The Angels close out 2021 at 77-85. Shohei Ohtani had a gala of a season and will ostensibly be named the AL MVP after the ink dries on the postseason. In what seems to be a follow-up to earlier comments, Ohtani is “very open” to negotiating an extension with the Angels, a statement that may provide a sigh of relief to all Halo fans.
The playoff picture is set, and no additional games will be required. Enjoy (or not) Yankees-Red Sox on Tuesday, with the added bonus of a Statcast broadcast on ESPN2 should you want to avoid the traditional ESPN crew. Cardinals-Dodgers is on Wednesday, so if you do want to see playoff baseball in Southern California, like usual, you can pick up a ticket to Dodger Stadium.
The ALDS starts Thursday and the NLDS starts Friday.
The Angels will be picking 13th in the 2022 MLB Draft. This makes sense, as it’s hard to argue the Halos had a poorer season than anyone ahead of them in the draft. But some of us love misery, so feel free to make arguments in the comments below.
Kyle Seager has been a Mariners mainstay, and although his most famous moment to Angels fans might be the Jered Weaver incident, it will be weird to not see him donning Seattle’s colors. He left the game to standing ovation Sunday.
Ryan Zimmerman also got a warm reception from the Nationals faithful in what was probably his final game. Between he and Alex Avila, who is retiring, it’s always fascinating to see the juxtaposition of a team who is out of contention and is seeing out the season and a team who needs that win.
Enjoy the postseason!
Title Image from Angels Twitter
Canning has a stress fracture in the back and sucked pitching before that. CRod is made of glass. Sandoval also with a back fracture. Scratch 3 off the guarantee list. Barria with arm fatigue. That leaves Detmers (missed time with Covid) Suarez, as your only shoe ins…. They realistically need to sign 3 starters if they want to compete. 2 starters on longer contracts and 1 starter on a one tear deal while the Angels hire a real strength training program to rebuild their young pitchers.
Sounds like we a Marshall Plan to rebuild our pitching.
The fact that, despite your complete dismissal of Sandoval, Barria and Canning as unreliable because of their injuries (5 months out of ST), we have six in house pitchers all under 25 (and not counting Diaz, Naughton, Yan and Junk, who are also all young) which is a great sign. (Ohtani is, of course, amazing, and only 26). We also signed a ton of pitchers, some of whom could help (in the pen, if not the rotation) by next year as well.
Sure, we should sign 2 top starting pitchers, and thus relieve Canning of needing to be the teams #2 or 3 pitcher, and take off pressure from some of the others. But Sandoval nearly had a no-hitter, and Suarez deserves a spot in the rotation after taking huge steps forward in 2021. Things are looking up.
He must have a grade 3 strain. Significant or full tears can require surgery and take between 6 to 9 months to heal. Sounds like a Trout recovery. Thanks for telling us, if you even knew.
Chris Rodriguez, who broke into the big leagues with a 3.64 ERA across 29 2/3 frames on the strength of a massive 54.7% ground-ball rate. Rodriguez, who dealt with a serious of health issues during his time in the minors, landed on the injured list in mid-August due to a lat issue. He didn’t return this year, and Minasian told reporters today that it’s unknown if he’ll be ready for Spring Training as his rehab has progressed rather slowly.
Arte should have bought him better lats. Cheap Arte. Bad Arte. Secret. Evil. Arte.
Well, it worked for Lee Majors. Arte could could buy everyone matching red running suits to train in, might boost team morale.
https://youtu.be/BthNjd_jUl4
Open, Exposed, Meddling, Stingy, Egotistical, Angry, Incompetent Arte.
My man needs to take a “vacation” to Germany.
Unbelievable, the lack of clarity on injuries that comes out of the office is mindboggling. Trout, Redon, Sandy, etc…
CROD missed all of 2108 and 2020 and tossed 9.1 innings in 2019. He makes the jump to the Show from A+ ball. Did we push him too hard? Injuries happen and he does have a violent delivery. That was my take away, maximum effort on each pitch.
