What a difference a couple of wins in Fenway make. Tuesday night we were despondent, losers of 3 of 4 with not a run scored in any of those losses. A couple of huge late innings in bahstun and we wrap up a 4-3 road trip with some momentum.
Jared Walsh was the catalyst in reversing the tides. One thing I love about this team is that on any given night multiple guys are capable of carrying the offense.
The Angels didn’t need much offense yesterday thanks to the brilliance of Shohei Ohtani. His start in Fenway elicited more comparisons to The Babe and was simply dominant. 7 innings. 0 runs allowed, 11 K’s, 2 for 4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored.
Read those again. Either would make for a good day. He did both.
Last week I highlighted a couple of pitchers down on the farm. This week the Angels did us all a favor and compiled a list of how all the 2021 draftees are doing. That is a must read link.
Pretty darned good, right? My prospect crush on Luke Murphy is still in full force, but look at that delivery by Eric Torres.
If those two are anything in MLB like they’ve been so far in MiLB our bullpen of 2023 will be frightening.
Jo Adell sat with Fangraphs and did a breakdown of his hitting mechanics. I found this very interesting. Jo is bright and personable and that shows in this interview.
Is it just me or has the umpiring been especially awful this season? It got worse when an umpire on a power trip looked for and found a reason to toss Madison Bumgarner. I understand many unions do a lot of good for a lot of people, but the umpire’s union is both hurting the game and championing its own demise.
I mentioned this last week and there is still talk about the baseballs being used. Home runs are down and here’s a look at why the new ball is the reason.
Much to the chagrin of the East Coast writers, the Yankees finally lost a game.
A couple of weeks ago Rahul and I were hosted in a suite by the Angels along with some other writers from various sites. One really cool guy there owns a site called theshorteststop and I recommend giving him a follow. I’ll be posting his stuff here.
Continuing plugging for friends, Vic’s clothing line came out with a really cool Ohtani shirt you might want to check out. We’ll probably do a contest and give one away.
Kelsie Whitmore became the first woman to pitch in an Atlantic League game. She scored a 4 pitch strikeout of former MLB’er Ryan Jackson.
Witness history here:
I love seeing the women coaches and players. I have three sisters. One really likes baseball, one watches it a bit, and one couldn’t care less. Had these ladies been playing and coaching when we were kids perhaps a die hard fan or two emerges. Maybe a ballplayer.
The Halos’ 2021 draft is indeed looking nice, and it’s not just the xFIPs and ERAs… it’s the fact that seven of the 20 draftees are putting up those numbers in AA, which is crazy. Most of the college pitchers taken in the first round by other teams haven’t advanced past A+ yet – in fact, only three have, and one is Bachman (0ERs in three innings in his debut yesterday.) So essentially we have a bunch of low-round guys (and high-round guys) outpitching most first- and second-round prospects, including two – Brett Kerry (38K in 25 innings, sub-1 WHIP) and Chase Sileth (1.73 ERA) – who looks suspiciously like elite prospects, based on their age, stats and tools. Here’s a MLB draft/stat site to geek out on if you have a moment to kill (https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/draft-statistics). It’s fucking exciting.
Cool to see her pitch. Catcher and second baseman on my little league team (early 80s) were both girls. One went on to play softball at SDSU.
I’ll share this while waiting, my brother’s grandson came home today from school back East, had to share with him about Ohtani’s pitching performance. Everyone in his class were sharing the news. He is in the 6th grade, funny stuff.
Interesting trio pre-game crew, I like it for now. French is always professional, though having Gubi on is always the best.
Diaz gets the start. I thought it would be Barria or Hergert.
But, I’m good with this.
Imagine if Diaz, or Junk, or Daniels can come through. It would be huge.
It looks like Thor, Sho, Lorenzen, and Sandy make up a pretty good starting 4.
Detmers just outside on the fringes.
Last year, I liked both Junk and Diaz down the stretch.
If one of them can contribute, that’s makes a pretty competitive rotation to make every game going forward competitive.
I really like this team. I didn’t see it at the start of the season. But, this team has grit. That’s the most we can ask for…
Rookie going tonight, will be tough but, we will win.
Anyone want 2 club level tickets to the game tonight? I have 2 I can’t use at the moment.
Awesome gesture. I hope someone can use them. 🤘
NIce….! Great gesture….!
Maddon has LH Jhonathan Diaz as our SP tonight.
https://twitter.com/IanMBrowne/status/1522676644334419969?s=20&t=HxezTs6-9PWICfDuO2-f1w
Shoe Heeee!!
After saying that, he pulled out his Apple watch and banged it against a trash can.
PLEASE do not baltimore this series against Nats. That is all!
Angels didn’t have an off day, hope that helps.
VERY good point. This team is gonna be a blast to watch in October….YES, i typed that.
I think they carry the high of the last 2 w’s into this series and sweep
New starter alert:
https://twitter.com/samblum3/status/1522700245179633664?s=21&t=f0r6lUKLNyMlxZSTLnCnzw
I thought so. PTP specifically mentioned Diaz during spring training and he’s still on the 40 man. His best performance was his last start on 4/28 where he pitched 8 scoreless giving up 1 hit while striking out 7.
Can’t wait to have the Mr. T starter kit back in Anaheim.
“I pity the fool!”
— Jhonathan
There were too many early games on that road trip.
Makes you thankful for the evening home games.
Anybody got tonight’s lineup and starting pitcher?
Nothin yet
Thank you…is it me or is Joe slow at posting lineups?
Seems like the opposing lineup is always posted first.
Maybe since I rely on MLB Lameday I’m actually late.
The beat guys usually have it earlier, but I don’t see it yet.
