It looks like Ichiro Suzuki is a shoo-in to go into the Hall of Fame this year.
The Angels signed Connor Brogdon to a minor league contract. Who’s up for taking a Ben Joyce fastball to the face mask? The Angels avoided arbitration with Brock Burke on a deal worth $1.15 Million. They have supposedly “shown interest” in Alex Verdugo.
Veteran southpaw Martin Perez has a one year deal with the White Sox for $5 Million. Amed Rosario got his one year deal with the Nationals but he only gets $2 Million.
Speaking of the White Sox, they just signed Josh Rojas to a one year deal and designated infielder Jacob Amaya for assignment in the corresponding move.
The Mariners claimed right-hander Hagen Danner off waivers from the Blue Jays. The Giants claimed catcher Sam Huff from the Rangers and DFAd reliever Austin Warren. The Royals claimed infielder Braden Shewmake from the White Sox.
It looks like the Mets might be out of the running on Roki Sasaki.
Former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz passed away at the age of 37.
Vlad Jr. got paid nicely today.
He’s a free agent after this year. Could be a fun way to emerge out of a rebuild next off season….
And hes looking for 450 Million. You think Arte will pay that?
And that physique that screams Prince Fielder. Warm feelings for his dad, should not color a hard look at his future because OMGVLAD!!!!.
Nope. That dude’s gonna totally be the next Prince Fielder.
Angels at 169.7 million
So about $190 after benefits and other goodies are counted per Spotrac.
This has us about $59 million below the luxury tax but also a bit higher than last year.
There might be a little left for Perry to play with, but I doubt much.
Well, let’s hope perry eats his Wheaties before he commits some of that available gap. I think that Arte lulls himself into some dream world where late in the season we can trade for help that temporarily raises the team’s salary until the end of the season. We all remember his, “…for the right player” statement on going over the luxury limit.
Since the painfully obvious black hole at 3B I have felt that Arte may go over the luxury tax limit in 2026, when Rendone‘s contract will be ending at season’s end. Between now and then there may a dearth of high dollar contracts.
According to Roster Resource, All in including Bennies, minor leaguers and projections they’re at $205.6 million which is $35.5 million below the first CBT Threshold and about about $27.5 million below their highest payroll which was during the Unicorn farewell tour year.
https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/angels
https://www.si.com/mlb/angels/angels-news/angels-arbitration-tracker-taylor-ward-luis-rengifo-jo-adell-reid-detmers-more-01jh65203k4t
Oh didn’t see it discussed below. My bad
NO SOUP FOR YOU!
since he is pictured, interesting story about Shoemaker (I think it’s cool at least);
I was working at Camelot Golfland when he and his family came in. He was really nice, and I wanted his autograph but didn’t have a card or anything, so I had him sign a golf ball.
So now I have a random encased signed golf ball by him in my house. Lol
I had him sign my shoe /s
Since he was the Cobbler
Naturally!
So I throw the ball to Naturally?
I once got a Richard Simmons autograph for my mom on a paper napkin. Before he did, he said to me, “Stop biting your nails and take care of them.”
Very cool. And very random.
Years ago I posted about meeting Shoey and some other pitchers in Seattle. My now wife and I went up there to visit and catch a game. It was his beard that drew my attention as he walked by me at a sushi joint. Turned out he was with CJ and Heaney.
We took a picture and a poster named eclou was a friend of his and got it signed for me. At least I hope CJ signed it. To my untrained eye it looks legit and lou was a cool guy, so I’m saying it is.
The best seats that I ever had at the Big A were about 3 rows behind the Angels dugout in a game against the White Sox. Shoe was the starting pitcher and he got a standing ovation from those of us behind the dugout when he was taken out the game, he was the winning pitcher in the game. I think it was 2017.
The photo on the masthead….good ole Shoey
Good ol’ Shoey
Shoebacca
CWS hiring LaRussa was worse than holding on to Ippei’s buddy.
Angels Sign Connor Brogdon to Minor League Deal: Another player with plantar fasciitis-Awesome, the last player with that worked out quite well.
Maybe, just maybe he has his own special treadmill?
I have that some time and I would be willing to sign for the minimum. 🙂
Well at least Brogdon wasn’t suffering from Senior plantar fasciitis but if that condition helps him induce more GIDP’s that might be a good thing.
I wouldn’t get too Brogged down on this signing.
It does Broggle the mind though.
I heard his mom didn’t want him the play baseball, but he Conner in to it.
Unrelated tangent time:
Do you guys think this is the season that MLB does the unforgivable when they now decide to be softer towards Pete Rose? I don’t mean eligibility for the HoF, but mentioning him as an MLB great, etc.?
I’ve always held onto the opinion that after Rose’s death MLB would be opportunistic and start marketing on his grave.
No, still too soon. I do think he’ll be reinstated at some point in the future.
No, I don’t mean fully brought back in, I mean a stasis type of thing where they mention him as a loss to MLB, but yet don’t let his name really enjoy any real connection with MLB.
You know, like all these fake celebrity exes tweeting their undying love and loss after their former famous ex dies (Who they cursed and said were worthless human beings, etc.).
