what I was commenting on. Comprende? No one’s yelling, they are just asking “You” to explain how their idea will actually work, cause like I said, I tried and couldn’t do it.
In through the mouth, out through the nose. Breath big fella. You’re going to be OK. No one’s out to get you. You’re still totally alpha, and even if you aren’t, no one can see or hear you and it’s none of their business anyway. You don’t need to work so hard at taking this personally.
Or, take it personally. It’s all the same to me.
The Doyers are still the favorites so once again that makes us no. 2 ?
And by two weeks from now there will be MLBTR blurbs mentioning the Doyers are interested in trading for Gray, Castillo, Bassitt, Manea, Montas, Freeland, Marquez, Means… and everyone else good. Also, signing everyone.
Yes. I acknowledged that in a previous comment on this.
According to Heyman the Dodgers are 1 and the Angels are 2. I mentioned I was surprised since I thought we were 4 or 5 on that list.
So, what has everyone filled the baseball-sized hole in their evenings with? I feel like a junkie in need of a fix at this time of night lately. God, I miss baseball.
I took my son to the batting cages. Kids are at the batting cages in So Cal preparing for spring Little League. Kids, their parents, hitting baseballs and softballs.
I love the batting cages. Very nice!
Vodka and baseballtradevalues.com. I am trying to see if it’s at all possible to trade for all of the nameless headshots that appear on this site. Which leads to more Vodka.
Also shirtless push ups. Lots of shirtless push ups.
Vodka is good. Vodka is always good. Smart man.
Vodka also helps with shirtless cardio. 😉
I went back to martial arts training last Spring. I’ve been at the gym a lot. I’m sparring again for the first time in forever and loving it.
That’s fun. I’ve done some boxing with my trainer. Great workout.
Combining Gitcho and your thoughts, I have settled on the vodka martini arts.
Adding new accessories to the Rally Thong.
Lights and ornaments are very festive
More along the lines of bluetooth and cellular. The 5G upgrade will be killer.
They’re putting 5G microchips in our thongs now!
Vast improvement in range and clarity!
The guys at work are gonna be sooo jealous
https://twitter.com/ABDugoutStories/status/1459000985972469761?s=20
Maybe arms won’t fall off on Day 1 this year?
At least a change was made….don’t know if Dr Nick is still on Call.
Perry like his guys from the Braves and Cardinals…both better orgs than us.
Yeah. Perry sure seems to have waited, bought some supplies, and is now cleaning out a lot of the house all at once.
This makes me happy. Not that I have any idea if he’s any good at the job, just that I know it means the guys I know are bad at the job will not be doing it next year.
I mean it can’t be any worse, right?
Good times for a changeGood time, for a much needed long over due change
See, the luck I’ve had
Can make a good man
Turn bad
https://youtu.be/HcNCs9o-Esg
how interesting that now when referring to “this guy” on the Angels it’s Shohei and not Trout.
I was thinking the same thing.
…it’s Shohei’s world and Trout’s living in it.
and
Out of sight, out of mind.
Eh. Trout’s coming back, and if he’s healthy and hits like he did before the injury he’ll be in people’s twatter streams again. Especially if 2nd Half Shohei shows up again. I expect Shohei to be really good still. I don’t expect him to be a better offensive player than Mike Trout.
Not gonna lie, don’t know the guy or care… we need him. Welcome!
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1459621890301960195?s=20
Never heard of the guy.
How good is he projected to be? Did we at least sign him for $10K like the Astros signed Jose Urquidy for in 2016?
28th round pick. Looks like he signed for $317,500. Not sure which university the Astros had to pay Urquidry to not go to. Crow looks like he’s only pitched this last year and was meh at IE.
It took me about 2 minutes to find all that on Google.
He can’t be any good. He doesn’t have an unlabelled picture here.
It does bring up a point though. If Arte ever wants to shake the idea that he’s a total piece of shit then he needs to go out there and find as many starving brown pitchers as possible and offer them all less than 15K to sign. Only then will he be the head of a throbbing baseball organization.
Also, go back in time to 2018 and sign Lance Lynn. Also also, 1988 and trade for Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. Also, Bob Gibson. As well.
And can CtPG go back to the beginning and block 2002heaven?
