The Angels are, once again, under .500. One wonders if the reason GM Perry Minasian didn’t move Raisel Iglesias or Alex Cobb at the trade deadline is because he believes they will be extension candidates. Obviously, Andrew Heaney and Tony Watson were traded away.
The big news of the weekend was the debut of Reid Detmers.
At the Olympics in Japan, a columnist asks local workers how they feel about Shohei Ohtani. The results will not shock anyone.
The Angels ended up signing 19 of 20 draftees. Only 20th round pick Marcelo Perez out of TCU did not sign.
Related to the draft, the Mets do not sign Kumar Rocker before the Sunday deadline. (He was available for the Angels to select.) After reviewing Rocker’s medicals, the Mets felt that it was not taking a risk on the young righty. As Rocker did not participate in MLB’s pre-draft medical checkups, the Mets were not required to make an offer to Rocker to receive the #11 slot in the 2021 MLB Draft.
If you need a quick recap of what went down at the Trade Deadline, SI provides one, including winners and losers.
The Angels check in at #19 on MLB.com’s power rankings. Seems about right.
Former Cubs are having a blast on their new teams thus far:
At the time of publishing, this Olympic quarterfinal game will be underway, and by the time most of you read this, this game will be over. But Masahiro Tanaka vs. Shane Baz is always worth highlighting.
And of course, Shohei Ohtani made the team of the month.
Title Image from Angels Twitter
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1422338434031566851?s=20
Not in the lineup 🙁
So CRod and Adell are up. That’s great!
Okay CRod announced. Still no lineup. 10 min to gametime. Maybe we will get a surprise. . .
Game is 5 btw
also Adell is back
I don’t see any transactions yet. If CRod and Jo are up then somebody’s down. Unless they’ve got a waiver and can have 28
Wong and Thaiss down
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1422336492517666818?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
I am really curious why they recalled Wong and sent him back down the next day. Arte has stock in Delta Air Lines and gets a deal on tickets?
All the mile are added to the company card(my employer does this)
I knew that toss by Thaiss was his doom. Wong in the minors has a nice ring to it.
Awesome! That must have been the delay…..
Wait – just saw the new lineup. No Adell.
Because of Arte’s narcissism he likes to be the only one who knows if Adell is actually playing. I lay this squarely at his feet.
Day²Day
Less than 2 hours and no lineup. Feel something is up.
All of our players got massages from the training staff today. All of our players are hurt, but they’ll be fine, back real soon.
Nothing horrible
They all just tweeked it. Just a little tender.
Callaway doing the massaging
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1422299742290198531
Ohtani was originally penciled in for Sunday, then today, now when?
Happy for CRod and these young pitchers getting opportunities
according to Joe, either the last game vs Texas or maybe one of the Dodgers games in the Latrine. I put it through google translate and it came back “Ohtani will not pitch again in 2021”
At this point, let him pitch in the Latrine. Anything to hopefully keep them in the one game wild card is a win.
I think that’s the idea, so we get his bat too
Needed to translate what Joe says. Try it with Arte next, then Trump.
The future is now!
I’d kind of like us to sign Trevor Story in the offseason, he’s an upgrade over Churches. Although I can deal with the SS situation as it is now for another season or so. I would like to have been a fly on the wall in the Rockies GM’s office re the rationale for not trading two months of a player that’s leaving anyway and basically doing absolutely nothing to improve an incredibly mediocre team.
all depends on cost, of course. if we could keep it to something like 5 years, $100 mil, that would be really cool. i don’t know what he will command, of course
The Athletic is reporting that several GMs said the Rockies demands were too high.
Story is having a down year on both sides of the ball. Have to wonder if the elbow injury is still bothering him. That would explain the lack of velo on this throws from short. I’d bet he bounces back next year with some health and mental clarity.
If I’m the Angels I definitely get aggressive on pitching early. There are so many SS that even the third tier (Semien, Simba) aren’t that bad.
I disagree. Story seems like the exact kind of guy that Arte will throw big money at and then his performance will crater after he has a decent first season. I base this on nothing except the team’s history signing free agents.
We’ve heard this Story here before. Many times
was it wise to send Detmers out vs Oakland? I don’t know if it really matters but I see the Skanks are having HeanDog make his first start for them today vs Baltimore.
