Good morning Angels fans, I guess. Have some links as we wait for it all to be over.
Angels News
As Angels fans wait for the season to end so that things can improve for 2022 and the like, people discuss the AL MVP. Jeff says it is obviously Ohtani. So does MLB Now. And the Rundown. Really the ‘debate’ is people wanting something to write about.
Want an hour long podcast on what Arte Moreno is doing to make the Angels worse? Here you go. Maybe we should get a podcast going again…
Around Baseball
Pujols is injured. Even if healthy I don’t know if he would make the playoff roster.
Vlad Jr understands English, he just don’t want to misspeak again. See this is why people use translators, the media is cruel.
Thor is pitching again for the first time since 2019. deGrom won’t though for the rest of 2021.
You want your top players to do well, but there needs to be depth. Here is a chart of the top 3 players vs the rest of the team for each team.
(Athletic)Looks like the Rays are still pushing for that split Montreal time. Still a stupid idea.
The woman who fell to her death in San Diego allegedly was jumping on the bench and fell.
How bad was the Mets collapse? No team has spent so much time in first place only to end up with a losing record. Mets are the NL Angels.
Are umps worse with age? Not necessarily.
Anything I missed? post below for upvotes.
https://twitter.com/AdamMcCalvy/status/1443310247477719046?s=20
2nd Round pick of the Brewers in 2013! 😝 How do you like them Mark Appels? 💪 💪 💪 I have the Portuguese itch! 😳 It makes my thoughts goopy.
Calm down, Gwyneth
“Like, why are all these guys sniffing the candles in meh shoppe?”
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
“Goop” will help control the Portuguese itch.
When did Mookie Betts get traded to the Brewers?
no Marsh today. Ward instead
This should make all the tankers a little happier.
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1443266252651204610
Tanker?
“Just a bit outside”
I’m right inline with this, don’t give a hoot about our final record. Need to drop in the standings, need to lose every game outside of an Ohtani pitched game if he pitches.
Bringing up starters from AA/AA was part of the tanking plan along. Perry has been heard calling down to the field level to Joe, “put in Rengifo at SS and lets start Packy then Junk. Make sure you leverage the blow-pen as much as possible.”
Rockies/KC are not likely to pass us but if Joe does his thing, we stand a chance. Seattle being in the Wild Card hunt will go hard this weekend against the Halo’s. We should run Criswell, Pack and Junk the final 3-games and ensure Hoyt, Cishek and Selman needs to get a lot of innings.
All about the bonus pool right now. And that extra money is really nice in Perry’s hands. I really liked the way he played last year’s draft.
Mason is basically an extra 3/4 round pick in 2021. If we get another talent like that in the later rounds next year I’ll be happy.
Pujols getting his second shot just now? Ha!
He’s getting his booster along with the other 65 year olds.
😅
Okay, upon further review, that chart is simply not accurate.
fWar: Ohtani 4.9 + Stassi 3.1 + Walsh 2.4 = 10.4
bWar: Ohtani 4.8 + Walsh 2.6 + Stassi 2.1 = 9.5
That chart is showing the Angels top 3 around ~14 War. Also, depressingly, Trout is almost in the top 3 with 2.3 fWAR and 1.9 bWAR. That basically accounts for the red box itself. Once you add Fletcher, Marsh, et al., the Angels’ red box should be about twice the size it is.
The chart might be accurate if it does the following two things:
Further analysis:
Angels have 16.7 positional fWAR, with 10.4 from the top 3. The blue should end just above 10 and the rest should be red. Take away Trout, Rendon and Upton (3.3 fWAR) and add Ohtani’s pitching WAR (2.9) and you get to 13.3 blue and 3.0 red, which does indeed appear to be what the chart shows.
On that WAR chart is it any surprise that the Rays, Astros, Dodgers and Giants have the most balanced teams? It just shows again that one or two players do not win in baseball. Unlike the NBA two superstars alone can’t win you a championship.
