Fact: Albert Pujols had his fourth career game with at least six RBI on Tuesday night, and his first with the Los Angeles Angels.
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Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Nick Tropeano left Monday’s game against the Texas Rangers with right elbow soreness, and the timetable for his return is uncertain.
Continue for updates.
Tropeano was lifted in the second inning of his start, and the team announced that it will know more about his ailment after he undergoes imaging Tuesday.
According to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, Tropeano felt discomfort in his elbow during warm-ups but attempted to pitch anyway.
When asked about the situation, manager Mike Scioscia expressed hope that Tropeano‘s injury won’t be a long-term issue, per MLB.com’s Fabian Ardaya:
Any time a pitcher obviously has some discomfort in the area of his elbow, you’re naturally going to be concerned. We’re just going to hope and pray that it’s nothing significant. …
With everything that’s gone on with some of our pitchers, we hope this isn’t going to be another big blow for us. We’re just going take this one step, and hopefully Nick will be OK.
L.A. has dealt with a number of injuries to key starters this season, as both Andrew Heaney and C.J. Wilson are out for the season, while ace Garrett Richards could miss the remainder of the campaign as well.
The 25-year-old Tropeano has been the Angels’ best and most consistent hurler, posting a 3-2 record to go along with a 3.56 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 68.1 innings.
He recently returned from the disabled list with a shoulder injury, but there is now fear of a return trip depending upon the severity of his elbow issue.
If Tropeano does require another DL stint, the Angels are likely to call up Tyler Skaggs, who is at the tail end of a rehab assignment in Triple-A.
Los Angeles could also move Jhoulys Chacin back into the rotation, but his previous struggles in that role forced him into the bullpen.
The 2016 season has been a nightmarish one for the Angels, as they are just 41-52 and have dealt with injuries to a number of key players.
Because of that, L.A. would be wise to play it safe with Tropeano, especially since he is a talented, young player who could very well be a big part of the team returning to prominence in 2017 and beyond.
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.
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Los Angeles Angels first baseman C.J. Cron has a broken left hand and will undergo surgery on Tuesday to mend it.
Continue for updates.
Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported the news on Cron and supplied the timeline for his return. Cron has hit 11 home runs and 50 RBI this season with a slash line of .278/.333/.475 in 77 games.
The 26-year-old suffered the injury during the Angels’ 9-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles this past Friday when Mike Wright hit him with a pitch.
Although he tried to hang tough and remain in the game, Cron ultimately had to leave the field.
L.A. is already having a tough 2016 campaign, sitting at the bottom of the American League West heading into the All-Star break. Cron’s absence exacerbates the Angels’ issues as they try to salvage a respectable season down the stretch.
Cron was a welcome bright spot on a disappointing club before he got hurt. After batting .303 in June, Cron was off to a hot start in July with a .364 average and a 1.284 OPS.
Pitching has been a primary contributing factor to the Angels’ woes. They rank 22nd in team ERA (4.52) and 28th in opponents’ batting average (.278).
Because of Cron’s lengthy injury-imposed hiatus, L.A.’s offense, headlined by young superstar Mike Trout and legendary hitter Albert Pujols, will have to pick up the slack even more if the Angels’ pitching continues to struggle.
The Angels called up Ji-Man Choi from Triple-A ball when they placed Cron on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday, per MLB.com’s Ben Raby. Choi will likely continue to fill Cron’s position, but if he struggles, the Angels may well turn to their bench for Jefry Marte.
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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Huston Street exited Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles with a leg injury.
According to Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times, “some leg issue” was hobbling Street, who did not want to exit his outing after giving up a home run to J.J. Hardy.
Moura noted the Angels gave him one more batter to face, but Street walked Adam Jones before the team pulled him.
Continue for updates.
In 20 appearances this season before Sunday, Street was 3-1 with a 4.67 ERA in just 17.1 innings. He’s never had an ERA lower than 3.73 over his 12-year career.
It’s hardly the follow-up season the Angels expected from him after 40 saves last year.
