The Angels optioned Jaime Barria. Dillon Peters is back.
The Angels came back and won a game!
Shohei Ohtani continues to produce.
Non-Angels Links
Kendall Graveman has gone to the ten day IL. Maybe the Mariners will cool down a little bit.
Jon Jay made it onto the USA Olympic qualifying team.
The Dodgers are having their own difficulties in the outfield. A lot of those guys will be back by the time we face them in the World Series, though.
Lots of guys seem to be getting core injuries this year.
Are you not aesthetically pleased?
Job opening: Cincinnati Reds are looking for an analytics trainee. Yeah there are mosquitos, but the Asian Carp leap right into your boat. You won’t need a fishing pole.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Apparently we know more than the announcers?
https://twitter.com/AngelsMiLB/status/1397038330097799171
This would be accurate if quality pitchers showed any interest about coming to Anaheim, but they don’t.
They just use us to get better paydays elsewhere.
I feel so used…
They could at least buy us dinner first, gosh.
You’re right. This is more accurate.
This would be accurate if Angel fans were still surprised by the dumpster diving, but we aren’t.
Jk, it’s much better
Just saying that I’m keeping my word in yesterday’s gamethread that I wouldn’t watch today’s game!
GameThread is open
I’ll wait till the Postgame
I thought it was called ‘potgame’ now???
If it is, shouldn’t we not care about the outcome?
Only when we play Colorado
Oh wait, that’s an outdated meme.
Tampa Bay won it’s 11 in a row. Overall record is 30-19. No big names, everyone does their part and they play like a team every day.
We should poach the Rays player development personnel. I’m constantly impressed, A’s and Cleveland as well.
How many billboards do they sell, though? How many counting stats and individual awards can they market every year to get their faux 3,000,000 fans, huh?
Not always about winning! Won’t someone think of my other businesses?!?!
Interesting
https://homeplateview.com/2021/05/24/197/
this is what I see as the problem.
“Arte Moreno is a bit handcuffed when it comes to a rebuild”
Arte should not be involved in a build or a rebuild. That’s Perry’s job.
Was that from Forbes? That is the same gibberish we have been writing for a few seasons now.
Glad to see are not insane here. Thanks for the link
Taylor Blake Ward writing for Forbes? Whoa, he’s gone big time!
So TBW is copying from HH? I didn’t know HH had any content left!
The problem is Arte sees a window for success over the next 3-4 years. He’s an idiot. There’s no window and it is his own doing.
After this year, the team will need to replace: Bundy, Heaney, Quintana, Iglesias, Cishek, Watson and Guerra from the pitching staff. Iglesias, Suzuki and Gosselin are the only real losses from the lineup.
Waiting in the minors to replace all those guys: maybe Detmers, maybe Packy Naughton, nobody for the bullpen. No catching depth, maybe Rengifo turns into passable utility depth.
So, due to the absolute abysmal farm system and development the team will have a minimum of 7-8 MLB holes to fill each off season for the foreseeable future. You just can’t buy that many pieces and expect them to all be quality; especially bullpen arms.
Meanwhile take a look 40 miles north. They needed one starting pitcher this year to complement their home grown rotation. So they got the best one. They also needed one core bullpen piece so they got the best one.
The Angels will need to pick from the pile of meh, though, because we have so many holes and no talent in AAA to fill them.
If Arte genuinely thinks the Angels have a window simply due to Trout’s age, he’s a fool.
The only way to actually open up a window any time soon would be to trade one or two of Trout, Ohtani, Walsh, Canning, Fletcher and hit on some serious prospects while allowing a GM to spend like crazy.
I can see the Angels losing 100 games next year.
I would honestly prefer losing 100 rather than 85-90.
Yes getting to and passing that century mark would get Arte’s attention. Unless he truly thinks DJT is a good businessman. Then we would know what we are up against.
Yes at least that would result in top draft position
Strive to be the best – lose more than 120. Aim high!
Why put off until next season what can be done now?
Col. Jeff Joiner Jessep, is this a CODE RED, cuz, I can’t handle the truth.
