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The Angels are notoriously close-mouthed. Good for them as business people in a private enterprise, I guess. But bad for them in that they are managing a franchise that grays out the line separating private enterprise from public trust. Their revenues are a direct result of their ability to fuel fan interest, and when that cannot come from winning games it has to come from disseminating relevant and interesting information.
At least, that is the way my brain thinks about it. So when I sit through a bright and sunny winter day here in Southern California, not too many miles from Angels Stadium and the Halo Front Office complex, and I observe nothing of consequence happening, I wonder if anything of consequence IS happening? Is anything going on in there? One can drive past on the 57 freeway and see lots of cars in the parking lot. While some are radio employees, the rest are not hot dog vendors. Are the formal, official, executive offices there a ghost town these days? Are the decision-makers phoning in their chores from the links of Newport Coast?
What actually happens inside those walls right now? Are phones ringing? Calculators clicking? Conference rooms buzzing? How much activity is the busy work of prepping for Tempe or driving season annual ticket sales or selling 2019 ad space? How much is the inside finance people making sure that tax filings and investment management is being handled on a timely basis? And how much is actually spent working to improve the team and the 2019 season outlook?
I wonder what the activity ratio is of roster improvement versus all that other stuff? 5%? 25%?
Whatever it is, you get these 100%-Of-My-Attention-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Shohei Ohtani interview, with English sub-titles...(h/t reddit)..........
Jonathan Lucroy’s contract incentives move the needle to a potential $4.5 million..........
While the hot stove is warming the entire off-season cabin using the Manny Machado and Bryce Harper fuel, a gentle reminder of Mike Trout Porn............
It’s that time of year again, when Angels Stadium when the field gets completely torn up, rebuilt, and trashed about as bad as Yosemite..........
Everywhere In Baseball
Trader Jerry is going to try his hand at the Ohtani once-a-week rotation scheduling this year.............
Jeffrey Loria remains that kind of scumbag who will go all the way to his grave litigating the shit out of his desire to screw everyone and anyone over every last dime..........
As we are in full Hall Of Fame season, HoF expert Jay Jaffe raises a toast to all the guys who will be “one and dones” this year. Part 1 is here...and Part 2 is here. Part 2 is where we have to be dragged through the memories of Vernon Wells.........
I expected to read this article about base running speed outliers and find that Albert Pujols rules the world of underachievers. Alas, the author has rules and Pujols is too broken down to play enough and qualify. You might note, however, that J.T. Realmuto is a real base-clogger.........
MSM sports journalism continues to contract..........
This is worthy of the few minutes read. Maybe the “science” behind exercise recovery is not so scientific, after all. And that would impact us baseball fans inasmuch as exercise recovery therapies are critical to injury and surgery recovery. Think LAA pitching rotation circa 2016 - 2018..........
NFL television viewership continues to make up lost ground.....But just in time for their playoffs we have a coverage snag with carrier/provider contract disputes.....
Hot Stove
The White Sox are causing all kinds of collusion among the guesstimators of the MSM. Bob Nightengale knows that they are all over Machado, and have yet to make a formal offer to Harper.............Machado may be leaning towards the Black Hole of Baseball in the South Side of Chicago???..........But the length of ChiSox offers are still mystery meat.............
The Phillies keep piling up the players and payroll. 30-year old ex-Yankee middle reliever David Robertson gets a whopping $23 million for a 2-year deal. The guy eats innings and was projected for 3 years at $33 million, so this is not an overpay. It’s merely “under length”.........
And now the Phillies get to make another huge pitch to Bryce Harper..........In fact, the Phils are expected to blow it out for BOTH Harper and Machado, and see which one takes them up on the offer. Add all this to their top farm system, and that looks like a battlewagon in the making...........
With Robertson off the market now, that leads to Zach Britton, a Boras client where Boras wants a 4-year deal. The Yankees appear to be highly interested in holding on to a guy they paid Baltimore 3 prospects to rent.........
Mathematics leads to Game Theory leads to predictive behavior. Scott Boras, Bryce Harper and a league-wide pursuit of hidden negotiations using imperfect information and pressured by fanatical observers parks us into an interesting mental abstract..........
In the Bryce Harper sweepstakes, where he may actually be getting 10-year offers, buyers are mulling the risk that his 2015 season was an outlier, and that they might be on the hook for paying ARod money for Ellis Valentine..........
It should be a busy month, since even the 2018 playoff teams are still in deep need of hole filling..........
To finish off a pair of deals, the NL West sent some cash east. The Dodgers sent $7 million to the Reds to pay for Yasiel Puig’s security system, and the Padres sent $1.5 million to the Blue Jays out of gratitude for taking Clayton Richard off their hands..........
The Duffle Bag
Government safety hounds are charter members of the No Fun Patrol...........Darren Oliver, 9 different teams across both leagues over 20 years facing down more than 8,000 batters. If Harold Baines into the HoF, why not Oliver?..........Yusei Kikuchi suspects that Ichiro Suzuki is some kind of Anime Cosplayer or something.............Bobbleheads coming to the IE 66ers, including Mike Trout..........I read this about some guy having his sports memorabilia collection stolen, and all I can think about is that this guy is an idiot for entrusting all that loose merchandise in the hands of a relative renting his house..........