Let’s take a trip down Memory Lane for a bit. Let’s go all the way back to October of 2009. Our 3 time defending AL West champion Angels finally took down the hated Roid Sux in the playoffs and came within 2 games of reaching the World Series. The team lost to eventual champion New York.
The team was stacked with talent, the farm was considered good, and things never looked brighter as Angels fans. Scouting director Eddie Bane added Mike Trout, Randal Grichuk, Tyler Skaggs, Garret Richards, and Patrick Corbin in the draft that summer, setting the team up for sustained success.
Over the next two months, Arte Moreno would install his unqualified cronies as President and Chairman of the organization. They installed Tony Reagins as GM, fired Eddie Bane, and have now posted 11 consecutive losings seasons following their 1 playoff appearance. The farm has consistently rated at the bottom of the league and the off field scandals are even worse than the on field product.
The GMs and field managers change, but John Carpino and Dennis Kuhl remain. But, alas, a new manager has been named. Welcome aboard, Kurt Suzuki.
Kurt will be tasked with taking a team low on talent and somehow making them compete. Perhaps Suzuki can fix the air conditioning in the weight room. That might help, although Perry Minasian disagrees.
I’m sure it is just a coincidence, but the Angels now have a job listing for a part time HVAC technician. Here’s your chance to be in the bigs, AC guys. Actually, the full account is so much better.
So, from October of 2009 to today: we don’t win, our farm sucks, and the team can’t even keep the AC working in the weight room. Arte’s Angels are basically this, minus the playoff appearance at the end.
Exactly how Perry and Suzuki will improve the team remains to be seen. MLBTR did a great look at the organization this week.
Meanwhile, cookmeister is a doing a great series on players who might help the Angels. This week he looked at the third base market and tried to find a match. I’d like to say thanks for the great content.
Four guys will not be part of the team next year. Or at least they aren’t part of the team now. Add in free agents Kenley Jansen, Luis Rengifo, Tyler Anderson, and Yoan Moncada and there will be plenty of change throughout the roster.
While our neighbors to the north march to another World Series, Arte and Co. are in court defending a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the Skaggs family. Stories of an obvious addict eating a pimple of Mike Trout’s back, a dead insect off the clubhouse floor, and taking pitching machine fastballs for cash to feed his habit have been repeated throughout the trial.
Mike Trout took the stand this week and confirmed the stories. His testimony was succinct and believable. Tim Mead’s testimony was a lot less believable, but he did admit to searching Eric Kay’s office for drugs at one point.
So, the question is now what to do as fans. Many of us have stopped buying tickets from the team site, some have boycotted altogether. For me, I’ll keep using StubHub and realizing that time at the ballpark with family and friends is more important to me than making a point to a billionaire who doesn’t care about me or anybody else.
This is about as much fun as I can take for this column. Probably one more Weekend Links of angst as the boys in blue march to another ring and people act like this is Ohtani’s second year in MLB, then we’ll get into our off season stuff.
We now have 2 interns as Landon Olberg joined the staff and will split time writing articles and running social media. We used to have followers and get interviews and I’d like to get back to that.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. I’m at home this weekend and couldn’t be happier about it. Family and chill time are on tap, with a nice heavyweight scrap between Joseph Parker (who I’ve met) and Fabio Wardley on tap for Saturday. I actually did a face to face stare down with Parker in Vegas once. He’d destroy me but it was fun and we both had a laugh.
Nextgen used to advertise all around angel stadium so I’m guessing that was their contractor. Interesting enough, nextgen doesn’t advertise their this year and then their ac is down all year. Lol
Time for one of MLB’s best GM’s to move on to a bigger market team with deeper pockets. Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Brian Kelly, and of course ANDREW FRIEDMAN who came from TB. Unless Jeff Luhnow is out there, there probably isn’t anyone better.
BTW keep hoping your HS valedictorian is living under a freeway overpass with blue tarp from Harbor Freight
Is the HVAC the biggest deal in the world? Absolutely not. But paired with what Pillar says and what several other ex-players have said, the AC issue is just emblematic of how the business is run. If they can’t get the freaking AC right, you can assume there’s 100 other things the Blue Jays and Dodgers and Mariners are doing with scouting / minor leaguers / sports science stuff that we are not.
Some owners and managers take pride in the cleanliness and respectability of the business they own. Being a place people want to come into work.
