slikmar

16 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Baseball teams are starting to clear some deadwood.

 

Yankees release Josh Donaldson.  From the Athletic:

 

 

They also waived Harrison Bader, who's been horrendous the last 2 months...4th worst in wRC+ since July 4th.  Good defensively, but that bat just doesn't cut it.  Plus, his free agent contract expires this season.  No loss.

 

And the Angels proved their front office is an UTTER disaster, IMO.  Or slik might say, succumbed to the inevitable.  Giolito waived.  Grichuk waived.  "Roster strengthening" moves that bombed.  3 others also waived.  Yeah, they have NO chance, with Trout out again, with no pitching at all, and with a near-impossible task...they'd have to go 24-6, .800 baseball, to reach 87 wins.  Even before this?  They were a near-lock to be closer to 6-24.

 

So they've emptied anything they might have had...again.  FanGraphs has them 29th, another site 28th.  Baseball America has them last.

 

Shohei should walk.  

Inevitable is probably correct. I don't blame them for the moves they made. They were 3 games out at the time with it seeming they were going to get Trout back within a few weeks and had lost Ward to being hit in the face by a fastball. Problem was, other then Moustakis, and solid by Leone and Lopez, NONE of the guys lived up to the backs of their cards. Then the Ohtani injury and Trout not coming back doomed them. Every one of these guys have contracts end after this season, so why not try to cut payroll and give them a shot at playoffs.

On a side thing, MLBNow and Brian Kenny have been talking about how much of your payroll can be tied up in Aircraft Carriers (their words), big money contracts - over 20+mil a year is what they use. They figure one player no more then 14% without it hurting you. If you have been watching the show at all, I think they keep missing an important part. They talk about the Angels with their trio, the Padres and all their guys, the Yankees and their 6 or so and how they are hampered in comparison to say TB or Cincy or Baltimore, but I think they are missing an important point in this that they don't talk about, what if those carriers play to their status. Using the Yankees - Stanton, Donaldson, Rizzo etc have been horrible. If those guys play to their career avgs, where are Yankees now. Angels - Rendon has been a disaster and Trout has been an above average player, but if those 2 guys are playing to what they did prior to 2019, I wager we make at least one of the playoff years.

Our problem is pitching, and we got Tyler Anderson as an innings eater and solid 3 - he has been neither. We trade our best, and I would say really our only prospect, in Quero for him and not only has he not been average, he has been terrible. I expect a complete revamping of our coaching staff this year, starting with the guy who was not even hired to be pitching coach but the assistant who fell in due to the guy we hired being an idiot.

As for Utter disaster, possibly true, but I think Minasian has them on the right track going forward, a lot of guys who are, hopefully solid if not spectacular mlb ready guys. Our minors, prior to those trades were still ranked down in the bottom 5, so not like we were giving away, other then maybe Quero, future all-stars. No idea what will happen with Ohtani, but I suspect he probably leaves except that Angels might be one of the few teams that would still allow him to pitch and hit after the injury.

3 hours ago, tkdguy said:

I have relatives in Florida who will brave any hurricane but refuse to move to California because of earthquakes, even if earthquakes are less common than hurricanes.

I have had conversations with people in Tornado Alley who say the same thing. My answer is, don't you get Tornados every other month or something?

3 hours ago, death tribble said:

Hook beating Jack Perry was no real surprise nor Sting and Darby winning, FTR retaining and MJF beating Adam Cole.

The House of Black losing was a surprise. And MJF and Adam Cole winning as a tag team. Santana and Ortiz reuniting is a surprise. 

Agreed, I would have picked exactly as you did and would have been surprised by the same things. I really though both MJF and Cole would try to use the tag team match to get the other one worn down for their later match, beginning a riff in their "friendship". Also, Props to Bucks for allowing FTR to win. Also to Jericho to help with continuing to put over Osprey, who has become a great watch. His match a couple months ago against Okada was fabulous, where he pulled out every finishing move that other wrestlers had beaten Okada with. I am a little, but only a little, surprised by bullet club result, but I think they are planning a White push for the belt. Saraya winning is also a surprise to me, but your right, pure pandering to the crowd. Problem is, they had not done anything really to setup that she is capable of winning/holding the title, unlike the other 3. It makes me think that her neck still limits her wrestling.

The Angels have said multiple times, they allow Ohtani to tell them when he needs a rest and when he doesn't. That he is more aware of what his body is doing than anyone else. And yes, they did want to keep him happy. I hope a LOT of the teams who would sign him will tell him no, you don't get to pitch, because that will increase the odds he stays with the Angels, since they will say, if you get back, you can. I agree he needs more days off and team may have to enforce that, but I would also point out another difference to to Ruth and Ohtani. Ohtani bats left and throws right, so apparently puts less strain on his arm, as can be seen from 2018 and now where he continued to hit despite the tear/TJ surgery.

