Will Adam Eaton become a coach for the Angels? What coaching position will he coach? Basepaths? Might he give rise to the phrase “Eaton Run?” Phil Nevin and Benji Gil now have roles on the Angels coaching staff.
How do you prepare a heat map for Shohei Ohtani as a hitter?
MLB Trade Rumors lists the Angels as a “solid speculative fit” for Trevor Story. It comes out and states the obvious: that the Angels in-house shortstop options are not enough for a hopeful contender.
No negotiations until late January? This is brinksmanship, let’s face it. I’m not the only one who is feeling it. For laughs, here is a link to the Angels 2022 Cactus League Schedule.
Fanatics acquired Topps Trading Cards for roughly $500 Million.
Former Tigers utility infielder Tommy Matchick died at the age of 78.
Gregory Polanco signed with the Yomiuri Giants of NPB.
Justin Bour signed with the Mexico City Red Devils. He now plays with JC Ramirez and the infamous Roberto Osuna.
Job Postings
The Arizona Diamondbacks are hiring a major league bullpen catcher.
The New York Yankees are looking for a Full-Stack Software Engineer.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are looking for an R & D Intern- Baseball Informatics.
Trackman wants a Baseball Data Operations Intern.
Synergy Sports wants a Baseball Showcase Video Assistant.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
My late mom told me to bite my tongue……..so I will THIS TIME!
 😠 😠 😠 HAPPY NEW YEAR CTPG…….
Anyone else recognize the irony of the picture that heads up this article. Trout replacing a flat tire?
yikes, shades of Bobby Grich lifting an air conditioner ….
Not sure who this guy is but he seems to like our new coaching hires
https://twitter.com/Decker6/status/1478811767048392704
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1479155292382240769
This is an interesting hire. Maybe Perry is following the JeDi’s trick in hiring his BFF office buddy ( Scott Servais) to ultimately be the field manager when Soggy Joe hangs up his cleats?
It at least indicates the front office wanting a direct line to in game decisions.
Perry continues to flop like a Platypus. Not impressed.
I don’t know much of anything about this guy, but he’s replacing someone, so I like him because I probably am way smarter than the guy he’s replacing. Thing is, I am also almost certainly smarter than this guy, and I’m way smarter than PTP based on all the times I have complained about his moves. So actually I don’t like this move.
I like this move so that I can dislike this move. Also, Arte is cheap and evil. Big splash. Baseball people. Grit pump.
The only concern I have with this is by moving the asst. GM to the dugout, who’s going to help Perry find washed up broken down free agent pitchers to sign now?
It just feels like Jeff has described, in-game decisions, Friedman-ish and how he pulls Dave Roberts strings all the time.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/01/new-york-times-to-purchase-the-athletic.html
Uh oh. Something tells me the NYT is going to screw The Athletic up and destroy what they are doing there.
yep
I assume Topps has all the photos and artwork going all the way back so now Fanatics can control reissues. I’d love to see mixed sets with a 52 Mantle, a 48 Robinson, a 42 Musial, a 69 Seaver and so on.
They already do reprints and use the same images in sets nowadays
Adding Trevor Story to the roster shows us that there is no stop gap SS’s available worth a darn. In addition to not addressing pitching while going over the cap. We will see what happens when the idiots in charge get their acts together.
Agree. If we don’t add a SS, we won’t contend.
We definitely need a shortstop. That has to be priority #1 right now.
Story is likely a solid middle ground between huge money Correa and a retread like Simba.
I like the ideas of trading for Farmer from Cincy or Rojas from Miami. Each team has younger replacements for them but neither is really in a hurry to trade them.
We could sign Villar and just have an infield. This would put Fletcher at SS most days with Villar and Velasquez taking sone days. Villar primarily plays second but can cover third.
Fletcher can play world class shortstop if need be ( assuming his bat returns) Is there another option that could effectively man second base and provide stellar offense for a couple of years until one of the kids like Kyren, JJ or Aloe is ready?
Fletcher can play world class shortstop based on what? The power of love?
He’s a learner and he works hard so I bet he can survive at SS and there are roster options where I see that happening. I seriously doubt he’s anywhere near a top 10 SS though.
No Jeff. Mooaarrr pitchiiinnngg!
Though, down year and all, I really like Story. If he came to the team I’d be happy. But there’s a whole list of pitchers for CtPG to complain about that I’d like us to sign more. Or both, I’d take that too. Then trade Paris or Vera as part of a package for another starter. 240M payroll. Commitment to exhalants.
I was surprised we didn’t sign Galvis (or at least keep a hand in, letting him know it was on the table – was that allowed?). I think he was a better stopgap SS than Villar. I also think a stopgap SS is the way to go.
At this point, I would rather (still) spend money on more pitching and go into camp with Velasquez, Rengifo, Wade and see what shakes out of FA. Money to Story or Correa should only happen if we are really breaking the bank.
Honestly it looks like Galvis didn’t want to wait out the lockout and was at least somewhat into the idea of playing in Japan. I am almost certain, given the SS market, that some teams checked in with him. If he was “MLB or BUST!” he wouldn’t have signed in Japan, but he got basically the same money (round about) he would have here AND I for one think it would be kind of cool to try playing there. Our just letting him know we’re interested wasn’t gonna stop him from signing.
He was the guy I hoped to sign though…..
I agree, for the same 6M he has a guaranteed contract and plays in Japan. Good for him, less (or poorer) choices for us.
500 million dollars for Topps trading Card Co. Is Honus Wagner still the most valuable trading card or has Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle or even a Trouty rookie card passed him by?
Be a long time if ever, for Trout card values to even approach the T-206 values. Rarity means more than anything in the card markets, regardless of the player, and there are millions of Mike T cards around. $5-8 million for the Wagner, $175,000 for Mike, and it’s not even a MLB baseball card, it’s a Bowman “Prospects” card . Card collecting used to be fun, til the companies milked it for all they could and suddenly you had to buy 25 different sets every year.
Wagner still the most by far
The better the coaching and teaching the better the team. George Brett and other Royals players always said Charlie Lau taught them to be better hitters. Mike Maddux was credited with being a great pitching coach that turned teams pitching around. So good for the Angels realizing the need for bring in better coaching.
Better, or new?
Hope for better. Probably just different.