Others do not. It’s kind of wild how Arte just keeps turning further into Donald Sterling and seems content with it.
No A/C is the only way to keep Mike Trout from turning into Bartolo Colon.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
78 instead of 72. Brutal.
Sammy’s access might be a bit more limited after this. Over air conditioning in Southern Cal. LOL
Remember: Sam only asked about what Kikuchi said. At least Perry didn’t respond “your mom”. 😂
Folks can bitch about Sam “always being negative”, but he’s one of the very few so-called journalists that calls bullshit on the Arte-Carpino-Kuhl-Perry spin machine. I applaud his tenacity.
I agree.
Nobody has air conditioning like we do. Nobody. I’ve been to a lot of clubhouses—beautiful clubhouses, the best clubhouses—and I can tell you, ours? Absolutely incredible. People walk in, they say, ‘Sir, it’s so cool in here, how do you do it?’ And I tell them—it’s top-of-the-line. Tremendous AC.
So yes, we have great air conditioning—probably the best the world’s ever seen. Everyone’s talking about it. They can’t believe it. They say, ‘Perry, how did you make air this great?’ And I say, ‘Easy. We only have the best.’
If only we did other things, like baseball things, with same level of excellence.
Tsk Tsk on the World Series, we already know who the champs are, our lovable Halos, who went 6 – 0 against the Doyers this season are. Unfortunately, the 66-92 against everyone else is a slight distraction.
What a ridiculous comment
2009: The day that we beat the Red Sox to win that series (Abreu double off the Green Monster and we get to hear the ball clang off the scoreboard and then Vlad’s single to CF) is stuck in my mind. Like Jeff said here, the future looked so bright. Now it is 16 years later and I realize that my screaming in joy as Vlad lined that single to CF against Papelbon, might have been my last great moment as an Angels fan.
I remember watching it, it was fantastic.
I loved that series. I was there when Torii hit the bomb in game 1 and kept my old cable box for years because it had that Game 3 stored on it.
The Angels were a well oiled machine at that moment.
I was at that game! Feels so long ago. I was in college at the time. I was making out with a girl and my Angels hat fell off my head and someone stole it off the ground. Nevertheless, great memories. Hopefully better days are ahead.
That’s awesome Rex.
That’s what we need here. More happy making out stories.
Yeah seriously, I’m really trying hard to find something to look forward to this upcoming season, but I’m drawing a blank.
I miss the hat more than the girl!
And the detestable umps “no vasolined” the Angels during the Yankees series. I’ll never let it go.
I hate AJ Pierzynski too.
Everybody hates Pure-shit-ski.
That was days before my first kid was born. Some of the old timers here know her story like Rev, Red Floyd, and of course Uncle Gitcho. My wife was on bed rest in the hospital and we watched the playoffs from there. Baby Manatee was born into a world where the Yankees defeated the Angels at 2lb 3oz without working lungs. 16 years later, she is perfectly healthy, beautiful, and brilliant, but the Angels still have not won a playoff game her entire life.
I remember that.
Now this is a great story! Glad your daughter is well and you continue to be proud parents. I think you brought her to an HH meet up years ago.
That 2009 lineup was the tastiest offense the team has ever had. Still recall being at the Big A, looking up at the scoreboard and seeing all 9 in the lineup hitting .300 or better. Ended the season with 8 of those 9 hitting .287 or better.
Figgins and Abreu batting 1-2 at the top of the order with OBPs hovering around .400 for much of the season, with 72 SBs between them.
Didn’t quite have the pitching to get to the WS, but that offense was near flawless – the most rationally built in my time as an Angels fan.
When Scioscia would later install guys like Aybar top of the order in subsequent seasons, the despair started setting in. Like, what did this guy learn from those excellent teams from the late aughts?
Didn’t old man Abreu lead the team in stolen bases?
Another absurd comment. HS valedictorian got the same question wrong as I did
Is the gambling tie into the NBA issues just the tip of the iceberg? Is it going to end there? Billups has made over 100 million dollars in his association with the NBA and has a perfect position with his after retirement as a player being a head coach and still the lure was too great to just say no.
