August 23, 2016 Page 1 of 12 Clips (August 23, 2016)
August 23, 2016 Page 2 of 12 FROM THE LA TIMES (Page 3) Today s Clips Contents Anaheim ignores Angels objections and goes ahead with major development near stadium Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Angels, slugger Mike Napoli is one that got away Angels mailbag: About Garrett Richards and next year FROM THE OC REGISTER (Page 7) Angels catcher Jett Bandy has seen stock rise during team s otherwise forgettable season Jett Bandy s father taught Tom Cruise bartending flair for Cocktail On deck: Angels at Blue Jays, Tuesday, 4 p.m. FROM ANGELS.COM (Page 11) Bandy maturing under former catcher Scioscia
August 23, 2016 Page 3 of 12 FROM THE LA TIMES Anaheim ignores Angels objections and goes ahead with major development near stadium Bill Shaikin On Monday, less than two weeks after The Times first reported the Angels and the city of Anaheim had revived talks on a new stadium lease, the team lost a bid to prevent a large-scale development adjacent to the parking lot controlled by the team. The Anaheim Planning Commission dismissed the Angels objections and unanimously voted in favor of a 15-acre complex of shops, restaurants, offices, residences and a hotel. The Anaheim City Council has the final say on the project and is expected to vote on it within the next two months. A city-issued fact sheet noted that the project, at the northeast corner of State College Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue, would include a 30-story residential tower with views of Angel Stadium and an outdoor entertainment center similar to the Grove in Los Angeles with places to eat and drink before and after Angels games. In a letter to the city, Angels attorney Allan Abshez wrote that the project would cannibalize the Angels existing food, beverage and retail operations at Angel Stadium and fundamentally undermine the Angels negotiations to remain in Anaheim over the long term. Those negotiations have focused on the Angels as the developer of a sports-entertainmenthotel project, and the team argued that approving a similar project on adjacent property would make it less likely that a second such project could be profitable enough for the team to fund stadium renovations. The city has ruled out paying for stadium upgrades. The negotiations have focused on the team developing part of the parking lot, then using profits from that development to recoup the costs of stadium renovations. Angels Chairman Dennis Kuhl told the planning commission that the project approved Monday irreparably harms the stadium and the team and would be an impediment to further development for a decade at a minimum. Monday s vote could complicate negotiations between the team and the city, but it is not expected to end them. After Monday s vote, the lead developer of the 15-acre project said his company would be delighted to work with the Angels on developing their share of the stadium parking lot. Angels owner Arte Moreno has no large-scale development experience.
August 23, 2016 Page 4 of 12 From our point of view, we d like to partner with them on it, said Randy Jefferson, executive director of project development for LT Global Investment. In a statement, Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster said the city believes there is ample opportunity for the Angels to be involved in remaking the stadium area along the lines of LA Live outside Staples Center, or the areas surrounding AT&T Park in San Francisco or Petco Park in San Diego. We see a lot of room and opportunity around the stadium, Lyster said. In the moments before Monday s vote, Anaheim Planning Commission Chairman Mitchell Caldwell asked: Is there any evidence that a project like this would hurt another developer? Hearing nothing from city staff, Caldwell proceeded to open the vote. The project was approved, 4-0. Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Angels, slugger Mike Napoli is one that got away Pedro Moura Mike Napoli was on a cruise ship somewhere near Mexico when he found out that the Angels had traded him. He cannot recall how his phone worked, but it did. He first received a call from his agent, and then one from Angels General Manager Tony Reagins, informing him he needed to return home to take a physical. He was going to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Angels swapping Napoli and Juan Rivera for the Blue Jays high-priced franchise player, Vernon Wells. Napoli, then 29, had been anticipating a trade throughout the winter, after the Angels placed the catcher/first baseman on waivers the previous season and pulled him back when the Boston Red Sox claimed him. Then, on Jan. 21, 2011, after failing to agree to terms with Adrian Beltre and other free-agent prizes, the Angels completed what is considered among the worst trades in baseball history when they acquired Wells and assumed $80 million due him. Reagins recently wrote in a text message that he respectfully declined to speak about the trade. Wells did not respond to messages seeking comment. Napoli was just excited to be going elsewhere. As a player, you can almost tell sometimes, he said this month. You sense it a little bit. As time went on, I almost felt like there might be a change of scenery going on. But my time in Anaheim, I learned so much. What do I on the baseball field now is what I learned from that organization.