Was kind of wondering the same thing. From what I gather he made it to Anaheim on Saturday. Better to get the start and nerves out of the way or better to wait for a softer opponent?
D-Cell is MLB Reliever of the Month!
Sign him for 2 to 3 years please.
Careful, relievers don’t age well, QO offer for 1-year and turn it over to Bachman Turner Overdrive
Still no Angels lineup posted
Game is in three hours
I feel like >50% of the time, the lineup doesn’t get posted within 3 hrs of gametime. Also, maybe CRod’s plane got delayed or something
or, like in Spinal Tap, he can’t find the right door to the field.
Did he catch the right BART train?
He needs help riding BART to Angels Stadium
These things take time…..deciding where to hit 5, possibly 6 .200 hitting auto outs in a MLB lineup is difficult. I personally would draw names from a hat, but even that has become difficult in today’s game, with everyone keeping a sticky-note-pad and other sticky stuff inside them.
Japan came back to win 7-6. What does that remind you of?
don’t mention 7-6. I have no idea what you mean. I don’t remember any 7-6 game in team history or Witt starting the 9th.
I think the White Sox are an interesting team to study. After 7 straight seasons of being terrible they made some moves in 2020 and immediately got a wild card spot and now are well ahead in the AL Central. How’d they do it? With a payroll less than ours, too. Guess I’ll have to do some research.
62-100, 72-89, 35-25, 62-44. That’s a pretty good progression.
They traded a lot of good players (or rather, players who were good with them in some cases). If you are rebuilding, you gotta be ruthless, I think.
They traded Chris Sale. How would us Halos fans feel if our team had a SP like Sale and then traded him away, only to watch him help the other sox win the WS? This blog would be a bloodbath.
https://twitter.com/RotoGut/status/1422273603928674313?s=20
Uniform pictured above should be our primary digs ^^^ 🔥
Btw I hope this recent stretch at least causes some people to think about roster construction differently: you can never have too much offense.
I wouldn’t be “happy” if we signed Seager, Correa, or Story, but using the money on a premier SS is not necessarily a “waste of money,” even when we have pitching needs.
Among the MLB leaders in runs next year will make it easier on a young pitching staff.
The Angels pounding the shit out of the opposition’s pitcher every night makes our pitching staff confident and strong like bull. It sucks pitching for us right now, you know they ain’t scoring any runs for you’s and you’d better be near perfect.
Never a bad thing to add a good baseball player!
Unless it prevents you from signing other needed talent.
Yes, but adding a two-win hitter vs. a two-win pitcher for the same price is the same thing.
A two win pitcher replacing Q or Bundy has a lot more value to us than a 2 win hitter replacing Iglesias.
They would not be replacing Quintana or Bundy. Also, Iglesias is not good!
Iglesias has been worth exactly 0.0 WAR. he’s not good.
Quintana and Bundy have both each been worth -0.6 because they are horrid. If kept in the rotation longer they would be crossing -1 by now.
My thinking is Marcus Stroman (on track for 2 WAR or more this year) replacing Bundy is a net 3 win difference. Ideally that also reduces the appearances of a Cishek type.
Trevor Story is on track to be worth 2 WAR this year. That would be a net of a 2 WAR difference.
Yes, but if we don’t sign our hypothetical two-win pitcher, it won’t be Quintana or Bundy who will be taking those slots next year. It’ll be one of the young guys.
So since this thread is discussing what we are doing for next year, then we also have to consider the opportunity cost for next year specifically, which does not involve Quintana or Bundy. Right now, if we don’t sign anyone, the shortstop for next year will probably be Rengifo.
Yes. Renny brings up the comment counts and other things
How expensive is a 2-win pitcher? Know any that only make 3M a year (like Iglesias)?
First of all, Iglesias is not a two-win player. Second, one would be hard-pressed to find a two-win position player for $3M a year as well.
He has been, and had 1.6 fWAR in a shortened 2020 season (0.8 now in 2021). (Same as Corey Seager).
Most players that make 3M though don’t produce that much value, and those that do are young with contracts.
I guess the ? is though, what cost is associated with a 2-win pitcher vs a 2-win position player. Story (per Jeff’s comment) will command 20M.
