Welcome back to the real CtPG folks. Sorry about whatever happened earlier but whatever it was wiped out the original Weekend Links.
So here goes version 2.0….
The sun is out, the calendar says “February” and there’s that sense of peace knowing baseball is right around the corner. This is the penultimate Weekend Links before Rex blesses us with pictures from camp.
Mike Trout is already taking hacks and ramping up for the WBC and 2023 season.
I love that sound.
Getting paid nicely this week was Shohei Ohtani who inked a massive new deal with New Balance.
The fact the maker of epic dad shoes is based in bahstun is leading to speculation he’ll join the Roid Sux next year.
But Ohtani is the sport’s endorsement king. He gets money from everywhere.
Over in Japan there’s a snow sculpture that doesn’t really look like him at a big festival.
No pitcher in baseball was more successful on first pitches than Jaime Barria. Who knew? The fact his first pitch was rarely a fastball is interesting and could pave the way for future pitchers.
From around the league, the biggest story that isn’t getting much coverage is the impending bankruptcy of Diamond Sports. This could absolutely rock the baseball world.
You see, Diamond owns Bally which owns the local TV rights to over a third of the league, including our Angels. Local TV money is the economic lifeline of MLB franchises.
If only there was a successful business model the MLB could learn from and adopt.
There’s not a lot of news because there’s not a lot of deals being made. The free agent pool is pretty much done but here’s a look at the best remaining players and where they should sign.
In case you are wondering, the Angels are in on about everyone left. Would any of them make a huge difference? Just Chafin. Could we use some more talent? Always.
I will say the Elvis Andrus chatter, which is minimal, is interesting. Perhaps a one year deal for Elvis and a trade of another infielder could happen? Say Rengifo for an arm?
Yahoo found 17 guys poised for breakout years in 2023 and one is an Angel. Let me know who you guessed before reading the article. I have a feeling there are a few names we think might fit. Which is a good thing.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed.
NEWS FLASH: Fernando Tatis Jr. is still an idiot. That is all!!
😂
https://twitter.com/Sarah_IsabelVee/status/1621948836985053186
Did the Platypus say that because (Pick one or more):
a) He really likes Arte because Arte lets him do his thing now.
b) He has to if he wants to keep his Job.
c) His Ass was Grass if Arte had sold the team.
d) His new boss looks alot like his old boss.
e) None of the Above
B and C
Definitely C. Dude needs to go.
Yep, he ain’t did shiite all offseason.
Anything short of a strong 2nd place is a disaster. I don’t expect this roster to leap frog Houston, I’ll cut him a break.
Not a GG by any stretch of 80%er Nayshin. That guy who works in Washington state however is doing a FANTASIC job!!!
If You think Ward is bad? go look at the defensive metrics at the Player Jer Jer traded for thats going to be manning right field in the Emerald City next year at 5 times(!!!!!) the salary of Taylor Ward
He’s better defensively than Adell, and Ward was a catcher. Ward will drive in far more than he lets in.
Man, you are still trying and that is still not a thing.
So just an update to yesterday…
Mike Trout did not shoot down the Chinese balloon, it was just a boring ol’ F-22.
Thats what the Government is claiming? Then why did the balloon not collapse until it got to the east coast then, Huh?
Oh man, you’re right. Wake up SHEEPLE!
Wow the government has now done an about face and actually agreeing to release the classified Ballon destruction video.
https://twitter.com/TalkinHalos/status/1622311355247386624
Fantastic!
😂
…I was kinda thinkin’ that…
The illuminati did it because fears balloons, yeah…the only thing they fear, well, except house cats…..house cats and balloons……..indeed
Foundation Building Materials
I’m gonna buy a hundred!
I do like bricks, but as the years go by I can’t throw them as far as I used to.
Arte must think the stadium development deal is still on and he’s going to get those big corporate discounts on construction materials
We aren’t nearly as bad as they are defensively, but do you think the Angels are pulling a “Phillies” from last year? They got a lot more offense in their depth now. But it looks like they are gonna have a ton of guys playing risky defense. Starting with any of the guys we have now at SS, but also filling in at OF/1B most likely.
