Good morning Angels fans, have some links!
Angels News
The Angels have won 4 in a row. 3 one run games, 2 extra inning games. After losing on Opening Day 8-1, the Angels are now 4-1 and are in first place in the AL West!
How did this happen? Well apparently good pitching and clutch hitting, as the Angels actually have a -2 run differential due in large part to losing on Opening Day 8-1.
Seemingly the most clutch so far has been Kyren Paris. The 2nd round pick in 2019 has shown he deserves more playing time as he has delivered in these Angels wins.
Angels trade Petersen to the Braves. For cash. He was DFA-ed earlier, but the Braves are desperate so paid the Angels to take him.
Around Baseball
The Braves are the last winless team of 2025. But it isn’t just a hard schedule, as they lost Profar to being caught taking performance enhancing drugs from his fellow cheating cheater friend Tatis jr, Reynado Lopez to an arm surgery, and their entire lineup hitting under the Medoza line. Needless to say, Fangraphs already adjusted their postseason odds and it has gone down to “only” 75%. Zips is harsher, at only 70% playoff odds.
Lance Lynn is now officially retired. The SP apparently didn’t get any MLB offers.
David Bendar was once an All Star Closer for the Pirates. Now he is back in the minors after the Pirates optioned him. He has fallen apart the last year and a week, unable to even stay on the MLB team anymore.
California is where the best teams are to start 2025. The 5 California Teams are 23-6 to start the year, or 21-2 if the A’s don’t count due to them refusing to name themselves the Sacramento A’s this season.
Garrett Crochet signed a 6Y/170M extension with the Red Sox. He has a condition in the deal that if he gets hurt too much, the deal will be altered in the Red Sox’s favor. Still, it is a massive deal for both sides and make the White Sox look cheap for trading him.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
Let’s take a vote…..
More interesting topic
Paris not in the lineup?
or
Rendon not in the lineup?
🙃
Hmm let me think about that
Fuck it – I’ve seen the light. They said it could never happen, but it has: we have another unicorn.
I’m now worshipping at the altar of Kyren Paris.
It’s time to admit that Kyren Paris is Ohtani v2.0, and Wash is the “Michael Scott” of baseball managers for not having him pitch every fifth day and playing in the field when he’s not pitching. He has developed elite bat speed and power over the last few months, and he’s faster on the basepaths than Ricky Henderson.
Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Ron Washington, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Gene Autry Way with all the other rich people, and I want him brought right here! With a big ribbon on his head! And I want to look him straight in the eye, and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is for not playing Kyren every inning of every game! Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol.
We’re all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm early season emergency here. We’re gonna press on, and we’re gonna have the hap, hap, happiest season since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Trout squeezes his fat white ass into his uniform today, he’s gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse cheering Kyren on.
LOL!
BTW: I’m claiming the inspiration for that rant due to my earlier Cousin Eddie comment.
Senator, I wouldn’t be more surprised at this revelation you are having than if I woke up in the morning with my head sewn to the carpet.
At this rate, Rendon will be back in the lineup before Paris.
No Moniak sightings?
Yes
“I’m not worried about who’s off to a great start offensively” is the worst thing a manager could say.
If you care about winning, play the hot hand.
If you care about creating a competitive culture in which results are rewarded, you care.
When a guy starts to feel like he’s not going to get a shot no matter what he does, that sucks. Conversely, when other guys realize they will get the nod regardless of their play, they can relax.
Wash sounds like a clown here. Just indefensible.
It’s pretty defensible. But keep on clutching those pearls.
I actually thought his entire statement made sense. I’m also assuming he’s talked to Paris about all this. It also sounds like Paris will play some more games.
If coach would have started me at shooting guard in hgh school, I’m pretty sure we would have gone to state.
I believe that!
Soaking it up in a hottub with your soul mate.
Were those his exact words? If so, he could’ve put them differently. But the point is sound. Regression to the mean is a thing and so is progression to the mean. If you expect or hope for a player to get untracked and start hitting, you don’t take them out of the lineup. Should he bench Trout because he’s batting .200? If Kyren is legit, he’ll get his at bats.