Mike Minor is pitching 2.0 fWAR and commanding 4M. Cesar Hernandez is also at 2.0 fWAR and is paid 6M. I bet, if we looked at everyone, there would be little correlation between price and performance – people get hurt, lose their way, or overperform or breakout – all the time (especially pitching). Lindor is under 2.0 WAR
Yes, and hitters are more reliable than pitchers in my book, so I’ll take the hitting.
I found Arte’s a mole
He’s a mole? That’s one very successful mole that Arte is. Bet he has an amazing story we can all get behind.
I’d go like a Brandon Crawford or Galvis. Probably some others. Affordable, cheap 1-yr deal. No need to lock oursleves into a 3-5 year deal when we have SS in the pipeline.
After reading the news on Rocker I expected to log in this morning and see all the commenters that were bashing Perry for having passed on Rocker to be here admitting that they were wrong (cough2002heavencough) while also giving credit to Perry for signing 19 of the 20 draft picks. But I don’t see that. Maybe they’re late sleepers, I’ll check back later.
Don’t hold your breath…..
Speaking of, what will happen to Rocker? Will he go back to school or sign in the Independent league?
I don’t know the rules on such things
He (Boras) already stated he was not returning to school.
Right. I think his plan is to just stay in shape until next year’s draft. I read that Luke Hochever did the same thing several years ago, then was drafted #1 overall, so there’s some precedence that it can work out for him. If I remember correctly Hochever was also a Boras client, although I may be mixing up the various articles I’ve read on it.
Another Boras guy sat for awhile before signing.
Their emotions have transferred to something else they have not fully thought about. They are raging over something equally as poorly thought through. They have forgotten all about their Rocker position.
Admittedly I wasnt exactly thrilled when I heard bachmanns name called with Kumar Rocker available. I bet 90% were enraged.
After reading some reviews and Turk’s post I softened. It happened within a few hours of the draft.
There was really only One poster who kept beating the rocker drum – many many times. Saying Bachmann was injury prone and projecting to be a reliever. It got pretty nauseating. In his defense he posted a full blown apology and owned his wrongness a few days ago – you missed this apology evidently. This guy is off the hook in my book. He atoned.
It might take awhile, but eventually the sun will come out and burn off that haze.
Happy to admit I was wrong about that. Still think Minisian is not very good at his job.
With Trout and Rendon likely out for the rest of the season, why not bring up some AAA guys? What’s the downside? This team is not getting a playoff spot so it would be fun to see.
In some cases it may mean $ as to the start of starting time on the roster maybe. If Adell brought up and fails miserably again then trading value drops. But to Arte it maybe the look of rebuilding. But it is time to see what we have collected and find out how they look.
I think we’re past the service time $$$ concern point of the season.
Not yet for Adell.
https://twitter.com/nmbaseball/status/1421962901330427904
Outside of Adell who are you thinking? Marsh and Detmers are already up and Rodriguez is probably due at some point soon. Thaiss is here. Ward is hurt.
I’m not sure who the fun prospect is we’re missing out on. Adell wasn’t all that fun to watch last season and if they think his defense or plate discipline is better served developing down there, they are probably correct.
Stepahn. Jack Stefanavicxzyz.
Jack Stefan!
That’s who I was thinking about and Adell along with CRod.
Like Schebler, Jay and Rengifo? Just kidding.
That would be a fast no.
The Goal stays the same, to have a .500 record by the end of the season. So here we go, beat a losing team and we will go over .500. Seems about right that we play Texas and keep the routine moving along little Doggies.
It looks like C Rod was scratched from his last start in Alburcracky over the weekend. Is he hurt again or is he tonights starter in Arlington?
Also anyone know what happened to Jose Rojas? he was optioned to SL a couple of weeks ago and has vaporized into the ether since. The best that i can tell he’s not on the Minor League 7 day IL.
Wow. Interesting. Maybe he starts tonight?
July 21, 2021Salt Lake Bees placed 3B Jose Rojas on the 7-day injured list.
Last seen at Dr Nick Riviera office waiting room……….TJS?
I swear, I think Dr. Nick really IS our team physician…
Search for a new trainer for 2022……a promotion from AA. 100% certain he’s better than what we have.
https://twitter.com/trashpandas/status/1421621051889442816?s=20
That guy looks like he can’t even figure out where he is.
