Stubborn Mike Scioscia Blinks, Jeff Mathis Benched, Lyle Spencer Defiled
by Rev Halofan on Aug 19, 2011 5:53 PM PDT
in Angels News
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" "It's tough to absorb no offense from one position." -- Mike Scioscia, on Jeff Mathis, and also everybody, on Mathis."
--Sam Miller quoting and commenting on Mike Scioscia on Twitter today.
As reported by numerous tweeters, primarily Sam Miller at the Orange County Register, an active afternoon of Anaheim preoccupied the Angels Field Manager, any one of which would be headline news on an ordinary day, but combined signal an admission of utter failure on the part of the legendary skipper to turn garbage into gold or get production out of potted plants in uniform. No matter the relief that intelligent Angels fans feel at this moment, it will be tempered with the ruminating mantra "what took so long?"... Infinite patience may be a blessing, but six games back with 36 to play calls for just the type of shakeup visited upon the House of Autry midday today.
The Headlines:
•The worst offensive player in baseball, Jeff Mathis, has finally been benched - at least for the weekend but likely longer. The lion's share of catching starts will be based on the performance of Bobby Wilson and Hank Conger. Sam Miller sees Mathis continuing to be the personal catcher of Jered Weaver.
•Vernon Wells and Bobby Abreu will likely be loosely platooned at designated hitter, opening Left Field up for Mike Trout. Expect Trout to shift to RF for the occasional Torii Hunter DH night of rest... which is reflected in tonight's starting lineup. Sam Miller again with a Scioscia revelation: Trout can control the running game from RF at the major league level and will be getting at least three starts a week.
•Emperor Lyle Spencer has no clothes. He is not a great baseball analyst. He is not a great sports writer. His one cause to cement his authority on the subject of baseball and the status of a high-priest-like insider over "the average fan" has backfired into his face. His passionate advocacy for continually putting Jeff Mathis into the lineup was a mere session of "monkey-see-monkey-do, monkey back the manager and sneer at those with a clue." Without the fans, Lyle Spencer does not have a job so it is with a gloating dollop of glee that every lie he told as Mike's waterboy has now drowned the reputation of this herniated hack mlb.com propagandist. Hope the MLB yes-man's union is half as strong as the player's union for the sake of your pension Lyle, because your long pathetic rant has ended.
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“Expect Trout to shit to RF…”
All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine.
Good catch
That’s what Wells will do if allowed to play right.
"That boy is our last hope" - Obi Wan Scioscia, as Francisco Rodriguez left for the Mets. "No, there is another" - Yoda Reagins.
by RallyMonkey5 on Aug 19, 2011 9:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Bats left, shits right
Game's the same, just got more fierce.
by Sam Miller OCR on Aug 19, 2011 9:43 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
So far, it's the only thing he does right.
8/19/2011 - Arte Went Biblical. There's joy in Mudville tonight!
by Halo Hurricane on Aug 19, 2011 10:13 PM PDT up reply actions
Rev
“Expect Trout to shit to RF for the occasional Torii Hunter DH night of rest.” I hope this happens during the White Sox game I will be attending, it will be quite a story.
Unlike this cat, my love for the LAA will never die.
Great series of headlines
If only Mathis was DFA’d a couple of years back and Trout would have stayed up. Vernon was heating up before the All-Star break (injured before), so I can see Sosh giving him some time to get on track, but enough is enough.
And in other news-
The sun is moving from west to east in the sky, a large island identified as “Atlantis” has risen from the seabed off the coast of Florida, and Rick Perry has announced he is divorcing his wife and becoming engaged to Ryan Seacrest. A June wedding in New York is planned.
Caught sosh being interviewed today.
Never heard him so tongue-tied before. Very awkward and seemed completely defeated.
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
I was just listening to a press session today, while driving home.
Sosh was going to great lengths to pin onto Conger a problem that can only be defined as “framing”, and claiming that he worked on that hard at AAA and is now ready to come back. He accused Conger of pulling the ball “out of the zone” on pitches.