I would not count on him going forward. I suspect the reason he made the big club was that he is talented but more than that, Angles were desperate. Thanks Perry.
I just heard from the Angels FO. They are really sorry they haven’t been including you in the day by day health updates on their players and hope that it hasn’t hampered your ability to plan out the org’s future too much.
This year I followed the Reds, Padres and Rays in addition to the Halos. I don’t know if other teams are different, but none of the 4 teams I was watching were any better/different about “clarity” when it came to injured players…. probably because they were talking about unpredictable physical injuries to human bodies.
I don’t know how much we expected out of CRod in 2108 – I am thinking any production we could get (given that he would be 110) would be a bonus.
And seriously, how much more transparent can they have been about Sandoval. Aug 18 he is on the 10-day IL with a (to quote Hoonstra) a left lumbar spine stress reaction, 9 days later they put him on the 60-day (and out for the season), announcing (says Fletcher) that it is a lower back stress fracture. Seems pretty clear to me (and I imagine it takes a few days to confirm a diagnosis, right? How quickly (and accurately) do you hear from your doctors?
I do wish managers would just come out and say “Playerboy is injured. It’s his arm. When a doctor tells us what it is I’ll tell you. I have no idea how long it will take to heal, for all I know he’ll roll out of bed wroung two weeks from now and snap his leg off.”
That is basically what they do say (remembering every time Maddon says anything about an injury), but people want them to provide quick, accurate and detailed medical analysis on the spot.
Even if we could, would we want that out there. Competitive advantage to not knowing who we have in our lineup, who is available, and all of that, right?
Yes, but why is Arte hiding things from us? Is it because Satan?
Both have the same name, Hunter Renfroe also plays WR for the Raiders.
Fletcher moving to SS has been discussed…
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1445125801993650178?s=20
Easier to find a cheaper 2B and focus on pitching I guess…
I personally do not think Fletcher has the ram and range to play upper tier defense. Steady, wont bobble too much but a far, far cry from the SIMBA days.
Giants over White Sox. You heard it here first.
💪 💪
I will not miss this nonsense over the winter.
Because it will keep going?
Because I will be taking most of the winter off after the WS
There will be CBA intrigue and the winter meetings ( which seem to be anti climatic these days) during this winter.
Can we move with no forwarding address ?
I need a break from strong arms.
The caption for this image….
“You too can learn to live with a prolapsed anus!”
Gotta go with the Giants- my niece is a single mom with three baseball mad boys, all Giants fans. They all play Little/Pony league up in Nevada City, hardcore players.
Right on Jim! Go Giants!
Joe West won’t be around making bad calls anymore.
https://sports.yahoo.com/controversial-mlb-umpire-joe-west-to-retire-after-breaking-record-for-most-games-193844024.html
Thank you baseballs gods.
there are plenty of unqualified umps lined up behind him. And behind Hernandez. And Danley. And…
Now MLB just needs to rehabilitate all the umpires that Joe West trained or mentored
I reced yah
Can he take Angel Hernandez with him?
Angel Hernandez has kept his job because of the lawsuit he filed. My son still speaks his name when it comes to bad calls by an umpire, thanks to the wise tutelage of Red Floyd.
That’s it!
No wonder we didn’t win 95 games!!!
Now we can get rid of the other 35 crappy umpires we’ll be fine
A perfect ump wouldn’t have helped Dylan Bundy and Steve Cishek.
I remember everything and hate all teams ever because of some guy and some stuff that happened one time. They need to be called out and blame needs to be laid squarely at their feet.
That’s why I can only bring my sad whiny ass to root for the Catal Huyuk River Yaks who have, sadly, not played any sports at all since 8000BC.
How dare you forget about the Yuan-Shan doping scandal? Importing Taiwanese cannabis to dope your opponent. Disgraceful. I will never forgive Catal Huyuk for such offense!
The Huyuk River Yaks were my favorite team for 30 years until Ahmet Moreno bought the team.
Yeah, everything was going great till other teams started using substances… like iron and shit.