But the actual line up? Baring any “Fantastic Angels Magic” it’s gonna mash. The Phillies counted on a lot of platoons and defensive data that helped some pretty horrible fielders survive just enough for their offensive output to outrun their defensive woes. Is that crazy platypus trying a similar thing? If we see a bunch of games with Urshela or Fletcher at short then that’s what I assume they’re going for.
Oh no, gitcho has been mainlining hopium again.
Ho now. Where did I say I think it could/can’t work? I’m just wondering if the ol’ ChiTown Duckbeaver took a look at his resources, and then who won with what recently, and then charted a course.
The Dodgers actually de-prioritize defense too a lot of the time. They were pretty good last year but bottom third a lot the last few years.
Maybe this is the corner PTP is cutting this year? Though a bunch of our starters will actually be above average defenders too.
Well, the Phillies did make it to the WS last year. So if you’re comparing us to them you obviously think we have a shot at it.
And you’re right. Lineup depth is now there, so if we can just pitch like we did last year and Trouty plays 150 games we should be in a good spot.
Yeah…. but they fell smack into the “everything worked out OK” category. We were there last year already. We’re there now. If we make certain adjustments the way the Phillies did last year and all players involved actually pull it off, we avoid injuries and what injuries we have are well timed AND weany huge injuries work out the way Bryce Harper did last year…. sure, then maybe we can get lucky and make a hot run at the post season.
It CAN happen. It’s not even all that impossible. But is it likely? Nope.
How dare you call Mia a ‘Ho’! 😂
I didn’t take it that way at all, haha.
Considering that the Angels were the Bizarro Phillies last year, I guess anything is possible.
The outfield is very Phillies pre Marsh. They will give up some hits.
Infield should be good on the corners but a Fletcher/Rengifo keystone is meh.
Perhaps there’s some wisdom in getting Andrus and moving Fletcher to second where he’s pretty good.
Nah…. we don’t have a single outfielder as bad as Schwarber/Castellanos much less both of them.
You mean a Fletcher/Rengifo/Drury Keystone?
Yep.
I mean, is this notion of Fletcher being a defensive liability at short based on data, or is just one of those Arty-is-evil canonical things? Because the advanced data (of which I have very little real knowledge, admittedly!) seems to show that he was well-above average in terms of runs saved over a full season: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2022-specialpos_ss-fielding.shtml
That’s a limited sample, true… but 36 games is nothing to sniff at. He had the highest runs-saved projection of any AL shortstop with at least 200 innings, in fact.
Not trying to big foot. Honestly curious if there’s a reason why people have doubts.
I think he’s gonna be solid on any ball he gets to and any throw he can actually make. I also think that a healthy Rendon at 3B will help a lot. But, if you want, look at things like his range factor. He has skills, but limited ability to cover a large area and make deep throws. So that’s where the doubt about his over all effectiveness comes in. I don’t think anyone believes he’s gonna boot the easy balls.
Though Iglesias was an above average ACTUAL shortstop…. but Angels fan magic transformed him.
Thing is, if the team’s lucky, this comes into play on about 2% of his chances. And then a low % of those extra runners score. And then a high % of those runs scored are in games where that single run doesn’t matter much. AND he’s offensively effective, which negates some of that loss… then all is well.
It’s possible the Angels have done that math on Fletcher, Urshela and Rengifo and are rolling with it. Especially if they can arrange to have Soto/Squid around to play when defense is at a premium. Like the last 2 innings of a one run game.
This is Fletcher we’re talking about. Old White Guy’s favorite player since Eck. So I think the JuJu will be strong with lil’ David. But it’s a risk. We have to see if the love for Davey can outweigh the fact that this is a decision made by an FO while Arte owns the team and the emotional needs of so many will not be met if it works well. Minds will bend, noses will bleed, the invisible battle will be fierce.
Or we’ll just sign Andrus and pay him to kind of suck but have range and an arm.
shortstops who have great range but are considered to be undersized with a perceived weak throwing arm should be avoided at all costs. It was a miracle we ever won any games with that David Eckstein guy.
But where is your data that Eckstein fans are Fletcher fans?