He’s focused….thinking deeply about injury prevention and healing.
Still best athletic trainer/medical staff person in the organization even if what Charles says is true
So he’s perfect for the Angels.
Heard he wins every staring contest he’s in
Dr Nick would never perform such a simple procedure.
Cobb has said he’d be open to an extension so it seems likely IMO. There needs to be some kind of veteran down there who enjoys Maddon’s style.
Going into the offseason with
Ohtani
Cobb
Detmers
Sandoval
Is a good place to start. Barria/Suarez/Canning as depth. Then go make a trade or two.
Detmers has a ways to go before he is a Major League pitcher.
Does he have the same gopher ball problem we’ve seen before?
His Major League debut, nerves, small sample, yada yada yada.
Both home run pitches were waist high low nineties and grooved.
He has loads of talent but he’s not ready just like Canning wasn’t.
Lets hope this forever Milb issue doesn’t repeat with our new guys.
Agree to disagree. Not only is he a more effective piece than someone like Suarez, but his development into a hopeful top of the roation type guy pretty much has to happen at the major league level now. Inferior competition in AA does nothing to make him better and AAA Salt Lake isn’t exactly where we develop pitchers.
I don’t see how you can include Detmers as a rotation piece after only one start, especially when that start was bad.
The Angels are going into the offseason with Ohtani + Sandoval. They should try to extend Cobb and sign one more high quality starter to give them 4. Then invite 1-3 backend starters or reclamation projects to spring training and let them + Barria/Suarez/Canning/Detmers/C-Rod battle it out for slots 5 and 6.
Because you don’t trade Andrew Heaney and keep other competitive pieces like Iglesias if you think Detmers isn’t a rotation replacement.
Anyone overreacting to his first big league start in the negative direction should get their head checked. We didn’t send him down to High A after he had a shaky first outing in AA.
We traded Heaney because he needed his head checked.
I didn’t say Detmers should be sent down because of one shaky start. I said, at this time, he shouldn’t be considered among the group of pitchers that will have to compete for a job in spring training rather than among those considered locks for the rotation.
Iglesias has nothing to do with the decision to promote Detmers. Heaney was going to be a free agent and the Angels got an offer for him worth taking. With Heaney gone, it’s worth giving Detmers a shot, regardless of whether Iglesias is still on the team or not.
That said, I do think the Angels will try to extend Iglesias. I believe I saw somewhere he was offered for trade. The fact that he is still on the team means the Angels didn’t get an offer that exceeded the value of the exclusive contract negotiating period that comes with not trading him.
Seems like every year now we’ve said one starter via trade and one via free agency.
If the Angels and Marlins were to complete the Marsh/Meyer swap we could conceivably have Ohtani, Meyer, Detmers, Sandoval, Canning, Barria locked down.
Obviously you want depth and that’s a lot of youth so you bring in Stroman to be an anchor, maybe Cobb if the price is right. That leaves two of Meyer, Detmers, Sandoval, Canning in the minors for depth.
Ohtani, Stroman, Sandoval, Cobb, with a battle royale for the last spot. Barria will be out of options so he’s either last starter or swing man.
Suarez is on the phone….questioning your Canning pick.
Knew I was missing a name. Does Suarez have options left? We need two or three decent guys with options, for sure.
So my mulligan:
Ohtani, Stroman, Sandoval, Cobb as locks.
Barria, Suarez, Canning, Detmers battling for the last two rotation spots with Barria going to the bullpen if he loses out.
Not sure about options..
ve
Rookie Status: Exceeded rookie limits during 2019 season
2021 Contract Status: Pre-Arb Eligible
Service Time (01/2021): 0.160 • Arb Eligible: 2023 • Free Agent: 2027
Ok. I know we got a miracle with Barria this year. He’s definitely out of options after 2021.
Honestly I like Barria better as a starter. I think his mediocre fastball can work to start off the game. But if he follows up a guy who throws 95, his 91 MPH fastball will be very hittable.
Team USA up 6-3 over Japan top 6th.
Japan came from behind to walk it off in the 10th
Team USA must now win every game to stay in it.
Just gotta turn the page.
Besides April games…. I mean the earlier ones in the Olympics don’t really matter. Just have to tip your cap to Japan. Also we are on the phone right now to see what Jeff Mathis is up to.