Mike Trout is optimistic he will return after the All Star break which is good news at the half way point of the season.
News flash! Shohei Ohtani is pretty good at baseball.
The Angels optioned Griffin Canning down to Salt Lake City and designated Scott Schebler for assignment the second time this season. The have selected the contract of Andrew Wantz, who wantz to prove he belongs in the big leagues.
The Angels beat the Orioles on Friday night. Then they beat the Orioles again on Saturday night. How about that Alex Cobb? He sort of acted like a pitcher for over seven innings. Then the Angels swept the Orioles on a walk-off (those same Orioles who swept the Asstros (LOL @ Altuve. The day you can pitch a decent splitter come back and talk to me.)
Josέ Suarez gets a shout out after his promotion. Apparently some consider the Angels to be contenders.
Links From The AL West
The Houston Astros expect to get Alex Bregman back in the middle of July.
The Mariners Kyle Lewis and Evan White are expected to remain on the injured list for a long time.
Red Sox Related Links
My response to this tweet: I’m just hoping they are favorites to get their butts whipped by the Angels for a few games this week. I guess my meds may need to be adjusted.
Garrett Richards has been very open about his need to reinvent himself as a pitcher now that he can’t mix sunscreen with his rosin.
General Links
National League player of the month Kyle Schwarber suffered a significant hamstring strain and will miss quite a bit of time.
At least none of our starters have given us a one pitch outing … yet.
Speaking of jerseys, any idea where to get a cheaper Walsh or Fletcher t-shirt for kids? We’ve found pretty affordable ones at Old Navy with Trout or Ohtani, but trying to get something custom that will wear out in about a year seems excessive.
Google gave me this: https://www.teepublic.com/kids-t-shirt/21441824-jared-walsh-los-angeles-angels-official
Nice, hadn’t seen those when I was searching. Maybe a bit sketchy, but maybe worth a try.
All I want for Shohei’s birthday is a win tonight!!
Interesting jerseys worn by fans- Angels : Freese, Ward, Suarez
Sux: Ortiz, Betts, Papelbon
Dave Stewart goes off on the Doyers about Trevor Bauer.
Profits over morals, every time.
Stewart had it right, though.
110%
I understand the need to let the legal process play out, but they definitely could have had a stronger response.
He even traveled with them to DC, which shouldn’t have happened.
Fans are already lined up at the main gate to the stadium.
Lotta Sox fans on the west coast, hope it’s not a hostile crowd
Have you ever been to a Red Sox/Angels game at the Big A?
Multiple. Was surrounded by Red Sox fans most times.
Yuck. Thankfully I was never subjected to that in either the Sux or Skanks games I have gone to. Only had a few sprinkled in.
When we sit like 7 rows behind the plate it seems there’s more. Season ticket holders selling the seats. Is what it is.
Yep, selling for a big profit.
Then you should remember that it always IS a hostile crowd.
We’ve got the most docile crowds in sports
I don’t go to too many games, so personally I’m fine with it. Just a nice vibe. Usually a gorgeous evening, cool breeze, and not a whole lot of yelling and expletives. Others will disagree and want more passion. =)
I do agree for the most part. And when I want a rowdier crowd I just wear my Angels gear to Dodger stadium 😉
It is the Sux fans that make it hostile, not our fans!!
Sooooo many over the years. Usually annoying and not enjoyable for me. I deeply want to punch RedSox nation. But I control myself. As I’ve aged, I have saved myself the aggravation and sold my tickets to RedSox games at a tidy profit.
I refuse to go to an MFY or a Chowd game at the Big A.
See, now i’ve had really great experiences with Yankees fans at the game. Knowledgeable and well behaved for the most part.
Sox and Dodgers are the two that really bring in the assholes, IMO
That I would agree with.
For the most part Red Sox and Dodgers fans are a lot worse than Yankee fans. But the pseudo, bandwagon So Cal Yankee fans are pretty bad. Ironically, the true Yankee fans are not bad.
