ItsTheBlog™

It's probably not the ideal spot for a major league deal to be negotiated, but it works.

One of my favorite fast-food restaurants was the site of the Angels' bargain with outfielder Torii Hunter last week. Well, Hunter's agent and new Angels GM Tony Reagins met there anyway. They chose Del Taco in Corona, halfway between Hunter's agent Larry Reynolds' home in Riverside and Anaheim. I think I ate there once.


Even Hunter found it a bit ironic that a $90 million deal could be figured out over some ridiculously cheap tacos. "I always imagined my deal would get done inside a board room or a Capital Grille," Hunter said.

The most interesting thing about the story is the fact that the two most important players in the deal, Reagins and Reynolds, could simply walk into Del Taco, negotiate like crazy, and not get recognized.

In sports, it seems that people put a lot of emphasis on the athletes, but they wouldn't be there without all this behind the scenes work.

Now I want some chili cheese fries from Del Taco.

Labels: Baseball, contracts, del taco, Kevdog, Los Angeles Angels, torii hunter

Tim Brown. We went over this last time. He went to USC or some garbage like that, big time writer for Yahoo! Sports. I'm just gonna delve right into this and see if I can get him fired sooner rather then later. Ok well I won't get him fired, but it could be fun...

"Going on August now, and it seems odd to not have the Oakland A's around.
The best second-half team in the game since 1999 – ask the Los Angeles Angels – the A's don't look to have it in them this summer."

Since 1999, The Oakland A's have 4 AL West Titles: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006. In 2002, the Angels won the whole freakin'thing. In 2003, the Angels weren't even in the race, so I wouldn't have asked the Halos then. In 2003 and 2004 the Angels WON THE FREAKING DIVISION.

I'm not even going to mention that in 2001 (yes, the quote said "since 1999") the Mariners won like 6 bagillion games.

But sure, ask the Angels.

"Rather than making one of their signature runs, sending little crawlies down Bill Stoneman's neck, the A's instead are shopping players."

Little crawlies. I bet Bill just despises those things. I bet one thing that one Bill (Bavasi) get little crawlies from is letting a 12 game lead slip away to Seattle in 1997, but I don't know if Stoneman has the same creepy crawly buggars climbing all over him.

Lets recount the reasons why Bill Stoneman and the Angels are deathly afraid of the always hard charging Oakland A's...

A's Division Titles since 1999: 4. Angels: 2. Good point Tim, getting to the post season is all that has ever mattered. Get there, and you've basically won it. Yes, the A's are a great second half team, but oh wait... damnit... forgot one thing...

A's WS Titles since 1999: zero. Angels: 1. Well hell, one's better then nothing. And yes, being an Angels fan helps in the bias of this article, but I'm not sure anyone would argue that the franchise on the up here is clearly Los Angeles. Billy Beane is a genius, and I'm as big a fan of Moneyball as Joe Morgan...err... wait... ESPN's best baseball analyst hasn't even read the book yet. Scratch that. Ok I'm as big a Moneyball fan as any respectable (insert Joe Morgan insult here) baseball fan, but that's not enough for Oakland in this case. And quite honestly, they are not that good this year.

Okay the rest goes on to blah blah blah about their injuries and where they are shipping all their talent. The End. Tim Brown, I'm bookmarking your blog. Thanks for the material.

Read on, Readers

Labels: Bill Stoneman, Creepy Crawlies, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland A's