Also, it’s the 5th game of the season and stuff.
5th
Game
People
I’ll never forget the time Soth watched Wood hit two homers in a game and then promptly sat him the very next day. Wash needs to play Paris while he’s hot. End of story, him not doing so is all about him and not the team.
Just think… we could have had Brandon Wood.
No, we could have traded him for a future HOFer.
The team is winning. Second-guessing the lineup at this point in time is funny.
Let’s wait for the inevitable losing streak before we get unhinged, there’s still plenty of time for our yearly expressions of fear and loathing.
This would make sense if we couldn’t attribute 3 wins almost entirely to the bat of the player in question.
We’ve played 5 games, winning four of them. So the argument is the team would be undefeated if the player in question had more at bats?
No the argument is that the team would be 2-3 without him.
This thread feels like I’m having a circular conversation with one of my kids, and I’ve now forgotten what we’re discussing.
Carry on. All is well.
Adult children who know everything is like the jelly of the month club…the gift that just keeps on giving.
I know that, when ever I have had a problem I can’t solve right away or am being threatened in some way, I wish i had a thirteen year old girl around to sort shit out for me… maybe even kick some ass with those karate skills they all seem to have picked up in their sleep.
Might be smart to keep it going, same usage, rinse repeat.
Can’t win more when you’re 4-0 in your last 4, can you? 😀
Except in my opinion, they are winning in spite of Washington, not because of him right now. I think he actually summed it up best at the end of the interview “So I’ve got a challenge on my hands, and I’m gonna figure it out before it’s over.””
I love how we all bitch about managers and not being transparent and blah blah…. and then a guy is pretty strait forward about what he’s doing and we shit our Kirkland jeans over it.
So because he is transparent we’re not allowed to disagree with him. I haven’t heard anyone complain about his lack of transparancy.
I looked up the Angels Managers list wiki. There were some really good baseball people that you and I collectively found reasons to hate for reasons that now don’t seem so clear to me.
Many of them were around before social media so we second guessed them at the water cooler. Most of us could never reasonably hope to sniff a field as a player but we assume that we could be a GM or Manger because we watched on TV or played JV ball in high school. I think the second guessing is fun and as old as the game itself, but I also smirk at my own hubris.
I agree Pedro, although, in most cases you’re just second guessing individual decisions, which as you state is always part of life as a sports fan, And it doesn’t mean you’re not sometimes or often right.
I remember being a back up outfielder on a stacked team that was winning a lot while making 10s of dollars playing unaffiliated ball. I had started off the season 7 for 7 with a couple of bombs but only had 7 at bats after 4 or 5 games. I went and complained to the Manager that he should play me more because I was hot and everything looked like a beachball. He told me that I had been successful because he understood my strengths which was mainly hitting hard stuff and that he had used me wisely in critical situations. I remember hating that answer because it felt like a chicken & egg dynamic where I’d never get an opportunity.
In hindsight, was the assessment correct?
A grudgingly given yes. I ended up playing a lot that season and while I had a nice year, I didn’t sustain that level of hitting. My weaknesses were also exposed versus guys that threw puss.
Paris looks really good in a still very small sample size but I also thought Chase Silseth was going to be great when they first called him up before he flamed out. The point is that let’s see how the league and he both adjust. I don’t agree with Wash but i get his reasoning.
Not willing to SSS this arch because this is clearly different from the trained eye. He’s a new player. He is now not only on time but consistently early and ready to hit. With his strength gains he now has elite bat speed and the perfect flamingo drill approach for a fast twitch hitter that allows him to be in the zone forever and drill balls the opposite way. He’s in the process of figuring out the two things that are the hardest adjustment when you level up to elite pitching, timing and pitch recognition. Just hope Wash doesn’t thaw him out.
And if getting sat two games breaks him he surely would have been fine against Max Fried and Garret Crochet otherwise. If only Wash hadn’t broken him.
And yes, I know, hurr durr rythm hurr durr playing time….