You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about in the club house, you want me on that lowered right field wall, you need me on that lowered right field wall.
Again, what was the purpose of lowering the yellow line in RF that has hurt us more by at least a 2 to 1 margin than the visiting teams???? So dumb…
Correct. We have a crappy pitching staff that gives up homeruns. Here’s an idea – let’s make it easier to hit homeruns!
Just blame Marine Layer and turn the page
I believe the original intent was to get Kole Calhoun more home runs.
Note to self – Kole no longer plays for the Angels
Note to self — emphasize the word *original*
Preach it Jeff! I couldn’t agree more. But it ain’t ever gonna happen.
A large list of the chronic illnesses that plague this diseased team. Symptoms we all witness night after nigh. Basically our postmortem from the morgue dated March 24, 2021.
https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/24/by-the-numbers-a-look-at-whats-gone-so-wrong-for-the-angels-so-far
A look at what has gone wrong so far:
Everything.
For years. Nothing new to see, move along
Losing is a disease
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN-aCYVVtyo
Maybe that is it, the Angels have been the most adversely affected team by COVID-19 in MLB. That’s our disease and thankfully not syphilis.
And we even have our very own Wilford Brimley as manager…..Sloppy Joe.
We sucked before COVID 19 so maybe it is the syphilis.
Plague, the red kind, so bad that it can only be cured with the green stuff now.
This is an excellent article
That game Friday night had everything the Angels do well, poor fielding, poor pitching, poor situational hitting, and Ohtani trying to carry the team on his back uphill in a blizzard.
Shohei porn:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shohei-ohtani-was-billed-as-the-next-babe-ruth-this-year-hes-pulling-it-off/
Notice how that article says we’re wasting Ohtani’s good years like we’ve wasted Trouts? Lol. Harsh but obviously completely accurate as expressed here daily.
This is interesting. maybe Doyers haven’t really been all that?
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/05/erik-kratz-makes-sign-stealing-allegations.html
I guess that Kratz did not play on a team that had a trash can and thinks running his mouth will add longevity to his promising analytic career.
Honestly I’d say little doubt they do. They can’t be that good with their version of dumpster diving amongst everything else. Look what Turner and Muncy did before coming to the Dodgers, others too, they flip the switch after the Doyer uniform goes on. Everyone they touch becomes good after the 6th inning. Their cheating is just more sophisticated than banging on a trashcan. My guess they do something with the lights in center field, very subtle. Could be outside in the parking lot, maybe out in the hills where all the bodies are buried.
All the smart people say it’s the money they spend on the draft and developing. And they have best, brightest, biggest brains in the FO.
Well I’m a dumb guy, don’t believe they are that smart (excluding the cheating).
Its an immediate copy cat world in pro sports. If they developed some soul penetrating software that looks into players DNA, more teams would copy.
But, I hate the Doyers, love and follow the Angels. The disparity between the two organizations is so great that I’m sure it’s clouded my vision and certainly made me even dumber, so what do I know. Or, maybe they do have one, or several baseball Savant-Svengali‘s running the team.
The disparity is in the pitching staff, especially the starters. our #1 Bundy would be a bullpen arm that maybe gets some spot starts or long relief roles in The Dodgers org.
Yep and look at that pitching staff:
Buehler, drafted
Kershaw, drafted
Gonsolin, drafted
Urias, international signing
May, drafted
Night and day compared to Eppler’s system of drafting guys who played football.
Because their draft team values pitching and scouts it, then drafts it. Total opposite of The Angels since Arte took over. Imagine what our current team and minors system would look like if Turks Teeth was in charge of the draft instead of Ric Wilson, etc.
What Draft Team, 3 guys that use publications and Internet Sports sites. We have no scouting departments that we are aware of. We can’t teach the kids in the minors the same at every level. Our pitching coach has very little to work with.
Baseball America, and The Sporting News, what more do you need to evaluate players. Oh yeah, Yahoo Fantasy rankings, the ones that rank the popular selections, we pick from the bottom up.
