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No game action yesterday, so I spent time recreating on BBR. If the Hall of Fame ballots become so stark that the PEDs guys (Bonds, Clemens, ARod, Palmiero) finally get voted in, we can play a new Career WAR game.
Of the guys still ahead of Mike Trout in Top 70 Career WAR, should the PEDs guys get in the only ones not in the Hall of Fame would be Albert Pujols (not yet retired), Adrian Beltre (too recently retired), Pete Rose (banned), and Curt Schilling (asshole).
Of the guys from #71 down to Trout at #95, there are Jim McCormick (1800’s player), Bill Dahlen 1891-1911), Lou Whitaker (Vet Committee potential), Larry Walker (who had a big jump in voting last year), Derek Jeter (1st ballot next year), and Bobby Grich (what the hell). And Trout will be passing Grich, Palmiero, Jeter and Walker before this season is out, anyway.
At some point early in 2020, the only guys with more career WAR than Mike Trout who are not in the Hall of Fame, will not be in the Hall of Fame by exception (MLB mandate, voter animosity, not yet eligible). It is reasonable to assume that ALL those guys will eventually be in the Hall, shy Pete Rose. That means that by the time Mike Trout even enjoys his age-28 season, the only peers he has left are all Hall of Famers. You are watching the baseball life of a living legend.
Let’s roll out these Flush-The-Latrine-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Tyler Skaggs was laid to rest yesterday in Santa Monica. Tough for everyone, all over again..........Ryan Braun was excused from the Monday Brewers game so that he could fly back and be in attendance, such being Skaggs’ impact..........The full memorial ceremony was broadcast on Fox Sports West with speakers including Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, Trevor Plouffe, Tim Mead, and Carly Skaggs..............
Trout Porn. In doing the silly talk about the chances of Mike Trout besting Barry Bonds’ all-time career home mark of 762, this one factoid woke me up: “It’s worth noting that Trout has more home runs at his age than any member of MLB’s three-man 700-home run club did.” And Mike is getting to play in a juiced ball era for the foreseeable future............
More Trout. Also, Trout clearly leads the AL position players in terms of WAR. Nothing surprising there. What might be a surprise for MFY fans is that Mike (6.6 fWAR) is drifting in the direction of lapping DJ LeMahieu (3.5 fWAR). That makes a lot of sense when you rezlize that in July LeMahieu is batting .274/.308/.419 with an OPS of .727 and 2 doubles, 2 home runs...but in that same window (we are not yet counting LeMahieu’s 3 for 4 last night because Trout was not playing) Trout is batting .313/.424/1.000 with an outrageous OPS of 1.424 and 3 doubles and 10 home runs......Oh, and that Batting Average lead that MFY fans were claiming to be the end-all, be all? (A) it’s decreased by 15 points (31%) in July alone, and (B) ain’t all that to begin with..........
Let’s take a moment to appreciate Albert Pujols. He is having his best offensive season since 2016. He is not even #2 on his own team in terms of GIDP (Andrelton Simmons and Jonathan Lucroy are tied for #1, both for the Halos and all of MLB), and far below the MLB lead. And as his numbers return to his ( - cough - cough - ) 36-year old season, he is still climbing the career milestone ladders. And that is m-i-l-e-s-t-o-n-e, not m-i-l-l-s-t-o-n-e.........
Two superstars. Two good buddies. But Shohei Ohtani has the better hair..........
Justin Upton, the modern day foil to Joe DiMaggio??............
Keynan Middleton is not coming, after all. Because Angels.........
Everywhere In Baseball
Mike Trout took most of last week off, so Ramon Laureano was barely the best player left in uniform in the AL. A decent case could be made for Trey Mancini of the Orioles.........
The big series for the Angels, the biggest series this week where they are not themselves playing, would be A’s at Astros. Since both teams cannot lose, we have to hope they merely bludgeon one another and the Angels creep upwards. Houston bombed Oakland last night, so it would be great for Oakland to return the favor tonight...........
