Welcome! Today’s links mostly only concern the Angels in the most general sense, other than the Job Posting links. Anthony Rendon drove in two runs in the first inning last night as well as eventually scoring himself. For more information, see the postgame thread.
Management and Umpires
MLB expanded its contract for COVID-19 testing to include the minor leagues. That’s something.
Rob Manfred downplays the possibility of a lockout.
Meanwhile, you too can jump into the middle of the potentially contentious labor relations. For the modest price of $2.2 Billion you might be able to get an expansion franchise.
Hey! The umpires bullied Aaron Boone.
Links From Around Baseball
Vlad Guerrero Jr. is putting on a show. Meanwhile, whatever happened to Roberto Baldoquin? He appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth, although minor league contraction may have eliminated the job he might otherwise have found somewhere.
Garrett Richards is still out there pitching.
Gary Sanchez continues to struggle and will now lose playing time to Kyle Higashioka.
Mike Fiers has been reinstated from the injured list. He will be in the bullpen for now.
Job Postings
The Angels are hiring a Full Time Minor League Rehab Coordinator.
They are also hiring a Full Time Tech Services Manager.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Just what in the actual heck is happening with our pervert, suspended Pitching Coach?
How’s that investigation coming Ångels?
The Coach was watching the NFL Draft last night and went missing after seeing Zach Wilson’s mom…..
Seems to me that this knucklehead team we all worship has serious front office issues. Not enough scouting to track down those nuggets of talent. Not enough coaching to polish them up. When pitching sucks for this long, the issue has to be at the top of the pyramid. Poor decisions are making it impossible for this team to find and develop talent. Parts of this team are the best I have ever seen, period. Parts of this team make me want to curl up in a fetal ball and sob gently.
What’s really scary is Bundy, Heaney, Quintana, Cobb, Iglasias and Watson are all FA after this season with minimal talent waiting in the wings. Yes, some of these guys will be no big loss but having to replace that much pitching on the FA market is a tall task. Our only hope is that the ball isn’t juiced and we can scoop up mediocre talent and still wins games with our offense.
Extending Bundy is a must but sadly our window has probably closed to get him without having to bid at FA prices.
For anyone who saw the game last night, here’s a video of Geddy Lee doing the BP with the Angels years ago. Amazing.
https://twitter.com/classicMLBvids/status/1232864941637619712?s=20
Those were the days. Nothing like Canucks trying to figure out baseball. I believe this was part of Rush’s stop at Irvine Meadows in April 1992.
The Angels seemed to be alot more receptive to share facilities and publicity events with celebrities and rockers back then. It seemed like Mark Langston was behind some of this with his relationship with Geddy Lee and others.
In Later years, I think Sosh put the kibosh on most of these events . In fact I remember when he first took over, the team wanted to bring in Bruce Hornsby during spring training to work out with the players. But Sosh said emphatically “NO” and “unless he’s Rogers Hornsby he’s not working out with the Angels”
I am supporting making Covid a less racist virus, girly empowerment, homeless dogs, crazy people and probably six other virtue signals by the football league full of broken shells of past players and beaten wives and girlfriends by supportively watching the fully vaccinated coverage of the fully vaccinated NFL draft from the extraordinarily vaccinated Cleveland covered by truly honestly vaccinated jock mouths from the fully vaccinated live sets near the private green rooms that have been literally engorged with vaccination with regular looks into the undeniably fully vaccinated draft rooms of each team sending messages to the group of eye blurringly vaccinated fans who give the pick to the heartless robot who will tell me who the Steelers draft in a couple hours.
I love watching football, but f*** I hate any time I can’t fast forward through the NFL’s efforts to show me how soft their pink gooey heart is. Maybe by 11:30 ESt I will have successfully been battered into mumbling “Maybe all those NFL guys really are super concerned about solving all the world’s problems….”.
Baseball is 100% better in this empty virtue signal category of sports “entertainment”.
Nicely stated…lol. Two things are a given with the Draft; Raiders reach and Steelers steal.
Funny enough, last night I think it was the opposite. Raiders stole and Steelers reached. Just my two cents
The Raiders stole? Maybe if the front door was left wide open with a flashing neon welcome sign.
Only the NFL could unveil a statue of Jim Brown while wearing pink for breast cancer awareness. Truly caring about women there.
At least it’s not a statue of O.J. in pink. Thats would not be a good look for the league.
