Well, well. A little golden sunshine falls in Anaheim, after all. It was a good news/tragic news day but we have to cover it all.
As you should expect, since this has probably happened to you too, I am still coming back up to speed after a long and fun vacay. But we persevere.
Do the dance of Offseason-Links:
A Little Bit of Angels News
The LAA post-season hardware holiday stocking will not go unfilled. Congratulations to Martin Maldonado and Andrelton Simmons. Maldo won his 1st career Gold Glove, and Simba won his 3rd career Gold Glove, as well both should.........This is no longer a purely subjective religious thing. It has a little bit of SABR padding to assist in reducing embarrassing results. The SABR analytical contributions are here..........
Jeff Fletcher digs into Billy Eppler’s infield options. Mostly the usual suspects, and not a lot of sparkle. But he does introduce is to Cesar Hernandez out of the Phillies organization..............
Lots of teams had their ups and downs last season. Best recap concerns our own Halos. “Good season? Ehhh. Yeah, but it doesn't feel like it.“..........
Everywhere In Baseball
Rest In Peace Roy Halladay, who was killed in an airplane crash yesterday............The Baseball world is full of reflections (examples here and here and here)..........Halladay’s widow, Brandy, was most definitely not a fan of his flying, which should now make for some very difficult years for her...........But Halladay himself was in heaven, literally, and the plane he was flying sure looks like a lot of fun..........But we lost a good person, a great player, and a positive force for all of Baseball. Godspeed, Mr. Halladay, and every sympathy and prayer to your family and friends.............
You might not recall this, but Halladay was almost an Angel back in 2009. Tony Reagins would not surrender Erick Aybar in the package. That would have put Halladay in the rotation of that ALCS that we lost 4 games to 2 against the Yankees. The one where the Yankees went on to defeat the Phillies in the World Series. The same Phillies that Halladay would join the following season when he won the CYA, and became a hero of Mike Trout’s............
You may have stuck around after the Astros won Game 7 to see Carlos Correa propose to his sweetheart live...........There is usually some backlash against public proposals, but Correa and his fiancee seem pretty cool with it...........One young fan, however, was crushed...........
Another edition of The Most Fun Reading in Baseball: Jeff Sullivan gives us The Worst Called Ball of 2017...........And while Sullivan has our attention, here he digs into Clayton Kershaw and his refusal to throw his curve unless he is ahead in the count. And maybe he has his reasons...........
That weak-assed Modern Era Hall of Fame ballot seems purposefully designed to ensure Marvin Miller finally gets in, which wouldn’t be a bad thing. But it might, instead, end up getting nobody back filled into the Hall...........
Billy Eppler is proving to be really good at finding bullpen talent. We need him to find us one of these Kenley Jansen guys..........
LONG FORM ALERT: Baseball can create the oddest of career outcomes, including things that will fascinate friends and acquaintances long after one’s career oddity is over...........
World Series ratings killed the competition among live viewers, although the raw eyeball counts were down from the prior season. For that I blame the MSM for not pimping the Astros from Day 1..........Of course, it should come as no surprise that the playoffs dominated in the Houston market. That’s a lot of Jim “The Hammer” Adler ambulance chasing.........
Ad spending within MLB is up 8% over the previous year. Take that, NFL..........
This is interesting. Among sports jobs predicted to evaporate within 10 years is the concept of Sports Blogging. HH is, of course, nothing but sports blogging. (You probably already noticed from what I mash up that copy editor is in danger.).........
DTV Now 2.0 is coming, and it’s a streaming threat to traditional bundling, on steroids...........
Hot Stove
QO update. Nine guys got ‘em, and nine guys are expected to reject them...........
Shohei Otani needs his own rumor blog. Besides Giancarlo Stanton, his is the most significant game-changing story of any player movement currently on the radar..........
The Duffle Bag
Looks like John Lackey ain’t ready to retire after all. He’s a Free Agent. Should be fun to see who is that desperate...........Bartolo Colon wants to take another whirl, too...........Need a job? Want one in Baseball? The Mariners are looking for an Analytics Intern. And the Cards are looking for a person to fill an Operations Fellowship...........Lance Parrish is working his way through the Detroit Tigers’ system learning the craft of manager. If a guy like Parrish can take the hard way, what’s your excuse?...........