It’s Firing Season…
https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-mets-announce-manager-luis-rojas-wont-be-back-in-2022-192742561.html
Who cares about field manajirs in MLB.
They’re in significant to the sport now.
Unless you have pictures, I don’t understand.
More pictures of gitch?
I’m rooting for the Giants and the Rays. I like the Giants, have a lot of Giants fans family/friends including my dad, and absolutely detest the Dodgers.
But really, anyone in the NL outside of the Dodgers is a decent World Series winner.
I’m not even going to watch the YankSux game. They both suck and I’ll root for Tampa in the AL all day.
Yes, TLR sucks but one man does not outweigh an entire franchise of suck. I’ll root for them over Houston.
So, pretty much just not LA, the YankSux, or the Asterisks and I’m fine.
^THIS^
Rays or Pale Hose
PLUS Dodgers gone ASAP
EQUALS:
Decent Postseason
You both have my hurmph
But we lost to the White Sox in 2005
We have to hate them too. Teams we can root for in this year’s post season.
Milwaukee because we lost to them in the 1982 ALCS..
Yankees just because
Dodgers same
Red Sox same
Astros because they’re way better than us.
TB same…….they still won 100 games after trading away Blake Snell to the Padres and losing Tyler Glasnow to season ending TJS and dominated us…….again.
Which means theyre fans are very thankful that Arte and John aren’t telling their baseball people what to do over there in hurricane country.
Rooting for a another Astros Dodgers WS
They’re the only team good enough on paper to beat them. And BTW I don’t give a damm about 2017 since we were bad back then too.
IF Trout doesn’t miss forty games in 2017 we take that division, maybe play in a freeway series, especially if our catcher hides his signs well.
Ohhhhhhh. Not gonna lie, it would be magical fun to watch the Doyers lose another WS to the Astros….. oh the sweet tears…..
Buster Posey was a hero of mine growing up. All in on the Giants.
Isn’t this year odd?
Breaking the mold this season. Blame it on COVID.
Posey is solid. He’s a Giant God! Responsible for 3 championships. Let’s go Posey!
50th round draft pick for the Angels in 2005. Decided to play for Florida State instead.
Was the right move for him.
Ah, no kidding! Being a Giant fan, was not aware. Of course, 50th round and bypass a chance to go to the Sunshine State and close to the Spring break action obviously won out.
Pulling for Tampa Bay/Milwaukee. MLB will hate the cratered TV ratings, which makes seeing Manfred get pissy worth it.
Right on Jeff! Go Giants! Black and Orange all day long. Bring on the Dongers!
Are we actually going to have a Mayfield / Rengifo / cast of other misfits, platoon at SS next year?
Solve the problem with quantity over quality like we’ve done with the pitching staff……..
Mayfield isn’t good enough defensively at SS to be our go-to-defensive-wizard-safety-valve, is he? The more I saw him, the less I saw the great glove part of his game.
I don’t think Mayfield makes the roster. I think Goose, Rengifo, Baretto, fight it out for the bench spot. We need to sign a short-term, mid-tier replacement at SS – as a bridge to our several prospects at the position.
Mayfield depth at SLC
Goose as bench bat
Rengifo finally gone!
Barretto was never here and won’t be
We should be able to afford a good shortstop. If not Fletch can hold down the fort.
Nope………
Goose’s defense does warrant the utility position plus he’s arbitration eligible. Baretto has no options left and has never hit with any power whatsoever in a lot of MLB at bats. Mayfield on the other hand will have 2 options left so even if he doesn’t make the roster out of ST next year the angels will option him to the great SL. Rengifo still has an option left so the Rengifo rock show will still be touring in 2022
I bet Barreto gets a shot in camp – he has hit well in AAA, is much younger, and under team control (so cheaper and younger than Goose). He would need to stick on the bench – I but I doubt they just cut him loose before ST.
Barreto is exactly the gamble I actually expect a functional GM to take. Most of us sit here and bemoan not being the A’s. We trade eight weeks of a guy we aren’t going to pay to get a guy who was the A’s top prospect for a couple years. Said prospect has not been instantly good. We complain bitterly.