Have we rebuilt up the scouting department since COVID furloughs? I don’t hear much about what Perry has done here since he took over. Matt Swanson is still the director if I am not mistaken. He has been better that Rick Wilson but not as good as Eddie Bane.
There was talk about a bunch of new people Perry brought to the FO. Not sure what they’d been up to since, though.
Checking out what Baltimore players we can get next year
This draft is going to tell us a lot about Perry the platypus strategy going forward.
I’m getting the vibes that Perry is Tony v2.0.
Perry grew up in Major League clubhouses. Chooses players by personal knowledge. He is not mean and dirty enough, too friendly, with the players to make a good evaluation.
Don’t forget develops it
Hey now, Darin Erstad played football.
Yes he could really kick the crap out of the ball.
So did Jeff Mathis, could have been a QB at Florida State
1970s Angel shortstop Mike Miley was the quarterback for LSU and took them to the Orange Bowl.
Where did he take us?
Not that multi sport talents are bad, Hawaii is full of them.
He died in a car crash one off-season early in his MLB career, so no one will ever know where he could have taken the Angels.
Fly Angels Fly
Let’s taker a deeper lock at the often chastised Billy Eppler’s draft classes:
2016 Matt Thaiss was a miss but a thin class, we did snag Marsh with his second pick. Dakota Hudson (who has yet to really make a name for himself) was selected after Thaiss and would have been a better pick. Not a good year for pitchers that year anyway in the mid to late 1st round. Thaiss was regarded as having the 2nd best hit tool outside of Nick Senzel. Of course, we know better now. Dustin May in the 3rd round is tough but lot of teams passed on Dustin. Truth was that we was not ranked high on a lot of scouting reports.
2017 was the Adell pick at 10. No arms that came after Jo has made great traction. Trevor Rodgers (Marlins), Shane Baz (Pirates), Tanner Houck Red Sox) and Nate Pearson (Blue Jays) were 1st round. Truthfully, the pitcher that year who has had the most starts that was selected after Adell was our own Griffith Canning. Even position players after selected after Adell, have not materialized to where I would want to redo that draft, even with his inferior 2020 performance.
2018 was Jordyn Adams and pitchers who we might have heard of; Brady Singer and Shane MvClanahan that went after, would you like to redo the Adams selection? Jordyn could be a real dynamic player. We knew Billy was striving for more riskier upside, aka Eddie Bane style. Tough call for me. I’m hopeful for Adams, we desperately need. guy with 80 speed, good D and can hit mid-20s HRs.
2019 was the dreadful Will Wilson. Don’t know what the hell happened here but no player in this draft has materialized yet but it is still early but I can say Will Wilson was a shock then and still a shock now. But he is not ours to worry about any longer.. Thanks Cozart.
2020 was Detmers. Billy succumbed to the critics here at CTPG and selected a college pitcher with low ceiling, Jerry Dipoto style. I’m hopeful, even a back end of the rotation starter will help.
I only looked at the first few rounds and not in totality. Kershaw was the top high school pitcher in 2006, easy pick and I would be fine with Jackson Jobe, 2021 top HS arm. Buehler pick was nailed, Angels selected Ward two picks later. Urias was scouted when he was 14 by Britto. We were not getting him. Some cigars from Britto’s humidor was all that it took to get him to LA.
Add Chris Taylor as another Doyers renaissance man. Do You think the unassailable, high and mighty Mr Pujols will also now eat the fruit from the forbidden tree?
Taylor and more, others have come and gone. They are one of the teams that always pitches well, always have. Ron Perranoski for a decade and half, they always lead MLB in pitching.
Or Andrew Friedman and his computer are witches.
Perranoski was one of those influential pitching coaches that could make positive adjustments to a pitchers mechanics and how to grip the ball. He taught pitchers how to introduce a new pitch to the arsenal. Results were way more positive than negative. There are only a handful like him in the game. Most teams just have an ex-major leaguer on the roster.
Angels need a Perranoski-type.
We do. His name is Mickey Callaway.
