I don’t know about you but I love the occasional rainy day. Give me some jazz on the turntable, perhaps a fire, and something in the slow cooker and I’m all ready for a full day of doing not much. I do really miss living in downtown Sacramento and walking in Capitol Park after a good rain (and those happen pretty often up there).
What to do on the rainy day? Read Weekend Links, of course.
There was a notable bombshell in the Tyler Skaggs trial. Angels head of HR Deborah Johnson testified the Angels notified MLB of Kay’s enrollment into an outpatient drug treatment program. MLB says they did not.
MLB not only denied the claim, it issued a public statement of its own to make sure everyone knew Johnson’s claim was false. Now Skaggs legal team is accusing Johnson of perjury and is sending a subpoena to MLB.
This snafu comes after a series of statements from Angels witnesses that are less than believable throughout the trial. Like saying Kay’s drug use did not prevent him from carrying out his duties and also admitting they found him asleep at his desk and saw him exhibit a ton of odd behavior. Who doesn’t take off their shirt and dance around while on the clock?
Johnson also stated the Angels never reviewed Kay’s company emails or browsing history despite club policy giving them the right to do so. Kay ordered quite a few pills from quite a few places using his work email (not too smart) and system. When asked why they didn’t look, Johnson stated that Kay fell into a protected class as an addict. That’s another load of bull. The Angels can look into any work system at any time, that’s part of their work agreement. Perhaps they didn’t feel a need to do so but that is not what she stated.
I’m trying really hard not to link a ton of paywall articles, but The Athletic is far and away your best source for following the trial. I think Sam Blum is doing a good job of reporting the facts and keeping himself out of the story. You know, real journalism.
On to more fun Angels stuff, welcome aboard Max Stassi. I’m very interested to see if he can improve Logan O’Hoppe behind the dish.
Max stepped away from baseball for a while to help with his son Jackson, who was born after only 25 weeks in the womb and weight 1.5 pounds at birth. Two years later, the baby is progressing and Max is back on the diamond. It is still quite the struggle and I highly recommend that piece. If you read anything I link this week, make it that one and be thankful for the healthy kids in your life.
Stassi is one of many familiar faces joining the Angels. He played with the team from 2019 to 2022. AAA manager Keith Johnson is the new third base coach and AA skipper Andy Schatzley is the new infield coach.
Filling out the coaching staff will be former Blue Jays manager John Gibbons and another former Angel Adam Eaton. Gibbons gives first time manager Kurt Suzuki an experienced right hand man and Adam Eaton will be first base coach. Add in the previously announce Mike Maddux as pitching coach and this looks like a good crew.
Now, for them to get some talent to manage…
You can take your crack at being Perry in our annual off season series. Here are the rules if you want to join the fun. Our first contestant was Biggiswrth so give him a read and some feedback then prepare to be completely underwhelmed by mine.
Some critical data to help with your rosterbating is who might be had for cheap from other teams. FanGraphs published an NL roster crunch piece that has some interesting names on team bubbles. That link is right up Gitcho’s alley. But he’s right (I’ll regret admitting that later) in that there are some usable parts that simply won’t make better team’s rosters and we have plenty of spots in which an upgrade to decent would be notable.
You will need to replace Kyle Hendricks, who retired after a 12 year MLB career.
I often call young players kids, and the Angels have a kid who is doing really well right now. Say hello to Fall Stars MVP Raudi Rodriguez and dream on this stroke and those wheels.
Raudi is getting attention from Baseball America and across the twitterverse. He absolutely tore up the Arizona Fall League and put himself on a lot of radars.
I’m going to make sure to find Raudi at Spring Training this year. If we can have him, Guzman, Rada, Moore, and the full slate of Bremner, Dana, Klassen, Farris, and Shores in the minors to start the season there will be some intrigue on the farm.
From around baseball, Tarik Skubal is an absolute beast.
Congratulations to him and Paul Skenes on their 2025 Cy Young Awards.
The Padres might be for sale. Anybody got a few extra billion lying around? At this rate we can either buy the Padres or make one order for coffee.
This week we celebrated the brave men and women who keep us safe so we can talk about something as silly as baseball. A huge THANK YOU to every one of you who served and/or supported somebody who did. We owe you something we can not repay.
A good black and white movie is also perfect for a rainy day. I actually love film noir every day, but there’s just something a little better when the sky is also gray. Here’s a good documentary about when baseball went to war to fill the rainy weekend.
My grandfather was in the Navy in WW2. Even as a child I knew he’d done something far greater with his life than I ever would with mine. While it has been fun meeting Wally Joyner and Jim Abbott, my grandpa is my real hero in life. My great uncle was a paratrooper in WW2 and Korea and is another heroic figure. I’m glad I got to learn from the Greatest Generation and miss that generation dearly.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. I have a rare weekend with very little planned. I’ll let the boy decide what we do and am willing to bet we end up wet, muddy, and in trouble with mom.