I’m sorry we traded away a beloved scrappy little white guy for him, but we all eventually want to find a Chris Taylor/Max Muncy or what ever. Barreto is exactly the type of frog we’re gonna have to kiss to do that.
So yeah, I assume they will still give him a shot. It’s not like it costs anything or we’re giving him ABs instead of Fernando Tatis Jr.
Said prospect was also quite good in spring training, until the injury.
Injury around here (it seems these days) means one is no longer good at the job (note the ‘cut Rendon(e)’ rhetoric, and did I even see someone suggest we trade Trout because of the calf injury?
We get the team we deserve. I’ve totally read The Gift.
Are you actually asking this question on October 4th? Or are you funnin us?
Today is October 4th, so yes………I’ll put you down for a vote of “don’t know”.
Personally, voting “hell no” to the ridiculous idea of having either of them (no others, yet, capable in our organization) starting opening day next year.
Hoping the extended audition at shortstop after cutting Iggy loose was purely out of desperation and not a serious test run……will need to grab one in a trade again or sign one. Don’t know how reliable it is, but the Angels did say not to long ago they don’t plan on shopping at the “Premium SS Super Store” this off season.
So it might be possible Captain Jack and Ren are going to have a steel cage death match to declare a starter…….no thanks.
Well, you’ll probably have your answer…. in January.
I have an idea but I’m saving it for my Perry piece. somebody mentioned Villar as a cheap stop gap, too.
Tampa is the only choice in the AL. The wild card teams are Boston and New York. Boo!! The White Sox are managed by LaRussa. Boo again. Then there are the Cheaters. So that leaves the Rays by default.
In the NL it’s a pile of I don’t care. Anyone but the Dodgers. And the Brewers. Screw the Brewers!
Agree. The Rays won 100 games in a tough division, they are impressive.
What’s with the Brew Crew hate? I get hating the other ones on the list but Milwaukee seems an odd team to hate.
Lol, fallout from beating us in 1982 among the greybeard contingent is my theory
Brew Crew are sleepers. Burnes and Woodruff can hold teams tight.
Ozzie Guillen was a more likeable guy in Chicago than LaRussa?
there’s that, too. Pure#$%ski
Andy McKay………Mariners 💪
Andy’s at home….😞
So are you with 77 wins in 2021.
Now we know JD was in fact a way better GM than Billy Eppler. Billy Eppler isn’t even in MLB anymore and if JD left the Mariners today he’d have another gig shortly. Can’t help it that we have a sketchy owner and team El Presidente.
Donald Sterling would be proud?
Until proven otherwise, El Presidente is the the #1 reason we suck, in agreement with you there.
Under the circumstances, 77 wins is pretty damn good. Not sure what our roster full of AAA and AAAA means for next year. But, found out we might have some “cheap roster filler” that can hold their own, both position players and pitchers, giving us more cash to bring in the big dogs, or dog.
Eppler was not the answer and he’s gone. Jerry will never be GM with the Angels again………besides, we now have a dude named Perry building the roster. So far, like him better than Billy. But I also liked Billy better than Jerry.
So I guess I’m a “Love the one you’re with” kinda guy.
And now, Jerry is a Baseball Savant building the next super team up north. He’s doing things never seen before in the history of baseball………or, he’s put together a nice roster after a rebuild, that might be good someday…..good luck with that JD.
Kyle Lewis ( 2020 ROY ), Marco Gonzalez both missed a lot of time this year. So yer telling me that Ren-Done and GOAT would’ve have gotten us 93 wins ( same as the White Sox ) how about Dylan Bundy’s awful season, Steve Cishek, the 3 headed no depth monster in RF and LF or 3B? You don’t think those guys had a lot to do with our 6th straight losing season?
Where is Perry gonna get a SS and two frontline starters for 2022……Don’t count on Raisel coming back either, just like K-Rod also didn’t 13 yrs ago.
Arte can probably afford to pick up the tab on him, but Raisel’s gonna want to go somewhere where he thinks he win now. ( Braves, Giants ).