August 23, 2016 Page 5 of 12 What he has done since the trade is hit consistently, for a variety of teams and in a variety of positions. Napoli didn t hear from the Blue Jays until five days later, when they told him he had been shipped to the Texas Rangers. The next season, Napoli ravaged the Angels, the American League and then the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. His on-base-plus-slugging percentage was among the highest in baseball, and 386 points greater than Wells at about one-fifth the salary. He remained with the Rangers through the 2012 season and earned his first All-Star nod while Wells sat out more than half the season. The Angels dumped Wells contract on the New York Yankees the subsequent spring, swallowing most of his money. They ended up paying roughly $65 million for 208 games of replacement-level production, the contract crippling their budget through 2014 and, indirectly, beyond. Even now, its effects are obvious. Needing a first baseman 11 months after the trade, the Angels signed Albert Pujols to a behemoth contract they must pay through 2021. When Napoli became a free agent before the 2013 season, the Red Sox opted to sign him instead of a higherpriced hitter they had targeted: Josh Hamilton. Napoli helped the Red Sox win the World Series. Still seeking a powerful left fielder, the Angels signed Hamilton, who unfortunately for the Angels gave them Wells-like production for two seasons. Sometimes it works out, said Napoli, who has hit 29 home runs for the division-leading Cleveland Indians this season. Sometimes it doesn t. It s the risk you take. Sometimes you need to fill a need on your team and you go after it and it doesn t work out. Angels mailbag: About Garrett Richards and next year Pedro Moura What is up, Angels fans? Your ball club of choice rebounded from a losing streak to win some games last week, but not too many. They are still 52-72 and on pace to finish 68-94 and pick fourth in the 2017 MLB draft. Off Monday, they play in Toronto and Detroit this week. This weekly feature is the forum to get responses to any queries regarding the Angels or anything else, submitted through my email (pedro.moura@latimes.com) and Twitter accounts (@pedromoura). Let us begin. There have been a lot of roster moves. That much is certain. Two hundred and two moves, to be exact, and 21 designations for assignment. I can t find an exact record anywhere, but know that the number is certainly higher than normal.mlbtraderumors.com s year-long tracking of league-wide DFAs yields a recent total of 340, or about 11 per team.
August 23, 2016 Page 6 of 12 Given the state of the team, I do not find this in any way surprising. The fewer certain major leaguers you employ and the more injuries you sustain, the more transactions you must make. Mike Trout has stolen more bases this season than he did in either of the last two seasons. He is also doing quite well at it, with 20 successes in 23 tries. He will never swipe 49 bases in 54 tries again, as he somehow did in 2012, but this year s rate supplies a veritable threat to the opposition each time he reaches. That is significant. I get that Trout is the best baseball player alive and that is fascinating, but he is not one of the Angels problems. The plan is for Garrett Richards to throw from progressively farther distances over the next several weeks, building stamina and testing out the viability of his healed ulnar collateral ligament, and then pitch in instructional league sometime between mid-september and mid- October. If he cannot pitch by then, the Angels can apply for a special exemption to allow him to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, which begins in mid-october. If that goes well, he s in their rotation next year. If it doesn t, he has Tommy John surgery, and sets his gaze on 2018. In talking to Richards a few days ago, I learned he does not believe he ll need many innings to discern his readiness to pitch next season. He was saying he ll require only a couple appearances of a couple innings a pop. We will see. Doctors who perform this stem-cell therapy regularly and monitor their patients note everyone is asymptomatic until they throw at 75% effort. Richards is not there yet. This is a common, understandable question. I believe it has been covered here at one time or another, but to run it down again for interested parties: Escobar has the second-highest batting average in the American League, and has carried that clip pretty much throughout the season. But average is by far his best feature. He has not hit a home run since April, and he is not hitting excessive doubles or triples to compensate. His isolated power is the fourth-lowest among qualified hitters. His defense is below average at third base, according to advanced metrics and scouts who observe him regularly. He is one of the worst base runners in the sport, according to the same sources. It appears those two traits owe more to his effort than his technique. He is not nearly as valuable as a.320 average typically indicates. There s also the matter of a fit. He cannot play shortstop anymore, has barely played second base, and has given varying indications about his willingness to do so. Not many teams could benefit from a third baseman this season, and one club that could, San Francisco, reportedly had concerns about his behavior. Escobar does not own a good reputation. Cliff Pennington is under contract, so I d bet on him over any other player to be the primary starter at second, now that the Angels designated Johnny Giavotella for assignment over the weekend. But I d still take the field over Pennington.
