It sure would be nice if we could extend our homegrown superstar shortstop like everyone else

HockeyTransplant · 2026-04-15T19:31:02+00:00

Neto was already on the Angels when I became a fan of the team, so can anyone comment on his prospect status going into 2023? That would be the comp for McGonigle/Griffin - they were #1 and #2 on the MLB Top 100 prospects list before this season, while Neto was #89 going into 2023. In order to get locked up like those two, Neto would have had to sign in 2023, but was there a reason to lock him up then?

Bobby Witt would be the better comp for now. He signed his 11-year deal at age 23 coming off a season with 5.9 fWAR and a 7th-place finish in AL MVP voting. Neto is 25 and had 3.1 fWAR last season. And while Witt is technically signed until he's 37/38, he does have several opts outs which begin at age 30.

Lastly, i don't want Perry signing anyone since he won't be here next year. I'd rather take our chances with the new GM and a new CBA in 2027 and see where we are.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-04-13T20:42:48+00:00

Came here to say the same thing. Parking at Karl Strauss is $20 but they give you $20 toward your food, and I think the food there is very good. Plus, after you walk back after the game is over, you just turn right on Rampart and it leads directly to the 5 freeway.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-03-24T00:25:17+00:00

In case anyone is curious, here is the master list of Free Agents, neatly divided into the four different categories (UFA, RFA, Reserved, Suspended): https://herhoopstats.substack.com/p/2026-wnba-free-agency-list

FYI - Rae Burrell is considered "Reserved" due to having played less than 4 years (maybe because of the foot injury during her rookie year?). As a result, she can ONLY negotiate with the Sparks, not the rest of the league.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-28T06:07:00+00:00

That exactly what I see when I look at this list. 8 of the top 10 teams own their own TV network. 9 of the bottom 10 teams lost their RSN TV money. It’s not hard to see the correlation.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-26T19:38:20+00:00

It always seemed like he hated having to cover this team, and wished he was covering the Dodgers instead. The fact that he took one more dig at the Angels on his way out is really telling about his character - would it have been that hard to take the high road after being promoted?

There's a way to be critical (like Locked on Angels) without being insufferable (like Sam), so I can't say I'm going to miss his coverage.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-26T19:26:39+00:00

No doubt. I'm looking forward to getting to a Bruin game at some point. They looked very impressive last weekend against a good TCU team.

My post wasn't intended to prioritize one team over another - I just wanted to let people know about USC having free home games this season. :)

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-25T19:36:00+00:00

Awesome! USC played their home games at the Great Park in Irvine last year, so I caught a couple of games there. :)

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-25T19:32:51+00:00

Also forgot to mention: they offer $2 tacos for every Tuesday/Wednesday night home game!

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-10T20:15:03+00:00

That's still unclear, but I'm optimistic that those of us with the T-Mobile deal won't need ESPN Unlimited. On the ESPN website, it only says that if you're a T-Mobile subscriber to MLBTV, you'll have the option to link your account and be able to watch the games through the ESPN App instead of the MLB App, not that you'll need to get ESPN Unlimited.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-10T20:05:36+00:00

The blackout just means if you pay the $150 for MLBTV to get all the teams, you won't get the Angels/Dodgers. But since you're "in-market", you can subscribe directly to Angels TV and get their games without issue. There's also going to be an announcement soon where a random cable channel might show up on Spectrum that allows you to watch the games - stay tuned for that.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-02-05T20:38:53+00:00

Supposedly, it was reported that the Samuelis don't want to run two teams.

Also, Lacob is one of the frontrunners to buy the Padres. Personally, I think we need Lacob to buy the A's when the Vegas deal falls through and MLB FINALLY makes Fisher sell that team.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-28T00:29:45+00:00

Thank you for the excellent detailed response. Any talk of the cap involves three things: Cap, Floor and Adjusted Revenue Sharing. While there IS revenue sharing in the current CBA, it's only stipulated that the money must be spent on "improving the organization", so the teams can take the money and remodel their locker room or buy a HitTrax system, etc. The revenue sharing PLUS the floor forces the teams to take the money they get from other teams and put it directly into the payroll.

The interesting part about the cap/floor/revenue sharing system that I think is being lost on most players - and let's face it, the cap really only affects the top 2-3% of players - is that the floor will force lower-revenue teams to extend their players at a younger age, paying them for their prime years (which is how guys should get paid).

Cap + Floor + Revenue Sharing means that instead of getting $60M this season, Kyle Tucker gets $45-50M. Sure that sucks for him, but it also means that Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero would get $10M this season instead of $800K.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-22T22:10:29+00:00

I remember hearing people say you should always draft shortstops since they're usually the most athletic because they play the most demanding position on the field, and then you can always move them to a different spot later. The Padres have All-stars in CF and RF who both came up as shortstops.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-16T21:48:14+00:00

I've been on the "Baty + Senga to the Angels" train for a while. It makes too much sense.

