The minor league follies are affecting everybody, not just the Angels. The COVID-19 layoff has resulted in a bunch of sloppy play in the minor leagues. On a related note, the Angels did discuss bringing up Jo Adell in the wake of the Mike Trout injury, but ultimately decided he needs more time in the minors.
Here is a clip of Shohei Ohtani’s broken bat double.
Links From Around Baseball
Oakland Athletics executives are going on fact finding missions to Las Vegas and Portland as they search for their future home.
Erik Kratz alleges that other teams besides the Astros used technology to steal signs.
Tyler Duffey and Rocco Baldelli received suspensions for intentionally throwing at Yermin Mercedes. Baldelli will serve his one game suspension while Tyler Duffey is appealing his three game suspension.
Johneshwy Fargas is making the most of his time in center field after the injury to Kevin Pillar. Pillar could return as early as next week.
How many “days off” in a row are required before we can say Bryce Harper has been benched?
The cost of a Fangraphs membership will be going up next week. This will be the last week you can join at the old price.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
https://twitter.com/Angels/status/1397306522019897345
I hear the Doyers just signed a future HOF who is swinging a hot bat. Maybe we could trade Marsh/Adell to acquire him.
😀
Maybe right before a Houston series, I hear he kills them.
It looks like I might have jinxed Johneshwy Fargas.
https://sports.yahoo.com/mets-injury-tracker-latest-news-185624294.html
Brandon Crawford, 10 years for $30M annual average. We can afford it now that Puljos is in Dodgerland.
Arte, give Brandon what ever it takes to git him. Now.
I’m not sure if you’re joking. Oh wait. Now I’m sure.
Probably shouldn’t be snarky, they might be watching us. Arte might not know the true full meaning of ‘For a while, it seemed like this contract was becoming an albatross’. He could think Albatross is a positive term when it come to contracts. We don’t want to confuse them.
Positive in golf! 😉
All I know is I’m glad this isn’t a 60-game season again. At 20-27, all hope would pretty much be lost already, and Trout would be out for the rest of it… but reminding ourselves that things ebb and flow over a 162-game grind. The team is inconsistent, yet they’re still above average in offense and it never feels like they’re completely out of a game. Even without Trout in the lineup! Heck, the Angels even took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers and trolled them with an 11-run comeback in the one they lost…
Not trying to be too big of a homer, but the 2021 Angels team feels a bit different than the prior losing years. Perhaps the unloading of Pujols was like unshackling a heavy weight. The starting pitching needs to improve, but mainly they just need to get about 1-2 innings deeper each game and more consistent. The eye test of Bundy, Cobb, Quintana, Canning and Heaney shows they all have good “stuff” but seems like their failures are mainly mental. Maybe lacking confidence, a bit of bad luck? The bullpen has been better than expected, but it seems they’re asking too much of them every game to expect they’ll be perfect.
MLB seems to have a lot of parity this year. Hoping Trout comes back strong in July…
on the other hand, a 60 game season would be over in a couple of weeks. We’d feel bad during that time. Instead we have June, July, August, September….
No Trout means, to me, we sink further. I know a few years ago we did reasonably well without him. Somebody (Eric Young, Jr?) surprised us with decent outfielding. If 2017 is the year I’m remembering then that’s when Parker Bridwell Bundy-ed. “Bundy” is my new term for “looking like an ace one year and then done”. Looking at the ERAs I see Blake Parker at 2.54, Yusmeiro Petit at 2.76, a bunch of others at 3.something, which we don’t hsve this year.
Player turnover is interesting. Here’s who’s left from the 2017 team:
Mike Trout
Justin Upton
Andrew Heaney
Shohei porn for the day:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/31483006/ranking-shohei-ohtani-greatest-hits-pitches-2021-mlb-season
Which Heaney shows up tonight? The emotional one that allows everything get to him or the Heaney that is a replica of a major league pitcher that gives hitter a run for their money and starts us towards a sweep?
Nightmares can happen for him here in Texas, reasons best left alone, but if I had to guess I would bank on him doing well for us, 6 innings and 7 K’s and 2 runs given up.
Only two entities know what crazy line up we will see, God and Joe, but I can hear the wheels turning just a tick and will not be surprised no matter what it is.
I would like to see Walsh bat second and Ohtani third followed by Rendon. Walsh is the new Trouty for awhile as his bat is so darn consistent right now and the power of Ohtani will allow Walsh to see fastballs and hit the mistakes.
Right? I want so bad to pull for Heaney to turn a corner and figure it out… but I feel like I’ve been rooting for that for years now. Not sure he’ll ever turn that corner, and will just be inconsistent for his career. 🙁
I fear the real Heaney is turn the page, not turn the corner.
3 2/3rds to 4 1/3rd innings.