Anaheim is the right place for Mickey but last name is MOUSE.
Very good.
Our pitching problems have become legendary and a trAdition. Assuming we have some failure at all steps involving creating a good pitching staff, owner, GM, FO (not that we have one), scouting, coaching in the organization, none appear to have a working philosophy.
Our present day pitching coach was hired this year as a first time Bullpen Coach and was thrusted into Callaway’s seat. He doesn’t appear to be the next Perranoski-type. Safe to assume it’s not working and change should be made? Hate throwing the guy under the bus, his first 2 months is nothing but bad pitching and regression.
Or maybe he’s brilliant, they all collectively have the same horrible habits. Maybe it’s a bad pitching philosophy, bad pitch selection, bad catching.
It’s past the randomness of bad vs good staffs. Isn’t it safe to say bringing in someone with more experience could help a little?
I think he is a Perranoski, look what he has to work with. Our starting staff would look better on paper if not for the Pen. And not every reliever is completely bad. We let 4 bullpen guys go and 2 are doing OK. Some issues are with catching. Some are just not throwing strikes. All the starters try to bite the corners to much.
Idk if he’s any smart, but I hear that he’s wise.
We had one except he liked to pinch the skirts cheeks.
Do, they, float?
Like a very small rocks?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf71YotfykQ
They have something that we don’t and that just might be tops in the league.
Development.
They are the envy in the league in developing players. They have scouts, who see something, then tell someone about the thing, someone says “I can fix that” they get the player, fix and play them, or not fix and start looking again.
The Dodgers are deep in personnel to take care of the organization this way.
How many rings did they give out this season? How far down the ladder did the rings get?
Does Tampa Bay Rays put out winners with no budget? Remember Choi, here he couldn’t hit, the Rays turned him around. The Rays and Dodgers have found their way to learning how to coach and scout better than the rest. That means scouting preps and minor leagues. The Rays do it without signing Betts and Rendon types of expensive player’s. We do not spend money smartly and therefore we pay the Piper in the form of wins.
Both of those teams invest, INVEST IN DEVELOPMENT. They have such great instructors and coaches, everyone that plays there WANTS TO LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SAY. They also may want to learn a few things, get better, and play on a winning team. FOR MANY SEASONS, becoming successful.
The dramatic turns of reversal for Turner and Muncy have made me question if there was some “nutrition” regimen going on up there. Taylor to a lesser degree.
Then again all were highly rates prospects at one point and the Dodgers do actually invest in video and coaching and might have just unlocked something in them.
As far as sign stealing, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Well, the good news is that we know one team that definitely isn’t stealing signs.
Good things: Ohtani. No words necessary. Walsh has blossomed a lot faster than I thought he would.
Bad things: Bullpen, the La Brea Tar Pits of baseball. Maddon’s pitcher management is partly to blame for this, but that group is a semi-steaming heap of mediocrity. Again, all those guys might be serviceable on a team that has starters that can go longer than four innings. Bundy regressing to the mean and far beyond with a vengeance. I think he’s regressed all the way down to 10th percentile at this point. No actual pitching coach. What the hell is Arte waiting for? Fire the sleazebag and get a serious pitching coach for next season. Lack of coaching expertise is pretty evident in our pitching staff and our error rate, worst in baseball as of last night.
The pen pitchers, and the management are yes, both bad. It’s just Maddoning to see the faces of the players when Sloppy Joe waddles out onto to field.
I see 👀 what you did there.
The problem is we need 5-6 bullpen arms every game. Inevitably one is going to implode.
Heaven forbid we ever get 6 innings from a starter and give Joe the ability to manage like a normal guy.
The lack of innings from starters is an issue, but because of that he needs to use the pen wisely. He doesn’t, but the pen does suck WORSY.
We don’t need roles, but there is no rhyme or reason to his strategy on pen use.
He will just bring in the next best guy from their most recent performance.
The also don’t have a gameplay, on both sides of the plate, and Joe plus the catchers seem to not know the limitations of the pitchers.
