Major League Baseball will be implementing a policy concerning grip substances that will include random equipment checks during the game. The fallout might be interesting, but the idea of the umpire going out a few times per game to fool around with a pitcher’s hat or glove sounds a bit boring. That takes care of the sticky part. Now for the wickets. Do you think the inspections will result in a sticky wicket for Angels Pitchers?
LA Angels Links
The Angels won Friday and Saturday. They lost on Sunday to secure no more than a split in the Mariners series. They had come back to score three runs in the ninth inning but, since they had been down by seven runs, it was an exercise in futility.
The Angels signed right handed pitcher Jake Petricka to a minor league contract. He most recently pitched in the Atlantic League of independent baseball.
As you may know, the Angels reinstated Josέ Iglesias from the injured list and, in a corresponding move, they optioned Josέ Rojas.
This article is mostly about Justin Upton hitting leadoff, but there is a Trout update. He is out of the walking boot but, other than that, there is not much clarification on when he will return other than “in July.”
Happy belated birthday to Anthony Rendon.
Shohei Ohtani hits homerun number sixteen.
In this ranking by position, Jared Walsh, Mike Trout, and Shohei Ohtani all made the top ten, Ohtani as a designated hitter.
The Angels biggest regret from the offseason is probably “not going bigger with rotation upgrades.” (Duh!) In defense of Cobb, though, he has been pretty good lately.
Links From Around Baseball
Team USA officially qualified for the baseball event at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Mariners made some roster moves, mainly having to do with their bullpen and stemming from the acquisition of Yacksel Rios.
If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, sometime in June you will have the opportunity to earn free tickets to MLB games for getting jabbed. All 30 teams are doing this, not just the Angels.
That sports bettor who threatened to kill Tampa Bay Rays players and their families (“Parlay Patz”) got six months house arrest. He’s not allowed to gamble anymore and he must go through mental health counseling, a different sort of sticky wicket. He also will have 36 months of probation.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Hoyt was not tearing it up in AAA. Not excited that he’s back
He’s already 27.
DOB July 30, 1993
So what?!
Of course
It’s F71 again…….LOL!!! You’re still part of that mob that says we need to put the best team on the field at the expense of our future competiveness. I just gave this blog three examples of teams that tore down their respective teams in order to get completive in the future ( Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and the Seattle Mariners ). We have the worst farm system in all of MLB ( sorry F71 I measure my A1C not a real time finger prick ). He’s likely to become more injury prone sooner that’s what happens to athletes as they age ( #27 right now ).
Strickland is a horrible pitcher and a worse person. So glad he’s gone.
Worse person?
Do you know him personally?
Type in the name Bryce Harper and then type in his name and read what he did. And what his teammates thought of him.
Hmmm. Seems like much ado about nothing. Or very little. Harper says he now “respects” Strickland.
https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/nationals/bryce-harper-respects-hunter-strickland-not-throwing-his-head-and-just-wanting-fight
for some reason Strickland, and not Claudio, is gone
I think it might be because Claudio has a unique arm angle “look” but does average a strikeout per inning pitched. The 3 batter rule hurts Claudio as he seems better fit as a LOOGY.
Strick-nine is no loss. Next…
Watch Tampa Bay pick him up and he is good again.
Strickland sucks; good riddance! I often felt he pitched poorly simply because he hated being an Angel. Claudio should be next though.
How about, both sent packing….both gone. And whoever is chosen to replace them, get rid of them preemptively too. That will save us from the inevitable.
While I love what Ohtani is doing, I think the Babe Ruth comparison is not quite right. I was looking at Ruth’s pitching stats and I see he led the AL in ERA in 1916 with a 1.75, going 23-12. He also hit a lot of HRs.
I’m happy with the 2nd best combination.
I forgot to mention the 324 innings pitched
He only struck out 3.6 guys per 9 innings but he kept people off the bases anyway.
Ball was a lot deader in 1916 (it was changed after the 1919 season) and Ruth’s average competition was a lot worse than Ohtani’s.
Nobody will every dominate an era like Ruth did. Nobody will ever play in as weak of an era, either.