But his drop in numbers could have a lot to do with previous injury troubles. On April 28, he went on the disabled list with a left oblique strain. He missed more than a month, returning to the mound for the Angels on May 31.
Seeing Street play limited innings is nothing new. He hasn’t hit the 70-inning plateau since 2008, when he was with the Oakland Athletics.
Heading into June, though, Street had an ERA under 1.00, and on June 9, it dropped to 0.82 after a clean eighth inning against the New York Yankees. However, a blown save against the Cleveland Indians two days later—he allowed three earned runs in that game—began the ascent of his ERA.
He blew a 2-1 lead against the Houston Astros on June 21, allowing two earned runs, and he gave up three more to the Astros eight days later:
Street’s season has made fans wonder about his baseball mortality, as the 32-year-old has also seen a dip in his velocity.
According to FanGraphs, Street’s fastball has dropped to a career-worst average of 87.9 miles per hour. That’s a little more than three miles per hour slower than his velocity during his rookie season.
If Street misses considerable time, the Angels will have to rely on Joe Smith and Fernando Salas to close out games while he recovers. But the front office might feel his time out even more, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register:
The Angels entered Sunday 16.5 games out of first place in the American League West, and they could have used Street as trade bait to bring in some young, fresh talent to start addressing the roster’s needs.
Now another injury could scare teams away from doing business.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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It’s the decision the Los Angeles Angels don’t want to make. And by golly, it’s the kind of decision no team should ever have to make.
But whether the Angels like it or not, trading Mike Trout continues to look less like the nuclear option and more like the only option.
Trout is still the Angels’ best player. The 24-year-old has a .929 OPS, 14 home runs and 10 stolen bases, and has garnished it with solid defense in center field. Both Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs put him among baseball’s best position players.
By now, noting as much is like noting water is wet or Brad Pitt is handsome. Trout has rarely not been stupendous since emerging as a perennial MVP candidate in 2012. It can’t be said enough that we’re watching possibly the best young player in baseball history.
That’s not the kind of guy whose name should ever come close to the trading block. And for now, the party line is that it won’t.
“We have no intent or desire to consider moving Mike Trout,” Angels general manager Billy Eppler told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports last month. “He’s not moving. He’s an impact player, a huge piece in a championship core.”
Eppler could also have pointed out that nothing is threatening to take Trout away, as his contract runs through 2020. The hole in Eppler‘s logic, however, has to do with the “championship core” thing.
The Angels have dug themselves a hole with a 31-41 record, and there’s not going to be any climbing out of it. Trout and Kole Calhoun are the only impact hitters in an offense that ranks 11th in the American League in OPS. And with Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, C.J. Wilson and Tyler Skaggs all sidelined with arm and shoulder injuries, it’ll be tough to fix a pitching staff that ranks 12th in the AL in ERA.
This makes 2016 a lost year, but the worry now should be whether it’ll be a one-off or something worse. It’s easy to see how screwed the Angels are now, but it says a lot that it’s just as easy to see how screwed they are later.
A championship core usually consists of young, talented and healthy players who are in their prime and controlled for the long haul. On the Angels, that’s a small club. There’s Trout and the 28-year-old Calhoun, but who else? Albert Pujols, 36, is old and worse than ever. Andrelton Simmons can only field the ball. Matt Shoemaker has been on a nice run, but he’ll be 30 before the year is out.
The only way the Angels will acquire a championship core in the near future is by buying one or making their own. In the remaining years of Trout’s contract, they’ll be in a position to do neither.
The Angels have Wilson and Jered Weaver and their $40 million in salaries coming off the books this winter. But with the free-agent class due to be one of the worst in recent memory, there won’t be any good places to put that money.
The best chance the Angels will get to reload in free agency is after 2018. That’s when Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey are due to headline possibly the best class of free agents in history.
But starting in 2019, the Angels will be on the hook to pay $75.1 million to Trout, Pujols and Simmons alone. Factor in Calhoun’s arbitration payday, and they’ll have close to $100 million invested in only four players. That doesn’t leave much room for big spending.
