I hate talking Dodgers! But with Davey Lopes passing, I realize the hatred I had for the Lasorda 1970’s Dodgers is very different than the red-hot hate I have for the new Dodger$.

Those 70-80’s teams were built by their farm and they stayed together. I hated them because they were good and stable and there was no change, and I see now how cool that is.

These new Dodgers? Yes, good…but bought with corporate money. Other teams’ best players are collected. I don’t ever want to hear about their great prospects. They toss them out to buy a free agent All-star. Am I jealous? Yeah, I guess. But just don’t tell me money has little to do with their current success because that is a trash argument.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

5 minutes ago

Reply to EHC

I liked all the other guys but I couldn’t stand Lasorda or Garvey.

Super Member

AnAngelsFan

3 hours ago

During spring training my kids asked me why I never play the baseball game that they bought me for my birthday years ago (MLB the Show 22 – with Ohtani on the cover). They regret that decision, because I started a franchise and now they have to compete with me for the Switch.

My first act was to extend Ohtani during ST for way cheaper than Arte could have done (I even had to “overpay” him to make myself feel like I wasn’t cheating too bad), Trout might win the AL MVP and is absolutely clutch with RISP, Rendon is what the Angels hoped he would be, Ty Buttrey doesn’t have mental health issues, and Kurt Suzuki is (very unrealistically) hitting over .300.

I play one game every 1-2 series and sim the rest. I just got through the all-star break and the Angels are leading the division. The CPU refused to trade me O’Hoppe for Marsh, but I was able to trade Lorenzon (instead of Syndergaard) for Moniak, and I skipped the salary dump trade of Iglesias to the Braves.

It’s like living a fantasy of what could have been, very therapeutic.

Super Member

2pints

1 hour ago

Reply to AnAngelsFan

I recently started playing MLB The Show 2022 again as well. Its the last version of the game I bought. Been playing online a bunch, its been fun (although sometimes I have to wait a while for an opponent since its such an old game).

Its also funny to see how the game rated players back then, I noticed last night that Skubal is ranked at like 84 or something. I’m sure he has a 99 card on this season’s version of the game.

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

4 hours ago

Let’s be real folks…

Member

Halos_in_DE

4 hours ago

The White Sox are giving away a Pope Hat later this season (against the Reds)

Super Member

Jim Atkins

2 hours ago

Reply to Halos_in_DE

Last year I was driving to the CTPG meetup game against the White Sox. There were two guys on State College Blvd in pope outfits blessing the cars. That was definitely not on my bingo card.

Member

Halos_in_DE

5 hours ago

No new City Connect for this season for the Angels. Only Braves, Orioles, Reds, Royals, Brewers, Pirates, Padres, and Rangers

Trusted Member

CAoldskoll

4 hours ago

Reply to Halos_in_DE

Thanks for link I’m a jersey collector. Most of those city connect don’t look as nice as the first editions, except that Pittsburgh is crazy gold on black. I’m hoping next yr Angels do something retro with dark navy colors.

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

3 hours ago

Reply to Halos_in_DE

I don’t understand the reason for most of these.

-San Diego ruined what used to be the coolest CC jersey in the game.
-Cincinnati’s is basically a red version of what they already had
-The Pirates jersey is just a pirates jersey with a spooky font
-Texas is fine but completely lacking in any sort of character. Better than being gaudy I suppose.
-Milwaukee’s is a double A jersey
-ATL, BLT, and KC are all pretty cool though

Trusted Member

toad2065

1 hour ago

Reply to TrojanBoiler

C’mon Trojan. You know the reason. Nike is on the ropes and they desperately need more jersey sales!

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

1 hour ago

Reply to toad2065

Lol I meant other than the obvious reason!

Super Member

tanana40

5 hours ago

RIP Davy Lopes. I hate to admit it but I liked the 1970s Dodgers. The infield of Cey, Russell, Lopes, and Garvey was together for a long time.

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

5 hours ago

I wonder if we’ll get a taste of Rada when the Soler suspension manifests. Dude is heating up in Salt Lake.

Super Member

BannedInLA

3 hours ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

Considering our horrible lineup, I’d like to see him get a cup of coffee up here.

Legend

Pineapple12

2 hours ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

Rada and CMo will be starting in Anaheim by June.

Super Member

YOUknowulovetheIE

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Correction.. guzman will be here playing for moncada

Legend

Pineapple12

1 hour ago

Reply to YOUknowulovetheIE

CMo has started at 3rd in the 4 games. Guzman has been at SS

Last edited 1 hour ago by Pineapple12

Super Member

YOUknowulovetheIE

1 hour ago

Reply to Pineapple12

I like cmo at 2nd, but we’ll see how it plays out.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 hour ago

Reply to Pineapple12

CMo and Guzman are currently hitting .179 in AAA, and Rada doesn’t really have a lot of value unless he plays CF. I like them all, and I would rather watch them hit .100 than the veterans, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Why waste their service time. People would get tired quickly of them too. I would lean into that more if Rada was going to play CF and Guzman played 3B just because of the defensive improvement even if they don’t hit, because the guys they would be replacing aren’t hitting anyway and are also not providing defensive value. I am assuming Trout would move to LF.

Unfortunately, I believe this year is going to be pretty ugly. You have to realize that even thought the players and coaches are playing to win, the rest of the organization is not, at least not this year. They’re just treading water until after the work stoppage.

Legend

Pineapple12

1 hour ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

they’ve moved CMo to 3rd. Once he strings together 2 hot weeks, Perry will call him up.

