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Wednesday, November 16, 2011 |
Catching Up: Bullet Points On My Way Out The Door
On a day when the day promises to be long —
- The Angels have released Anthony Ortega. I was wondering when that was going to happen; he ended the season with a craptastic 9.24 ERA, and his 1.17 K/BB rate didn't promise much in the way of improvement, ditto his 5.0 K/9. A spare part the Angels did not need, who will ply his trade in someone else's minor league system.
- Mike Trout can't take home Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 thanks to a weird fluke of the rules:
When Trout was called up in July, he was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster for the first time. When he was sent down, then, he was what they call optioned. When you’re optioned, you aren’t on the active roster, and you don’t accumulate service time, EXCEPT you must be optioned for at least 20 days in the season for that option to count. (An option lasts all season, no matter how many times you are sent down.) Since Trout wasn’t on the 40-man roster before he was called up, he hadn’t previously been optioned, so his time in Double-A before that didn’t count. He was then called back up after only 17 days, and spent the rest of the year with the Angels, so his option didn’t technically happen. “The service time has to go somewhere,” says the Angels’ Tim Mead, which means it counts as major league service time.
Boo. - Kirk Gibson and Joe Maddon won Manager of the Year awards in the NL and AL respectively. Both were good choices, Gibson especially so. It was Gibson's first, and Maddon's second.
- Justin Verlander unanimously won the AL Cy Young Award, with Jered Weaver taking second place. The NL award will be announced Thursday.
- In an era where most regional papers are doing everything they can to cut back on expenses — including covering the local teams — it might come as a surprise to learn the Register still has its own Dodgers blog. Indeed, I wanted to use this fine post by Howard Cole on the Matt Treanor signing as a jumping off point to discuss that particular dumb deal. It's not a very good signing, but it's also typical for Colletti.
- The Angels hired Hal Morris as their new scouting director.
Labels: angels, awards, diamondbacks, dodgers, rays
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 |
Dodgers Suitors, The Price, And Other Miscellany
- Steve Dilbeck takes a look at the potential list of suitors for the Dodgers. Just say no to Chinese tongs.
- Maury Brown reckons the Dodgers could fetch up to $1.5 billion. Unfortunately, he doesn't explain how that happens, but argues that the minimum bid for the Dodgers would be at the Forbes valuation of $800M. Of course, that opens a significant question: why is it that the creditors have to be made whole? Presumably, that gets into how trustworthy MLB as an entity is, and they're not going to ever let that happen (especially with the hired help, doubly so with labor negotiations ongoing). Unfortunately, that sets a floor of about a billion dollars on the sale price, making me wonder what kind of ultra-rich guy (or guys) would have the scratch to buy, and what would the add-on effects be of spending so much money up front.
- You may have heard that Tony LaRussa announced his retirement on the day after his Cardinals won the World Series. The hole in St. Louis' coaching situation may well be filled by an ex-Cub, Ryne Sandberg, who was the Phillies' AAA manager this last season. Sandberg was passed over for Quade two years ago.
- the Cubs announced Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jason McLeod are all coming to the Cubs, in the roles, respectively, of team President, general manager, and scouting director. Compensation to the Red Sox and Padres has yet to be established ...
- The Dodgers named Sue Falsone head athletic trainer, the first woman so named in any major sport.
- Three Dodgers and three Red Sox (and one Angel!) won Gold Gloves; the Dodgers were Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and the Angel was Erick Aybar.
- The Dodgers made their first signing of the offseason by giving Juan Rivera the starting left field job on a one-year deal with a team option for 2013, dollars unknown.
- Bill Shaikin just tweeted that there will be no minimum price for the Dodgers, but potential buyers will be approved by MLB before bidding starts.
- Update: Peter O'Malley-era GM Fred Claire is active in a group seeking to buy the team.
Labels: angels, awards, cardinals, cubs, dodgers, hot stove
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 |
Mark Trumbo Named Sporting News AL Rookie Of The Year
Per @EKayAngels on Twitter.
Update: Craig Kimbrel got the nod in the NL for his work as Atlanta's closer.
I should add this is the Sporting News award. The BBWAA award — the one that counts — is yet to be announced.
