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LA Angels Thursday News Crash: Switched Again

March 2, 2023

Andrew Velasquez switched again and says he will not be a switch hitter. A lot of the article is about how Patrick Sandoval is good. We sort of already knew that part. Davis Daniel is on the 60 day IL with a right shoulder strain. Brett Phillips plays catch with a young fan.

The Padres signed Roughned Odor. The Royals, in turn, signed Jackie Bradley Jr. to a minor league deal.

Oblique Strains

Seiya Suzuki withdrew from the World Baseball Classic with an oblique strain. The Cubs will use Trey Mancini in right field for however long Suzuki is unavailable. Tyler Glasnow will miss six to eight weeks with his grade 2 oblique strain.

Random Stuff

MLB intends to try to get a salary cap. New York City managed to misspell Jackie Robinson’s name on a road sign. Move over Pete Rose. Former minor leaguer Peter Bayer made over 100 baseball related bets in 2020.

Photo credit: Rex Fregosi

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Trusted Member

Fleckstein

21 days ago

I do not like Odor. I like the Pads. I hope he scrubs out.

Trusted Member

2002heaven

21 days ago

&w=350&h=254
Don’t forget me, since we’re talking about guys with Paper Mache arms.
Wow!! What a steal at round 2……..LOL (Halos Heaven draft talk)

Last edited 21 days ago by 2002heaven

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to 2002heaven

Donde esta el IIWPM? In said post will you go into how this guy’s arm has been his big problem and what you plan to do about it? CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT! There’s no way you’re just a loud clown with no actual thoughts. That IIWPM is gonna be great! Emojis.

Legend

Cowboy26

21 days ago

Reply to 2002heaven

Well at least your Mom still laughs at your jokes.

Legend

red floyd

21 days ago

Reply to Cowboy26

That’s not what SHE told me!

Trusted Member

Mikeal1st

21 days ago

I’ve long thought that the TV and payroll systems that MLB uses are just nuts.
Obviously, teams that spend $200-$300 million are going to have an advantage (Except for the Angels) over the teams spending $40-$100 million. I grew up watching the Big Red Machine but became an Angel’s fan after watching them lose year after year. Being the only league without a salary cap, MLB lags behind, and about a 3rd of the teams have little chance of winning a championship.
Blackouts have got to be one of the worse ideas that have hit the sport. I’ve been a chord cutter since 2010 and never missed cable. I actually got it back about six years ago for a roommate, but nobody ever watched it (except for Angel games) so I dropped it. I’m not going to pay $85 a month just to watch Angel games. I bought MLB streaming one year to find I couldn’t watch and Angel games and too many others due to being nationally televised.
Hopefully, before I die, MLB and the players union will come to their senses.

Trusted Member

2002heaven

21 days ago

Reply to Mikeal1st

The Angels overpay three players and don’t pay for anybody else.

Legend

red floyd

21 days ago

Reply to Mikeal1st

Blackouts. Because people in Honolulu aren’t going to bother travelling to the Big A when they can watch the game on MLB.tv. Yes, Honolulu is blacked out for the Angels.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Tyler Glasnow is the new Garret Richards.

Member

grichmanpoorman

21 days ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Homie has had a weird career.. been a rotation fixture since 2017 and yet somehow has only 60+ career starts.

Super Member

Senator_John_Blutarsky

21 days ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Mark Prior was the new Mark Mulder, Mark Mulder was the new Francisco Liriano, Francisco Liriano was the new Brandon Web, Brandon Webb was the new Kerry Wood, Kerry Wood was the new Matt Anderson, Matt Anderson was the new Ben McDonald, Ben McDonald was the new J.R. Richard, J.R. Richard was the new Mark Fidrych, Mark Fidrych was the new Dean Chance, Dean Chance was the new Smoky Joe Wood.
I blame Arte for all the injuries noted above.

Trusted Member

2002heaven

21 days ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Angel’s upgraded minor league housing?

