TuesdoLinks: Done Deal.

Billy Eppler must feel like the guy barely hanging in there in a game of Monopoly, sitting on a couple of hotels on Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues, with only a couple hundred bucks left, and now having to run the gauntlet from Pacific to Boardwalk. Hey, if he makes to GO! his boss will gift him $200. But by then the other players will have hotels all the way around the rest of the board. It's what he gets for taking over in place of a couple of guys who were playing foolishly.

But, what? Did you come here thinking that I would be your maestro of trade data, the winners, the losers and the panicked? ME?!?

Eff that. The world is full of that stuff already, and all those guesses and suppositions and predictions make for flamboyant posturing, and that ain't my game. Mine is more flamboyant angles.....For example, imagine carving up your farm system for the privilege of being run over by the steamrolling Dodgers anyway. Looks great today, but won't look so great in a couple of months when you are merely another part of the pavement......And, as my headline yesterday suggested, I'm not alone guessing that at the last minute Bud Norris priced Billy Eppler right out of some decent farm hands "Norris had been considered one of the Angels' more valuable trade chips, though he likely hurt his market by surrendering two walk-off grand slams in the last week."......Besides, did you happen to notice how many bullpen pieces went dashing off to airports yesterday? So Eppler was in a marketplace with a bushel basket full of the very thing that was already stuffing the shelves. Timing is everything. That's why you have to be willing to go out on an uncomfortable financial limb if need matches opportunity. Because if you wait for when things ARE comfortable, that opportunity will have passed............And, finally as we look deeper into what happens with all those phone calls that you and I are not privvy to, pay attention to the reality that the same player does not move to all teams at the same price.

And I always wonder what life must be like for mlbtraderumors.com on The Day After? Is it like how the rest of us all spend New Year's Day, hangovers and exhaustion?............

Have Some Phillie-Fans-Meet-Mike-Trout Links:

A Little Bit of Angels News

Billy Eppler's one deed yesterday was to trade David Hernandez to the Diamondbacks in exchange for an A-ball prospect, Luis Madero. Madero will do nothing to improve the respectability of the overall system, but considering that Hernandez was worth about 25 more innings of work before becoming a Free Agent, that's still a step forward..........

Kole Calhoun, sore hamstring, might avoid the DL after all.............

Something to think about: could LA being afflicted with the 2028 Olympic Games provide any acceleration incentive to do something about Angels Stadium? Recall that the 1984 Games used athletic stadia throughout Southern California..............

In Salt Lake Tyler Skaggs had a rehab start. 21 batters faced over 4.2 innings pitched, 85 pitches with 57 strikes, 5 hits allowed and 3 walks against 5 strikeouts, 3 earned runs.......(Andrew Heaney has his next rehab tonight)............This means that Skaggs might actually make it back to Anaheim as early as this upcoming weekend..........

We are not so quiet about the great season that Andrelton Simmons is having over here, Mr. Dayn Perry of CBS Sports Baseball Internet stuff. Maybe you need to bookmark HH and make it a daily read. You'll learn something..........

Good luck to you, too, David Hernandez............But don't be shy. I've checked. Our Links pages are better.............

So the Rich Got Richer. Isn't that the way it's always been? That doesn't mean the less rich are locked out of the game. It only means that the even richer will more often than not do better in the playoffs...............FWIW, I find Dave Dombrowski's attempt at a retort against the Yankees to be pretty weak sauce. Sonny Gray is no Chris Sale + David Price.............

Dueling trade theories: The Rangers are Ok with grabbing a bunch of LAD far prospects to loan Yu Darvish out for a few months. They ain't going anywhere this year and will simply sign Darvish back in November.............Darvish, though, is pretty convinced that his days in Arlington are over............

Lots of relievers traded, but who is the best of them? Would you believe Addison Reed?............

One thing is for sure, we here in the AL West are running the risk of dealing with the greatest influx of rising talent based on  yesterday's dealings. The A's got some fresh kids out of the Yankee's top quality farm to be of concern soon............And the Rangers took a separate haul out of the Dodgers' highly-rated farm............Here is what FanGraphs thinks of the A's take...........And here is what they think of the Rangers' take............

More fractures in the Camelot of St. Louis Baseball. Now the team manager, Mike Matheny, is going off on the fans themselves............

PleasePleasePlease let this be the end of the Pete Rose road. Based on this affidavit, that would be decades overdue..............

Have some fun with physics. "Rising" fastballs cannot actually rise. Aroldis Chapman is the closest we have to a human capable of making that happen, and still falls short. But human vision when standing at the plate is a fun thing, anyway. You won't convince many MLB players of this............

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We don't want to lose your brilliance, but if you are brilliant, FiveThirtyEight is looking for an Intern. It's 10 weeks, and probably doesn't pay shit, which is why they ain't calling it a Temporary Research Employee..............The best way to lose your prized prospect is to have him confused about defensive responsibilities...............Just want to point this out to national/international baseball fans: there are not really any safaris in San Diego, CA. No more than you can really fly over the city of London chasing Peter Pan in Disneyland...............The Cubs gifted Steve Bartman a WS ring. Nice of them to let him dangle in the wind so long.............Oh hell. I boo Bud Selig every time I read his name. (Keep in mind that Commissioners get enshrined all the time, and Uncle Bud is on close personal terms with the Hall's Chairman of the Board, so Selig's plaque  should mean nothing to you and me..............