That's the sports conglomerate that owns the Staples Center, the Kings, and part of the Lakers, with major plans to redevelop downtown LA to accommodate, among other things, a pro football team. Arte's angle is uncertain, but smart money says he might exercise his opt-out clause on the Angel Stadium lease and move the team to a new downtown facility in 2016.

New strategy, as of tonight. Unfortunately, Mike is still benching Bourjos instead of Wells.

Apparently it's been bothering him for several years, but it hasn't slowed him down yet. Still, Bourjos thinks he'll probably need surgery as soon as the season is over. Let's hope he makes it, although it worries me that we're already hearing about this in February.

Just in case you were wondering with all the news going on, MLB didn't go dark today because the Commissioner's Office has pumped about $1.5 million into congressional lobbying and campaign financing over the last two election cycles, with the distribution titled toward legislators friendly to the unpopular legislation. MLB is also listed as one of SOPA/PIPA's official supporters.

Angels Baseball has not made any publicly disclosed contributions to an elected federal official, although Arte recently gave $2,500 each to Mitt Romney and Matt Salmon, a Republican candidate for Arizona's 6th. He probably spent more lobbying CJ Wilson's agent.

Amusing rumors du jour: Jerry Dipoto has invited the future Most Overpaid Pitcher In Baseball over to his house for hot chocolate, ghost stories, and Monty Python's Life of Brian. Also, Jerry says "Kuroda is cool."

Catchers are sort of the final frontier for defensive metrics, but some interesting results have come out in the last year or so. Today Bojan Koprivica at The Hardball Times went Isaac Newton on the problem of pitch-blocking. In summary, it looks like an actual skill, and over the course of a full season, someone who is really good at might win an entire game more than someone who isn't. This could be a final move toward overall scores for catcher defense, some of which the article breaks down by components.

I'm sure what everyone most wants to know is what this will do for Jeff Mathis's case for a Gold Glove. Well, he comes out at as just about average: 23rd out of 60 qualifying players over the last four years. Although better than previously believed, the metrics suggest that in exchange for tolerating his miserable bat, Mathis has rewarded the Angels with all of two runs better than the average defensive catcher, and six runs better than Mike Napoli.

That's spread out over nearly 650 games. Considering that Napoli has been almost 150 runs better with the stick during the same time, Mike Scioscia and the astroCERAlogists are still off by a factor of 25.

Bill Shaikin thinks so, but we've known for awhile that the Angels have had ongoing discussions with Fox over the last few years. This article seems less like a scoop than a dagger aimed at Frank McCourt's corrupt bargain.

We already produce discussions about Mike Napoli in bulk supply, but this article is a chance to observe a common theme in sports journalism. Remember when Napoli was a "clubhouse cancer" with a "poor work ethic", a "choker" and "defensive liability"? Suddenly after one monstrous season and two clutch playoff games, he's praised as a hard worker, an ideal teammate, a complete player, and a big-time performer.

Did the man really change, or just the stories people tell about him? And these stories just happened to change right along with his Triple Crown stats (AVG, HR, RBI). In the moralistic jargon of professional sportswriting, being a successful player is the same as being a good person. Too bad Lyle Spencer's heart has always belonged to Jeff Mathis.

Update. No sooner had I typed this, a further case in point:

LyleMSpencer
The value of a strong, supportive nuclear family in evidence with the Uptons. #Rays#Diamondbacks

Tony promises to be "creative" and "aggressive" by "not going to sit back and let things come." More likely that means trading Aybar and/or Kendrick for pitching, or playing Trumbo at 3B, than pursuing a major free agent, according to Mike D. Unsurprisingly, Scioscia actually has more to say about offseason plans than Reagins.

After calling Napoli's second homer of the night, Rangers' play-by-play announcer Dave Barnett became the first man with a microphone to actually question Mike Scioscia. Old-timey baseball fratboy and ex-terrible-GM-turned-color-commentator Tom Grieve shut him up and then shut it down. Awkward...

MLB worries that yesterday's announcement might be just a "show bid" to up the buy-in price for minority investors. Someone should write up the McCourt saga as a coloring book to teach young children the cruel realities of the global financial system.

Supposedly it's for the "playoff experience," although he also says there's not much difference in the quality of the pitching between the two levels. Do you buy it outright, or is it just code for suspicions about the PCL?

The Rangers' pen suddenly looks a lot better than it did 48 hours ago. Adams has quietly outperformed Heath Bell this season, but it took a lot to get him: Robbie Erlin and Joe Wieland, two starting pitchers who would probably rank among the Angels' top prospects.

Will Tony counter with a Heath Bell booby-prize? Less than eight hours left! The trade deadline actually passed at 1 PM Pacific.

In exchange for Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter. Uehara is really good, and he'll go a long way toward addressing the Rangers' only serious weakness: their bullpen. This is a pretty high price to pay for a freaking reliever, though, and it might even benefit the Angels in the long term.

The Rangers are still rumored to be looking for another arm. Tony, your move. Don't screw it up this time.

Hacking in the opposite direction, Mark is picking up the "cruel tutelage of Mike Scioscia" banner. I'd watch a Whicker vs. Spencer bout on pay-per-view, but I'd also watch two feral cats fight in my backyard.

"Difficult to judge; the consensus in baseball is that the actual power with the Angels rests with manager Mike Scioscia and owner Arte Moreno...But how much is Reagins actually to blame?"

Apparently even a well-connected rumormonger like Rosenthal doesn't have a mouse inside the reclusive Angels front office. He's probably just guessing, but who can say if truth precedes reporting or reporting precedes truth in the realm of professional sports journalism?

Those who watched the game tonight saw Alberto Callaspo come up lame after stealing second base. We don't know how bad it is yet, but the injury is a pulled left hamstring, which usually means several weeks on the disabled list. I never thought I'd have to mention that Alberto Callaspo is statistically the fifth-best hitter on the team.

The words don't sound like much on their own, but the LA Times reports that Mike Scioscia's "voice filled with ire" the "longer the postgame interview went on." I edited the tirade for content, without changing its general meaning:

"We need to [cliché], to [cliché] and [cliché]. This has gone far too long. We need to [cliché]...It doesn't matter if we have Salt Lake coming in, Altoona coming in, or Orem coming in; we've got to [cliché], that's the bottom line. These guys are better players than this."

I'm afraid that's where he's wrong.

Good to know that someone out there owns both a press pass and a pair of cojones. This is the first article I've read in a long time to genuinely add insight into Scioscia's thinking and personality, with a healthy perspective on the nature of expertise. Full of win.

The Salt Lake Bees are only in the fourth inning against the Memphis Redbirds, but the book has been closed on Scott Kazmir for awhile now. His final line: 2 hits, 3 strikeouts, 4 walks, 1 hit batsman, and 6 earned runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched.

Guilty of obstructing justice, but the judge declared a mistrial on the three counts of perjury. He probably won't go to prison.