You are missing the point here. WE ARE ATTRIBUTING 3 WINS TO KYREN FKING PARIS. That is A PROBLEM. It needs to be solved by actually having all of the other players on the roster play games too. It’s not like Wash is benching Paris. He said he’s gonna play him.
No one is second guessing the line up. they are second guessing not playing the best hitter on the team right now, one of the few who is actually hitting, on a team that is barely hitting .200.
Bingo.. and add to that playing random ass journeymen like Newman, TA, Lopez and Moncada in his place. This is a home grown, cost controlled stud we are F’ing around with. It’s absurd.
Perry needs to do the trick I use with 2 of our grumpy CEO’s.. You can’t tell old stubborn dudes shit about something they think they are an expert on. You have to make it seem like its their idea. If he can make Wash think starting KP everyday is his idea it will land.
I’m digging your definition of journeymen.
The team has a -2 run differential so far this season.
It’s funny to pretend this team doesn’t have room for improvement just because they are 4-1
Easy to explain & doesn’t really warrant any reaction.
3-0 in 1 run games
1-0 in close games (2-3 run game)
0-1 in blow out games (5+ run games)
The blow out game was the result of a bad 1/3 inning in the game.
You make too much sense. Let’s tie this guy to a log and roll it down a hill.
I’m glad nobody at CtPG is making the lineup each day and glad no here is the manager 😂
😁
True. We are winning. But winning streaks can very easily turn into losing streaks if they are not protected and fought for. Winning is a daily task that requires focus, commitment and discipline. Without those it wont be maintained and built upon. And all of that starts with the manager.
So, no, questioning the lineup is not unusual.
Just saying.
At some point this winning streak will turn into a losing streak with or without Paris. Just sayin.
How about that Rafael Devers?
Wow, he looks quite unhappy.
Straight up: Paris for Devers. Do it. Do it now.
/s
Is that you Tony Reagins?
No, it’s JeDi.
In that case, trade anybody and everybody for pitching prospects and completely ignore everything else.
Thanks, my minions will get to work on it immediately.
NO SOUP FOR YOU!!
The next super drop off like the Orioles star Chris Davis?
I disagree, he’ll do better once free of F/T DH duty. Bergman better watch out for freak locker room accidents, check his car’s brakes and not go down a flight of stairs in front of Devers.
Some players just cannot do well DHing (Trout), some master it.
I expect a high-level trade to happen relatively soon, but the buyer will pay for what he has done last year and not what he is doing now.
So beyond the strategic absurdity of not playing your hottest player for going on 3 months now.. having seen the direct results of performance based playing time, the moral message you send when you bench top producing players can be a real culture killer. The guys know KP deserves to play everyday so Washington being stubborn to spite Perry or reporters could easily tank morale if it lingers on.
What’s happening now is classic coach / manager playing politics. I’ll never forget a tongue lashing we got at OSU where dudes were complaining about where they were hitting in the lineup and Case famously said.. I don’t make the lineup… you do!! If you want to hit higher or play more then play better!
“hottest player for going on 3 months now…”
I can tell a person’s launching into a long rope of overplayed bullshit when they kick off with a much inflated fact.
Paris will play again. Paris is not gonna have a 1.000 OPS this year no matter what. The team will still be ungood. It’s gonna be OK.
Looking at the weather radar in the STL area, I think we will play after a delay.
Neither team has a game tomorrow, and the weather should pass by ~4:00 local time. I’ve got to imagine the teams and the league would prefer to get this game in today rather than try to make it up later.
Wish we did that with Redon/Pujols/Hamilton/Wells…
If who gets hurt too much?
I can’t be the only one who hopes the game gets rained out, right? I like the realignment of the rotation to have Kikuchi, Soriano, and Silent C against the guys the Guardians have lined up.
Otherwise, Anderson pitches. 🫠
I want Soriano pitching Friday for the home Opener, not Kukuchi. That said, I dont like the matchup today vs Gray who is their best starter. In that sense a rainout might help us avoid a loss…. If we still kept Soriano for Friday I’d go for the rainout.
