WeekEnd HaloLinks: Blazing Trout

Two weeks from now shit will be getting real. In the meantime, We are still in fantasy mode. Nothing is important except the good stuff, or the extremely bad. So let’s keep our eyes focused on the frivolity of it all. Have more fun. Have a great weekend.

But before you go, take a moment to sip from the cup of Mike-Trout-Is-On-Fire-Again-Spring-Training-Links:

A Little Bit of Angels News

Mike Trout and Garrett Richards got themselves life partners, but they each lost a roommate...........

If Andrew Heaney is having a tough time this Spring, and except for yesterday he is not, then it might be because the Halo coaching staff has him relearning his craft.............

Luke Bard had one crappy outing this Spring, which is what the Cactus League is all about, but outside off that has had some pretty good runs. As a Rule 5 guy, this is a pretty good development............

Welcome back Andrelton Simmons! 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI to go with his impressive defense...........

We will, for one day, allow Roberto Baldoquin to bask in the sunlight of a baseball losing its way and landing on the unusual side of the outfield fences. Something so unusual, not even the camera crews were around to film it. But, hey, we got this nifty GIF from Anaheim we can use!! There is the other side of that coin, though. He entered the game as a pinch runner, and immediately got picked..........

The cameras were still around for Mike Trout. It was last Wednesday that I asked Mike to start hitting baseballs. Since that moment he has gone 7 for 16, scored 6 runs, driven in 5 more, and added 4 walks. All without any strikeouts. (Fair disclosure: Trout has yet to K this Spring.) Clearly I am living with cheat code power right now in order to have that kind of impact. So, with that awesome power I shall exhibit awesome responsibility. Mike Trout, go win for us a couple of World Series!.........

EYJ is still doing fun things..........Zack Cozart with power!..........

Everywhere In Baseball

Well, wasn’t it just yesterday that I was musing over the potential impropriety of Aaron Judge pimping the Yankees to current Baltimore Oriole Manny Machado? Yes. Yes, I was. I take full credit for Rob Manfred having read our Links and immediately having his minions dial up Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman and instructing Cashman to admonish young mast Judge..............

Like in the days of the old west, when you are the fastest gun in the territory there is a constant stream of challengers coming along with the thought of usurping your crown. Thus it has been for many years now with Mike Trout. And the latest challenger is Ronald Acuna Jr. He probably IS the real deal. But so far he has not even reached the heights of Rougned Odor.............

Changes are coming to baseball. No, I’m not talking about pace of play changes. I’m talking about the changes secretly being made to the baseballs themselves. We have had quite a many articles written the past year or so proving this to which we have linked. We have also linked to the Commissioner’s silly attempts to rebut the evidence. A pretty good collection of the research, with recent updates, is being kept up at one of our mother sites. And, like I linked yesterday, we still have our eyes on this research..........

This has become as much a tradition in Spring as pitchers and catchers reporting. Once again the Cubs are working on Wrigley Field. Once again they have cratered the peace in their neighborhood. Once again they are scrambling to finish in time for Opening Day...........

A very many years ago my mother taught me how to keep score. She, having served as Official Scorekeeper for many youth leagues and tournaments, loved this like some folks love Soduko. So when it was announced that MLB would be instituting new rules to experiment with pace off play in MiLB games this year, I wondered about the scorekeeping implications. So does Deadspin. I didn’t know about the official guidance that placing the runner on 2B would be declared as via error, unattributed. But when I learned that I knew immediately how I would record it. And then in that linked article I read Stew Thornley, “chair of the Society of American Baseball Research’s official scoring committee“ had the same instinct. Park the runner there and record it as “E-x”..........For the record, I am still saying that this is no big deal. Minor League fans may carp, but Minor League fans are the ones loving the most batshit crazy things already. And we love them for that...........

Let’s pick on the Mariners. Like Hostess Twinkies, one can never get too much of picking on the Mariners. The wonder is out there if they will ever end their epic playoff drought...........Considering that injuries keep happening to the Mariners, maybe not this year..........FanGraphs spent some time with Jerry Dipoto, talking a lot about Dee Gordon. In that there is a great quote: “I’d like to tell you that [the disappointing 2017 season] was mostly health. We were down 80% of our starting rotation, and a few of our everyday players, before we got to the first week of May. That was certainly a big factor. But dating back to 2016, when we first started to re-create our club, I feel like we nailed it in terms of the science.“ Which translates in English, roughly, to: “Ignore the fact that we sucked last year because our science says we were awesome. So let’s blame it on our being almost as injured as the Angels.“..........But, at a minimum, Dipoto has FG all fogged up. Until Jerry figured it out, all of Major League Baseball had Dee Gordon playing out off position...........

Then again, this is the same FfanGrphs that see the Mets’ Sandy Alderson as having been trolling all of us all along with his Tim Tebow charade...........

Auggie Garrido, one of the legendary baseball coaches of our time and the person who put Cal State Fullerton on the map, died yesterday...........

The Duffle Bag

Chicks used to dig the long ball. Now long balls are so common, so everywhere, so yesterday.............I was wrong. Apparently it IS possible to give away tickets to Oakland A’s games...........Umpires need to get their ST work in, too. (h/t reddit) For reasons unknown, this was called a ground rule double............