Agreed. When I was in New York, I took in a game at Yankee Stadium. The fans were chill.
My dad says the same thing about Yankee stadium.
Agree 100%
Last MFY game I was at in Anaheim sounded like it was being played in the Bronx.
Like going to a Laker game at MSG, the biggest fanbase in the sport is everywhere lol.
I was going to say – I typically am okay with Yankee fans. They know the game, are typically decent and respectful. I don’t mind them.
The victories are much sweeter but the losses are much more painful.
I’ve seen many of each against both teams/crowds.
My friend who is an usher says it is far worse when the dodgers come to town. He works in the Budweiser Pavilion.
I REALLY dislike Dodgers fans.
But to me it is the worst if you go to a Dodgers/Angels game at Chavine Ravine wearing your red Angels gear. It is like waving a red flag in front of a bull !!
I’m sure.
That’s the only way I go there. I also inform them that they are from Brooklyn. Funny how many still don’t know that, even though they see a B on blue hats in the stadium
Well, that makes sense. More Angels fans than Sux fans so far.
Oh, and that is quite a price difference from $17.80 to $80.00!
My wife said “I want an Ohtani face shirt…” Checks eBay … HOLY F>>>> why are they around $150??? That’s INSANE
I have a bad feeling that those that are Angels fans will be disappointed…
I think Boston will jump on Suarez early. I see them getting 3 or 4 runs in the 1st inning, which will include a 2 run or 3 run HR.
Jose had less pressure coming in as a long reliever. Starting is very different.
I fear it won’t go well tonight.
Could be. A lot of Asian fans here early for the p illow
That design on the pillow is actually based off of an Ohtani shirt. I saw the shirt last game I went to on June 17th.
https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/1412178085366177795
“He’s not the best hitter”
Own Alex, Shohei.
And Ruth only attempted this over a 218 game span. He then gave it up. And as it has been said before (Jeff reminded us recently) Ruth played against much weaker competition that included an unintegrated League.
That award already exists. I believe it’s known as “MVP”.
“BANG-BANG!!!”
No, Joey is talking about a best player award.
How did Cora know I would say that?
Trouty is taking swings at the stadium!
https://twitter.com/jack_a_harris/status/1412167482840797205?s=21
https://twitter.com/jack_a_harris/status/1412170645970964502?s=21
It is about time.
But very good to see.
Since Downing Dude just shared with us that today is Shohei’s Birthday I thought it would be cool to share what are perhaps a couple of unknown and amazing stats/facts.
1) Ohtani is the first American League player ever to have 31 HR and 12 stolen bases by the All-Star break (of course he could put more on these totals in order to make it unreachable in the future).
2) Ohtani leads the Major Leagues in both HR’s and bunt hits (he is 4-4 in attempting to bunt for a hit)!! Who could have imagined this? If this holds up for a full season I would imagine that would be the first time it has ever been done.
Weavers first kid’s birthday is today, too (named after Adenhart).
If you still subscribe , here is the athletic’s story on Jared Walsh depicting his struggles and Journey to get here. It was definitely written prematurely but there is a lot of good background on him.
The link might help.
https://theathletic.com/999230/2019/05/29/i-used-to-be-mad-about-it-how-the-angels-jared-walsh-channeled-his-39th-round-draft-selection-and-became-a-big-leaguer/?redirected=1
https://georgiadogs.com/news/2015/6/10/Jared_Walsh_Selected_By_The_Angels_In_39th_Round_of_MLB_Draft.aspx
Interesting: Jonah DiPoto (pitcher; son of Jerry) was drafted by the Angels in the round AHEAD of Jared Walsh.
A Dipoto cost a chance a Vlad Jr and Dipoto almost cost us Jared Walsh. Luckily no team took JW between those 2 rounds
“Dipoto almost cost us Jared Walsh”
No. He was a 39th pick. Everyone passed on him like 35 times. Taking a DiPoto would not have “cost” us Walsh.
