That good looking crew up there is AngelsChamps2020, me, Steelgolf, and Rahul going from left to right. We caught the Angels/MFY game on Wednesday and had a great time. Much thanks to Champs for putting the day together.
If there ever was a year to not care about the standings and simply enjoy a game with friends it is this one. And if you can make it to the ballpark tonight, you can catch Ohtani on the mound against Texas.
Yes, I wish the Angels record was better, but I’d rather be in the stands with family and friends watching a .500 squad than stuck at home watching a juggernaut.
Hopefully soon we can get the best of both worlds and be in the park watching a winner.
One big reason for hope of a winner is Brandon Marsh.
Personally, I’d love to see him leading off at the Big A for the next decade, setting the table for Trout and Rendon to drive in, then patrolling center. However, it is no secret the Angels also need young, talented pitching ASAP and Marsh is exactly the type of trade chip who can get it. That presents a bit of a dilemma.
One thing we talked about yesterday was Justin Upton’s future with the club. He’s below average with both the bat and the glove. It doesn’t make sense to put him in left over Adell, nor should he take DH duties away from Ohtani. He’s a man with a big contract but no clear fit on next year’s squad, barring a trade of Marsh or Adell.
Last year Jo Adell struggled mightily. This year he’s doing better but still not a plus player on either side of the ball. . Our division rivals are seeing the same early struggles with Jarred Kelenic. The development of these two should impact the division race for years to come.
And with 2021 now definitely not a playoff year, let’s focus on draft order for 2022. Currently the Angels slot 14th but there’s only 3 games separating 12 and 15.
Its never too early to look at the prospects for next year’s draft. Andruw Jones’ kid is expected to go early and IMG Academy looks to be a baseball factory.
The most enjoyable thing right now is Shohei Ohtani. EastSPiN asked if he’s having the greatest season of all time. I’d say, yes. His competition is integrated, cultivated from around the world, sifted through 6 layers of minor league development in search of millions. Ruth’s was not any of those things.
CBS is saying the MVP race in the AL is basically over. I have to agree. At this point, let’s witness a little more history then dial him back to preserve his health.
One of my favorite things about baseball is how open it is to everyone. You can be tall, short, rich, poor, any shade under the sun. But can you hit the curve ball? Because that’s what truly matters.
And now baseball has finally joined so many other sports leagues by having an openly gay player, Bryan Ruby. That link is worth a read to see the great work Billy Beane is doing to help keep young players comfortable in their own skin as they pursue their MLB dreams.
And for the first time in two years, the baseball world will assemble in Cooperstown to induct a new class into the Hall of Fame. For Jeter, Simmons, and Walker it has been a long wait that is finally over.
red floyd started a dedicated J. Iglesias post If people want to engage in detailed speculation.
I think I missed something.
That pic is panther status. 🤘
Goodbye Jose Iglesias. You were more useful than many of our other forays into signing free agents, but you were not the answer. It is interesting to see PTP cut the line on the guys not in the future plans now rather than this winter.
Now the question begs,Who us the answer? Can’t see the sense of spending $20 million a year on a SS when we need pitching, even if there are going to be a bunch of studs available. Rengifio isn’t the answer either. Bringing back Simba might have worked, except he quit on us last year. A defense first SS should work with a healthy roster, but I would rather focus on a front line SP if Arte is willing to spend big bucks, now that we won’t be paying Albert.
Mayfield’s having his tryout. They may also be considering putting Baretto at second base and moving Fletcher to shortstop. People may groan, but let’s face it. The Angels have a lot of holes to fill and not a lot of money below the luxury tax threshold.
there’s the Plumber, too.
Jack Stepanovich?
Jack Stephanino.
Baretto at 2nd? That is going to be ugly.
Baretto is horrible. I’d rather see Paris or Jackson learn on the job.
I did not see that coming, and that’s a pleasant surprise, that the FO is being more proactive about roster make up for both present and future. Iglesias was somewhat better with the bat than expected but not so good on day to day basis with the glove, and sloppy defense cost a lot of runs early on in the season. Def a need for a plus defender at SS.
Agree, Jose was useful. I believe there will be cheap options at short along with the mega contacts option SS’s. My guess, Angels will pursue another bridge deal, 1-yr contact while the prospects mature. Agree, let’s get a glove first type.
Buh-Bye Jose. Good luck with your next team. It has to suck getting cut for Junk.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/09/angels-release-jose-iglesias.html
This surprises me. He’s decent and is Ohtani’s buddy.
Me too. There’s likely more to the story since he’s been riding the pine for the last week+
Parting with a lot of dead weight, could J-up be next? We could only hope but I doubt it/
Cy Rookie against us tonight. He pitched well in his previous outing. 5 IP, no runs, 2 hits, 7 Ks.
Just saw Janson Junk’s contract will be selected by the Halos and he will join the team. Not official, per MLB Trade Rumors and Pinstriped Prospects. Just wondering how to pronounce his name?
Junk like Skunk
Comment on MLBTR- Umps Now Required To Inspect Angels’ Junk.
I suspect his mom originally wanted to name him Johnson Junk but dad vetoed it.
Billy Eppler is now an agent with WME? I wonder what players he will be representing.
Ohtani.
🤣
At first I thought it was WWE. Who knew?
Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill, Julio Teheran, Jim Johnson, Andrew Bailey, Cody Allen, Justin Upton, Yunel Escobar, Zack Cozart, Andrew Heaney, Danny Espinosa, and Ian Kinsler
bryan ruby is the worst of the worst, his real last name is rubin, we shouldn’t let them get away with calling that professional baseball, and he begged for a story in USA Today in order to fluff up his longshot country music career. he is not impressive and should not be admired. clickbait.
what don’t you like about him? what makes independent baseball, where they charge admission and pay players, not professional baseball? You seem worked up about it.
his personality and how he acts and lives and treats people
Really looking forward to tonight’s game, I think Ohtani is going to (continue) do some special stuff
Would love to see him get on a 5-7 game home run binge. I want to see him win the title.
https://twitter.com/Jack_A_Harris/status/1433183635297820673?s=20
We could use all of those guys, Detmers is missing valuable time.