Now, I ain’t the sabre gear head around here, and I am on record as finding pitchf/x problematic, but even I could figure out a way to prove/disprove this claim. Just go to fangraphs and look at the pitch results for each Conger game and determine how many actual strikes thrown by Halo pitchers were called balls. To double check, compare that result to other games called by the same ump. If Conger had a real problem it should jump out.
Against stupidity the very Gods themselves toil in vain.
I did. I found something like an extra two strikes per 100 for Mathis, which is about five to 10 runs per year, depending on how you distribute playing time.
http://angels.ocregister.com/2010/02/23/25-angels-jeff-mathis/46581/
Game's the same, just got more fierce.
by Sam Miller OCR on Aug 19, 2011 7:45 PM PDT up reply actions
Runs
(saved)
Game's the same, just got more fierce.
by Sam Miller OCR on Aug 19, 2011 8:44 PM PDT up reply actions
That is interesting info, but not what I was proposing.
At issue is the claim that Conger was pulling the ball out of the strike zone. The implication of this claim being that Conger is “tricking” the ump into calling the pitch that should have been strike, a ball.
This should provable, but require a HUGE amount of simple (but probably mind numbing) research.
Pitchf/x data stops at the front of the plate. The catcher collects the ball behind the plate. If pitchf/x spots a pitch on the front side as a strike, but then claims that the ump makes the call as a ball, that is one candidate in evidence of Conger “pulling the ball out of the zone”. So we count all those up in his games, and figure out what the percentage is out of all strikes that this occurs.
Then some REAL hard work begins. We note that percentage for each ump calling balls/strikes, then we follow that ump from game to game to determine the particualr accuracy percentage for that ump in general (excluding Conger’s games).
We compare the two percentages. Somebody will need to figure out stuff like sample size, and acceptable ranges of the difference.
The result should be whether Conger really does have a material impact on how an ump calls balls and strikes. Let’s say, for sake of argument, that the answer is YES, and that it is a negative influence.
Then the REAL hard work begins. This process needs to be repeated for Mathis, and for Wilson. And all three results compared. Is Conger measuably worse than the other catchers? Better? Same?
If this can only be done counting pixels by hand, game after game, and rekeying the data over and over again into a database, then I’m out and we can all forget it. But if there is a way to rgab statistical data out of Fangraphs then I am in and I could use the guidance.
Against stupidity the very Gods themselves toil in vain.
Actually, you were right the first time...
Unless you meant you wanted to poke yourself in the eye just before doing the research.
If the Halos don't care about the way they play, then why should I?
I would love-love-love to see some reconstruction of this chain of events
Did Arte read one too many Mathis/Wells sucks stories? Did Soth just roll the dice solo, consistent with a year in which he has really (outside of Mathis) made a series of ballsy moves? Was it just the horrid sight of Mike Napoli hitting bomb after bomb in Anaheim? Did someone tell Reagins his job was on the line?
The intrigue!
Oh to be a fly on the wall-
In at least three offices today- Scioscia’s, Reagins’, and Arte’s.
I suspect these two:
Was it just the horrid sight of Mike Napoli hitting bomb after bomb in Anaheim? Did someone tell Reagins his job was on the line?
Lyle is trending towards self-martyrdom now. FireLyleSpencerWatch =
In order:
“OK. I’m done with the Mathis subject. Feel free to hack away at will. Have fun.”
“Ok. I’m not putting myself out there. You win. Congrats.”
“I’d say being called idiot and moronic qualifies. I’m just tired of it. Nobody wants to hear it so I will let it go.”
(takes time off for surgery, then returns)
“Nice of you Sam. I am old enough to recall when people were courteous and kind out of habit.”
Against stupidity the very Gods themselves toil in vain.
Lyle Spencer using the word COURTEOUS?
Being smug is NOT courteous
Being arrogant is NOT courteous
Getting into an argument, mocking your opponent and when presented with well-researched retorts playing the “seen more games” card is NOT courteous.