There were 29 picks between Dipoto and Walsh. We are lucky no team used a late 38th round or early 39th round pick to take JW from us. I get what you’re saying but it could have happened. Pretty sure Dipoto would have still been available after the draft
Man, you are working the “I’m pretty sure something could have happened maybe probably” lube into this gripe pretty hard.
Jesus this has been run over a ton. We had pretty much no chance of signing Vlad Jr even with the Baldo money. Not unless he wanted to leave money on the table to play for the team that just cut his dad.
Happy Birthday, Shohei Ohtani!
Can he hit a HR on his birthday?
Survey says: YES
Those ‘94 kids are alright
Why hasn’t Watson pitched since June 30th?
Don’t know but its Elementary.
Red Sox come in with the 3rd best offense and 14th in pitching in baseball. This will be a fun series to watch. Wednesdays tilt is an afternoon game which favors offense. I don’t expect low scoring games. Hope your fridge is restocked after the 4th. Go Angels and kick some Boston butt.
Smoke that Boston Butt
Butt, what if we don’t?
Just Kidding!
Remember it’s just baseball not the Cuban Missile Crisis.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Smoke%20that%20Boston%20Butt
Oh by the way, historically when we face a good team after beating a bad team we get shutout on 4 hits with those hits coming early, resulting in lobsters.
So hopefully that’s not what we see tonight.
We always have lobster. We just hope we get Steak and Lobster .
Only four LOBsters?
How can I survive on such table scraps.
Dumb off-topic question alert regarding MLB video highlights. Does anyone know how to find dated MLB highlights? Looking for Aug 11, 2012 John Jaso going yard against Dan Haren; Mariners @ Angels.
Why in the hell would you want to watch an old John Jaso HR ??? Did you catch the ball or something ?
Yeah, I caught it; the ball is in my hand at the moment.
At that moment? Did you then drop it Ryanfea style?
Downing don’t drop a ball man.
Ha, ha. No I did not drop those balls. They landed near my and a reached over to get it.
Cool. Good for you.
I have never caught a HR ball in a live game, only BP. I have gotten a couple balls in-game in my life but both were on the ground and I picked them up.
For the record, I threw back a Nick Swisher homer later in that same season – the thrown back ball almost caught up to him as he trotted past Aybar. But my first catch, I was not going to throw it back.
SOOOOOO… ANY IDEAS ON THE HIGHLIGHTS?
L’Oréal Paris, Sheer Blonde, Sun-In are all good for Highlights
Lot of chemicals in those. Natural sun light and lemons always worked for me..or pool chlorine.
How old am I? The closest I came to getting a batted ball was a screaming foul hit by Eddie Yost in Skankee Stadium. My Dad and I both ducked.
My close encounters never caught, CENC’s…Foul ball from Jack Howell, Doyer stadium, full palm bounce. Foul ball Lee Stevens Angels stadium bounced off seats, off leg, to a punk ass teenager. Same row 10 seats away on a Tim Salmon WS HR near the left field corner. Steve Buechele HR, last row left field bleachers Wrigley Field. Should get video of that, I’m the closest human as it went onto Waveland Ave.
Ashamed at the lack of success during batting practice, maybe someday.
I was surprised how long it took me to catch a batting practice HR. I used to go pretty frequently when I was much younger and go up the the RF bleachers. I would hone in on the LH power bats during BP but usually they were just out of reach.
Finally, about 12-14 years ago I got one on the fly about five rows up in RF. Some dude from the White Sox hit it and I don’t remember who…. It was just fun to catch it.
Impressive, Eddie Yost the Walking Man.
Cannot find it now, so I believe you have to request it from someone who runs MLB Film Room. Not 100% sure who that is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pwRoU1vRNI
legend
Right before the AB
https://youtu.be/9pwRoU1vRNI?t=2563
Soth was very disappointed in that catch, and no toss back.
Thought he was constipated.