Was it not greed for more money for the leagues run by the collective ownership of the rich individuals that allowed sports gaming to be invited into the fold. How did Manfraud treat sports cheating in his sport, MLB. A slap on the hand. In a 1919 gambling scandal in MLB the Commissioner made damn sure that the sport was cleaned up by banning anyone who even was in conversation with other more closely involved, no slap on the hand then and as it should be now. How did MLB handle Pete Rose, the same, and this was the all-time hits leader with a recognizable nick name “Charlie Hustle”. And like “Shoeless” Joe Jackson he was banned for life.
The extra income derived from the tie-ins of Sports Gaming is a tie-in to Sports Gambling. Sports Gambling leads to cheating in any game period. Unfortunately, the leagues have taken stances in the cheating in their prospective leagues that are not severe enough to stop future ways of cheating, example, the rampant use of steroids in baseball the then commissioner who was working for the owners was afraid to tackle the issue because of money. The owners knew who was doing what, but it also was putting people in the seats and buying everything in sight, so leave it alone was the message. With a lockout or strike looming the owners sought to build their war chest up. After the strike steroids told off, the players saw the riches in using them and the race was on. Had the owners done the right thing from the get-go the sport would not have withered away, it would have taken off anyway as the marketing was taking off and new stadiums being built were bring fans back in also. But in the money stupid in a line from Jerry McGwire and it was true then and it’s truer today.
With the knowledge that games are being fixed will turn professional sports into zombie sports and their venues, and with the big money involved it will create a monster wave of animosity with the buying public. Do you think people will pay crazy amount of money to see games if it becomes known that the outcome is already know by those on the inside. The MLB and NFL are next watch and see because it’s about the money.
Don’t know if this is the end. But apparently the WNBA has been cleared.
https://babylonbee.com/news/wnba-players-assure-fbi-they-werent-missing-layups-to-throw-games-they-just-suck-at-basketball
Billups was not involved in fixing games though… His thing was an allegedly “rigged” poker game with Mafia involvement.
If and when the Old Rich Guy sells the team say 👋 goodbye. Because they be moving to Red State country TN, TX, or NC.
You all think they’re going to stay put and play with a $20B operating budget? Lol 😆😆😹
Bye!!!
First off do you think that the other owners would vote to allow the move from such a huge market. A market so big you can fit 2 Boston Markets into it. The Angels are a gold mine of potential The Rams, Clippers and Chargers have shown this. When the Dodgers sold for 20 billion dollars and that was without the parking revenue are now worth over 40 billion, why, because they know how to run a franchise organization. It’s a whole lot more than signing free agents or marketing. It’s about reinvesting the profits into the team all the way down to the janitor in AFL. Positive recognition, growing the product from the insde out and having results.
No, the team may change hands, may even change location but it will be to somewhere in their current marketplace.
If the team can’t get a stadium deal done then the MLB will try to make it happen. When that fails they’ll allow the team to move if there’s a deal someplace else. Like the A’s move. We aren’t as big a market as two Boston’s because Sux are the only team in New England. Their market’s really big. The Angels are a DISTANT 2nd in a huge market that belongs to the Doyers.
MLB would likely try to get a new team into LA proper at some point if they can ever find a huge billionaire who really wants to oil up a town like Inglewood and build a stadium. And if there’s a site that the city is willing to allow a stadium on.
Market size isn’t an issue, though all the people who huff and puff about how ewwgeh the market is here are kind of full of shit when you look at actual fan base engagement and growth. AGAIN. For those who are slow. I’m not saying it’s a small market, it’s not. But it’s also not some unleavable mountain of gold either. Try and sell a corporation on the wonders of Santa Ana and Riverside before you plop down how much it will cost to get business done here all you want, but they have nerds, and I’m betting the math on a region like Tennessee or being the Garfunkel in “semi-LA” looks pretty similar to them.
Would people really have cared all that much if the Clippers were moved to, say, Seattle? Most likely not. That’s how we should look at the Angels’ position, except the Clippers now have a brand-new stadium, something the Halos are severely lacking.
How old is Dodger stadium? What about Wrigley Field and Fenway Park? Meanwhile PNC Park is a new stadium, and way better than the old venue for the Raiders and Athletics. They still suck…
There are 2 Boston Markets just down the street from me!
I”m not ashamed to admit to eating at Boston Market several times. It’s the Arby’s of Marie Calendar’s.
Dude. Perfect.
Go Blue Jays! You are not the Dodgers! I want George Springer to hit seventeen HRs at Doyers Latrine.