The problem with bullpen overuse now is rampant, but there is more. Relievers seem to be a crapshoot. How many of them are all-stars one year and horrid the next. The Angels resigned Iglesias to a 4 year deal based on what he did in 2021 for 2022 and on, by trade deadline they sent him to Atlanta, where of course he became great again. That same year the Angels signed Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup, both considered strong, solid back end pitchers (not closers). Since Tepera has been DFA'd and Loup does a lot of mop up, though he has pitched better.

I think there was a mandate to start calling them this season. How long have people complained about the leftie balk pickoff move. with the emphasis on getting guys moving on bases, cutting down on pitcher balks not being called would make sense.

I can only say, I now look forward to that collaboration between Alanis and Al.

5 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Well, not on an active roster.  GREAT 2019...but a grand total of 30 innings since.  He had thoracic outlet surgery that removed a couple ribs...never recovered.  The info on why is noting a rare medical condition that may have contributed to the problem.

Jerrod Walsh of the Angels had that surgery last year, also suffering from some type of nerve problem that gave him migraines and dizziness, wonder if there is a link. He seemed to have recovered and was hitting 300 in minors and looked great in spring training, but when got to MLB with Angels, hit under 200 and his defense, which had been GG level, was awful, to the point that they DFA'd him. This was another player the Angels thought was going to be a big part of their run this year (he was an all-star in 2021).

As bad as it turned out, the worst thing is that for some reason players took big steps back this year - Walsh as mentioned, Ward had a bad first half and just as he seemed to really be getting going, the 95+ fastball to face to end season with orbital fracture so who knows what will happen next year. Trout injuries continued, as unclevlad mentioned. Rendon finally seemed like was going to play, but like every year except the short one, he couldn't stay on field and when he was looked bad at plate and on defense (we shouldn't have signed him, but he seemed one of the sure bets as he had been one of the most consistent players for the previous 5 years in games played AND ability). the above is what caused them to need to trade for Moustakis (been great for us), Cron and Grichuk (who have both been less then good). They signed Hunter Renfroe who seemingly had a good career and decent numbers and beginning of year seemed good but I begin to see why he can't seem to stay with teams - He seemingly cannot hit with risp, to the point the Reds walked (not intentionally, but still) the rookie Moniak to load the bases in front of him yesterday.

They signed Tyler Anderson, instead of resigning Lorenzen (who wasn't that great for us) to be a number 3-4 pitcher and help a young pitching staff take the next step based on what he did with Dodgers last year - 15-5 with a 2.57 era (expected slight step back, but not a 4+ era). 4 young pitchers - Sandoval - sub 2.5 era last year, Detmers - sub 3 in 2nd half, Canning - looked good but had injured 2022, and Suarez - sub 3.5 in 2nd half between bullpen and spot starts; all 4 have looked less then average this season, inability to get 3rd outs, 2 strike hits, one blow up inning usually 4th or 5th, seldom getting past 5th without having thrown 90+ pitches. improved bullpen, supposedly, with Estevez as closer (he has lived up to it with the exception of a few recent games), Matt Moore as setup (of course got hurt), Tepera seeming to regain form (didnt and was dfa'd), Aaron Loup inconsistent all season and Barria our long man and spot starter who seemed to really regress. So we bring up our hard throwers, the guys who can throw 99, Ben Joyce (60 day IL), Jose Soriano (been good but is rookie, so some inconsistency) and Sam Bachman (also on 60 day IL). So trade for Giolito, Leone and Lopez, all of which have been less then spectacular, though the 2 bullpen guys have been ok.

So a big part of their problem has been, as you say, trying quick fixes all year. Funnily, they didnt really this year. Minasian is trying to rebuild a minors while under mandate to be competitive from the owner. Because of prior gms doing too many trades etc and the Angels being in middle bottom of pack, their minors have suffered. So what he is doing, with the 21 pitchers taken and a lot of college almost mlb ready guys, is trying to build around his superstars (which he though he had more then Trout and Ohtani (who when healthy are another level), but also Rendon, Walsh (remember former all-star) and Ward (all-star in 2022). They have some very serviceable rookies coming in - Neto - out with back problem, but they were over 500 when he played showing that a SS who hits 250 but plays great defense can alter a team; Schanuel looks really good so far, but we will see as things change; Moniak (former 1-1 pick) they got in trade has been almost a savior most the season.