I saw another tweet that said Detmers and Warren are staying at a Four Seasons. Not bad digs, but yikes on that tab. Hopefully the Angels are paying it.
Nice Pic. Glad you guys could give em hell.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1433473331160752135?s=20
i think someone would have to go crazy for me to be willing to part with Marsh. He should be considered part of our long term core. I do like the relationship between him and Adell but would be much more willing to part with him if some smarter team thinks they can fix him.
Love the picture of the posse. I’m glad you guys had fun. Stay safe!
For some reason I would like to see Ohtani hit 50 HR with a sub-3 ERA. While it will make no difference in this season other than potentially resulting in a slightly worse draft position (theoretically the team will win more games if he does this) I think those milestones will make the story of the 2021 Ohtani season particularly special for the ages. So – I am rooting for that and it piques my interest.
I would personally be looking to trade Adell not Marsh for starting pitching. I have previously suggested Adell, Canning and Adams to Colorado for Marquez. That immediately shores up the starting pitching and the bullpen can be the focus.
My only concern about trading Adell is he and Marsh seem to have a special relationship and make each other better. Ideally the team could avoid messing with that. But due to the realities of the pitching issues, I think there is little choice.
I think just Adell and Canning may get you Marquez. Adding Adams may be an overpay.
Deal
prince griff is untouchable
FWIW, the trade simulator has Adell at 18 and Griffin at 19.1 in value while Marquez is 85.9.
Now I have no idea if real GM’s have dropped the equivalent of 50 points worth of value off Adell this year or not. His outfield speed and fly ball approach likely works well in Coors Field.
Not a fan at all of Marquez’s declining spin, which has made him more and more susceptible on the road.
I agree. I know we might tend to overrate our prospects but I wouldn’t want to trade either of them for him.
Anytime you can be more successful at Coors field than on the road, you got to be a pretty damn good pitcher.
Or you’re just suited to Coors! Which would be bad for the Angels!
You get the idea though, right. Package Adell (not Marsh) with other prospects to land a cost controlled starter.
re: Ohtani, I’d also like to see him get back over .270
Yes – his strikeout rate has been a bit concerning
Absolutely, he’s got to be more defensive on strike 2 counts.
Also, the strike zone seems a lot wider with Ohtani at bat with some umpires.
He’s gotten punched out on a lot of outside pitches outside the zone.
He’s got to make the adjustment.
Oh the positive side, he is walking a lot, getting on base.
https://twitter.com/njdotcom/status/1433444747562176516?s=20
yikes. There is definitely water in Bridgewater.
Wow. And yet CA can’t get a drop of rain.
We finally got a tiny bit of actual monsoon at my house, big drops but very few. Up at Condor Elementary School, aboard the Marine base, the sports field looks like Lake Huron. I think that’s called Isolated Thundershowers.
Nice. Farmers are hurting big time right now. I’ll take any rain we can get.
Imagine the highways running north from New Yawk city to Cooperstown full of MFY fans and their New Yawk city attitudes on a sojourn to see Holy Saint Jeetah inducted into the Hall of Fame. I want to, one day, take a trip with my son to Cooperstown, just not with that crowd.
They probably have to use jet skis.
My plan is to go once Trout gets inducted in.
That would be pretty cool to see Trout inducted in person.
Could be in five years. Given that the Halos admitted to Trout having pain in his calf and you multiply that by the standard LAA Injury Information Multiplier (currently sitting at 141.6 %) Mike is done.
Thou shalt not profane the name of Blessed Holy Saint Jeetah
Good article about current players likely to make the HOF by Jayson Stark in The Athletic this morning. Naturally, a big part of it is about Big #17. Quote-
Check it out. These are actual stats of an actual mortal: More stolen bases (22) than Tim Anderson (17) … As many homers (42) as Juan Soto and Mookie Betts combined … Better strikeout rate on the mound (10.89 per nine innings) than Walker Buehler (9.36) … Better ERA+ (148) than Zack Wheeler (134) … And have we mentioned in the last three sentences that he’s a real person?
He goes on with quotes from various MLB execs that basically add up to total fanboy worship. We are seeing the greatest season by one player in baseball history. Period. I know what I’m doing tonight.
Great CTPG Stadium Picture, glad that you guys had a good time, but Steelgolf had a bad morning. How can I tell, his choice of shorts to wear. Laughing out loud, great choice for having fun, but where’s the mustard? Chick used to say “The mustard’s off the Hot Dog”.
The best part is, those are not shorts, they are long pants!!! although I do have a pair of shorts in the exact same pattern/material. My wife just shakes her head when I leave the house.  😂 
Not sure which is worse, those pants, or if you guys had invited Designerguy.
🤣
It they had, they wouldn’t be commenting about my pants.
So there’s that.
Those pants show off your weiner and buns. Just sayin’
🤣
They were up on the Jumbotron too!!
Yes they were.
Great article and links today, looking forward to checking them out throughout the day! Go Angels!!
Thank you.
Barring a breakthrough September for Adell it probably makes sense for Upton to be our LF for the first month or two next year with some kind of defensive handcuff for late innings like a Lagares type.
Adell then can play everyday in AAA to continue to sharpen everything and hopefully come back on a high vs. starting in the bigs and potentially having to be demoted.
I don’t see the point in trading him when his value is down unless someone wants to pay a higher price for this current version.