The Angels, fresh off taking three of four from the Minnesota Twins, now return home to face the Colorado Rockies, who have an abysmal road record.
Of course, the Angels have turned easy series into hard ones before.
As of Sunday evening, there has been no resolution on last week’s report about living conditions for Angels minor leaguers.
Perry Minasian’s strategy of under-drafting, which perhaps caused Sam Bachman to be the first-round pick instead of Kumar Rocker, has paid dividends. The savings went to the one high school pitcher the Angels drafted in the twelfth round, Mason Albright.
Only three Angels draftees remain unsigned.
Alex Claudio has been DFA’d.
Mike Trout will see a doctor today about his calf. He did not run over the weekend over fear of aggravating something.
Patrick Sandoval is a stud, carrying a no-hit bid into the ninth.
Around Baseball
Team USA defeated Japan in softball on Sunday night. The two teams will rematch on Tuesday for the gold medal.
The trade deadline is July 30.
After adding salary in the Nelson Cruz trade, the Rays proceeded to dump some by moving Rich Hill to the Mets. Hill’s spin rate has declined since June.
Adam Frazier was traded from the Pirates to the Padres. San Diego is still looking for a starter and is reported to have considered Trevor Story in center field.
Byron Buxton and the Twins could not reach an extension agreement. Buxton will likely be traded in the offseason.
The Mariners are interested in Whit Merrifield.
Title Image of Adam Frazier from Fox Sports MLB Twitter
“In a rare swap between division rivals who are both in postseason contention, the Mariners and Astros are in the process of finalizing a trade that would send infielder Abraham Toro from Houston to Seattle, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart adds that righty Kendall Graveman and recently designated-for-assignment Rafael Montero are headed to Houston. The Mariners will add veteran reliever Joe Smith in the deal.“
Marsh with a beautiful swing
Am i gonna be able to buy a Carney Lansf- er uh Jack Mayfield jersey at the team store today?
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1419782199289671726?s=20
Today’s line up looks like the best version of the injured Angels I’ve seen in a while. Seven through nine actually looks decent.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1419795754768486401?s=20
September at the earliest for both of them IMO. Abd if it’s that why not just shut them down completely fir the season.
Do you want to shut them down Fan ?
Maybe you are a Mariners Sleeper Agent like Downing was accusing benjiface?
Ha! No. I would love to see them back. I was counting on it. Just trying to be realistic. Why bring them back in September?
B/c he’s being paid to play, like 1-2 million/wk.
Hey now. Fake news buddy. I was accusing that crappy reliever dude. Benjiface is my bro.
Exactly. Trout is the franchise and Rendon still has another 5 years left. Unless there’s some value in getting back so they know how to approach the off season, just get them 100% for 2022.
Is there any way we could move Rendon’s contract? Or put another way, how much it would it take to get rid of it.
I could probably find a way. But first….
You have to tell me what Anthony Rendon did to you. Or does he just look like a guy that bullied you? Or do you just hate Indigo Montoya? He’s hurt. It happens. Other than that he’s been good and will likely be good again. But you have a special hard on for the man. Did he make fun of your Crocs? Cut in front of you at a shaved ice stand and make you feel less than? What? Point to the spot on the stuffed bear where it hurts.
Second, we can get rid of him, but only if you can bring back Alberto Callaspo for us. Can’t wait to live that era again.
Shut them down so they can get a jump on their off season of hunting and fly fishing ? Uh No. Lets play ball!
Ironically as the Angels are having troubles housing players, I’m looking to buy an investment property in Huntsville. High growth area, lots of engineering and tech jobs, college campuses growing, etc.
My thought: If I was an owner I’d buy apartments or condos in my AAA and AA cities for sure, and some of my A cities. Set them up under an LLC and have players sign strict code of conduct policies for living in them. During the off season, perhaps I AirBnB them out.
Cash flow wise I’d take a bit of a loss. If I’m a billionaire, a little tax write off never hurts. However, real estate in Salt Lake and Huntsville are both up well over double digits in the last decade. If I ever change locations, I sell, make a bundle, and recoup what cash flow I might have lost.
In cities in which I don’t wish to buy, I give a housing allowance and work with local colleges to use their dorm facilities during summer breaks.
Then the owner of the MLB team will have no leverage when negotiating a new contract with any franchise. New or old.
They don’t want to grow roots.
