Morning Angels fans. Links, have some.
Angels News
Arbitration hearings are underway. Taylor “Blake” Ward won his. He gets 4.8 Million US dollars for 2024.
Speaking of Ward, he and Rengifo are on MLB.com’s All-Underrated team. Maybe the Angels won’t be as bad as we thought this year?
Around Baseball
Trashos lock up Altuve long term. No one else would be able to handle the fan backlash anyway so whatever.
Dodgers keep Kershaw on a 1 year deal. Odds he retires after this?
Las Vegas mayor says the A’s should stay in Oakland. Too bad her jurisdiction doesn’t cover the area the A’s are moving to since that would be outside city borders.
MLB is slowly releasing their top 100 for 2024. Here is 100-91. And 90-81.
While the new super expensive Apple Vision pro is missing a lot of features, it does have an MLB app. Could be better.
Here are all public ballots for the 2024 MLB HOF. Who organizes a list that way?
MLB The Show Negro League Edition. Pretty neat.
XKCD What If? Is a fun website turned book that explores crazy hypothetical physics stuff. But in case you do not want to read, here is a video about throwing a baseball at near light speed.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
But noooooo, we have to pick up another -.4 WAR reliever instead.
https://x.com/BauerOutage/status/1755373148877566044?s=20
So you’d rather have Bauer? But what if Zuniga likes rough sex too?
The Jays lost their Arb vs Vlad Jr. He’s too expensive for them now. Maybe they’ll trade him to us for Baldoquin! Quick, Perry needs to sign Baldoquin.
Serious note, what would you give up for Vlad Jr?
Detmers, Neto & Ward?
Interesting. He’s had 1 MVP year which was really good, 1 30% better than average year, 2 15% better than average, and 1 average, and he has no defensive value. He’s a DH/1B. He is only soon to be 25 but next year he’s a free agent. He may have another MVP year but otherwise, He’s just a better than average player with no defensive value so definitely not. He probably won’t age well and he’ll want more than he’s actually worth in free agency. If was Toronto, depending on what he wanted, I’d probably let him walk.
I probably agree with, but the question remains: What would part with?
In all seriousness, I’d offer Schanuel & Sandoval.
I’m trying to figure why Toronto would do it but the challenge is that he only has this year before he’s FA. Schanuel has 6 and Sandoval has 3 including this year. I would offer Drury and Estevez since they are both FA next year as well. Vlad Jr could be our DH for this year and we could have your favorite player as our 2B. It would also cost the angels about 7M for the salary differential. I would do it but I don’t know that it helps the blue Jays. It would be very close in WAR value assuming Vlad had any of the years other than his MVP year. The problem is that it doesn’t make sense because Torronto is competing to go to the world series this year and we are not.
Dude, if we can make it happen for Drury & Carlos,
you fuggin’ do it. Twice on Sunday. And I love Drury.
Jr., whatever his shortcomings may be, can hit. Moreover, he has
a bit of an “it”
factor to him.
Vladdy Jr isn’t a free agent until ’26. Hes a Super 2 guy so he gets an extra year of Arbitration
Thanks for the update
Too much, Vlad Jr has peaked.
Urshela makes too much sense. In a vacuum I’d rather add Anderson as I think he’ll be healthy and rebound this year.
But we need a good third baseman and Urshela can handle the hot corner.
Why would you put an MLB player in a vacuum Jeff? Usually I follow your logical posts, but I can’t follow this one.
😀
“In a vacuum”, much like “deep water navy” are additional words that people typically throw in to make their point sound more profound.
I’m not of course accusing JJ of this because he pisses excellence with nary an effort.
Part of the problem is we’re not sure if he means an actual vacuum (which would be fatal) or a vacuum cleaner (which would just be uncomfortable)
This whole dialogue feels like a subplot for Breaking Bad.
Well, if that player was Blanton, there’s always explosive decompression?
Various media guys already have their Angels articles ready to release, but they just need to choose which of the 2 to press “publish” on.
