We're currently sitting at a 3-6 record, and the game threads appear by the day to be becoming a more and more dreary place to find one's self during an Angels' telecast. Negativity (and hostility!) abound, as the team drifts deeper and deeper into mediocrity or downright lousiness. And you know what? I can't help but agree with the pitchfork-and-torch-wielding maniacs! Why? Because this team is woeful. That's why I've compiled the following list of REASONS WE SHOULD ALL PANIC, based on the first week of play:

1) ALBERT PUJOLS WILL ONLY OPS .624 FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON

2) 100% OF DAN HAREN'S STARTS WILL BE BAD

3) 50% OF JERED WEAVER'S STARTS WILL BE BAD

4) ERVIN SANTANA WILL POST AN ERA NEAR 8 FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR

5) 50% OF OUR BULLPEN WILL SPORT ERAs OF 6 OR HIGHER FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR

6) DAN HAREN WILL HAVE A HIP (WHIP MINUS H) OF 2.00 FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR

7) ERICK AYBAR WILL FINISH HE SEASON WITH A .265 OBP

8) CHRIS IANNETTA WILL LEAD THE TEAM IN HOMERS THIS YEAR

9) KENDRYS MORALES WILL CONTINUE AN ASTOUNDING PACE BY GOING 1 OUT OF EVERY 23 AT-BATS FOR THE REST OF HIS SEASON

10) TORII HUNTER WILL CONTINUE HIS ASSAULT ON MARK REYNOLDS' SINGLE SEASON K RECORD WHILE OPSing .627

11) CALLASPO WILL SUCCESSFULLY CUT IN HALF MATHIS' CAREER AVERAGE OPS

and

12) THE ANGELS WILL CONTINUE THEIR CURRENT PACE, AND FIGHT WITH THE 1962 METS FOR WORST RECORD EVER, AS THEY ARE CURRENTLY SLATED TO LOSE 108 RIGHT NOW.

And how do I know this will all happen? CUZ WE'RE ALL ALREADY ON PACE FOR IT AFTER PLAYING LIKE ALMOST 100 INNINGS OF BASEBALL. IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING PEOPLE!

WAKE UP

FIRE EVERYONE

TRADE TROUT

REBUILD

REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE.

Preface: I was having a little trouble putting this together in a simple fanshot, so excuse me if that was the better place to have moved this to. I also thought that maybe, temporarily, it deserved a slightly "higher billing."

I know a lot of people here have met each other already, but a lot more of us have not done so. I know I'm not the only one who likes a face to go with a name, and it'd be nice to consolidate that all in one simple location. And hey, if you're not comfortable showing off the jheri curl and 'stache, feel free to mock those of us who aren't afraid to make an ass of ourselves. I made a thread like this a few years back, but it's full of broken links, and a lot of people have joined since that time, anyway. Or, in some cases, we just all look a shitload older after several years of graying and hair loss under Tony Reagins.

So, as the thread asks, what do you look like?

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Well this just came out of left field and ruined my day. I was hearing the Jets for a long time, and then this had to happen.

Courtesy of ESPN

Nnamdi Asomugha has agreed to a five-year, $60 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

The former Oakland Raiders cornerback appeared headed to the Dallas Cowboys, but Asomugha's agent said friday evening the Cowboys were not in consideration.

In absolutely shocking news, it appears McNabb has been traded to the Washington Redskins for a 2nd round pick, and a 3rd and 4th pick next year, and possibly more:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5055346

This is radically going to alter the NFC East picture for the year (probably to the Giants' benefit, I think personally it reduces the Eagles' 2010/11 chances, and doesn't necessarily do enough for the Redskins.) I feel a bit blindsided...and it's definitely too early to say much, but uh...wow. Is Kolb ready to carry an otherwise-playoff-ready team? Do the Redskins have the weapons to radically improve next year on offense? What becomes of Jason Campbell? How do the draft strategies for each team change? Does Michael Vick have a shot to compete with Kolb in camp for the starting position?

Thoughts?