Their downside is selling an asset that has appreciated greatly.
Some of those players will want those apts. throughout the year too, unless they get called up to the next level.
Good point. I’d plan on renting them during the off season. A solid discount for a player is fine.
Do you think Arte would agree to renting month to month?
Can I live in your building in Huntsville. I want to move there.
I like the Pirates. I am so glad the Pirates aren’t my go to favorite team that I always watch. She’s it would suck to be a Pirates fan.
Soooo…. what did we expect to be done about housing a couple hundred MiLB players in five business days? I want that stuff solved ASAP but I don’t expect anything to happen all that fast because I’m not ten years old.
The Rays apparently care about spin rate…. because they are stupid.
Nothing. I’m just saying nothing has been reported yet. =)
Perry says he is “looking into it.”
12?
so….what do we want to acquire? Players to help now or later? I’d say later. Keep our prospects (and they *are* prospects although we like to joke that we don’t have any) and get more.
That should be the priority. Identify what we want before we do any deals. Trading away someone like Heaney for “what we can get” is, in my opinion, giving him away and getting nothing back. And look at the possibilities for 2022. Who’ll pitch? Ohtani, Sandy, maybe Detmers, maybe even Bachman, although Overdrive isn’t really likely. Cobb? We’d need to extend him.
I would think Heaney is going to be better than anyone we might sign in the off-season. That’s one thing to keep in mind.
But more importantly, I keep going back to trading *for* somebody or somebodies, rather than focusing on trading away our guys. Not “who can we get?” but “who do we want?” If Perry is looking for getting whatever we can then he’s gonna get taken.
If I were the GM I’d identify all prospects we think would be useful. I’d cross off the untouchables of course.
Then modify that list by crossing off the teams that aren’t going anywhere, so no Orioles for example. This would leave us with a list of prospects of teams that have a chance in 2021. Then we approach those teams with an offer, rather than call them asking “what will you give us?” Deal with a sense of purpose or don’t deal.
AA level prospects would be ideal.
Heaney is what he is. He might strike lightning in the bottle like The Cobbler did, but Heaney is never going to be more than a 4/5 pitcher. The question is are whether or not Perry believes Saurez and Sandoval are the real deal. If he believes they are, Heaney is a spare part.
Heaney is a pitcher we would also have to sign in the off season.
yes, we’d have to extend him this week, I think, if we want him for the future.
It’s also a question of who the expected free agents are, how much the budget to sign them (potentially) might be, and how likely they are to sign, isn’t it? If the prospects are of no consequence, youngish starters with top of the rotation potential like Marquez, Berrios, Castillo, or Means. (In fact, preferably someone like Castillo if you believe his currently sucky numbers are an aberration and he’ll be back to effectiveness in the near future–since his current record ought to bring the price down). The price will be our top prospects, but within the ’22-’23 window (assuming we have a season next year), I think it’s worth it–but control through ’23, at least, is a must: the starting lineup is fairly set. If you are dealing middling players, I think solid role players should be a good target–someone like what Orlando Palmeiro or Jeff DaVannon, or even Figgy were with the Angels of the past. Not necessarily starter-worthy (although we got lucky with Figgins–and when he fell back to earth, got the Mariners to pay the price) but can fill in multiple positions competently and cheaply for some years before they become expensive. Not sure about trading for “projectable” but flawed pitching “prospects” (with near term potential) though–the likes of Packy, Buttrey, or even Robles. They are so unpredictable that they probably aren’t worth trading for. If you need to get pitchers at less than full price, they’d better be younger guys with more long term upside who probably will not be useful in the ’22-’23 window (much the way Sandoval was when we got him).
interesting speculation on Bauer
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/majority-of-dodgers-players-do-not-want-trevor-bauer-to-rejoin-team-per-report/
Agree with Bill Plaschke, Dodgers need to cut Bauer, now, today. I’m sure the players association would complain but pay the fee and get rid of him. Roberts and Kasten soft peddled this early on so this is the only path to redemption
This is a messy situation. They might be F’ing with the wrong player. From the sound of it the Dodger aren’t going to walk away from this without paying him. Unless he is convicted of a crime.
Then he would be free to sign with the Astros. He fits their profile
They need eye patches and 5 day old beard stubble first.
Denim vests with diamond patches and rockers too?
I think any wise organization would wait until all relevant facts had come out.
