Tag: Arte Moreno

The Angels knew and now they have to pay

Tyler Skaggs – Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

The recent news that the Angels organization was aware that pitcher Tyler Skaggs was an opioid abuser and that they actually helped him acquire the drugs is an unforgivable act and obviously a crime. In my opinion this is many times worse than cheating, gambling, or hacking into another teams data.

The fact that the Angels knew what was going on and didn’t report it is inexcusable. In today’s business world harassment must be reported but in MLB apparently drug use is not only allowed but encouraged. Looking the other way is not acceptable, what happened to “if you see something, say something”? How did Skaggs get by with this? Where is the drug testing that MLB is so proud of? Do we need to test front office personnel too?

The Los Angeles Angels organization must be punished and longtime Angels PR official Eric Kay should be arrested and should be looking at serious jail time. But what kind of punishment should be applied to the Angels organization? No question Eric Kay should get a lifetime ban from MLB, but what about the others?

I think you start at the very top of the Angels food chain with owner Arte Moreno. The man has more money than he knows what to do with so a fine is not in play. If I am the the MLB commissioner I give owner Moreno a choice, either sell the team in the next 180 days or face a life-time suspension whereas he can’t even be seen at any Angels facility or provide any input into how the team is run for a minimum of two years at which point his case would come up for review. Team President Joe Carpino is also suspended for one season with no pay simply because this happened on his watch, the buck stops at the top. No excuses here!

That addresses some of the key individuals, but how about the team itself? They can’t go scot free in this ordeal. There has to be a severe punishment applied and there are not many ways to do this. You could fine the organization a ton of money but I don’t think a fine is the answer. As far as I know no MLB team has ever been banished from the playoffs but that is an option. Taking away draft choices is an option that has been used in the past. How about a imposing a salary cap on the Angels for a couple of years?

The team must be punished in some fashion to send a message to all of MLB but no matter how you look at it, Angels fans and players that are clean in this terrible situation are the big losers. None of the penalties that MLB will impose on the Los Angeles Angels will compare to the price paid by Tyler Skaggs who paid the ultimate price just to play a game. In the end, that is all baseball really is, a game.

Anther trip to Hammond Stadium

A little work is being done to the scoreboard.
A little work is being done to the scoreboard.

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours at Hammond Stadium this morning as the Twins pitchers and catchers continue going through their paces and prepare for the season ahead. I spent some time watching coach Terry Steinbach work with a bevy of catchers as they spent time practicing the “pitch out” and how best to get into the proper throwing position to get that runner before he reaches the next base. There was no goofing off, the players listened to every word and when Steinbach’s expectations were not met he wasted no time stopping the drill and pointing out the issue and how to correct it.

The hitters don’t report for a couple of days but the injuries and medical issues have already started. Jason Bartlett who is fighting to make the team sprained an ankle the other day that has slowed him down but he seems to be fighting through it. Matt Guerrier is coming off surgery and the team is limiting him on what he can throw and it sounds like he might not be game ready until the second week of March. Darin Mastroianni‘s ankle still is not 100% and he is not participating in any early drills but he told me the other day that he hopes to be ready to go in about 2 weeks. Pedro Florimon had an appendectomy earlier this week so he will be on the sidelines for 2-3 weeks. Minor league pitcher and spring training invitee Edgar Ibarra has been sidelined with Hepatitis B and is not participating in any drills until he recovers and of course we all know about the struggles GM Terry Ryan is fighting through.

Max Kepler
Max Kepler

I had a chance to spend a few minutes with Max Kepler today and he is looking good and enjoying everything about early spring training and is anxious for the hitters to report and for spring training to get officially underway. Sounds like Max is going to focus on the outfield more this year now that his arm injury is behind him. I was able to ask him a couple of questions and you can listen to them here.-

The improvements to the ballpark itself, primarily the new concourse that encircles the stadium is going gangbusters and by all reports it will be finished soon. When I first saw it earlier this month I thought they had no chance of getting it done in time for ST games. It still in not open to the public and workers are still busy with the finishing touches but it will be a very nice addition to the ballpark. The new agility field on what used to be part of the parking area is also nearing completion but I still don’t know what an agility field is. To me it looks like a fenced in pile of dirt with sod on it. But what do I know.

The complex is starting to get cleaned up a bit from all the construction debris and equipment and landscaping is taking place in various parts of the complex. It will be interesting to see how fans will react to the new parking lot that is located behind the softball fields and will either be a long walk to the ballpark or a shuttle ride. I wonder what the shuttles will be like?

What up with Anaheim owner Arte Moreno? He has a gold mine out there and he still isn’t happy. Sounds like he wants the right to develop 155 acres around Angel Stadium and he wants to pay $1 to lease the land for 66 years or he will start looking for a new stadium in another city. What a jerk, hope the city doesn’t let him get away with that crap. You can read more about this here.

I took a few more pictures today and will try to get them uploaded to the  2014 Spring Training Pictures link on the right hand side of the page as soon as I can.