Classic how micro-DowningDude (emerges from behind me after the catch) is only as tall as my gut area … he’s now taller than me! 😀 Awesome, spy – thanks again.
DUDE YOU ARE A HERO! 😀
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/51ghh1/psa_how_to_watch_any_mlb_game_since_2009_for_free/
Solid. Thanks for this. Should be a Fanpost.
There was a roundtable discussion at CBS Sports on whether the AL East is a 2 team race or 4 team. Because even though the skanks are 42-41 and 10 games back they’re still so formidable. It was even mentioned that if it were some other division the Jays and skanks would be too far back.
My point is, of course, they really had to work to find a reason to include NY in the mix. The skanks are not. And neither are we. I mean, if we’re being realistic. So I’m getting great joy out of any win without worrying where it puts us.
I’m enjoying Ohtani and Rendon hugging in the dugout. I’m enjoying Cobb (Cobbler v2.0) doing so well against his old team, Raisel looking pretty dang good, Fletch hitting now. Gitch irritates me no end with his sarcasm and delights me with his sarcasm but most of all he’s right about this season. Its a step to where we want to be.
A couple of years ago we surged a little and got to 54-49 and then cratered. If we avoid that type of finish I’ll consider 2021 a success, especially if Mikey comes back strong.
July 25th, 2019. Another day that needs to been stricken from the Gregorian Calendar
I’m optimistic. If I were a .500 team at the All Star break (Yankees, Braves Nationals, Cubs) and we traded for Trout, I would have high Hope’s. We are fit the bill and I for one am looking forward to seeing this team firing on all cylinders.
If we could turn our bullpen into gold, I say we get there. Even with Trout back, it’s just demoralizing to see leads coughed up.
Good thing we were able to recover from the last two that Slegs coughed up
Maddon has been a little better with getting just the right amount of pitches out of arms, and not worrying about the feelings of the staff in recent games.
Where is CBS Sports based?
Did CBS ever own the Yankees?
Do the Yankees, really, really suck?
???
Profit
In one of those games where Ohtani homered vs the Skanks they (CBS Sports) thought the headline should be something like “60 Years Later She’s a Ballgirl for the Skanks”, only they didn’t say “skanks”.
ESPN didn’t show the Walsh Grand Slam in the highlights of the game. Just mentioned it.
Because Walsh doesn’t play for one of: Doyers, MFY, Chowds, or Cubs.
Ah yes. I remember. 2019 was brutal because of that game against Baltimore. Stayed up until the 15th in I and it was one in the morning just to watch Canning get bombed by the awful O’s. Probably the worse loss I’ve seen. Although that Giants one recently is close up there don’t you think
So did any of you watching or listening yesterday not say to yourselves some variation of “There go those runs” when Slegers came in? I really wonder what goes through Joe’s mind when he decides to bring him in from the pen. We all know there is no reason for that guy to be on the roster. He has proven his unfitness for MLB over and over again. I can only conclude Slegers has incriminating photos of Joe, Perry, or Arte, the names of the other four persons involved, the youth organization they belong to, and the name of the shop where they bought the equipment.
It was Slegers, wasn’t it?, who immediately let in those extra 3 runs in Ohtani’s last start.
In yesterday’s game I expected Sandy’s runners to score but unfortunately Sandy lost the win bec1ause Slegers didn’t stop there.
Hopefully Perry will have learned from this year.
Yep. Thanks Eric. And you correctly put the onus on Perry instead of wrongly blaming Joe.
Joe does share the blame though. He could’ve brought in Wantz or Mayers there and saved Slegs to start a clean inning. It’s not Perrys fault when a pitcher is brought in
Yes, the manager can decide when to bring a pitcher in. But he will need to be used at some point. That means at some point Slegers will give up runs…. And then guess what, you’ll be saying “Joe, why in the hell did you go to Slegers?”
Get it.
2 is better than 4
Well, we can always argue about did the manager take a pitcher out too soon or leave him in too long. The problem I have with that is that most of the people who post here complain after the fact about Joe’s decisions instead of saying what they think before damage is done.
