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THE HOT CORNER - HOT STOVE OBSERVATION
The first thing we go into below is all the news surrounding Arte Moreno, Angels Stadium, the parking lot, and the future for all three.
Imagine right now that there is a blank canvas upon which can be painted a perfect blend of commerce, community, and baseball entertainment. Considering that the existing stadium and parking lot might possibly be demolished, it pretty much is a blank canvas.
Moreno, his development partnership, Anaheim officials, and some select group of privileged thinkers and planners have been giving things a lot of thought. They probably have themselves convinced that they know everything they need to know, and have already thought of everything they need to think about, and are putting all that into their version of a perfect outcome. The perfect outcome, of course, is one that generates massive amounts of money with the least amount of public resistance.
But did any of those people ask you? No. They didn’t ask me, either. I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for my phone to ring but, in truth, I wouldn’t recognize Arte’s phone number ringing my phone anyway and I would ignore it as a spam caller.
Let’s change all that. Let’s pretend that the LAA Front Office reads this page (they actually do) and let’s also pretend that the FO staff reading this has regular conversations with the decision-makers of Arte’s planning committees (they do not). And, most important of all, let’s pretend that you are in possession of that One Great Idea that would radically alter the course of these kinds of community experiences for all time. Here is your chance. Let’s change history. Give it to us down below.
I could go on forever with my idea, but I don’t want to dominate. But I still will kick things off. My idea can be summarized as Balboa Park in San Diego wrapped around a baseball stadium as the anchor. But without the Spanish-Revival-Italian-Renaissance-Mid-Century-Modern architecture.........
ANGELS
The Anaheim City Council votes on the Arte-buys-the-stadium plan this week. SO we get lots of news covering the financials of the deal. Why, for example, is all that real estate at a lower price than, say, a single family home along the Orange County coast? Or one Mike Trout?..........And how might the Council members vote?..........If prior Anaheim power brokers have any residual influence, they see this as a sell-out and would reject the deal...........
The LA Times digs into a published development study to summarize what Arte might be up to. The study they dig into is here, where you can read and try and interpret for yourself. My takeaway comes from page 9, where it looks like Arte wants his own Apple store..............
Baseball seasons are full of a lot of baseball games. Baseball games are full of a lot of things that happen. And when a lot of things happen across a lot of games, sometimes odd things happen..........
Trout + Rendon makes for the best star duo in Baseball. That claim should piss off MFY fans..........
Because Mike Trout is such a stupendous all-around player of the game of baseball, he can be ranked among the Top 5 base-runners of MLB across the entire past decade...........
HOT STOVE ACTION AND OTHER RUMORS
The list of suitors for Hyun Jin-Ryu are shrinking, and the Angels are still in it...........
You wanna get Matthew Boyd from the Tigers? Well, the past trades between Detroit and the Halos haven’t worked out so well for them, so this time the price is gonna be steep............
Eric Sogard (back) to the Brewers. 1-year at $4.5MM with a 2nd-year option...........
King Felix is not yet done? I don’t know why he would think that. History is pretty clear with the message...........
ASSTROS NUTZ
Gerrit Cole is doing the obvious good P.R. on behalf of curious Yankee fans who need to go back to braying in determined ignorance. Yeah, about that Asstros cheating thing, see no evil, hear no evil............
BASEBALL THINGS IN GENERAL
Stupid Tweet of the Day. “Bumgarner surely is happy to be in AZ but sounded frustrated teams looked at 200-IP/year legacy as negative. Can’t say I blame him. He has lower ERA and higher WAR than Strasburg and Cole”. Ummm, no. Not in 2019 he certainly did not. Not even close. And nobody wanted to pay Bumgarner Cole/Strasburg money for what he did 3 years ago. Not while his production is tailing off, probably because of all those 200-IP/year...........
For all the people who failed to pay attention to my comments about Gerrit Cole growing up in Villa Park, but within a Yankee family and as a Yankee fan. You wanted to believe I was projecting. You wanted to convince yourself that I was projecting. I am pretty sure that I was not projecting..........And the Yankees winning offer left Cole speechless. (It should. He just made his great-great grandchildren among the wealthiest Americans for life. And he will never even know about them.).........Final Cole: there is an intriguing contract bit about the Opt out clause that blows me away. Cole can opt out after the 5th year, but if he does the Yankees can void that opt out but are then on the hook for a 10th year at another $36million...........
Sorry Yankee fans. Gerrit Cole signed because Brian Cashman bought all of him and Cole was always happy to be bought by the Yankees. It’s not because of a $700 bottle or Italian Merlot...........
Oh boy! MLB tax day is here! It opens with the Red Sox owing $13.4 million, but there is a lot of other fun money data there that should open an eyeball or two...............
Uncle Joe does not have the greatest reputation for handling pitching rosters and following proven strategies for in-game pitching decisions. His 2016 World Series ranks as one of the more infamous in spite of the happy ending. So when discussing the new 3-batter minimum rule, and hearing his retort to the negative with “strategy is sacred”, one has to chuckle...........
Best and Worst Free Agent signings for every team. The Angels are not alone in their FA misfortunes. I know Albert Pujols makes for an easy target, but we have seen positive production from Pujols, in double-digit WAR. How about paying $70 million to a player so that said player can not only deliver zero WAR for the Angels, but have the chance to produce positive WAR for a division rival?...........
From UniWatch: Hear! Hear! I have been touting for years and years that MLB players should be wearing achievement patches on their uni sleeves! Here the Nats will be showcasing their WS title. So, in my world, even though Anthony Rendon will be playing in Anaheim, I would have this patch on his jersey sleeve, too. Just without the “W”.........
STUFF
Is this color, or colorized?...........The Yankees relish their role as The Evil Empire. Gerrit Cole is being presented as Their Ultimate Weapon. A Star Wars movie is hitting screens everywhere. So nothing beats a Star Wars metaphore...........Pretty fun MLB team relocation commuter map. Nothing there showing LAA transiting to Long Beach..........Max Muncy victimized by being really popular............Gerrit Cole’s wife is more gracious in saying goodbye than Gerrit Cole’s wife’s husband............