Today kicks off the final homestand of the 2021 season for the Angels. I’ll be there this weekend to see if the team store does its usual massive sale to clear inventory.
While this season hasn’t shaken out the way I’d hoped, it has been a blast spending time at the ballpark with family and friends. My 3 year old (4 this weekend) knows and sings every word to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at home and at the yard. Singing that with him during the 7th inning stretch is a highlight of fatherhood I never considered and enjoy immensely.
The brightest spot on the field has clearly been Shohei Ohtani. But he’s been in an offensive slump since the All Star Break. Will that hurt his MVP chances?
Meanwhile, if Vladdy Jr. finishes second in the MVP race he will likely do so having one of the best non-MVP seasons ever. He’s killing it in both slash and counting stats. He’d join a very small list of guys to lead the league in all three slash categories and not be named MVP.
EastSPiN gives their take on MLB award winners and has Ohtani on top, but his lead is narrowing.
One name getting lost in the mix here is Marcus Semien. He has a higher WAR than Jr. per BB-Ref and the gap is miniscule on FanGraphs. Marcus is having an amazing year. Put him in pinstripes or Fenway and this is a three horse race.
Semien is definitely poised to cash in this off season. As is teammate Robbie Ray. For their part, Toronto is hopeful they can keep both of them but that will be very expensive.
A big part of Ohtani’s MVP candidacy is based on his pitching. Unfortunately, Ohtani will not pitch against the A’s this weekend after feeling sore. Jeff Fletcher also adds the tidbit that Ohtani might get a break at the plate due to the slump. As much as I love watching him play, I’m fine with giving him some well deserved rest and looking towards 2022.
Alex Cobb will be pitching this year. Do we want him to stick around in 2022?
The next best thing about 2021 has been looking toward the future. Brandon Marsh has played well. On Wednesday his homer came off the fastest pitch to be turned around for a HR in the league this year, a whopping 100.8 MPH.
Jo Adell cut down his strikeouts. Jared Walsh went from All Star to ice box but has heated up again. That adjustment and perseverance from Walsh is a great thing to see.
To really take a look at 2022, take a look at the players who will be up for bid this off season. See anyone you like? I do and we’ll have our full “If I Was Perry” series coming up after the World Series.
Keep in mind the free agent market isn’t the only way to add talent. Take a look at this off season’s trade candidates. It is a big list with some serious game changers.
I love a piece that takes a broad subject and gives it a face and a voice. The LAT did that with Kieran Lovegrove as it focused on the conditions players face in the minor leagues. Thanks to Cowboy26 for sharing this in Wednesday’s links comments.
Speaking of minor league baseball, this weekend is your last chance to see the Inland Empire 66ers. They are doing a great Angels impersonation and sit just a couple games under .500.
I also love it when people give back to their communities. MLB gives the Roberto Clemente Award to the player it feels best represents Clemente’s character and drive to give back. Reading through the accomplishments of these players I think Mr. Clemente would be quite happy with them. And they deserve more attention than they get. And let’s not forget the players who have won the award in previous years.
Players can impact lives in a lot of ways. One of my favorites is the way they bring smiles to kids faces. There seems to be far more player/kid interaction in baseball than any other sport. The White Sox had a great time with a young fan prior to playing the Angels this week.
Have great weekend and please link what I missed below.
Great write, been enjoying this article for a few days.
It’s been a great season for everything you mentioned. The last clip with kimbrel is a perfect example. Also loved see the road teams star plasters take extra time to sign autographs during rain outs/delays. I’m sure we all hope for better success/mores Ws, but there’s a lot to be thankful for.
Will definitely be tuned to see what happens this off season.
If I was perry articles and Spring Training are always reasons to tune in during the off season.
This would seem to indicate that neither Warren or Detmers are quite ready to return from the COVID restricted list:
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1439350476755988481
Maaaannnn. You wanna know how shitty things are? That whole list of MLB trade candidates had like 2 pitchers on it…. both relief pitchers.
Let’s do another 20+ pitcher draft this year baby!
This is kind of weird.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/09/twins-andrelton-simmons-restricted-list-nick-vincent.html
Free Simmons!
*With purchase of a second Simmons. Free Simmons must be of equal or lesser value to purchased Simmons.
If we got a free Simmons, then we wouldn’t be out on Wilson.
But how much would a Wilson cost us?
