It’s Wednesday my dudes. That means it is time for links to make the middle of the week better.
Angels News
Angels get Joc Pederson, an OF prospect, and a pitcher from Dodgers for Luis Rengifo and a prospect. Oh yeah and Dodgers get Price and Betts and Twins get Kenta and Red Sox gets two prospects. What matters is that the Angels have a pitcher and even more OF bats to play with.
Ah look, ESPN wrote about Mike Trout! And it is about how he never won a playoff game. Should have seen that coming.
Angels were last in OPS at third base last year. This is apparently why Arte loves Rendon so much that he threw all that money at him. Huh. Didn’t feel like 3B was a problem.
Ohtani and Ippei are back in America! Spring Training is almost here.
Justin Upton is the Angels X-Factor. Sorry never watched that show. But it sounds about right. He is a Hot Pocket after all.
Angels Baseball official website has Spring Training info up. Can you feel it now Mr. Krabs?
Angel Stadium will host a memorial service for John Altobelli and family members killed in helicopter crash. Nice gesture.
Around Baseball
The BBWAA has voted to make all ballots public in their next election. They got rejected by the board of directors. Classic.
They did release the ballots of those that want it to be public. The no Jeter guy isn’t among them. Guess they didn’t want their gift basket.
Phillies to retire number 34 for Roy Halladay. Now if only a certain someone could have been able to retire a number of a recent Hall of Fame-er…
New Astros GM hired because he is super sure Houston didn’t cheat last year. Riiiiiiiiiiiight…
Fangraphs lost another writer. To ESPN? Guess they threw a ton of money at him. McDaniel will be trying to get ESPN to care about baseball more. Good luck.
Former Angel Sean Rodriguez is heading to Miami. To play baseball. Maybe. He is on a minor league deal.
Chris Young apparently learnt how to cheat from the Yankees. Manfred continues to panic as this cheating thing won’t stop.
Confirmed Dusty Baker will be managing the AL All Star team at Dodger Stadium. Oh that will be awkward.
That is all for today. Feel free to post more down below for those sweet up votes.
What’s up Halo Honks!
Glad to be part of the rejuvenated community. Bookmarking and starring this website now that it has replaced HH for me. Anyone going to Spring Training the first weekend? My friend who lives in AZ is getting married on the 23rd and that happens to be the weekend that games commence! He’s a Dodgers fan so I’m not sure if we will be going to their game first, but I’m definitely going to the Angels game on the 24th.
Also, I made a little East Coast itinerary for the Angels right after the All Star break. If you’re interested, let me know, I can send it to you. I plan on hitting up the stadiums in DC, PHI, and NYY/NYM. I wanted to stop by BAL but there’s nothing else there that interests me enough to visit the city. It’s a family/friend trip but it would be cool to have other Halo Honks there as well. Mike Trout’s return to PHI should be electric. I’m really looking forward to this season! 😎
This new blog already has over 200 members in 5 days of operation. And Vox thought they could kill us…
Not too bad at all, guys!
Think I’ve hit MLBTR a million times today. Something is holding this up.
I think our trade is contingent on the Mookie one so we may just be waiting on Boston and LA to finalize their physicals.
I have a feeling it’s David Price’s medicals
The suspense is killing me
can’t believe there’s still no info on which prospects the Halos are sending in this deal
I’d imagine that logistics may be involved if dealing with medical/physicals in the offseason. For all we know, the prospect was having dinner with his family in the DR last night when the trade went down and had to jump on a flight today.
Maybe, but trades are made with everyone mentioned and a pending physical attached.
It is fishing the names aren’t announced yet
What’s interesting is the mention of the deal having “a lot of moving parts.” I wonder if this involves various contingencies that are being sorted out.
I think it’s basically contingent on the Mookie trade going official. They can’t deal Joc and Stripling if there’s a chance the other trade falls apart and they’re left with holes in the OF and rotation.
I am still confused as to why the Dodgers gave up so much for Rengifo and someone who will probably end up in the 10-20 range on their prospect list.
I’m a super-skeptic of Eppler, but this seems like a generally unimpeachable trade.
Potentially underrated element here, Pederson is going to be the first true power hitting lefty since the Angels lowered the HR line on the right field scoreboard. Will be nice to have someone take advantage of that.