Dodgers in 6, maybe in 5. 😍
So ha ha ha on me. My favorite baseball team is embroiled in a messy court case and the coach of my favorite basketball team has been arrested.
There are other similarities between the two organizations that I’m not happy about. Poorly run, bad drafts, that kind of thing
Sorry, lots of folks here in Oregon are pretty spun up. I have slowly divested my rooting interest in basketball to where I just don’t care much anymore. Too many self important guys who never dealt with real world issues spewing their whacked out perspectives on the world.
It’s a bummer. I loved basketball when I was young, but the whole vibe of the sport just kinda sucks now, even college ball. I gotta get into hockey.
Agree 100% on NBA is no fun to watch anymore and I used to love it. I do still find the first Thurs-Sun of march madness to be top notch fun but I have stopped following the season up to that point which makes picking my bracket quite the roller coaster
Ditto. The new realignments are confessing to begin with, but the losing of a west coast major conference lost me. In March madness it’s not really about conference, but teams. And paying college player million is just crazy on the surface. NBA has just too many huge guys shooting 3pt and making them, the 2pt shot means little now. The game changed, the fans changed, announcers changed. No Chickee Baby, Hearn was the greatest in Basketball. The NBA is the biggest of our top 4 in the world though.
Yeah, that’s why IDGAF about the NBA. It’s all “me me me!!!”. Every other sport needs a team effort.
Same here. I went from watching the NBA to focusing on CBB. With NIL, that’s now trash too.
It would not at all be surprising if these arrests are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s so incredibly insane that players and coaches, who are making gazillions of dollars, in Rozire’s case, $160 million paid to him during his NBA career, would diddle around with game rigging. All this “load management” jazz with NBA players I’m guessing may involve the game rigging stuff.
Thought you were still drunk on Seattle tears.
They’ll probably have to deal with your favorite GM leaving them to a bigger suitor (NY teams, Boston, Philadelphia, Chisox) .
Does any one know, were the Angels required to post that HVAC job? If I were trying to be all secret squirrel about something Sad Hat had decided to shit whip me with I’d just CALL SOME AC GUYS and quietly get the thing fixed.
that’s what a normal and well-run franchise would do, yes.
I just wasn’t sure, do they maybe have to post all their jobs on TeamWork or something?
No clue. One would think a team that is responsible for maintaining a huge stadium would have a contact they could call up to talk about getting an in-house AC guy.
Can’t wait to see the level of guys who will coach for a year.
As someone who has been in the construction industry , both commercial and residential, the idea of hiring a “part time” AC Mechanic, is …….. just plain dumb. Of course I don’t know the particulars of their situation, and if it has to do with their lease with the city and how they will or will not be compensated or using that employee and the relative overhead and administration costs as a cost to show stadium expenditures. But setting aside those issues, it is much smarter to just have a local AC company on call. Do a preventative maintenance service in October (they won’t be using the facility) and then maybe one during June when they are on the road.
Stop bothering us with recommendations from real world experience that reflects actual professional expertise and traditionally established and accepted management best practices. We’re a mess and we don’t want to get better. We like the way we are. 🙂
🤣🤣🤣 I’m beginning to wonder if by “Part Time”, they meant from noon to 5:30pm , February through September.
Exactly. Why not just call Jack Stephan or what ever?
Adeedo
He’s in the white pages
Because he’s a plumber, not an HVAC guy?
I run a large performing arts center with multiple AC units that are existential, and that’s the exactly what we do – keep a local mom n pop HVAC company on file with multiple employees who can come and fix intermittent issues on <24 hrs notice.
That’s the smart, cost effective way to do it. Arte might be hiring a part time guy, at say $55. 00 per hr, then on the books he adds, adds, administrative fees, benefits, insurance, etc. fees until it balloons to a business cost of $255. 00 + per hr, that he then sends to the city as part of his obligation for “stadium maintenance” expenditures. On commercial / retail properties, a good chunk of money is made by the owner/landlord on CAM charges.
fwiw…. the Braves, Rangers and dbacks all have HVAC openings posted. So does MLB headquarters iirc.
I’ve also seen that there’s another HVAC job at the stadium that was posted 3 months ago (not sure if the one from the other day is just a repost of the same job or different).