So I was just thinking of a whole bunch of potential scenarios this year which are both:

a) plausible

and

b) not necessarily completely welcome, but not the worst case scenario either.

Basically, I wanted to give plausible, realistic possibilities from this season to temper expectations a bit, and get you to consider how little you may actually be willing to settle for from specific individuals on our team this year. So here we go. In your replies, just rattle off the numbers I give each scenario, with your comments on it. You are, of course, free to ignore or reply to as many or as few as you want of the scenarios.

How satisfied will you be if:

1) Brandon Wood OPSs in the .735-.760 range with a 3.5AB:K ratio, in about 400 plate appearances?

2) Scott Kazmir pitches 160 innings of 4.10ERA baseball?

3) Ervin Santana makes 26 starts with a 4.50ERA?

4) Hideki Matsui essentially replicates Juan Rivera's 2009 numbers (.287/.332/.478)

5) We are forced to use nine starters on the year.

6) Kendry Morales' stat line is .281/.345/.505.

7) Howie Kendrick gets 500 plate appearances, fails to increase his walks, and bats exactly .300 with 15/15 HR/SB.

8) Torii Hunter hits his career averages, OPSing almost exactly .800.

9) Erick Aybar maintains the glove, but drops to .290/.335/.410

10) Reggie Willits and Robb Quinlan each see 150 plate appearances

11) Jeff Mathis continues to platoon regularly with Mike Napoli

and

12) The Angels are tied for first on September 15th.

This time with an actual, reliable source attached to it:

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=19676

Mike Francesa just reported on WFAN the Mets have signed Jason Bay pending a physical this weekend. He also said Bengie Molina is holding to his three year contract demands.

I find this strange that Francesa has this type of confidence and Ken Rosenthal, Jon Heyman, or another writer didn’t have it first.

Also to note, Matt Cerrone reported that people close to Bay say the outfielder is prepared to sign a 4 year deal with an average annual value around $16.5 million.

If this is true the Mets got the bat they needed at a reasonable price, especially if they didn’t have to go for a fifth year.

If this is true, the Mets probably really did get something of a steal. They don't need to add a fifth year, and they already lost a fair chunk of payroll in this offseason, so they'd still have room to do some other signings. Jason can't be too happy, though.

Credit due to Tony of MLBTR.com's comments sections for apparently being the second cousin twice removed of Jason Bay's father in law.

In the spirit of good sportsmanship, I just wanted to send out a big congratulations for the hard fought victory tonight. It was a long, grueling series to cap an eventful season, and I want to pay my respects to that.

So without further ado, my heartfelt congratulations to the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Florida Marlins, Yomiuri Giants, and Oakland Athletics on their big ALCS win tonight. Without your selfless sacrificing, inability to sign lucrative enough deals, and tireless scouting efforts to harvest the finest talents in the world, this victory would not have been possible. The New York Yankees are forever in your gratitude for doing the real leg work that they have been so incapable of for a decade, so that you may be cast into their shadow for yet another season.

Congratulations again...and here's to another decade of being the REAL talent and brains of baseball. Don't forget to spend that $3 million that'll trickle down to you from the luxury tax so you can sign Scott Schoenweis to a one year deal to restore competitive balance.

Go Phillies. I'll be rooting for you to crush Wal-Mart the Yankees.

On the play with Cano and Posada, I thought Cano was on the base. I was waiting for two players to be on the base, and when there was never the situation where both of them were on the base at the same time. When he tagged Cano, I thought Cano was on the base, and when Jorge touched the base and continued and tagged Posada out, I thought Posada was out.

That's right, folks. You heard it straight for the horse's mouth. He made the call because it was the outcome he was 'waiting' to have happen. He didn't actually pay attention to what happened in the play itself. Instead, he ANTICIPATED a certain outcome as probably happening, and ruled accordingly. Never mind actually verifying a play happened one way or another, you can just ANTICIPATE it happening.