In addition, they rarely say what option they would have gone to instead of the undesirable. Not saying you do this, I don’t know, but I have seen alot of those kinds of comments.
Finally, I say that with so many less than good options in the bullpen Joe is put in the unenviable position of having to use inconsistent arms in high-leverage spots, whether it be Cishek, Slegers, Watson etc. That is simply a hard spot to be put in and way too many people blame this on Joe instead of on Perry/Arte for roster construction.
I hear you, but in the game thread nearly everyone gasped when Slegs came in. Pretty sure they would have done the same for most of our pitchers. But Slegers is high on the list of least wanting to see. C-Sec has been doing ok lately.
It was only the 6th inning dude. People did gasp, but if you used Mayers in the 6th or Watson, then guess what, you probably need to used Slegers in the 7th or 8th (Cishek was unavailable yesterday) . Would that be better ??
With no inherited runners yes. If he does the sam he only. Gives up 2 (and 2 is better than 4)
WallyChuckChili makes an interesting point, 2 is better than 4. I suppose Cishek would have given up the 2 inherited runners but saved his own ERA.
Cishek was unavailable yesterday. Joe knew that/said that going in. He had pitched in four straight games. This relates to my long diatribe just below….
[finger pointing to temple meme here]
I don’t think it was too wild an idea to acquire one of the top 5 closers in baseball, keep Mayers (who was fine in 2020) and add Claudio, Ciscek and Watson…. all solid guys with good track records. Then, you add a pile of scruff like Slegers and calculated risk like Buttrey. That’s pretty much how 9 out of 10 bullpens are built, the good and the bad.
Or was anyone really sitting there in Feb saying “Mark Melancon… yeah, HE’s who we need, he will dominate this year.” Or even better, the official Angels fan mantra, “Sign all the good pitchers, not the bad ones, no matter what it costs or if they want to sign here, use magic… I demand it!” or even bigger better “Build me a time machine and bring me Caleb Baragar, Anthony Bender, Kendall Graveman and Nestor Cortez Jr STAT!”
Perry DID address the pen this off season. Look at bullpens around MLB. They are all stocked with Sleggers. It’s all just a matter of whose gambles pay off. Hell, it won’t even surprise me if we see a big shift in the top 10 bullpens in this second half, they are that volatile.
A couple of things here… First, there WERE some people saying we should go after Melancon, including Jeff Joiner. He was very vocal about that… So some people DO have foresight.
Some know, some don’t know. Some are right a much higher percentage of the time. I was saying from the beginning when he left that we should have kept Robles.. But people here still told me “No he’s done.”” Think again.He would have helped as a “piece.”
The other thing is that it is not just about who you acquire. I think more importantly it is about being willing to cut ties once it is clear you made a mistake! Perry seems unwilling, or at least very hesitant to do this. Cutting Slegers loose would cost us very little. Keeping him on board however costs us quite a bit.
On the “being willing to cut ties” part; that has been a BIG issue for this team for many years as all are aware. In fairness that legacy is not on Perry but more DiPoto (inluenced and perhaps even controlled by Sosh) and Eppler. Hopfully Perry will not continue this destructive legacy but will build a new one of high expectations and intolerance for suckitude.
For his part Billy stayed with Harvey way too long, he stayed with Bedrosian way too long, he stayed with Cody Allen too long and he stayed with Justin Bour too long.
I’ve noticed that the goods teams tend to move off of bad players or players who have “lost” it very quickly. We tend to stay with said players in the hopes they will “work things out.” They usually don’t.
Yes, at some point. Not any damn time.
Joe needs to manage the bull pen, it’s in his title.
What you are saying is that you can give Joe a bunch of items from the .99 cent store and he’ll make a gourmet meal out of it.
Yeah, right!
But you “can” make a Gourmet meal out of stuff from the .99 cent store. Especially Vegetarian since they carry fresh veggies
Lmao. Have you ever seen the “fresh” veggies at .99 cent store??
