I never can get enough of Ohtani homers. Here is the one off Shane Bieber that cleared the batter’s eye. The Angels seem to be specializing in opposite field home runs lately. That’s fine by me as long as they keep going out. Felix Pena is going to miss two to four weeks with his grade 1 hamstring strain.
Links From Around Baseball
Mike Bolsinger’s lawsuit against the Astros for the sign stealing scandal was dismissed. Mariners pitcher Roenis Elias will undergo Tommy John surgery. Apparently, Framber Valdez will avoid surgery, but he will still be out of action for a long time. Danny Santana is released from the hospital and has a bunch of stitches in his cut foot.
Oh! My bad! I was supposed to catch that, wasn’t I?
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
here I am, reading too much into today’s lineup. We start with Fletch, Walsh at 1b, Trout, Rendon….so it looks like our regulars. Then, in the 7th spot, playing rightfield, we have Lagares. Is it meaningful? Probably not but it strikes me as something to keep an eye on.
Despite Fowler’s deteriorating skillset, his OPS was still .790 against RHP’s the last 2 years. Lagares defense plays much better in Right field but I just don’t see Lagares getting the majority of the starts over FOJ Dexter Fowler out of the gate. Now maybe if Fowler goes all Ibanez on us that could change but initially Lagares will be riding some early inning pine.
Every Baseball Season, every Spring, every team, every player is one great big “IF”. I do believe that the potential exists that we (Angels) will put if all together in 2021. Very few Buttercups. Go Angels!!!
But why do you build me up?!
I like the change from from last season to this Spring in Ohtani’s AB. Pitching meh but still he has to start some where. I can see Shohei get a 5.0 rWar and Rendon get an 8.0 rWar along with Trouty pulling in at 8.5 for a threesome total of 21.5, very doable. Add in Fletcher at a 4.0 and that is an outstanding foursome of over 25 rWar.
There are a couple keys to this season. Ohtani is definitely one of them. If he can stay locked in at the plate and pitch effectively and stay healthy- that’s collectively probably 6 to 9 WAR which could definitely be a difference maker.
If the combination of Rendon, Trout and Ohtani yield 20-plus WAR (which is a potential if things go well) this could be a surprising (in a good way) season.
Seems like every year it’s a different combination of ifs/thens for us to be anything above .500.
I hope you’re right. A few really good pieces look good so far. I’m just tempering my own expectations for anything different than what we’ve been receiving for a decade plus.
Agreed. That’s why these are ‘if’s’ and ‘keys’. They are not predictions. But the potential is there.
We’re due.
Yea we are!!!
The problem is what those keys unlock. If the Angels were a solid contender to make the playoffs and the keys potentially unlocked a championship, I’d be happy.
The past few years the keys were necessary just to have a chance at a playoff spot, and this year seems to be no different.
Once we play over .500 ball I’ll get a little more excited. We are all too use to slow starts in April/May, a number of players with large contracts disappointing, and injuries happening to pitching. We’re already thin on quality starting pitching and going into the season relying on long relievers to get us through to set-up/closer. Stop me if we’ve seen this before. I love optimism and a lot of people on here have had their eye on a guy or two. Those perspectives are much appreciated and I, too, wish for many more success than what we’ve seen the last handful of years.
Spring optimism here, but if those breaks go our way I think an AL West championship is the best case scenario.
I expect the rotation to keep us in games most nights. I expect the offense to do the same. I expect Iglesias to close most of his chances. Most over/unders peg us at about 84 wins.
But if Ohtani goes off offensively and starts say 15 games, that could push us to 90 wins. And in a division with no clear Big Dog, that could take the crown.
yep. I believe Houston is going to implode. I think their 29-31 record was where they’re at. I can see it being between us and Oakland. Quintana looks good. Too bad we didn’t get another quality guy. I don’t have that same confidence in Cobb.
I’d love to see Houston implode. Oakland never seems to do so.
I can see a lot of close ball games between the three of us. Nobody is great but nobody is horrible. Finding a way to win a series 2-1 rather than drop the close game is going to be huge.
For those close games we have a lot of power and a great closer.
Impossible to not be stoked about Ohtani right now. It is Spring but we’re seeing everything we dreamed he would be.
He’s healthy, he’s confident, and he’s in his prime.
Yeah. But I am not surprised.
I have known all along he had this in him. On the other side, some idiots here (not you Jeff) have been calling over the last year or so to trade Shohei. I have always been very vocal about NOT trading Ohtani.
He’s too good; and cheap to boot!
You might be hearin frum mee in 90 dayze
Talent was never a issue, it was his durability What good is a Lamborghini that can’t go past 10 miles?
Thanks for the warning
Well, if you are talking about pitching I would agree that he is still a question mark…
But remember, his injury did not and does not impact his hitting. Last year at the plate was an anomaly. Even if he is meh as a pitcher we likely still have a major impact bat in the middle of the order to complement Trout/Rendon.
If he produces in the regular season anything close to what we’ve seen the last two weeks we have a major value at DH, regardless of what he may or may not do on the mound.
IF he also produces like he is capable of doing on the mound you’ve got a potential MVP candidate!
That is most Lamborghinis. I remember back in the 70s, Road & Track would always do supercar comparison tests. On paper, Lamborghini always beat the Ferrari, but in practice they could never get the Lambo to function well enough to beat the Ferrari in their tests. It always malfunctioned.
Not that I wouldn’t really love to have a Miura. . .
I went into this off season saying it was best to plan for nothing from Ohtani that way anything he gives us is a bonus. At least from the pitching side.
My expectations were about 120 wRC+ and a handful of innings. Which would still be nice. But so far it looks like he could do so much more.
Agree that as far as pitching is concerned we should be only cautiously optimistic. He’s still a question mark there as so many guys are not the same after TJ surgery.
He’s a huge question mark on the mound. Just a hunch but if the Angels were to get 15 starts of 5 innings or so each I think they’d take it.
there are a few weeks during the season with 2 travel days in which his starts can be skipped. Barria can step in a few times as a starter.
In short, I don’t expect a straight 6 man rotation. During extended streaks of games, yes. but on weeks with travel days I think the entire rotation gets pushed back a day so everyone gets extra rest and weeks with 2 days means people get skipped.
I’m getting excited about Quintana. Dude looks like he can pitch.
Yeah, maybe he’s this season’s Bundy. Nice job. Ohtani-san is looking like post-modern Godzilla at the plate. Not shabby on the mound, but those mega dingers are incredible.
And the dude can fly like Rodan too.
http://media.heartlandtv.com/images/Astro+Monster+2.gif
He looks like he has recovered his form of several years ago. Of course this is only ST. I pray he doesn’t start sucking once the real season begins.
But he does LOOK good. He is sharp and his control is there — that’s the key for him since he’s not a power pitcher.
well, 100 mph suggests he might be that as well!
Quintana hit 100mph?
Last season his avg. fastball velo was 91.5mph. The guy lives at 88-93mph. No way hit hit 100.
I don’t believe it. The gun must have been broken! We are not talking Shohei here.
Quintana does not posses that type of arm. He has looked pretty good though.
Why are you replying to me? I KNOW he doesn’t possess that type of arm! Did you even read my comment to Eric??
He might be a guy that a year basically off actually helps. He’s 32, about 1500 MLB innings on the arm, minors and youth baseball before that.
He knows how to pitch. Muscle memory is a real thing. But a long rest just the other side of 30 was likely great for his body.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed. We really need him to be good this year…