I might be late to this.
https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/angels-chris-rodriguez-completes-another-side-session/
thanks. So perhaps live batting practice this week and that means mid to late June, I’m guessing, if all goes well, before he’s back. But that’s being optimistic. BP session followed by another, followed by minor league rehab.
FROM ROTOWORLD — bring him up Now!!!
Jo Adell homered twice on Sunday for Triple-A Salt Lake. It’s Adell’s second two-homer game of the young MiLB season, and he already has gone deep nine times in just 16 games for the Bees. The 22-year-old is now slashing .261/.329/.710 in 76 plate appearances in Triple-A West (formerly the Pacific Coast League) and showing the talent that made him one of the top prospects in baseball coming into the 2020 season. He isn’t considered a “prospect” anymore because he played too many games last year, but this is still a player with a very bright future; one that could help fantasy managers this summer
Trade him for 2 top triple A pitchers, quick, before anyone notices his strike out rate and defense.
He’s striking out 36% of the time too. Of course that will increase up here. Yikes..
No kidding. Dude will run into a fastball once in a while but MLB pitchers will eat him up. Needs just to be left alone in AAA. But in fantasy baseball land, you don’t get penalized for strikeouts so I’m guessing this is why it made Rotoworld news
His swing is one giant hole. He is probably getting these big hits off of pitchers that because of COVID, like Adell, are moved up in to a higher leagues because there isn’t much to prove in the watered down lower levels.
The K’s are all on him.
Among the top 10 strike percentage leaders of all time are Jim Thome, Reggie Jackson, Jose Canseco, Jason Bay, and Bobby Bonds. I’d be happy if Adell had the career of any of them.
Reggie averaged about 150 strikeouts a year, Canseco 167, Bonds 154, Thome 162, not sure if this is most accurate way to judge those amounts to your point
Last year Adell struck out 55 times, in 38 MLB games.
Adell’s K% (34.2%) is more like Gallo (37.3%) and Judge (30.9%) to use contemporaries as an example. Or how about his gem:
Adell (21): BB% 7.9%, K% 34.2%, Slash .261/.329/.710
I’d be happy with those numbers over a longer career.
Bobby might have survived in today’s game, the rest are questionable in my book.
Saw Dillon Peters in the bullpen the other day and thought I was hallucinating.
That Mane. It wasn’t hallucinations, it was the vapors. You may need the fainting couch. Christie is around here someplace.
LOL…Dillion a flashback to the hippie days.
So…Jon Jay won’t be available for the big club for a while?
He’ll be writing the decisions for all the umpires.
I would hope that Angel Hernandez gets an A for his performance last night from Jay, if that is the case.
https://twitter.com/UmpScorecards/status/1396847843667759105
And Angel improved for a game, good for him and his effort. So glad he lost his spot in the bottom ten.
Or writing political tracts anonymously with Bum and Joshie.
Well played. Well played indeed.
What so far coming into Memorial Day is your biggest surprise with the Angels? On the negative side is how poorly and unlucky Bundy has performed. Do you believe he will comeback as I do.
On the positive side is Ohtani pitching so well and how exciting he is to watch.
One thing that is no surprise at all is Trouty being injured, poor Mikey may never play in 150 a season again.
Bundy should bounce back but he for sure over performed last year. I expected some regression but not THIS much. I think he’s a 4-4.5 ERA kind of guy right now. His 4.60 FIP is probably fairly accurate IMO.
Biggest surprise for me is I thought the bullpen would be around average – not league worst. Rendon and Fletcher have also been huge let downs in how they have performed so far. Average bullpen and a normal Fletcher and Rendon would probably equal a close to .500 team right now.
Seems to me like the bullpen issue is from over use of the arms. Seems like evry team The Angels play have their starter going 7 or 8 innings, then turn it over to the pen. the Angels on the other hand, outsmart the other teams by only having their starter pitch 4 innings, that way they can get to “spin the Wheel – O -Bullpen Arms” by the 5th inning, night after night, after night. Of course, this is just my Lyle’in eyes telling me this.