I know the police have not officially filed charges up to this point, but if there turn out to be criminal charges I would think that would relieve the Dodgers of their financial responsibility as I am pretty sure there are morals clauses in all of these contracts.
Not sure if they would have to pay him if they cut him before any verdict.
If he gets convicted then MLB will undoubtedly suspend him for a long time without pay. No more of this piddling around with paid administrative leave.
I can’t imagine any other scenario. I’m no lawyer but trying to axe a contract because of an accusation sounds like a good way to get sued and lose.
But what if my outrage demands it? I mean, if there’s one thing US history has taught us it’s that if what a bunch of people are saying makes a guy look really guilty then we need to totally forego due process and act immediately to punish the guy to the fullest extent we can manage. That feels great and it always looks fantastic in hindsight right? If the Doyer’s really have a Kong’s balls size sense of “the right thing” then Bauer’s rights don’t matter and they’d just refuse to pay him for evah, bullshit laws and legal mumbo jumbo be damned right?
Do it Dodgers, do it. I can’t wait for Trevor Bauer to be a minority owner of the Doyers. DO THE RIGHT THING TRUE BLUE!
If I owned the Dodgers, just based on what Bauer himself has admitted, he would not pitch again for my team. Whether or not I get salary relief is a different question.
Just about to post the same thing.
From the LA Times……..could be more of an opinion piece, than facts.
I don’t know how close we were, but that bullet was dodger’ed..
yes, he’s a talent but I wouldn’t want to be dealing with this along with the Kay stuff and now the minor league report.
Assuming the press reports thus far are accurate, I would not want to be a part of an organization that condones Bauer’s behavior. Being a talented pitcher is not an excuse for bad behaviors. If the Dodgers tolerate this, they have accepted ownership for whatever happens next.
Wunder what Fred R ( from KNBC LA ) will do? He had no problem reporting about Tyler Skaggs and the minor league players scandal.
Can you say Houston………As the late Fred Rogers would say I knew you could.
Houston’s turning into the old renegade Oakland Raiders of MLB……LOL!!!!
Trevor Bauer and Roberto Osuna on the same team?
I don’t think Osuna is on the trashtros this season. They placed him on waivers in Oct. 2020.
Don’t the Doyers have a player on the team already that had some trouble with their temper? Urias?
He was more low profile, thus they got away with the PR nightmare.
Urias I think still was suspended for a while.
Dammit. Where is the link for Guerra being DFA’d? That couldn’t have been just a dream.
Along with Cishek, Bundy, Quintana, Sllegers, and Meyers
If Angels win 3/4 prior to the deadline, that should put the halos under 5 games for the 2nd wild card, which would make it interesting to see if they’re selling/buying. Knowing when Trout comes back will say alot, plus maybe we get more positive news on Rendon.
Don’t forget Wagner, he was the Angels’ first star slugger and also happened to wear #27.
So he should be BigDaddyWagsVladdyTrout27?
89 games of Mike Trout in 2 prime-years seasons. Now, with a players strike likely in 2022, it’s possible we will see Trout play one full season in three from ages 28-31. Talk about depressing. We will look back in 4 years and feel sadness of having missed so many games of Trout in his prime. Once he moves into the decline – that contract starts getting ugly as well.
The looming strike is an issue we have not really considered in the context of the strike. How does it affect the buyer or seller analysis?
To me, I think it would make any team in any contention whatsoever a buyer to go for it this season since next year is uncertain. On the other hand, that might also result in more teams in the market which could make for more competitive offers for players.
If done right in negotiations, the MLBPA will get what they want with no strike. The owners need to fear a strike right now.
I don’t think the Owners fear anything except giving the players everything they want. The egos are too large for that. I think there will be lots of line drawing, heels digging and name calling before a deal is made. I expect 2022 to be a strike shortened season. The sides are miles apart. .
Being that the Owners are keeping Manfred around and have sliced 40 MiLB teams to keep more money and are treating the minors as just a lame part of doing business then I see the upcoming negotiations as 1981 all over again. By 1994 there was more expansion and new owners with established teams and the fight was on. Here we are 25 years later and a whole new group of fools and we will see that paying Billions for teams means the greedy want of more money. Yes, sadly a strike is coming and because of the amount of salaries the Owners will feel that the players will buckle first. The sad fact is the owners will lose again and steroids will not be there to pull them out of the hole they created.