Last edited 21 days ago by 2002heaven

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to 2002heaven

IIWPM?

💪 💪 💪 👈 🍆 ⚙

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Cowboy26

21 days ago

Reply to 2002heaven

Or Did you finally buy your mom a new dress?

Last edited 21 days ago by Cowboy26

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Arte…. his cheap and evil powers have been here all along, waiting, in the soil, before the sttlers, before the indians…. the evil was there, waiting.

Legend

Cowboy26

21 days ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Uh Sorry Gitcho but You cant say Indians any more. You have to call them “Native Guardians”.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Cowboy26

before the people who were here before the white devils but replaced the people who were here before them…. the evil was there, waiting…. Arte…. Andrew….. strippers.

Trusted Member

cookmeister

21 days ago

Salary cap seems like a good idea, but I can’t envision it happening with the MLBPA already stating they will never agree to it.

A salary floor would help a bit, however I’ve never been a fan of telling owners how they have to spend their money.

People always look to the NFL with their salary cap and how it could work. But MLB and NFL money is made and distributed differently. TV money is split between the NFL teams and is a massive chunk. MLB TV deals are all a team by team basis, that’s where a huge discrepancy is between the big market teams and others.

Trusted Member

2002heaven

21 days ago

Reply to cookmeister

A salary floor would help a bit, however I’ve never been a fan of telling owners how they have to spend their money.
Especially our own…….now go rant about the Pirates and that cretin Bob Nutting!!

Legend

Cowboy26

21 days ago

Reply to 2002heaven

I’ve never been of fan of anything you’ve had to say.

Super Member

WallyChuckChili

21 days ago

Reply to Cowboy26

I was a fan when he said he wouldn’t post for a few weeks.

Those were the Days…

Legend

red floyd

21 days ago

Reply to WallyChuckChili

And much like his IIWPM, we’re still waiting for those weeks.

Legend

Eric_in_Portland

21 days ago

about Phillips playing catch…

when I was a kid I went to see the New York Giants at their pre-season camp. One of the highlights was playing catch with a running back named Phil King. What a thrill! So good for Brett. I know….too bad he can’t hit but what a wonderful thing to do.

Super Member

RexFregosi

21 days ago

Reply to Eric_in_Portland

about Philips playing catch…

I didn’t see Phillips around till late in February when he arrived on the field at the stadium for workouts one day and it took me less than a minute to realize he was a bit whacked.

so during stadium workouts the team works on fielding drills with OF and IF for plays at any base. For this you need baserunners and they aren’t the other guys on the MLB invitee list, they’re scrubs or kids from A/AA ball.

these kids usually lie low, keep their head down and just don’t mix, talk to, or interact at all with the MLB besides a brief nod. Anyway, the spot Phillips arrived coincided with all these kids in a conga line headed back to 1b from behind the plate.

at intersection he proceeded to stop each one, smile and shake their hands introduce himself and wish them luck. They were thrilled to have the interaction and it was hilarious to watch.

Super Member

Twebur

21 days ago

Forget pitch clocks and defensive positioning — the biggest story in baseball right now is the collapse of the regional sports network and what it means for the future of how fans watch games.

https://sports.yahoo.com/forget-the-new-rules–the-biggest-story-in-baseball-right-now-is-the-collapse-of-the-regional-sports-networks-032239854.html

Super Member

Twebur

21 days ago

MLB ranking of the Angels wouldn’t be good….trAdition

Well, I don’t know how official any of these rankings really are.
-Jerry Seinfeld

https://nflpa.com/nfl-player-team-report-cards

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Super Member

Jessica DeLine

21 days ago

Jackie fun fact – we had a team sponsor with that in their name and Sara printed the jerseys with “Jakie” on them. So apparently it happens…

Super Member

GrandpaBaseball

21 days ago

Good morning my friends, today we will welcome the sunny skies and a break in the much-needed rain and snow. Yesterday we added another 30 inches to the total, so while the gas and electric bills hit the stratosphere, outside watering won’t happen for a bit of time.

read some article today the suggested we trade some of our surplus infielders to the Dodgers, let them call us and offer to much or they can go fish.