Labels: angels, awards, braves
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 |
Rookie, Manager Of The Year Awards
- Belated: Buster Posey (NL) and Neftali Feliz (AL) won their leagues' respective Rookie of the Year awards.
- Manager of the Year awards went to Ron Gardenhire (AL) and Bud Black (NL), the first time I can remember when both awards went to managers whose teams did not make it to the World Series.
Labels: awards, giants, managers, padres, rangers, twins
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 |
NL Gold Gloves Announced; No Dodgers
But three Reds:
Catcher: Yadier Molina, CardinalsSnark from Aaron Gleeman:
First base: Albert Pujols, Cardinals
Second base: Brandon Phillips, Reds
Third base: Scott Rolen, Reds
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies
Outfield: Michael Bourn, Astros
Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies
Outfield: Shane Victorino, Phillies
Pitcher: Bronson Arroyo, Reds
Derek Jeter denied a National League Gold Glove award - http://bit.ly/bLv9sR
Labels: awards, gold gloves
Tuesday, November 09, 2010 |
Derek Jeter's Latest Gold Glove
Aaron Gleeman tweets that Derek Jeter has won his fifth (undeserved) Gold Glove. The Baseball Crank:
55 years from now, they'll deliver the Gold Gloves annually to Derek Jeter's nursing home.The godawful Rawlings website is virtually no use in finding who won what. I'll find a link to the complete list of winners presently and post that.
Update: No links to the AL Gold Gloves list just yet, but Chad Moriyama of Memories of Kevin Malone forwarded a recent Baseball Prospectus story on Jeter in which we learn that, with the assistance of some error analysis, Derek Jeter is about "20 to 30 runs" worse, per annum, than the average shortstop. I, for one, am looking forward to just how overpaid he ends up.
Update 2: Okay, finally:
Catcher: Joe Mauer, TwinsUpdate 3: Reactions from USA Today:
First base: Mark Teixeira, Yankees
Second base: Robinson Cano, Yankees
Third base: Evan Longoria, Rays
Shortstop: Derek Jeter, Yankees
Outfield: Carl Crawford, Rays
Outfield: Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
Outfield: Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners
Pitcher: Mark Buehrle, White Sox
...no one on the 10-member panel that votes on the Fielding Bible Awards even gave Jeter as much as a 10th-place vote. (To be fair, they did vote on players in both leagues all at once -- instead of by league as the Gold Gloves do.)... and a surprisingly hostile review from MLB.com's Matthew Leach:
As one of baseball's most cherished honors, the Gold Glove deserves a better selection process. It deserves voters who see the candidates more often and watch them more closely, and it deserves voters who are more open to newer ways of looking at defense.Along those same lines, Philip Michaels on my Facebook page:
Winning a Gold Glove is like becoming the ruler of a banana republic. Once you're in, you're in for life, or until you're toppled by an armed uprising.
Labels: awards, stupid ideas
Monday, April 26, 2010 |
Kendry Morales AL Player Of The Week
Hitting .542 on the week, it's the second PotW award he's won (the last was in August of last year, when he won the award for the entire month).
Thursday, November 19, 2009 |
Tim Lincecum Wins Second Straight NL Cy Young
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 |
Catching Up On The Awards
- Monday: Rookies of the Year: Andrew Bailey, Oakland's closer; and Florida OF Chris Coghlan in a tight race.
- Yesterday: Zach Greinke won the AL Cy Young award
- Today: Managers of the Year: Jim Tracy (NL), and Mike Scioscia (AL).
Update: The Rockies extended Jim Tracy for three years; the coaching staff will be returned in its entirety as well.
Labels: angels, athletics, awards, managers, marlins, rockies, royals
Thursday, November 12, 2009 |
Pickoff Moves
The Coolest: Dock Ellis' LSD No-No, Animated Version
Via Jon, who got it from Big League Stew: Dock Ellis throws a no-hitter whilst on acid:
Gawd, I loved the 70's. You pups who weren't around then don't know what you was missin'. (On the other hand, the Internet.)
Dodgers Spring Training 2010 Schedule
Open at home against co-tenants White Sox on March 6 (does that seem kinda late to you?), with one Cactus League game vs. the Angels at Camelback (March 22) and one at Tempe (March 15).Ethier, Kemp, Hunter All Win Silver Sluggers
Per the Times. (Here's links to stories about Hunter and Ethier/Kemp at MLB.com.) Long-term Matt Kemp now.Labels: angels, awards, dodgers, funny, padres, pirates, spring training
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 |
Kemp, Hudson Do Indeed Win Gold Gloves
Per MLB.com. Jon has a link farm that includes an MSTI review of why Matt Kemp probably didn't deserve his, either.
Labels: awards, dodgers, gold gloves
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 |
Torii Hunter Wins Ninth Gold Glove, Orlando Hudson Rumored To Win Also
Torii Hunter has won his ninth consecutive Gold Glove; only Roberto Clemente and Willy Mays (12 each) and Ken Griffey Jr., Andruw Jones and Al Kaline (10 each) have more in the outfield. Greg Maddux with 18 is the reigning champion among all players.
There's also an unverified rumor that Orlando Hudson will pick up his fourth Gold Glove at second base. MSTI explains why he's not worthy; blame, to some degree, the improvement from the cement-handed Jeff Kent to, well, just about anybody.
Labels: angels, awards, dodgers, gold gloves
Thursday, September 10, 2009 |
Torii Hunter Wins Branch Rickey Award
For his service with kids in Los Angeles. The award "recognizes professionals in Major League Baseball for exceptional community service".
Thursday, September 03, 2009 |
Kendry Morales Named AL Player Of The Month
Kendry Morales was named AL player of the month for August, with eight doubles and 10 homers, hitting .385 on the month, and a .409 on base percentage. He had previously been named the Player of the Week for the final week of July.
Fairly recent pieces at the Times and Fangraphs have exclaimed how the Angels don't much miss Mark Teixeira. While I'll be very curious to see whether Kendry can keep this kind of All-Star production up next year (and won't be too surprised if he fails to do so — look at that narrow gap between his batting average and his OBP), what's interesting is that, when I checked a few days ago, he was dead tied by VORP with Teix; he presently leads by about four runs (39.1 for K-Mo, vs. 35.4 for Teix).
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 |
Bobby Abreu Voted AL July Player Of The Month
Monday, August 03, 2009 |
Kendry Morales Named AL Player Of The Week
Per Steve Bisheff, Kendry Morales was named AL Player of the Week.
Morales batted .423 in six games last week, with three home runs and 13 runs batted in. He ranks third in the league in slugging percentage (.581), eighth in home runs (23) and 10th in runs batted in (69).
Monday, June 22, 2009 |
Angels Create Award In Adenhart's Name
The Angels have created an award in Nick Adenhart's name, Pitcher of the Year.
Named the Nick Adenhart "Pitcher of the Year" award, the accolade will be given to the Angels' pitcher whose performance is selected by his teammates as the most outstanding through the season.
Labels: angels, awards, nick adenhart
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 |
Vin Scully's Mantel Gets More Crowded With Induction To Broadcast Hall Of Fame
Vin Scully will join Mel Allen and a host of others as he's inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Las Vegas today.
Monday, April 20, 2009 |
Andre Ethier Named NL Player Of The Week
Well, hells yeah! See MSTI's argument for why he might be only the third best outfielder on the team.
Friday, January 16, 2009 |
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Honors Tony Reagins
The Kansas City Star reports that the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has honored Angels GM Tony Reagins with the Rube Foster Award (executive of the year). Congratulations, Tony! (Update: And a tardy thanks to Jennifer Hoyer at the Angels' front office for bringing this to my attention.)
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On a related note, Jon Weisman points out that John Klima has a new blog, Seeds On The Dugout Floor, and an upcoming book, Willie's Boys: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, the Last Negro League World Series and the Discovery of Willie Mays. I'll be looking forward to it.
Update: In another related note, Tony Reagins will headline a benefit luncheon for the Boys' and Girls' Club of the Coachella Valley as part of Angels Day. Mike Scioscia will also speak at the event.
Labels: angels, awards, blogs, history
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