For as long as I can remember, barring weather every MLB team has played on weekends. Back in my uncle’s day double headers were common on Sunday. But this weekend the Angels have Sunday off. And we need it.
Apparently my memory is a bit foggy as 6 teams had a Sunday off in 2018. That was early in the year when weather is normally a concern, and Easter Sunday. Neither of which apply here.
Judging by attendance I’m in the minority here, but I absolutely love Sunday afternoon games. Lunch at the ballpark, take a lap around the concourse for a couple of innings, home in time to light the grill and enjoy dinner. Pretty much a perfect day, especially if I hit the beach in the morning.
The Angels host the struggling Padres this weekend. The Padres entered the year with World Series dreams, but will they even make the playoffs?
The Angels entered the year thinking a playoff run was optimistic but not overly so. FanGraphs now pegs our odds of reaching the postseason at 0.0%, which puts us in pretty good company.
That is just further proof that we are playing for the future right now. Part of that was Elvis Peguereo, part of the Andrew Heaney trade, getting his first call to the big leagues yesterday. It definitely did not go well for Elvis.
Brandon Marsh is making that future look pretty bright, though. He’s hitting over .400 on this road trip and cracked his first HR.
That’s a pretty stark contrast to the Athletic piece from just a week ago that chronicled Marsh’s work to overcome his struggles. Narratives change quickly, especially around young players.
Not to be outdone, Jo Adell is putting together a solid month on both sides of the ball. On Wednesday he also had a moment that far exceeds stats and rankings. He made a kid’s day.
The biggest national story this week was Miguel Cabrera hitting his 500th home run. Fangraphs took a look around baseball to see which other active players have a decent shot at reaching that milestone.
Another big story this week was the Orioles generating then snapping a 19 game losing streak. Meanwhile the Yankees are on an 11 game winning streak as I type this. Why all the long streaks in baseball nowadays?
I’m glad I’m old enough that I made most of my mistakes before there were cameras everywhere and social media to immediately spread them. Javy Baez is not so lucky.
There will be baseball on Sunday. Other MLB teams will play, but I’ll tune into the Little League World Series.
Calling the youngster from South Dakota “America’s answer to Shohei Ohtani” is hanging a lot on the kid. But he’s been a joy to watch, as have several others in the tournament.
Gavin Weir has been nothing short of amazing, though. His not hitter of a powerful Torrance team was his fourth of the tournament going back to regionals. He’s putting up video game type numbers on the biggest stage.
MLB needs to do more promos like this. I’ll leave you with this smile on your face:
Joe mixing up the lineup today. Fletch leading off, Ohtani 2nd, as they should be. Jo cleanup!
I’m excited about Criswell’s start. I think it’s a year early but with all these injuries I guess it makes sense to give him the ball tonight. If he goes 5, giving up 3 or even 4, I’d consider it a success in its way.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1431400052715491329
Ya think?
….aaaaannnd, who was the one saying before anyone else here that we need to take a good hard look at the Angels Training Staff, including S&C.
Yes, that would be me.
There you go advocating for the Cryogenic treatments again.
I think you’re missing the point here . This is a personal workout training program the South County boys hired, not the team. The team is now stepping in to tell them their program ain’t working.
Way to go Perry and acting like he’ll know what to do?
Well we just lost a series to the worst team in the American League.
That means the soon upcoming series with the Rangers can’t be considered a gimme.
If Perry and Joe want to deliberately tank for a higher draft pick they should just keep pitching Patricka, Bundy and Cishek…..
Bundy’s on the IL D.A.
there are lots of acronyms that I’ve never seen before. The above, however, is easily decipherable.
Sure, we can lose to Texas. It’s not like the team’s a juggernaut. They wobble around .500 all year, the very definition of a team that could lose any given night. They may luck into a few against tough teams in sept too, but man that’s gonna be a rough month with the players we have left.
This is exciting. I suspect Sandoval was put on the 60 day IL to clear a roster spot for him.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1431395651179323394
Cooper who?
Cooper is the guy thats going to lead us to a #1 draft pick next year
Overall? 21-1/2 games out with 33 to play and 12 teams to jump in the standings. …..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZfZ8uWaOFI
Take a look at who they have and don’t have . They can do it
Angels really are doing a great job bringing up players while pulling the plug on the season. #EmbraceTheTank.
The Amazing Criswell. One of the Rocket City Pandas who’ve pitched pretty well, recently moved up to Salt Lake City. I’ve been hoping to see him in 2022 so this is early.
