Mind your P's & C's Halolinks:
- Many, if not all of the 30 major league teams has at least one former big-leaguer in camp on a minor league contract. Typically those players are making their last ditch effort to hang onto a major league job, to get one more chance at a championship, collect that final check, put off growing up, or simply trying to squeeze out one more year doing the thing they've dedicated their entire life working towards. In Angels' camp are Jorge Cantu and Ryan Langerhans, Cantu, Langerhans looking for a chance - angels.com. "I think they're both really interesting to us," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Ryan's a guy that is a left-handed bat, and is a good defender in the outfield. And Jorge is really interesting, because this guy was an RBI machine." ESPN has more on Cantu: Jorge Cantu at another crossroads - ESPN Los Angeles. "Obviously, I'm not going to start. We all know that, because these guys have their nine already," Cantu said. "But I took a chance to come here, because this is such a power team. I feel like I still have a lot of skill to contribute."
- A look at the new Halo starter: Spring offers Angels' C.J. Wilson relief from busy lifestyle - angels.com. "This year, Wilson is already making an impression on his new teammates. "I've been impressed with just seeing how hard he works," Haren said. "He's in the weight room, he's running, and that was something that I witnessed from the outside." From the outside, Weaver and Haren admittedly disliked Wilson. He pitched for the enemy, and they're old school about that sort of thing. Now that he's on their side? "I love him," Weaver said with wry smile."
- The news coming out of Venezuela is Bobby Abreu's desire to be a full-time player, and if that's not going to be the case, he wants to be traded. Before Abreu opens his mouth again, he might want to read this: What happened to Abreu's power? - ESPN Los Angeles. "Last season, Abreu got into a rut in which if he lifted the ball into the air, he struggled to hit the ball far. His fly balls became lazy cans of corn. His power to center field completely vanished." Here's a very telling chart showing where his fly balls came to rest, which most of the time was in the outfielders' glove:
- Seems like a good addition, at least chemistry-wise: LaTroy Hawkins' traveling show pulls into Anaheim - latimes.com. "With a quick smile and gregarious personality, Hawkins has little trouble blending in. Three days into camp, he already has taken several young Angels pitchers to dinner and added even more phone numbers to a contact list that has to be among baseball's longest."
- Yesterday's links had a couple posts regarding the new Angels catcher, here's one more: Chris Iannetta already knows the angles - ESPN Los Angeles. We dewb fans aren't the only ones who look at the numbers, "So, he ought to know the difference between .301 and .172. As a baseball player, he can’t help but know that’s the glaring divide between his batting average at hitter’s-haven Coors Field and every other stadium he played in last year. He just doesn’t care. Iannetta points out that in 2008, his best season, he hit .280 on the road and .250 at home."
- Darvish impresses catcher in first bullpen - CBSSports.com. "According to Martinez, Darvish threw 30 pitches at about 70-80 percent, with the last few pitches coming in somewhere in the lower 90s. Martinez said Darvish actually apologized to him when he missed his spots." Dreamy and polite. Worth every penny.
- Hey, that's my hat! Evan Longoria confirms he is dating Jaime Edmondson - Larry Brown Sports. ""I don’t even think of her like that," he said when someone reminded him that he’s now dating Playboy’s Miss January 2010 and a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader." That's not my hat. There's my hat (jumps outta top bunk).
- Buy the guy a beer: Retrosheet Mysql Database download - Baseball Heat Maps. After you build that database.