August 23, 2016 Page 7 of 12 At third base, I d take Escobar over the field. He has a $7 million team option for next year or a $1 million buyout, so the Angels must decide if he s worth at least $6 million to them or someone else. Yes, probably. The real question is who the Angels plan on playing those positions beyond 2017. We do not know the answer. Let s see if we can obtain clues before season s end. Kaleb Cowart has an opportunity now. This is a question I ve held off answering for a bit, and I m sure it ll be addressed again in some form in September. Some I ve spoken to in the sport think there s a chance. Others do not. The certain thing is that it if Garrett Richards is not able to pitch next year, it becomes less likely, and, the way I see it, almost entirely unlikely. That would entail a rotation fronted by Matt Shoemaker or Tyler Skaggs, with the other man as the No. 2, Ricky Nolasco as the No. 3, and some combination of unproven or unsuccessful starters in the other spot. It is hard to see such a team being good. There will be money to spend, but not much more than it will cost to sign one impact free agent. It depends on how Lincecum finishes off the season, but it s hard to imagine someone offering him another starting-rotation spot next spring. He could come into camp on a minor league deal or aim for the bullpen, but besides his preference to pitch on the West Coast, there s not much else that would keep him in Anaheim. FROM OC REGISTER Angels catcher Jett Bandy has seen stock rise during team s otherwise forgettable season By JEFF FLETCHER / STAFF WRITER TORONTO Jett Bandy sat in a chair in the outfield, while his University of Arizona teammates ran. And ran. And ran. And ran. Ran till some of them threw up. And Bandy sat there, with cold bottles of water under the warm Arizona sun. As he watched his friends suffer all because he had skipped a sociology class he learned a lesson that sticks with him to this day. I ve got to start getting stuff into gear, Bandy recalled. I ve got to do the right things.... It was letting me know that my actions don t only affect me, but also my teammates. I learned quick I had to go to class.
August 23, 2016 Page 8 of 12 It would be far too simplistic to say that was the day that Bandy s trajectory changed, directing him toward now being the Angels top catcher. However, that was certainly one of the defining moments that sparked the rise of a player who had never been considered much of a prospect. A 31st-round draft pick out of Arizona, Bandy is now doing most of the catching for the Angels. Bandy, 26, is on a short list of Angels whose stock has risen dramatically during this otherwise forgettable season. Certainly, each time Bandy hits a homer or throws out a runner trying to steal, former Arizona coach Andy Lopez must feel some satisfaction for molding him from that freshman who didn t go to class. Coach Lopez taught the game of baseball, but it was more about teaching the game of life, being a man, Bandy said. It was great for me. Although college turned out to be a blessing for Bandy, it wasn t the path he had first chosen. Bandy grew up in Thousand Oaks, where one of the friends he played baseball with from about age 7 was a kid named Matt Scioscia. In the winters, Scioscia s dad would come out to coach the team. That s where the Angels manager first got a look at Bandy. At that age, a lot of kids look good, but you never know, Mike Scioscia said. By the time these kids got to high school and continued to develop, you saw the makings of the type of player he is now. Although Scioscia s son went to Crespi High, a private school in Encino, Bandy stayed close to home and attended Thousand Oaks High. Scioscia kept an eye on him throughout, when he and Matt would work out in the winters. Bandy had hoped to play pro ball out of high school. Despite numerous calls during the draft assuring him he would be picked, he lasted until the 41st round which doesn t even exist now when the Dodgers took him, hoping to make him a pitcher. Bandy instead went to Arizona, and three years later again watched most of the draft pass him by. The Angels took him in the 31st round. Scioscia insists he had no influence on the selection. As Bandy began his pro career, he didn t look much like a big leaguer, though. He had some tools, but the performance was lacking. He hit.247 at Class-A and.241 at Double-A, his first two full seasons.