Curious to see how the lineup ends up looking. Pederson has hit a ton at the top of the order in his career. Might be nice to have some lefty-righty balance with Pederson, Trout, Ohtani, Rendon at the top. Especially with the 3-batter minimum bringing about an elimination of the lefty specialist role this season.
I see this as part salary dump and part role players it doesn’t need anymore by the Dodgers. With Betts, Bellinger and Pollock, you don’t need a platoon outfielder, Pederson, for $8 or $9 million. Stripling and Maede were the odd men out on a packed pitching staff. And while they may be Dodger cast-offs, I’m happy to have both. I agree with Mia above that Eppler has done good this off season.
@IEAngel isn’t it a 3-way trade Twins-Angels-RedSox? So looking at it as Rengifo and prospect for Jocular and Stripping (😆) isnt the end of the deal.
I thought it was a 3-way Dodgers-Red Sox-Twins deal, and then a follow-up Angels-Dodgers swap (like the Heaney deal that followed after the Marlins-Dodgers major deal). I could be wrong though, seems like there are still moving parts.
We don’t know everything we’re giving up yet. Sounds like it’s 2 prospects plus rengifo. The Dodgers mustve targeted someone they feel good about. Hopefully it isn’t anyone we regret too soon
I’d like to take a moment to apologize to Billy Eppler.
3 starting pitchers, Rendon, Joc, and Castro is much more beneficial than one Gerrit Cole. And we aren’t risking a 10 year deal on a guy who takes the ball 1/5 days.
I agree. Cole would’ve felt good but this is a better, more flexible team than it wouldve been.
But, but… Epp Sucks!
Doesn’t he?
If he had crawled into a hole after being beaten by the big bad Yankees organization, maybe. He has turned it around though, and in a smarter way. Looking forward to tracking these offseasons. I think the flexibility built into this, based on the injuries we have had in past years, is very necessary, and probably meant convincing Arte that big splashes for the sake of big splashes doesn’t put butts in seats long term – but winning gives you attendance and hope (which keeps people there).
This trade IMO moves Billy’s offseason grade from a B to an A. Everyone was freaking out about only getting Bundy and Teheran as pitching upgrades (myself included.) But Billy remained patient and opportunistic as he likes to call it. Getting Joc and Pederson makes us Wild Card favorites and challenges the Astericks for the division now that good ole Dusty Baker is at the helm! We have a much deeper team all around. Our offense is among the best in the league, the pitching staff has solid depth now, our bullpen has potential and our defense is stellar. Kudos to Billy for getting it done!
100% agreed. He recovered quite well.
Bu bubut what about killer instinct? Urgent need to urinate? Unweakness? The moves that scream champion? 3 million stupid people? Please oh please let Adam Kennedy approve of us? What about all the priorities that made Halos Heaven great? Actually Stripling is a far better pick up then some of the guys I was lowering my bar of hope for. PedWin is also gonna be a friggin dominant platoon in the OF too.
Yeah, Stripling could have a better year than Keuchel. It’s a lesson I needed to learn, the off-season doesn’t end before New Years.
Does Pages make an Adell or Marsh trade more likely?
Pages would be the 5th best OF prospect in the Angels system. So not likely.
Depends. If we ship out Adams and Knowles along with Rengifo, Pages doesn’t really boost the OF depth
Billy in desperate need of top-end pitching for a playoff push at the trade deadline is the biggest threat to Adell and Marsh remaining in the organization.
Make of this what you will.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1225131817390358528
Expectations? I feel nervous about that.
I read that as 3rd best in the AL West. But I see it’s better than that.
https://twitter.com/jimcallisMLB/status/1225110624507658242
If the Angels are getting Pages from the Dodgers as well, this tweet from Callis makes me giddy!
If he grows up to be like the fat kid, I’m all for it!
I’ll even take 75% of the GOAT, I’m not greedy.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1225102485712523264
Ken Rosenthal is now reporting more news. I’m curious if we are getting Pages and only giving up one prospect back along with Rengifo. I think Jeff and Turks are on to something about Chris Rodriguez being the piece going back if it is just one prospect. Fabian confirmed it isn’t any of the Angels top prospects (Adell, Marsh, Jackson) so Rodiriguex does fit this bill and Billy has shown a willingness to trade pitching prospects for the better or worse.
So, it looks like Stripling is the arm we’re getting. Where does he slot into the rotation and what does the rotation look like? Inquiring minds want to know.