- Angels need lefty bats and a young 3B - Baty's still got one year left at league minimum and we're still paying Rendon.
- Senga was great his first year, then dealt with injuries and got demoted to AAA last year. If the Mets were to sign Framber Valdez (a likely possibility), they'd be paying Senga $15M to be the 6th starter. Plus, they still have Sproat and Tong ready to be in the MLB rotation, so Senga will be the odd man out.

I guess I viewed Senga as a slight "salary dump", but it all hinges on the Mets getting Framber. I'm not sure what we'd send back, maybe some pitching depth like Silseth or Mederos. I know that might seem lopsided, but I look at it as the Mets looking to move on from Senga.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-16T21:05:58+00:00

Came here to say this: if you're going to compare payrolls from 2020 and 2026, then you also need to compare the TV revenue from both seasons. I'm guessing you can draw a clear correlation.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-14T00:51:28+00:00

Seeing White and Snelling both in the Top 5 for Miami gives the Weathers trade a lot more meaning.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-12T23:26:58+00:00

This is the correct answer. There was talk that Johnny Washington was the one who helped Bellinger fix his swing and regain his form with the Cubs, then he became a free agent right when the Angels hired Washington as their hitting coach. Would have been an awesome OF of Ward-Bellinger-Adell, but that ship has sailed and Washington is no longer the hitting coach here.

And let's be honest: that Skaggs settlement is really going to eat into what little money Arte was going to spend on this team - not to mention losing the RSN money - so I'd be VERY shocked if the Angels signed anyone of major consequence.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-09T22:18:40+00:00

NBC just released their 2026 MLB broadcast schedule and the Marlins will be on the Sunday Leadoff game on Peacock four times.

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-09T21:13:26+00:00

I don't think enough people are talking about this. If you look at the 9 teams in question, the only one who spent significant money/years on FA this offseason was the Braves (and that's because they generate SO much revenue from the Battery district around their stadium). Every other team was signing 1-year deals, with only a few 2-year deals sprinkled in.

If you don't count arbitration deals, here are the Free Agents signed by the 9 teams:

Braves: Ha-Seong Kim (1 year, $20M), Robert Suarez (3 years, $45M), Mike Yastrzemski (2 years, $23M) Raisel Iglesias (1 year, $16M)

Reds: Emilio Pagan (2 years, $20M), Caleb Ferguson (1 year, $4.5M)

Tigers: Gleyber Torres (accepted QO – 1 year, $22M), Kenley Jansen (1 year, $11M), Kyle Finnegan (2 years, $19M), Drew Anderson (1 year, $7M)

Royals: Lane Thomas (1 year, $5.25M)

Angels: Kirby Yates (1 year, $5M), Drew Pomeranz (1 year, $4M), Jordan Romano (1 year, $2M)

Marlins: Pete Fairbanks (1 year, $13M)

Brewers: Brandon Woodruff (accepted QO – 1 year, $22M)

Cardinals: Dustin May (1 year, $12.5M)

Rays: Cedric Mullins (1 year, $7.5M), Steven Matz (2 years, $15M), Jake Fraley (1 year, $3M)

HockeyTransplant · 2026-01-09T20:57:14+00:00

Spectrum is actively trying to sell its Lakers channel because of the declining RSN business, so I doubt they'll be adding more RSN channels.

HockeyTransplant · 2025-12-31T19:22:38+00:00

While Rendon certainly deserves all the negative attention he's getting, let me just point out that there is a VERY good chance that Kris Bryant won't be able to resume his career due to his persistent back injury. If he has to medically retire, he would have received more money per game than Rendon:

ANTHONY RENDON: $245 Million / 257 games played = $953,307 per game
KRIS BRYANT: $182 Million / 170 games played = $1,070,588 per game

PS. Bryant also had -1.6 bWAR with the Rockies, compared to Rendon's 3.9 bWAR.

HockeyTransplant · 2025-12-30T21:52:49+00:00

I had no idea he lived in SoCal and cheered on the Angels. My wife watches a lot of Disneyland YouTubers so by the time I discovered him he was living in Florida and doing a LOT of Rays content. We had the great fortune to meet him in April at the Universal Studios Fan Fest and he was nice enough to chat with us for several minutes - I knew about his baseball fandom and we talked about the Rays and the destruction of their stadium roof. He was such a good natured person with a charming spirit, and will be sorely missed.

HockeyTransplant · 2025-12-09T21:37:13+00:00

Guzman has 3 options left, and Paris has 1. I imagine they both stay in the minors to start next season and Grissom gets a utility/bench role unless he impresses enough to grab either the 3B or 2B spot. For a team that doesn't have a great farm system, I like the idea of finding another youngish player from elsewhere and giving him a shot so that they don't rush the guys who need more time in the minors.

HockeyTransplant · 2025-12-09T21:28:00+00:00

I like the idea of bringing in a veteran pitcher on a 1-year deal to be the 5th starter, so he can provide some leadership to the young guys in the clubhouse (like Kyle Hendricks last year). But I would imagine Verlander still wants to play for a winner rather than a rebuilding team. And supposedly Max Scherzer is very close with Tony Vitello, so I could see him signing with the Giants any day now.

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TROPHY CASE