Letters: Angels’ trade drives fans batty
Mark Trumbo traded for this year’s versions of Joe Blanton and Tommy Hanson? I hereby offer my official resignation as an Angels fan. Good luck surpassing Seattle in the standings with less hitting than last year and the same mediocre pitching.
Go, Dodgers!
Jeff Pollak
La Crescenta
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Looks like I’m going to rehab, because I hallucinated that the Angels traded Mark Trumbo, and his 34 home runs and 100 RBIs. Maybe it was that massive $540,000 salary. Oh well, stupid is as stupid does.
Marty Foster
San Francisco
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Not content to have insulted their fans by giving up on Peter Bourjos, Mike Napoli, Kendrys Morales and many more, the Angels have just dealt away one of the most exciting young sluggers in the game in Mark Trumbo. Aside from Mike Trout, we are now left with aging, overpaid slugs who eat up a third of the payroll and are past any potential to excel. Angels management has had tons of money to waste because of a new TV contract, but who is going to watch this aging bunch of underachieving has-beens that they are now left with?
Joe Bonino
Glendale
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Good job by Angels GM Jerry Dipoto to clear some salary space by trading Mark Trumbo. Of course if the Angels had not signed Albert Pujols to a ridiculous contract two years ago and gone with Trumbo as their every day first baseman then, they wouldn’t be in this position now.
The Angels could have had Torii Hunter, Peter Bourjos, and Trumbo on their roster today for the cost of Pujols or Josh Hamilton alone and they would not have to be clearing salary space. At least they got a couple of nice news conferences for their money.
Ron Reeve
Glendora
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After trading away their home run leader for the past three years, Mark Trumbo, the Angels are now interested in 41-year-old Raul Ibanez. Pujols, Hamilton, and now maybe Ibanez? How much older can the Angels get?
Wayne Muramatsu
Cerritos
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With Mark Trumbo going to the NL West, are we sure Arte’s not simply trying to sabotage the Dodgers for market share?
Paul Shubunka Sr.
Santa Clarita
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That’s great about Trumbo: It’ll be interesting to see what they get for Trout.
Terry Foley
Norco
The sixth tool
Matt Kemp is what people in baseball like to call a five-tool player. He can hit, hit for power, run, field, and throw. However, baseball needs to begin thinking in terms of a six-tool player, the sixth tool being the most important one. It’s the ability to use one’s mind while in the heat of battle, in this case one’s baseball IQ. It also encompasses mental toughness, leadership, desire, and work ethic, among others.
Presently Kemp is seriously lacking in this sixth tool. Hopefully, Kemp has learned from his boneheaded mistakes. The Dodgers need to find out, and so does Kemp. Unfortunately, Puig comes from the same mold!
J.J. Volpe
Rancho Cucamonga
Block it out
Blocking home plate (with the ball) is part of the game. Once in a great while there are injuries just as there are in other aspects of the game. How about ruling that two players can’t call for a fly ball because they might run into each other and get hurt? This has probably happened more times than collisions at the plate. Baseball is totally overreacting because of the injuries in football and hockey, which are contact sports. Baseball for the most part is not a contact sport.
Steve Shaevel
Woodland Hills
Old college try
By hiring Steve Sarkisian as USC’s football coach, Pat Haden set in motion a domino effect that will make the Trojans’ long-term Pac-12 success that more difficult:
UCLA gives Mora a big extension to prevent him from pursuing his “dream job” at Washington, which backfills Sarkisian with one of the most sought-after coaches in Chris Petersen that USC decided wasn’t a good fit for their post.
And SC gets Sark.
Well played, Pat Haden, well played.
Mike Beever
City of Industry
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What will Haden do next year when Notre Dame and UCLA beat USC? He will probably back Sark by 200%.....
Bernard Oshima
Torrance
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To the wishful-thinking Trojans fan who wrote that Jim Mora minus Brett Hundley equals Rick Neuheisel, just look at the talented group of 2013 freshmen brought in by Mora and his staff, many of whom were coached up to start, including the Pac-12 freshman offensive/defensive player of the year.
You probably think Vince Lombardi minus Bart Starr equals Lane Kiffin!
Alan Abajian
Alta Loma
He’s back!
One thing for sure: In his return to NBA action, Kobe Bryant definitely did not look like the 25th-best player in the NBA!
Tom Lallas
Los Angeles
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Mike D’Antoni will wreck Kobe’s body, wreck the flow of the Lakers and keep them from going far in the playoffs until he is replaced. Phil would have known how to coach Kobe (and Dwight) and would have led to the trade of the injury-prone Nash.
Scott McVarish
Culver City
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Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe D’Antoni Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Pau Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Nash Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Blake Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Bench Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kupchak Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Buss Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Lakers Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Pau Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe Kobe
Enough. Please. Stop.
A great article would be about all of the players who fled the Lakers because of this arrogant, conceited jerk.
Tom Bunzel
Los Angeles
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Although Kobe shrugs off the idea that he’s a drag on team chemistry, he needs to reconsider that assessment each time he watches tape of his performances, and he should be enough of a true Laker to admit that he’s wrong.
Ray McKown
Los Angeles
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Sunday night’s game made me realize that Kobe Bryant is in fact human. He looked rusty. I mean, he played like someone who hadn’t played in eight months.
However, I believe that he will return to his dominant self in the next few months and show everyone that he can still perform at an elite level.
Renzo Pastor
La Mirada
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With the aging point guards Jim Buss has signed on the injured list, here is a list of point guards that meet Buss’ criteria on player signings: Penny Hardaway, John Stockton, Gary Payton, Sam Cassell and Muggsy Bogues. Now the trick is how to pay them $10 million and fit them under the salary cap.
Mike Gamboa
Buena Park
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After those comments about Pau, I guess we can finally call Mike D’Antoni a defensive coach.
George Sands
Torrance
Channel swerving
I sat down to watch the Ohio State-Michigan State game for Big Ten championship bragging rights last Saturday. Fox, the acknowledged leader in lowering the bar to what is least acceptable in broadcasting and journalism, carried the game. The broadcast began at 5 p.m., kickoff was at about 5:20. After an interminable barrage of commercials for pizza, beer, Ford F-150s, whatever, with the occasional interruption to play a down or two, the last whistle mercifully blew at 9 p.m.
Hey, sports fans, what’s the over/under that Fox manages to stretch out a college football game to five hours? Five years? Ten?
Doug Rumbaugh
Westlake Village
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Once upon a time listening to Keith Jackson or Curt Gowdy was like reading a Jim Murray column, the announcers painting an unbiased portrait of the game. As boring and trite as Brent Musburger is, at least he moves around. The CBS-Southeastern Conference homers make watching an SEC game a punishing afternoon. It’s like listening to two sycophants complimenting each other’s great insight. CBS, please mix it up.
Bruce N. Miller
Playa del Rey
Saving grace
Hockey is my habit, the Kings my choice of drug. And I am Jones-ing over their new goaltender. Funny how a team always hurting for great goalies (Vachon aside) now has had Quick, Bernier, Scrivens and Jones the past two years. Truly a net profit.
Bruce N. Miller
Playa del Rey
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