Meanwhile, the cavalry will not be coming from the farm.
This is the second year out of three that Baseball America rated the Angels’ system as the worst in baseball. Keith Law of ESPN.com concurred and provided the apparent origin of this conversation: “[The Angels] need a big draft this year to start to restock the system or we’re going to start talking about whether it’s time to trade Mike Trout.”
A big draft did not happen. The Angels only had two picks on Day 1, and they reached with the first of those when they chose Virginia catcher Matt Thaiss at No. 16. That landed them on my list of draft losers.
When a team is damaged both up top and underneath as badly as the Angels are, breaking up the whole damn thing and starting from scratch is the only way forward. To this end, trading Trout would be one hell of a first step.
The fact that Trout is owed a little over $120 million over the next four seasons complicates his trade value somewhat, but not too much. That’s going to be a significant underpay if he continues to perform like the best player in baseball, as his talent and youth suggest he should.
In theory, the Angels could look to unload Trout’s remaining contract while also demanding a big haul of young talent. One general manager suggested a likely asking price of “three to five potential impact players” to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. That sounds about right.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that a haul of “potential impact players” will equal one Trout. Shaikin pointed to the infamous Miguel Cabrera trade as an example of what can go wrong. He also noted that, in general, prized prospects don’t always turn out to be prized major leaguers.
However, skepticism like this has become dated.
If it feels like young players rule the modern baseball world, it’s because they do. Rob Arthur noted at FiveThirtyEight last year that the average age of baseball’s biggest stars has been trending downward for years. Trout has done his part, and he’s not alone.
Besides, who says the Angels need to get only prospects in a Trout trade? He’s good enough for L.A. to demand an established young star to take his place. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe floated names like Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, George Springer, Nomar Mazara and Kyle Schwarber as he was pondering potential deals for Trout. None of those are preposterous suggestions.
After landing a player like that, the Angels could still demand a couple of top prospects on the side. Getting them would help put their farm system on the right track.
And though there may be no guarantee of a strong farm system leading to long-term success at the major league level, the Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros and New York Mets can all vouch for the value of a strong system. Before long, the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves should be able to as well.
If anything, the more pressing question is how many teams can and would pull off such a huge trade. In all likelihood, the list is too short for a deal to happen this summer, when contenders will mostly be looking to fill holes rather than overhaul their depth charts.
The winter could be a different story, though. Contenders and rebuilders alike will be in better positions to focus on their long-term goals, increasing the number of teams that could turn to Trout. And with little impact talent available on the open market, Trout’s sticker price could look more reasonable over time.
Nobody thought we’d be having this discussion as recently as 2014, a year in which the Angels extended Trout in the spring and then rode 98 wins into October. But courtesy of their assorted failures and bad breaks, here we are. And courtesy of those same failures and bad breaks, it’s a discussion that isn’t likely to go away if they ignore it.
The Angels won’t soon forget their time with Trout. But before long, it’ll be time to move on.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.
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One year, one hip surgery, six-and-a-half months on the open market and three minor league starts since the last time he toed a major league mound, Tim Lincecum sent a message Saturday:
The Freak lives.
The Los Angeles Angels signed Lincecum last month hoping the veteran right-hander could be a pick-me-up for their injury-battered starting rotation. He was just that in his debut Saturday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. The former San Francisco Giants ace spear-headed a 7-1 win over the A’s with six innings of one-run ball, in which he allowed only four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
After so many years of watching Lincecum in orange and black on the other side of the bay, it was a bit weird to see him mowing down hitters while garbed all in red. Unless you ask him, of course.
“I don’t think it looks weird,” said the 32-year-old of his new threads after the game, via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. “I think it looks pretty good.”
At any rate, maybe the best thing to be said about Lincecum’s debut is it was often easy to forget he was even pitching. Whereas the A’s cycled through seven pitchers in the process of giving up seven runs—one of which came on a long home run off the bat of Mike Trout—Lincecum put in a quiet, workman-like performance light on drama.
