DBAHO

The Angels are in a tough situation right now. I'm of the view that you let your young talent develop at the major league level, if they've got the talent to succeed. And you'd think players like McPherson and Kotchman are those type of prospects. But for whatever reason, whether it's through injuries and just not performing, they just haven't gotten the job done. Stoneman just called up Kendry Morales so it'll be interesting to finally see what he can do. Their AAA team at Salt Lake hit in a real big hitters park though, think Coors Field with the whole altitude thing so the ball really flies up there, so maybe a lot of their younger guys have just overachieved in AAA in terms of their numbers. As for letting Molina go, it wasn't the right move at all. They put the money they could have used into re-signing him, in signing Jeff Weaver on a 1 year deal. Weaver's stunk it up, when you could have his brother starting, and now you've got Mike Napoli catching, so Stoneman definitely dropped the ball on that one. Although I wouldn't trust Molina's numbers to hold up on a long - term deal either.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ May 23, 2006 -> 09:28 PM) He's really not that good, he's a pretty bad second half pitcher and now that's carrying over to the first half of the season. A crazy ass wind up can only get you so far. Apparently he's not getting his leg kick up as high as what it was IIRC, and that was causing him some problems. But his last few outings have been encouraging. Also there was this about him in the Palm Beach Post; The Phillies would be interesting, they may have to give up some good talent like Gio Gonzalez etc. The D-Backs would have to give up say a Chris Young as part of the deal, but if they could get Willis without trading any of their current major league talent, I'd say they'd probably win the NL West, even though it's been a pretty competitive division so far.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 23, 2006 -> 03:18 PM) Please Ozzie for God's sake don't let him pitch to any switch hitters or lefties. That's my main worry with him as well. Hopefully he's still got something left in the tank. Jason and I saw him in a pressure situation b/w the Angels and Mariners last season. 2 outs, bases loaded and Vlad up at the plate. And Nelson got him swinging at a ball way down and away, a slider. But I will say our bullpen looks in better shape than at this point 2 weeks ago, and to me, that's mainly because of what Matt Thornton's done in his last 4 outings.

For the last few weeks I've heard if he's available at their pick, the Bulls are going to take Bargnani. And really he could be another Pau Gasol when ya think about it.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ May 22, 2006 -> 02:17 PM) Yah, they showed Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. But seriously, the commercials suck. "I have confidence in SUNSHINE!!!!!! I have confidence in RAIN!!!!!!!" When I was over in the States, I actually thought the Texas Double Whopper ad was one of the better fast food ads you'd find. But seriously, having at least 3 out of 5 ads being for fast food, how do you guys put up with it? Oh and I thought the Arctic Circle ad with the women eating the taco was the most annoying ad I saw.

This is a REAL important time in Juan Uribe's career right now. I think most people around in baseball would definitely say he's among the best 3 or 4 defensive shortstops in the game But his utter lack of having a plan, having the same swing every AB has just hurt any chance he'll probably ever have of being the same .280-.300 hitter that we first saw when he came on the Southside. And I thought at the start of the season, you put him back in the #2 hole, and he MIGHT get back into that form. And at some point, for a guy at his age, and where he is in his career in regards to the time he's had in the majors to get his swing right, if he can't get over this hump, then Alex Cintron has a real chance to take a grasp on this SS job. If Cintron gets a chance for a week, starts hitting well, and the Sox keep winning, all of a sudden the Sox have an issue here. But Alex has to show most importantly, that he can handle the job defensively, which has been the knock on him. So I still think Uribe is gonna be the starter when it's all said and done, and at some point, he will hit. The only question is when.

I don't expect Contreras to come right out and dominate the Flubs hitters straight away in his 1st outing, nor do I think we should either, even as bad as the Cubs have been hitting. I think he'll still have a good outing tomorrow. And hopefully, as hotheaded as Zambrano is, today's events will take away his focus on mowing down our hitters tomorrow, and that's something we need to take advantage of.

That's why you shouldn't have rookies running their mouths in the media. He'll have to live with that for the rest of his career now.

