What a difference a week makes. Once all the actual baseball got out of the way, we got to jump into signings, trades, and awards.
First off, congrats to AL MVP Aaron Judge.
Judge is a class guy who had an amazing season. My congratulations are sincere. I’d personally vote for two way player Ohtani, but Judge put up an MVP season in any year.
That’s not the only reason Judge is in the news. Financial criminal/Mets owner Steve Cohen has made some remarks that are textbook collusion regarding Judge.
He’s not the only owner saying stupid things that violate the CBA. Jim Crane of the Astros discussed his negotiations with Justin Verlander. MLB is looking into all involved.
As for Justin Verlander, he just won his third Cy Young. Pretty nice trophy room for the whiny one: Rookie of the Year, MVP, 3 Cy Youngs, one tainted WS title, and this year’s.
Ohtani came in 4th in the Cy Young voting, but check this out:
In the NL, Paul Goldschmidt won a well deserved MVP.
Miami Marlins hurler Sandy Alcantara won the NL Cy Young Award in what was a great field.
All this pitching talk takes me to the biggest news out of Anaheim this week. The Angels signed Tyler Anderson away from the crosstown Dodgers. 3 years and $39 million for the lefty.
2Pints posited Anderson preferred to stay in SoCal and that appears to be the case.
He’ll have to face a tougher Seattle Mariners lineup as Trader Jerry landed Teoscar Hernandez from Toronto. He now has his sights set on Kolten Wong, who would also fit perfectly here. But first he had to trade Kyle Lewis to the Snakes.
The AL East is always tough and now that Baltimore is respectable, it will only get tougher. FanGraphs takes a look at how good the Orioles could be if they seriously went for it.
Rose’s staunchest defenders will say he never bet against his team. Perhaps, but there were plenty of games he didn’t bet and he seemed to lose all of them, often with suspicious management along the way.
Rose and his supporters assert he should be in as a player. He was a great player and his gambling happened as a manager. But, alas, that is also a lie. Rose clearly bet on baseball when he was a player.
I kind of feel bad for bashing Rose as he was one of my dad’s favorite players and I do think his on field accomplishments are HOF worthy. But he clearly broke the rules for decades and even a whiff of players or managers throwing games is enough to throw the credibility of the game into question. Ask boxing what happens when your credibility is in question.
Back to news. Today is the non-tender deadline. More talent could be on the move or joining the free agent pool. I took a look at some of the guys who interest me.
So after today, really fire up your off season pieces. Just remember the ground rules.
And while he might not be THE MVP he is definitely OUR MVP. Let’s enjoy the highlights of Ohtani’s 2022 season and appreciate the greatness we saw day in and day out.
Happy Birthday to our own csutton (Charles Sutton)!!!!
Ayyyy, Happy Birthday, Charles!
It’s only 11pm out west, got in under the wire. 😂
Why would anyone go to Dodger Stadium for any reason.
So now we play the seemingly annual “is payroll going up or are we going to fall short?” game.
We still need a starting left fielder and at least 1-2 bullpen arms. We have $15-17 million left if my calculations are right.
I think we’ll go cheap at catcher. I’d swoop up Alfaro who the Padres cut loose yesterday.
It’s not very difficult, the math is easy…
Ohtani’s Pitching + Ohatani’s Hitting > Judge’s Hitting
Ohtani (15 Wins, 175 ERA+, 1.09 WHIP, 219k, 166IP) + (160Hits, 34HR, 72BB, 11SB, .356 OBP, 519 SLG)
Judge (177Hits, 62HR, 87BB, 16SB, .425 OBP, .686SLG)
The difference in hitting stats? (Favoring Judge)
17Hits, 28HR, 10BB, 5SB, 69 OBP, 167 SLG
So that means, the voters think that
(17Hits, 28HR, 10BB, 5SB, .069 OBP, 167SLG) is greater than (15 Wins, 175ERA+, 1.09 WHIP, 219k, 166IP)
Who in their right mind would take that amount of hitting over 4th place Cy Young stats!!!!!
All you have to do is ignore all the math and other totally subjective gray area stuff they use to determine value and you’re onto something.
I’d prefer a great two way season to an incredible one way season myself.
However, this is an MVP race I probably won’t argue as much as I did the Trout/Miggy ones, particularly the first one.
Judge had an MLB caliber season. He just happened to have it while a unicorn had a historic season.
i like how Gubby put it.
charted territory vs uncharted territory
Sure, short on actual data, long on sentiment, plus he’s telling me something that supports my feels.
Dont really need to look for an angle to get into the minds of the writers. This year was pretty simple and easy to understand by looking over the past years of voting. When players do something that is eye-popping, makes a difference. Hitting 62 home runs and 400+ total bases, made a large noise. Narrowly missed a Triple Crown. Judge put up “dominating” offensive numbers and carried his team to the division title. It was an easy call as you can see by the final vote tally.
That sound you just heard was the brakes on the Angels sale being fully applied
Anaheim might hit Arte with $300 million for repairs to the Big A. An issue I’m confident the new owners will want resolved.
Sigh. Laugh. Sigh.
Just saw they quote about them planning to play Gio every day.