You can throw the Brewers and ChiSox into that group, and maybe even the Yankees. And again, your hypothesis withstands the observations.
This is my biggest worry about the Angels – that the unbalanced approach of tying so much of the payroll into 3 guys doesn’t yield the same on the field results as the paper math. We keep saying having a healthy Rendon and Trout would add 10-12 WAR but will such an unbalanced roster really yield the projected W-L since you have such a small pool of players that you are depending on to produce enough to offset the streaky nature of how stats occur over a 162 game season.
But I mean, when they are healthy, they produce. Some may quibble with that assumption, but I have never wavered from that belief. And is the streakiness you are referring to “injury?”
I don’t think it’s a bad strategy. If any team loses their best player they’re screwed. It’s not like signing Rendon prevented us from chasing 2-3 mid-tier guys that would have been “safer.”
Sign the best players and hope for the best.
Streakiness I meant more that few players are consistently good over an entire season. They have hot and cold months even if the overall numbers at end of year look really good. Maybe advanced metrics account for extreme streakiness like an Upton. But it just seems more often than not, the lineup is a wasteland below the 4th spot and game in game out too few players in our unbalanced lineup to step up to string together sustained scoring throughout the season. Maybe, ive just see too little of Rendon and Trout last two years to remember how good they are and too much of the August and September lineups this year making me a Debbie Downer.
Makes sense, tbh. If we were winning a ton of wins in blowouts, I’d be concerned. As it doesn’t seem like we have in the past, I think the variation is still solid enough
It won’t be by a ton, but I think a scrub player like Lugares or Mayfield may be somewhat elevated if he is surrounded by Ohtani, Walsh, Trout and Rendon. Maybe up to a .700 OPS. Fletcher would be better too. So yeah, it matters alitlle probably having the “big guns”.
This is actually a concern I have with the idea of a lesser line up signing Chris Taylor type guys who have been “the poison you pick” in a bunch of strong line ups for years.
Believe it or not I think a depth pool of Mayfield, Ward, Lugares, Gosselin, Adell, Rengifo and Marsh isn’t half bad…. unless those are guys you have to start 75% of the season. But spot starting some of those guys 20-30 games a year with your actually line up generally working? They’d be fine. Anyone who has been around a goose knows a little goose goes a long way.
I’d slate Marsh for a starting gig there but a bench of Mayfield, Gosselin, Lagares isn’t bad at all and provides a ton of positional flexibility. Goose hits lefties pretty well, too.
Fair point. It just seems like its been so long where I’ve actually seen this dream lineup (if I have ever seen it at its full potential) with Ohtani playing every day and the removal of Albert DP Pujols from the lineup to know if it can produce a winner. Maybe the girl down the street always looks prettier and Dodgers aside, those guys are just as good as what any contender has playing 3-4 spots in the lineup. But are you sure you want to go all in on with your take by including Lagares and Rengifo?
If listing pretty much all of our bench depth and then saying they aren’t that bad a bench is going “all in” then… yeah? I’d also like to go “all in” and say most pizza is tasty and most Japanese cars are reliable.
https://twitter.com/AnthonyDiComo/status/1443039820163452935
But what if Arte is really committed to winning? If he just offers more money Thor will totally be like “I hate New York” and sign here right?
He’s a gamble I wouldn’t mind taking, actually, but sane money vs sane money he’ll stay in New York.
Syndergaard is done. He needs to reform his approach.
? Source?
Coming off of TJ, he’ll need to become more of a pitcher than thrower. Why invest in that? Maybe after a 180 inning season I might bite. Watch the Mets either extend him or attach a QO to him. Pass. No way I give up a pick on a question mark.