4/58 is what I hear.😆
Who’s Wilson?
interesting
Did you read the article? If he travels to Canada, he loses his progress towards US residency. He didn’t give up on the season.
Yes that’s why I consider it to be weird . Do you think this is the first time a foreign born ball player ever wanted to be a US citizen ?
Permanent residency = green card, not US Citizenship. He must been here via a sponsored work visa vs being considered a premanat resident.
I agree, the citizenship would be odd these days (for many reasons) unless he wants to immigrate his immediate family.
Yeah, leaving the country while waiting for a green card application to be approved, the INS will consider the application abandoned and process resets upon re-entry/refilling. It’s a painful, frustrating process. Simba cannot even go home during the offseason until he establishes residency.
Simba should sign in with an NL Team next year, typically no travel to Canada.
He better hurry before the NL adds Montreal or Mexico City as an expansion team.
You’d think there would be a tolerance allowed. A guy working in Toronto for 3 days obviously isn’t vacating his goal of residency. You have people who travel back home for funerals or weddings who get reset all the time, too.
Give these folks a week or so each year that they can be gone.
He is in the process of becoming a US citizen and if he goes to Canada it would cause the process to reset, so it is understandable
Seems like a pretty asinine US And/or Canadian law for someone who’s been a professional baseball player for over 10 years
To your point, it’s the opposite of understandable……but I’m sure it’s for a reason way above our understanding capabilities.
Yes, truly ridiculous no matter what the explanation, assuming Simmons was following the protocols required.
What to look for in the next couple of weeks. Some more very good pitching for the future kids. More hitting and fielding from Brandon Marsh. Goose and Fletcher getting red hot with the bat. Suzuki’s swan song and Mayfield HR’s. Cobb pitching really well in last 2 starts and finally, seeing Ohtani hit 4 more HR’s….yup that’s what we can hope to see.
Suzuki’s swan song? Maybe not…. We don’t have anything ready, it would need to be a free agent. He might be around another year, if he wants.
Goose 2022! Make that happen Perry.
I’ve seen enough of Suzuki. He is a great dude but his catching abilities were as advertised, bat first, defense second.
I’m not saying we should…should have attempted to trade him
We already have Max Stassi
Suzuki’s done.
Rather see Ohtani get his century mark in RBI’s has 96 as of now. 💪
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1438922382932987905?s=20
Another Rule 5 candidate that they want to checkout before the season ends. I think the Angels already had an open 40 man spot.
Now if we can only get PTP to dump the Wong guy and free the Plumber we will have a thorough review of our system.
Free Nelson Mandela. Free Britney Spears. Free the Plumber.
“Soft throwing” pitcher. We’ve pretty much cornered that market.
Yet with poor command/control added in.
I hadn’t noticed that when Cobb was activated Petricka was DFA’d. I assume that no one will want Petricka and that he’ll then be re-assigned to SLC instead of being dropped.
He’ll have the right to elect free agency. I reckon his agent would have heart to heart talk with him like, “Let’s face it, given the Angels’ track record about pitching, sticking with them is probably your best chance of getting some more time in the majors next year.”
He also has the right to remain
Silent
We have the right to not take him back?
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1438632462041563139?s=20
The COVID has now spread to Rocket City after ravaging Tri City and before that the I.E.? Who the hell is the carrier ? PTP?
Bachman! He’s patient zero….Of course because of trAdition.
We probably lead the league in canceled games, why wouldn’t we.
Not sure what other teams experienced with Covid, but we also had a large amount of rainouts too in Rocket City. Enough games lost that in the end will have a negative effect on player development.
trAdition
There really aren’t very many things better in life than getting your young kid(s) into baseball by simply taking them to games and enjoying the way they experience it. My daughter used to start “Lets go Angels” chants when she was like 4 and 5, but now is 8 and too embarrassed to do it. She’ll still get hyped for TMOTTBG, but I sure miss those days when she had entire sections chanting along with her. Happy Birthday to your little man, Jeff. And nice set of links.
Thanks. Appreciate the birthday wishes and compliments.
I’m not much of a chanter but if a kid is the one leading the charge I join in.
She’d yell the chant and I’d do the clapping in-between, then poeple would start going along with us. She loved it. I yearn for those days.
https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1438804925832519685?s=20
Cool the way Kimbrel responded to the young fan. We need more of that!
