Angel Offday

by Rev Halofan on Mar 17, 2008 12:55 AM PDT

The Angels have St. Patrick's Day off. They resume Cactus League play on Tuesday.
After Sunday's Game, the team reassigned 8 players to the minor league section of their camp:

Pitchers Henry Bonilla, Nick Green, Jeff Kennard, Kasey Olenberger and Matt Wilhite.
Infielders Matt Brown, Sean Rodriguez, Freddy Sandoval

If you enjoy a particular FanPost, FanShot or FrontPage entry on Halos Heaven, feel free to click the "recommend" tab at the top of the "comments" section. Heavily recommended posts go to the top sections of the sidebar.

Want to see the death of objective statistical analysis? A fanboy uses a fog of stats to dismiss the Angels - his pretense of rationalism is all a camouflage for his emotional commitment to his team that blinds him to the greatness of the Angels. But he cannot just say, "Hey I like my team, not yours!" - no, he has to throw numbers out in a semi-serious pose as an analyst. Quite an embarrassment to the Windows-XP Mariner Northwest, really...

L I N K -to- F A N B O Y G A S M

Did you know that Jered Weaver, despite being young and pitching hurt last season, will continue regressing?

Did you know that Casey Kotchman is not a good defender?

Did you know Torii Hunter's offense can be minimized so as to be equal with the numbers of Reggie Willits?

Learn more (or less, really) than your eyes and the numbers could ever tell you at the link above.

Tweet Comment 27 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Oh damn.

Time to bail out now then.

Update: Games have their scores tallied up. Apologies for the lateness. Brawl has really swallowed up all my time lately :P

Chart it up! Game on!

by scottnak on Mar 17, 2008 2:47 AM PDT reply actions

it is an offday, dude

take your time...

by Rev Halofan on Mar 17, 2008 2:56 AM PDT up reply actions

Also my birthday!

Partyyy woo.

Chart it up! Game on!

by scottnak on Mar 17, 2008 11:50 AM PDT up reply actions

Only one more off day till opening day

I wanting to bring up that during "Hit and Run" (Chicago's highest rated baseball talk show) the hosts talked about the Angels injury situation with Big John get hurt recently.

Anyways, this tied in with the fact of the Cubs still not having a proper center fielder that can possibly lead off. They mentioned hearing that the Angels and Cubs might be talking about a deal that would send 6'7" left hander Sean Marshall to the Halos for Reggie Willits.

Surely this is all speculation, but I would pull the trigger on that in a heartbeat. You can never have enough pitching and this is a left hander! I think that know is the time to at least listen to offers, seeing how much outfield depth the club has.

You guys in California really do live in heaven, the Angels are in town for more than just six games and there is Jack in the Box within 200 miles.

by Erik121 on Mar 17, 2008 7:23 AM PDT reply actions

i'd pull that deal too

it's great for both ends, especially if Marshall can find a home here.
that would give us 2 young lefties, and no Santana!

potential rotation of
Lackey
Escobar
Weaver
Garland
Saunders/Marshall

by howiestheman on Mar 17, 2008 10:38 AM PDT up reply actions

And that would back load the rotation...

with solid young arms. It would only lead to better things as guys like Nick get prepped to make the big club.

You guys in California really do live in heaven, the Angels are in town for more than just six games and there is Jack in the Box within 200 miles.

by Erik121 on Mar 17, 2008 12:35 PM PDT up reply actions

The death of objective statistical analysis?

Just because one guy sucks at using statistics effectively doesn't mean that it has been killed. It's just a small set-back to those who can use the stats effectively.

That would be like me saying that Rev Halofan killed art because he sucked at it.

by Dogman on Mar 17, 2008 9:01 AM PDT reply actions

He probably does...

...that's why he's a critic

I see red people

by The Limey on Mar 17, 2008 10:37 AM PDT up reply actions

They're all fanboys, the objectivity is a pose

and most art sucks, mine did.

by Rev Halofan on Mar 17, 2008 12:41 PM PDT up reply actions

If most of it didn't suck

most art wouldn't be "art" at all.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Mar 17, 2008 1:47 PM PDT up reply actions

LL in a nutshell:

"Probability is that [Lackey's and Escobar's] injuries - assuming their given timelines are correct - make the Angels a win or two worse. And that, in turn, improves the Mariners' chances of winning the division by roughly 6-12%. That's pretty substantial. I'm still deathly afraid of watching our offense, but even so I feel like we're getting closer and closer to pulling up right alongside the preseason favorites." -Jeff
- link to desperate optimism -

Of course, Jeff makes sure to discredit his own statement by reminding us of small sample sizes, etc., so he doesn't look like an irrational fanboy. But it's this stream-of-consciousness loopy ranting that makes reading LL an excellent example of why IT guys shouldn't have blogs. Just because you're a genius and you use a computer to publish your manifesto doesn't prove that you're more well-adjusted than Ted Kaczynski.

by yeswecan on Mar 17, 2008 11:30 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs

Great post yeswecan, you put Jeff in his place.

He is just trying to whistle pass the graveyard hoping the M's 2008 season does'nt turn out to be the Jonestown their 2007 season was.

"We're still in the information-gathering process," Reagins said.

by 44FAN on Mar 17, 2008 1:31 PM PDT up reply actions

My favorite line

"We've long held that Weaver's success would not sustain itself."

Best said in an upper-class twit accent.... "You don't SAY, old chap!", etc.

Weaver baffles the BABIP fundamentalists, and I for one look forward to years and years of them explaining why his continued success is "useless" when assessing his talent.

The Angels haven't won fewer than 89 games since 2003, and have averaged 91 in the past 6. Now, for the first time this decade, Oakland's thrown in the towel before Opening Day. Texas continues to suck, and Seattle's counting on a miracle -- no injuries in their aging lineup -- to strike twice. And the Angels are as deep as they've ever been.

To take those realities and come out with an 85-87 win projection, then pass it off as anything like science, is about as scientific as the Book of Genesis.

by mattwelch on Mar 17, 2008 3:01 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs