Some Angels prospects had a breakout 2024 season as more particularly described in here. Some of those guys are very recent acquisitions.
The Mets tied up the NLCS at one game apiece yesterday. The Yankees beat the Guardians 5-2.
The Braves fired their hitting coach Kevin Seitzer after ten seasons. The Cubs ditched their third base coach, Willie Harris. Three Orioles coaches are also out of work. The Red Sox are apparently doing a full-on coaching staff rebuild.
Would you like to see Phil Nevin as the Manager of the White Sox? It could happen. Would he be out there chasing wins every night? Mark Melancon is the new Pitching Development Coordinator for San Diego State. The Rockies extended Bud Black for another year as their manager.
I thought about a week ago Clayton Kershaw said he wasn’t coming back in 2025. Now he says he is.
Here is a gratuitous picture of AJ Pierzynski getting punched out by Michael Barrett. You’re welcome. Here is Ryan versus Ventura. I was bored while I was making links.
Just got a phone call/voicemail, email and text from a team representative wanting to gauge my interest in purchasing tickets for 2025. I was very nice, responded back to the text with “Until Arte sells the team, I will NEVER come back”, they don’t need to know that I moved to Tucson 3 years ago. 😂 This rep then text back basically saying they understand and would like to speak to me about my passion and love of the team, I’m pretty sure I’m going to leave that alone for now. I may respond after a day or two, I do think the organization needs to hear from the fans, whether it goes anywhere or not, who knows.
What I do find interesting is that in the past 5 years I have only attended 2 games, that’s right 2 as opposed to my usual 4 to 6 games, or even more, per year from 1985-2019. They must be really desperate to sell season tickets I guess.
Got the same call and comment about my “passion” after making a similar Arte comment. It’s all a marketing script. Don’t listen. Don’t call back. It’s a waste of time.
That’s what I figured, living in AZ has made it easier to cut the cord.
I got the same call today followed by a text. I responded back “I don’t want to give Arte any more reasons to hold onto the team.”
I got a “I understand” and an invite to call him back if I change my mind.
“ whether it goes anywhere or not, who knows.”
I know. It goes nowhere.
Early on I bought ten games a year. I’ve probably ben to about 10 in the last years, but bought maybe four.
Lastly, I would like to add that being in the minority concerning to Dodgers, I do appreciate that the Dodgers have a chance to go all the way with a starting pitching staff held together with chewing used chewing gum and Baid aids and a big dose of luck. But more to the point is my dislike of anything NY, especially NYC, which includes but not limited to Manfrauds and his staff, MLB TV replay personnel, and the worst, NY YANKEES, NY Mets and the bias that ruminates from that asshat city. If Cleveland wins the whole thing that would be exciting also. I will always root-root for the home SoCal teams first in any sport, so go Dodgers. (BTW, I am very jealous of the fact that we cannot put together an organization as good as the Dodgers in the same market.)
Dodgers starting pitching within the last 45 days has been: Yamamoto (high priced foreign import) Glasnow (high priced trade piece that isn’t available any longer this year); Buehler (stud pitcher they have had for several years but with injury history now); and the others they have needed to pitch. I get your comment but even in the playoffs, Yamamoto and Buehler are two talents many teams don’t have. During the season, Glasnow was a key piece. It’s the money that will get them there. Oh, and their bullpen features plenty of acquisitions and money spent also.
The Dodgers are a really, really well run organization. Anybody saying otherwise is foolish, or as the kids say today “a hater.” And the Dodgers have a lot of players I respect for off field stuff (Kershaw, Freeman) or just love to watch play (Betts, Ohtani). Kershaw is really both.
I’ll just always dislike them and root against them.
If the Dodgers are playing the Angels, I root for the Angels. Otherwise, I root for SoCal teams in general. My problem with the Dodgers is that they have too much financial leverage and, just like with Steinbrenner’s Yankees, I think that is bad for the game.
Let’s Go Mets Go!
https://youtu.be/2N4VIXM1RJk
IMHO, those voting for GG are not going to watch late night West Coast games and do the proper vetting to have full knowledge of whether Neto should have been a finalist or not. The voters though are better informed than they used to be because of the new scheduling that is in today’s MLB game plan. The problem is the same scribes can also be official scorers, and in the game today the handing out of errors has become inconsistent and for a few individuals even rare. I am as has been noted multiple times a Zack Neto fan, and I believe he is our best player on the team and for me therefore believe in the future Zack will be a GG finalist in the future seasons to follow. He is just half a click away from winning the award and is almost at the “Simba ’17” level, which is a lofty placing to be in.
Soto will get the benefit of Yankee bias for the right fielders.
Especially this year as NY wants to retain his services, yeah you and I are on the same page with this one.
The fact Derek Jeter has a fistful of Gold Gloves tells you all you need to know.
I have to say that Jo Adell is a very-very good outfielder with the ball hit in front of him whether in LF or RF. He has a strong arm, just not a Kole Calhoun cannon. He has speed to go to his left or right. Gold Glove material, right at the moment I do not believe so. He has a good jump for the balls hit in front of him and has shown vast jumps of improvement.
BTW, the snake in the Dodgers’ dugout yesterday is hilarious.
Jo Adell
Seriously? Damn, Jo has stepped up his D-game, hasn’t he?