Are you kidding me? He’s Almost Almost Famous
Cool, I’ll tune into this, as Mr. Crow is an unranked player, he’s done enough to get the start, intrigued. MLB Pipeline, Calli,s was swooning over the Blue Jay catcher Moreno and the Cubs OF Nelson Velazquez. Better than the football schedule today.
You know, at some point, there has got to be a couple pitchers who are from here, like Hector Santiago, who want to play here, like Jesse Chavez, but don’t suck. The whole “I’m from/My wife’s from…” thing has to work for us at some point. I mean, we’re not the Dodgers, but we aren’t Baltimore either, and there has to be someone from this Southern California that still prefers to live in Southern California right? I know guys like Curt Casali signed up with the Giants quickly cause they are from there.
So the same should happen here, Right? (with more desperation)
Someday it might be interesting for some sports journalist who actually does journalism to look into this topic. I can remember, even as a kid, the trend started that, even though So Cal is a hotbed of baseball talent, a lot of our home grown players moved their families out to Arizona. All winter training weather, Spring Training’s right there, fewer hassles than in LA area, lower taxes… I kind of wonder how many California players have their primary residence in California now.
Tony and Mikey do.
If I was a billionaire I would move to Medellin Columbia and have all the cops and government officials in my back pocket! 💪
Man. Chacin signed with the Rockies. Where were you on that Perry!?!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZNkvemDYDFo/S6FtSV3FiRI/AAAAAAAAAek/R3CLiUlVvow/s320/57highquality.JPG
Only Darren Erstad, Troy Percival, and Jered Weaver belong with these tough guys……..
💪 💪 💪 👈
Hean-Dawg signs with the Doyers and tells a reporter that he was better than his 2021 stats.
Yes. And sex doesn’t look like how it feels.
Is that when he’s throwing from the left or right side of the rubber? What a dork.
I think Marvel threw in the towel trying come up with good superheroes
https://twitter.com/obviousplant_/status/1458856224800210945
😂
Is that right leg the “enhanced scurry”? I loves this. Also, Can he pitch?
Comes with a Buttercup for dipping.
Of Course. Its Alex Cobb’s Alter Ego.
While they were making the prototype, one guy asked another, “Yea, but where will his head be?”
“Easy: we’ll have it come out of the cornhole. We’ll make a cornhole for this guy.”
Cornhole. It’s also a noun!
There wasn’t a kernel of good taste in this post. And yes, I beta-tested it: the spell is complete and permanent.
Need to hire several new coaches……safe to assume Dr. Nick and his staff will all be back for 2022?
https://twitter.com/ByRobertMurray/status/1459220624660967434?s=20
Jomboy has a great video of Nevin going off on Angel Hernandez, please hire Phil.
Does anyone really need Phil to coach them on how to hate Angel Hernandez? I don’t.
Old school, ripped Bregman a new one as well. He’s got a edge like Don Baylor. Tired of the Pillsbury Joe-boy of a manager we got. Angels need toughness. Disgusting letting Shohei get hit by pitch with nobody doing or saying anything. Yellow-tails.
F**k edge. If that’s his only qualification f**k Nevin too. If we’re looking to hire a douche bag just for edge let’s just sign Verlander. At least he’s got a hot wife, can eat some innings, and has basically the same personality as Nevin…. but Verlander’s actually good.
The Angel’s will probably develop more “edge” or what ever when there’s actually something to fight for beyond looking tough for old men on comment boards. Most teams that are just adrift don’t fight much… accept the Reds and Pirates. For some reason they can both suck and they still get in 5 fights a year with each other.
I mean, do you honestly think Maddon’s gonna be like “Oh no, internet guy thinks I’m soft. I better hire a coach who will be edgy and do exactly what I don’t want my team to do.”? If Nevin gets hired it’s gotta be for more than that. Maybe he’s a good game strategist or in game scout or something and can help Joe out? Can he carry a be-jeweled pink backpack?
Who cares what Verlander is, can he help the club? F**k the, “he is not cool comments.’ When you have edge, you play with aggression. Angels were going through the motions the last 1.5 months last year F**k that.
We need a Col Nathan Jessup kind of guy as our field skipper.
A guy who isn’t afraid to order a Code Red when it has to be done!
Gene Hackman could’ve also played this character to a tee as well!
Is Coach McGinty available???
You want to order the murder of our underperforming players? Sheesh, I know baseball is a contact sport, and some people have a boner for ‘old school’ play, but ‘Code Red’ is too far.