Pulling a bitch-martyr and whimpering about kindness is NOT courteous, it is pathetic.
by Rev Halofan on Aug 19, 2011 6:23 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs
Wow
I had no idea he’d been quadrupling down, at least before the surgery. Giving Mathis credit for the Angels’ 2007-09 record, for example.
I hope he feels better, but his writing on Mathis is truly bizarre.
Yeah.
He actually gave credit for ALL the Angel victories over several seasons, which would include those wherein Mathis didn’t even play.
Pretty much in keeping with his other notion that Mathis gets some credit for EVERY defensive out in EVERY game.
And to think…this is the guy who owns the responsibility to use his privileged access and do the reconstruction of events leading up to today’s roster decisions, which you correctly crave, and share that with us all.
Against stupidity the very Gods themselves toil in vain.
conger wilson platoon
wilson is hitting like 270 against lefties.
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
by clover_black on Aug 19, 2011 6:31 PM PDT up reply actions
True
But we will all see how this plays out. In a perfect world Conger would catch the majority with Wilson and Premium occasionally.
I think mathis will eventually be out of the picture (fingers crossed)
Yeah, perfect world, conger would be the #1 option, but he has had durability issues in the past, so, a platoon might be the best option for right now.
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
by clover_black on Aug 19, 2011 6:50 PM PDT up reply actions
I'm so happy!!!
I was calling for a Wells-Abreu platoon. Now we’ve got it. Although this has to be the most expensive platoon ever.
You might be right-
Abreu isn’t too expensive, but the only way we could get outpriced on this is a Jeter/ARod platoon combo. Thanks again, Vernon.
50 games too late
and if we make the playoffs, mathface will be in there, you know, because he’s mr october.
Somewhere, right now, Mickey Hatcher is ruining a swing.
by Quinlan's Goofy Swing on Aug 19, 2011 6:49 PM PDT reply actions
Mr October and Mr Opening Day
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
by clover_black on Aug 19, 2011 6:54 PM PDT up reply actions
i think the f bomb limit
should be lifted for tonight.
this professionalism shall not stand
Somewhere, right now, Mickey Hatcher is ruining a swing.
by Quinlan's Goofy Swing on Aug 19, 2011 6:54 PM PDT up reply actions
not that i abide by limits
but for others, they’ve earned it!
Somewhere, right now, Mickey Hatcher is ruining a swing.
by Quinlan's Goofy Swing on Aug 19, 2011 6:55 PM PDT up reply actions
HEY QGS, when you start your blog
I will pipe in with some rules for you to switch after smoothly establishing things.
blogs are dead
print is coming back
Somewhere, right now, Mickey Hatcher is ruining a swing.
by Quinlan's Goofy Swing on Aug 19, 2011 6:58 PM PDT up reply actions
i dont know what that is
but it sounds future proofed
Somewhere, right now, Mickey Hatcher is ruining a swing.
by Quinlan's Goofy Swing on Aug 19, 2011 7:03 PM PDT up reply actions
The Mac Plus, Aldus Pagemaker, and the original Apple LaserWriter.
If the Halos don't care about the way they play, then why should I?
I used that until last year!
Finally upgraded to InDesign.
You boys stick around--there'll be turkey and ice cream later!
JOSE MOTA:
HE either stops thinking three words into a sentence or comment or starts thinking four words after starting one.
What shall today be called?
The Friday Afternoon Massacre? Arte’s Biblical? Scioscia’s Cave? Spencer’s Nut-Punch? Dawn of the Trout?
Nightmare on Wells Street?
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
by clover_black on Aug 19, 2011 6:59 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
the day i got upset and kicked a tree
and likely broke my foot.
Somewhere, right now, Mickey Hatcher is ruining a swing.
by Quinlan's Goofy Swing on Aug 19, 2011 7:00 PM PDT up reply actions
The Fall of the CERA Wall.
Or, The Logic Revolution.
Scioscialist Party of America - Redistributing your defense since 2000.
by Commander_Nate on Aug 19, 2011 7:01 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
It shall be called whatever May 10, 1940 was named
That was the date the Premim Defence of the Maginot Line was finally exposed for what it was.
