Good Morning Angels fans, how are you today? Have some links why don’t you?
Angels News
The Angels lose again, going back under .500. Life’s not fair.
As part of winning Player of the Week, Max Stassi got interviewed by MLB Network.
Around Baseball
MLB finally has punishments in place for those that doctor the ball. 10 game suspension, but with pay? While it has been criticized for being way too lenient, it is something Manfred can do without the union and the players cannot appeal due to still getting paid.
In addition, the teams will be unable to replace the players on the active roster and the pay still in place makes it clear that this is focused at punishing teams over individual players.
Because of this, teams are asking their players to not use the stuff and are scrambling to find out the actual pitches of their pitchers. Not the faker pitches I assume.
Negro League stats are now MLB stats on Baseball Reference. This means some more .400 BA seasons and showing how damn dominant Josh Gibson truly was.
Speaking of Gibsons, Bob Gibson’s ERA record may be in danger as Jacob DeGrom has been unbelievable. Of course, there is more than half a season to go, so this can all be moot at season’s end.
Max Scherzer is now on the IL with a groin issue. Groin IL stints have been common this season.
Glasnow goes on IL with UCL injury. And pitchers continue to drop around MLB.
Nick Madrigal is out for the season. Poor White Sox. But hey, Eloy could be returning in about a month.
Cole Hamels is almost healthy and is looking for a team…
The Olympics is still going to happen and Tanaka will play for Japan in it. Still surprised no MLB team signed him.
Anything I missed? Post below for Upvotes.
Well at least we were able to save money on our medical costs.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/06/pirates-jose-soriano-rule-5-angels-elbow-surgery.html
What is average amount spent every year in medical costs per team?
Everything from X-Rays to TJ’s?
$129.95 per TJS
I’ll take three
And while Rome is burning, our 4 HR, .241 BA $240 million aging 3B takes his place on the bench for yet another game. I’d rather they just IL him now and get another active player on the roster who is actually available to play. Instead, we will probably hear in a few more days he’s going to the IL, and then in a couple more weeks he’s having season-ending surgery. If/when he does come back, I simply don’t want to hear that “he’s playing through an injury.” That dog just don’t hunt. He’s proven he can’t play injured. I’d like to see him prove he can play when he’s healthy. And not play at all until then.
Go Angels!
I always wondered why it takes so long to make roster moves for this team.
They must be trying to save money on travel costs, and cutting down on paperwork which saves money on manpower. It’s not like we are really trying to win here.
Uh Oh, here we go again!
No wonder we’re losing, because apparently we’re the only team that doesn’t cheat. As if trash cans, steroids, or hoping the other team was bribed to lie down and now SpiderTack would turn our team into the 1927 Yankees if we did it too. The great John Wooden once quoted ” I don’t care what the other team does, as long as we execute our game plan! Thanks John even for another sport besides basketball! ). 💪 👍
It is true.
We had the goop guy employed right here on the Halos. We were the first team to self impose the ban on the use of the goop. See how we are? The other owners ain’t gonna put up with that. Arte does not care to win, so he is okay with the other players doing things, just not his own. He knows it’s not a level playing field, and he is just fine about that. To Arte.The game is just an excuse to get you to spend more money.
I 1000% agree, even though my math is fuzzy math.
Good morning to all and I hope you all can stay cool today.
It is time to address the Line-Up Card situation? It is one thing to have a lead off hitter who is a Hot Hitter and who is also drawing walks, but it is helpful to notice when he is cooling off. Of late JUp is still under 30% OBP and that is not doing much for us. ( A great lead off hitter would be 40% OBP, but a 35% OBP hitter with speed is also nice to have as he is able to take extra base hits and get into scoring position or going from 1st to 3rd or Home on a fielding mistake or another hit behind him in the line up.) But I understand leaving him at leadoff hoping to see a turn around, just not for to long. I would like to see Fletch return to #1 spot while he is now on fire, it is just a suggestion is all, but keeping the Hot Bat in #9 hole starts to make very little sense.
Would you pitch to Fletcher with a runner on 3rd or 2nd and 3rd in a close game?
Seriously? J Up just came off of a 3 game series in Arizona where he had an OBP of .563 and an OPS of .926 . During that same series, Fletcher had a .250 OBP and a OPS of .523 respectively. To try to make the case that Soggy Joe should have anticipated the juxtaposition of these 2 players performance in this series would be asinine
Your entire argument revolves around the last 2 games where Fletcher finally broke out from an abysmal season. I get the “what have you done for me lately” argument but the problem with the Angels offense the last 2 games has not been baserunners, the problem has been getting them home. Maybe it would have made more sense to bat Fletch higher up in the lineup than Iggy or Suzuki since he has a propensity to drive in runs but leadoff was not the problem.
But regardless of what deck chairs you want to rearrange with the lineup, the problem is Pitching Pitching and more Pitching. Bundy imploded again on Monday and Heaney burned his pitch count and ultimately forced the early Blowpen meltdown by being too afraid to throw his fastball (despite the proven success of this pitch in previous starts)
Our offense has deficiencies for sure, but J Up batting lead off vs. The Fletch is not one of them. In the bigger picture though, Save the pitching Save the World should be our focus.
And I’ll add that JUP was all over a couple pitches he fouled back. Just missed them.
Look – I understand your argument Grandpa that JUP is not a prototypical leadoff hitter abd baseball is a sport that does things a certain way. But JUP has been SO much better batting #1 than anywhere else in the lineup. So why move him? Just because he is not the prototype? Upton should bat leadoff simply because it seems to cause him to focus or something that causes him to be way more productive.
What would you prefer, the JUP we have seen over the last few seasons batting 4th-6th (where he ‘should’ be) and flailing or batting him unconventionally at #1 and have him have some success.