Bullpen management is Maddoning.
He abuses pitching into the ground which worked last time, and will change things up until they work, so he can work them into the ground.
He looks to have no clue in the skills he has on the staff. Whenever whomever is the style of the time. Then work them into the ground.
Concur with that and I would add the Angels inability to have the RF situation addressed in the offseason coupled with the predictive LF performance has exasperated the Fletch/Rendon slow starts and Trouts injury.
Walsh should have been the right fielder from the start. Picking up all of them veterans to fill that spot was crazy when picking up a first baseman would have been so much easier. But they needed to coddle the previous guys ego.
I think Walsh has a chance to be a great defensively at 1st, I’d leave him alone.
Ward should get some time at first too when Walsh sits, (which should be almost never, days off with tough lefties). Ward should catch more, a lot more, not sure how they viewed his ST games and he has added CF to his resume’……With this season likely done get him looks at 3rd, 1st, catch, all 3 outfield spots. Has looked decent in the outfield, versatility + if he could actually be average behind the plate and some infield at 1st and 3rd.
While we are at it, teach hit to hit.
So then where will our new old all start catcher Matt Thaiss play?
https://californianewstimes.com/angels-experimenting-with-matt-thaiss-returning-to-catcher-press-enterprise/355160/
Oh god, the rudderless ship is now drifting with the changing winds toward the jagged rock reef. Now they are going to try him as a catcher?
Going to? They already have. To date Thaiss has caught 7 games and has committed 3 errors. (kind of seems like a lot for a catcher?) there have have been 3 stolen bases against him with no CS.
Matty also played 7 games in the field at SL ( 1B & 3B) and has committed 4 errors so he’s actually been better (less suckage) behind the plate.
So, not a consistent bat and can’t play defense. Yeeesh.
Revisiting the past……….With the 9th pick, The Angels of Anaheim from Los Angeles County and surrounding areas, select, CATCHER, Blah Blah, from BlahBlah Blah.
Please insert clapping Jerry, Wilson rising out of his seat draft room meme below, if possible, don’t have it.
I can hear Bud, Los Angeleeeeees
I’m curious how Bundy’s metrics compare with last year. Brent wrote a very extensive analysis of how his secondary numbers last year showed that the results he was producing were legit. Is Bundy still producing the good metrics from last year even if he’s not getting results, or are his metrics as bad as his results?
Ohtani leading the league (at times) in HR’s. (I’ll focus on the positive.). I expected decent to good numbers, but not this (esp from a guy who’s not quite “everyday” player)
the team defense. I knew outfield was going to be dicey with Upton/Trout/Meh but the overall defense has been atrocious and that’s hurt the pitching staff horribly.
I see our staff gives up massive bombs, or cans of corn, and Texas Leaguers.
The Defense is out of position, and usually to far out on their weak sides to cover on plays.
Well isn’t more fun believing we are going to win every night and we come back after the 7th on. How boring and dumb along with sad that having a black cloud mentality every game following you has to be.
I do also have negative thoughts such as when Joe pulls a starter to early or puts in a terrible reliever in to pitch when we still have a chance to win.
Well to each with their own device or in this case thoughts. The team is not good and worse without Trout and Fletcher and Rendon having off seasons, but fun watching journeyman the “Goose” having a career year and Rojas leading the team in doubles. Cischek coming around from horrible to very good (And how many of us wanted him gone including GPB. Funny and fickle stuff).
Then there is the rise of Walsh as a great fielder and greater hitter with a serious outlook and he plays hard and to win plus he’s exciting but then there is;
Mr. Excitement himself, Shohei Ohtani, Ohtani-San, a wonderful pitcher but a better hitter who has a chance of leading the American League in HRs. When he and Trouty are batting second and third the electricity in the air at home or the Big A is off the charts higher than any combo in Major League Base. (Note to Joe, I mistakenly thought that Trout would benefit having the #3 slot, but a writer on this site has convinced me to have Trout bat second as his OBP ahead of Shohei will benefit us a lot more.
Go Angels! Light that Baby Up!