Trouty apparently believes the Halos are going to make the playoffs this season and Shohei resigns a contract to stay. Let’s pray that is what will take place.

Salary cap in MLB is as likey as the mountains in Southern California to start growing Palm Trees at 7300 feet. That’s funny stuff and stupid. While I will agree that CEO’s and CFO’s and COO’s that are pulling down 100 million dollars per year is crazy, so it is with professional baseball player’s pulling down 35+ million a year, but it is the market after all. If owners do not want to pay, then don’t. But you and I know they can’t help themselves. 13 year contracts are insane no matter what the dollars are worth at the end.

Next year I know how to make it snow very little and you may ask “How”, Well I’m purchasing a snow blower. 😂

Last edited 21 days ago by GrandpaBaseball

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Cowboy26

21 days ago

Reply to GrandpaBaseball

We have no surplus infielders Grandpa. It’s called depth that we have desperately needed for years now.

I couldn’t give rat’s ass about the Dodgers shortstop problems. They made the decision to let Seager and Turner walk and not replace them with the other 3 free agents but with Miami’s version of Squid.

I doubt A salary cap would ever happen in baseball even with a floor.They pissed away a World Series over this issue almost 30 years ago. What makes the Owners think that wouldn’t happen again?

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Cowboy26

I am inclined to think this way as well about the cap. Things is, owners could get smart about this. First, if they hire a smart PR guy to extoll the value of a high salary floor for a while till the next CBA negotiations, then “crack down hard” on teams who use revenue sharing money for things other than payroll, then maybe even say they would like to spread more wealth to the MLBPA’s newest pals the MiLB… you gotta remember, the “no salary cap” mega contracts go to about 75 total players at a time. Sow some envy into that MLBPA baby. There are plenty of guys like Squid who would love to average 3M a year salary and would likely vote for a system that gets them that at the expense of some limits on what Xander Bogarts gets paid at age 40.

The TV situation may also spur a fairly large pile of owners to be willing to lose an entire season rather than let the current system carry on for another whole CBA. If that’s the case, state it early.

“Look, we’re willing to pay MiLB guys more, we’re willing to pay more of our MLB rosters more money too and we’re willing to make the cheapskates who are ruining things get with the program. But we NEED to have some limits at the other end or 12 of our teams are willing to just let the players strike for an entire year. they’re that serious.”

You put that out there with the right spin…. could work within the MLBPA.

Member

Halos_in_DE

21 days ago

If you want a salary cap MLB fine. But an exception needs to be made:
Any player that is drafted or internationally signed as a teenager (so Ohtani/ JPL players are not included in exemption) by his current team is exempt from the salary cap.

It will hopefully reward those teams that draft really well.

Super Member

matthiasstephan

21 days ago

Reply to Halos_in_DE

Do you mean exempt for life?

So, Rengifo was first signed as a teenager by Seattle, was then traded to the Rays and then to us. Made his MLB debut with the Angels? Would he be exempt for us? Or only if he stayed and played MLB ball for Seattle?

If the latter, then does that encourage ‘drafting well’ or just discourage trading (young) international prospects?

Member

Halos_in_DE

21 days ago

Reply to matthiasstephan

Using your example, since Rengifo first signed with the Mariners, if he stayed there throughout, he would be exempt from the salary cap (for the M’s). It encourages drafting/ signing well.

The idea is that the Angels could give as much money as they want to someone like Trout, but the Yankees could not since they have to think about the cap.

Trusted Member

Mikeal1st

21 days ago

Reply to Halos_in_DE

Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense just to have all new players go through the draft?

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Halos_in_DE

But then I can’t demand that Arte (or what ever owner I am hating at the time for not being a championish baseball man) prove himself to me by buying me every player I want.