I have no idea. Is he a good coach?
If anyone thinks he’s a good coach, why? What has he done?
I just remember him being a weird cross between a red ass and a whiny bitch on the Padres.
I also remember him sucking at his first stint as an MiLB manager.
Has he become a good coach since then?
Or is he just another big, pink, stubbly grit pump?
If he’s good at something, hell yeah, hire him. I’d be more excited if they announced they’d hired a completely new medical/training staff.
Phil Nevin will become Taylor Ward’s Personal Grit Pump Coach/Accountability bubby/Angels 3rd base coach……Turn Ward into the Red Ass this team desperately needs. Red Ass’ery and Grit wins championships!
Both Drafted 1st round from California colleges. Positions: Catcher, Third Baseman, back up catcher First Baseman and Outfielder
Bats: Right • Throws: Right
Both big, pink and stubbly.
Perfect. I was actually thinking Nevin was basically Ward…. accept for the whole #1 over all pick thing.
S o how did the Angels miss out on this?
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/diamondbacks-hire-brent-strom-pitching-coach-astros.html
I think I’d rather have this dude than Matt Wise
No shit, but he’s 140 years old and lives in Arizona so I’m sure it was preferred
To be fair, 140 is the average age in Arizona during the winter.
miss out? maybe because there was only one team that would pull him out of psuedo retirement?
We should totally be upset about this. I was just thinking there’s almost nothing for me to be pissed off about right now. Brent Strom will be coaching for a team other than ours! Que lastima!
Well he’s actually quite good at that pitch coaching thing and to the best of my knowledge, there are no Dick pics out there of him. (Sorry eatgrasslikegoat)
I’d rather have the Padre new pitching coach, Ruben Niebla. Cleveland pitching instructor. Hired him the day before Melvin. Instrumental in building up the Indians arm farm.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to have a good pitching coach, but it seems like most of the good pitching coaches just have really good pitchers. Like everyone chases and praises hot names from hot teams. For example, Mike Butcher was a really good pitching coach for the D-bags. Remember how hot Ray Searage was till he got stuck with a bunch of dogs? The Twins pitching coach was a big deal a couple years ago. Curt Young was the Giants pitching coach, then our old pal Andrew Bailey (we need head shots of him). Was Strom a good coach before the Astros got stacked with talent?
I know they are out there, but I just never hear about a “great pitching coach” that regularly takes pitchers like the Angels rotation last year and makes them good. It may happen one time, but two or three times in a guy’s career? Usually it’s just a matter of adding Verlander, Greinke, Cole and a pile of good prospects, then making one success story out of Charlie Morton and POOF! you’re now a good pitching coach. I’ll bet the most likely “next great pitching coach” is who ever has the job for the Royals or Tigers when all those pitching prospects mature.
I’m not gonna be heart broken if we lose Matt Wise, but I’m also not gonna be all that upset if we don’t. If all hell breaks loose and we sign Iglesias, Chafin, Stroman and Scherzer this winter I bet it turns out Wise is pretty good.
Soon. I can feel it. We will get some pitching. We will make the play offs as a WC. We can start complaining that Arte doesn’t care about winning as long as he has a team in the post season bringing him extra cash. We will learn from some internet rando that there is a shadowy figure in the dark halls of the Big A named Kevin. Kevin’s job is to sweet spot our roster and payroll so that we are paying the 6th most in payroll to be the 6th best team in baseball. The reason for every FA we sign will be Arte’s huge ego. We will complain that we don’t get shiny new toys that replace the ones we break when ever we want them the way DoyYankSux fans do. We will still have failed to draft Shane Bieber or sign Kyle Schwarber. Others will make constant note of the things their coachlike minds have noticed the manager is not emphasizing. Grit will be questioned. Many of us will be just as unhappy then as now.
A whole new level of the same old dissatisfaction is coming our way. At least the NY Giants, Knicks, Jets, Mets and Yankees will potentially win nothing. We are so close.
Seriously though, you know what would put a big huge smile on my face? If, as this CBA thing takes off, if a group of both mid-level owners and lower 90% players all come out and say “Hey, we need this baseball thing to not light itself on fire just so the richest of us don’t have the top slice of their money pie threatened with a little less growth. We need to get to work and get paid. Let’s get on with it before soccer takes our spot in the hearts and minds.”
I’d love that.