I assume they mean SS.
Yep, no more fantasies about a star SS signing. Not that I really expected it to happen, but there was hope.
Urshela can play third and short. I’d imagine he plays SS most of the time and covers Rendon for rest and injuries.
Maybe he starts the year at third and they ease Rendon in.
NOOOOOO! This doesn’t move the needle, won’t win us a championship in 2023 and won’t convince Shohei’s mom we are worthy! What’s next? Players having sex with their lovers during a series!?!?
I’m going to believe he’s Matt Duffy’s replacement for now
Let’s not forget another $6.5 million off the IIWPM budget.
Better write those articles quickly or they will be irrelevant.
A steal for a guy who put up 3.1 WAR last year.
Well, that may be the final squelching of any idea of the Angels signing one of the big SS FA…..
Gio time
I guess they needed a plan for when Rendon goes on the IL.
Yeah, now reflecting more on how Gio played 3B, I’m concerned now that they already know that Rendon is injured again….
Torn gluteus mas o menos
This might mean that are trying to move someone like Rengifo and Gio will become the new utility guy?
i sure hop this is a replacement for Duffy’s spot
This is the plan so far for Pujols’ service contract:
https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2022-11-14/albert-pujols-personal-services-contract-angels?_amp=true
So…. he’s a 10 million dollar semi-cheer leader who we will never have to see. He’ll also serve to advise young players on when to make sure you’re really good, when it’s safe to suck ass, and when you need to be able to turn it back on for 400ABs.
I’d honestly rather they just said “Look, you’re gonna autograph a baseball for every fan who purchased a ticket over the life of your contract over the next ten years.” Then the fans will all at least have gotten something from the whole experience. Yadi Molina can develop a two minute ritual he goes through everytime he replaces Alberts pen.
if he can get just a few DR kids with impact headed our way, this would be a huge benefit – thats where his value lies
Assuming they’re really kids .
lol and spit out my food on that one
Genious😂
Given how red his ass was when he left, how many young players do you think he’s sending our way really? How hard you think the Brown Stan Musial is gonna be pushing the the team that made him rich rather than the team he actually loved and played well for?
My guess is he gets paid because we have to pay him. He shows up at DSL once a year, gets out of a car, makes a speech with a red polo on, leaves the stage, and gets back into his car.
Frank Robinson showed up to my LL practice one day back in the early 70s, got out of a car and made a speech, and then got in the car and left.
he wasn’t wearing a red polo as i recall, but this 11 yr old LL’r clearly remembers a most curvaceous blonde was attached to his arm.
i dont remember anything he said.
but 50 years later i still remember that the curves that woman threw.
He will be a 100% asset in the DR – keep him there.
Three days in Tempe max.
“We’re real excited about the possibilities moving forward. He’s Albert Pujols. It’s an asset. He has a ton of baseball knowledge.”
I tend to disagree and I have 10-years of history to prove it.
Teammates love him and he’s revered in the DR.
It’s not for us to like him. It is for that kid who might be our shortstop in 2031 who’s dad pushes him under Albert’s care.
You think he pushes the young stud to the Angels or the Cardinals? This a test, not a trick question.
If he’s in the DR, I think it is like a college coach recruiting a kid with the promise the coach, Albert in this case, will keep an eye on the kid.
Albert will be at our facility.
Could also be on the Cards payroll
Judge won the MVP because he was more valuable than Ohtani. It’s actually that simple. Good for him, Ohtani will win it next year.
Verlander…. I originally was thinking he got ALL those 1st place votes? This is just old press ass munching a big name. Then I looked at his Bref and was like….. oh. And that stat line coming off a TJS layoff? He’s a horse, like Nolan Ryan style horse.
Yay! It finally happened. A free agent pitcher came out and specifically said he wanted to play in Anaheim because he likes the area. That incredible SoCal drawing power finally worked…. the rest of baseballs major pitching talent can only resist for six or seven years at a time before one of them realizes that sunshine is awesome and well worth giving away half your money in taxes, crazy people pooping at will and crime so out of control the cops only come if there’s a body. Plus, soonish, a bullet train to Merced!
Is there any way my IIWPM can be “Just spend 20M hiring 25 personal trainers, 20 scouts and analysts and 15 roving coaches…. preferably from the Dodgers, Cardinals, Rays and Indians. Oh and sign Tyler Anderson and some OF/1B right hander.”
The Pete Rose thing’s just not so tough. He’s an a-hole. He broke rules. I don’t think I’ll ever need a hall monitor/baseball fan to explain it to me ever again, in fact, I think we all understood why he was banned the day he was banned. He’s also not going to be the first rule breaking a-hole into the HOF. His primary sin was being so full of himself that he got blatant about it, then tried to big dick the MLB over it because you can’t banish the big red hit king.
The MLB is full of gambling now. It loves it. You’re stupid if you don’t think there are ton of MLB players on FanDuel or what ever…. or their bro is on it. The MLB is also pathetically simping for attention Vs the NFL all the time. At some point, when Rose is dead and can’t be a prick about it and the HOF is facing another year of just letting Harold Baines in, they will likely have a “prodigal sons come home” event and enshrine Joe Jackson and Rose. It’s just a 100% sure thing that no one in the MLB offices is ever gonna let Rose make a smug speech in Cooperstown. But they will make speeches FOR him once he’s dead.
