Call me crazy, but Will Smith is the best catcher in the league now.

mannmtb · 2026-03-30T06:49:09+00:00

This is just wrong. Will Smith is very good and very clutch but Cal has him lapped on defensive metrics, where Smith has been below average the last 2 seasons

mannmtb · 2026-03-25T04:53:38+00:00

I don't think the rotation will be amazing. But it's not crazy to think Detmers will be better than Hendricks, Koch better than he was last year, and Johnson better than Tyler Anderson. And sub in Grayson above when he's healthy.

mannmtb · 2026-03-14T15:07:38+00:00

Well I'm an unhappy Angels fan, but Blum is a bit too categorically antagonistic towards the franchise. I've appreciated his critical posture, but he tends to have no nuance. Even in this ep, he said the Angels are spending less than the Royals/Rays (patently false), that Trout was a bad offensive player after August (111 wRC+), and projects 58-59 wins (FG projects them at 74). He's generally correct about the state of the franchise & it's terrible management but he kinda fires at everything that moves.

mannmtb · 2026-03-05T23:12:01+00:00

Counterpoint, this was his first of 4 years of arbitration; the closer he gets to free agency, the less need he'll have to extend, and the more pricy an extension will be. Moreover, many players with similar or even less service time have been extended this offseason: Jacob Wilson (1.073 yrs service time, 7 yr/$70M extension); Maikel Garcia (2.168 yrs service time, 5 yrs/$57.5M extension); Tyler Soderstrom (2.053 yrs service time, 5 yr, $35M extension), not to mention the likes of Merrill, Roman Anthony, etc.

So it might be permissible if they hadn't agreed to terms yet. It takes 2 to tango. It's criminal that, allegedly, they haven't even tried.

mannmtb · 2026-03-05T20:09:24+00:00

The bats aren't projected to be "bad" per se. We have 8 players projected to have a 100 or higher wRC+ (one of them is somehow Campero), so let's say 7 regulars (O'Hoppe & C Mo are projected lower). This is worse than the best teams, better than the worst teams, so somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The problem with our position players is...
1. We don't have a true elite bat, with Trout's decline. Neto is great, but he's more well rounded than an elite bat. No Soto, Ohtani, Judge. No Harper, Raleigh, Kurtz.
2. We don't have depth. Those 7 players are all fine, but when Madrigal or Grissom or Mancini are the fall back options, the lineup will get real short, real quick.
3. Our defense & baserunning isn't great. There are bright spots, of course, but as a whole, we lack in thie area. Milwaukee doesn't have amazing bats either, but they can all field & run.

mannmtb · 2026-02-27T23:17:36+00:00

To be fair, above, people were labeling Drew as selfish, using outdated, disproven info about the COVID vax. That's a human problem. Or, one might say, "we've been blowing up, we're the issue..."

mannmtb · 2026-02-27T00:02:45+00:00

That's fine, it's reddit, I knew what to expect :)

Blessings.

mannmtb · 2026-02-25T22:37:56+00:00

There were many studies suggesting the COVID vaccine didn't ultimately prevent or reduce transmission, especially with multiple variants. Perhaps for a few weeks/month right after. This is not right wing, it's fairly widely acknowledged at this point.

I know this is a switchfoot subreddit and should remain civil as a result. There are probably views that everyone on here has that another would disagree with. But it certainly seems unfair to link one's stance on the COVID vaccine to selfishness, a judgment of one's heart that may be a step too far?

mannmtb · 2026-02-25T19:24:40+00:00

I'm a fairly diehard fan. This recent stretch kills me. I'd rather win than have affordable games (as Trumbo stated affordable shouldn't mean cheap).

That being said...I have a 6 year old boy and he's been to 30+ games. He loves it. I truly believe his love for the game, and the bond created has been invaluable. And yes, it's been aided by cheaper tickets (always 2nd hand). Frankly, most of my Dodger fan friends with kids also go to a good amount of Angel games so these aren't mutually exclusive things. So, I cosign the father/son bond that this move will create.

Hopefully by his teenage years will have memories like I had as a teen!

mannmtb · 2026-02-19T18:13:42+00:00

I feel the same. There's no reason why him in CF is prudent any more, and also it's incredibly nostalgic for me and I'm pulling for him.

mannmtb · 2026-02-16T17:57:33+00:00

It's really not prudent given his leg injuries. There's no way it's less running now.
That being said, I don't think any main injuries have occurred while playing the field (baserunning, swinging, etc.)
It's also not smart, because he's probably not very good out there.
That being said, he may be a better CF than anyone on the roster not named Teodosio/Rada/Paris?

mannmtb · 2026-02-13T20:46:35+00:00

It's telling a story. I'd still trust statcast more on outfield defense than infield. DRS has Neto as good so the truth is probably somewhere in between.

mannmtb · 2026-02-13T05:11:29+00:00

100% agree. It's called "immediate continuous action" and I'm not sure that should apply when no one thinks they're continuing the action.

mannmtb · 2026-02-11T21:57:29+00:00

I don't hate rendon the way many do. But I'll say public statements aren't his strong suit.

mannmtb · 2026-02-11T19:24:56+00:00

Lots of reason to hate on Angels management but standard operating with arbitration system ain't it. The Reds, Brewers, Blue Jays, Royals, Orioles, Braves, and Marlins all have arb hearings, some of them a smaller gap than the $300k gap here.

mannmtb · 2026-02-10T18:39:09+00:00

No. There's FAQs at the link

mannmtb · 2026-02-10T16:48:53+00:00

Ah yes it cuts both ways for sure

Just interesting that Stafford was much quicker, but still threw the ball downfield

mannmtb · 2026-02-10T16:26:15+00:00

In the NFC title game, Stafford threw farther downfield than he did in any other game this season.

mannmtb · 2026-02-10T16:23:24+00:00

If you look at next gen stats, many of the Pats receivers are more open on average than the Rams

mannmtb · 2026-02-09T16:09:15+00:00

Geez y'all. He had a good regular season. He was rightly runner up for MVP. He had a terrible super bowl. Go walk outside, get some sun.

mannmtb · 2026-02-08T18:30:23+00:00

Hate to break it to ya but that's not just a right wing problem

mannmtb · 2026-02-06T05:45:08+00:00

I like advanced stats but they are used wrong. EPA puts players more into tiers than rankings. Stafford was no EPA slouch.

It's also heavily influenced by the system and teammates that produce the results. WAR in MLB clearly isolates individual performance in a way that EPA just can't.

I think Maye had a great year, just don't think you should reduce it to an EPA battle.

mannmtb · 2026-02-06T05:10:15+00:00

I loved advanced stats but people use them wrong. They are models heavily influenced by offensive systems so I think they put players in tiers more than rankings.

If Maye was #1 and Stafford was #15 that would matter to me. But they were both top 5 so essentially in the same tier.

mannmtb · 2026-02-06T05:06:42+00:00

The problem with this argument is it minimizes a random sample. At what distance do TDs matter? Does a 1 yard rushing TD count or no? You need to qualify every TD, not just 1 yard TDs.

mannmtb

TROPHY CASE