I have and trust me, they are not the stuff of gourmet meals.
There was a show on food network that would make Gourmet food from Dumpster diving. Just peel off the wilted lettuce and wallah
Andrew Zimmerman show
You just need to know how to cook
No thank you.
Lack of quality choices is on Perry. Wantz MLB debut, Mayers can’t pitch at home….and so on.
What singes my eyebrows is when there is bases loaded and Joe brings in a guy who has hard time with control. Just dumb shit like that. The issue is, outside of Rasiel and Claudio, ALL our pitchers have control problem. GM issue compounded by the manager.
Lol. Almost none of our relievers have “good control.” Even Raisel has moments where he loses it.
Is it because of lack of the sticky stuff?
DCell is the only one I’m confident in. Everyone else I’m hoping
Okay, here it goes. What alot of people don’t get and don’t seem to understand is this: when you have pitchers on your active 26 man roster and part of your current team to a greater or lesser degree a manager is forced to use them. Let me explain. While a manager can demote a struggling starter to the bullpen for long relief, and he can give a set-up guy or closer a “rest” to “figure things out” or just clear their minds, when they are struggling, the nature of a small/limited roster is that at some point those guys will need to be used.
The reason is obvious; since the pitchers who are pitching well can only be used so much over any particular time frame, that means other pitchers (besides the one currently pitching well) will have to be used. Now, unless you are in the very fortunate situation that ALL of the pitchers on your active roster are pitching well at the same time, (I think this is indeed quite rare, and even the best and deepest team might only enjoy this state of affairs for a week or two at most. Someone is bound to go through a period of struggles. This is just the nature of baseball) then a manager at some point will have to put in a pitcher who is not currently pitching well. This is a fact of a limited roster size.
Sometimes the pitcher is coming off one bad outing and he bounces back and pitches well. Sometimes he might be in a deep rut and having a series of poor appearances behind him. In short, because you can’t burn out your arms and you cannot pitch the same pitcher over and over without rest, a manager must make the decision to go with one or two of any less desirable options. If a team and fanbase does not want to see a particular pitcher ever come in a game then the solution is clear — the player must be removed from the active 26 man roster. He can be DFA’d or optioned to Triple A, etc, but he has to be removed.
In short, if he is still on the active roster you will be seeing him at one point or another, whether you like it or not. This is essentially beyond the managers control. While the manager can decide when and how much to use him, he will have to use him at some point. This is why the wise will blame the GM and say stuff like “Perry, why is so and so on the roster.” They show that they understand that it is incumbent upon the GM or POBO to remove the cancer from the squad. In other words, it is like the old cry or pleas that we used to give to JeDi or Eppler : they need to “take away sharp objects/dangerous toys from Scioscia” so he simply could not play with them any more.
This is what needs to happen with Slegers. Perry needs to get rid of him and thus save Joe from having to use him either regularly or semi-regularly. But remember Joe will have to use whomever he is replaced with.
I agree, of course. I’m fine with Raisel. Besides him I have little confidence in any of our bullpen pitchers. Any one of our guys could have come in and done as badly. Slegers was terrible relieving Ohtani but ok in his next outing. Overall he’s just not good at this level. But not always and that’s why he’s still called on. Also check out the Salt Lake pitchers. That’s why Slegers is still on the roster.
Sorry Frosty but I gotta say Boulderdash on this one. I get the limitations produced by the size of the roster and GM’s control of it, but the Angels are carrying not 8, not 9 but 10 !! pitchers in the bullpen. It is inconceivable that Soggy Joe was forced to use Sluggo because he had limited bullpen resources available. Let see there was Claudio, Guerra, Jose Quintana, Tony Watson and Dylan Bundy all available. With all of these options and most of these pitchers coming off at least 3 days rest ( J.Q. pitched a scoreless inning on Friday) there was no reason to entrust Sluggo with this game. So unless PTP is calling the shots telepathically from the teams box , This ones on Joe.