At the least, this is a good first impression for a guy the Angels are hoping can be a $2 million steal. At best, it’s the start of a renaissance in which Lincecum will more closely resemble his 2008-2011 self than his 2012-2015 self.
In case anyone needs a refresher on how the two compare, here are the numbers:
The first four full seasons of Lincecum’s career netted him two National League Cy Youngs and cemented him as one of the best pitchers in baseball. After that, he turned into one of the worst pitchers in baseball.
The primary culprit for Lincecum’s collapse is the velocity he lost. After sitting in the low- to mid-90s with his fastball earlier in his career, he sat around 90 between 2012 and 2014 and then in the high 80s last season. By the time he made his last start for the Giants on June 27 last year, there wasn’t much hope his velocity would bounce back.
Which brings us to the good news.
There were reports of Lincecum showing improved velocity when he held a showcase for prospective buyers in early May. It turns out that wasn’t a one-time thing. According to Brooks Baseball, Lincecum’s release speed with his four-seamer and sinker sat in the 89-90 range Saturday. That’s up from the 88-89 range he occupied last season. He also sprinkled in some 90s and 91s to boot.
That may not be vintage velocity, but at least it’s better velocity. It’s also velocity he’s comfortable with.
“I’m not going to be the guy throwing 93, 94, 95 [mph] anymore,” he said ahead of Saturday’s start, via Mark Chiarelli of MLB.com. “I have to spot my fastball and trust the movement. I think that’s where I’m at, trusting I can get outs with 88-92.”
To the naked eye, Lincecum’s fastball command wasn’t terrible Saturday. He did an especially good job of staying out of the sweet spot against Oakland’s left-handed batters, and his mistakes were mostly good (read: non-hittable) mistakes.
Meanwhile, Lincecum’s money pitch did its job. No pitch has done more damage in his career than his changeup, and ESPN Stats and Information can vouch it was out in force against the A’s:
Lest anyone get too excited, however, Lincecum’s debut offers some nits to pick.
Although his fastball command wasn’t terrible, it’s hard to say it was good. Fastballs that hit their marks and fastballs that missed their marks were probably in equal supply, particularly in a third inning in which he allowed two hits, walked a guy and hit another guy.
In light of this, it’s not surprising only 60.2 percent (59 of 98) of Lincecum’s pitches went for strikes. In relation to his average of 61.8 percent between 2012 and 2015, that’s not a great sign.
It didn’t help that Lincecum got swings and misses on only seven of 98 pitches. That’s 7.1 percent, well below his career rate of 11.0. Between that and his spotty command, he wasn’t harder to hit than his two strikeouts would indicate.
As such, there’s no escaping the notion that Lincecum’s effectiveness Saturday might have had something to do with the opposition. He was facing an A’s team that entered the day ranked 13th in the American League in runs and OPS. Overcoming them isn’t the best litmus test.
Still, the Angels’ 30-38 record puts them in a position to take whatever positive signs they can get. Lincecum’s improved velocity and good-as-ever changeup will do nicely. And even if his fastball command doesn’t get better, he might get by as long as he continues to avoid making bad mistakes.
If Lincecum continues to pitch well, the interesting question is how it will benefit the Angels. If everything comes together just right, he may help them mount a charge up the AL West standings. If that fails, though, he could be a useful piece of trade bait come late July.
This remains to be seen. All we know for now is that we’ve seen Lincecum’s first start in an Angels uniform, and it was good enough to warrant more. Maybe he’s no longer the Freak of old, but he’s not done yet simply being the Freak.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.
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On Saturday, the Los Angeles Angels drafted the son of one of the best center fielders in the past two decades.
The Halos selected Torii Hunter Jr. in the 23rd round of the MLB draft. His father, a five-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove winner, announced the selection:
The younger Hunter just completed his junior season as a wide receiver for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. He played in 13 games while reeling in 363 yards and two touchdowns for the Irish.
On the baseball diamond, however, Hunter didn’t see as much playing time, nor did he put up impressive numbers. He appeared in 19 games but batted .182 while recording only two hits, according to Notre Dame’s athletics website.