If they push back the game to 5pm PST, they should be able to get it in cleanly without a weather stoppage
I just posted the same thing above. Both teams are off tomorrow so I’ll be really surprised if the game is cancelled given that the weather should clear up later this afternoon.
Thunderstorms at 9 and 11
Meh – Washington is smartly saving Paris for some late game PH heroics. Chill and stuff.
Like a closer but for hitting.
Sounds like a golden at-bat candidate!
I think yesterday was just standard “managering” in a good way. The season is just starting. He has a lot of hitters that need to “get going”. He has an Adell who sometimes has confidence issues. He has a hot Paris. He starts said “get going hitters” and Adell since benching them for any long period before five games goes by is stupid. Soler looks like crap and we are actually in a position to hold on and win a game. He takes Soler out and has his hot hitter play the rest of the game. We win.
Paris likely plays some other games.
None of this is a big deal.
Now I hope the game is cancelled instead of watching Nicky Lopez bat while Paris sits in the bench. Let’s try and make Paris cold. Let’s test his maturity and game planning. Yeah that’s the reason. He is trying to make Paris a stronger player. So why didn’t he do that with Adell and Moniak. He kept putting them out there while they failed. But Paris he is succeeding and we sit him in the bench because wash wasn’t allowed to send him to the minors
Sounds good. Man, we are really overthinking the whole Paris thing here aren’t we?
Haha bored I guess
Again no Paris in starting lineup ….
🙄
MLB Gameday: Angels at Cardinals, Probable Pitchers, Lineups, and more
Wash = the new Sosh ?
You can’t fix stupid.
No comment today just shaking my head
Ok one comment. Nicky f’n Lopez. Are you fricking kidding me. Wash is so stubborn. Everyone says you have to play the hot hand and he says nope I am the manager I will play who I want
Great too see RP Nicki Lopez in the starting lineup instead of Kyren.
The guys are tired, need load management. #FREE _NICKI
Fire Wash, this is just stubborn and/or stupid at this point.
5 games in, we’re 4-1, and you want to fire the manager. Come on lol.
I like Paris too! He’s the 4th OFer right now. Like it or not, that’s the situation.
Doth protest too much.
I was joking about firing Wash
Not joking about this being stubborn and stupid though. A player with a game-altering hit 3 games in a row should not be riding the bench for Nicky freaking Lopez.
Paris isn’t an infielder right now, he’s strictly playing the outfield. That’s the rub.
From the OCR yesterday ..
Just as he suggested a day earlier, Washington made a lineup on Tuesday with Jo Adell back in center field and Kyren Paris on the bench.
Paris was 3 for 8, including a go-ahead home run in the eighth on Sunday and a game-tying triple in the seventh on Monday. After retooling his swing in the winter, he was one of the Angels’ best hitters throughout spring training.
Washington acknowledged that Paris has been swinging a hot bat, but he said he didn’t want Adell to sit out too long. He had been out since leaving Saturday’s game with hip tightness.
“Of course, it is (difficult to bench Paris), the way he’s been playing, but Adell is ready to go, so he’s back in center field,” Washington said. “We’ve got to get him going too. If I don’t put Adell back out there, he’s just gonna rot. We can’t afford to have him rot, and I’m not gonna let Paris rot. So I’ve got a challenge on my hands, and I’m gonna figure it out before it’s over.”
Paris is a natural infielder, so one option would have been to put Paris at second base or shortstop. Washington rejected that idea, partly because they want him to “focus on center field” and partly because the Angels haven’t played enough games to determine that any of his other infielders deserve to sit.
He also likes their defense. Luis Rengifo, Tim Anderson and Yoán Moncada all made exceptional plays late in games to secure victories on Sunday and Monday.
“We’ve played four ball games,” Washington said. “I’m not worried about who’s off to a good start offensively. We’re finding ways to win ball games, and if we can continue to find ways to win ball games with our offense not clicking, that means that we are headed in the right direction, and I want to stay in the direction we are going in. It may not be supplying us with offense right now, but they are catching that rock.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2025/04/01/angels-zach-neto-starts-rehab-assignment-as-dh-at-triple-a/
The problem is that it’s not about the last 4 games, it’s about the fact that out hit every other player on the team for the spring by a significant margin and has continued to do so when the regular season started. It’s not about 8 ABs. If it was, it would not be a big deal.