I thought this was a bit early. I just checked the score. Yeah, that bread aint ready to eat yet. But hey, I think it’s a good thing for all these guys from Madison, etc to see a good MLB line up and just get a sense of how tough it is. Could help em develop.
None of this matters any more. I just scored a Jack Lazorko autographed baseball. Be still, my fluttering heart.
Best fielding pitcher I ever saw.
Hockey Goalie on the ice
and fielded his position like one as a pitcher.
I don’t see Marsh being traded anytime soon, maybe Adell but I doubt that too. I think the Brass sticks with in house and one year deals and rummaging the junk pile.
What the Angels need is a new hitting coach and a new hitting philosophy of making contract and working at small ball. There is no reason for all the Left On Base runners that go no where fast.
Upton will be the 2021 Albert and he can go home and watch reruns of American Gladiator and have fun collecting millions.
I have changed my mind and think it better to sign our current SS to a one year deal and not over pay for Seager, Story, or Baez or any other SS. If we do have to get crazy then Correa would work but that might cost us Shohei.
Great insight, and showing the wisdom of being a grandfather.
New hitting coach and older school approach to baseball make sense to me AND FIXING THE BULLPEN. Remember 2002 we had a so so starting pitching staff but awesome relievers – Donnelly the 7th, K-Rod the 8th, and Percy the 9th.
Damn, I’d do anything to get the Angels to stop signing expensive position players who flame out (like Mo Vaughn, Gary Matthews Jr., Upton, Rendon, Scott Hamilton, etc) and focus on great pitching, defense, speed, and timely hitting.
I’m OK with Iglesias for another year if he’ll take it.
And, keeping Upton for another year (since his signed through 2022) if he the best 4th outfield option.
No greater wisdom than in being a grandpa.
I’d love some small ball. All you have to do is convince all of the hitters in the MLB that small ball and counting on two or three hits in a row is statistically a better bet and I’m sure teams will start pushing it. It’s definitely more fun to watch.
Not sure getting rid of Jeremy Reed is the answer………..
I’ll remind you of our friends Sho, Fletch, Walsh, Stassi, The young dynamic duo making strides. A lot of lost AB’s from Trout and Rendon. Id say he’s done a good job. Wouldn’t be opposed to a Philosophy adjustment.
Matt Wise? Not sure.
Reed is in the back, an important place to be. You can’t have a blitz unless there’s someone in the back who’s encouraging the lads to attack.
Aaron Judge could be a FA after next season!!!
I think our owner would actually get into a bidding war with the Yankees for a 30 yr good looking charismatic power hitter like him…….because he’s a power hitter!!!
Think of how many fannies would pass through those turnstiles to see Trout, Ohtani and Judge……Booyah!!!!!
Judge injury prone. end of story.
So was our 3B, and that didn’t stop him.
Not in his previous Washington Nationals days . Beginning of the real story.
But see, we knew he was injury prone a year after we signed him. That’s even worsey. So there.
Isn’t the best player in Little League always the pitcher? More times than not, the biggest kid throws hard and pitches and can hit baseball farther. Lot’s of potential Ohtani’s.
Finally a little pub for the plumber.
https://theathletic.com/2792911/2021/08/27/a-homemade-video-led-michael-stefanic-to-the-angels-as-an-extra-body-now-hes-knocking-on-the-big-league-door/
He’s Rule 5 eligible December 2021. He’ll get a chance somewhere.
I predict He’ll be on our 40 man within 2 weeks
Replacing Upton?
I wish
Not sure they can justify cutting one of Rengifo, Mayflower, Wong, Slegers, Selman, Guerra, Bundy, Hoyt, Q, or Paprika to create a roster spot for the Plumber. Certainly could never cut ties with Ward, Thiaiaiasiisss, Upton, Kawasaki, Swwwwantz, son of Tim Wallach, Yan, Franklin Burrito….. think of the few not listed Packy, Cishek, Bard, Mayers…….That 40 man roster will have some tough decisions for next year.
A quick headcount, I have 22 easy cuts to make room for the plumber.
Do it now! Build back better Free the Plumber!
A Dee Dooooo it now!
Wow I thought it was in jest but JDL was right on. Over 1/2 the roster actually could get cut without a tear being shed. Wow!
Lmao I was ready to type about a comment asking why…then I kept reading.
They agree…….FTP dammit!!! 😆 💪 💪
FREE STEFANIC……
I’d be pissed if they don’t bring him up for the 40 man roster.
The Goose is doing great. I like Captain Jack, but Mayfield is hitting .200 and Stefanic could be the answer in 2022.
FREE MICHAEL STEFANIC….