So the Angels fired pretty much all the coaches. That makes good sense to me. I’ll be C+ happy if they go out and get some guys to work with Suzuki’s boys. For example, go get Lou Iannott or Hunter Mense from the Jays, or Travis Denker or Damion Easley from the D-Backs for hitting coach. Guys who have been around rosters that aren’t just stacked with HOF guys but still had high OBPs the last couple years. Same with pitching. Get Robin Lund from the Tigers, Mark Lowy off the Phills, Chris Apecechea from the Padres, Joe Torres from the Guardians…. just get a pile of dudes who have been around teams that do what we want and know what good looks like. Get him a good bench coach too that he’s comfortable with.
Then we’d at least know that our coaches, and by extension manager, have a sense of what a well run program looks like. Do I think it will change the world? No. But it may help a few of our guys and reset what the org wants at the top of the farm.
We can only hope.
So, let’s get this straight, arguably our best pitcher who has no reason to not tell the truth about the A/C in the weight room is in a back handed way been told by a General Manager that he is not telling the truth. Kevin Pillar who has no grudge with the team makes a comment that is negative about the “amenities” and what the Angels offer to the players and Minasian scoffs about that. Really Perry, these players are lying? Hmm, then why post for a part-time position for a HVAC tech? Minasian is either really out of touch with reality or is lying about this or C. is both.
This team is such a disgrace in every aspect it is just sickening. Jeff mentions the 2009 team, a team put together by Bill Stoneman, a former MLB pitcher with 2 no-hitters to his credit btw, a GM who eventually couldn’t or wouldn’t work with Arturo because of how this Dummy of an owner wanted to change things out.
Why in the world are all the top brass still employed? Because the Dummy is buddies with them and don’t make waves about what he has done to this team? Yup, that is like cutting a bull’s nuts of and then all you get is hamburger. There can only be one Dummy Bull on this team as the leader. Another reason is that they too work on the cheap and the no nada Dummy doesn’t get in their way to live in Southern California in nice homes and drive fancy cars and have great titles. Pass the buck by blaming the GM’s and they in turn blame the managers. As our Turk recently pointed out, for the last 9 seasons they pretty much come and go around here very quickly. Like having a pointed sword pressing at your back as you are quickly setting on a short blank.
I remember being peeved when Jedi abruptly quit in midseason in a snit because as a GM could not make the changes he wanted. He is the only person to ever stand up to Arte besides Stoneman that I am aware of. Arte only surrounds himself with Jelly spines and Pencil necked geeks. Tell me what I want to hear, and you get your weekly check.
Are we to believe that Albert the ‘Roid and Hunter did not pass on the job and probably because they demanded more than one-year contracts or was it that along with the low pay? Poor Kurt Suzuki is what is in reality a “Lame Duck” position
Minasian is “Cleaning House” because he thinks he can build something bigger and better? He has been told that the payroll needs to be cut, but be patient, 38 million gets cleared off next season and he thinks oh boy then I can make my move to put a stamp of winning on this place. Poor Perry too, in How to sell a team 101, Arturo has set it up so the next guy can pick his own people to put in place after the lawsuit is done and he can walk away with all the money in the world as the richest Dummy Mexican in the world that doesn’t sell drugs.
You can ruin a team in major league sports in SoCal in the race to be at the top of the bottom in a lot of ways. Were there scuba divers in Florida waiting for a certain early morning swim of a football team owner so his wife could ruin the team and jettison the team to the open arms of the city of Bud Light. How about the bigot who owned an NBA team for many years and couldn’t or wouldn’t win. Was it only after Jack left a Hockey team that it finally won or that his ex-team in the NBA that Show Time had it’s run, how about the guy who Bud said no to buying the Red Sox but allowed him to buy a team from a family that that same Bud disliked so much and then watch him dismantle the team holdings for hundreds of millions of dollars and who by the way still owns the parking lot in Chavez Ravine. And then there is Auturo who has cut more corners off an organization and pat himself on the back for what he sees as a great job accomplished by creating a rot from the inside to the out that leaves only the name of the team left in place after he leaves. So, you see that the race to top the lowest is indeed not over, but the Angels offer up their very own with Auturo Morano the Dummy as their candidate for the top spot.
Thank you for reading today’s ranting and raving by GPB. Boy oh boy, are my giant fingers a hurtin’
And we what? Expect the GM to come out and declare that the amenities do indeed suck and the AC does not work? It’s his job to hem and haw and scoff and wiggle about this shit. I just assumed this was the case since we have players going to new stadiums, then coming home to the Big A, which I am sentimental about but I assume has all the charm of a building from the early 60s behind the scenes.