August 23, 2016 Page 9 of 12 As Jett got into pro ball you saw the skill set, Scioscia said. You saw the arm. You saw the power, but the other things you need to be a player have to be refined and developed. That s what player development is all about. His start to his pro career was probably consistent with a lot of guys who come out who have some tools but are raw. He worked hard to refine it. One of Bandy s issues was his size. He is 6-foot-4, so his mechanics at the plate and behind it both required more maintenance than with an average player. Around the middle of 2014, when Bandy was back for his second taste of Double-A, it all began to click. You get enough at-bats and then what this coach told you and that coach told you, all of those things really start to come together, Bandy said. He went to winter ball in the Dominican Republic and further developed the mental part of his game, learning to separate offense from defense, and to let go of a bad game and move on to the next one. The pieces of his game all came together in 2015, when he hit.291 with an.813 OPS at Triple- A, earning his first promotion to the big leagues. This season, he started in the minors but got the call to the big leagues when Geovany Soto got hurt in May, and he s been up ever since. He eventually passed both Soto and Carlos Perez on the depth chart. Scioscia has raved about Bandy s adjustments to the big leagues, especially the way he s handled pitchers. Just ask Matt Shoemaker, whose resurgence coincided with Bandy s promotion. With some guys it s quick and with other guys it takes a little longer, and Jett has been one of the quicker ones, Shoemaker said. Everything has been really smooth. Bandy has cleaned up some of his throwing mechanics too, allowing him to get the most out of what has always been an above average arm. He s thrown out 14 of 35 would be base-stealers. Bandy has also hit.261 with eight homers in just 47 games. He looks like he could go into next season as the Angels No.1 catcher, although it bears noting that Perez looked like a future everyday catcher this time last year. I always try to take it one day at a time, Bandy said. Don t look too far ahead. Don t look at the past. Try to win the next day. Just take it day by day. Try to get better every day and let the rest take its course.
August 23, 2016 Page 10 of 12 To Scioscia, who has watched Bandy s development for longer than he s watched anyone else on the team, it s been a pleasure to see. The best teacher we have in this game is experience, Scioscia said. The only way to see if you can play in the major leagues is to experience it. You can t simulate a lot of the things in the minors because the game is quicker up here.... We all went through this as catchers, absorbing the game and slowing it down. That s what Jett is working through now. He s on that learning curve. He s doing a terrific job with it. Jett Bandy s father taught Tom Cruise bartending flair for Cocktail By JEFF FLETCHER / STAFF WRITER Jett Bandy got half a name and his good hands from his father. Bandy s unusual first name is a mix of his father s name (John) and his grandfather s (Chester, or Chett). John Bandy s claim to fame is not merely having a son in the majors, though. John Bandy was a bartender who entertained his customers by tossing bottles around as he made drinks: bartending flair. Once he was serving a woman who had connections in the movie industry. It turned out she knew someone who was looking for a bartender to teach bartending flair to Tom Cruise for the film Cocktail, released in 1988. John Bandy got the job, and spent a few months in various locations around the world, working with Cruise and co-star Bryan Brown while they shot the movie. It s his 15 minutes of fame, Jett Bandy said. He s got good hands. On deck: Angels at Blue Jays, Tuesday, 4 p.m. By JEFF FLETCHER / STAFF WRITER Where: Rogers Centre TV: Fox Sports West, 4 p.m. Did you know? The Blue Jays are the only American League team the Angels have not played yet this season. They are finished with eight other AL teams. THE PITCHERS ANGELS LHP TYLER SKAGGS (1-2, 5.19) Vs. Blue Jays: 1-1, 3.07 At Rogers Centre: 1-0, 2.25
