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THE HOT CORNER
It was just Saturday that we learned Kevan Smith had changed agencies. Monday afternoon, Smith learned that his new agent is gonna have to get to work. Smith was the only Halo non-tendered yesterday, making him an instant Free Agent. This leaves Anthony Bemboom and an injured Max Stassi (whose injury status probably makes his WAR better) on the roster as catcher.
This past season, the Halos ranked 27th of 30 throughout MLB in team fWAR at the C spot. It’s official. We suck at this. And to think that I used to mock the Angels for all the draft rounds they burnt on catching prospects. LAA has drafted 42 of them this decade. Seriously. 42. (Although they appear to have given up on drafting catchers the past few years, having drafted only 6 after the 2016 June draft.) Out of those 42, only Anthony Bemboom is here to rescue us all.
So to upgrade, Billy Eppler is taking matters into his own hands and improving the roster by eliminating as many quasi-MLB-level catchers as possible, and the latest rumor out of Anaheim now is that Eppler is again “in” on the best remaining FA catcher on the market.
Fortunately, all the other teams have fixed their catcher problems and Eppler has a field full of catching glory all to himself. Well, except for the Asstros. They have lost all three of their 2019 catchers and now have zero. And the Tigers and the Rockies, who were worse off than we at the catcher position in 2019. And the Rays and the Pirates and the Red Sox and...
Oh, well, the solution will fall into our lap and we don’t have to worry about catching, anyway.............
ANGELS
Last night was non-tender night. Since Kevan Smith was the only guy turned loose, that means that the Halos offered contracts to Tommy La Stella, Cam Bedrosian, Andrew Heaney, Hansel Robles, Max Stassi, Brian Goodwin, Keynan Middleton, and Noe Ramírez ..........
Mike Trout makes yet another All Decade Team. This one from CBS Sports............
And this is your final day to cast your vote for Mike onto the inaugural All MLB Team..........
($$) - And when you put together The All Decade Halos Team, you obviously get Trout at CF. But did you realize that you just witness David Fletcher put in the top 3B performance of the last 10 years??..........
There is a good chance that Justin Upton will recover from leg problems. It has happened. But even so, we will count ourselves as blessed if he returns to 2018 form. In any event, he is ours for the next 3 years...........
You are well aware of the tragic loss of Tyler Skaggs. And you also know that Skaggs is not the first Halo to come to an untimely death. The list is long, and goes way back. All the way to Dick Wantz..........
HOT STOVE ACTION AND OTHER RUMORS
The Padres went out and traded for Jurickson Profar. On purpose! maybe they need somebody to train their honorary bat boys or something. The linked article title calls Profar a “switch-hitting infielder’. They got the infielder part right, and the part about him standing at the plate from both sides. But the part about him actually hitting? Nuh uh.............Perhaps the silliest thing was Padres GM A.J. Preller making the trade and sending away prospects in the first place. Oakland was probably hours away from non-tendering Profar, and preller could then have had him for free..........
Starling Marte is a really good outfielder. And he knows that as a Pittsburgh Pirate who is really good, chances are his new GM Ben Cherrington is going to trade him soon while he has market value. Marte wants it known that he prefers to go to a contender. Marte must not have any trade leverage. Not that it matters to us. We are fine with outfielders. And we ain’t a contender............
Another catcher dropping off of Billy Eppler’s list of options. James McCann re-ups with the White Sox, to back up Yasmani Grandal. Now that is a very good 1-2 at the C position there in Chicago..........
And another catcher drops off of Eppler’s radar. The Red Sox sent Sandy Leon to the Rangers. Not that Leon was really on anybody’s radar, much less Eppler’s. Eppler already had his own Leon in Max Stassi.........
A big time 3B dropping off of Billy Eppler’s list of options. Mike Moustakas finally got his multi-year deal. 4 years at $64 million TO THE REDS! Moose was actually projected to go for 5/$85MM, so this is lower than anticipated even though it’s still a big number. Post KCR, his 5.2 fWAR ranks 14th in all of MLB, which ain’t bad, but dollar-for-dollar this equates to Anthony Rendon signing for $34Mm per year AAV. Or Alex Bregman signing a deal with an AAV of $52MM..........Notice that the Brewers are realizing a talent drain. Which should trouble Milwaukee fans, since the Reds appear to be going for it..........
The Brewers are listening to trade offers for Josh Hader..........
We don’t have a right fielder right now. Kevin Pillar was just made a Free Agent by the Giants. Pillar made $5.8MM last year and was probably gonna get $10MM in arbitration. Not any more. Something to think about...........
BASEBALL THINGS IN GENERAL
Come on, Rod Carew and Dennis Eckersley, get Marvin Miller into the Baseball Hall Of Fame already............
Andy Pettitte is gong to win the New York Yankee votes, but he has no business being in any Hall Of Fame that lacks a Bobby Grich..........
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has also written directly to Rob Manfred in an effort to push back on MLB adopting the Houston Plan and gutting MiLB of 42 teams. For those who are firmly committed to the idea that lower A ball and being drafted after the 20th round are wastes of time, you should look at the alumni of those teams and look at the list of guys had MLB careers after being taken past round 20..........
A little more well-deserve reflection on the life and impact of the recently-deceased stat pioneer Seymour Siwoff..........
Baseball can be so, so cruel. Koda Glover was drafted by the Nationals in 2015 out of Oklahoma State University. He was pitching in the Big Leagues the very next year, seeing action out of the bullpen in 19 games beginning in July, just 13 months after being drafted. he was shut down in June of 2017 after an infamous “slipped in the shower” incident. He did slip, but it was because he had been pitching through rotator cuff problems and had screwed up his back so bad his equilibrium was off. He suffered more injuries coming into the 2018 season and saw some action in August and September. he was still so messed up he missed all of 2019, which meant he missed the Nationals World Series season. And now Glover has retired...........
Give me this list of 2019 stars who did not make the 2019 All-Star team, and I will probably beat your 2019 All-Star team..........
STUFF
The cap that Charlie “Wild Thing” Sheen wore in the movie “Major League” is coming up for auction. Looking at the auction listing (already at $4500 as of this typing), I see that it is a fitted cap, but no cap size is given. I guess you are not supposed to wear it?............Trevor Bauer, confronting the gods of destiny..........Learn to become a real live MiLB umpire!..........