A buddy of mine helps produce the web TV show "Complete Control", where they interview a comedian and a musician or other member of the punk rock scene each week. The comic they had for the most recent episode was a guy named Jay Larson, who also happens to be a Red Sox fan.

Trash talk on the Angels begins around 24:30, before Larson is put in his place by an all-knowing voice from off stage. We don't take no mess!

Abreu for Lannan for realzies.

It would be a way for both teams to get rid of disgruntled players. Lannan is only owed $5 mil, is a lefty and would provide some more depth for our rotation. I hope JeDi senses this.

The new, expanded round of the tournament will feature 12 new countries, plus the four winless ones from the '09 WBC. Good to see the game growing!

The Admiral is setting his trap at five years.

It appears our little competition with the Rangers has started a trend. $75 million per year for the Padres? I bet they wish they'd held on to Adrian a little longer.

I am sometimes surprised by what I come across in my daily scouring of the interwebz. I had no idea this was going on, or that baseball was even played in Uganda. That's good for the future of the game, but it would be even better if these kids had been allowed to make some history.

Kudos to the Canadian team and Jimmy Rollins for trying to make amends.

Bud will remain MLB commissioner for at least two more years. Wildcards and replay everywhere.

This article is a few months old, but 100% accurate in my opinion.

I read earlier that this might be happening and now the man himself and one of his agents have confirmed it. If CJ signs with Miami, it looks like we have another option. Should be a fun weekend at the very least.

And not once, but twice? I wasn't previously aware that the Korean Baseball Organization had a posting system, but apparently it works just like the one between MLB and NPB in Japan.

I don't know too much about Suk-min Yoon or Hyun-Jin Ryu, but the info provided by Passan seems to indicate both are at least worth a look.

EDIT: Here's an article about Yoon before a start he won 10-2 in the last WBC and some video of him.

Well, that was fast. CJ Wilson just became the top pitcher on the market.

Some early hot stove fuel from one of the biggest suppliers.

Dipoto is the Senior VP of Scouting and Player Development for the Diamondbacks. Oppenheimer is the Scouting Director for the Yankees.

Interesting contrast here between the responses from Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. Have a nice laugh!

Wada is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Softbank Hawks. He ranks third in FIP among NPB starters this year behind Yu Know Who and another rising star by the name of Masahiro Tanaka. He is 30, and tops out around 91 MPH, but has a very deceptive delivery and decent secondary pitches. He recently qualified for free agency, so he won't require a posting fee.

Given the thin SP market this winter, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we see an increase in the number of imported players. Wada is the third Japanese starter the Angels have scouted this year, as far as I know.

EDIT: Here is a brief video compilation of him retiring batters.

MLB has released its master schedule for next season. Our season begins on April 6th at home. Hopefully there is a pennant or ring ceremony involved.

An interesting analysis of the popular sabermetric statistic.

Note: I stole this from LSB. How's that for foreshadowing?

A city near Amsterdam is bidding to host some regular season games in 2014 at a stadium that will be capable of seating 30,000 people when finished. The proposal seems to have a pretty good shot at getting approved.

Those of you in Europe might get some MLB action close to home fairly soon(ish)!

Arte's embattled American real estate-mogul neighbor to the north may be about to receive a bailout from the founder of the LA Marathon and some Chinese state-owned investment firms, among others.

If Arte has any further plans to take advantage of the Dodgers' troubles, his window of opportunity seems to be closing.

CBS Sports seems to have a lot of Angels news today. I don't see Aybar for Reyes as any great improvement, so I'm glad that got turned down. Maybe that's just me, though.

The front office has had discussions about Cuddyer and Aramis Ramirez. The Twins appear likely to keep Cuddyer while Aramis seems content being a bat-tease.

The Angels were one of nine teams to have scouts in attendance for his latest start. Coincidentally, he was facing the Golden Eagles, whose ace the Angels also scouted recently.

For the record, Darvish went the distance, picking up a 3-1 victory with 9 Ks, 4 hits and a walk. Box score here.

The Angels were among 4 teams to scout Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma's last rehab start. You may recall that he failed to reach an agreement with the A's last winter after they won his rights via the posting system. He was also featured in my rundown of NPB prospects at the time. He is back pitching with NPB's Rakuten Golden Eagles this season and has full free agency rights this winter (meaning no posting fee this time).

He is a forkballer and many expected him to fill a mid- or back-end rotation spot for Oakland. My guess is the Angels are scouting him for a similar role in 2012 and beyond.

This high level of interest by our direct rivals is somewhat alarming. Hopefully the Angels have someone keeping tabs as well; this stat line is unreal. I would hate to see the usurpers acquire him.