Gold.
I’d just put Drury at 2nd, 162 games and try to move Fletcher for something. Really is a subpar offensive talent at this point but there might be some team that likes his ability to not strikeout. If Perry fails again to solve the SS position, maybe Jose Iglesias for 1-yr. Better bang for the buck than Andrus (yuck).
Jose Iglesias Sucks. Id rather play Squid or Soto there.
Andrus sucks. Keep him far and wide away from Anaheim. Per-Per won’t run Squid out there as a starter but his inability to address the hole that has been there the last 1.5 years may force him to.
Out of curiosity and not understanding this stuff, what exactly broke the site earlier?
Our tears of destitute.
Ju Ju. Negative ju ju ruptured one of the sky tubes that tiny spiders of information march around in.
We don’t know. At least I don’t know.
Site crashed hard overnight.
Mariner fans did it….or the Dutch.
It was Andrew. He knows we’re on to him.
I’m pretty sure Andrew began his life as a mariner for the Dutch East Indies Company…. he is a near immortal evil.
Don’t ignore this guy. He would have been called up last year if it wasn’t for his season ending collision. At the very least he will be a depth piece at the great Salt Lake. https://twitter.com/AaronHowie/status/1621591890096185344
Dude. Amen. Trey Cabbage is my secret MiLB man crush this year. He is Walsh 2.0. Has an OPS of almost .900 the last two years in the high minors and is a tolerable fielder at 1B/LF/RF as well as being a total badass and no one cares, he’s a non-prospect. But he’s exactly the type guy who comes up for 20 games and crushes it when a team has the JuJu.
He’s exactly the kind of guy who responds to a Twitter DM and does an interview with a little fan site.
http://crashingthepearlygates.com/2021/12/14/trey-cabbage-talks-with-ctpg/
Easy solution to the Ohtani stress is trading Ohtani.
Solved.
Or re-sign him stat!
Then the “how dare you pay just three guys 100M and not guarantee us a title” bullshit starts.
Aren’t we doing that this year?
I think he really meant “pay three guys $120M “
The bullshit? Yes, but that’s pre-event bullshit. The real pie has yet to plop. Arte’s damned if he does/doesn’t on this one.
Though Arte could do the right thing and free all the players from his evil, do a full tear down, and head into 2024 with a 40M payroll and a stacked farm who he buys premium meals for every day while he provides pillow cubes for tight sleeping in modern rustic condos.
Premium meals?
That’s a lot to ask of Arte.
That’s so fking frustrating too. I mean, I actually know what a nutritionist and menu plan costs for around 80 people because of the company I work for.
Arte (and most other owners) has definitely lost more money than that costs when a single semi-expensive Intl signing decides to hit KFC way too often at age 20 and flames out.
Now a lot of this whining is bullshit because the “starvation” is really only unavoidable for prospects who had a low/no bonus or didn’t negotiate an MiLB contract. It’s not even close to all of our MiLB players.
But you can get the most control over what these guys all eat and get the most juice out of your farm by simply offering the food yourself…. so why not JUST DO IT? Same with housing. Just take those issues away if you don’t want your farm hands focusing on them.
The cost of a single failed high round draft pick would cover it for four levels of our farm for a couple years if we do it right. The benefits of a single 12th rounder becoming a stud reliever for five years would far outweigh all the costs…. it’s just not that hard to sort out.
I believe that the changes to the tax code in approximately 2018 made employee meals non-deductible for business owners. If true. I wonder if that has anything to do with Arte deciding to minimize paying for minor league players’ lunches.
Not sure. Are the Angels a Subchapter S Corp or a C Corp?
Yeah – no idea. Just a passing thought
Survey says? DING!!! #1 answer.
Let’s get the 5 stages of grief started already!
Which one are we on now?
The stages of dying (which some incorrectly call the stages of grief) apply to death. That’s it. They apply to the death of a loved one or one’s own terminal diagnosis. They were not intended to be applied to other kinds of loss.
This is true. But it is used interchangeably in popular culture. And my comment was more tongue in cheek than serious.
But I appreciate the added clarification, Jack.