But I’ll ask, again, when have we seen an FO guy for any team come out and say what we apparently want PTP to say? Hell, even the great A’s FO has to act like Sacramento is fantastic.
This is the uggo shit the Angels GM gets to dance with. It’s the job. When PTP is gone the next guy’s not gonna do much differently.
instead of Perry acting like his players are full of shit, he can say something like “we talk to our players during each season, and offseason, on how to best take care of the team. We are constantly trying to better the environment and take seriously any criticisms they may have.”
doesn’t seem that hard, even if its mostly BS.
Sure, that works in a fantasy where no one keeps bugging you after you “simply say XYZ”.
You’d still get called for that BS. Sad The Hat would still push you on it. You would still be forced to choke down more dignity and play like you don’t know what your player and Sam The Story are talking about. It’s your job.
you’re probably right on that, but the answer isn’t to then just act like what your players are saying is make believe.
Unfortunately you have no choice. To act any other way would require you to tacitly admit what the player said is true and start waffling about it. Then you aren’t eating the plate of shit for your boss, which is the job.
There’s plenty of stuff we all have to do this on. Where we know that so and so and such and such is someway but the state, or the employer, or the wife require you to act like things are a certain way and never let slip anything that may say otherwise. If someone brings up a contrary point you have to play like they are insane or invisible.
It’s why I still have hope that I will someday be a fat 55 year old astronaut/jockey at Santa Anita while pregnant with my first child.
Don’t mess with my truth bro. I have a dream board.
i think there’s 2 things here:
Seems like both things you listed give Perry the benefit of the doubt that IMO he no longer earns.
maybe on the 2nd point (although I personally think Blum is a hack).
The first point though was brought up by Jeff Fletcher, who is around the team a lot more than Blum is, and refuted the notion about the AC fwiw.
Yes I would expect the truth such as saying we dropped the ball and we addressed it.
You are indeed a sweet summer child. Can I have some of your drugs?
I’d rather we don’t say stereotypical things about Mexicans, or for that matter other groups. Baseball is for all of us.
First off I’m married to a Mexican, my kids are 1/2 Mexican, and I have my two best friends in my brothers in law, we use the stereo type “Dumb Mexican” as humor, sorry if I offended you-not my goal really. It was not meant to be a put down.
That’s funny. trAdition means fat jokes, Lasagna/Dago jokes (Perry/Scioscia), lazy N-men (too GA to look) here.
Appreciate the love.
Fwiw to those that read up on the articles, I’m really just looking at options. Obviously some options are more likely than others, but I still want to include them.
I had a little thought/dream/hallucination last night:
What if Perry convinced Arte to just give him full reigns for 1 year, screw the money, let me go crazy.
How fun/funny would it be to overpay a bunch of dudes on 1 year deals- Bregman for $50 mil, Belli for $40, Bieber, Framber, Diaz, Suarez. Just full scorched earth for a year before the CBA
I for one am very happy to read it. Get’s the brain going for the upcoming IIWPM series that I look forward to every year.
It would be kind of funny. I’d watch it to see what happens. But the Angels just don’t generate the revenue it would take for that not to really hurt us for a long time. Especially now that they have less cash coming in.
I know. It would just be hilarious if Arte just said “f*ck it, I’m not getting any younger, let’s sink a bunch of my money for a year”
I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I think would be perfect for a guy like you.
Like the Tigers before llich died….
I still remember the pride I felt as an Angels fan when ESPN had an article where they measured every American pro sports team, looking at cost, competitiveness, stadium experience, etc., and the Halos ranked #1 overall. Kind of stunning to see where its at now, all done under the Arte regime. He and his cronies have stripped the franchise down to its studs, making a big signing here and there to wow the masses, while penny pinching everywhere else. The results speak for themselves, there is no more good will to give for the occasional splurge on a player (I’m fine with the Trout extension, but the other large contracts have all been catastrophes).
Like Jeff, I’ll take my daughter to some games so we can spend that time together, but lately been trying to travel to other stadiums with her. The Big A has felt more depressing than fun for me as of late. Dark times.