Hurray for Spring Training. Did you enjoy watching your first Spring Training?
What are you even talking about?
I’m saying that it was Spring Training. We don’t usually buy into hot springs, like when Rendon had his, or Chad Curtis, or about 100 other guys. But NOW, when you have to be right about something, we aren’t just talking about 5 games, we’re talking about spring training like it’s all important.
Keep telling me how you’re not yelling. I don’t have to be right, I am right for now. You have to look at the whole picture. Most of the rest of the team didn’t hit in the spring and have continued to not do so in the regular season but if you think we should sit the hottest bat on the team when almost no one else is hitting, even if it doesn’t last, then good for you. And it isn’t just that he’s getting hits, he’s been instrumental in our winning our last 3 games. Scoring and driving in winning runs, stealing bases. In two weeks, he may not be, but let’s stick with the guys who are not hitting and not take advantage of the guy who is. If Jo Adell had done what Paris has done all spring and the first 5 games of the season after everyone was talking about his leg kick adjustment, and Washington said he had to sit him so Paris didn’t get stale, you would be jumping up and down.
So…. NOW spring training matters? Or 5 games is worth abandoning all other plans? Is this yelling?
So when you disagree or have no argument you just ridicule people?
The best way to have him learn center field is from the bench and subbing into games as a DH. Got it.
I do appreciate Wash’s transparency in discussing his thought process though. He always gives a great interview.
In all honesty, I understand what he’s trying to do and his goal of trying to get enough of his guys some ABs. We just all like a success story and want to see Paris on the field more.
If Paris keeps hitting, consistent playing time will come.
Yah. We’ll see him again soon enough. The only issue I actually have with all of this is Wash having to say he isn’t gonna play Paris in the IF. I’m not gonna be a shrill twat about it twenty times a day but if this is true, it’s dumb. He doesn’t have to start him there all the time. He doesn’t have to play him there now. I understand that the defense has to gel some and it’s actually playing well. But I’m about 85% sure Paris will actually appear in the IF at some point this year if he still hits. So why say that?
What I love about all this is it’s pure Halo fan bullshit. Anyone with a brain knows Paris isn’t Bobby Witt Jr and he’s not gonna sustain this. My hope is he is pretty good even after 300 AB (.750 OPS?), but he’s likely gonna have a swoon sooner or later. When it happens these idiots are gonna blame mismanagement rather than baseball being hard and Paris not actually being Ted Williams. They will rail against everything because nothing can just be what it is. This is what shitty fans do. And this is why we have shit fan Ju Ju and can’t have nice things.
Do we want to trade Anderson for prospects? I do. Well, we’ll probably have to let him play some games for that to have a chance at happening. Do we want Adell to be good? Well, he’ll probably need to play too. Do we want to trade Ward? I do. Then we need Adell and we also need Ward to play. And this ignores all of the personality bullshit Washington has to balance with a suddenly hot kid in the mix because he’s an actual manager and not a fartbag on the interwebs.
There’s more to all this than just demanding candy for dinner every night. In the end, if Paris is actually any good, we’re gonna see plenty of him, especially if other guys are truly bad. But I’ll probably give it more than five games for all this to sort out before I start screaming like a cheerleader on fire.
And you know this How? No one knows.
Which of those statements I made are you asking about?
That Paris isn’t going to be good going forward. He may not be, and likely may not but no one knows this now. No one said Paris should do anything accept probably play while he’s hot.
When did I say Paris will not be good going forward? Or are you reading that out of saying he’s not gonna be Bobby Witt, which he isn’t.
You use a lot of hyperbole. Paris actually could become Bobby Witt, although it is highly unlikely. He might also eventually go back to being the old Paris that we know and love. Regardless, When almost no one else on the team is hitting, It makes no sense not to play the hot bat and see how long it lasts. Also If we’re all about playing the kids, let’s err on that side instead of worrying about whether our infield defense is great. We had no issue messing up our OF defense by moving Adell after he became a plus fielder in right. We’ re not consistent.