/\ The ‘Icy Hot’ sweet spot. /\
https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3365721/the-angels-minor-league-announcer-cant-believe-that-jo-adell-is-still-in-the-minors-after-hitting-his-6th-home-run-in-5-days
Why is Jo Adell still in AAA? Because he needs not just the experience but the confidence booster. He needs the repetition of playing the outfield too. Allowing him to hit HRs in hitter friendly parks is rather a good thing just as it was for Walsh a few season past as they can work on mechanics while enjoying the success at that level. Also his trade value will sky rocket in SLC if he keeps this up. More upside than down side in keeping him down there.
I don’t think his trade value will be any higher based on how he hits in homer-friendly AAA. Lots of dudes mash there but then come up to the bigs and, nothing. See Blash, Jabari. Teams saw his embarrassing cameo last year and frankly I don’t see any of them upping their trade value until Adell proves he can translate it to the big leagues. Many hyped prospects just become AAAA sluggers and/or below average MLB players. Hoping that’s not the case for Adell, and truly hoping he comes up later for the Angels, mashing and being the guy we all hoped for. Then we won’t have to trade him at all!
Mets? They could use a young outfielder, maybe peruse their pitching aisle for a couple of high upside arms.
But…but! Remember when Jabari Blash hit the longest foul ball we’ve ever seen out of Safeco Field???? Those were the days.
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/8hj1ts/jabari_blashs_foul_ball_leaves_safeco_115mph/
Did not mean to embed that, only post the link.
I’ll never make it to “Trusted Member.” Darn it!
It’s only embedded when you are logged in. It’s a link otherwise.
So you’re telling me this was supposed to happen!
I’ve never seen one get embedded when someone uses the link symbol in the “post comment” dialog to put the link into selected text. This is a test. The link is about Tony La Russa managing a win over St. Louis.
Edit: That might have been a crappy test anyway. I should have went and gotten something from YouTube.
This isn’t a gamethread, so it’s OK.
Brining him up now would just frustrate the fan base. Trade value would go down.
Agree. Let him crush it in the SLC band box and then trade him for pitching.
No idea who this announcer is, but it’s not the great Steve Klauke, radio guy for the Bees.
So MLB needs to push the A’s along to choose a new city. If I had to make a decision I would go to San Antonio and Austin to see for myself if they are the right fit for MLB. Portland is beautiful and Vagas is exciting but neither will support a MLB team. But there is this. If commish Robby wants to expand where do you want Oak. and TBR to go to? Where is the pitching going to be found? I do not trust the Commissioner who hates Baseball to make the right move hear at all. To many teams now.
I like the out of the box thinking. Not sure about Austin — seems like a mostly football town (UT) — but it does have the disposable income with all the tech jobs. I’m sure there are some others out there that have a market to support a baseball team.
Portland 10 years ago maybe. The type of people that buy baseball tickets (older, suburban or wealthy) have been leaving the city the past few years as things have gotten out of hand politically.
Nasvhille and Austin both make a lot of sense but it would be nice for the Angels’ future travel if it was a little more west-coast.
Charlotte and Nashville rank high for me. From an out of the box standpoint, what about Havana? I know, I know, but baseball is massive there.
Low disposable income would be the problem. Lots of people would go, but they really can’t afford $50 tickets.
If they moved to Havana plumbing would be better.
Exactly.
😆
Be worth it just to post this a few times a year
What’s your position on Schnitzengruben?
for you and steelgolf….and everyone else. Portland is not out what it’s portrayed as in the media. It seems like a good story that we have roving gangs of rioters but that’s blown way out of proportion. Know how often I see these “gangs”? Never.
What we do have is a homeless problem. I would think that’s true in lots of cities.
As for whether or not Portland would support a team the answer is “you bet!” The Blazers are always at capacity, we have two soccer teams that have crazed fans. The A’s average around 20,000 per game. We’d top that. Of course we have no stadium so that’s a bit of a problem.
Oh, we have a homeless problem here. A guy in Anaheim walks into a subway around 6 pm, naked, and lights the chip rack on fire with a lighter. But don’t worry, he will be released right back out on the street without getting the proper mental care needed.
Can He Pitch?
He lights fires just like our relievers!
what worries me about an expansion franchise in Portland is I don’t know who’d own it and if the owner was another Arte or another Nutting (Pittsburgh). Moving the A’s here would work.
Are they not, just moving, so the owners won’t change at this time?
Right. That’s what I meant when I said the A’s would be better for Portland or any other city than an expansion team. Or at least I tried to say that.
Next time ‘individuals experiencing homelessness’ please.
The proper use of ‘new language’ is the key to solving the problem.
Language is ‘The North Star of Meeting the Moment’.
I hope he didn’t light the Cheetos on fire…that is nothing but styrofoam in orange spray paint. People in hazmat suits will need to clean that up.
As Cowboy asked…..did you see him throw anything?
He lit them all on fire, Cheetos, Fritos, Lays, Lays Barbecue, Takis, Kettle Chips. Not sure if he got to the Miss Vickies selection. 😄
I believe you mean to say temporarily unhoused.
Yeah, my mother lives up there, as I’ve mentioned. She’s actually another data point of financially-comfortable older white former Californians moving *into* the city, not out of it.
