The Long Goodbye Arrives for 13 Angels Minor League Free Agents

by Rev Halofan on Nov 5, 2011 2:57 PM PDT in Angels News

The Angels are bidding adieu to 13 minor league free agents. The long goodbye evokes a smidgen of "What was" and a lot of "What might have been" ...yet it is a bland smidgen this year... barely bittersweet... but there will likely always be that feint Moonlight Graham Field of Dreams ringing of their names in our fan ears for years to come... The thirteen guests at this year's Last Supper are...

Cole Armstrong, Jeff Baisley, Bear Bay, Jason Bulger, Matt Cusick, Anel de los Santos, Eric Junge, Paul McAnulty, Kevin Melillo, Orlando Mercado, P.J. Phillips, Kevin Richardson and Freddy Sandoval.

A few of these players had a cup of coffee or more up in Anaheim...

BULGER was who we traded Alberto Callaspo for back in the day. Always on the cusp of being a setup man, his 2009 season was his full-timeiest. He got DFA'd and was unclaimed early in 2011 and spent the rest of the year in AAA Salt Lake.

McANULTY was comic relief in 2010, the apparent spawn of a cross between Don Mincher and Bartolo Colon, he out-trumboed Mark Trumbo in K-HR frequency as an all or nothing 1B.

SANDOVAL would have played a lot more in Anaheim had we not been stacked in the slap-hitting sharp-gloved infielder department. The trading away of Sean Rodriguez gave an opening to Sandoval to shine but the injury bug bit at a terrible developmental time. With the era of Jean Segura ascending, Freddy takes a bow.

UPDATE: A previous version of this story mentioned Gil Velazquez, who was removed from the 40-Man Roster but is not eligible for free agency and still remains under club control. Also being removed from the 40-Man Roster but staying with the organization were Efren Navarro and Chris Pettit. All three were outrighted to AAA Salt Lake. The Angels 40-Man roster now stands at 36... that leaves room for Wilson, Buehrle, Fielder and Pujols.

If you never watched the 1970s Elliot Gould classic The Long Goodbye, I highly recommend it. Pitcher Jim Bouton has a cameo in it as an unlikable jackass. Typecast as a Yankee...

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waiting for the word on Jeff Mathis.......

Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Champs Tony Romo Super Bowl MVP
-Me, October 3,2011

by KB_24 on Nov 5, 2011 3:12 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Bummed about Sandoval

I always wanted to see more of that guy.

Tim Salmon: The once and future Kingfish.

by Teixeira Who? on Nov 5, 2011 3:41 PM PDT reply actions

Same here.

It’s a shame he won’t be in the Angels organization. I have his rookie card.

by docescobar07 on Nov 5, 2011 6:34 PM PDT up reply actions

I arbitrarily won a Freddy Sandoval Angels T-shirt at the LA Fair this year.

Was the only one of my friends who recognized the #12 jersey with Sandoval on it.

Special place in my heart for that.

"I have one word for you...Be careful."
-Jose Guillen

by IE Angel on Nov 5, 2011 11:29 PM PDT up reply actions

Best Phillip Marlowe on film, hand's down.

by Turks Teeth on Nov 5, 2011 3:53 PM PDT reply actions

I'd like to see one faithful to the book-

Gould was excellent as Marlowe, but the book was a lot more sympathetic to Bouton’s character, Terry. Notice the Governator in his underwear in one scene?

by Jimatkins on Nov 5, 2011 4:41 PM PDT up reply actions

See Below

It’s been a while, but my recollection is that Murder, My Sweet very closely tracks Farewell, My Lovely, on which it’s based.

by jjackflash on Nov 5, 2011 7:58 PM PDT up reply actions

The Big Sleep?

In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.
Walden

by matthiasstephan on Nov 5, 2011 5:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Dick Powell

in Murder, My Sweet.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037101/

by jjackflash on Nov 5, 2011 7:56 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah, some characters are eliminated-

But it tracks the book pretty well.The ending is made more romantic and hokey for the film- that’s the main difference. Bogie and Bacall in The Big Sleep are great, but there is no way they could put all that depravity in the movie. The version with Robert Mitchum has a good script, but they moved it to London!

by Jimatkins on Nov 6, 2011 7:11 AM PDT up reply actions

With Gil Velasquez gone

40 Man roster goes back to 38.

Jerry Dipoto, Vampire Killer

by ryanfea on Nov 5, 2011 4:03 PM PDT reply actions

36

and we keep Velazquez it turns out – read the update.

by Rev Halofan on Nov 5, 2011 10:43 PM PDT up reply actions

Kind of discouraging regarding Mathis

If we already have cut down to 36 players, it seems less likely that we will non-tender Mathis. There goes $1.7 million.

by Brody on Nov 6, 2011 5:11 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

explain.

I dont understand your rationale.

"The Transplant" (So. Cal boy stuck in NYC)

by BryanHarvey'sMoustache on Nov 6, 2011 7:40 AM PDT up reply actions

We have 4 open spots now

I assume we will fill our entire 40-man roster. So unless we are planning to sign or otherwise acquire 5 players this winter, it seems like Mathis will be tendered a contract.

by Brody on Nov 6, 2011 9:17 AM PST up reply actions

I can think of six at least

Pujols, Fielder, Buehrle, Wilson, Kuroda, Dotel

by Rev Halofan on Nov 6, 2011 10:44 AM PST up reply actions

Our payroll might eclipse the Yankees' payroll

If we signed all of those guys….

by Brody on Nov 6, 2011 12:06 PM PST up reply actions

We can add more guys from our minor leagues to fill up those spots too

Jerry Dipoto, Vampire Killer

by ryanfea on Nov 6, 2011 4:21 PM PST up reply actions

There's also the possibility

of some of our minor leaguers filling that spot.

by mustang6944 on Nov 6, 2011 2:42 PM PST up reply actions

Au revoir Jason Bulger.

We wish we hardly knew you.

My response to your letter of February 19, 1976, is - kiss my ass.
Sincerely,
Bill Baxley, Attorney General

by sheisalovelyladyandmyapologiestoher on Nov 5, 2011 5:23 PM PDT reply actions

Bear Bay???????

I take it you don't have the DOV Secret Decoder Ring
You need to drink more ovaltine
-Quad Fin Rider

by DAD OF VLAD on Nov 5, 2011 9:29 PM PDT reply actions

Ronald "Bear" Bay

Here’s today’s lesson on bears:

He was cut in 2007, he kicked around in leagues outside of the US before going to SLC last season. I guess SLC was short of players last season. I can’t see any other reason why he got the call.

From Jeff Mathis' TOPPS card: "Jeff is a defensive catcher, but he can rake it when it counts." Jeff has a lifetime .199 MLB batting average

by mustard_man on Nov 6, 2011 8:27 AM PDT up reply actions