Good morning Angels fans! How are you today? Have some links why don’t you?
Angels News
The Angels lost yesterday due to no offense and a blown bullpen. At least Ohtani looked like an Ace.
Ohtani new start means a new Ohtani Fangraphs pitch deep dive.
Another TJ for he Angels. This time it is Franklin Barreto. Well, that trade looks worse all the time.
MLB Now got its first episode since Pujols was cut, and they tear into him and the Angels like no one else. While everywhere else shames the Angels for their treatment of Pujols, MLB Now really understands this was overdue.
For his part, Maddon actually revealed what happened between him and Pujols at the Athletic. Basically, the tension went as far back as Spring Training. Read (and listen) if you have it.
But hey it may not be the end off Pujols in Baseball entirely. He has been recruited by the DR to play for them in the Tokyo Olympics. Take it Pujols, it is your best job offer.
Maddon likes Jo Adell. Well, Jon Jay really loves Jo Adell, so Maddon may like him again. Maybe. He is still young, hope it works out.
Around Baseball
The A’s are threatening Oakland. As their stadium talks are stalling again, ownership has suggested moving to a new city. Las Vegas is the most likely.
The Mariners are calling up the number 3 prospect in baseball and people have complained about service time manipulation. Well, he barely played AAA, so is it?
Despite Vaccinations on the rise, there are still COVID-19 issues in MLB. The Padres had some test positive, including Tatis Jr.
The Field of Dreams game is still happening this year. And the hats have been revealed.
Fans are sick of the extra innings rule. And so is Fangraphs.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes.
I guess this lineup is one way that we can avoid having the bullpen blowing the lead for Heaney again. Got to have a lead to be able to blow it. Rest up Mike!
Strong lineup today
Guaranteed win!
I know you’re joking. No Trout or Fletcher. Heaney will need to toss a no-no.
Jon Jay can put up Trout type numbers!
Well Trout’s last 3 game numbers.
Both look like they could use the 2 off days….Interesting to see if they go full “fetal position” or attempt to punch these mother F’ers in the mouth.
That might not be good enough, can easily still lose a no hitter 1-0
Didn’t this same lineup score 11 runs on Saturday?
We had Fletch the whole game Saturday. He didn’t do much so maybe we get 9 instead of 11
Detmers had a very strong second outing last night. Gave up two solo homers on challenge pitches to advanced hitters, but was otherwise much improved on command, FB location and his secondaries. Consistently ahead in the count, struck out 9 over 4.2 IP, eight of them swinging.
On the other side of the ledger, the college pitching that Eppler and Minasian sent in quantity to Baltimore for free agent bandaids is getting its first look in AA and A+ ball. And it looks good. Stallings, Brnovich and Bradish have given up only one run collectively in their first 20 IP, with 21 Ks against 3 BBs. These were 4-8 rounders I really liked when we drafted them – each with MLB rotation ceilings.
Six pitchers was a lot to send for Bundy and Jose Iglesias, especially when several are only 1-2 years from the MLB, if they continue to perform.
Peddling 4-8 rounders to get a starter for the current year is okay. None were in the Top 25 but we got a someone who can help us today at least, that was the intent. I’m not sure we would want to beat ourselves up over this in the event a “Clevinger-like” arm emerges. Crapshoot in those lower rounds. Angels selected like 58 pitchers out of 80 draft slots over the 2019-2020.
Props to the Astros
https://twitter.com/TheAthletic/status/1392547968767733762
Nice.
I’ve often wondered why owners, who are generally pretty financially savvy and invest in real estate anyway, don’t buy condo or apartment buildings near their minor league facilities and let players live there. Yes they’d take a loss by not getting rent, but they’d also get tax write offs each year on an asset that should appreciate in value, all while providing needed housing for their employees.
I think it comes down to liability. Let’s say a sexual assault happens or somebody gets drunk and falls, or there’s a fight. I’d imagine the big club/owner would get sued.
Yeah, I haven’t looked too closely into this proposal, but maybe the team can provide “help” for every player to go find an apartment and pay the rent as part of a contract condition, and maybe they would be off the hook for the liability stuff you mentioned?
They can avoid (well, transfer) the liability by going through an unaffiliated company. Just like Moreno has his separate development company, owners could start separate rental companies. The rental company buys the property and charges the team fair market value, which the team can write off as an expense.