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via www.blogcdn.com

Second-degree murder charges await Andrew Thomas Gallo in the death of Nick Adenhart, Henry Pearson, and Courtney Stewart. In addition, he faces charges of DUI causing injury, one count of driving over the limit with injury, and fleeing the scene of a crime causing injury. The combined maximum he faces is up to 55 years to life in prison. This directly from the Orange County District Attorney's office, announced today at 2:30pm in a press conference.  The District Attorney stated that Gallo's actions carried an implied malice necessary for the charge and that his BAC was three times the legal limit.

Oh, and as a fun little aside, the D.A. also said that he tried to flee a SECOND time after police had tracked him down and cornered him.  Little fuckhead really put up quite the struggle to not have to answer for his recklessnes.  Since he was caught, nothing makes me happier than the fact he tried to flee, since it only makes it more certain he's going down hard.

Angels infielder Brandon Wood was demoted to the minor leagues today.

Brandon Wood has been raking all spring, his K-rate is down from where it was before, and he's done everything a man possibly can to earn a spot.  I get that we've got other guys on the depth chart, but this is probably still the top "prospect" (I use the term loosely on our team) in our organization, he's not getting any younger, and he's proven his talent now at every minor league level.  The man has nothing more to prove at this point and, if I wanted to cherry pick, he was just beginning to get into the swing of things toward the end of last season with the big club.

Look, Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar are all fine, and I want to see them get playing time, too.  But I just don't see any reason at this point to continue to delay the inevitable by continuing to steam ahead with a self-created logjam that is going to keep the current situation the same until something is done about it.  Sure, there's no room for Wood right now in an everyday role.  But if Aybar and Figgins are going to be long-term pieces (and I think one of them should not be), then that logjam is going to be around until someone acts on it.  And in the meantime, our (potentially) power-lacking club could use a contributor like Wood who is, might I add, quite the defender, as well.

The man has earned his shot, and it's not fair to him to leave him sitting in the minors for so long while management sits on its hands and lets his potentially best years go to waste behind two players with considerably less offensive upside.  I love both Aybar and Figgins, but the jam-up on the left side of the infield (nevermind Maicer Izturis) is not worth the delay in getting him in front of major league pitching, in my opinion.

Or who knows, maybe I'm just insane and bitter and my man crush got the best of me.

Just in case you weren't sure that the evil empire was back in full swing, they've now put $243.5 million into TWO pitchers in the span of three days this offseason.

And just in case you thought they had learned their lesson their first time when the signed an injury prone former Marlin, they did not.  This time, it's A.J. Burnett.

And just in case you thought they'd go cheap and short term to minimize risk, they didn't  It's worth $16.5 million a year for FIVE years.

And just in case you thought they learned that rebuilding by throwing money at problems wasn't the way to go...they definitely didn't.

Congrats, morons.

edit: Yes, I know Burnett is better than Pavano, so no need to quote stats.  It's all about the money here, folks.  It's insane.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3700869

Now usually there's no reason in the world for us to much care that the Yanks are making a trade for someone like Swisher to begin with.  However, considering that he is still a starting player, still has power, and is a FIRST BASEMAN by trade, and is young and relatively cheap, one has to wonder: does this mean that the Yankees have gone out and shored up their corner infield for cheap in order to bolster an offer for Sabathia?  And does this invariably mean that our biggest competition for Teixeira is suddenly...gone?

What do you think?

I'm sure this has been done at some point before, and I just haven't noticed or whatever, but here we go again I guess.

The season is over, but the offseason hasn't started yet, so i thought it would be a good time to bring up the topic.  We all talk to each other on a daily basis, interacting for more than three years in some cases (I think?)  And while we've all seen pictures of assorted big-shots here (Rev and Cupie come to mind), I thought it'd be a good idea if some of us could finally but faces to the posts.  In a sense, you've all had that for me since the new HH design was launched merely by that little hand-drawn avatar, but I'll go ahead and start us off.