🎶💃
My rant on the “biggest mistake” is centered right on “pitching and run prevention.” Those two areas ring a bell to anyone? Perry, you out there? Hello, Perry, pick up the phone.
Thing is, we really did not need to go BIG, would be nice but not required. A DeSclafani ($6M) and Alex Wood ($3M) combo is a hair over what we donated to Quintana ($8M). Cobb seems to be a pretty good pick-up. But plugging those two guys in for Quintana and Canning would make us better.
For the pen, here is where Joe Perry ‘really’ underperformed): Clauido ($1.1M), Cishek ($1M), Slegers ($0.6) and Guerra ($0.75M) acquisitions (all cheap gambles with horrible WHIP, ERA and are easy to hit) could have been thwarted by picking up more proven:
Mark Melancon (0.68 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 0.185 Ave, $3M)
Ryan Tepera (1.23 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 0.143 Ave, $0.8K)
Brad Boxberger (3.03 ERA, 0.85 ERA, 0.181 Ave, $1M)
Jake Diekman (3.20 ERA, 1.22, 0.211 Ave, 2-year $3.75M AAV)
Jake McGee (4.01 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 0.202 Ave, 2-year $2.25M AAV)
OR we could have retained 2-arms on our 40-man roster:
** Both guys are tough to hit, Key had one blow up but has settled down nicely. Love to have Key now (Jedi can build a pen).
I did not even mention that we could have went large for Liam Hendriks to pair with Rasiel to create a nice tandem but good we avoided May and Hand. No fault here. Halos were not going to invest that hard after landing Rasiel for a guy they cut twice.
Run prevention (whoa boy): Gosselin, Fowler, Schebler, Suzuki, Lagares (overweight 2014 GG) did little to zero to improve the defense. Existing players put into unnatural positions; Ward and Rojas, has made the defense weaker not stronger. Along with Upton patrolling LF.
Yep, Pitching (ERA last in baseball) and Run Prevention (2nd to last in defense). Billy did not crash this hard his first year. Perry will certainly get 1-more year to claim some credibility or he is back in the dugout collecting opposing autographs.
Veteran closers suck ( Huston Street in 2015 for us ).
You need a three headed monster of young gun arms ( 2021 Dodgers or 1990 Cincinnati Reds “Nasty Boys” ).
Definitely need more than one. I really thought we had Mayers as the setup guy.
5-6 innings of meh, Mayers in 8, Iglesias in 9. That leaves 1-2 innings per night to rotate through middle relief arms and play match ups.
Instead we’ve gotten a ton of 2-5 inning starts and needed to use all hands on deck.
“Jedi can build a pen.”
????
(***Cue Dipoto 4 picture)
Madson was a complete waste for the Angels, and it’s not like it was even a surprise since he was in recovery from TJ surgery.
You know, there is just something about having those sub 0.200 opponents batting averages and having pitchers with low WHIPs that keeps crooked numbers from hitting the score board, our Perry aint got a fucking clue.
Mariners are a top bullpen in the 2021 AL, he had a plan and followed through. I’m not making any assertions when he was with the Angels.
@Cowboy26, I was thinking the exact same thing.
In other words, more dumpster diving, but with better results. TBH, I’m fully onboard with that view–to round out a full roster, there is no substitute for dumpster diving. But that too takes some skills, both old fashioned scouting/development and newfangled sabermetrics voodoo, and we haven’t been good in this dept. Hasn’t always been the case: when Oakland was getting publicity for their moneyballness, we were practicing the real thing, with the likes of Donnelly, Weber, etc in the bullpen and reclamation projects like Appier and Sele eating serviceable or better innings on a budget (or, at least, other people’s money). What happened since then?
I was really big on the Melancon train. Then again I also wanted Wilson and he’s been hurt/ineffective.
I understood the soft contact/good defense approach to building a team. In fact I’ve been clamoring for it for years. But the defense was atrocious early on and we can’t blame all of that on Perry. Rendon/Iglesias/Fletcher/Walsh should stabilize that going forward (if all 4 can stay on the field) and the outfield is what it is until Marsh arrives.