We look good in team WAR with our top three and then……Why is there even the least bit of conversion as to whether Shohei is MVP? Does Vlad Jr. pitch too?…..The American League is going to be some good Playoff Games…… Does a long winning streak going into the Playoffs equal still being Hot when that said team arrives at the first game and it’s one and done? Do not know but we will find out won’t we…….The Off Season is arriving sooner rather than later for us again, but hey we are used to it. Not really as you never get used to being losers do you?
Thor, the injury prone Mets pitcher is nothing more than a relief pitcher. Giants will be good still in the playoffs but it remains to be seen as to how good they are without their First Baseman Brandon Belt.
Sucks about Belt. He was raking.
Definitely.
I’m firmly on the Giants bandwagon, btw. Think I’ve mentioned they are my favorite NL/second favorite MLB team before (dad is a fan).
Right on Jeff! Same. I’m a big Giants fan and Halo fan. However, Angels are No. 1.
If both St.L and L.A.D. are going to play a one game Wild Card Game, If Albert can play I would think he is on the roster. On the other side of the coin being that the WCG will be in LA so selling tickets to watch Albert is not in the equation in terms of winning the game.
In that situation, Albert might even start against LHP and definitely gets a pinch-hit chance against LHP.
Pretty safe to assume, his big roided butt will be on the bench.
I will be SOOOOOO happy if the Doyers lose to the Cards in a one game WC because I am a bastard with a heart full of hate. How’d that extra 100M in payroll work out for ya you blue turds?
I would laugh my ass off if the Dodgers lost the WC game.
These are the same people bragging about winning the World Series in a 60-game season. You know the Doyer fans are going to bitch about having to play the WC game in spite of winning 100 plus games. If they don’t like it, win the friggin’ division.
With Pujols grounding into a DP.
I love these one and done games, great theater. I hope Manfreddy does not change this format.
I’ll be so stoked.
I’ll be the first for this off-season.
If I were Perry I would….
Pull a Dipoto and get the heck out of Dodge!!
In all seriousness- while the team seems to be in total disarray, it does create an opportunity for Perry to shine if he is able to pull the right levers for 2022.
I’ve have not heard too much from Perry this season. I don’t think he fills the GM shoes out very well. Perry has a big hand in why we did not make the postseason. No excuses for him.
Sorry, was he supposed to call or email you?
I think some combination of Trout and Rendon’s injuries and Bundy and Quintana not being able to pitch properly had a lot to do with it.
Give him a full off season and a squad healthy for, say, 75% of the season and then we can start putting it on the GM.
We got a chance at the #9 pick. With the Mets set at 11 we sit at 12. We could jump 3 teams with Seattle pushing for the playoffs and if Texas can Texas us. Yeah I know, but i can see us winning 1 or 2 games the rest of the year. Picking 9 or 10 is better than picking 12.
Boston ends the season with Washington.
Boston should win
Yanks end with TB who already clinched and maybe resting guys.
Seattle should miss the playoffs. Hopefully the As can win today.
That would leave us ok to shoot for the #9 pick with Seattle still on the outside looking in.
I’m looking forward to…
Ohtani hitting HRs, getting 2 more RBIs, a Stolen base and end the season with him pitching and getting 1 more win!
And the #9 pick!
The 2 teams we would need to jump end the Season playing last place teams in Minnesota and Arizona.
Mets are ahead of us. Angles need to lose-lose-lose, Let’s get Criswell, Packy and Junk to start in Seattle. Or just use our blowpen for openers.
While Vladdy Jr has slowed down, Shohei has missed a chance. Really hoping he wins the MLB homer title.
Good morning!
Since 2016, and excluding 2020 due to the anomalies with the shortened season, Arte has spent $938,000,000 for *425 losses.
The Angels have spent the most money in MLB per loss since 2016 ($2.2M per loss). The franchise does not have payroll expenditure problem (not spending enough on players), the franchise has a problem WHO it is spending the payroll on.
” * ” includes the 2021 losses to date.
Cheap Arte!!!
You wonder if Arte would still be owner if he hadn’t acquired a very consistent and fruitful farm system when he bought the team. That set him up for nearly a decade of consistency that he really didn’t build.
