The one secret I keep from all of you is that my adoration for the Angels ranks below Christmas in my list of great loves. In my neighborhood, I am that guy. Not the Clark Griswold of 1,000,000 lights kind of guy, but certainly well over the top. Back when I had a lawn to maintain, My earbuds would be playing Christmas melodies in July while I did my mowing. My garage workshop is busy with Christmas decor projects all year round. Everything I do is custom, and I have no problems with swapping it all out and starting all over with something else completely different. This year it's Hawaiian themed, and animated. I have a home-made 8 foot tall Moai Santa out the window right now, and a gargantuan olive tree with programmable LED lights that I can change up every night.
So this is the pinnacle of my entire year. If only Billy Eppler could put something special in my sticking this weekend. Since I doubt that will happen, I will spend my time thinking warm thoughts on behalf of all you regular HH'ers. Stay safe, stay dry, stay warm, and enjoy your family, your friends, and your community.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: since this upcoming Sunday evening is Christmas night, and we are all going to be more properly consumed with personal friends, family and community, it is highly likely that there won't be a MondoLinks. I will, for sure, put up a special post-Xmas bucket to hang out in, but I will leave it to the community to post news links of any note (in the odd event that anything of any import actually does happen over the next 48 hours).
Spend some coffee time with some fresh Holiday Links:
A Little Bit of Angels News
Let's have a Christmas dream, shall we? The ultimate in Trout porn. Let's watch the math guys take a run at forecasting what A PEAK YEAR OF MIKE TROUT would look like? No worse than the 5th greatest single season in the history of baseball. And, considering the era that Babe Ruth played in, the absolutely very best played against the world's greatest baseball athletes........
If you line the stats up just right, that Vlad Guerrero guy was a pretty damned good baseball player...........
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Everywhere In Baseball
A heck of a lot of sports media people hate Curt Schilling. And they ain't going away. Curt Schilling hates a heck of a lot of sports media people, and he ain't going away either. We will be treated to this war of words for years to come. I guess that eventually Schilling will make the HoF through some special committee, and the sports media people who fought him hardest would have passed away anyway..........
Phase II in the business of billionaire sports owners stealing money from public coffers: Jerry Jones of the Cowboy is getting school district money to subsidize his practice facility. Considering the value that warm-weather communities place on MLB Spring Training, it's only a matter of time before this idea finds it way to MLB camp sites...........
It's interesting to see StatCast starting to find its way into baseball analysis. It will take another couple of years before we get large chunks of data and have lots of brainpower playing with all the new angles of information. I am especially hopeful in truing up defensive metrics. Meanwhile, how is this for fresh? Using StatCast data to forecast relief pitcher success. You will note that this might be rather accurate already, since the LAA bullpen is not highly thought of...........
Speaking of defensive metrics, players and coaches don't love them any more than I do.............
In the 1999 MLB Draft, the Cards hit the jackpot by landing the really really good and really really cheap version of Albert Pujols. The Angels lost their first round pick to the Red Sox because of Mo Vaughn, and their first pick was John Lackey as the 68th pick. Lackey was the only thing notable they claimed, missing out on a lot of pretty good talent. But the most fun part that ties all this together is that Albert Pujols was drafted 402nd. With the pick just before that, at 401st, the Angels took Alfredo Amezaga.............
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Trade Winds
In a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" type of move, Edwin Encarnacion has found hisself a new home, in Cleveland. Better Cleveland than, say, an Oakland that was rumored to be in the hunt............Bob Nightengale makes a decent point: getting into the playoffs, and going deep, generates enough additional revenues to afford more big-time talent. It's kind of like getting Encarnacion for free............Now, what does his parrot have to say about a life in Cleveland?..........
All that wheeling and dealing has done wonders for Billy Eppler's self-esteem. Maybe it has lifted his farm system off the sea floor but that doesn't meant that it is not still well below 30th place. Certainly it is not one of the Top 5 improved. One has to hope that he reaches a tipping point sometime in the next year and can start accelerating upward for reals, or we are wasting a hell of a lot of time..........
The Pirates retained Ivan Nova for 3 years, $26 million. That seems like a pretty sweet and affordable deal that even an Arte Moreno might have had the taste to pay. But keep in mind that Nova really wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, so there should be an expectation that it would have cost any non-Pittsburgh club a good deal more............
Remember when Jurickson Profar was supposed to be the Rangers' answer to Mike Trout? At a minimum, he was a strong reason why the Rangers farm system has rated so high...........
Ben Revere is almost somebody's 4th outfielder, but not one of the usual suspects. Could this be a Christmas surprise in Anaheim? Nah............
The Duffle Bag
Manny still trying to be Manny..........4 Minor Leaguers were busted for positive drug tests. TWO FOR METH!?! WTF?Are Minor Leaguers just more stupid than Major Leaguers, or are they just unable to afford the better med therapies?..........American Legion baseball is a private enterprise, and if they want to shut down flag protests during the National Anthem, it's well within their right to do so..........A failed MLB GM if ever there was one, Randy Smith is taking his particular brilliance to Japan..............How come Nike doesn't send ME any custom MVP wheels? Ain't I the MVP of morning Links???..........Yeegads, Adrian Gonzalez' sweater was not the ugliest one in attendance?..........If only Brandon Belt played in Anaheim, he would be a minor god............THe Dodgers something that will end up being big: 3D batting helmet logos...........
Halo-Oppo-ly
My 2016-2017 Winter Project: Monopoly for the Rest of Us. You, too, get to try your hand as Arte Moreno-bags. We begin with the properties.
This week we have turned the corner on Free Parking and are heading toward Go To Jail. I've always liked to own Yellow. Don't know why. I never seem to make much money out of them.