Okay, first this is all after the fact. But would you have been alot more confident with Gas Can Guerra ? Or Dylan “Ted” Bundy ? Or Claudio ?
Maybe Quintana would have been a good choice, but again, my argument is a general one and not so much specifically about yesterday. With a bunch of unreliable and inconsistent arms in the pen a manager is forced to go with undesirables, and naturally when they fail he will look bad more often than not. That is my point.
You had me at Maybe.
Perhaps yesterday was in fact “a mistake” by Maddon. That said, my overall point is still valid.
In addition, it bothers me that all of the Maddon haters blame him when things go wrong but never give him credit when the bullpen helps the Angels win.
For example, I heard nobody give Maddon credit for that 6 out save that Raisel got against the Mariners. It certainly was not conventional to bring the closer in at that point, but Joe did it and it was a great move.
At the very least I would like to see some of these people praise Joe when he makes a move and it works out.
Ruining bullpens is Maddon’s style, he has done it before, and will do it again.
You can’t ruin a bullpen in they all sucked to start with.
Truth.
Yeah, I know Joe is playing the cards he is dealt. But why is this pitcher being used in high-leverage situations he is manifestly not suited for? Was there NO other arm available at that point in the game? Yeah, I blame Perry for doing a mediocre job of dumpster diving for pitchers that should not be on the major league roster.
Slegers is blood on Perry’s hands. Joe is just finding the freshest poop to bring in. My issue is, why was he even recalled?
Yep…can’t be used with us if he’s in SL. At least not until Zoom relief appearances are legal once we have robot baseball.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1411833187269894150
Others? Why hasn’t Watson pitched since June 30th?
He was bad in his last outing, and Joe still remembers that.
I guess the 6 run inning debacle seared his brain….but no runs in 5 appearances after that. Joe probably just forgot about him. They’ll run into each other in the hallway sooner than later, run it past Matt Wise, see if they can get him in a game.
Also Watson is tied for second in the AL with the lowest percentage of inherited runs scoring . Tony might be subject to melt downs but it’s typically his own garbage that catches on fire.
This was more a lefty right match up play. Sluggo pitched 2 relative clean innings on Friday stranding 2 runners with 2 outs in the 3rd , inducing 6 straight ground ball outs before losing home plate in the 5th. Maybe we dodged a ticking time bomb on Friday But Ol’ Joe went back to well one too many times on Sunday
It’s like Joe thought Sandie would get his fifth, sixth, and seventh, winds between batters. Pitches?
Just warm up the right guy at that point in the game, and use him. We all knew the starter wasn’t going to last much longer -I feel Sandoval should have ended his day in the fifth, but taking guys out during an inning for “the fans” is a thing- because of that first super long and brutal inning. It’s like he only remembers a players last effort.
Anyone ready to jump ship on Rendon? Or do you still believe we got a bargain.? Can we trade Rendon with Jose Mota, Daron Sutton, and Mayers and Bundy? Nah of course no other team would take that pkg except, get Cashman on the line…..lol
What? He’s the best defensive player on the team and has been a better hitter than Fletch and Iglesias. He isn’t as valuable as them right now since he cost so much more, but it makes zero sense to move Rendon and keep those two on the roster.
Also, over the past 30 days he has a wRC+ of 129, so he is currently hitting above league average and almost as well as Walsh (134 wRC+ in same time period).
Best defender on the team? Not this year. He has -5 DRS. Only Iglesias is worse at -6. So he’s been bad on both sides. We have to hope all the injuries have affected him and that once he’s healthy he’ll be good again – BUT he’s not getting younger so count me among the concerned for how the rest of his contact plays out.
How reliable/steady is DRS?
Fangraphs has the following for Iglesias, he’s all over the place:
-5 2015
10 2016
-5 2017
0 2018
5 2019
Even my favorite all time defender Simmons varied 10-24 from season to season:
30 2013
19 2014
30 2015
20 2016
41 2017 (!!)