Solid. That’s the insight I lacked from not being a lawyer. Thanks.
Huntsville is a fast growing market. I’ve looked into buying an investment home there myself. You’d think an Arte type would maybe buy a 10-20 unit property near the ballpark or University figuring he could house players there now and sell it for a nice profit if he changes affiliates. Good for Arte, good for the players.
I knew a family long ago that became a host family…Also, Riverside at one time had a minor league team for the Mariners, Riverside Pilots, played at UCR..This was Riverside’s 2nd team. The Red Wave came first, Padre A ball, was late 80’s. Had a family member live in the same apartment complex where 4 or 5 players lived in a 2 bedroom. Probably split a $400 of month rent (1990’s) needless to say a lot of parties and interesting things going on in that apartment.
https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-5280810
Public image rehab. Good on them!
Not if Arte beats the A’s to it!
Arte’s from AZ anyway.
And Las Vegas is in Nevada the last I checked.
Arte just bought the stadium (and land). He’s going to build his shrine. He ain’t leaving Anaheim.
Excellent write up today.
thank you brent
Thanks.
It’s about time MLB discussed the realities of Pujols. I thought those were very fair minded reports.
The reality is Pujol’s was bad to a historical level since 2017 – if he refused to step away gracefully with reduced playing time abd sort of a victory lap, what choice did Perry have?
Should’ve did it before he dipped under .300 career BA.
I think it’s writing itself right now. No news is bad news for Pujols. I wonder if he’ll come crawling back to play once a week since no one else seems to be interested.
doesn’t he have to clear waivers before outright release?
You are right. He was DFA’d on Thursday, so he’ll most likely be released shortly.
“The Angels have seven days to either trade Pujols or place him on irrevocable waivers. If he goes unclaimed, he will be released and free to sign with any team.”
Reading between the lines on that Maddon interview with the Athletic, it sure felt like they internally have had plans since Spring to get either Adell or Marsh into the OF as soon as they look ready (or healthy in Marsh’s case).
Talks a lot about opportunity for new players that need to play and how Walsh at 1B creates opportunity in RF that didn’t exist with Albert clogging 1B.
Adell given another chance?
He might well improve his defense by a lot, but don’t count on his hitting to improve by much. Been against the herd since 2017 back at the old place ( Halos’s Heaven ) I don’t look for silver linings where there are none. Yes the only real silver linings thus far ( Mike Trout…..Duh! ) and Jered Walsh. Oh and Billy Eppler doesn’t work here anymore.
You’re right – Ohtani isn’t a silver lining.
Separately – you might be the great hindsight prognosticator I have ever seen.
The old Mets parable “Rat vs Raccoon”.
I was very much on the Adell train, but watching nearly all of his AB’s last season he looked terrible, with a loong swing, poor pitch recognition and the rare ability to miss pitches by a foot on occasion.
And his fielding was of course, um, yeah.
I don’t really care to see him back up this season.
Now I’m on the Marsh hype train and I hope it turns out better.
My eyes told me ‘exactly’ what you saw with respect to Adell.
We really need Marsh to get over his aches and pains but I would love to see this guy excel. Supposed to play a pretty good center field.
I’ve been on the Marsh train did years now. I liked him better anyway since he was a true CF. Also a lefty. I kind l leftys.
Writing off a player based on 124 at bats from their age 21 season seems pretty foolish to me. I love Jared Walsh, but at age 21, he was in Rookie League. Adell may not make it, but all he proved to me last year was that he wasn’t quite ready.
Adell had a horrible debut after very little minor league experience. Writing him off seems really dumb for a team with a huge need in the OF all of a sudden and an otherwise crappy farm.
Maddon basically admitted they cared more about releasing Albert than the game against TB there.
He didn’t want to play Pujols, who had great career numbers vs. Yarborough, because they were going to release him that night. Had Albert gone 2 for 4 that would’ve made the optics look worse.
I think I’d have handled it differently. I think I’d have told Albert this was his last game here, go smash the hell out of the ball and enjoy it. Unless, of course, the order came from upstairs in which case Joe’s hands were tied.
No way you can tell Pujols and then play him. That’s like telling a guy who showed up for work that you are going to fire them, but are going to wait for the end of their shift to do so.
I’d have let him play on the 5th and released him on the 6th.
