Good morning Angels fans. Aspirin is good for the pain. Use them these days off. Anyways, here are some links.
Angels News
Because of weather, there was a double header yesterday. Today’s game is moved to Anaheim next time the Astros are in town. The bad 7 inning kind. At least the Angels can lose faster that way. Which means there is no game today. Or tomorrow.
First game was a Suarez implosion. Didn’t get an out in the second. Only lost 6-3 somehow. Tommy La Stella hit a home run so that was nice. And Jaime Barria may be the second best starter on the roster. But Anthony Rendon lost his hit streak.
Second game was unusual. Joe Maddon decided to shake the lineup up again and Trout hit leadoff for the first time since 2018. This resulted in a 12-5 shellacking of the Astros. Not many hard hit balls though walks, situational hitting, and Astros miscues got runs on the board. The pitching was slightly better.
Oh, and Maddon got thrown out. Again.
Shohei Ohtani took some fly balls in the outfield and groudballs at first base. A RF/closer for Ohtani in the future may be how he salvages this two way player thing.
Trade rumors are flying due to the Angels sucking. Blue Jays looking at Angels players. Bundy is the most popular due to being a good pitcher. But Billy Eppler may be out of a job, so who knows what happens come the 31st.
Around Baseball
Lucas Giolito of the White Sox has thrown a no hitter. Pirates had to show up the Angels somehow. Oh and White Sox OF Eloy Jimenez got injured celebrating...
Blue Jays 3B Travis Shaw is injured. Right knee. That isn’t good.
Jon Berti of the Mrlins walked, stole second, then third, then home in one inning. Now THAT is the baseball I love to watch.
Justin Bour is liked in Japan. Must be nice having fans in the stands.
Tips on how to not kill grass with tarps. Groundscrews need this for how bad it has been this year.
The Mets tarp gets blow away due to wind. Lots of tarp things this year.
J.A. Happ thinks Yankees are trying to get out of paying his option for 2021. Well, Angels need pitching so… Go get him whoever the GM is next year!
Kole Calhoun gets called out for intentionally getting hit in a rundown. I really miss him.
The Indians’ Mike Clevinger is pitching today despite rumors. Plesac isn’t pitching soon, because there is no room in the rotation. Right. That is the reason.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes.
The system is a fraternity in some areas and that is a fact. But my family is and has been in law enforcement and they have worked their asses off to make there communities safer. There should be change no doubt, and the system needs scrutiny but my point is not all cops or police departments are corrupt or racist. With that said l will also say there needs to be prosecutions to prove to us and the good police that the old ways are not to be tolerated any longer. l am proud of the players saying enough is enough.
OK let me get this straight and feel free to help me out here. The Angels have horrible pitching and as bad as it has been in the past say 10 years we may have a good one on the staff that we should now trade for some pitching. Like the construction business as you well know a good house is built on a solid foundation, well so is a good baseball team along with it’s components such as in pitching, defense, hitting along with player development. We now have a piece in the OF in Trout, 2 pieces in the infield in Rendon and Fletcher and one starting pitcher and l refer to that as a start. In the last year l have read that we can get a big haul for Trout, Fletcher, and how others could bring us something in the way of decent pitching. Trading for draft picks or minor leaguers is great if you can afford to take a chance, but we can’t afford to trade Bundy if he is the only decent starter we have. And if we did do you really believe that some other team is going to give us two or three “for sure” pitchers?
It’s all about maximizing the window of opportunity.
Fletcher provides a window of 2021 – 2025. If you think the Angels are going to be competitive sometime within that window, then you keep him.
Bundy provides a window of opportunity in 2021. Even if the Angels keep Bundy, at best they “will have a chance at a wild card.” If Bundy can bring back pieces that will improve the team in 2022 and 2023, I think that is a good trade, because the Angels have a better chance if they focus on 2022.
MLBTR has Bundy as the #3 trade chip right now, La Stella, Castro, and Goodwin also fairly prominent. Really, I think Eppler has enough to add some bullpen arms for the future without trading Bundy, and a shot at a lot more if he does. He’s a professional and should be a pro and build a team for the future whether he thinks he’s leading it or not.
Not only that, but doing anything to sabotage the organization out of spite would be shooting himself in the foot.