August 23, 2016 Page 11 of 12 Hates to face: None Loves to face: None BLUE JAYS RHP R.A. DICKEY (8-13, 4.51) Vs. Angels: 6-3, 4.28 At Rogers Centre: 29-23, 4.32 Hates to face: Mike Trout, 6 for 11 (.545) Loves to face: Albert Pujols, 0 for 10 (.000) UPCOMING GAMES Wednesday: Angels RHP Matt Shoemaker (7-13, 4.14) vs. Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrada (7-5, 3.20), 4 p.m., FSW Thursday: Angels TBA vs. Blue Jays LHP J.A. Happ (17-3, 3.05), 4 p.m., FSW FROM ANGELS.COM Bandy maturing under former catcher Scioscia Angels manager mentoring young backstop in first season in Majors By Austin Laymance / MLB.com ANAHEIM -- When Angels manager Mike Scioscia has a positive and upbeat outlook for a catcher, they must be doing something right. Just look at rookie Jett Bandy. Bandy felt fortunate just to be picked in the 31st round of the 2011 Draft. Now, he's making the most of his opportunity to earn a role as the Angels' primary catcher. "For me to get drafted, to have a chance, I know once I started my professional career, I always felt like I had something to prove, and I wanted to show them that I could play at the big league level," said Bandy, who has started nearly half of the team's games since being promoted from the Minor Leagues in May when Opening Day starter Geovany Soto went on the disabled list with a knee issue. In Scioscia's eyes, Bandy continues to prove he belongs in the Majors. That became evident when Angels management decided to keep Bandy around when Soto returned from the DL in June. "We've seen him really embrace the defensive part of his game," said Scioscia, noting Bandy's improvement handling game plans and the pitching staff. "He has a terrific arm, and he's
August 23, 2016 Page 12 of 12 working hard back there with all the things that a catcher needs to do. I think you can see in his bat, he has some pop, and he's swung the bat well." Bandy, 26, has hit.261/.310/.472 with six doubles, eight home runs and 23 RBIs in 47 games (40 starts). The offensive production is a plus, but a catcher's value extends beyond the batter's box. "I'm a catcher first," Bandy said. "I'm just trying to do the best I can behind the plate. I'm going to call 150 pitches a game, at least, and I might get four at-bats, so my emphasis is definitely on calling a good game and doing the best I can with the pitching staff. "At the plate, just not trying to think too much, just keep things simple." Of course, it helps to have a manager who excelled as a catcher in the Majors, as Scioscia did with the Dodgers during his playing days in the 1980s and early '90s. "He sees everything you do," Bandy said. "Especially as a younger catcher, he's going to let you know what you did wrong, but he's also going to let you know what you did right, and that's something you definitely need as a young catcher coming through the system just trying to get better every day." In fact, Scioscia first coached Bandy in 1999 as a 10-year-old in Little League. Bandy grew up in Thousand Oaks, Calif., roughly 75 miles northwest of Angel Stadium. The Scioscias were in nearby Westlake Village, and Bandy was a Little League teammate of Scioscia's son, Matt. Naturally, Scioscia enjoys working closely with his catchers, rookie or veteran, though he admitted it's been special to see Bandy rise through the organization over the past five years. "I think when you have a guy who comes through your system and you've seen him and you see him start to make strides, I think it gives you a good feeling of when you start to develop young prospects and catchers, in particular, that come up to the Major Leagues and do well," Scioscia said. Bandy figures to get steady playing time over the final six weeks of the season, with Soto back on the DL with knee problems and the Angels wanting to get a look at younger players who could become part of the solution going forward. "Definitely, my mind-set is to finish strong," Bandy said. "It's not how you start. It's how you finish. I feel like I've got something to prove every day. You're either going to get better, or you're going to get worse. I definitely want to get better. You get evaluated every day in this game and you can't take a day off." Scioscia and the Angels like what they've seen so far.