Hunter was the second Notre Dame player taken in the MLB draft. The Toronto Blue Jays selected Cavan Biggio, the son of former All-Star Craig Biggio, in the fifth round.
Notre Dame’s Twitter account congratulated Hunter on Saturday:
While this is a big moment for Hunter, his stats show he’s not ready to take on baseball. He’ll be a go-to receiver for the Irish football team next year and may have a brighter immediate future on the gridiron than in the outfield.
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Player: Torii Hunter Jr.
Position: OF
DOB: June 7, 1995 (21 years old)
Height/Weight: 6’2″, 180 lbs
Bats/Throws: R/R
School: Notre Dame
Previously Drafted: 2013 (36th round, DET)
Background
A 4-star wide receiver recruit out of high school, per 247Sports, Torii Hunter Jr. opted to honor his commitment to play football at Notre Dame despite the Detroit Tigers selecting him in the 36th round of the 2013 MLB draft.
Hunter Jr. caught 71 passes for 1,235 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior at Prosper High School in Texas, and ESPN ranked him as the No. 95 prospect in the nation.
However, he suffered a broken leg during practice for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and wound up missing his freshman season with the Fighting Irish as a result.
Once he was healthy, he appeared in 10 games in 2014, making seven receptions for 65 yards and one touchdown before stepping into a bigger role this past fall.
For a Notre Dame team that went 10-3 and earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, Hunter Jr. hauled in 28 receptions for 363 yards and two touchdowns.
Now with first-round pick Will Fuller (62 catches, 1,258 yards, 14 TDs) joining the NFL and both Chris Brown (48 catches, 597 yards, 4 TDs) and Amir Carlisle (31 catches, 355 yards, 1 TD) graduated, Hunter Jr. ranks as the team’s leading returning receiver heading into the 2016 season.
Following that breakout performance on the gridiron, Hunter Jr. made the decision to try out for the baseball team this spring.
He hit .393 with six home runs, 27 RBI and 13 stolen bases during his junior year of high school, per UND.com, but missed his senior season while recovering from the aforementioned broken leg.
He’s been used sparingly this spring as he continues to shake off the rust. He appeared in 19 games and went 2-for-11 with seven runs scored and two stolen bases.
Pick Analysis
Hunter Jr. has the bloodlines as the son of 19-year MLB veteran and five-time All-Star Torii Hunter.
He’s on scholarship to play football, but the youngest Hunter grew up playing baseball, so it’s no surprise that he wanted to get back at it now that his leg injury is behind him.
“Growing up, I played a lot of baseball because of who my dad is,” Hunter Jr. said in a video on the Notre Dame YouTube channel. “I wanted to continue it after high school even though I received a football scholarship.”
So how exactly does his superior athleticism translate to the baseball diamond?
“Even when we watched him in high school, he was a kid that could go get the ball in the outfield,” Notre Dame baseball coach Mik Aoki said in the aforementioned video. “I think he could provide game-changing-type speed on the bases in terms of looking to steal, going first to third, first to home, that sort of stuff.”
That may not make him a future All-Star, but if Hunter Jr. doesn’t have the opportunity to play football at the highest level, he has the tools and upside to get a chance at pursuing a baseball career.
Pro Comparison: Kenny Lofton
All right, hear me out.
During his time at the University of Arizona, Kenny Lofton made a name for himself not on the baseball field but on the basketball court.
Serving as the Wildcats’ backup point guard, Lofton teamed with future NBA players Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Jud Buechler, Tom Tolbert and Anthony Cook to help lead the Wildcats to a Final Four appearance in 1988.
Despite his role as a reserve, he still made an impact, averaging 4.9 points, 2.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
That spring, he tried out for the baseball team, and despite appearing in just five games and recording just one plate appearance, he showed enough raw talent for the Houston Astros to select him in the 17th round.
Lofton would go on to establish himself as one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball history over the course of a 17-year career.
He racked up 2,428 hits and 622 stolen bases (15th on the all-time list) while making the All-Star Game six times and winning four Gold Gloves.