All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine.
by Quad Fin Rider on Aug 19, 2011 7:44 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Premium
Damn you iPhone autocorrect!
All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine.
by Quad Fin Rider on Aug 19, 2011 7:46 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
And now Soth has to Pick Up The Pieces.
You boys stick around--there'll be turkey and ice cream later!
by rspencer on Aug 20, 2011 3:07 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Wonder what the dynamic is between Trout and some of the "veteran" outfielders.
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
Did I hear that right?
“Clinton Bush Hating Fund”?
Against stupidity the very Gods themselves toil in vain.
Stunned.
Wonderfully deliciously stunned.
AWB means some joy has come back to Mudville.
Stoked about our little grassroots movement as well – good riddance Lyle & Mathis.
"Everybody knows that reality has a blatant anti-Mathis bias." - Quad Fin Rider
"Expect Trout to shift to RF for the occasional Torii Hunter DH night of rest"
Of course, Torii says that he talked so much in the dugout that Soth told him to go into the corridor.
Torii may not DH very much for the rest of the season!!! :-)
If the Halos don't care about the way they play, then why should I?
<3 Arte
the jeff mathis research center: searching for a way to strike out on 2 pitches since 2005
by the king of CERA on Aug 19, 2011 10:57 PM PDT reply actions
Thank Jebus. Could the nightmare of Mathis be over?
This move alone, would restore my faith in the Soth, more than anything else. Our off season moves made, and not made, fail in comparison to the news that Scioscia may finally see the light. Just too bad it’s taken this long. I may not have seen 4000 games in person, but i’ve seen enough to know that Premium is garbage, and not worthy of being on a MLB roster. Or even a beer league softball roster.
YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....
This is thrilling
I can’t help but think that in this internet age the fan community, especially here at HH, played some role in this drastic change of course. Fault the blogosphere for what you will, but you’d be hard pressed to argue that it didn’t serve as a bullhorn for the fan base to voice their opinion and discontent with the current direction of the team. Whether that emboldened mainstream writers or provided ideas to plagiarize, the goal seems to have been accomplished. And for that I am extremely grateful.
So here’s a shoutout to Rev and WiHaloFan, all the editors and the multitude of contributors and community members here at Halos Heaven. You deserve a round of applause for tearing down an antiquated and misguided regime.
The timing of the moves is interesting
At six games back, I don’t think the primary concern was succeeding this season. I think there are two primary concerns. First and foremost, maintaining fan interest. After the collapse against NYY, Toronto, and Texas, a lot of fans were ready to tune out the season. Losing gate revenue and TV viewers for the final month could be devastating when combined with the likely loss of playoff revenue. There is no better way to keep the fans interested than to play the two best prospects, Trout and Conger, in place of the two least favorite and most under-performing players on the team, Wells and Mathis.
Second, rebuilding. At six games out in late August, the natural impulse is to look to next year, especially with a team this young. Conger and Trout thus are getting a shot to prove to management that they are ready for everyday jobs in 2012, which could impact the team’s decisions regarding whether to tender Mathis a contract or to sign a free agent DH.
The third, and in my view ancillary, consideration is that the changes might give the team new life and push them back into the race. If management truly believed that Trout and Conger were the immediate answers to contending, they would have been up weeks ago.
by Brody on Aug 20, 2011 6:39 AM PDT via mobile reply actions 3 recs
it certainly worked to get me way more interested.
now if only there were a way to cut loose the non-productive players
I think you have pretty much nailed it.
If the Angels had just split the 4-game series with Texas, things might have been delayed. Certainly, if we had taken 3 of 4 from Texas, leaving us 2 games back, nothing major would be rushed.
It makes sense that Arte, surrounded by his executive cronies, snapped after watching Napoli & Company achieve a 6-game lead.
It ought to work...
I’ve watched less Angels baseball this year than I have in recent memory. Mostly because I’d get pissed and turn the TV off once I saw Mathis was in the lineup. After a couple months of that, I stopped tuning in in the first place. Now I’ll start watching again.
this day is the start of something great
I just want to dance
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 Aug 20, 2011 10:16 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
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