RE: “That’s like telling a guy who showed up for work that you are going to fire them, but are going to wait for the end of their shift to do so.”
You haven’t worked for a multi-national corporation, have you?
I’m even more angry now after looking at the box score than I was watching the game live. Also after remembering tomorrow is an off day. Couldn’t let Ohtani throw 15-20 more pitches (making a total of 103-108)? Couldn’t save the pen and still keep his bat in the lineup? Worst case, he gets a CG loss, DHs or PHs today, and everyone still gets Thursday off.
Maddon sometimes reminds me of some of the overpaid consultants and “innovators” I run into in my business. Always running around trying to be creative for the sake of some marginal percieved gain, when really someone needs to tell them “No, that’s dumb, we’re not doing it. Now go back to reality.”
Also, if we hadn’t shifted, Slegers would’ve had a 4-6-3 double play. Just sayin’.
Ohtani’s bat was still in the line up.
That’s what I’m saying. Leaving him in would’ve still allowed him to bat in the 9th without burning three shaky relievers who instantly blew the game.
But leaving him in and if he struggled after starting the inning and was relieved, then his bat would NOT have been in the lineup in the 9th. Right?
I think they could still do a multiple position switch and move Shohei to right field during the inning.
Correct. We already gave up the DH so it is easy to move him to RF.
thanks dude
I have to admit I was hoping Maddon would move Ohtani back to the mound to face the lefty
re : Ohtani, First, I admit that the thought did enter my mind yesterday to perhaps let Ohtani go up to 100 pitches or thereabouts. I thought this for two reasons; he has had more than adequate rest lately( due to blister etc) and he has been held to five or fewer innings in every start, I think…
Thus, it did not seem like a risk to keep him in an inning longer. On the other hand, we have been especially cautious and careful with Shohei due to his injury history, and I think this is wise.
He is too important to our season and our plans past 2021 to be reckless with him. It may be that they are building him up so that by July or so he will be able to go 7 or 8 innings consistently.
So, while I do admit that during the game I did think about what you suggested there (mainly due to not having Mayers available) I don’t blame Joe for being careful with Shohei (for now).
Yes and no. I get the concerns about his injury history but he’s shown no lingering effects at all since last season and seemed to still have plenty of gas in the 7th. One more inning to give the top of the order, including himself, a chance in the 9th seems like a reasonable risk to take. If it’s still tied after that, yeah, pull him.
It’s mid-May and we’re in last place. We’ve got to stop building up to things soon and start going for wins when they’re within reach, especially against division rivals.
And while I’m grumbling, Ohtani and Trout should have been put in motion when Walsh was up. Two fastest guys on the roster just standing there with your hottest hitter up and a close game…way too cautious.
I see your point about Shohei pitching another inning and don’t totally disagree. Just saying I see and understand what I think Joe’s thinking was there.
But I totally agree about the Walsh DP. Truth be told, the game was lost there. What came after was probably insignificant since not scoring there pretty much meant we were gonna lose; that was our big chance.
In addition to putting the runners in motion to avoid the DP I though Walsh messed up by trying to pull the ball there…. You have to know as a hitter that at McCullers is going for the double play and thwart that by your approach.
Walsh is very good at going the other way and using the whole field. I think that approach there keeps us out of the GIDP if not brings in a run/s…
Lance McCullers is the Astro’s best SP ( yes better than Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander too )
No lingering effects… did you also notice him looking at his fingers after a few of those especially snappy hammers? I think the blister is effecting him a bit more than we know. I don’t fault Joe at all in this case.
I had basically this entire complete same thought last night. The manager’s job is often to decide when to do something but also when to leave something be.
Barria up, Suarez down. Guerra to the IL, Pena to AAA and Noe is back? I really thought we were going to be past recycling players this year. Alas.
I guess Barretto getting TJ explains why we tried out Rojas, Rengifo and Gosselin at 3B, but never saw him play. Maybe next year – but hopefully we have a solid IF by then (FA SS anyone?)
We are just recycling players earlier than in past seasons.
Barria pitched our 24th game last year, and didn’t really leave the lineup after that. Slightly behind schedule this year 🙂 (Yes, I realize he already had a start this year, which went amazingly well /s).
Marcus Semien will be available yet again this coming offseason. Quit being stupid Perry.
We need a second Baseman?
Well if Fletch plays SS…
Awesome photo. LOL