Really the biggest culprit with the bullpen is needing to use 5+ of them every night. Somebody is destined to suck.
Here you go red
Great Clip. is that government surveillance footage?
I think it was shot from a grassy knoll
Now that you mention it, I think I *did* see a Gene Hackman lookalike earlier that day….
I’m the one with the mask over my chin….
I had just got back to my seat to watch the final out and didn’t bother taking it off.
I thought that looked like you on t.v., but was not sure.
Speaking of making rookie pitchers look good:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/06/royals-designate-jake-newberry-for-assignment.html
I don’t know about you but I feel the season’s 7th no hitter coming on.
yeah, we’re in trouble tonight.
I read somewhere, or maybe someone told me, that a “sticky wicket” meant the pitch (that’s what they call the field) was too wet to play You know, ’cause it rained and they don’t have tarps for cricket fields…or pitches.
trAdition.
Funny, you know it, I know it, Royals know it, Angels know it,
Vegas does not…Bundy listed as -150 favorite. Capitalize on the Bundy suckage, the rookie pitcher trAdition.
Run, don’t walk to your Bookmaker.
Vegas odds are a popularity contest. -150 shows that Bundy ain’t popular with the bettors.
I would take that bet. KC isn’t that good.
Bundy probably isn’t popular with his own family….
You think Bundy would accept a trade to Florida or would that be too much of a shock to him?
2018 World Series Championship Red Sox starting outfield all gone.
Franchy Cordero, Alex Verdugo, and Kiki Hernandez ( BTW two of those names sound familiar don’t they? ) Yes they were part of last year’s Dodger’s championship team. The Oakland A’s and the TB D-Rays also use their outfield to cut costs ( You don’t need a outfield of Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Bryce Harper to win a pennant or WS ).
Verdugo was not on the Dodgers last year (no ring for him, sorry). His final season in LA was 2019.
The 2018 Oakland A’s had a no star outfield until Ramon Laureano in 2019.
No but you need to have talented outfielders like Mookie Betts to trade away for some of those players.
Yes, and vice versus you need young talent like Verdugo in order to trade for Betts…
Sorry bruh. Mr Moreno likes his big names to put up in lights. Just four, but a big four to take up 70% of the budget.
And never pitchers! Screw the pitchers, we don’t need em.
Oh yeah, biggest regret in the offseason not going big on pitching. In other news, gravity is still working and stars are still fusing hydrogen!
You mean we didn’t go big? But we did keep Mayers though.
No Regerts!
Or Ragrets.
Fantastic idea to have the umps check the pitchers gloves, hats, belts, shoes, etc. there Manfred. That should really help with your “speeding up the game” campaign. i have a serious question for you Rob Manfred : Have you ever, even once, had and implemented a good idea for baseball and the game of baseball? I’m going to go with the infamous “blind squirrel” theory and guess there has to be at least one, I just can’t think of what it is.
Seems like they should check the ball after the pitch and if it’s sticky, then check the pitcher. Or if the ball is sticky, toss the pitcher and the catcher. Quit screwing around.
Seems like the right order. But like Government MLB will screw it up.
Oh, I guarantee there will be a walk to the mound to find out where the “foreign substance” is being hidden so they can fill out their paperwork as to why they tossed the pitcher from the game. This will definitely slow the game down.
Might be hard for the umps, since any casual observer can clearly see pitchers going to the top of their cap before every pitch, ala’ Garret Richards. They could also simply observe the the sticky stuff slathered all over the bill.
You are right to assume that Bud’s protégé has really screwed thing up but good. 7 inning games! Or the famous man on second to start an inning. This Dude is as useless a broken wooden door knocker. HHa fiqure that out, a wooden door? Or is the knocker wooden? Whichever I agreed with you he is Baseball stupid.
Can’t wait for Enrico Pallazo to check the pitchers. We’ll be amazed at what he finds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpy629AzJIQ
https://youtu.be/MzxrKO-yVV8
FYI.
Gary Gaetti was traded to the Angels soon after this. From that point on, he immediately sucked, he blamed the marine layer. And, that was the last game Tom Kelly wore sunglasses at night. His prescription from LensCrafters for Transition Lenses was finally ready.