#1 says the Angels have signed Snell, which is a questionable move for a team that is so out of contention and needs a lot more than Snell, especially since Snell is inconsistent and costs us a draft pick, and the team has still had a bad offseason overall and is “irrelevant.”
#2 says the Angels have missed out on Snell, which means they’ve done absolutely nothing to replace Ohtani, and Snell would have been a great replacement for him in the rotation, but now they have had a terrible offseason and are “irrelevant”.
Both options are true…..
Schrodinger’s Signing?
Mr Irrelevant is in the Super Bowl.
Zu-ni-ga! Zu-ni-ga!
Nah, that probably won’t be a thing….
Daphne?
I’ll stop saying the same thing over and over if Perry stops doing the same thing over and over
I meant Daphne Zuñiga.
Another relief pitcher? Perry’s gone mad.
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1755306099325177913
At least he’s got 2 options left.
Angels use Spirit Air? I’ll make travel arrangements.
SLC – SNAFind cheap flights from Salt Lake City to John Wayne (Santa Ana) from $42
Wow, Perry still going for heat-throwing.
99.4 average fastball.
And misses bats, unfortunately he misses the plate also, so walks are a thing with him.
This isn’t high school ball where the hardest throwing guy dominates. If the pitcher cannot hit spots with the fastball or any pitch, he will not be successful. The Independent and Mexican Leagues are full of guys who throw heat but can’t pitch.
Compared to Austin Warren? I’ll take the Zuniga.
I don’t give a crap that Warren is gone. The comparison is to any pitcher.
But his MLB K/9 is 18.0/9 and his K/BB is infinity so thats pretty good, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai4QZhZuahM
Only when factoring in his 2023 minor league ERA of 7.63 and WHIP of 1.70
It’s like drawing from the pile and discarding. He’s playing gin-rummy
And everyone else is playing Go Fish
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zuniggu01.shtml
that is a very “impressive” Memphis line. Still, you never know. That’s possibly Perry’s motto.
The Cardinals, just like the Rays, are known for giving away players who are really good…….
Position players . Not necessarily pitchers
A sincere kudos to Perry. Took him forever to correctly build a bullpen full of velocity.
This dude throws 100+ and Warren was barely average (if that).
Good move. No risk, moderate reward.
I like this pickup. Only 25, throws heat, and has options.
NAHR! SO ANGER! NEEDZ TO SIGH EN STARZ ONLER! LAK ZAC EFFRON! AH WIW AR GEW AN BE MAD/SAD/MAD CUZ TRASH GOES ANF NAH STAR CUMZIN!!! SO STOOPIDZ! TITANIG DECK CHAIRZ!
$3500 to look at the usual app that I can see on my ipad? For $3500 I want to feel like I’m sitting in the stands.
For $3500 I want to be sitting in the dugout.
Good point… I retract my previous post and now wish to be the umpire.
For $3500 I want a blond and a brunette….
As gitch said yesterday, can we just sign Gio back and get it over with? Makes too much sense.
“Heard NYM and NYY have both shown interest, but Angels and Marlins have made better offers at this time.”
https://twitter.com/BryanHoch/status/1755288414755188834?t=QqbMRWU9aMD9nxOSzGUYkQ&s=19
So three others teams that actually have legitimate playoff chances are also interested in Gio?
Good luck closing that deal Perry.
Welp. At least they are exploring the same thing I’m exploring.
LV Mayor: A’s should stay in Oakland
me: 🤣
Being that I’m not sure of anything connected to the A’s, one thing is for sure is that Oakland is a place no one wants to go to just to watch a baseball game. It’s worse than being hauled into Doyer Stadium.
Yep When your In n Out has to close due to crime you know you got serious problems.
Wasn’t This just a political hit job since the proposed site is outside of her jurisdiction and she was unhappy the A’s didn’t pick her site ?
But either way this sounds soooo Arte ish.
Isn’t the new stadium on the Tropicana site? I thought that was in Vegas proper.
