WeekEnd HaloLinks: And the Son Shall Shine Again

After dropping about 3 ¹⁄₂ inches of fresh water on Angels Stadium this week, the sun is coming out to peek between the clouds and give us a respite. But the first of those clouds has already gotten sucked into the fractured polar vortex and is creating havoc from Chicago through Philadelphia all the way to New York and Washington, DC. Probably Millville, New Jersey, too. In effect, Phillies fans are about to suffer from Anaheim’s leftovers this weekend. I consider that to be prophetic. A sign from a higher authority.

The good news is that I am feeling better. I can even get outside and be among fellow humans. The bad news is that I am feeling better, good to be outside among fellow humans. This means that I get to go outside, rebuild my yard, weed, plant, transplant, fresh mulch, Home Depot and everything. Lucky me. Who knew xeriscape could be so high maintenance?

While I do all that, you can please just sit there and enjoy your coffee, and browse these Can-We-All-Just-Calm-Back-Down-Now-HaloLinks:

A Little Bit Of Angels News

Billy Eppler put on his big boy pants late last night, and nabbed THE Cody Allen to function as official closer for Brad Ausmus. It’s looking like 1-year, $9 million? This is the same guy named Cody Allen that was the Cleveland reliever of astronomical dominance from 2013 through 2017. It’s also the same guy named Cody Allen who was a hot mess in 2018. It’s now 2019. Which guy named Cody Allen shall be the guy named Cody Allen that we get?...........

Hall of Fame time. So, Trout Porn............

I suppose that I would have to take some time to go check and see if the Angels social media maven was instructed to block my own IG account. I rouse a lot of rabble on these pages and have been so for years now. It might have happened at any time. But I don’t ever bother to check. It would help, of course, if first I even had an Instagram account..........

Everywhere In Baseball

Hall of Fame time. Who will be that asshat who prevents Mariano Rivera from being a unanimous entrant? (Prediction: the claim will be that their Rivera vote was needed elsewhere)...........

Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts has a very valid point. As we knew would happen all along, once the Cubs won a World Series their fan base would all-too quickly jump into entitlement. They expected the Cubs to sign Bryce Harper, and the Cubs are not planning on doing any such thing. So they are complaining (I admit that I am surprised, too). Ricketts is saying that his fan base needs to check the brakes. The Cubs already spend. A lot. Yes, they do. 2nd in MLB only to the Red Sox. Their 25-man was almost #1.............

A look at year over payroll throughout MLB. While there, look for the Cubs!)..........

Deadspin agrees with me that the Machado mess has turned into a mess. But the point of their piece is who benefits by leaking this information, whether true or false? It’s a good question. Too bad they don’t spend any time dwelling on the two most obvious answers, both also good. One would be that some people just like to be the one to leak something important that they know. News journalists have found this very human need to be the staple of their existence. The other good answer is that the information was not leaked by anybody, because it is not accurate information to be leaked. It was junk from some inside flunkie, misunderstood or misheard or just made up out of bad data...........

This is good for discussion. MLB has a list of chemical substances that it prohibit from use by players. And it has an established regimen for monitoring players in order to reveal the use of those banned substances. We have plenty of information to suspect that both of these are already being side-stepped. But all of that means nothing when contemplating science under development, and science yet to come. At some point this will all be overtaken by the other question that some already have started to ask: “should we care”?.........

Sheryl Ring’s Part 2 of Arbitration review is up. It truly reveals some major structural advantages that favor ownership in a lobsided fashion, mostly about how the CBA limits the arbitration panel to only the player number or the franchise number, with nothing in between. But the conclusion summarizes too quickly without sufficient linkage as to how the mechanics of allowing the arb panel to invent intermediary numbers would result in the intended outcomes.............

MLB wants to implement a pitch clock. They would rather have the players on their side.....Ken Rosenthal wants a pitch clock, too. So he wants the players to fold.....Craig Calcaterra is aghast that Rosenthal is advocating that the player’s union advocate not take this opportunity to advocate getting something back in return from the owners. Believe it or not, I side with Calcaterra on this. Which means that Tony Clark will fold...........

MLB wants to outlaw the shift. They need to relax. MLB players are adjusting and fixing the challenge on their own...........

Just wondering out loud: the Cubs want to place themselves on the pedestal of righteousness by being the team that “gives a guy a second chance”. That’s their story for hanging onto Addison Russel and they are sticking to it. Ok, I concede the point. But...the other half of the issue is that they are enabling the financial security and public adulation of a domestic violence abuser, one who worked hard to deny everything and one whose victim is socially active and engaged in the very community that the Cubs wish to serve. So when they say “...that doesn’t mean it’s in conflict with support for victims of domestic violence”, shouldn’t such a statement mandate a commensurate measure of support for victims? Russell’s contract is $3.4 million base, with $600,000 in incentives. So maybe the Cubs should put $4 million matching dollars into a local victims support fund? Again, just thinking out loud.............

I love the headline here: “Why Bryce Harper Could Experience a Career Resurgence if He Signs With the Phillies”. We have a guy who has always been projected by the media to nab a $300 million contract in his first foray into Free Agency. If he doesn’t get that, the media will say that it’s a sign of broken baseball economics. But somebody is required to pay $300 million to a guy who the same media is proclaiming to be in need of some form of “career resurgence”?..........

NBA out ahead of MLB by a decade in leveraging technology to connect with fans, again. Think about it. The NFL, through their broadcast partnerships, has prior referees or ex-head officiating execs on broadcasts discussing rulings in real time in front of fans. Now the NBA is going to connect fans directly with the NBA referee community via twitter. And MLB and umpires? Really? Do I need to explain how sheltered and zip-lipped MLB and umpires are about it all?...........

Here we go again. Tim Tebow time...........

Hot Stove

We are pulling for the Phillies to sign Bryce Harper. Because it would burden their ability to sign another mega-contract, reducing their attractiveness as a alternate franchise for young Master Trout. But that is not necessarily so...........

By the time you read this, the deal for the Yankees to trade away Sonny Gray might have actually happened. Right now, it’s only close............

The Yankees did, however, sign Adam Ottavino.....This is the Yankees trying to build yet another All-Star shut bullpen, which was already the best in Baseball in 2018......This bullpen could be so thunderous that why even have starting pitchers?...........As for Ottavino, well, he is now one franchise closer to knowing whether he really could strike out Babe Ruth...........

Bryce Harper to the Blue Jays? That could end up with a formidable 2-3-4 lineup. Much better than the alternatives listed in the article. Not as formidable as a 2-3-4 of Trout-Harper-Upton, followed by Pujols-Simmons-Cozart-Calhoun. But whatevs...........

The Duffle Bag

MLB players giving back, in devastated Puerto Rico. Trevor Bauer showing kids how to properly handle drones...........Some stained glass artist has a brutal sense of humor...........MLB official twitter composer getting far too much cred for this smack. Do we really need to remind MLB of our own epic collapses? Like, 8 of the Top 10 Greatest in all of sports?...........One thing I am starting to notice about these job postings is that they are starting to assume that the applicant is already employed by some other team. “Familiarity with baseball specific datasets (i.e., Trackman, Statcast, etc) and knowledge of current baseball research“. They are not looking at bringing in new blood to build the Front Offices. They are looking to hire from the existing bloodlines..........Houston Astros garbage truck? This must be where they keep the legacy of 2011 thru 2013...........