Fangraphs now gives the Angels a better than even chance of making the playoffs somehow. Bleacher Report ranked the top 20 highest paid players according to what they’ve done lately. Not surprisingly, Mike Trout ranked number one on this list. Perhaps also not surprisingly, Albert Pujols ranked worst, other than possibly Justin Verlander who can’t play at all. Anthony Rendon came in at number 6.
Links From Around Baseball
The Yankees’ offense is having a miserable year so far. Even Gerrit Cole can’t win games if he gets no run support. Shane Bieber, meanwhile, is having a great year.
Major League Baseball upheld the two game suspension for Nick Castellanos.
The Reds activated Sonny Gray and outrighted Cam Bedrosian to their alternate site.
I’m just not even sure what was the point of this at-bat, other than to have some fun.
And Now For The Injuries
Now the Phillies have three players on the COVID IL. None tested positive. This is protocol because of contact with some coaches who tested positive. They appear to be Paco Figueroa and Bobby Meacham.
Ronald Acuña Jr. has an abdominal strain. Since he’s the only guy ahead of Mike Trout in fWAR for the season, it looks like Mike Trout may soon be the leader. Ronald Acuña Jr. is currently listed as day to day.
Stephen Strasburg is on the ten day injured list with right shoulder inflammation.
Luis Avilan opted to undergo Tommy John surgery.
Julio Teheran is apparently injured.
The Minnesota Twins are now testing negative to COVID-19 and will possible be able to do a double header today with the Oakland Athletics.
All of the Astros who were on the COVID IL will be reactivated prior to today’s game against the Rockies except for Josέ Altuve.
Starling Marte suffered a non-displaced fracture of the 12th rib on his left side. He is going to the injured list.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
3 hits so far in the Doyer/Ms game and they’re in the 9th. Need another Dodger run (sorry, but hey)
and there’s the final. 1-0, three hits all game. So we can gain on the Ms tonight.
Pujols to DH tonight? Nothing like a dose of weak grounders ending up in a double play.
Wow that lineup looks weak without Ohtani and Rendon.
Hope better defense and pitching are on hand tonight.
Yeah, having Albert hit 6th all these games is not a recipe for success. Anything on the ground is automatic DP.
But Rojas is hitting 5th tonight with his .056 batting average and that is even worse!
Sorry to be the negative Nancy here but I feel our season THIS close to going up in flames. Rendon couldn’t hit even before hurting his groin which I expect to be season long issue. Ohtani may have blister issues all year. Our SP looks shaky still. Fletcher has also looked not as good as he was since getting the contract (perhaps regression to the mean) . I think the Toronto /KC series look like the usual April killer unless they suddenly turn it around.
April 20,2021. The day the Angels baseball season was declared over. 😭
Wow! That is as ‘Half Empty” a comment as I’ve seen in a long time.
Rendon couldn’t hit even before the injury – lol! You mean in the first 9 games of the season?!
The first 9 games of the season where he put up 125 wRC+ with a .290 AVG.
You know you are good when outperforming league average is considered not being able to hit.
Exactly! And protecting Trout in the lineup.
You are right that you are Negative Nancy, 140 some odd games left and look how good the offence has been and the Bullpen is good and getting better and the starters are going to have some tough games. In Baseball you win one series at a time, so one loss to the Rangers is nothing to complain about. Look at how well Trouty has played and he is not even in a groove. Fletch is just getting it going. JUp is doing well and Walsh is going to go back to first, but is a darn good RF. And we almost made a big comeback last night. I am nowhere close to the glass half empty and believe that we will make the playoffs.
The conclusion is sound (Angels are probably a 12-18 ranked team in baseball), but as others have mentioned, some of the premises are a little shaky. Rendon, Fletcher should bounce back. SP is possibly concerning, as is the bullpen, because they’re always volatile. Depth an issue, and Trout, Ohtani, and Walsh are (probably) not going to hit at the clips they have all season.
“With all due respect sir, I think this will be our finest hour.”
https://youtu.be/sngs6wj8tEY
….But I am worried about our heat shield.
Negative Nancy is right.
What do we do if Debbie downer stops by?
Dude, that’s some serious buzzkill for 4/20.
Losing this series to Texas would really hurt. This is the type of team we need to beat consistently to get to October. Every loss to Texas means a win we need against a good team.
As of last week I was OK with Fletcher and Rendon struggling. Normally teams have guys rotate carrying the them. I figured those two would heat up about the time Ohtani slowed down.
The lack of true depth is starting to show a bit. Hopefully by mid year Marsh is raking in right and before then Rendon and Fletcher play up to potential. And Trout can’t keep K’ing at this rate, can he?
and Adell has figured how to read the ball off the bat
I think Fletcher is coming around, 9/27 in the last week or so.
Giving up six runs to Texas was just brutal. Doubly so considering Bundy was on the mound.