Yeah. I’ve shied away from that particular hotdog GIF.
How will she react when this bad boy drives by her house?
Hot dogs, Armour hot dogs
what kind of kids eat Arour hot dogs?
Fat kids (Trout), skinny kids,
kids that climb on rocks
tough kids, sissy kids
even kids with chicken pox
love hot dogs, Armour hot dogs
the dogs kids love to bite
https://youtu.be/3fQwJdXFQlU
Pennis the Menace.
Go Brewers and go Rays.
Screw the Astros, the Giants, and whichever team comes out of the abomination that is the AL Wild Card game.
I haven’t forgotten 1982, so screw the Brewers as well!
Understandable. I was three months old when that happened, so I don’t carry any bitterness for Harvey’s Wallbangers.
I was in fifth grade and we watched the last few innings of game 5 in class. Cecil Cooper’s two run single still haunts my dreams
Brewers and Red Sox must lose. Never forget 1982 and 1986.
I’ll give the Orioles a pass for 1979, should they ever make the playoffs again.
I think karma has probably punished Baltimore enough by now.
Screw the Brewers, screw Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie!
Go Angels 2022
And Yount, too
Especially Yount! And Gormon Thomas and his beard !!
Years ago, sitting in the right field stands for a Brewers game- two guys yelling at Gorman Thomas- “Hey Gorman! You run like a Winnebago!”
And then he crushed a ball 480 feet without steroids, protein shakes, weight trainers, juiced balls or body armor and strolled slowly around the bases.
I wish I’d seen pre-90s baseball as an older kid.
And screw the Rays!
They have been beating us like a drum recently. I do not want them to win.
Go Cardinals!
As long as the Mariners don’t win…..oh wait, I forgot they didn’t make the playoffs this year. We crapped on their dreams last weekend. Good for us.
I saw an article last night mentioning that the Mariners have extended their longest non-playoff drought in North American sports to 20 years.
Year 6 for the Angels. Hoping it’s the last one for awhile
I remember everything and I want everyone to lose.
BTW, there’s was nothing greater than Jered plunking that a–hole.
Knowing the folklore and urban legend associated with the number 13, I believe it’s entirely appropriate that a professional sports franchise with one of the more disappointing history is drafting 13th.
For the postseason, I’m hoping Cardinals crush The Dodgers, a meteor crushes the The Skankees and BoSux, and The Giants take the trophy.
I’m pro meteor strike.
Ummm. There is a little problem with this scenario.
a meteor of that size would destroy all life on planet earth.
That means US too!
Will 1/250th the size git er done?
Perhaps.
It might still be worth it .
🤣
Rooting for Ji-Man Choi made last year’s playoffs fun to watch. So what former Angels can we cheer for in this year’s post-season tournament?
Albert Pujols LAD
Tommy La Stella SFG
Jose Alvarez SFG
Martin Maldonado HOU
Jason Castro HOU
Zack Greinke HOU
Ji-Man Choi TBR
Hansel Robles BOS
Garrett Richards BOS
Jose Iglesias BOS
Seeing Iglesias do well will just rub salt in our wounds.
I was saying we should try to resign him. I am not in favor of seeing an expensive FA ss since it will cut into our ability to sign all of the top notch pitching (especially Scherzer or Ray and a couple relievers ) we need.
Jose Iglesias (despite his penchant for swinging out of the zone) was more than a passable hitter and is also a solid defensive shortstop, that one bad month of fielding notwithstanding. He would have been a relatively cheap, good option at the position.
Iggy will only be there in spirit. His season is done.
Ah, not on the postseason roster. I forgot that they acquired him too late in the season to include him.
Obviously Bogaerts is the starter but he would have been a good guy to come off the bench as a RH hitter. Very good fastball hitter so should do well against most flame throwing relievers etc..
Perhaps I misunderstand but I think its related to our releasing Iglesias after august 31.
Yeah, that is what I meant when I said the Sox acquired him “too late.”
Oops, poor reading comprehension on my part.