RELEASE HIM FROM THE CHAINS OF THE MINOR LEAGUES
Get him off the kitchen floor in Roy, Utah and get him to the Four Seasons in Anaheim with no roommates.
I thought he was living in the Walmart parking lot. So Arte must have upgraded his accommodations after that ESPN article.
So you think he’ll be Mike Piazza or Jose Rojas?
Jose Rojas was a minor league shooting star too, until he wasn’t.
https://www.mlb.com/player/jose-rojas-670351?stats=career-r-hitting-minors&year=2021
Can he Catch?
It turns out Marcus Semien can
Has a higher fielding percentage than………Francisco Lindor, Trea Turner, Corey Seager, Xander Boagerts, Javier Baez, Brandon Crawford.
Only Carlos Correa and Dansby Swanson are in his neighborhood. I think we should consider him since Albert’s big salary comes off the books, go look at his #’s. He’s one year older than Iglesias and no way Iglesias can even hit like him, plus he can play all three left infield positions. Iglesias is way cheaper and that’s his main advantage.
OH Man, I hope tonight’s TBD doesn’t turn into Aaron Slegers. But who else could it be?
That’s right, bring in the PACK-MAN…. No, not Manny, but Packy Naughton to bring some wicked smart, Boston attitude to the Big A.
It’s time to test the PACK-MAN. He’s 25, he’s not a kid anymore, he’s been around, give him a shot.
It would make a heck of a lot more sense than starting Slegers.
Side note: apprently in MLB The Show ’21 Slegers pitching in Anaheim is the secret winsauce. He’s so tall and his release point gets all obscured in the background that he’s really difficult to hit. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
now that’s a great quote from a great movie
We all know the Angels needs arms for next season – this season as well.
I wonder if there is any chance they call up Sam Bachman for a few starts. That would be interesting to see.
So far in the minors, in his first four starts, the 21-year-old has given up zero runs in three of them, good for a 1.69 ERA with 11 strikeouts, six hits and one walk through his first 10 2/3 Minor League innings.
Well at least none of Elvis’ pitches left the building
A few Barely legal farmhands
Ryan Costeiu, 2021 Round: 7, at low A San Bernardino
2.89 ERA 5 Hits 9.1 innings, 3 Earned runs, 5 walks, 16 K, hitting .156 off him, WHIP 1.07, thrown a lot of pitches 169 in 5 games.
18 year old C Edgar Quero, promotion ACL to low A San Bernardino, first game last night, 2-5, scored a run, 1 RBI, 1 double, 2 K’s, RBI with 2 outs
18 year old SS Arol Vera, promotion ACL to low A San Bernardino, first game last night, hit lead off, 2-6, 3 runs, 1 RBI, 2 K’s, had an error. RBI with 2 outs
Arol Vera might help to soothe the pain of getting burned by the bullpen consistently this season.
Not tonight . The 66ers game was shutdown over the COVID
Marsh and Adell are definitely coming along which makes me very happy. I would presume (hope) that one of them will be trade bait this offseason so that we can land some quality pitching.
The “If I Were Perry” analysis for me begins and ends with rebuilding the pitching staff. I know we need a SS but that can work itself out. Focus should be like this years draft – pitching-centric. Accordingly, I view one of either Adell or Marsh as being shopped for a top arm.
Finally, how bored must Raisel be over the last 6 games? The only one that the Angels won was pretty much a blowout. Not certain but I don’t think he has pitched in a week.
I remain curious which ‘top arms’ are available for buy or trade.
There were numerous rumors of Marsh for Mayer (Miami) being discussed at the trade deadline. That’s a cost controlled, top of the rotation type arm.
Since that time Marsh’s value has only gone up.
Starting the offseason with Ohtani, Mayer, Sandoval, Detmers, Canning, Barria, Suarez as the depth chart would be a night and day difference from the rotations we’ve started with in previous years and provide Perry with financial freedom to pursue free agents.
It would hurt to lose Marsh, but I’ve said for a while that any trade that actually helps us will cost something painful.
Davis Daniel, in the same league as Meyer, has a better whip than Meyer, a much better K/BB ratio, a similar HR/9. I don’t see Meyer as more of a top of the rotation piece than Daniel. At least at this point. They’re both in AA.
I’d prefer to keep Marsh and give Daniel a shot in 2022.
How good do we think Marsh can be? What are the projections? 0.280, 17-20 hr, 88 RBI guy? He has speed, not sure a stolen base threat. Good glove, arm is average.