She echoes you: lots of homeless. But that’s a symptom of the urban economic inequality and rising housing prices – meaning it’s also a symptom of a financially comfortable cohort in sufficient numbers to sustain a pro sports team.
Feels like the Portland Diamond project has momentum in terms of investment and could be constructed quickly. I actually think Portland could sustain an MLB club on a nightly basis better than Vegas, where the population is tied to the service industries more. Unless the hotels could bundle tickets in tourist packages.
Where else could you smoke pot and watch the game. Food concessions would make a killing.
I don’t think that take on Portland is really supported by the data – in fact, all data I’ve seen (census, PSU) directly contradicts an exodus of “older, suburban or wealthy” individuals. Portland’s pop. increased 32k last year, and two-thirds of it was from migration into the city, largely from directionally upper income families.
Portland’s population has grown pretty healthily each year for 8 years straight, and the metro area has added 450k in the past ten years. 2021 still saw more pop. growth than ten years prior.
Its median income is significantly up over that time as well, as it still sees a large influx of wealthy Californians, and it’s the whitest city on the West Coast, with an aging population. All that is very supportive of a baseball audience.
Portlanders have generally rallied around their NBA and soccer franchises, and the Pickles are an underground hit. I think the northwest Portland Diamond project would be well-timed and have strong local business and residential support.
Another question I have about Portland is territorial rights. If the Mariners own the rights to Portland, they’re not giving them up. When the A’ss looked at San Jose, the Giants, who own those territorial rights, slammed their foot down and put an end to that chapter.
Vegas probably has the best shot. Portland has become an Antifa/anarchist hellhole thanks to the extremely “woke” politicians who coddle them. Oakland needs to get proactive now or lose their franchise.
Well, Oakland lost the Warriors and Raiders already. Why not the A’s?
I think the NHL team has shown that Vegas can support a regular long-season sport (that has more than 8-10 games a season, non-NFL). One also knows they’d be a consistent draw for visiting MLB teams’ fans who’d make the trek to watch their team play whilst they have their Vegas vacation or weekend.
What do you think of the argument that an MLB team needs a stronger, more casual base, the population of which simply is not there in Vegas.
Like even if a visiting team goes to Vegas, they’re going to one, maybe two games? Not like hockey or football. That method is less sustainable.
I don’t think fans in the seats will be a problem at all.
Sustainability will come from locals, fans of teams traveling and people in visiting LV from Iowa that don’t have MLB. Most of the country doesn’t have MLB in there backyard, let alone 3 like us. The Casino’s offer package deals and tickets. Sports fans and families will go as you said to a game or two. A’ss are good, locals might become found of them quicker than we think.
If they are first looking for a strong local fan base, you’re right, probably not the #1 destination. But asses in seat might be very attractive, regardless why they are going. Day at the pool, game at night, little gambling, sounds like fun for most people. They probably better make that stadium a must see destination spot too, that will help.
That stadium will need to be domed / indoors so as to cool it off somewhat inside.
It’d be cool if we kept politics out of this. I come here for Angels discussion not shitty conservative opinions, thanks.
I just want to say that, in general, the mods here are a bit too lax about discourse that steers toward the commonly held politcal leanings of OC
Don’t read it. And it was not a “shitty conservative opinion “ , it was an observation from news reports and video, including those bastions of conservatism like CNN and MSNBC. 10 years ago Portland wasn’t like this. And I prefer just baseball talk too, unfortunately sometimes the two intertwine when we are talking about possibly getting a franchise there.
I think Oakland already messed up by agreeing to sell the A’s the coliseum land without tying it to the team staying in the city. Massive blunder and they’ve been played.
I disagree, I want less baseball in Texas, not more.
Good Morning all, Starbuck’s or Home Brewed or some other place. Go to for myself is Vanilla Nut Home brewed. Started in 1983 and have been drinking it since. The difference today is one cup, years ago 6 cups. So what is your choice?
Home brewed for the cost (whole bean, burr grinder, whatever non-flavored thing that’s not French Roast at Costco). Back in CA, Kean’s is the go-to for splurges. That’s some good coffee.
https://www.itsdamnfine.com/
Damn fine coffee “Electric Voodoo” brewed at home, every morning. I buy 6 to 8 bags at a time and they ship to my door. I have my first cup around 4:30 a.m before I leave for work.
Home brewed. Lion’s Cafe Honolulu. This is a company that has been around since the 19th century. Been home brewing for like ever. I sip all day long.
I’m trying all of these…….Maybe we’d all be better served discussing the products and services we use instead of bitching about one of the worst teams in MLB.
Thanks!
I’m willing to share, if I know how to get to yous
Home brewed, burr grinder, french press. My current favorite is HEB’s Texas Pecan.
I’m the heretic of CTPG — I don’t drink coffee. Not for any other reason than I can’t stand the taste.
I gave up caffeine once for a few months, was a good thing. Now I’m hooked again. You are far better off as you are!