ThorsLinks: Offense points to Santiago redemption

Well yesterday was fun!

If the Angels confirm that Brandon Marsh is not going to sign with LAA, will Brandon Sudge and Halos Heaven get credited according to ESPN's new policy?

Just some food for thought: Last year Kyle Funkhouser, a pitcher out of the University of Louisville, was ranked as high as a Top 10 pre-draft pick. He had just had a junior year where he posted a 1.94 ERA and 122 Ks. On the day of the draft, he fell down to the Dodgers, who took him at #35. Funkhouser, maybe not liking the slot money down there or (understandably) maybe not liking the Dodgers or maybe not liking the stain of the drop itself, opted not to sign and to return to Louisville for his senior year. Since this year's draft was not projected to be an extremely strong one, that had the chance to be a good bet. But now, upon graduation here in 2016, Funkhouser has zero leverage. There is no opting out to return to college anymore. And is ERA went up. And his strikeout totals went down. He was drafted this year by the Tigers. In the 4th round. At #115.

The MLB draft system was created by owners to protect owners from themselves. It is rigged against the players. Just look at the signing bonuses thrown at individual Cuban free agents and compare those to the entire bonus pool for a franchise. (Fun factoid: the Dodgers had the slot value for Funkhouser deducted from their 2015 bonus pool, so it's not as if they partied. This keeps a team from losing a signee from exploiting that slot money to highly pay other picks and run up the bonus payout. This trick also keeps bonuses lower.)

Choosing to sign or choosing to not sign is a part of the gamesmanship between player and team. It would be this way even if we knew whether or not the player would end up being a Big League ballplayer. The more important thing is that this is when kids need to strap on their big boy panties and make some of their most important life decisions, ever. The call is their's to make, as are the consequences. And the other side of the negotiating table is infested with the most experienced sharks in the sport. On the other hand, if the player really is good and really does have a future, the sooner they sign and get through to free agency, the sooner the real paydays start coming. And any missing few hundred thousand bucks from today won't mean shit.

What might mean shit is missing the chance to play alongside Mike Trout.

So have some Hope-for-no-regrets Links:

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Everywhere In Baseball

Roster Rotation: Since the DL for this team is more like one of the more popular rides at Disneyland, I can't keep up anymore. Simmons up, Ryan down, blah blah blah. Here. Keep track of things the easy way, with one click..........

Not The Best: I will save you the worry. In this click-bait feature ranking the front offices in MLB, when going from worst (30th) to best (1st), it only takes one click to find the Angels...............

Hec Yeah: So Hector Santiago showed back up last night as an ace (or as a valuable trade asset, depending on your POV). Well, that 92mph fastball Santiago was throwing? That would be the 7th best improvement among all starting pitchers..............

History Lessens: Let's face it. You hate the Yankees. You hate the Red Sox. You hate the Oakland A's. And you probably don't spend any time sending flowers to the Commissioner's office. So have some fun reading about how all these institutions spent so much time clowning one another, back in the '70s..............Even more history: Stirrups RULE!!!!!!!!!

Knuckling Under: Knuckleballers come with a lot of cliches. Maybe they are all wrong. I should have learned to throw one. My life would have been a little more fun.............

Itching to Know: If Ichiro Suzuki had spent his entire MLB career based out of Anaheim, would you be putting an asterisk on his hit total?..............

Duh: Sports is getting revolutionized by a new program called Teamworks, that provides proper management of a sports program schedule. Everybody is all excited about it. It's going to revolutionize baseball and save teams lots of money in improved efficiency. Fascinating. I have been using planning tools in the business world for 30 years. Who knew this was a new thing again?..............

Things I saw down in the Diamond Club while at the game last night:

...The last Josh Hamilton fan in Anaheim.

...and the last C.J. Wilson fan, as well:

...Doyer fan, Nose Picker.

Finally, we all know that Jeter Sucks

But, then Yakult?

Well, we all know what Yakult does:

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The Duffle Bag

This is, sadly, our thing. Like shitty '60s torch songs from stalkers, we chase entries in a book that hasn't been relevant for 50 years.............This is what happens when you leave dudes alone to make up their own dance. You get CWS celebration handshakes...........With the All-Star Game in San Diego this year, the city is working hard to shoo away the homeless from the national media.............The ghost of Vladdy, base hits off of bounced pitches...........I didn't know this was a thing, but Jason Werth is getting a bit touchy in his old age...............Yordano Ventura patronized a kid's lemonade stand. How sweet. Then he probably punched somebody...........K.C. Royals fans have Omar Infante in 3rd place for starting 2B on the All Star team. K.C. Royals management has Omar Infante on the bus down to AAA.............Yeah, it is true. The New York Yankees are in last place in the AL East. It's glorious. (And Moreno/Carpino continue to follow in their footsteps? Congrats on that.)..............Kris Bryant, 24 years old, finds swinging a wooden bat to be exhausting labor. I have news for him.............

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(It's late. I'm tired. I can't figure if this is too easy or too hard. Gotta go to bed. A real job beckons in just a few hours.)

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