I remember going to a game and fans chanting wife beater to magglio ordonez in the late 90s. Every sports industry is just as dumb as the next when it comes to being hypocrites.
Stand up 2 cancer while chew is still being used throughout the league.
Next stop, NFL Draft will be held in one of three places, India, Mexico, or Brazil.
Definitely not New Zealand however!!!
They have Covid under control too much to want to go there, plus they good infrastrukture tew. 😀
https://www.newsbreak.com/n/0ZWUQICA?s=i3
It looks like Eric Kay will be in court sometime in August. Now the question is: Will he name others as having knowledge of his actions and can he provide any proof? Can they tie him to the pills Tyler took that night?
Arte needs to fear the civil suit, Kay and his dealer are likely the only ones going down criminally.
I wonder if Kay rolls on his supplier. He seems like a low level user who sold to supply his own habit so he probably wouldn’t be rolling over on a high level cartel member.
having a reputation as a snitch isn’t good in prison, I’ve heard, but the less you’re there the better I guess.
From what i’ve hear from guys who have been there, snitching’s pretty rough. At the very least you will be completely shunned the entire time you are inside. Most likely worse will be done to you. Honestly, unless they are cutting your time by A TON and sending you to a soft camp, or just not sending you to prison if you snitch, I wouldn’t recommend it. Most guys can keep their head down and avoid most problems in prison but if you are a snitch it’s pretty much guaranteed trouble will entertain itself with you and no one is going to help you.
I hope Kay is actually able to roll on someone who is a big enough player that he can get a good deal. Kay sucks but I’d rather he get off lighter and a bigger fish gets fried.
Eric Kay has already tried to save his own skin by naming Tim Mead. He’s looking at hard time and I expect him to be willing to rat on whoever he possibly can to save some. Having proof will be tough unless there are text messages which we are not aware of.
The Venmo receipts and text messages are damning for him but I wonder if the Feds can tie him to those particular pills. I find Kay’s statements that he’s both an addict and refused free drugs from Tyler that night to be incredibly unbelievable, however Tyler having more than one source of pills is highly likely.
I don’t see Kay having any issues no to roll on any big time drug dealer, he is too far down the food chain. He may implicate others in The Angels organization. By October or November we should have a pretty good picture of what went on.
Angels being found incompetent is certainly going to be in the opening paragraph of whatever judgement is announced.
Well at least we won’t have to face this Angel killer this weekend. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/04/mariners-marco-gonzales-injured-list.html
Nobody asked, but; We have given up the most runs in MLB, think better pitching would help?……Why do the Angels dislike good pitching…..So which is better, our starting pitchers or our BP? Statistically it’s close but the BP is better as our SP is the worst in the league……So is there any blame to be put to this? Glad I asked, why yes, yes there is blame to be placed. Hello Arte. Arte is the only owner since 2003 as there has been 5 General Managers in that time. Stoneman has been the most successful GM in that time, but even he could not get us back to the WS. Then came Reagans and that was a disaster, but in his defense Arte was pulling the strings. Diporto followed and everyone thought that it was all Mike’s fault that he quit and it was to some degree. But when a GM can’t GM then frustration sets in and some just snap and that is what Jerry did. But quitting in mid season is just the weak thing to do. Next up to bat, Mr. Eppler and he was handcuffed too, as the big money contract were the real killers. Got Hamilton paid off and Albert’s contract just did not work out because Albert just became a liability that was the makings of the owner. So one big named pitcher was signed and was a no show in his last season. The first thing noticed was Arte bad mouthing a relief pitcher who set the saves record with over sixty saves and saying that he would never pay a relief pitcher that kind of money (9.5 Mil) In 2014 Street and Smith were just outstanding, but in ’15 it started to unwind because of injuries. At the time we the fans were not completely aware of what was really happening in the front office. What was happening? Cuts in staffing were beginning to show up such as the scouting department. Because of that we were seeing the Front Office throws darts at balloons filled with a name to draft. One time we had a pick in the thirties and we took the 95th best rated player available. We hired the least expensive minor league Managers and coaching staffs. So we saved money, what’s wrong with that? Why to many players not ready for the Majors when they arrived. And many complained that the manger favored the Vets.