There is a reason that kind of thing doesn’t happen, and it is because in the small world of MLB front offices and ownership if a lame duck GM did that he would surely never get an MLB job again.
If we were going to trade Fletcher, what should we get for him?
Mike Trout
Lucas Giolito?
Yep. You don’t trade David Fletcher. Fletcher is the REASON you want to win a championship..
David Fletcher is the reason we fans root for the team. If our team was made up of Josh Beckett and Manny Ramirez types not only would I not root for them, I would not want them to win.
It is not just the uniform we root for it is the men who wear it. Owners and GM’s need to always remember that.
It the reason most of us would not want Osuna on our team even if he was dominant as a closer.
Totally!
High quality, MLB ready or near MLB ready pitching. I think he stays, though.
fangraphs on trout: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/it-is-time-for-mike-trout-to-be-less-patient/
Nice find, good read and helps explain what is going on. With all the taking so many third strikes that is telling in that he is not swinging the bat at strikes. Time to go after first pitch should start now. l believe Trouty comes out of this slump big time.
I had been an Eppler fan since he got Simmons, now it’s been a five year nightmare with nothing to show and a barely improved minors, we went from 30 to maybe (depends on who looks at it) around 20, not as incredible as we (especially me) hoped for with all he was saying about improving it. Sure we weren’t signing number one picks but we should have at least built our pitching. Adell and Canning still need to prove themselves but I’m still glad we got them. Detmers and seminaris were good pick ups but one year of two seemingly good pitching prospects (I’m not hating on them just using it as a point) isn’t enough for Eppler to get back on my good side.
And I know it’s not all in his control but everything has gone completely wrong with him here, sure not his fault we keep getting injuries but then maybe that could be on trainers but we don’t for sure know. It’s tough and last year Brad was the scapegoat so maybe it’ll be Eppler walking out that door. Also loving Maddon standing up for his guys, whether we barely have a lead or way ahead (a rarity but fun sight this year!)
LOL!!! How do we even know if Detmers is any good yet?
We just drafted him in June!! Come on people, talk about getting ahead of ourselves…..LMFAO!!
Up until 2 months ago Jo Adell was a lock to become the next Willie Mays here…….UNTIL HE WASN’T!!!
How about we wait and see first before the premature predictions PLZ 😆 😆 !!!
He said Detmers was a good pickup. Given the information available at the time of the draft, the consensus among evaluators, and the organizational needs it was a good pickup. Whether or not he becomes a good Angel or a good trade chip is still to be determined.
I have been wrong on so much in here, but I thought it was too early for Adell (even though I was excited to see him.) When I said not to get ahead of our skis and that Byron Buxton was a sure thing too, it got pretty fiery in the replies. I’m not shocked at his numbers, but I doubt he’s lost too much stock in trade value. It’s such a huge jump – especially not getting any minor league work since last year. The difference between AA and Majors pitching is huge. He needs time. If we could get the right deal, I think Jeff is right. No pitching, no playoffs. We definitely need one of those 18 pitchers in the first 21 rounds to come through from 2019. Maybe Kochanowicz?
Another add to your trade idea Jeff. We eat all of Pujols contract, including his league minimum and we get a popcorn vendor from Detroit too.
It got pretty fiery in the replies? Lol.
Dude. I was excited too and for someone as perpetually pessimistic as I am I am ashamed that i let BranJordon Wooddell buttercup me like a bitch.
Teaches me to have any hope.
Adell still has a good chance at making it in the bigs, just not in this system. I just hope he isn’t too broken yet.
I kept saying that Mike Cameron is probably what Adell’s ceiling and I still think it’s accurate. 😉
Bundy
Ohtani
Skaggs
Heaney
Canning
as your front five with Barria, Sandoval, Detmers, and Seminaris in the wings should have been good enough to get the 2020 Angels into the playoffs, especially with the heralded Callaway as the pitching coach.
In the same reality where Ohtani and Skaggs are available to pitch for the 2020 Angels, Bundy wouldn’t be better than expected. The Angels would still be short a front-line pitcher and a better bullpen.
I had the Angel’s winning 28 games
Now it looks like 20 games is a real possibility. 😫
For you stats guys, here’s one:
Mendoza * 1/2 > Upton
So, you are saying we should have gone 10/250?
I hadn’t thought of the Eppler effect on the trade deadline. Interesting.