No one is screaming except you. They just have a differing opinion which seems to be something you struggle with.
I’m not screaming. I’m calming saying your over reaction to this whole thing is stupid.
So that’s your opinion and I’m overreacting simply because I said we should be playing the guy who is currently swinging the hottest bat on a team that isn’t hitting. Ok. I think you are overreacting to people who have a different view and no one feels the need to call your opinion stupid because they disagree.
My opinion is that the level to which you and others have climbed, the “This manager is XYZ, you NEVER do XYZ, this is an inexcusable affront to baseball wisdom!” is a little lame.
So be it. No one says that to you when you sometimes sound ridiculous.
Nope. No one ever complains at me or says I’m out my ass. Never happens.
What do y’all see us doing when Neto comes back? Who goes? Trade ideas?
One of the surplus IFers.
Anderson
Newman. Anderson looks like he might hit. Newman, not a lick!
Tornado watch today. I wonder if they will let them play with the tornado watch
It’s the sharknados that will be a problem.
Padres signed Merrill for 9/$135M, through his age 30 season
I know we say it all the time on here, but I would love to see some similar moves from Perry & Co. Neto may be the only one that has proven he is worth an early extension but let’s get it done guys!
None of them have proven you should give them an extension. Let’s see at least two consecutive high performing years with no injuries before we start thinking about offering long term deals to players under club control.
Maybe, but isn’t the point of these early extensions to invest in the potential that has been shown? If we wait until he has back to back 5+ WAR seasons then the contract will only get more expensive.
For example – Merrill has only played 1 year. Granted, he was second in ROY voting but they locked him up really quickly.
I’d agree but it seems that it would be easy for any organization not run by Arte to do the math on when to sign a player to an extension. Hmmm… Maybe Arte is just bad at math?
The Padres are smart. They lock up their young studs (Tatis, Merrill) while they are young and thus save themselves tons of money…
Imagine if Arte had done that with Ohtani ….
If that had happened, we wouldn’t have had the ability to sign Anthony Rendon. That’d be a huge blow to our veteran leadership presence 😌
Sho was never signing an extension here lol. Neto, O’Hoppe, Schanuel, Joyce, Soriano, etc we have a chance with
I know, I was being tongue in cheek anyway
Can’t miss an opportunity to poke fun at a rich underperformer after all
I know haha, it was a response to Frosty. Maybe he was being sarcastic too and I didn’t catch it
Oop, the formatting of replies on here confuses me yet again.
No sarcasm. Arte could have had Ohtani for 7-8 yrs at 20-25 mill AAV Imagine the bargain that would be now !!
That’s assuming Ohtani and his agent would have been dumb enough to do that. Highly highly skeptical Ohtani and his representation would have negotiated a pre-FA extension. They were determined to hit the open market
I am talking about in the very beginning. Knowledgeable baseball people knew what Ohtani was. Arte didn’t, or didn’t care.
Ohtani only signed with the Angels because the DH in the AL at the time. Otherwise, he would have signed with the doyers.
Not true. His idol Ichiro recommended he sign with the Angels. That was a big part of it… I mean, there were other AL teams he could have gone to but didnt.
He knew and didn’t care. He didn’t do anything to better the situation on the field while ohtani was here. He knew they were sinking and when the uni DH came he was gone. Milk it for what it’s worth till the end. Until Moreno sells or changes his business/baseball views, this is the product us fans get. At least this years team looks more scrappy and ready for the season than the last few years of bandaids
He had an opportunity to grow the Angels name and marketability, but he let that flounder over lux tax and limitations where other owners and groups adapted and made smart business investments within the leagues rules.
Source?