Abd I also agree that the last 2 losses are on the pitching staff.
Ultimately, I feel like Fletcher is like a 6 or 7 hitter in the lineup. I don’t love him at leadoff. 9th may be a bit low, but I think it works.
The reason is that his OBP is relatively low, but his contact is literally one of the best.
He has excelled at the 9th spot because he keeps coming up with people on base. He should be wherever his contact is going to maximize chances of him hitting with people on base. Leadoff isn’t that spot.
Fletch in 9th spot is like a second leadoff hitter.
The old Sosh way of setting the lineup. Now that Joe is doing it I’m thinking that was Joe’s idea.
With one fewer AB in many games. I would like to have him near the top because he can actually do a bunch of things that don’t show up in the box score (I know there’s no advanced metric for that).
I kind of agree. Fletcher’s contact profile is nice in a 6 or 7 spot where he’s likely to hit with guys on base. In the leadoff spot a walk is as good as a single. But with runners on that is not the case.
His speed limits his GIDP and at worst case he usually makes a productive out and moves runners over.
One powerful weapon Fletcher possesses is the ability to execute the hit and run, so lead off is a terrible position for him to bat.
Saw this on the broadcast last night… apparently it was fake lol
https://twitter.com/InheritedRunnrs/status/1404988827513483267?s=20
Can’t allow rosin/sunscreen and ban everything else. How can you tell, definitively, if a substance on a pitcher’s glove or cap is allowable or illegal goop? Yeah, any pitcher that thought this indifference to the rules would continue indefinitely is self-delusional. I’m really looking forward to the whining and complaining from cheaters. Glasnow was chapter one in that story.
Agree. And I have no sympathy for Glasnow.
He is now crying saying that MLB caused his injury by banning Spider Tack and other goop. As far as I am concerned he brought it on himself. Nobody told him to use that stuff. I refuse to believe that 100% of pitchers use it (though it may be alot). In any case, it was his choice. He has nobody to blame but himself !!
What about if a pitcher puts sunscreen on his face and hands for health reasons? That’s only going to last a few pitches in the 1st inning, but you at least have to allow that.
If you are sweating then you have to re-apply the sunscreen.
There won’t be enough on his hands/face to alter the flight path of baseball after baseball. And without the rosin, I don’t think it would be tacky enough for players to want to use.
Clearly, sunscreen is necessary, speaking as a skin cancer survivor. Maybe use the spray-on in the dugout so it doesn’t get on your hands? There’s gotta be a way.
I like the cartoon John.
Good work !
The Angels will win a few, and the Angels will lose a few.
Yeah, well, that’s just like your opinion, man.
We will win some games……Where have we seen that quote before CTPG and longtime former HH’s.
The Tao of TAME.
Juicing the balls was ok 2 years ago, but pitchers are suspended 10 games for a substance they’ve been using for decades? Makes no sense to me.
Well first it’s cheating. But moral panic aside, it’s because offense sells tickets. Joe Q Public hates the 2-1 pitcher duels. Folks want dingerz and lots of offense. So a substance on the ball that increases spin rate and causes pitchers to dominate and hitters to fail has, from a game popularity standpoint, gotta go. Look at batting averages – they are at historic lows. So MLB is acting because it believes more offense will result in more popularity for the sport.
A perfect example was 1998 and the HR battle between Sosa and McGuire. The whole Country was watching baseball and excited as the both chased Ruth. By comparison folks (other than long time fans) could give a sh-t about 15 strikeout games.
The amount of no hitters, is too damn high. That is all folks.
They knew about steroids back in the late 70’s. They didn’t do anything until is just became absurd on the amount of home runs were being smashed. Then they said they would do something about it, and basically went after the little guy, or the thorn in their side players.
Then the trashcans, nothing.
Now this, what do expect?
They say that the pitchers were stealing money from someplace with this cheat, that was out there for everyone to see, and now the owners want to save some money that they earned during the shutdown.
By not paying the players, whom do they pay? What is that money used for?
I’m not promoting cheating, I really enjoy fair play. But what the owners should be doing with this money they want to save by not paying cheaters(they always will because cheaters bring milkshakes to the yard) is expand the development in the minor leagues by investing, yes investing in the minors. Screw the NCAA, they can try to make their own money their own way.
Not sure what amount of no-hitters is ideal…….But, I known this is true “The Rent Is Too Damn High” – Jimmy McMillan https://youtu.be/OUx_32ABtw4
What about clandestine bribery like what Arnold Rothstein did a century ago?
Payment by Bitcoin out of the Cayman Islands and your home Scott free!!! 💪
Rosin/Sunscreen maybe for decades but not spider-tack. That’s like stick-um in football. You have to draw a line somewhere especially when no hitters and near no-nos were becoming weekly occurrences.
Evan Longoria’s interview was really informative for me. He said when the spin rate explodes for offspeed pitches, hitters can no longer tell the difference between a fastball and offspeed when it comes out of the hand and are just guessing.
Makes no sense? That is the legacy of Manfred.
Manfred is not very bright when it comes to the sport. Neither are the owners.
Manfred is just the mouthpiece of what the owners want to be done. There will be no big names going down for any infraction. The owners can’t afford to have every team built like the Halos.
They haven’t been using the new substances for decades. That’s the issue. Teams have hired chemists to come up with the best goop.
The best proof guys haven’t been using this for decades is spin rate. What used to be an elite spin rate just three years ago is considered average now.
Not unlike the days when there were dozens of players hitting 50 home run s after it has been previously considered something very rare and only in very great seasons.
Exactly.
Crazy thing is without all this new technology, we might not have any solution to this issue. Offense would be down but we couldn’t quantitatively define why.
By the same token, if you lack the technology, it becomes very difficult to determine which goop formula works best.