Add to all this the can't miss prospect, former number 10 pick Angels took a couple years back, Jo Adell who has been horrible, finally looked like might be getting it and got hurt on 60 day IL (and with Trout and Ward out, I guarantee would have got some time).

I think retaining Nevin as manager was a mistake, he had made way to many mistakes, to me, but this happened because of Moreno's attempting to sell then backing out to late to really hire someone else.

All of this is a long way of saying I hope they stick with Minasian but I don't blame him, I do blame the GMS before him for not standing up to Moreno and saying we need to not keep doing same thing over and over. Of course, last GM who did that was DiPoto (the same who has engineered the Mariner resurgence) who was trying to do so by trading over hill for minors and trying to rebuild but unfortunately clashed with Scioscia during his tenure about the way to communicate with team (DiPoto wanted his analytics guys to send stuff straight to players, Scioscia wanted it filtered through coaches) and was removed. I wish he had been retained, would have liked to see what he would have done. Instead they brought in Billy Eppler, which turned out to be more of the same things Reagins had done.

On 8/23/2023 at 6:55 PM, slikmar said:

Plan to see thursday the 24th, but what's funny to me is, I have no problem with the casting EXCEPT Ted Kord, but I understand not wanting to do rich, tech building white guy, even if is canon. The IM comparisons are bad enough as it is.

Quoting myself to say saw it today, the Ant Man references are good and I would say was on that level. But quoting myself because I was incorrect about the casting of Ted Kord. The person who is using all of Kord's tech isn't Ted, who is absent through the movie, but Jaime's uncle, who is a gadgeteer tech type person.

Actually, i would say Ohtani can do both, but he needs to be forced to take days off. they showed a stat last night, he has missed 2 games this season. As for Trout, it was about him, not the staff. He said the pain was manageble, but turned out it wasn't once he really hit.

Team will be blown up. Most the guys they traded for are free agents - Moustakis, Grichuk, Cron, Escobar, Giolito, Leone, Lopez added too Renfroe. It will be about their young players going forward, which is why they drafted college guys a lot, so they were closer to MLB ready.

Plan to see thursday the 24th, but what's funny to me is, I have no problem with the casting EXCEPT Ted Kord, but I understand not wanting to do rich, tech building white guy, even if is canon. The IM comparisons are bad enough as it is.

Sad to hear, someone who always brought 100% to the ring, felt like.

On a side note, so AEW has decided to do Bullet Club vs Bullet Club with the Elite vs Bullet Club Gold.

From what I read, it involves a 17 year old girl, problem being, unlike US, minor is under 18. Have to be careful with headlines, as those make it sound like multiple girls who are much younger. Curious to see what happens. Not like Wander is that much older at 22.

She actually got 2 games, was in the round of 16. So she became eligible for the final.

I have to say, and not against anything else, glad Spain won and the player from England who intentionally stepped on the one from the Nigerian team wasn't, in effect, rewarded. I know would never be done, but I wanted so much to see the coach or someone basically tell her, when you get to the hotel, pack your bags. There is rough play, a lot of uncalled penalties in the WWC, but that was over the top. But as my brother pointed out from the men's side, it took a lot for a guy who was actually biting players to finally be removed.

Judging by the previews I saw, it looks like they are drawing heavily from the New 52 they started in 2011. Another of the reboots, was pretty good all around though again suffered from "We are rebooting, BUT, all our writers want to keep the big stories as canon" mentality.

17 hours ago, unclevlad said:

 

At first glance, I agree.  But...let's take this scenario.

7th inning.  Starter gets one out, but then single, walk.  Runners on 1st and 2nd.  Starter gets pulled.  

Reliever comes in, let's say, gets a strikeout.  Then tries to pick the runner off 1st because it looks like he's drifted off too far.  BAD throw...goes down the line.  Runner on 2nd gleefully scores.

 

Under current scoring rules, the starter's charged, but it's unearned.  Under what you suggest, should the run be charged here *to the reliever*, and if so, should it be earned?  The reliever wasn't responsible for the runner on 2nd.

Well, that goes to a whole other argument of where runs should be charged. They need to figure out a formula for partial runs per pitcher. An inning starter who gets 2 outs and a man on first leaves and reliever comes in and immediately gives a walk and hr, the reliever, to me is more responsible for that run than the starter or if reliever came in no outs and man on third then starter more responsible. In your scenario, it’s worse to me, starter gets unearned run, but, provided no other runs score, looks like reliever has clean slate.

There needs to be a formula based on what base and how many outs. My math isn’t good enough for it.