Just my opinion, but I do not believe he would have signed for that.
nonsense
Disagree. If Arte had offered 250 million right away (10 yrs at 25 mi) Shohei would have jumped at it. I am talking when he first came to Anaheim.. But you let him get a couple MVPs under his belt and it changes everything…. That’s why what SD did with Tatis was so damn smart. And what KC did with Witt Jr as well …
no chance, paltry for a unicorn and world wide sensation
I don’t think he personally would not have signed any extension after year 2 or 3. First he doesn’t care about money, his endorsements in Japan make him ultra wealthy. Two, all he cares about is winning, and by that time he realized Angels were losing organization. As soon as the DH rule changed, he already was looking at the successful cross town enemy in Blue. Remember then began the comments about winning, and being on a ‘winning team’. We were silly and bought into that his last season and emptied out our prospects to try to make a push, when that jerk already knew he was going to LA. Yes he knew, and at WBC took Darvish’s plan to get the best Japan players on one team; not SD but his preferred team LA. I enjoyed his time as an Angel, but never trusted him as caring or dedicated to us. I was right.
100% Shohei came to the States wanting to build up his resume and hit the open market. He was so confident in himself, like no other player I have seen before.
I’m sure the Padres regret Tatis in the same vain as the Rays and Wander Franco. I’d avoid giving these types of deals to any player from a 3rd world country. Temptation is too strong to go astray.
Why would SD be regretting Tatis ? Have you seen his performance the last year plus? No reason for regrets there… And if we had Shohei locked up for the next 4-5 years at 25-30 mil per we wouldn’t have them either…
I love this contract and hope we do the same with some core guys. I hope that some of these guys who come up together want to stay together and will settle for a pretty large contract early to do it.
Merrill’s is big, and none of our kids are Merill as of yet. But what I like is all of the “you get paid more like a star if you are a star” escalators. I wish we’d do that with like six guys. Pay them like they are important even pre-arb, pay them extra if they are VERY good, and pay them a solid amount no matter what once they would have been an FA. But lock em up for a decade now and avoid having to sign 32 year olds for ten years. PLUS keep fan favorites.
I support this philosophy assuming the team is making wise decisions. We don’t want to end up with a group of guys we wanted to keep together and get stuck with big contracts and it turns out they weren’t really very good or had chronic injury issues that we should have seen.
Our three best hitters at the moment are Schanuel, Paris, and Adell. Neto will join the party soon. It would be great to get O’Hoppe going.
Soriano and Silent C’s outings were excellent. Joyce is as electric as ever.
It’s baffling how our perpetually ranked 30th farm system continues to produce talent, isn’t it?
What we often forget is that every team has rough that turns out to be diamonds. The point is having more high probability rough than not. Having 1 or 2 pieces turn out per graduating class doesn’t build a team fast enough when people leave for free agency or when we have to move value to fill holes.
Understood. Looking at the list of players I named — outside of Soriano and O’Hoppe the rest were all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks. This year’s draft provides another opportunity to substantially add to our growing pool of young talent.
Also the majority of the prospect pool are still just kids. Still maturing and some are late bloomers. Plus for many this is their first time away from home bring on their own.
Teams that focus on mentoring and guidance on both on and off the field have better success long term.
I bet that report a free years ago hit hard about how bad their development system was.
I’ve never quite understood why, as billionaire MLB franchise owners, they don’t also buy the MiLB-associated teams, or at least the AAA team. Also, I think they would want to invest significantly in the well-being of the minor league players. They are your future product, either for you or as trade bait.
If I’m worth a few billion dollars, I would think it would make sense to build some type of housing and training facility for the MiLB players to live at during the season and provide the same type of food as they receive in ST. This way you can avoid 4 guys trying to rent a 2-bedroom apartment and eating at McDonald’s or Taco Bell every day.
Maybe I’m off-base in my understanding of how MiLB players are treated during the season.
Feels good to be in first place in April. Too GA to figure out when the last time that was true
We actually might have been last year after that early sweep of the Marlins, but it was definitely short lived. Feels good indeed!
Let’s complete the sweep and keep rollin’ with timely hitting and sound pitching.
Just wait until Trout’s (Non-torpedo) bat wakes up.
Go Halos!!
I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend…