Comings and goings

Seems like the Angels have been making a lot of news of late and trust me, it’s not because of their play on the field (even though it’s been good this week). I don’t normally recap a lot of news, but today I decided to take some time to update True Grich readers about what’s been going on.

The Goings:

Scot Shields is contemplating retirement. He hasn’t announced anything official, but he’s definitely thinking about it.

This from the LA Times blog: "I would say probably," Shields said before the Angels' game against the Oakland Athletics Tuesday night. "There's a business and a personal side of it. From the business side, you look at the bullpen and you can see all the young relievers they have coming up.

"On the personal side, your family comes first, and I've missed too much of my life with them. It might be time to go home."

I have mixed emotions about this one. On one hand I think it’s probably time for Shields to “go home.” On the other hand, it’s a sad day. Shields who was named “Setup Man of the Decade” by Sports Illustrated earned that title for good reason.

Last night I wore Dan Haren’s name and number on my back; in retrospect, I should have worn Shields’ t-shirt as a tribute to his contributions over the years. When you think about it; he had a thankless job. When he was great, everyone took him for granted and when he failed, Angel fans came down pretty hard on him. Heck, I even blogged about his crappy season this year.

Also leaving; the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. No, they’re not leaving the Epicenter, they’re leaving the Angels. They’re dumping the Angels for the Dodgers…

"The Dodgers are one of the most prestigious teams in all of sports and we are excited to begin our partnership with them in Rancho Cucamonga," said Quakes Managing Partner Bobby Brett.

Are you kidding me? The Dodgers used to be one of” the most prestigious teams,” but not any more (in my opinion). Then again, when you only draw 2,099 for the championship game of the Cal League something had to give.

I’ll miss going to the Epicenter. Hopefully, the Angels will land at a nice facility next year; although I have no idea where that might be right now. The two obvious choices are Bakersfield (former home for the Reds’ Single A affiliate) and San Bernardino (which was the Dodgers’ Single A home). I have to say neither one of them appeals to me much.

Next up: File this one under “I didn’t see this coming:”

It appears that the Director of Scouting for the Angels, Eddie Bane is on his way out.

The story broke via Twitter by John Manuel of Baseball America and was confirmed by the O.C. Register’s Dan Woike.

I always got the impression that Bane was highly regarded; so this news comes as a bit of a surprise. He was most recently a candidate for the General Manager’s job in Arizona that went to Kevin Towers.

Bane drafted the likes of Nick Adenhart, Mike Trout, Hank Conger, Jordan Walden and others. I’ll be curious to see if we learn more about the “why” in the coming days.

The Comings…

Mark Whicker of the OC Registers believes that Mike Trout come be up with the big club as soon as next season. Whickers points to current youngsters like the Cubs’ Starlin Castro (age 20); the Braves’ Jason Heyward (just turned 21) and the Marlins’ Mike Stanton (age 20) as examples of young guys who took the fast track to the bigs.

It’s easy to get excited about Trout. All you have to do is read what all the experts who rate prospects have to say about him or just see him play for that matter to start believing he’s coming soon.

Trout’s progress will be fun and exciting to watch. He could be that rare talent that arrives early and if he does – it could make the Angels outfield situation interesting as well. His natural position is center field which is currently occupied by Peter Bourjos and recently occupied by Torii Hunter.

I speculated in my last post that Trout’s anticipated arrival could mean Bourjos could be used in a trade (an idea my wife really got upset with me for even mentioning).

Also coming? How about Adrian Beltre.

Rob Bradford of WEEI talked with Beltre recently and Beltre told him, "I'll see what's best for me and my family," Beltre explained. "This year I was selfish enough, coming to the East Coast, knowing my wife was pregnant and she would be away from me basically for the whole year. This year is going to be more a family thing. It's been tough. I haven't seen family like l wanted to. We're going to settle down, discuss it, and see what's best for us."

Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports' Hardball Talk seems to think that the Angels are a natural fit for him.

Beltre is one of those guys who really seems to polarize baseball fans. Some are sure he’s likely to be a bust once he signs a big contract and others look at him as a viable piece for upgrading an offense and defense (myself included).

I’ll admit that when I first thought about the possibility of Beltre coming to Anaheim, I immediately dismissed it, but once I really looked at his statistics I found them to better than I thought and warmed to the idea.

The idea of Beltre possibly coming to Anaheim makes sense when you factor in what Tony Reagins told Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles: "You always have to take account of how the finances work, but we're not limited financially in any way," Reagins said. "Whatever we need to do that makes sense and that's reasonable, we'll address."

Saxon recaps the Angels recent organizational meetings in his blog; which had one noted absentee in Arte Moreno.

Saxon quotes Reagins who summed the two days by saying "We need to get better in every aspect of what we do," Reagins said. "That's pretty much the tone of the meeting."

Also coming; well sort of…

Mark Trumbo got a start in right field today. The OC Register’s Woike quoted Mike Scioscia as saying “We definitely want to take a look out there. In drills, he’s great, but you want to put him into a game and see how he reacts to the ball off the bat,” Scioscia said. “It just helps us an evaluation tool. It gives us a baseline.”

I only wonder why it took so long for the Angels to start playing Trumbo. If he can live up to expectations he would solve a lot of the Angels woes.

Finally, file this one under “Long gone.” Even still, his 2010 season is the gift that keeps giving…

Rob Munstis from The Bottomline Red Sox blog writes “The Red Sox were officially eliminated from the playoffs last night.”

“I find it fitting that John Lackey was on the hill for this moment. Sure he pitched well last night (6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 K) but you know what?”

“Too little too late Johnny-boy. I don't blame you for signing for $18 million per year... I blame Theo for that. But 13-11 with a 4.47 ERA, a 1.43 and a .280 opponent batting average?”

Well Rob, I feel your pain; however, I can’t say that Angel fans miss Lackey much given his subpar year. In fact, most of us are taking great delight in his subpar 2010 performance.

Just saying.

Dealing with spring training withdrawls

It’s only been a day, but I already miss being at spring training. Actually, I began to miss it the moment we headed home. It’s hard knowing there is baseball being played in the next state and I’m not there.

I can take some comfort in knowing that games will be starting this Thursday and I’ll be able to listen to them on the radio. Then again, that’s really small consolation because nothing beats being there in person.

I know I shouldn’t pout too much because Cheryl and I did go for a few days and there are many others who won’t get that chance this year. Well, let it be known that I have empathy for those who can’t make it to Tempe this year and the video clips below are just for you. It’s a little slice of spring training that I hope you’ll enjoy.

First up is an interview with Rich Thompson the Angels relief pitcher from Australia. It’s always cool to hear his accent. He’s also got a great sense of humor, as you’ll see when you watch the clips (there are two parts).





Thompson is one of several major league baseball players who has a Twitter account. You can follow Thompson (@chopper63) and others including Angel prospects Chris Pettit (@cpettit815) and Terry Evans (@TEvans23). Some players are much more active than others. Among the best is Texas Ranger reliever C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer). Torii Hunter (@toriihunter48)has a Twitter account as well; however, he hasn’t tweeted since July 10.

Wilson tweeted this today “We had our first int. squad today- got to pitch an inning. cutter was cutting too much, sinker was sinking too much! Need to tone it down.”

Sometimes the players don’t really tweet anything interesting; unless you like to know what they had for breakfast or what they’re watching on T.V., etc. Then there are times when they talk to one another via Twitter and you get to basically ease drop. Kind of strange, right? I suppose on some levels it is, but it’s not like they’re not aware that people are following them.

Some players actively ask for people to follow them on Twitter; like Michael Schlact of the Texas Rangers who had set a goal of trying to get 1,000 followers by opening day. He succeeded and as of this post has 1,010.

Some others I follow include Evan Longoria (although it seems like he basically a tweets ads for 2KSports), Nick Swisher, Matt Kemp, Chris Coghlan, and even Brad Zeigler of the Oakland A’s (I know that’s ironic). The players will often tell you about charity events they’re supporting or other appearances they might be making. The tweets really run the full spectrum.

You can send them messages through Twitter; however, it’s rare that they respond back. I’ve asked Zeigler about the foundation he’s created and he responded, but again that’s rare.

MLB (@mlb) has its own Twitter account and that’s the best place to learn which major (and minor) leaguers are posting on Twitter. You’ll find the #1 prospect in all of baseball Jason Heyward has an account among others.

In any case, here’s one more video for your viewing pleasure. This one is of Rafael Rodriguez, an Angels' reliever who saw some time with the major league club in 2009.