Exactly. I went to one game there since the strike. It just wasn’t fun, and it was a huge pain in the dick. So I’m just not really gonna do it. MiLB games are more fun. I may also do a little tourism and travel to some city with the intention of seeing a game. Still haven’t been to Wrigley or St Louis, maybe go see the Reds at home? Or the Tigers? Slightly longer train ride and I’m at Petco? The Angels May series in Sacramento was fun.
Plenty of good baseball out there, just not our Halos at the Big A.
When planning vacations one of the first things I look at is if there will be home games while there. Was pretty bummed the Rockies were on the road when I went to Denver this summer, but that trip was more about hitting up Red Rocks anyway. Took my daughter to SF in August and hit up a Giants game. Just a way better fan experience there, and MUCH better food.
Every offseason I tell myself next season we’ll go to Wrigley, so hoping next summer I can finally pull it off. Waiting for my daughter to get a bit older before we do NY. Boston would be fun since she’s learned about US history, as would Philly. Some cities I know we’ll never go to (looking at you Cincinnati), but if we can go to a fun city with lots to see and do while also hitting up a game, then that sounds like a good trip for us. .
I am kinda leaning towards visiting friends in DC, seeing the Smithsonian again as an older grown man, then going to Baltimore and watching a game. I have family in their FO so it would be cool to see him at work etc and see Camden Yards.
I also will go to a Reds home opener at some point. That looks fun.
Took my daughter to DC a couple years ago and hit a Nats game, it was nice. They have a full street leading up to the front gate of bars and restaurants and stuff, no cars allowed. Made for a good experience just walking up to the gate. Lets contrast that with the Halos front gate approach experience: walking through an endless parking lot where midway through people must cross a literal car throughfare with no crosswalks. Anaheim stadium is supposed to be more family friendly, but aside from a lot of rally monkey stuffed animals, I fail to see what is so friendly about it.
The Red Sox are gross but I still really want to go to Fenway… and watch em lose.
I’ve been there, its great, but sadly watched them lose on a go-ahead GS by Big Papi. Weaver vs. Schilling, Figgins lead off HR, I was having the time of my life (with a little extra help from some beers at the Cask & Flagon beforehand). I have to admit it was a pretty electric moment in the stadium when he hit that grandslammy.
I did the tour of Fenway and it is amazing.
I do the same thing. There have been a few times I’ve moved a trip to make sure I could catch a game.
I’m taking the boy to Wrigley soon. I went there for a day game once and it was incredible. That’s an experience I really want to share with him.
Spring Training is great with kids. We walk around the back fields. Now we play catch. Players sign. So much better than hoping my 8 year old sits still at an MLB park for hours.
So it sounds like they kept Kay around as a court jester… human punching bag amusement for the troops? I guess every locker room needs a Meg Griffin but gross.
Yeah I was pretty appalled reading about that. It has definitely changed the way I will view Trout going forward. Even if he has matured since then, it’s hard for me to root for anyone who ever thought that kind of behavior was ok. When I was “young and dumb” I never felt inclined to treat other people like that.
If you did, it happened I. Jr High and High School, not in your 20s.
It’s one thing when it’s just Jackass-style oneupsmanship, and bros are just trying to outgross each other, but this was ritualized debasement clearly meant to humiliate the guy – for giggles and cash – rich jocks bullying the sad office flack. And then his boss covers for him when he harasses multiple female interns and passes the humiliation down the chain.
It’s some sick shit, no doubt.
I saw we are letting basically all of our coaches go. If we had a chance to keep Enright around and let him walk, that’s incredibly stupid.
He did a pretty good job with the trash reject pile of pitchers he had to work with. No way a first year coach with no experience on a on year contract is going to find someone who is better than Enright.
last in walk rate
I think Kurt can be the manager and pitching coach at the same time and do just as well
Yeah. Enright’s kind of like Perry. I like some of the stuff he pulled off, but the over all job is still crap. Thus I’m OK if they want to try someone else. Enright can go to some team that has, you know, pitchers, and do well for himself.
Good stuff Jeff. Very depressing. So Perry has roughly 40M dollars to fix an at least 100M problem just to be semi presentable. How in the world are they going to actually get better? This year could be quite ugly but at some point after this year they could have over 100M to spend depending on what they do.
Bring me my 100 loss season baby!
Actually, I’d be fine with 100 losses if they happen because we trade everyone of value. But that won’t be the case. Reload…. and lose 100.