Arte’s Angels organization fired the wrong people, hired the wrong people and signed the wrong people most of the time. His priorities of marketable stars over cheaper investments like minor league development, scouting etc. is exactly why we suck and teams like the Rays/Jays/A’s do not.
Arte bought the team for something like $175 million – a total steal for a MLB baseball franchise. He is probably up 10x on his investment in 18 years. Now he has the opportunity to build a city. He’s not going anywhere – he’s playing with house money.
I would think Father Time might have something to say about that. I would think he would be at the age where Arte would really start to consider a succession plan, especially with a multi million dollar/multi year development on the horizon. Interesting that none of his children to date are involved with the family business so you would think he would be taking on minority owners that could some day take over the franchise.
Yeah. I have no idea what his “future plans” are, and the silence is a bit weird. But, as I’ve commented in the past, the team is his cash/credit cow. Building Arte Town will be a lot easier, from negotiating with political offices to getting loans and other groups involved with building, if the team is winning and drawing 3M+ people per year. So he’d be smart to spend money to make money right now. If the team goes 10 years with no play off appearances his life gets a lot harder. Who wants to franchise a Cold Stone Creamery near a half empty stadium?
We totally need to build the farm, but I have to ask because it always comes up, which major market owner (or owner in general who isn’t a heel) DOESN’T spend on marketable stars? And if Arte didn’t, if he literally came out and said he’s not gonna sign big contracts with star players, would that actually make any of the people who make this complaint every f***ing week happy?
Like if he came out at the end of next year and said “I am going to spend 100M on building the most state of the art player development and scouting system in baseball. But this means I will not be signing Shohei Ohtani to a long term contract.” would that do it for you guys?
Cause we actually kind of had that period at the end of Weaver’s contract where he wasn’t signing guys and everyone on HH was screaming like they were getting boiled alive all winter.
Your post could have ended after the first 7 words. Everything else was some weird pursuit of a disagreement that we don’t have.
Of course signing stars is not a problem and I’m failing to understand the weird binary “either/or” hypotheticals like investing in development means you can’t retain stars. Plenty of teams do both! It’s actually downright WEIRD to splurge recklessly on free agents but pinch pennies on the cheap stuff.
This isn’t just a story about a bad farm system. It’s about the organization as a whole being extremely poorly run because the guy will never fire or remove his buddies from executive posts that most orgs are forced to hold accountable when performance or regular off-the-field embarrassment or scandal happens.
The problem doesn’t go away because the problem cares more about keeping his buddies around than getting it fixed and on-track. He is willing to roll the dice on wasting Trout and losing Ohtani to keep John Carpino as President and status quo permanent.
Wow. Hey Arte, maybe we should try to develop a farm system? Yah? Yah.
“the franchise has a problem WHO it is spending the payroll on.”
Bigger problem to solve….who is making the decisions on who we spend payroll on.
Arte the “I-10 King of the Desert Billboard’s” has his sticky fingers prints all over the construction of our roster and organization……IMHO.
With that said, you ask any fan base, what is #1 thing you want from your owner? Answer is a willingness to spend on Payroll……..we have that with Arte. Now we have a new GM, all we can do is hope that he gets out of the way and lets Perry build the roster. Pray to the baseball gods that Perry knows what he’s doing and maybe get some luck. Hope Arte will increase the budget and get out of the way, start occupying his time picking out drapes, carpet and subway tile patterns for the bathrooms in the new stadium.
We should also do our part and consider a volcano sacrifice somewhere soon.
Sure. Though I prefer the “send thugs to FA pitchers houses” method.
stay away from this guy……
https://sports.yahoo.com/key-brewers-p-devin-williams-drunkenly-breaks-hand-during-clinch-celebration-expected-to-miss-playoffs-212458101.html
Jim Barr did something like that in 1979, as I recall.
Dodger fan…