But what if I go through all of them but no one has died? Like if I put everything I have both emotionally and monetarily into buying local baseball TV rights?
Denial. Very much denial.
It ain’t just a river in Egypt.
People don’t get it — they are not trading him.
Get used to it. Get used to him hitting bombs and pitching shutouts cause you’ll be dealing with alot of that horrible stuff this season.
Good to hear from an authority on the topic!
How many shutouts has he tossed?
Now days, I think if you pitch 5 shut out innings it counts.
But I can still mention that we should trade him constantly till August 2nd right? Even if we extend him? Cause feelz and fan is short for fanatic and blah bloop. Right?
It’s ok by me, but unfortunately I am not triggered by implications we might trade baderoot.
The only thing dumber than not trading him is not signing him and then “doing our darndest” to sign him as an FA. Cause old men and children want to see it for six more months and can’t have them have sadz.
But, also stupid, is paying him what he’ll want. So really, the big stupid happened last July.
So…. expect something stupid I guess.
If we get to keep him it will at least be fun stupid till it sinks in we can’t magically produce a new farm in one year and we are also back to signing free agents who don’t shift men’s needles.
And the only thing dumber than that would be to trade for him by giving up one of your top prospects, doing your darndest” to re-sign him as an FA only to lose out to your cross town rivals so you are then forced to pivot and throw millions at some coke addicted narcissist.
I think a team that wants Ohtani and is in the title hunt should totally trade for him. Bulk up for that post season run. Then try to sign him, which will be especially easy if you win.
Oh wait, are you having another CtPG “Arte is a stand in for my dad. I hate my dad…” moment where you bring up something totally normal like a team trading a top prospect for an ace pitcher during a post season run but said pitcher doesn’t sign with the team at the end of it all, like it’s some incredible deep “he made me ride my sister’s bike to prom” wounding of the soul?
Is this just an Arte, I hate him hate him hate him! take or do you really think the team should never trade top prospects for platform year FAs to help with a playoff push going forward? Unless of course the FO can somehow 100% guarantee that said FA will sign here?
none of this matters…she says he won’t sign, because lack of grit and winning…..plus his mom said so.
https://twitter.com/angelsreddit/status/1621632169130229761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1621632169130229761%7Ctwgr%5E0ba1046387986eb16e8cc6da5d327d93869253d6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhalohangout.com%2Fposts%2Fmlb-network-reporter-has-a-ridiculous-shohei-ohtani-take-01gredsqp96y
The Ohtani to Doyers done deal Virus is everywhere. its like a concerted effort by the team to plant this Narrative with all of their local team TV reporters and sycophantic radio personalties.
Breaking News ——- Rumored that a baseball hit from a Mike Trout batting practice took down the Chinese Spy Ballon over Montana.
Nooooooo! Not Pooh Bear’s balloon!
Everyone put your super secret projects back in their hangars.
I apologize if this is regarded as political, but they should allow this at the Macy’s parade.
Huge pooh bear with a giant red “weather” balloon in a parade…. all time great trolls.
No Angels are allowed to break out while Arte owns the team. If they do it’s not really a break out and I won’t be fooled.
I say Detmers.
Didn’t think of him.
My guess was Rengifo. Had a good second half, was on fire at the plate, the GG nomination.
I was gonna say Packy Naughton Cy Young but then the facts got in my way.
I thought Jared Walsh
My guess was Ward. Hope he can have a full healthy season to prove himself.
Those can’t be the NB he’s releasing. This has to be satire.
I miss the old busted look
We can try to break it again
I for one, do not.
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. JDL
yeah, I was kidding. Thanks to the staff for the great work getting this fixed.
Staff = Jessica on this one.
She deserves 100% of the praise.
I actually had to work today instead of hanging out here. Barely survived.
I watched this movie yesterday. Maybe I crashed the site.
This is our story and we’re sticking to it.
Today was my most productive in a while.
I’m sure it is a coincidence.
I still blame Arte!
definitely his fault. he should have sold the team!
With our luck, he would have sold the team to Andrew.
Please know your memes. It’s ANDREW’S fault!
See reply to Jessica.
Team was going to Andrew.