TuesdoLinks: Toe-jammed Pujols paces plantar patch

Ah, fall...when Southern California greets scattered showers on the very day that my conversion to a drought-tolerant landscape effort is finally completed. I suspect that things will settle down into very droll and boring weather, day after day, until the precise moment when contractors expose my entire home to wind and rain as I get my house re-roofed with energy-efficient and environmentally considerate materials. That should be early January, looking at the various calendars of people bidding on the job. First we will get Santa Ana winds, ripping up all the protective covering the workers lay down. El Nino should kick in immediately thereafter, flooding my house and causing 1000's of dollars in internal damage. But I'll get through that, and have a swell and cozy home again that will be all lovely in terms of curb appeal. Iside I shall sit and gaze out my wide front window, waving back at passers-by who are all in awe as the full force of El Nino washes all my xeriscape into the gutter and far, far down the street. By the time I will be able to battle the weather well enough to get outside and do any yard maintenance, only the hardy resistance of underlying weeds will be there to be trimmed and pruned. Lovely.

Have some Best Intention Links, people:

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Angels Baseball

Toe Jam: The Big News yesterday was Albert Pujols' Big Toe. Gettin' himself some Big Surgery to correct that annual plantar fasciitis he contracts every fall. Because his surgery was delayed just long enough as he worked on other treatment therapies, Albert will miss the start of the regular season and might not be back into the full swing of things until May. Maybe he will remain productive all the way through fall of 2016, but maybe the damage of his loss will already have been done by June. What's certain is that we cannot hope for a full season of production from Pujols until at least 2017, when he will be 37. Keep in mind that Ol' Man Albert just had surgery in his RIGHT foot, and the plantar fasciitis that took him down back in 2013 was in his LEFT foot. This dude's wheels are still a risk...........

Moola Musings: By the way, C.J. Wilson should be back to 100% by Spring Training, but this means that Arte will be paying $317,345.68 in payroll every game in 2016 to cover Pujols and Hamilton, and all of that for zero in return until Pujols retakes the field..........

Tommy Hanson: I know Hanson did not work out for us, but the kid and his family deserve out prayers and attention. He has been hospitalized and listed as being in a coma.. Details are sparse as of late alst night but hte link should be updated as information is made available. .........

I Must have Blinked: Something called a Ryan Jackson apparently was on our roster and was submitted to waivers. This appears to have confused the other 31 teams and this Jackson thing cleared waivers outright, allowing the Angels the flexibility to send it to the farm system. Surprisingly, this has been kicking around since 2009 and didn't want to go back to the minors, so it opted for free agency instead. OMG, the Angels are now thin in the infield (duh! ya think??). Oh how I long for the days of Ryan Jackson..........

HoF: To recap the news of yesterday, the upcoming Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot was released. Not everybody gets onto the ballot, so this is one level of honor and recognition. Garret Anderson, Jim Edmonds, David Eckstein and Troy Glaus made the cut...........

Managing Depth: It looks like we might be losing our manager down in Salt Lake. We really cannot blame Dave Anderson for the last-place finish in 2015, considering he doesn't draft the talent...........

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Elsewhere in Baseball

GG's: FWIW, Gold Glove winners will be announced today. Cron is probable. Pujols is possible. Trout is not gonna happen. What is absolutely certain is that our New Lords of Baseball, KC Royals fans, will be sputtering all over themselves about the snub of Lorenzo Cain. Nothing we can do about that other than reply with "Kevin Kiermaier".........

Flipping Out: Jose Bautista did the American MLB Bat Flip of this century. I fracking loved it. Unforgettable baseball moment. Now that things have settled down, however, Bautista is backing off. Don't leave me hanging, Jose............

Lyle'n Moments: There was a moment in Game 5, in the 8th inning, when Matt Harvey heard that he was done for the night and refused to take that sitting down, going over to manager Terry Collins and burning in his gut to go the distance. The story is here. I'm reading that story and realizing that this kind of stuff must be porn to Lyle Spencer. Good ol' fashioned baseball where men are men and laptops be damned and we just gotta go with the heart and grit it out for the drama of it all. So, out of curiosity, I wondered what Lyle had to say about it and went searching his twitter feed. Sure enough, there it was. Lyle will never have to face the nightmares that Collins has already been having..........

Vagabonds: The Nats, nee Montreal Expos, might be open to all kinds of fresh ideas as to how to deal with their ongoing (and losing) battle with the Orioles for territory and broadcast rights after having plunked smack in the middle of Orioles turf. Not even the Bud Selig driven MLB lawyers and shenanigans have been able to help them. But, really, maybe moving again to Fenway might just be one step too far?...............

Park: How curious. The Minnesota Twins won the bidding rights to Byung Ho Park. These are the are the same Twins who had the 22nd highest total payroll in 2015, the 24th highest total payroll in 2014, the 28th highest total payroll in 2013. They are also the same Twins who already have Joe Mauer stuck at 1B, Trevor Plouffe planted at 3B, and Miguel Sano on his way up...........

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Award Season

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Hot Stove Season

Pitching: This year's FA pitching class is deep. And rich. And about to get a lot richer. I once swore that I would stop thinking about the rising prices of players every year as "stupid money", but this group is going to trip at least one owner into shocking the shit out of us.............

David Freese: Let the games begin. After choosing not to risk paying Freese $15.8 million to play 3B for us in 2016, the Angels are now entering talks to try and see what it might cost him to play 3B for us in 2016. The difference now being that Freese will cost more than one year AND the cost for each of those years will be the result of competitive bidding with some other, far more desperate and far more financially flexible, teams. It's a good case study to follow when trying to learn about FA and QO risks and rewards............

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