Arte wood be happy as a swine in sh*t if we got in as the second WC with a losing wreckerd……
BTW bullpens are overrated ( no wonder we’re trying to have one in one year and we will still miss the playoffs because our starters still suck ). If Bachman fails as a starter then Perry should be banished too…..
💪 💪 💪 👈
Good, we can all stop posting now. We made it.
If you had to pick one free agent that you think the Halos will sign, who would it be? (not who you want them to sign, but who you think they will sign)
I’m going with Stroman.
P.S. Basing arb raises on WAR is super dumb (sorry Gitch). All it takes is for some rich guys lobbying and greasing some palms at BR and the WAR algorithm gets slightly changed to award less WAR to players. No way will players let a computer determine their worth, not when emotions/fan pressure and the like can be involved and help them get more money.
Yeah. There would definitely need to be some way that the MLBPA has a hand in determining WAR and it’s value money wise. Not just that, there are probably 50 things that would have to be sorted out with a system like that. Though, if I’m a evil rich owner why can’t I just grease the palms of an arbitrator? At least with a data driven payment system we can all see the math involved and if it’s really suspect we’ll all see it. A WAR based system would at least address the idea that young players produce and don’t get paid so that older players that last out can get overpaid to suck.
I think Stroman is very likely to be the guy we point a lot of money at first. I think he signs here as long as he doesn’t have some secret need to stay back East. I actually think, when you list out the offensive fire power the Angels have when healthy, that there will be plenty of pitchers who consider that in their decision. It’s not the same as when we had Trout and…. Pujols. So I think Stroman too, but there will be a lot of good competition, so it’s a toss up.
Yeah my only hesitation regarding Stroman is that he’s spent his entire career in the upper east coast. That could be bad for us, maybe he likes it there…orrrrr, it could be good. Maybe he wants a change of scenery/climate and would like to be in the same rotation as Ohtani. He’s used to paying high taxes since he was on the Mets…orrrrr he’s tired of paying high taxes and sees the Halos as the west coast Mets. So many variables!
I think it’d be a whole heck of a lot easier to bribe some computer guy to ever so slightly alter an algorithm during a “software update” than it would be to just bribe an arbitrator to rule a certain way. They’re both sleazy awful things to do, but one feels much worse than the other, just because computers and stuff.
You’d also have to bribe the computer guys who are watching the computer guys… and the MLBPA’s computer guys, etc. I doubt it would all be left up to Tyler the Computer Guy and that’s it. If there were big problems then the MLBPA doesn’t need to agree to the scale in the next CBA.
All they have to do is make the WAR equation public so anybody can check. Then if it gets changed, there would have to be a good explanation.
Does Raisel count? 😉
In terms of probability, that one seems like the highest to me at the moment.
Else, I think of the odds of signing any individual free agent, it seems to me like it’s Correa. There are a lot of pitchers and we’ll probably end up with some of them, but I have no idea which specific ones.
I’d go Stroman.
He brings a combination of durability and high level production we badly need. He won’t cost as much as Scherzer, likely not as much as one hit wonder Ray, and has no QO.
Stroman is likely back in The Queens. The Mets think they are in it and they need arms. They won’t let him go so easy. Thinking Gray or something lower. I’d try to trade of Glasnow. Marsh, Canning, and something. Rays might part ways with Kevin Kermier in center and read Glasnow might be avalable.
Do you think Stroman has loyalty to the Mets, or just that they will outbid everyone else?
Stroman wants to win like everyone else (I assume), and I don’t know that the Mets organization seems, well, organized enough to get that done.
Makes sense…….another SP who will always underachieve.
Only two seasons with a winning record 2014 (11-6 WOW!!!) and 2017 (13-9 WOW!! again)..
Packy Naughton and Andrew Wantz PLZ?
Packy Naughton’s gonna win 30 games this year.
https://twitter.com/KevinGausman/status/1459163563759521794?s=20
And yet Stirling’s guess is probably as good as anyone’s right now.
Gausman has a fiance/GF/wife who hates OC/Arte.
Sorry CTPG but he won’t sign here…….
She likes O.C. But I heard she despises 2002heaven.
BTW isn’t it time for your bathroom break yet?
I would not my Gausman, keeps the ball down but golf swings can occasionally get to him. But 5-years? NFW. That is a problem statement. Perry cannot be this stupid. Could have been had for a six-pack of Yoo-hoo couple of years ago.