They are in the unincorporated area of Paradise which is managed by Clark County/Paradise board.
Clearly the LV Mayor has not spent any time in Oakland……
Rengifo named to the all underrated team. Say it louder for the recalcitrant ones in the back row, haha.
I guess the arbitrators didn’t have the heart to deny Ward’s petition considering how his season ended. Understandable. Ward bouncing back will be one of the more interesting things to watch this Spring.
Tim Anderson makes sense on every level. Sign him already, please.
You are correct about Anderson. Price is the main question.
But Is he available?
Is this a new variable to your “can he pitch” quip?
BTW, can he pitch?
Playing SS or 2b is tough to do but hitting a pitch at a speed of 100+mph is tougher. Assuming that Tim Anderson is available, why have 29 teams not signed him up already?
Because Anderson has a glass jaw.
There is that 😩
Just, don’t call Anderson “Jackie.”
Numerous players remain unsigned for various reasons.
It Anderson washed? Maybe.
Does he have a bad attitude? Maybe.
Is he position flexible and inexpensive on a one year deal? Maybe.
Who are you suggesting that we bring on board for the final bench spot?
Anderson could serve in the capacity of a punch taker if someone goes after Trout with a cheap shot (Not recommended).
“Altuve swings an off-handed slap, DOWN GOES ANDERSON!”
Perry doesn’t listen to us, but I do know it will be someone cheaper than Anderson.
🎼 His name is Gio and he dances on the sand 🎼
(er Potomac Mud)
Hey now, woo, look at that, did he you nearly fall down
At the end of the dive, the trainers arrive
You fell and broke your hip, hip, hip…
His name is Gio, PTP needs to understand
And we might sign him if we’re looking like we can
Oh Gio, Gio, broke your pelvis falling on the land
From oblique strains in the torso sign him for $750 Grand
Masterpiece humor there Twebur
Is he willing to accept bench job
Pretty much thats what he’s being offered by every team however, with our motley crew we probably give him one of the better opportunities for playing time.
Exactly. This is apparently our new requirement for marginal players. They must accept bench jobs. How did that sh*t start BTW?
What’s the price tag at this point? 1-year @ 7.5 million? Maybe less?
If we sign Price, can we have Granderson and Wilson thrown in?
I saw that and I knew it would make your day.
The Rengifo bit?
Indeed. The hate against merely serves to fuel my love for him. Platonic love, of course.
Negro League video game looks cool.
This looks to be a very different year in a lot of ways. 5 man rotation, youth all around the diamond, no big feee agent signing, really low expectations.
I think what you are trying to say JJ, is that it’s time to party like it’s 2002 !!
I think 1995 would be a better comparison at this point.
I was born in ’95. No comprende amigo
Before or after the collapse?
I’d take 1995 and its collapse replicated in 2024 any day of the week, sans the coke of course
Yeah. That looks really cool.
Ron Washington?
Soon to be known around these parts as The 15 WAR Man.
Kidding aside, I’m quite excited for this season. The glee that comes from watching young players figure it out over the course of 162 is never not enjoyable.
We still have the 🐐, a REAL manager, and a crop of interesting talent brimming with potential and youthful enthusiasm. Fun will be had in 2024.
This team was all about the Japanese 🦄 for the past 3 years and we were terrible nearly every singly day of it. Maybe we had to lose something great to move onto something better — a team.
Spring Training is almost here, fam! What are you looking forward to the most about Angels’ baseball this year?
Hope Springs eternal……
It might be a struggle year, but getting this youth tested will be great. Some will rise, some will get exposed. We’re a team that needs to rebuild and can’t do much until a certain third baseman rides off into the sunset to play golf. Do I expect they make some late signing splash still? Yes. A good season still looks like third place in the division, but stranger things have happened. I will always keep up hope… (such as, Arte may still sell)
What is a good thing is the A’s are in our division.
I hadn’t been looking forward to the season much but this post changes my mind, at least a bit.
8 Days!!