Now that sort of finished product is an absolute best-case scenario as far as Hunter is concerned, but it’s an intriguing comparison nonetheless.
Projection: Fourth outfielder, pinch runner, defensive replacement
Major League ETA: 2021
Chances of Signing: 20 percent
Hunter has a chance to be a breakout star this season for the Notre Dame football team as the leading candidate to take over as the No. 1 receiver. That should be enough to keep him on campus, and even if he does wind up going the baseball route, he stands to significantly boost his stock with more action on the diamond next spring.
All college stats courtesy of The Baseball Cube, unless otherwise noted, and current through Wednesday, June 8.
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Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tim Lincecum is bound to make his debut with the club soon enough, but he said Tuesday he’ll have one more outing for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees before returning to the MLB level.
FanDuel’s Jessica Kleinschmidt provided the update from Lincecum on his future:
Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported Tuesday the Angels will decide within “the next day or two” who their starting pitcher will be for Sunday’s road game against the Oakland Athletics.
The 31-year-old veteran pitched five innings in his first start for Salt Lake, yielding three hits, three earned runs and three walks to go with five strikeouts, per MiLB.com.
It’s therefore understandable he’d want to get more competitive reps under his belt before making his opening start for the Angels. However, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez pointed out how Lincecum showed marked improvement in his second Triple-A outing on Tuesday:
Lincecum was a two-time National League Cy Young Award winner with the San Francisco Giants and was a part of three World Series championship teams. Unfortunately, degenerative hip issues that required surgery last September caused his form to fall off in recent years.
There’s no getting around the fact Los Angeles is in dire need of help in its starting pitching rotation, though.
Nick Tropeano became the fifth Angels starter to be currently dealing with an injury when he went on the disabled list Saturday with shoulder tightness.
The circumstances may well have Lincecum on the fast track to the big leagues without other experienced options for L.A. to plug in. If Lincecum is healthy, he could provide a desperately needed spark to the Angels staff.
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Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum has signed with the Los Angeles Angels, as the team announced, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Thursday it will be a $2.5 million deal with another $1.7 million in incentives.
“To sign a contract with the Angels meant the world to me,” Lincecum said, per Shaikin.
“Success will be being healthy at the end of this season, and seeing where I am after that,” Lincecum added, per Shaikin.
Lincecum, 31, went 7-4 with a 4.13 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 60 strikeouts in 15 starts and 76.1 innings pitched in 2015 for the San Francisco Giants.
The former star was one of the finest pitchers in all of baseball from 2008 to 2011 and was a key contributor to the team’s three World Series titles since 2010. But in recent years he’s been mediocre, a far cry from the dominant pitcher he had been.
His 2015 season was cut short after he required surgery on his left hip, but despite that setback, Lincecum doesn’t plan on calling it quits anytime soon.
“To be honest, I feel like I could pitch for a good five or six more years until I can’t anymore at this point,” he told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com in early May. “I’m nowhere near that point.”
Angels general manager Billy Eppler said Lincecum should need 20 to 30 days in the minor leagues and will throw a simulated game on Monday, per Shaikin.
“He’ll tell us when he’s ready,” Eppler added, per Shaikin. “He’s earned that.”
A change of scenery might be just the thing for Lincecum, though at this point in his career, it seems unlikely he’ll ever be a Cy Young candidate again. Still, he gives the Angels a veteran presence on the mound and a pitcher capable of either giving a team decent innings at the back end of the rotation or sliding into the bullpen as a long reliever.
Add in his extensive postseason experience, and Lincecum’s signing should bolster the Angels’ pitching staff.
Los Angeles currently sits 18-22 and has had trouble finding consistency in its starting rotation. The team currently is tied for 22nd in quality starts (16) and ranks below league average in ERA, WHIP and batting average against.
The team lost Andrew Heaney to season-ending surgery after one start, and Garrett Richards went down with a UCL tear earlier this month. If Lincecum can even be an average MLB starter, he’s going to be a huge boost to a staff in desperate need of help.
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