Said speech will probably end with: PROBLEMGAMBLINGCALL1800ENABLERTHAT’S1800ENABLER.GAMBLINGCANHAVESERIOUSCONSEQURNCESTOGETHELPCALLTODAYORVISITWWW.MLBDEGENARATECASH.COMTHAT’Shttp://WWW.MLBDEGENARATECASH.COM.
And then a Draft Kings promo.
speaking of Shohei
for his next trick, this dude who just finished 4th in Cy Young as a starter and 2nd in MVP is going to be a CLOSER in Japan the first half of March, and then likely in Miami for a championship a week after that*.
Best guess he shows up in Tempe fourth week of March and has just spent the past 3-4 weeks closing for his national team.
hmmph
Worried? the dude will be crushing it in 2023.
do we root for Korea so he gets back to Tempe week earlier?
does he show up in Tempe in February for a couple weeks? I’m guessing he does – he has time to report here, then go back to Tokyo for the WBC. I think contractually he may have no choice but to report here – it doesn’t matter where he live.
we have a lot of SP arms here but does he stay a closer?
*Team Japan ain’t in AZ during this WBC.
Shohei Rules means there are no rules.
Am I worried ? yes but I’m worried whenever he does shit thats never been done at this level before . I just think it comes with the territory.
Yup. He’s gonna do awesome stuff till it breaks him…. and then someone will still owe him 240 million dollars.
Who hopes it’s us?
I don’t always say things on here that end up being true, but when I do I insist you highlight it for all to know, like you did today. Haha, even a blind squirrel is right twice a day.
Ha ha.
There were a few tweets of his I could have used, but this one just fit so perfectly well.
Just rename it the “Hall of Participation” and let everyone who had at least one major league at bat or threw at least one major league pitch get into the hall. This way no one is left out.
The inscription on the “Hall of Participation” would be:
Give me your pill poppers, your gamblers,
Your huddled masses yearning to hit a doctored baseball,
The wretched refuse attempting to date the underaged.
Send these, the pharmaceutical addicted, the trashcan thumping cheats, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
I swear I didn’t know the bat had cork in it.
Okay, I nominate Craig Gerber for the BBHOF.
Who’s with me?
Unlike when Donaldson beat out Trout, I (Grudgingly) can see Judge getting the MVP over Shohei. Judge won’t ever repeat this feat (62 HRs) again though. He’ll get his retirement contract, and with exception of Trout and few others, we all know what that does for a players’ stats. 💩 
I’ve long made my peace with Judge being the MVP especially after he broke the record. I thought it would have been a much closer vote though.
Now, if Shohei had that no-hitter against Oakland, who knows? I still think it’s Judge but it would have been more interesting.
For the Cy Young, I think it was the IP that pushed Shohei out of the top 3.
It doesn’t really matter. Verlander had a 220 ERA+. That’s crazy good. Ohtani was 170 and he seemed fantastic to my Lylin eyes. 220?
I didn’t say Shohei should have won Cy Young. Just that he finished out of the top 3, and maybe, maybe he deserved to be a finalist.
Verlander’s win is very much well deserved, only a homer would even question it. Even better that he won it unanimously as well.
And I said it doesn’t matter.
Am I the only one whose thought process went like this last night (While listening to the radio):
“Now we go to Giancarlo Stanton for an announcement [Why is Stanton giving Shohei the AL MVP?] blah blah blah Aaron Judge….[@#@@$%$!]”
I should have added Cody Bellinger to my non tender piece.
I don’t like him at $18 million but if he becomes a free agent, his elite defense in CF would push Trout to left and save sone wear and tear.
Would be a gamble but for $5 million worth taking IMO.
Agreed. $5 million would still buy alot of weed.
Plus his father was an Angel legend.
Planet 13 is close to the Big A and has an incredible selection.
Bellinger like Matt Kemp, let success and Hollywood glitter spoil them
And Puig.
LOL…Definitely Cinderfella Puig.
He could still wind up being better than Trout right?
Didn’t rose date an underaged girl?
Almost as bad as the lakers announcer. No way he lands that job if those same creepy pictures came out today.
You mean Chick liked really young chicks?
He had a 15 year old side piece when he was a married father or two.
In his defense, he really thought she was 16.
That’s a side story. The gambling is the reason for the ban.
Rosenthal claims she might have been only 14 when they started dating. Rose maintains she was 16 when he started the relationship to appear to comply with Ohio consent laws.
R Kelly is proud
Chad Curtis is out of prison and said hello…
So does Lenny Dykstra & John Wetteland
It was okay, that was the 60s and 70s, it was okay then.
Trout generated 6.3 of WAR in 2/3 of a season. Had he been on a winning/playoff team, he doubtlessly would have finished higher in the MVP voting. All the other guys ahead of him with the exception of Shohei were on winning clubs.
Let’s hear it for Manfred. Way to sign off on that FTX deal on every ump’s uniform. Well done to promote the integrity of the game.