I love that movie, book was good too and the movie did a decent job of following it:

Etienne Navarre : [after catching Phillipe using his sword to cut firewood] This sword has been in my family for five generations. It has never known defeat. Until now.

any time a pitcher has an error, the runs should still count against them.

6 hours ago, Logan D. Hurricanes said:

5 stages of drinking by Larry Miller

Out of curiosity, anyone know where that 20 PKs ranks in history as far as most end game PKs? Just curious. and when you get down to your 9th+ player (maybe 8th), you know these are not players used to taking PKs, so if you are one of these, would you rather the goalie saves it or miss the net? I would prefer the goalie make a good save then the poor 10th kicker for the French team and hit a post.

Long rant, sorry.

The problem with saying the Angels traded away future isn't really true. only 1 of those players was a top 100 prospect, Quero, the 19 year catcher, the rest were not close. Angels farm system isn't great and they have pitching there. Quero was a future perhaps, but would have probably played behind O'Hoppe, so again, not really trading away future. they traded for need, which at the time they were 2 games out of a playoff spot, iirc. they got a supposedly decent #2 starter behind Ohtani, picked up 2 fairly good relievers, traded for an infielder to replace Urshela (out with a broken hip) in Escobar - it just happened to coincide with Rengifo remembering how to hit - and a first base combo with Power to trade off with Moustakis and Cron in a righty/lefty split. They also picked up a starting outfielder until Trout returns due to theirs being hit in the face by a fastball. So none of the trades were huge, but were needed. Sadly, their pitching did not do well and during the 8 game losing streak that probably removed them from playoff contention the team era was 6.83 with their all-star closer who was 22 for 22 in saves blowing 2 in a week, including a grand slam in a game they seemed to have won. So I do not have a problem with the trades. Most of the young players the Angels would be using now and in next few years are here - O'Hoppe, Neto, Detmers, Sandoval, Silseth, Canning, Soriano, Ben Joyce, Sam Bachman (the last 3 bullpen guys who throw 98+). All of these would have been ranked above any of the pitchers they traded, so when someone says Angels traded their top 2 prospects or whatever, it is not the same as Tampa or the Dodgers or whoever doing so. Prior to Minasian, our minors was destroyed by 7-10 years of GMs trading away guys. I like what Minasian, current GM is doing, given the limitations due to salary.

And not his fault the contract for Rendon became such a dead weight. First, not sure he wanted to sign him, but Moreno has fits when he misses on guys and he missed on Cole to Yankees so pivoted. REndon, prior to signing with Angels, had played teh most games for a 3rd baseman (heck top 15 iirc in baseball) the prior 3 years, was an all-star, close to winning a world series MVP. There was NO signs of his injuries piling up. Trout was a no brainer to sign, and if he were healthy, was worth it. As for Ohtani, no idea what will happen. maybe he resigns with Angels. He really likes it here. The Angels, for 10 years did what you don't want to do, played average baseball by keep trying to fill gaps in lineup with veterans who come and for whatever reason, do not play to the back of their baseball card, not entirely sure why. Look at Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup and Raisel Iglesias - all 3 signed prior to last season (Iglesias as a result of his prior year as a closer) and all 3 were HORRIBLE last year to the point that Loup is only now getting any trust in games and Tepera was DFA'd and Iglesias is with Atlanta, where of course he back to stellar levels.

Rant over.

Did the Big Ten reject them and recommend a lower conference with AA teams or something?

Nevin with Angels probably, definitely pitching coach Wise, who only got job when he was assistant pitching coach but the guy they had hired as PC, Mickey Callaway was banned by MLB due to a sexual harassment investigation. Too many of our pitchers took steps back.

Watching AEW from 8-9-23. so they are setting up a 4 way match for the women's world title held by Shida. So, somehow in this, former champion Toni Storm invoking her rematch clause gets a bye into, but Shida has to win a match to get into the 4 way? WTF

Also, the Hardy/Bucks was very good, and I would still watch the Lucha's wrestle anyone. I know the BCC has become the bullies on the block, but I still think that AEW has not done enough with the Brothers and losing, AGAIN, because someone tore a mask off, a thing they were having, iirc, the Bucks do over and over at one point, is getting old. I can't wait until they wear a mask under the mask, so bad guys pull off mask and think they have it won with some acting from a lucha only to have tables turned.

short notice. I like to do a movie on Thursdays to get out of the house, but only thing I haven't seen that i am even mildly interested in is the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (though very unhappy with the art style). I am wondering if anyone else has seen it and your opinions if you have? If I go, would be in about 2 hours, but really can't decide.

I should note that I am, as has been shown, not critical of a lot of movies and even enjoyed the "live action" versions of these movies for what they were, fun romps.