Yeah, something like those numbers seems right, but add an above-average OBP, lots of doubles, some triples, stolen bases, and speed on the basepaths. Maybe an Erstad comp (ish).
I love the Erstad comparison. Good compare. But, Erstad played with some amazing intensity. Love the heat and passion he brought to each at bat. Remember him at the plate, in his stance, moving his bat in small circles, shifting his weight back and forth before the pitch, a big wad of chewing tobacco stuffed in his mouth, his eyes like hawk-like slits locked into the pitcher.
Erstad hit line drive rockets all over the field.
I don’t see anyone on the Angels, except Trout, who matches Erstad’s intensity.
BRING UP STEFANIC
Indeed he did. He was also the overall Number 1 pick in the draft. He had incredible raw talent to go with his famous intensity. Nothing against Marsh but I don’t think he has anywhere near the raw talent of Erstad when he came up.
Yeah, I agree with that. Marsh is not in Erstad’s category in my opinion.
I really don’t like his rocking motion and bat circling in the batters box. Seems to play down any power that he may possess.
Seriously ? go look at Ersty’s stats after year 26. That old punters intensity flamed out early on. He was replacement level at best for most of his time in the major leagues.
He still has one of the best five seasons in Angels history though… Nobody can take that away from him. That 2000 season was something special… And we would not have won it in 2002 without him. He was that important.
Agreed. His defense was consistently good . He battled you every inning of every game. If you needed a ground ball on the right side to move the runner over or score a run it was automatic. But looking at his career in total, For an overall no 1 pick, I would have to classify his career as a disappointment.
I think if you start looking at all the no 1 picks over the years, say the last 30 years, and see where/how they ended up you would take that back…
There was a good run from 2009-2012 but if you take away those three years it is alot of duds. Ersty had a better career (included winning a ring in 2002) than most of those guys….
But he was so intense. Sure, most of the time he didn’t do good things, but he sure could ground out to the left side with incredible intensity. Never forget, if intensity were a stat Ersty would be Ted Williams.
If its Ersty then lets hope its the pre age 27 version who was a .301/.358/.462 hitter. The Age 27 to 35 Ersty had a slash line of .267/.319/.367in the midst of the steroid era .
I hope his career offense numbers would resemble something closer to Johnny Damon than Darin Erstad.
Yeah, more Damon than Erstad but I can see why Ersty might be a comparison.
I was thinking of Damon for the early hair comp, but in looking for pics I found Charlie Blackmon is the best hair comp:
Exactly. Why? Why do you guys have to make me seem to hate Erstad? He’s a great guy. He also had one really good season and otherwise kinda sucked. 3 seasons with an OPS plus over 100. “Derr, but his intensity made him Rickey Henderson…”
Just stop it. Can’t we just like him the way we do Dick Schofield or something?
I’m not sure if I really ever liked Dick
I don’t think anyone here ever compared him to Rickey Henderson, lol.
You have actually fabricated what you claim is all of this out of proportion Erstad love… Erstad did have good intangibles but nobody here ever said he was a Hall of Famer.
You are a spider trapped by the smooth sides of hyperbole.
Yeah, no one actually compared him to Henderson. But people use his intensity as a 15 WAR ladder to make him into a good player, a player they use to project a current prospect as good, when Ersty himself wasn’t really all that good.
You can’t hate Yankee fans for taking Derek Jeter and turning him into Honus Wagner and then turn around and be OK with taking Ersty and turning him into even Ellis Burks because “magic intangibles”.
In modern MLB I think .280 is alot to ask for.
Batting averages are down in general and everywhere… Probably .260-.270 is more realistic.
I foresee a player that is a 5 tool type. .320-25-100 with 100 R/S and OBP of .400. I think the only stat that Adell may do better in is HR’s. Give Marsh a couple of years to get there and pull up a chair and enjoy.
Yeah, he could be that good if everything clicks. Like he may have a couple big seasons like that. I’d be happy with a solid CF and OPS over .720 though.
I doubt we ever get plus-value out of Marsh or Adell for a pitcher. Not because they aren’t any good, but because they are OF’s. Seeing them play together this year makes me think keeping them together for a couple years could actually lead to good, maybe even great things (I’ve changed my tune a bit after watching how them both in the lineup– earlier this year and last year I would have traded one of them in a heartbeat).
As I have mentioned- Marquez in Colorado is under team control through 2025
At the moment, I wouldn’t trade Marsh one for one. I’d want some kind of two-for-one deal there. Maybe a top SP prospect near ready and a decent reliever already in the Bigs. I’m near this point on Adell too. It’s probably somewhat unreasonable, but we have young talent finally showing itself in the beginning of a wave and need to max the return from the rest of the league if we’re not going to use that talent ourselves.