Ohtani
Heaney
Canning
Bundy
Teheran
Stripling
The big question is if he can give us more than 100 IP
Maybe not in that order.
You’ve still got:
Pena
Barria
Sandoval
Suarez
In the wings.
I’m curious about the order Joe is going to put ’em in, wish I could see the whiteboard in his brain.
I doubt he’s committed to anything. Go into camp with 6 open rotation spots. 5 if Ohtani won’t be back right away.
Seems like Stripling has been used out of the bullpen quite a bit and has topped out at 122 innings in his all-star year in 2018. How should we think of him, more as a swing man?
Bring him as a starter. All pitchers were starters one time in there careers
Right, but I’m just trying to set my expectations. I don’t expect Stripling to be the savior we had hoped for this season, but should we assume that he’ll likely be a full-time starter or something short of that? It looks like the latter to me.
He will be what we need him to be. If we are deep enough that he can go to the pen then that’s a win for us.
I’m sure he’ll be a starter. If Bundy and Teheran can make 30 starts each and Ohtani does about 18, that leaves 84 starts left. That means Heaney, Canning and Stripling would have to make 28 starts apiece. While recent health issues give me reason to worry, I think this could be a solid rotation. Something the team hasn’t had for awhile.
The big news made me quit my procrastinating and finally register here. Site looks great! Thanks to those motivated people who made this happen.
Love this trade so far. Just praying that Jeremiah Jackson isn’t one of the prospects going to the Dodgers. Adams or Knowles I would be fine with–toolsy guys who likely never figure out how to hit top-tier pitching. JJ looks like a ballplayer to me–granted I’ve only seen video.
Rengifo will always live in my mind as the guy that made the final play (and a tough one) to seal the Skaggs-tribute no-hitter. Hope to see him do well with the Dodgers.
Fabian Ardaya with the Atheltic confirmed it is not going to be Adell, Marsh or Jackson going back. Knowles though is definitely in play.
Hey all, I finally made my way over here. The first thing I noticed is that the “Anaheim” is crossed out at the top of the page. Is there any particular reason for that?
Maybe it’s an ironic thing or maybe you’re trying to be edgy – that’s why I ask the question – but it’s a pretty big bummer for a lifelong Anaheim resident who enjoys the fact that the Angels play in my hometown. It seems like a needless shot at the city where our favorite team has played for over 50 years. Yes, the Angels are the Los Angels now in name, a decision by Arte that I understand for branding and revenue purposes, but will always resent. That said, if you simply put “LA Angels” up there, no problem. That is their actual name. Why cross out the “Anaheim”?
The Angels have LA roots and have the façade of current LA ties, but they’re an Anaheim/Orange County team. I know I’m being sensitive here, but I can’t help but be completely turned off by being greeted with that at the top of every page.
I’m one voice in a sea of Angel fans, and maybe the only one who cares. I just wanted to offer my opinion and give you creators the chance to explain in case I’m missing something in the spirit of this that would quell my irritation.
Thanks for your hard work in getting this going. It looks like it will continue to be a good community.
The fact is that the Angels ARE in Anaheim but according to MLB they are in LA. Putting them both up there is a bit snarky and also help with searches. Putting them both without one crossed out would look kinda weird I think.
May as well put California on there as well. That is still the name this team had for the longest period of time.
LA>California>Anaheim>LA. Full circle
Thanks for the response. It feels like there’s a better way to get that done without the implication of disrespect, whether intended or not, but that’s your call.
I was also turned off … for about 2 seconds then said “where is the link to donate?” 😂
We have news!
https://twitter.com/bnightengale/status/1225096445998460929?s=21
2 prospects from us. Still unknown. Stripling expected back with Joc.
Also, for anyone wanting to add tweets in the future, I copied the link to his tweet and not the embed code and it rendered properly.
Kenny confirms
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1225102485712523264
and we have twitter embeds!
@nightenfail … Who is Joe Pederson
My phone tried to correct it to Joe as well, along with Stripling to Stripping.
My old job
@eyespy … Stripping? You must have had a career as a wire cutter!
Actually, I was a line striper, but most everyone would read the side of the truck as strippers
I still have my 1st Dollar!
Hopefully a Frontline Pitcher!
Ross Stripling took “Dodgers” off his Twitter description last night. Turks and I think Friedman is targeting our one arm with true ace upside Chris Rodriguez
Could also be Adams, Knowles, or Jeremiah Jackson.
