thoughts: Rory, Kotch, Bay/Holliday, Chapman

Just some tidbits:

--------------------------------

I was utterly shocked when I learned of Rory Markus's death.

I only started listening to the radio broadcasts last season, so I wasn't yet able to discern Rory from Gubi and Terry, but the resonding majority of halo fans liked him the best. I especially liked the "Just another halo victory" call, which I discovered today was Rory's call. A lot of fans were looking forward to having him call every tv game next season. A horrible loss for his family, the Angels, and Halo fans everywhere.

--------------------------------

Casey Kotchman is again on the move. He's expected to be traded to the M's. Glad he's going to be off of the BoSux and more importantly, he's gonna get off the bench. I like Kotch - I followed him in the boxscores when he was in Atlanta and was quite sad when he moved to the Sox. It won't get much easier to root for him when he's on a division rival, but hopefully consistant playing time will stop his career slide, he'll sign with another team when he becomes a FA, and do the Angels farm system proud.

--------------------------------

Holliday's set to re-sign with the Cards. Its a lot of money considering that the Cards aren't anywhere near the Yankees/RedSox/Mets in payroll ability and that they were their only apparent serious bidder. Amazing is right! Kinda feel bad for Bay - despite him being a former BoSox, he seems like an upstanding guy. But not only does he get stuck on the Mets (good talent core, bad FO, terrible farm system), but he doesn't get to benefit from their FO tendency to give ridiculously bad contracts.

--------------------------------

The Angels are rumored to be frontrunners for Chapman. A cautious yay from me. He's got talent, but reports say he's extremely raw. Add onto the fact that he's extremely hyped, and the verdict may depend on the money, though I think Eddie Bane has already caught onto that. If they can get him though, it'd be a big coup for the Angels and save some face from an appearant "disaster" of an offseason. The Angels don't have too many top-notch pitching prospects, but the thought of a Chapman-Reckling-Walden pitching core in the future sounds really good to me.