That was a Perry Minasian dick-move on how he treated Jose, he won’t be coming back. 3-days after the deadline, then he released him versus getting off his ass to trade him before the 31st.
I gotta think something else was going on behind the scenes that made PTP make that move.
Perry could only trade him until July 30 after that he had to release him before August 30 as Iggy would have needed a day or so to make a deal before 8/31 midnight deadline . It’s almost like there were some negative actions or discussions that happened right at the end of August early September that triggered Iggy’s release and Rengifo’s promotion
It could have been as easy as PTP telling Iggy they were gonna look at kids at short and Iggy saying he’d rather go to another team and try to showcase if possible even if the post season roster deadline had passed.
I doubt PTP would do this if they intended to bring Iggy back, but it didn’t have to be all sassy and dramatic.
I was talking about the waiver trade deadline but read to find out, the pandemic changed all of this and this year, no more August waiver trade period. It used to be common in August to move players who either got claimed or passed irrevocable waivers.
Guys who aren’t on the 40-man roster can still be traded in August, and there are always traditional waivers off of which you can claim guys who are being designated for assignment But the ability to trade for a decent depth guy or an extra bullpen arm, speedster or the third catcher? All gone now. Mafreddie strikes again.
However, Perry could have just released him 3 days earlier and did the guy a solid.
Or, maybe he couldn’t. Or he could have really done him a solid and offered him a 3 year deal. We have no idea.
Though I’m not sure, sounds like you just read the details, can Iggy be added as an injury replacement? I thought he can, but I could be remembering wrong.
Puljos caused him 3-4 errors alone.
Giants or Rays. I will not root for those other teams.
When I think of SF, I think of Barroids and that stupid “Beat LA” chant. Go anyway who is playing them. Has it occurred to anyone that maybe their magical season is someone roid related.
There are similarities between Giants fans and Mariners fans.
I agree, but I think SF fans are the worst WRT to LA area teams, having lived here for the last 30 or so years.
Tough picking from this years playoff teams.
As for SF – if their season is chemically enhanced, I applaud them for beating the screening process.
Also to be included on the Fallen Angel list should be Tony Watson & Scott Kazmir. Both on the 10 day IL for the Gigantes and Brian Goodwin also on the 10 day IL for the Pale Hose. In addition, Ryan Brazier who got a cup of coffee with us in 2013 is in the Chowds bullpen. Not sure any of these guys will make the playoff rosters though.
Atlanta has a couple of Angel draftees, Sean Newcomb & Will Smith. (not sure if that counts) Newcomb probably won’t make the playoff roster but Smith, who was shipped to the Royals as part of the Alberto Callaspo trade, Is the Braves’ closer.
Might go with Goody with the Pale Hose. But I have trouble forgiving them for 2005.
I’ll go with Tommy La Stella.
Always had a soft spot for Tommy La Stella. Did good in his very brief time here, and who knows what could have been had he not broken his leg on that fouled pitch?!
Maldonado got us Sandoval but I just can’t root for the Astros in any scenario. They and the Red Sox are bottom of the pile for me.
Agree. Maldonado and Castro seem like good guys individually, but they have the stink of that cheater team. Same way that I will never feel fondly for Jose Altuve again, back when he was such an underdog everyone rooted for.
Outside of La Stella, none of them. Go Giants!!!!
Either the Ji-Man or Tommy!
The Pujols contract is finished! Let the bells ring out across the land!
Arte can waste his money on someone new!
He is! This year’s spotlight is on Justin Upton for replacement level production at an enormous salary. lol, but I get you meant new waste of money.
At least that bad contract only lasts one more year.
I’d be happy for replacement level production. He managed to have negative value despite missing a ton of time this year.
I totally am. But there are still many other terrible Arte contracts to suffer through.
It’s good to know one of the Yank-BoSox will be eliminated in one game. One fan base will be cryin. And I will be happy with either one gone.
Now for the NL I’m all in on the dogers being eliminated in one game. I’d even wear a Pujols St. Louis Jersey if I had one. I will be Cardinals fan this Wednesday!