My plan this offseason would be to keep this offense together with Marsh and Adell taking some pressure off Trout, Rendon, and Ohtani next year. Acquisition-wise I’d shell out for Scherzer, Ray, or Greinke on a 2-3 year deal. You can probably add one or two others to that list (maybe Syndergaard, although I haven’t been following his health updates). Starting next year with a rotation of Ohtani, Scherzer, Sandoval, Detmers, Canning with Suarez and Barria in the wings along with the upper tier of our 20-pitcher draft is just fine. Especially when combined with a lineup that includes Marsh and Adell.
Ideally in three years, Scherzer (for example) would come off the books and we’d only have Ohtani, Trout, and Rendon as big-money contracts just in time for the new core’s big arbitration raises.
Syndergaard’s on a rehab assignment and is supposed to back to the bigs soon as a reliever. There isn’t enough time left to stretch him out.
We can watch a little bit before the offseason and see if his arm holds up.
He is certainly the dark dark horse. Some team will definitely over pay for the chance to see if he’s his old self though. Should the Angels roll those dice? If he’s old Thor it sure would change the team’s outlook.
I think this is a good plan. The one problem with trading either Marsh or Adell for pitching is that we are then again thin at the OF position and not able to withstand any kind of injury there… We always complain about our lack of depth, but now we do have a little bit of OF depth once Trout comes back.
If we keep the “Kids” together one more year (2022) they are both likely to get better and thus increase their value on the marketplace. At that point we may decide to trade one. In the meantime I like your idea of signing a top end FA arm and working with the other youngins’ we have such as Barria, Suare, Sandoval etc..
I would however not be disappointed if we traded Canning for a bag of balls.
I agree with keeping the kids together.
But, I’ve had this feeling that injury prone Canning may be one of the answer out of the bullpen.
For 1 – 2 innings, he’s very effective
Sounds like a good plan, and that’s why you are a commander, Nate.
At this point, I’d trade a solid position player for good pitching. I’d hate to see Marsh go, but for pitching, absolutely – but it’s got to be solid return.
Hopefully, Jordyn Adams will be ready soon for. call-up
Jordyn Adams ain’t even close
I have been mulling in my pointy little head, is there ANY feasible way to have a group of pitchers like Canning, Barria, Suarez, Cobb, a scrap heap guy, and a guy like Naughten/Detmers all basically be 3-4 inning pitchers? Have them start 2 games out of the rotation and another pitch in the same game? Then sign another guy as well? So an example would be…
1) Ohtani
2) Sandoval
3) Canning/Suarez
4) Jon Gray
5) Cobb/Barria
6) Rich Hill
With a closer (Raisel?) and three other leverage arms (Warren+ 2someones) dedicated to relief and guys like Detmers/Naughten in the wings getting some innings too? Could that work? You’d have to keep it flexible and run a Salt Lake shuttle probably, but you could do that if you have players with options involved.
Would getting those 3-4 effective innings out of guys boost us?
Great write up JJ. I love day games (especially because there is no leave by this time restriction for my little kids) but the Anaheim heat is too much at times… even with great seats.
We will be at these two games and really looking forward to it. We head down to SD when the Angels go there too! Excited for these kids to get a chance and hope Trout can come back for at least an appearance before the seasons over.
I’ll be there tomorrow. Email my name underscore 1976 at Hotmail.
Replied.
You have a really nice year of birth, my man.
Why is this more impressive than almost everything I’ve seen from this team this season?
Tank footage is very cool.
The original milk crate challenge
Tanks a lot
Tanks to you!
U boat!
That bridge is wearing a tank top.
YESSIR. Sgt. Madden Halo Tank Commander reporting for duty! Our mission is to lose while looking like we are competing.33 games left, your mission Joe, if you choose to accept, is to keep calling on Guerra, Hoyt, Sluggers, Cishek and Elvis, to enter the game and pull your starters early. Good luck Joe, this post will self-destruct in 2002 seconds.
33 games left – 12 wins, 21 losses is my prediction. That is a split with Texas, split on a 2 game series and losing the series with teams above 0.500.
#EmbraceTheTank
Don’t forget “Jack” Petricka.
Uh I waited over 35 minutes and your post is still here. Hopefully the Taliban doesn’t end up with it.
So long as 2002 is posting…
Wonder if they paid to rent that tank for this stunt, or if it was a freebie for promotional opportunities.
If it’s the latter, it’s……wait for it….tanks for nothing.
Ouch