We should have traded him 2 years ago for a bucket of balls
Adell and Canning are both finalists, but not Neto. Volpe and Rocchio were excellent defenders and Witt was just so good at everything, but I think Neto was a better fielder than those three.
Witt will win. Neto was terrific also but likely too many errors to make the short list.
According to the Fielding Bible, Neto was considerably worse than Volpe and slightly better than Rocchio.
Take that with a grain of salt, but I also think Volpe is a good choice and Swanson deserved a finalist spot.
Thanks for the link, but it said it was for the 2023 season. Is that correct?
You’re correct BI59… those are absolutely 2023 stats. According to Baseball Reference, Neto was No. 3 in all of MLB in fielding runs above average. Volpe/Rocchio not in Top 10. Link here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/tz_runs_total_ss_top_ten.shtml
Wow, didn’t see this coming a few years ago.
I would of bet on ball bouncing off of head for an HR first.
Adell’s much improved, but hos routes sometimes are brutal.
If he could only hit.
If Jo wins that could be a great motivator for him moving forward. If he learned to move forward with his defense then maybe there is hope he can adjust offensively too.
Jo made two swing adjustments last year. One heading into camp and one about halfway through the season.
His numbers with the bat the last month plus were nice. If he can sustain that level and keep up the defense he’s a really nice MLB level player.
Call me skeptical. I want to see him do something sustainable. He’s hot and cold.
He definitely has a lot to prove.
That’s really encouraging to see. He was one of the worst outfielders I have ever seen when he was originally called up and had no clue on how to go back on a ball. It’s a credit to him and the coaches that he’s in this conversation.
His defense was much improved, he has excellent range and a very strong arm but I would not consider him a “gold glove” RF.
One of the things I really appreciate about this site is how well it keeps me updated on prospects. I’ve been a baseball fan for over 50 years, and I hadn’t found a place that consistently provides that kind of information until I stumbled across this community. Along with the insightful posts from other members, it’s probably the main reason I check in almost daily—even when rooting for a team that’s stuck near the bottom of the standings.
Another thought I had while reading about breakout prospects is how much I value certain stats, especially when it comes to hitters. Tell me if I’m wrong, but one thing I really get excited about is seeing a solid difference between a player’s batting average and on-base percentage. When there’s a 100-point gap or more, it signals to me that this hitter has a great understanding of the strike zone, knows how to take walks, and is likely contributing in ways that go beyond just making contact. It’s just one piece of the puzzle, but I’d love to hear what you all think. Does this stat difference excite anyone else the way it does for me?
Yep, we’re the BOMB!! 💣
Hope you saw my post yesterday about the AFL Solar Sox.
Getting on base is better than not getting on base, any day of the week.
Boy! That Lake Elsinore guy really clanked that Laverde hit in that link.
That difference is a very good measure of how often a player walks without looking at walk rates.
Nice. And thanks.
I have the same bias. A kid who takes a walk knows the strike zone.
Arte quote from recent phone interview:
“Having Mike Trout under contract for $37.1 million per season through 2030 and Anthony Rendon signed through ‘26 at $38.5 million, made it unfeasible to re-sign Shohei Ohtani, Moreno said. He added they had plenty of trade offers for Ohtani before and during the ’23 season, but the plan was to compete for a postseason berth.”
There’s that word again “compete”. It has blinded this Org and its leadership from long term vision. The Trout and Rendon contracts were known which means it was foreseeable Shohei was not going to be able to be signed – so why not trade him?!
If anything this recent phone interview just confirms how moronic this Organization is.
This once again proves how toxic RenDone has been and continues to be to our team.
Apparently, when Arte says “Compete” or “Competitive” it’s a manifestation of some form of dementia……
😄
They were like 2 games out of the playoffs at the trade deadline.
I believe that is incorrect. Regardless, the point is that if you know you can’t afford to keep Ohtani because of Trout and Rendon, you trade him for the long term health of the Organization rather than losing him for nothing.
it was 2 or 3 games
trading your best player when you’re that close to a spot would have caused a riot.
Hindsight is 20/20
I completely disagree about the “riot”. Many of us were calling for the trade of Ohtani at the deadline in 2022.
I believe the Angels were approximately 5 games out of a playoff spot on July 31, 2023 but that is off of memory. Can’t recall if that was the wildcard or division or both.
4.5 out of the division, 3 of the wildcard
Neither explanation nor excuse is needed to post another picture of Ryan schooling Ventura.
Nor of anyone punching out Pure-shit-ski
Can we get one of anybody punching Doug Eddings?
Please spell his name correctly. It’s “Doug F***ing Eddings”.
I had already used up my Oct. F-Bomb.
Damn Padres!
Oh, Like “Bucky ***ing Dent”?
Agreed! It continues to amaze me that Baseball insists on showcasing guys like him, Arod, Big Papi etc. There are so many appealing ex-players available that I can only feel that they are insulting us!
Last week I was talking to a random Texas fan that said when he was a kid that Ryan ass whoopin of Ventura turned him into a lifelong Rangers fan…from that day forward!!
https://youtu.be/BUNCiX2-iOw
Harrelson who was the ultimate homer stopped talking because it’s hard to spin “Hey look at our guy getting his ass kicked” into pro White Sox propaganda.
Hawk was probably the worst announcer ever. And I’m including Eric Karros in that list.