Yes, I do think his passing will open that door.
I knew I could filibuster you Senator.
$1,000,000 Ippei Bucks he’ll be embraced…..right after Netflix does a new movie about him. Then, all the chicks will “Dig Charlie Hustle” and young kids will bring back the Moe haircut, all will be forgiven. The ESPN movie in 2004 sucked.
If it worked for the Menendez Brothers, it will work for Pete.
Free the Gambler Kenny Rodgers, Free the 100 legal betting sites and apps, Free Shohei and Ippei.
Free Jimmy The Greek and take the Chargers minus the points over Texans, Bills over Denver Money Line, Eagles over the Packers -4,
leaning Vikings -1 over the Rams, take the points and the Steelers over the Ravens, And my pick of the week, the TB Bucs over the Red Skins and lay the 3.
Shoeless Joe has to be first before Rose
Good point – forgot about him.
Fact of the matter is so have everybody.
But boomers love baseball and boomers loved Pete Rose. My dad and his friends loved the guy.
Pete will be in the Opening Day montages of players lost in 2024 and will receive plenty of applause. The Reds may even dust Pete Rose Jr. off for an opening pitch.
I’m in or close to your dad’s circle and although I certainly enjoyed watching him when he was an active player, He is the creator of his own problems. All he had to do was admit that he gambled and not even any specifics. He would have been suspended for a year and elected to the hall when he was eligible. He was a great baseball player and competitor but a really bad human being. He deserves everything he got. He should be put in the hall someday but I don’t know when.
Can’t say I’d be thrilled by Verdugo, but there are worse choices out there. If the plan is sign Verdugo, trade Ward, put Adell in center and he and Trout on the corners, then outfield defense would be solid, but the team loses Ward’s power for somebody who’s hit below average the past two seasons. The only saving grace is Verdugo seems to hit better at the Big A and has had some success against other Western Division opponents. Don’t know anything about his clubhouse character, but he strikes me as someone who marches to his own beat. That’s not a terrible thing by itself, but it isn’t any help in building/maintaining a winning culture.
He has some cool tats if I remember correctly….so there’s that.
Everyone knew Ichiro was a first rounder. The only question was if it would be unanimous.
I can’t see Ichiro not being unanimous.
I can see a contrarian out there who would say “if all these other slam dunk players weren’t unanimous, why should he be”.
Well, I would have a mostly civil conversation with anyone from the country of Contraria. You thought I wouldn’t?
There has been only one unanimous pick by the writers. Since Mays, Ripken, Griffey, Maddux, and Stan Musial weren’t unanimous, I could see Ichiro not being unanimous.
That being said, I think it’s more likely now than in years past and Ichiro is a good candidate in a year with fewer obvious candidates. There also seem to be fewer voters differentiating between first ballot HOFer and generic HOFer.
LOL @ “…generic HOFer.”
I suppose that’s what you’d call Harold Baines or Jack Morris. Somebody who played well, but not great, long enough to amass impressive totals.
Not voting for Ichiro is prima facie evidence of complete douchenozzlehood.
I’ll allow it. But watch your language, counselor!
Boy if today if the Arbitration deadline for exchanging numbers and most teams dont like to continue to negotiate between now and the hearing it seems like there are a shitpile of unresolved cases out there that are heading towards a hearing. The Angels alone have 7 more unresolved contracts : Rengifo Moniak, Adell, Detmers, Taylor Ward , Suarez & Quijada with about 150+ more across the league
They have Suarez listed at just over 4m. Screw that, he is league minimum at best.
I guess that turned out to be fake news . He settled for 175K more than last year.
https://x.com/AriA1exander/status/1877418002842312767
And is still overpaid by 600k
And is still overpaid by
600k$1.1 MillionThere. FIFY
FTFY
He still has a roster spot?
So far they’ve come to an agreement with everyone except Rengifo, Moniak, and Quijada. Suarez came in at 1.1 million, so more than league minumum, but not a ton more (MLBTraderumors projected 1.2 million). I agree that $4 million wouldn’t be worth it.
So far MLB TradeRumors projections have been pretty close except for Ward who settled at 7.8 million instead of a projected 9.2 million.
They project Rengifo for 5.8 million, Moniak for 1.8 million (which seems high, but is probably the result of 2023) and Quijada for 1.1 million.
Rengifo and Q, may have an argument, but Moniak was awful last year, he’s lucky to have a job.
Suarez is vastly overpaid at 1.1 million. I would have non tendered him and let him go elsewhere.