Your’e wrong – he sucked his last 2 years in Minnesota. And continued that suckage into his brief tenure with the Angels. Mangaged to get decent again briefly with KCR and STL.
TBH, after watching some M’s reliever take forever on every pitch, I’m kind of down with the pitch clock.
We had their rookie starter on the ropes multiple times yesterday and didn’t score. I’ve said this before, but I would love to see Rendon be more patient at the plate. We had bases loaded with 2 outs and he swung on the first pitch and grounded out. Makes no sense to me in that situation. Let the rookie sweat it out. It’s not uncommon to see a wild pitch or a major mistake pitch thrown in that situation. After I saw that, I didn’t feel like we were going to win this one.
I agree that the Halos did not work the counts, however that rookie has the tools to be very good. He kept the Halos off balance with the mid- to upper 90’s FB and upper 70’s off-speed stuff. If he figures out how to consistently hit locations, watch out.
Good Morning, well a split was not just exactly were I that I thought would be the outcome in our series with the M’s as I thought we would take 3 games of the 4. So what went wrong? Sheffield in Thursday game. His 35-50 seconds of throwing a ball really messes with our line up for the second time this season. Plus this line up has issues with left handed pitchers. Friday and Saturday were the two best back to back games at Home in years. The 3-2 win on Friday night was just flat out exciting as our closer shutout the M’s for the 8th and 9thinning. In the 8th he came in with no out and bases full and no runners scored. Glad to have the 2 Iglesias’.
Down 5-1 on Saturday evening the Halos came screaming back to have 12 runs at the end. This team can come back from the 7th inning on very easily and often.
We may not make the Playoffs, although I believe that when Trouty returns and he is out of his slump we will make it.
Rating Walsh below Muncy and Olsen, rated higher, phooey, I’ll take Walsh over them at any time. But how do you rate Trout #2 when he does not play? One of my daily picks for the National League All-Star Game OF has been Winkler out of Cincinnati Reds line up. He had a 3 Homerun game yesterday.
Cobb has been a nice comeback and he is one reason the Angels starters are pretty good.
Hey we didn’t lose the Seattle Series. We are winners and we are good, very good Team.
It’s the curse of Shuffle-bot. Win two in a row and then buttercup. It’s time to sacrifice the Shuffle-bot with extreme prejudice.
Well said by our very own Politician (lol).
Hey, the Halos have their very own politician as well. Anthony Rendon is the Speaker of the CA Assembly. Seriously. Look it up.
A complete ban on Shufflebot is needed. At this point he does more harm than good. I hate Shufflebot……….
I definitely agree that shufflebot is the reason the relief pitching sucks, Iglesias cannot buy a hit and is error prone and the Angels can’t score runners from 3rd base with less than 2 outs.
The blame needs to fall on someone…..we need to make a change, Perry is seeking to trade Shufflebot for the services of 1980’s Lakers legend Dancing Barry. Hoping this will increase level of play, which will lead to more wins and in the end more dancing.
https://youtu.be/EpK7H8Xqqm4
Hahaha
Is Dancing Barry Available?What would it take to get him and his current sequin glittered walker?
Then we’d be out on the lame monkey
If fucking Albert can play 9+ years at 1st base, Dancing Barry can dance with his glittered walker. Besides the Angels had retrofitted the entire dugout and clubhouse to accommodate Albert. Handrails, ramps, wider hallways, chairs in the shower stalls, stairway chair lifts, even raised toilets.
4/58?
I saw that guy many times live.
I hated that clown. I’ll never forget my friend Russell Rhodes one game simply saying “Fool.”
Boo. If only Shufflebot could pitch!
If the Shuffle-bot could pitch, it would be scheduled for it’s third UCL replacement surgery
You lied to me GPa. Now I’m going to run away with Sis’ to the woods and that spiced smelling house that’s always cooking something. Byyyyeeeeeeeeeeee.
Cute stuff.
Best under .500 team in history?
tRadiTion
Most expensive maybe? Arte’s payroll per win metric not looking good over the last few years.