Eyespy is right when he post that the Owners need to fear a strike right now. Fan’71 is right when he post the egos are to large.
Manfred is just Anti MLB and Baseball in general, will as his past has suggested just screw it all up in trying to do what his master wants. If the players are smart they will demand outsider be new Commish.
They will settle and even if the season is shortened it will not be that much of the reduction. There is too much money to lose and too little interest from new fans to let the sport suffer too long.
In the end the only group that will be getting screwed are the minor leaguers. In order for the players to get their base demands and to get the Owners to concede The Minor leaguer players will once again be sold out in a hot second.
The MiLB isn’t even a issue in these negotiations. They might even get shafted even more after 2022.
Possibly, but soon this will become a large issue. The “Living Wage” folks will jump on it even if it is to bring down a big business. It will be in negotiating conversion.
The living wage folks said something two seasons ago. Baseball claimed that the minor leagues could not afford to pay these players more.
They are miles apart because the players haven’t been told of what they want to gain by the owners yet.
If Barry Bonds is any indication, I wouldn’t worry about Trout’s decline — Barry was still raking at age 42.
So are you saying that Trout will be enhancing his later years?
Well, that balloon has been deflated.
Were there 99 of them, and were they red?
99 Düsenjäger
Jeder war ein großer Krieger
Hielten sich für Captain Kirk
Das gab ein großes Feuerwerk
Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft
Und fühlten sich gleich angemacht
Dabei schoss man am Horizont
Auf 99 Luftballons
He already has been, “legally prescribed” enhancers for medical conditions.
so was Big Pill Poppy
LOL…BPP. Good one.
That’s kind of a ridiculous statement (sorry). Those years were performance enhanced.
Even Mays and Aaron were long faded by age 40.
They both had good years as a 40 year old, Aaron better than Mays. And both had full season very good/great years at 39.
Need to try and bring back the Labor Day Trade deadline.
We got Sandoval for a couple months of Maldonado so I think we should see what we can get for all the non-core guys. Anyone that’s not a 2022 guy should be for sale to start re-stocking depth in the upper minors for next year assuming guys like Detmers will be in the bigs.
The other strategic decision, the Angels need to make, is what to do with Mikey Stefanic. Although he’s played most of his professional games at 2B, he has also played some at 3B & SS. I have no reports on his defense but this guy can hit. Since being promoted to AAA on 5/30/21 he’s hitting .324/.406/.491 and currently riding a 15 game hitting streak.
Can they covert him into a super utility player? or dare I say, do the same with Super Fletch? Or would the Angels consider moving Fletch to SS on a full time basis? How does his emergence affect next years plans for openings at shortstop and the discovered need for a viable back up at 3B or even the upcoming trade deadline in our eternal search for long time pitching solutions?
Rengifo back to AAA. Stefanic up and give him a look at 3rd. Split time with Mayfield until Rendon is done Rendon’ing………Fletcher’s little buddy.
Back in 2019…….
“Stefanic has seen his fair share of struggles in 2019, but that hasn’t shaken his trust in his defensive ability as he’s shown plenty of skill with his multiple Gold Glove awards in college as a second baseman.”
https://halohangout.com/2019/08/15/la-angels-prospect-profile-2b-ss-mike-stefanic/
Lets just hope that the same collegiate evaluators who garnered Mikey Jr. with defensive accolades aren’t the same people who were showering similar praise on Taylor Ward back in the day.
Seinfeld rankings…….
All GOLD
Leaning to the sell side is not giving up at all, as we need to pump new life into the team from bottom up. It may not show benefits to helping reach Playoffs (insert Mora here). But it may just be the big benefit to reaching the Playoffs in the future. The team as constructed presently is no more than a .500 team at best, so why hold on to those whose contracts end this season? Sell to improve the team is for the best.
I wouldn’t be against the idea of flipping guys like Heaney, Cobb, or Iglesias for some of that possible new life, depending on what they could get. I’m not sure what they would rate, especially Heaney, but it could be worth it.
Call me crazy, but of all the trade pieces, I think you could trade away Cobb this year and then resign him to a one year deal for next year.
I don’t think that’s crazy at all.
I think Cobb will be able to command at least two years.
Do you think we should try to re-sign Cobb and bring back as one of the starters? I’m still operating under the assumption we won’t do a substantial multi-year FA deal for a pitcher.