Wrap up is Arte sets the tone with the budget and signs the big names such as Gary Mathews Jr, Vernon Wells, Albert, Hamilton, Rendon Hunter, Ohtani, etc. Well Hunter and Ohtani have or had worked out and the rest were trash. Well Albert did have 2 out of ten good seasons. Arte has really screwed up the team and well I feel and would like to see him sell the team as he has shown that he just can not put a winner together and we deserve better. For 2022 we need PITCHING< PITCHING AND SOME MORE PITCHING.
Love the rant gpa.
What pitching are you willing to bet the farm on that’s available to us? Take into consideration whatever you like. Ex for me is kershaw most definitely not signing here in the off season unless we offer ownership stake and money no one here is will to give up, $40+ mil a year.
You wouldn’t want Kershaw anyways now. the moment he takes the field in an Angels uniform he would go down to season ending injury.
tRadiTion.
Good question my friend and maybe these ideas could work out. Maybe trade for some draft choices by other clubs that have failed and maybe we get lucky. Maybe Lynn has a couple of good seasons left. If Kershaw is available he maybe to expensive, but the Dodgers are loaded with not only Major League pitching but also some interesting minor leaguers. I could also add that hopefully we pick up some very good pitching in the Draft. Maybe pick up one or two decent pitchers from the scrap heap. It is harder done than said and I am not the GM, but signing Bundy would go a long ways too. Before that trade deadline maybe pick up Boyd in a trade with Tigers. Hope this qualifies as a workable answer. But no matter the answer it will be up to Arte and he needs to address this and be willing to get close the cap or go over.
It’s a great answer. None of us have a perfect answer nor one the team will use. Something will happen, hope it’s for the better because what’s been going on recently isn’t working.
Yeah, I hope we draft well this year, sign Bundy, and maybe trade for Turnbull, Norris or Boyd from the Tigers, or Junis from KC, or some other pitching trade. That all seems realistic. I think, after the MiLB season starts and scouts can get out there and look at prospects there is a solid chance we see a middle IF and OF prospect traded out of our system for an OK starter.
Draft picks in MLB aren’t worth what they are in the NFL. Arte hasn’t allowed for foreign investment player signings either. Arte doesn’t want to win, instead he just wants to tease and entertain and in his mind hopefully just wait for a good enticing offer from a out of state investor to bring MLB to Austin TX, Memphis, Nashville TN or Charlotte NC. 😫
You know Arte can’t move the team for like 30 years right, nor can anyone else, nor would anyone move a team out of LA to those cities right?
As I stated yesterday Buehler, Kershaw, Gonsolin, May, and Urias all came from the Dodgers farm system. You can have Arte signing big names like Hunter and Pujols when you have a legit ace like Buehler making relative pennies.
Arte sets the tone at all levels and that includes investing in scouting, drafting, and developing talent. The complete lack of results proves limiting the investments in those areas kills the team.
Home grown players on the Opening Day roster:Trout, Fletcher, Walsh, Canning, C Rod. 5. 5 freaking guys out of 26 that were drafted and developed by the Angels. You just can’t buy your way out of that ineptitude year after year.
Curse you Jerry Eppler
I do agree with the scouting and player development comment. Dodgers were scouting Urias when he was 14. After listening to your Faria interview, he mentioned the Rays have their particular philosophy regarding player development. I’m willing to bet, the Angels don’t really have a philosophy, we got a pervert pitch coach. Hoping we invest in these two areas; scouting (domestic and international) and player development.
In many cases, arms come out of nowhere. There are more first round flops than success when drafting arms. It’s okay to focus on position players through the draft over pitchers. More certainty to select a bat. The hope is to make good acquisitions while the arms in the minors develop. We have failed to make “good acquisitions.” Washington Nationals won the World Series with “good acquisitions,” Max, Corbin, Sanchez joined Strasburg. Cole, Morton and Verlander got the Astros on top of the division, both bought. Red Sox are the poster child for procuring pitching staffs.
I have no issue grabbing another OF in the 1st round this year. Depth presents trade value to land already tested arms.
Detmers and Jack Kochanowicz are the next arms to join in the near future. It was too bad Dipoto traded Corbin, Adenhart and Skaggs tragedies, Weavers fastball was no longer fast and Garret Richards suffered a freak injury.
The Adenhart tragedy was drastic. Rather than slotting Nick into the rotation for years to come we had to go add another starter. Cue Dan Haren who initially cost us Skaggs and Corbin in a win now move.