17 2018
(using over 1000 inning seasons for both)
Here is Rendon:
15 2014 (combined 2B and 3B)
13 2016
9 2017
2 2018
6 2019
I’ve watch most of all the games, I know what my eyes tell me. Plus, Joe Perry has him playing short on the shifts. He has had a bad knee too but he easily stabs the shots down to the hot corner. Please Joe, keep Rojas and Refingo out of the position.
I was looking at his Fangraphs Def score. Taking a second look, I owe Stassi an apology. Fangraphs rates Rendon as the most valuable non-catcher defender. Notably, it isn’t hard to be the best defender on the Angels this year.
Regardless, the bigger point is that it makes no sense to jump ship on Rendon when he has no value in a trade because of his large contract, he’s starting to hit better, and has in fact, hit pretty well over the past 30 days.
I, too, am concerned about how the rest of Rendon’s contract plays out, but that doesn’t warrant jumping ship on him right now.
All his latest stint proved to me is that he’s still freaking good when he’s healthy.
Do you think his injury-proneness is something that is inherent to him? Did you believe that when he signed?
To me, the answer to both questions is no, so I am still high on him. Randomness sometimes sucks.
He didn’t have a huge injury history before now, so I am leaning towards this just being a bad string of minor hurts. He will likely bounce back.
nope. He’s been playing hurt.
As far as hitters, on this team, Anthony is second behind Trout. I need to see 4-5 years of steady Ohtani before I hoist him higher. Of course, Shohei is hitting massive bombs right now and is all-worldly and Fletcher is now slapping balls to the right side with success but Anthony has a strong resume as well as post season. Plus, he can pick it at 3rd. People don’t like is calm demeanor and smile after a gaff but he cares. He has a very low key vibe and that helps in prime time.
I’m IN on Rendon. Hoping he gets healthy and starts driving to baseball soon.
Get ready for a real test, a very hot Red Sox team. 3 All Stars and the ability to score a lot of runs. This is going to be fun even if we only take two of the three.
Suarez is a nice bonus but Bundy just can’t hack it any longer.
Angels with 3 All Stars and the ability to score a lot of runs to, but pitching will be the difference here. Hopefully we can win 2 of 3
The teams offense has produced even with a couple of key injuries. It’s been a nice little streak against sub-par components. Nice roll right now and fun to watch. However, need to not be satisfied with this roster especially as Shohei cools off.
I for one would like to see our GM make some small under the radar moves to shore up the depth weakness. Watching players playing out of position is not conducive to providing a winning defense.
The bullpen will continue to limit our ability to beat the good teams consistently and become a viable contender. Especially since Joe won’t let starters go long in games and subscribes to pitch count limit philosophy. It’s captain obvious that Slegers needs to be out-righted. The shuttle with AAA has or helped in this regard. The better relievers potentially on the market will have a host of teams interested. The GM needs to get creative and execute a mid-season move(s) w/o trading the prospects.
Who do you recommend we trade for and who do we trade if not prospects? I would suggest Joe’s love fest fav, Renny and Wong as bait with Adell and bring up an outfielder or two. But the part of who to go after with such limited resources is a mystery for me.
I think the scrap heap needs to be looked at as we can’t do worse than Slegers right?
I’m not talk big changes, I’m advocating a series of low scale, under the radar trades. It sure looks like Schebler has fell out of favor and we might never see him again. There are 4th or 5th level OFs are out there who can Improve depth. Guys that can play the position. Also, I don’t think this is a “go for it” year, too many holes in the pitching, seek out teams selling off with worthy MLB level talent. Occasionally an arm or bat will get to the waiver wire, hit the team up prior and help them rid themselves of the player. Again, you need to get creative. It’s July, we can now see who is tanking, how about getting someone, maybe not the “shiniest” player but the 2nd or 3rd. For a fraction of the cost. As you said, we have nothing to trade and The GM is holding into his prospects.
Yep, poor Schebler is looking like another AAAA player.