For the sake of keeping this page loading at a decent clip, let's stick to posting links, plz.  Here I am last summer: http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/skelley9/54d098ef.jpg?t=1223713398

Or, more recently: http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v208/188/15/8200459/n8200459_36842204_3348.jpg

YOUR TURN

this is the way to do it:

- K-Rod signed his walking papers.  He's more done than Glavine in New York.  And we have Jose right behind him ready to take over.  So we free up millions, and get rid of the guy.

-Teixeira has proven he's worth whatever he wants.  With the money not going to K-Rod, give this man his contract.  Everything I have heard says that he likes this team and playing in California.  Do NOT let him go.

With that offense, and Escobar coming back...well, we'll be sitting pretty in '09.

Also, as a token of my appreciation to you guys, I went and got myself banned (temporarily) from a message board that I have been at for more than 5 years after I flipped out on the Red Sox fan who runs the place, even though we got along until now.  Fuck that entire region of the country.

The Red Sox jumped out to an early 10-0 lead tonight with a 10-spot in the first inning.  We are currently in inning number 7.

The score?  16-14, Rangers.

Anyone watching this game?  It may be the single most hilarious thing I have seen in a long, long time...and epically "karma" induced.  I can't think of a team that would be more hilarious to watch this happen to than our beloved Red Sox.  Discuss.

With the recent allegations against the NBA from Tim Donaghy regarding the rigging of certain key games, the sport is facing a new level of scrutiny from the public, and possibly more FBI investigation.

With this in mind, in conjunction with baseball's never-ending steroid saga (Bonds' day in court last week), and the constant stories pouring out of the NFL of so-and-so doing something highly illegal or stupid (Pacman Jones, Michael Vick, Cedric Benson, etc., etc.), I'm just curious to find the opinions of this community on the scandals.  Which do you find to be the most troubling or problematic?  Which sport, regardless of pundit-talk and media attention, do you think should be facing the most ridicule in the court of public opinion for its misconduct in the last decade (or more recently)?  Why?

We're two months into the season that Reagins helped build, so I wanted to reflect on what has transpired so far.  While it is obvious that the team is in great shape record-wise (2nd in baseball behind Chicago), it seems more important to see what role his major moves (or non-moves) have played in that.

First up is Jon Garland for Orlando Cabrera.

Garland: 6-3, 3.87, 8/13 in quality starts.

Cabrera: .263/.316/.340, 9SBs

This seems like a pretty easy pick.  Cabrera's unsightly .656OPS is actually a great improvement over what it was mere weeks ago, when it was sub-.600.  Meanwhile, Garland has been solid, if unspectacular in giving us quality starts and #3-starter type number.  His low-K total is negligible in the face of his ability to eat through valuable innings (averaging about 6.5 per start).

Next: Torii Hunter: .268/.335/.442, 7HR, 29RBIs, 8SBs

Hunter has been a bit inconsistent so far, but his numbers are right about on-par with what we were to expect from him at the start of the season.  He has provided the defense we all knew he would give us, and provided decent pop at the plate, along with a handful of timely hits.  He's also swiping bags at a pretty decent clip.

And finally, the trade that wasn't: Miguel Cabrera for about a billion different people.

Cabrera: .274/.352/.451, 8HR, 36RBIs

Miguel was the subject of a billion trade rumors with the Angels this offseason, involving names like Ervin Santana (8-2, 3.01), Joe Saunders (9-2, 2.63), Howie Kendrick (.338 in limited time), and several others.  His numbers thus far this season are eerily similar to the production (and far better glove, mind you) that we have begun to receive from our free agent signing of Torii Hunter thus far.  With the price tag of Miguel's new contract, we're not even losing significantly more money by having Torii instead of Miguel...to this point.  Of course, Miguel stands to improve on his current level of play, and into the future, but for the time being, the contributions we have received from the players we stood to lose in the trade are simply impossible to offset by one offensive player, even if Cabrera was playing to his absolute ceiling.  It seems indisputable that, thus far, Reagins absolutely made the right move in backing out of this trade.  We're a better team for it.

Just as we are thus far a better team for all of his offseason dealing.