Can’t wait to see the full “If
I Was Perry
” series coming up after the World Series where we’re ALL IN with a budget of 230m.
Joking aside, Sho-time is likely not a long term show and Trout’s peak is not lasting forever so hopefully they do go after some middle to top tier pitching while also developing the recently acquired young arms to supplement the rotation and BP.
Ohtani is gassed, there’s no way to expect he could play more than what he did this year. I’d suggest for max sustained performance, he should scale back 15% or so from 2021 innings.
Trout’s decline has begun. It’s reality.
Rendon’s decline is further along than Trout’s.
There are more question marks going into 2022 than existed going into 2021.
How has ‘Trout’s decline has begun’? Before the injury he had the second highest OPS+ of his career (195) – and you are aware of his career as a standard.
An injury does not (necessarily) signal decline. Wow, the guy doesn’t play for a couple of months and everyone forgets he is the GOAT.
I think we’ve seen his WAR peak but I’m also assuming he moves to right field and we let the young legs of Marsh patrol center. That will be a defensive adjustment hit to his WAR and bring it down a bit.
Granted, a fresher Trout could mean a better Trout at the plate (that’s incredible to consider) but a guy already this great continuing to get better is a lot of ask.
He’s been out with a freaking “calf strain” for months. He was injured jogging the base path – not sprinting. How do you know he’ll come back and be the same player he’s been for the last 10 years?
The “decline” usually begins with more frequent injuries. From 2012 through 2016, Trout never took a single trip to the injured list, nor did he ever miss more than three Angels games in a row after being called up for good from the minor leagues.
Over the past 5 years, he missed 39 games in 2017 with a torn thumb ligament. He missed 19 games in 2018 because of wrist inflammation. He missed 19 more games in 2019 after foot surgery. 2020 was shortened due to COVID, and in 2021 he’s been out since the middle of May.
What’s the data trending towards?
He’s out with a calf tear. That’s the term used widely by everyone but the Angels.
We definitely don’t want that calf to tear again. And a body as large as Trout’s going from zero to sprint puts a lot of strain on that calf.
At this point, move him to right, save some wear and tear and hope he continues to rake.
Trout does not have the arm for right field. He has to move to left. Marsh in center, Adell in right and a competent fourth outfielder will be just fine for the next few years.
Trout’s arm was average at best when he came into the league.However he was 18 and his throwing arm has gotten much stronger the last couple of years in particular. He’s made a few top-tier throwing assists of late. If you put Trout in RF I’m sure he puts in work and goes cannon mode and then we’ll all be talking about wow he sure did adjust.
I’m not so sure about that. When Trout came up his arm was really his only weakness. It does seem to have gotten stronger, but I’d still prefer him in LF as opposed to RF as his arm isn’t really a strength but rather average at best.
This. We actually don’t know if he’s declined! Even if he has physically, he only recently has optimized his swing to strike out more and hit more jacks. He’ll be a better player simply because of his approach.
I wish Minasian would sign a free agent that other teams want and the Angels don’t need, like a Rizzo or a Bryant, and then immediately flip him to a team that needs him in exchange for something the Angels need, like pitching or a highly touted Double-A/Triple-A catcher or shortstop.
Sure. We can do that as long as we never want to sign another FA again.
Now that’s novel strategy: Sign a free agent the Angels don’t really need.
Hmmm, wouldn’t that be like signing Albert Pujols in 2011 , Josh Hamilton in 2012 & Anthony Rendon in 2019? This strategy has worked out so well in the past why stop now?
Don Baylor won the Clemente Award in 1985 while with the Yankees for the fundraising he has done to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis, an effort he began in 1979 while he was leading the Angels to their first ever trip to the playoffs.
The Angels should keep Cobb only if they think he can help them in 2023. If the Angels treat 2022 as a development year for Marsh, Adell, and all of their young arms, then we will see a return to the playoffs in 2023.
Predictably, La Russa claims the plunking of Shohei Ohtani was not intentional and then goes on a rant about the three White Sox who were hit two days before.
Hitting Ohtani and pulling a phone out of the wall is arguably better than hitting the bottle and getting behind the wheel of a car. So things are improving for LaRussa. 👍🏻
As long as his “dry drunk” actions don’t result in a serious injury to a player, particularly someone with the grace and talent of Ohtani.