Everything depends on cost, of course, but I think I would not mind Cobb as of right now.
Plus, I mean if you swap out 10 Heaney/Cobb starts for 10 Canning starts, I wouldn’t really think that it costs the Angels any games.
I would agree, not like we are giving up by trading those two. Detmers, CRod, Canning, Pena and if we really want to get wild, Davis Daniels
I believe that 10 Cobb/Heaney starts is more than 10 Canning starts. But I also believe that both Heaney and Canning have a screw loose and can be tighten with the proper coaching. Cobb seems to have figured it out possibly.
No, no, no.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1419673204092637189
26-41 vs .500 or above is a clear sign that this team isn’t ready to truly compete all season against the good teams. Obviously the injuries haven’t helped, but that’s probably not changing soon. For me, the bottom line is to try and just enjoy the rest of the season by watching guys like Marsh develop and win a few here and there. I hate the year after year lowering of my expectations, but I’m a lifelong Angels fan and have no choice.
Doesn’t it matter when those wins/losses have come? Before or after the demoting of underperforming starters? In essence, have the changes that Perry has made along the way (dumping Pujols and promoting Walsh, moving Bundy to the pen and starting Suarez/Sandoval/Barria) making a difference. If it is making a difference, then perhaps we can compete moving forward (especially if our injured stars start playing again).
I’m not against winning, however even with those moves, they’ve not done well against .500 or above teams.
and there is a good chance with Detmers and CRod, we will do better than with Cobb/Heaney. Play the Rasiel card once Kimbrel is traded.
5.5 back of the 2nd wild card with 2 months of baseball left. Keep the faith, man. I’ll root for whoever is playing until they’re mathematically eliminated.
What they’ve described makes sense. Detmers has potential to really be an important piece in 2022. Giving him time to get his feet wet this year makes sense for next season and he’s arguably not even a step down from Heaney this season.
Sounds good to me. Detmers will get to stay in more luxurious surroundings.
Yeah…. he got 1st round money, he’s not sleeping on a kitchen floor.
Or in the Ballroom with the candlestick.
With the exception of the series against the A’s, this team has a chance to get well above ,500 over the next 11 games. Even a split with Oakland would be helpful.
10 Game winning streak please
The “Precept of the Buttercup” stipulates that the longest winning streak of the season will not occur until AFTER the team is mathematically eliminated from the wildcard.
Yep, dems the rules.
Isn’t that what happened in 2019?
Maybe we were close to eliminated but not actually…
We just knew Ohtani would be back quickly with the bat. But with Barria, who knew? Claudio had no room for on the roster and it was over due really.
I feel a sweep is in order and due. Oh Angels meet the Rockies here at home and feast up.
Hope whenever Trout returns he is completely healed. While I always believed that Rendon should not have been signed, I would like to see him completely healed too. As for JUp it would be super nice for him to start hitting at a .300 pace with ending up with 30 HR’s. I still believe this team can hole on to .500+ record.
I wasn’t in favor of signing Rendon, but once they did, I became a fan. I want him to get healthy and produce because that is what’s best for the team.
Well like any of us have a choice. The Tin Man will be owed 191 Million dollars over the next 5 years. That doesn’t even include this years remaining salary
Wasn’t Dorthy the one always getting hurt?
Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man.
At least that he didn’t, already have.
The Tin Man is Upton and maybe next is Trout. Thinking we might want to get more data points on Anthony before we anoint him an official Wizard of Oz character.
I’m of the opinion that the latest extension of Rendon on the IL has as much to do with his knee injury as it does his hammy. I’m betting he came back too soon from that and tried to tough it out, but it caused more problems. Now they’re waiting it out and hoping for complete recovery.
Soooo…. too much grit? Over-Erstied it?
No way Rendone could even attempt to harness the Power of the Ersty
To be fair, Erstad would consume today’s MLB with fireballs from his yes and bolts of lighting from his arse.
It’s the wrong kind of grit. Since grit is measured in microns, and Rendon has that east coast low density micron grit. That’s why he is so easily injured. The preferred grit is the high performance silicone carbide type. It can polish a turd to high sheen while enduring the most abrasive foul balls.
Grit has warmth to it. It’s a redass Scoville unit and don’t you ever forget it. Erstad and Percival RSU numbers are off the damn scale.