Rodriguez is a boom or bust guy. If he somehow gets healthy, we’ll regret this in 3 years. But that’s a big if and we definitely need help now.
So another Clevinger, if you can fix him it’s a steal.
MLB TradeRumors’ updated coverage expects it to be Stripling with “a lot of moving parts” to be hashed out before it’s finallized. In other words, nothing new to report.
I fully expected to wake up to a name, are these guys using the same app from the Iowa caucuses to submit trades?
The benefit of a terrible season like 2019, is to play young talent enough to showcase it and build it’s value up. This is the benefit of not having Mike Scioscia, who would play a washed up veteran every single time over talent that requires MLB reps to develop.
(3 seasons of CJ Cron) < (1 season of Luis Rengifo PLUS 1 season of Joc Pedersen + MORE!)
RE: “Ohtani and Ippei are back in America! Spring Training is almost here”
I wonder if Ippei translates for Ohtani while he is in Japan as well. 😂😂😂
Ohtani translates for Ippei while in Japan 😉
Do you need a translator in your home country? 🤔
I do when I’m in New England (read Bah-stun) or the South.
I was driving through Oklahoma once and stopped for gas and snacks, and the lady at the register asked me where I was from, and I said “not around here” and she said “I know, sweetie”
Apparently us Californians have a very distinct accent, just like we make fun of Bahstan and the south for.
A Canadian once told me that Californians have “news anchor accents” which really surprised me. Then I started thinking about all the news anchors I have heard over the years and . . . yes they all sound like us. Imagine someone doing the CBS nightly news with a Boston accent.
Huh. Now I’m wondering if the big news stations recruit almost exclusively from CA. That’s something I hadn’t noticed before. I know a lot of local reporters in LA have gone on to bigger outlets.
I believe it is a Midwest accent that a lot of people in LA have picked up (to be ‘neutral’ for the news and other programming). It has become a ‘California’ thing as a consequence.
Nope. California people pronounce roof and creek incorrectly and they say soda when they mean pop.
I have enough friends to know that there are some little blips that reveal a Midwestern accent. They are fairly neutral but it still comes out here and there. We apparently don’t have anything specific here in California that makes someone say “hey you must be from California”. Ask a midwesterner to say the word “wolf” and you’ll know what I mean.
Tahnight on NBC, we have some wicked awesome news…
It’s because we talk fast. I had the same issue in tn and ky. Crazy, I came home to cali and everyone said I had a country accent.
But you’re not native, no native Californian says “Cali”. Cali was a cartel in Colombia.
“Cali” is the tell of the pretender.
“Cali” is for assholes. Like people from SoCal who get infected with the Hella. People who actually open their actual mouths and tell you with actual words that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas….” use Cali and Hella.
BRO, YOUVE NEVER HAD TACOS!?
That is a DEEEP Trevor Noah reference.
hahahahaha
@Mia sure. Some of us do.
The suspense on this Joc trade is killing me…went to sleep last night thrilled at Joc for Rengifo, now it could get even better!
Anxious? Joc gave you an itch?
Waiting for John Madden to bust in at that comment…
Tough actin’
It’s really interesting that there is NOTHING mentioned about any of this on the Halos or Doyers websites. There still must be a bunch of i’s to dot and t’s to cross, not to mention players to inform.
Yeah. It was odd that the official site had nothing.
Probably ends up Stripling but my gut keeps saying Price. There was media-reported interest there earlier in the offseason from us. Nobody seems willing to ID the pitcher we’re getting at the same time we’re waiting for the Red Sox trade to go official.
I could see a scenario where LA called us as soon as their deal was coming together to see if they can reduce the financial sting of the trade….in which case wow that’s amazing GM’ing if they ultimately end up trading Joc/Maeda/Verdugo/Pages for Mookie Betts, Rengifo and Jordyn Adams while taking on virtually no extra payroll
The Dodgers are already getting millions from Red Sox to offset a portion of Price’s contract, and the trade of Pederson and Maeda mean the team is still below CBT. I don’t see a logical scenario where Price moves along to the Angels.
The official sites usually wait until the signatures and physicals are done.
It’s all over Halos Heaven
Heard of it?
Vaguely……
@eyespy … Lemme FTFY: “It’s all over at Halos Heaven”
RIP HH.