LA Angels Weekend News Crash: Progress and Disappointment

The good news is that both the MLBPA and MLB owners are now at the negotiating table. Offers and counter offers are going back and forth. Progress on a new deal is being made but the clock is ticking.

Who’d have thought that getting together and tossing ideas back and forth is what leads to a deal? Hmm….

Here’s a nice recap of the progress that has been made. I think we all pretty much like this. If you read between the lines you can see the progress not made: salary floor, anti tanking measures, luxury tax. I’ve long been of the opinion that once two sides decide to do something, the dollar component gets straightened out. We’ll see.

One group getting overlooked here is the charity network tied to Spring Training. The Angels work with the Tempe Diablos who do tremendous work in the area and other clubs have charity tie ins. I’ve talked to these folks year after year and the revenues generated do a ton of good in the Phoenix community. After two down years in a row, these groups really need some help.

Once the lockout is lifted, front offices will have a ton of work to do. How have AL teams addressed their biggest weaknesses so far?

Jeff Fletcher took on a mailbag. Is it time to extend Ohtani and what other moves are the Angels likely to make?

The bad news has been discussed a lot around here. Artificially Big Papi will get inducted into the Hall of Fame. This makes a mockery of the Hall and points out the hypocrisy of the voters. Cheat all you want, have a low WAR, but have a cute nickname.

Not getting in were vastly superior players with ties to PEDs. Even the non-juiced version of Bonds was better than Papi, but why have consistency and put the Steroid Era to rest with an All Steroid Class?

Now it is time to take a look at other names on the ballot and their chances of eventually getting the call.

After last week’s epic Bills vs. Chiefs game there has been a lot of talk about changing the NFL overtime rules to ensure each team receives a possession. Now, the Frontier League, a partner league of MLB, proposes to add a “sudden death” format to extra innings baseball games. This will make for some really fun managerial decisions.

I love it when a player shows some humor and humility. I also enjoyed watching Gordon Beckham in his short time here with the Angels. This is a great way to announce his retirement:

One last note. We witnessed incredible history last year. Shohei Ohtani did things we never thought possible. His year and legacy will be written about and discussed for as long as baseball is played.

Angels beat writer and great Twitter follow Jeff Fletcher has written a book on Shohei and will join me this afternoon for a Zoom chat. I’ll post the talk here later today. In the meantime, I’m pre-ordering this book and look forward to reading it.