Seriously, KBO needs to bring their mojo to America. Start with MiLB. Hell, join Rob Manfred in experimenting in The Atlantic League. Make baseball fun again..............
The Angels are not the only team struggling to solve 1B (currently being carried by Albert Pujols - see above). But the options that Billy Eppler has to choose from still need considerable seasoning. If only we were the Twins, what with that C.J. Cron guy..........Eppler IS doing better at filling the gap behind the plate. Barely..........
Instead of trying to figure out the impossible task of separating live baseball games from the baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, why not think about integrated them into the game activities themselves? Give MLB another excuse for special uniforms, showcase speeches on the video boards between innings, do pre-game career highlights, teams can have sponsored special giveaways. Give fans everywhere a moment to celebrate a special career..........
(h/t reddit) Matt Shoemaker is not wasting all this time he has on his hands at home...........
Not too long ago Bryce Harper was projected to be the better of the Harper/Trout megastar duo. But as TheRinger looks at how well the Nationals are faring sans Harper, can you imagine anybody writing the following things about Trout? “If the talent surrounding Harper in Washington was always underrated because of the gravitational pull of his star power, Harper’s own impact was probably always a bit overstated.....Despite playing almost precisely to expectations, Harper is still just the fourth-best player on the Phillies.”..........
MLB local viewership is down 4% in the first half of 2019, dragged down mostly by large-market teams. Giants (-31%), Yankees (-26%), Angels (-18%), Mets (-12%). In the mid-markets, the Rangers (-31%) and Mariners (-25%) lead the way. It’s interesting to note that the Phillies and Padres have seen boosts, mostly attributable to Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. My takeaway from all of this is that the Halos are primed for a big boost in 2020, when Ohtani retakes the pitching mound..........
Trade Rumors
The San Francisco Giants were once considered to be a dead corpse to be plucked over. Then we got to June. Since then, the Giants are 29 and 16 (2 of those losses being walk-offs). This month they are 15-3, and just ran through a 7 game winning streak, having won 11 out of 12 games. Sure, there are a lot of Padres/Mets/Rockies in there (enjoy the run while you got it, there, Bruce Bochy), but a Win is a Win and the Giants are now 51-50 overall and 2 games out of the playoffs. The Giants are no longer a carcass and it is screwing up everybody’s plans..............FanGraphs, though, sees this as “a flash in the pan”, and thinks that selling is still the right course of action, especially with Madison Bumgarner being their #1 market attraction and Bumgarner enjoying this run by being the Giants most effective starter during it all. That puts Giants president Farhan Zaidi in a real pickle, which assumes that Bumgarner doesn’t reject the trade, anyway.........
I need to be paying more attention. On this top 10 list of hitters primed to be moved, I was surprised to find Yasiel Puig all the way up there at #2. Puig has been on a tear this month, and I was guessing him to be a cornerstone of their future plans, both on the field and as a marquee name..........On the pitching list of top 10, there are at least 5 names that I would find delightful under the Halo...........Funny, though. Kirby Yates is the Padres bullpen ace. The Padres are rumored to be in the market for a starter. So the Pads trade Yates for a starter?..........
Nothing makes me happier than to see the Red Sox having backed themselves into a corner of their own making. Buy or sell? Sell or buy? Both paths, if they lead to claiming a critical talent, would result in the loss of a big name on their current roster that would have strong ties to their fresh and shiny WS trophy..........
The Rays are interested in getting Hunter Pence out of the AL West. Fine by me. See you in the WC game, Pence?.........
($$) - Jim Bowden is putting his rather tin reputation as a prognosticator on the line, and insisting that the Yankees WILL add a starter to their rotation before the deadline. He just will not name which one. So, friends, assume Bowden is right. Whcih one shall it be?
The Duffle Bag
You know that the groundskeepers are not doing a good enough job when those microscopic grains of infield dirt become high enough for an umpire to trip over.................Tony Gwynn must have had the eyesight of an eagle............If you are into numerology, get your Apollo 11 freakout on here............