The 4 next to his name is MLB service time, not estimated $$. We got him back for $1.1M
Usually, the Halos strive to avoid arbitration hearings, especially after Frankie got all emo when he lost his hearing a few years back. Remember, “I guess the Angels don’t want me here.” (Paraphrased)
ESPN ranking of the worst MLB front office decisions of the decade… and you can guess No. 1. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/43323854/mlb-ranking-worst-signing-trade-mistakes-all-30-teams-2020-ohtani-strasburg-betts
And, here, just to make you weep, some of the very credible trade scenarios envisioned before the 2023 trade deadline. Hard to overstate how far it set the org back, not dealing him. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38024142/mlb-trade-deadline-2023-shohei-ohtani-angels-yankees-dodgers-mets-rangers
But we DID succeed in never trading a generational talent AND my fellow Angels fans totally excelled at simping for a player who was always looking past them. Arte is also saved from us blaming him for trading Ohtani for the next seventy years…. or at the rate CtPG Guy lets things go 250 years. PLUS! we needed to have “at least something to watch” those last couple years and we got it.
At the very least we’re not stupid enough to keep demanding that every off season and trade deadline. Amiright?
Yeah, it’s not like Arte traded Babe Ruth to finance a Broadway play.
Now let’s all remember these ideas were created without looking at Ohtanis medicals which would have shown ligament damage and he was not going to be pitching much longer in 2023.
As much as we would like to think it would have been franchise altering, it probably wouldn’t have been.
Well, the return might not have been *quite* what the ESPN writers projected… but no, there’s no particular reason to think a medical exam in July would have turned up evidence of UCL tear that didn’t happen until mid-August. The dude made 4-5 starts in the interim! And if you factor in the prospects we gave up during that abortive pennant run (Quero and Bush in particular) along with the players we DIDN’T get… yeah, potentially franchise altering. Stone and Pepiot in the rotation last season, Rushing coming up this season… but whatever. It’s science fiction.
Ohtani started having issues pitching and was pulled from starts in July due to physical problems. It wasn’t till August it was named as “arm fatigue” so no we probably wouldn’t have gotten a Dodger package that included Rusching/Stone/Pepiot if any of them.
We probably would have ended up with Cartaya as the headliner.
How is it that some team’s year after year are able to be good in the draft such as the Rays, Dodgers, Red Sox and Orioles? Scouting and the scouts trained to look for things that make valuable players. How well does an outfielder track a ball or how well does a player run the bases and just as important as say hitting. All of the good teams have one thing in common, a leader who see’s importance in scouting, otherwise a team cannot and will develop their own and must rely on trades and free agents, which we know does not work. If Perry stumbles and falls at this coming up draft in ’25 or fails at the trade deadline in bringing in young talent, then I will blame it on the lack of professional scouting. How many Scouts do you need?
How many Scouts do the better teams use? Let’s start with where the Scouts need to be employed and have expertise at that level. (My guessstament)
National League (3)
American League (3)
AAA (5)
AA (5)
A (5)
Low A (5)
Universities (5)
Colleges (5)
Jr. Colleges (5)
High Schools (10)
Traveling Team Leagues
Latin America (3)
Asia (3)
Australia
Did I miss anyone there? It takes multiple scouts at each level and at each geographical area. It takes teamwork and sharing of information and a smart and strong leader in an organization to be able to know the strong points and weak points for their scouting team.
Teams do not release the details of all the scouting that they employe but believe me when I say that Scouting is a major component to being a winning team. So how many? My guess is 50-70, wow does that seem like a lot, yeah it does, but to get the best of the best you have to be the best with the best.
So how many do the Angels carry and how good are they? WTFKnows, but like everything else, there is not enough and that is why making trades and working the draft is a crap shoot.
The Orioles draft well because they had a stretch of 5-6 years being in the top 5, and they consistently get an extra competitive balance pick
The dodgers? Their team is all traded and free agent guys (besides Kershaw and Smith)
We need to remember. Even with the Doyers nearly unspendable pile of money, their first round picks the last decade and a half, even with all those scouts we envy and all the high end laptops in the world, have included such hits as Zach Lee, Chris Reed, Jesmuel Valentin, Chris Anderson, Grant Holmes, Kyle Funkhouser, Jordan Sheffield, Jeren Kendell, JT Ginn, Kody House…. that’s with ALL the resources a scouting department could want.
Perry could handle this next draft PERFECTLY and still wind up with nothing in five years. Which is why teams have to keep trying and not just decide building a farm isn’t worth it after two years.
It’s also why all the self righteous ass flames around the draft are a little silly. “AH MAH GIRD AH CANNAH BEEF HAR STUPIDZ GUY IS!”
Tampa, Boston and Cleveland all do well in the draft and while you bring up the Dodgers , they certainly have drafted pitchers good enough to keep winning.
Ichiro should be first ballot. Alex Verdugo is a player with a ton of talent and a ten-cent head. Former Dodger, former Red Sox, Former Yankee, all the best places to play and not welcome back to any-should tell you something other than he has bad breath. Please Angels “Just say no”.
First ballot yes.
Unanimous no.
Throw in his NPB stats, and I think he should be unanimous.
I’m surprised the Hall of Fame hasn’t put in a foreign league wing. I think it would be good to recognize stars from Japan and Latin American countries like Sadaharu Oh and Hector Espino, who have to chance to be voted in.
I think advanced analytics would keep him from being a unanimous selection even if we consider his NPB stats. OPS+ of 107 is enough to keep him from being unanimous.
Halo Power Baby!!
Only 35 days to go.