If that that asshole misses Nick, we have a home grown trio of Adenhart, Skaggs, Corbin to get us through 2010-2015. Nice and cost controlled.
We’ve been chasing pitching and bereft of talent in the pipeline ever since.
I never looked at it like that, but you are right on.
I think DiPoto traded for Corbin (and Skaggs) in return for Dan Harem when he was interim GM for the d-backs. Wish he could have done something like that for us, instead of to us.
Very true. Don’t forget Richards, he was really coming on when the bad injury happened in Boston. I did like Dan Haren. A move I was happy with at the time. He and Weaver were a good tandem for a couple of seasons, just short-lived.
I agree with all your points earlier. Dodgers have been nailing their draft selections. May and Buehler are fiercely competitive.
I liked Haren too and perhaps my assumption the trade wouldn’t happen is incorrect. But if Nick lived up to expectations I doubt Haren comes here.
Arte has always paid his front office people way less than his field manager ( Andrew Friedman reportedly makes $8M a year while Dave Roberts probably only $1M ). Scioscia was making $6M and I’m sure Maddy makes at least $4M. Arte isn’t gonna pay somebody like Theo Epstein or Brian Cashman that kind of money or allow to have that kind of autonomy.
Funny stuff.
Matt Wise? Report card after 23 games?
Doesn’t say much, nice guy, but he’s sleeping on the couch, eating our food and drinking our beer. He’s going to get squatters rights soon. Do you want him to stay?
Kind of important to have the right guy handling your pitching staff.
More important is having a pitching staff to coach. Don’t blame him, he didn’t chose this staff.
Not blaming him for our pitching woes. I’m asking if we think he can take a shitty pitching staff and make them, less shitty.
Not going to disagree that Arte is the common denominator. He is to blame for going cheap with player development and scouting, but you still need to have the best coaches on your staff. I’m not sure about Wise.
I will put you down for a “yes on Wise”.
Expansion, really Manfred. You are having issues in attendance in the American and National Leagues. Oops I forgot it is now MLB and not defined by the leagues because we want to emulate the NFL. No longer is it acceptable to be a fan of a league, you must embrace the total package. In expansion you then create 4 divisions in the two leagues and start to lose more fans as it becomes to big a league for fans to remember who’s who.
Robert David Manfred is really Bad for the Game. Corporate’s Greed is really Bad for MLB. To Manfred I say “You get no soup today!”.
Speaking of NFL, draft is today. Any fans out there? I’ll be watching the angels game and paying attention to NFL draft on my phone.
Today’s game is at what time exactly?
Day off. Guess I’ll be flipping through some other MLB games and keep track of nfl draft.
So you’re saying we have a chance to win tonight?
Need to get closer to 500
We most definitely won… the off day.
Off day today correct?
Yes sir, oops. Going to watch the rest of this OAK v TB game. Dodger game I’m sure will be blacked out even though it’s on espn+
Hope Ms and Asstros game goes to 21 innings and they somehow both still lose
I still watch the NFL but I’m nowhere near as invested as I used to be. Just too hard to justify spending my limited weekend time in front of the TV instead of with my son plus half the league seems to be felons.
That said I’ll watch part of the draft to see who my Steelers pick.
Ooo I could take a big paycut and go work for the Angels doing tech services! Also, Baldoquin is probably on a beach somewhere sipping Mai Tai’s and counting his millions the Angels threw away.
Biggest Dipoto mistake. Dipoto and his staff got swindled and if Arte had a large scouting presence in Latin America at the time then it wouldn’t have happened.
Baldoquin and Big Daddy’s super kid will always be linked in infamy. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over that.
I went to a season ticket holders meeting years ago where Dipoto was extolling the future MLB talent virtues of recently signed super prospect Baldoquin. He talked about how they found him during another prospect’s tryouts and how Dipoto personally had spent time down in Florida with Roberto for multiple days to check out his character before they signed him( Apparently not enough time evaluating his baseball skills)
Looking back at the JeDi’s comments, it was some of the biggest bunch of sales bullshit I ever heard . The 8 million dollars Baldoquin received was borderline criminal and should have permanently tarnished Dipoto’s reputation in baseball.
Ouch.
C-Rod was awesome. Cobb needs to be jettisoned to mop-up relief.
Cobb needs to be DFAd so he can become Cy Young for any other team that signs up. While we’re at it, Contreras too.