You shut your mouth. Yoo-hoo is delicious. The perfect blend of not-chocolate, non-dairy creamer and life enhancing chemicals.
With the major structural changes being bandied about by both the MLBPA and MLB owners, this may take quite awhile to get finalized.
I think the worst case is that the lockout looms until March 1st.Only a 2-week hit to spring training but nowadays players will workout on their own anyway, together or have plenty of other opportunities. Too much revenue was lost in the pandemic, they will find a way to get the product back on the diamond.
I hope so.
Fungo I think that is best case. I have myself prepared for spring training in May June and a 100 game season.
I tend to interpret these proposals by MLB to be very encouraging. Without getting hung up on the details of a particular one, it suggests that they are willing to think outside the box. Any intelligent person can see that the current system is a runaway train racing toward a washed-out bridge. We desperately need new ideas injected into the arena.
You’re right. I have been very surprised, pleasantly, at some of the ideas MLB has been willing to float out there. None of them are perfect, but as a starting point they are actually not half bad. Not the super hard line I expected from the owners at all.
You’re just saying that because they stole your idea.
No, I am saying that because, as everyone knows, I am a mouthpiece of “the man”. Arte thinks it. I say it. I get an animal cracker. The ball gag stays out.
Does Rogelio Chavez know about this?
They still need to get rid of the extra innings ghost runner at second and the 7-inning doubleheader.
Sooooooooo …… Shitcan Manfred and his idiotic rules changes !!!!!! I’m on board!
I hate ghosts.
You’re just phasmophobic
I mean, what did a ghost ever do to you? What’s wrong with Ectoplasmic-Americans?
(reply fail to gitch)
Ghosts lack grit.
No self-respecting Southerner Ghost uses Instant Grits!
Were these MAGIC grits?
“Are we to believe the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove?”
“I want HIM!”
Oh thank the FSM.
Bold Prediction.
We are going to make the Playoffs in 2022!
Led by a dynamic bullpen featuring one of the kids in the AFL and one draft pick from this year.
Yeah, they are expanding the playoffs like the NHL. Come one, come all!
I hate expanding the playoffs, but if the regular season went back to 154 it wouldn’t bother me as much.
Plan for 12 team playoffs (up from 10).
2 Divisions per League
Wild Card Round:
Division Leader – Bye Round
Division #2 v. Division #3 – 3 game series
Division Series:
Division Leader v. Wild Card Winner – 5 game series
League Championship Series:
Division Series Winners – 7 game series
WS: Same as always.
Lowering the bar, disappointing but here to stay..
So, not just expanding the playoffs but reorganizing the league altogether (not that that hasn’t been done). Interesting.
One could get to 12 easier though, by either taking the top two in each division, or adding yet another WC team, right? Less boat rocking?
Then you end up with stupid-looking playoff structure. Top 2 from each division only makes sense the division teams are playing each other, but then you have a bye week the second round. Since you can’t do that, you give byes to the top 2 teams the first round, but then you have non-division teams playing each other, so what’s the point?
Same problem with 3 wild card teams, if only the top 2 division winners get a bye, why bother have 3 divisions instead of 2?
Because they have three divisions now – and re-aligning the league (again) changes the rivalries that are meant to sell tickets?
So this format would eliminate the wild card races. As you only be competing against other teams in your division for a playoff spot and not other teams in the other division . This would cut down in the potential playoff races since there would no longer be a floating wild card . I doubt MLB would ever go for it .
Arte is in favor of anything that rewards mediocrity getting into the post season….. Oh and low overhead (no scouts, cross checkers, trainers, and coaches and big marketing departments, plus 3rd world level substandard housing and facilities)..
😭 😭 😠 💩
“Arte thinks he better than me but he’s not. He. Is. NOT!”
I think going 3 deep in a division would keep the playoff race just as interesting as the current wild card system. But an alternative is to give the division winners a bye and then take the next 4 best records as wild cards
I like the 2 division concept. I think it could bring back some old fun rivalries from years past such as Angel v Royals and Angels vs Chisox or even Angels vs Twinkies. Unfortunately one of the 2 divisions would have 8 teams in it . But floating wild cards would nullify that problem.
Lets do this.
Only if we get both DeSclafani, and Castellanos. Plus the Astros lose 20 more games than in 2021…….