I agree with all your points. Most of all, I would accept watching the young guys struggle and be fine with it. Service time is the only reason to keep them down

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

2 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Service time is the exact reason to keep them down. Otherwise we will keep running into a situation where guys start hitting their stride and we immediately we have to pay them a lot of money. That’s happening with Adell now.

If they aren’t completely ready AND simultaneously won’t elevate the MLB team to playoff caliber, then leave them in the minors.

You can’t manage a payroll when you don’t have at least a few non-veteran contracts that are worth several times their value.

Legend

MarineLayer

59 minutes ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

I think CMo is far away from being a major league ready player. If we keep bringing him up to fail, he will turn into Jo Adell 2.0 who took years after he was first up to develop. This was another bad pick by Minasian if the objective was to draft a major league ready player. Maybe three years from now he might be usable. Let it play out over time.

Legend

Pineapple12

34 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

Adell was a Billy E pick. Wash and Torii unlocked Adell

Last edited 34 minutes ago by Pineapple12

Legend

MarineLayer

1 hour ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

If he can give us better defense in CF than Adell on the days Trout doesn’t play, why not.

Trusted Member

milehigh

31 minutes ago

Reply to MarineLayer

We have Bryce T for that on the roster already and the offense would be the same, imho.

Legend

Pineapple12

27 minutes ago

Reply to milehigh

Teodosio cannot hit the ball.

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

5 minutes ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Don’t you DARE besmirch my sweet little Teo like that

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

8 hours ago

10 innings, $33m

There clearly are no limits to the charity Arte and his minion Perry will give the lame.

Legend

steelgolf

7 hours ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Yet another to add to the long list, where they gambled and rolled “snake eyes”

Super Member

PedroCerrano

3 hours ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

That one was fairly predictable. Marginal MLB guy gets “fixed” by Tampa Bay staff by throwing a high stress pitch more often and then breaks down at his next stop. Never buy a stock at it’s all time high.

Last edited 3 hours ago by PedroCerrano

Super Member

AnAngelsFan

3 hours ago

Reply to PedroCerrano

The Angels are masters at buying high-priced stock just before it tanks and at buying low-priced “value” stock that never recovers.

It feels like someone buying stock randomly would have better luck.

Legend

Pineapple12

2 hours ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Hard to blame King Arturo for not wanting to spend money when looking at the recent failings:
Trout extension, Rendone contract, Fletcher extension, Stephenson contract
🤢🤢🤢

I’m sure I’m missing more

Last edited 2 hours ago by Pineapple12

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

I don’t think you’re missing anything. For most mortals, making expenditures that “breakdown” would certainly limit our willingness to make the same expenditure again. However, in my opinion if one has the money to buy a sports franchise and employ athletes, it should be part of business model to plan for expenditures on athletes who get injured and can’t perform. If as the owner you decide to restrict spending on talent because prior signees got injured, it’s really time to sell.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 hour ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

At some point one needs to realize that this all happened because whoever was making the decisions was making bad decisions. Nothing will change until the owner or the people he hires make better decisions.

It’s nice if you’re a subject matter expert and the smartest guy in the room, but You don’t have to be, you just need to hire the people who can make your business successful.

Arte could completely turn things around over time if he simply hired competent people and invested his money in scouting, coaching, and player development instead of expensive free agents. He would save money and have a much better product. And it doesn’t preclude adding a free agent here and there when the time is right.

Everybody and every organization make mistakes and bad decisions but Arte and the Angels have made it a way of life and repeat the same bad mistakes over and over.

Nothing will change until Arte either sells the team or hires a competent baseball person and allows them to do what is needed.

Trusted Member

MH252525

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

yea if only he would realize the problem is himself by being such a pain to work with that he can’t hire anyone worth their salt because they’d rather make less money and have more control. Remember John Carpino said Arte had a right to make the roster because it’s his money. So he basically wants a GM to finish GM’ing after he’s spent most of the money. His contracts are the ones that have hamstrung us the most. Hamilton and Rendon. And there is a pretty easy path to the Angels never signing Pujols if he hadn’t of hired a DEI intern hire who couldn’t it even make it to the winter meetings on time when Beltre wanted to sign here.

Trusted Member

milehigh

29 minutes ago

Reply to MH252525

I think Arte wanted Puljos and it didn’t matter who the GM was or wasn’t. Puljos was coming to Anaheim and nothing was going to stop Arte.

Super Member

YOUknowulovetheIE

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Jared Walsh?

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

57 minutes ago

Reply to YOUknowulovetheIE

Fortunately (for the Angels) he got hurt while he was still in his arbitration years. We never extended him but OMG would that have been another huge bottomless pit.

That one was a bummer regardless. Loved the guy and the player.

Super Member

2pints

1 hour ago

Reply to Pineapple12

So he should pivot and invest tons of $$$ into scouting and coaching. Has he done that? Maybe he has and I’m just not aware. Its what I’d do though if I were him. I’d focus on outspending every other team on scouting and development, both internationally and domestically.

Legend

Pineapple12

29 minutes ago

Reply to 2pints

1000%! One area Perry has actually been somewhat successful in is our international presence and getting the new facilities built in Arizona.

My comment obviously wasn’t very clear by everyone’s replies. Arte holds all the blame here — my point was that it makes sense why he’d be gun shy on opening up the wallet for extensions/FAs based on being burned by almost every move made since Rendone.

Arte makes the shitty hires, the shitty hires make terrible decisions, Arte is too self unaware to realize he’s the pit of the problem.

Last edited 28 minutes ago by Pineapple12