Scoring four runs should beat those guys. Defense needs to step up and and help the pitching staff tonight.
No Ohtani batting tonight.
Yep. Texas is NOT a good team, and yet they beat us with smoke and mirrors. Like last year we get punked by an inferior team.
If we lose tonight I WILL be concerned about our prospects for 2021 overall. Because it will show that we really have not improved or learned from experience. Any team in MLB can beat any other on any given day, but losing a SERIES when it is our first divisional matchup of the year and to a far inferior team to boot would not be a good sign.
Good teams beat the teams they are supposed to beat. Plain and simple. If we lose tonight (even though Rendon is out) I would say it IS time to press the panic button.
Prospects? Everyone knows that the Angels don’t have any prospects.
Ok, team, let’s get back on the wagon and begin a winning streak here. I’d rather the M’s beat the Dodgers just because. I’m truly not worried about them, they’ll do Mariner things and start an epic fail mid way through the season. Still think it’s the A’s and Trashtros that we need to be aware of. Bottom line though, just got to win more consistently against sub 500 clubs, THE END. That and stop playing pujols so often, for goodness sakes!
im not getting this sutton / vasgersian situation. does matt call games when its convenient for him?
Agreed! And I’m already finding Sutton wearing. Trying a bit too hard.
I think he has a very odd sense of what the listener might find humorous.
His sense of humor is a little bit out there. I also find his set-ups awkward and grating – the whole, “Gubi’s going to explain why that’s important” type of thing. It feels so manufactured. Rojas would do a better job of leading Gubicza to that discourse while making it seem like an actual conversation. With Sutton it feels condescending, in a way.
Condescending? Since day 1 my wife has been complaining about Sutton being effusive. By the second game, I agreed.
I like Sutton more than Vasgersian. But, my wife has always told me I’m weird.
It’s just funny to me that the Angels announced Vasgersian as The Guy without even really mentioning Sutton other than as a little footnote that he was also joining the team. Sutton is clearly the voice of the Angels in 2021 and was never really announced as such.
I agree it is weird and would kind of just prefer they go with Sutton if ‘MATTY’ is just always going to be parachuting in remotely from the East Coast when he’s free.
It (announcing) just feels very Angels-esque doesn’t it?
Grandpa Farewell Tour “fun fact of the day” is:
From 2001 to 2003 Pujols’ primary defensive position was………Left Field!
Left field 269 games
First base 125 games
Third base 96 games
Right field 39 games
Believe it or not!
I do remember him out in left, was serviceable. The body continued to bulk up and made him play a position where range would not be a priority. Strictly 1st/3rd by the time Arte made the 10-yr mistake. The last 5-years have just dragged the Angels down, it is painful to watch him play to be honest.
I respect Albert and his clubhouse leadership. He is a good guy off the field, lots of charity events, Down Syndrome fundraisers, etc. Angels will never disrespect him.
Here’s to 2022! Imagine a Rizzo or Freeman at first? But ok with Walsh (needs to continue growth) and invest in creating a lights out bullpen. The Angels are second to last in average velocity amongst bullpens in MLB. After watching Padre vs Dodgers, the advantage in being able to throw a ball by a hitter is large with those stupid extra inning rules.
Good morning, rough night for us last night, but watching Albert on the front end of a double steal will stay implanted for a long time.
This feat after getting on base courtesy of the worlds longest single to the left field corner was incomprehensible.
I think Albert’s greatest remaining super power is his ability to lull the opponent to sleep at any given time.
Amazing how he can hit a shot off the outfield wall and stretch it into a single.
This gets my “comment of the year” vote.
Clearly the pitcher thought he was gassed after the single. He was completely ignored at second base.
While his physical skills rapidly deteriorated, Albert has remained a very smart player who stays aware of the game. He has multiple steals with the Angels that are all due to savvy, not speed.
Granted, he’s been thrown out a bit too much trying to get extra bases while running, but those are the result of a lack of baseball smarts. Rather, they were the result of a failure to realize exactly how much his physical ability to run declined.
Glad we didn’t keep Bedrock. 7 runs allowed, 10 hits, 2 HRs, six walks in 5.2 IP. Yeesh.
Did they only ever play him with men already on base?
I feel bad for the guy. The wheels came off his career pretty quickly.
Whatever happened to Caleb Kowart?
Per BB Ref he’s in the Yanks minor league system.
Is he still hitting (or trying to) or has he been fully converted to a pitcher?
It says third base.
“Whatever Happened To” as a regular feature would be a great addition to this site!
This is a great idea.
I think the first feature should be ” Whatever happened to Mickey Callaway”.
They must be doing one Hell of an investigation is all I can figure.
Brandon Wood
Dallas McPherson
Reggie Willits
…
Casey Kotchman
Roberto Baldoquin
where’s Grant Green?
He’s probably still tied up in Christie’s basement.
This reminds me of…