QUOTE(Jimbo @ May 21, 2006 -> 05:30 PM) He has a son, wont get much better. I believe there was an article in the Tribune a while back where his son said he would do a lot things differently than his father IIRC.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ May 21, 2006 -> 01:40 PM) No. I find that interesting because by all means Tracey in a season or 2 could become a real asset out of the pen with his stuff. But can the Sox bank on his control picking up out of the pen, when he's been doing much better as a starter down at Charlotte. Church just intrigues me a lot especially when he's put up a +.800 OPS last season and this season so far, down at RFK which is not a hitters stadium by any stretch of means. But as we're talking about bullpen guys; Sounds like the perfect White Sox Reliever. He's dominated in AAA with a 1.42 ERA in 2004 and 1.93 ERA in 2005, that success just hasn't translated over to the majors. I think we've got a few vacancies on the 40 man roster still as well. If no other team before the White Sox doesn't claim him (which I can't see personally), we should be all over this guy IMHO.

Since the May 10 game against the Angels, Matt's pitched 2.2 innings of scoreless relief with 4 K's (with only 1 hit). I know it's not much in terms of a sample size, but he seems to have shaken off that back injury now, and he's starting to look fairly good again. And that's very important in the whole shape of our bullpen right now.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ May 21, 2006 -> 12:02 PM) Ryan Church got sent down AGAIN by the Nats... Yeah Jim Bowden got to call up his "favorite" prospect Alex Escobar. Might as well try to do it before you get fired I suppose. So if you're going to get Church, now would be the perfect time. Would you do Sean Tracey for Church for example?

Time to bump this baby as it hasn't been used in a while; Ross Gload still only has 22 AB's and we're almost 2 months into the season. Interesting, because he had a little bit of success in Pittsburgh last season. Don't think he would be useful as a long man out of the pen though. Last time I checked on Ryan Wagner was this;

QUOTE(DePloderer @ May 21, 2006 -> 08:30 AM) Just imaging how deep the sea would be if there weren't sponges. Including this sponge;

Well you can hardly call it suprising. How old is Wirtz now anyways?

QUOTE(beautox @ May 21, 2006 -> 09:49 AM) I was at the game today, Brian is the MAN!!!!!, Glad to see hes going down swinging one way or another. How ironic. Hopefully it loosens him up a little more at the plate as well.

The mock was posted on John Sickels minorleagueball site; Andrew Miller (Royals) Evan Longoria (Rockies) Brad Lincoln (Devil Rays) Greg Reynolds (Pirates) Luke Hochevar (Mariners) Drew Stubbs (Tigers) Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) Brandon Morrow (Reds) Tim Lincecum (Orioles) Daniel Bard (Giants) Joba Chamberlain (Diamondbacks) Max Scherzer (Rangers) Bill Rowell (Cubs) Matt Antonelli (Blue Jays) Jeremy Jeffress (Nationals) Travis Snider (Brewers) Kyle McCulloch (Padres) Jared Mitchell Phillies (NYM type A) Kyle Drabek (Marlins) Chris Marrero (Twins) David Huff Yankees (PHI type A) Hank Conger Nationals (OAK type B) Brett Sinkbeil (Astros) Brett Anderson (Braves) Colten Willems Angels (CLE type B) Kevin Mulvey Dodgers (LAA type A) Chris Parmelee (Red Sox) Justin Masterson Red Sox (NYY type A) Chris Tillman (White Sox) Ian Kennedy (Cardinals)

And to think about a month ago some people wanted Ozuna kicked off the team because he couldn't even play LF properly.

For all we know, if Anderson decides to take pitches in that count, he could have ended up K'ing in that AB, and then people would be attacking him like crazy on here. He saw a pitch he wanted, he swung, made good contact, unfortunately it was right at the 3rd baseman. I don't have a problem with that.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ May 19, 2006 -> 09:19 AM) Anderson was demoted to Kanny. I mooted that possibility a couple of weeks back. Anyone know if they called up Cunningham to replace him?

QUOTE(SnB @ May 19, 2006 -> 12:04 AM) I still don't understand how one of those GMs didn't go all out this offseason. It would be the easiest money ever spent for a division title I think Ned Colletti of the Dodgers was fairly close to doing that. He did give up out some big contracts to the likes of Furcal, and trade for Baez. Really like what Josh Byrnes is building down in Arizona though.

From Joe Cowley of the Sun - Times;

If I got to hit an Iowan or a picture of Gage's head, then yeah maybe, but otherwise no.

Yes, come back soon Spiff, and BEGOOD too, we don't see you two enough around here, like the good ol days. But a Happy B-Day is in order for you both. No doubt BEGOOD will be spending the day with plenty of ladies.

I guess Henry could be off to Barcelona now. And Arsenal are screwed if that's the case. They'll struggle to qualify for the CL next season if he goes, especially with the way Tottenham are already buying players.