Not sure how it compares to other teams.
The Nationals starter is known. For the Angels, it is just TBD. I suspect another bullpen game is incoming.
Joan – yes, i’ve known a few Joans over my life
Known Joan. Probably not as spooky as Large Marge.
I’m betting the J is pronounced H.
There’s a diphthong in there too. It’s probably “ho-WAN”
I use this site. It usually has the lineup as soon as it’s available. Nothing yet, but it says Barrie is starting.
https://www.baseballpress.com/lineups/2022-05-06
The pole dancer?
😂 with any luck.
Thank You!!! I’m giving that site it’s own tab
The Pole Dancers?
Me too.
Says Jhonathan Diaz now
Yep.
Nope but at least the Angels AA affliate is taking care of business. https://twitter.com/trashpandas/status/1522655388256059398
Nice.
…..chances are he’ll go far
he’s in with the right bunch of fellows.

This makes me moist. Mostly because it’ll piss Astros fans off.
Diaz has a locker, so supposedly he might start, or see some innings
The Athletic highlighted 12 hitters this year that are hitting the ball well but getting bad results. Our very own Tony Two Bags made the list.
https://theathletic.com/3296301/2022/05/06/twelve-mlb-hitters-including-gavin-lux-and-christian-yelich-doing-things-right-but-getting-the-wrong-results/
BTW happy Pujols Release day!
Maybe because there is so much more accessible video, stats and social media than before, but the umpiring does seem to be worse this year than past seasons.
I have a theory that MLB is intentionally trying to tacitly promote bad ball/strike calls so that they can build fan support behind Robo umps right away.
they just need to take the k zone off of tv every pitch
Why? I need a reason to constantly yell at my widescreen.
haha it gets so frustrating to watch close pitches both ways
Not just balls and strikes, not having a great year on the bases either.
Plus the review process has always been bad and should be under its own review, makes it worse half the time.
Who reviews the reviewers?
Qui recognitores recenset?
Now there the problem, the reviewers reviewer’s are from Montreal and Covid restrictions were in effect.
Yes but I actually like the human element on the bases compared to some automated alternative. I would hate to give that up and I think, amazingly, they get it right more often than not. Well, except if you’re Sean Barber. That poor dude will be forever memorialized in the Umpire hall of infamy.
Angel Hernandez is suing you because you didn’t mention him for the HoI
One change on the bases, umps should be required to emulate Ken Kaiser’s out call…..
What upsets all of us is making judgements based on a fixed box that is thought to be accurate. Sometimes that box is very wrongly placed. Some batter’s get the TV box zones above the knees, some way below. It is impossible to know exactly how good that zone is because it is not a straight shot into the zone because the pitcher is in the way. Robo Umpires may never work any better than the live Blue.
I would not rule out that theory Cowboy. As they say “the truth is stranger than fiction.”
Walsh could’ve been called up years before he was, but sosh and a soft gm allowed a better player to stay in the minors. Crazy.
years? lets not get crazy. he had a solid 2018 and ’19 and then was called up. seems like the timing was pretty spot on
His minor league numbers show otherwise. Atleast 2 years he sat in the minors raking while pujols sucked.
Source?
You need a link to walsh’s minor league numbers?
in 2018 he played well and was at three different levels… in ’19 he played 50 or so games and go called up.. this is pretty normal progression for a minor league guy.
He played well in the minors before 2018.
there’s playing well, and playing well enough to get called up. was he supposed to get called up in 2016 straight from A ball after having a whopping 7 homers?
If pujols wasn’t here, he gets the opportunity 2 years prior. The angels held onto him for a reason.
so just to confirm.. you wanted a guy 1 year out of college and playing A ball to jump straight to the big leagues?
The guy hit 11 hr in 90 games in 2017, 29 hr in 2018 and 36 hr in 2019. His raw power 65/65 was known from the beginning.
My only curiosity is what you expected the club to do with Pujols during those years if they actually did call up Walsh permanently.
Release him like perry did. There was no reason for a downer player to be on the team no matter what money he was owed. No speed, lousy fieldinf, double play machine. Yeah, he should’ve been released in 2017.
I should have scrolled to the end of the discussion. I’m with fish. Walsh wasn’t ready for AA in 2017, the numbers prove it. In 2018 he moved quickly through the ranks to AAA. No need to rush him with a September call up in a losing season.
He got his shot in May 2019 and failed. He got another shot at the end of 2019 and failed again. He got his third shot in 2020 and earned a spot.
C’mon man. You watched the games. He would play 1 or 2 games, sit a few, play 1 or 2 more, and sit. He never got consistent playing time until pujols was released.
I don’t agree he should have been called up in 2018. Yes, his numbers were good enough for it, but not so good that they needed to call him up.
I do agree he should have gotten more of a steady chance in May 2019. He didn’t really get a chance until the last 2 weeks of 2019. But it is important to note when he did finally get those 2 weeks of consistent 1B starts, he wasn’t very good.
edit: Not only did I see the games, I remember seeing Walsh, Thaiss and Ward at a AAA game in early 2019 and thinking Walsh looked to be the best of them. (Although Ward might have something to say about that this year).
Would never have happened, releasing Albert at that point. First, he had close ties to Trout, who rumor has it was even consulted of the Albert release in’21. Second, his buyout of the back end of the 10, 1 mil per would have not taken place. Third, Moreno would never have approved the release earlier because he would not have been ready to accept that he screwed up on making that deal with Albert is the first place. Fourth, Eppler did not pull enough weight to pull it off, much less even thought of it.
Walsh has turned out to be a blessing, developed on time with the bat, a little less so with being a pitcher which is where the Angels were hoping he’d be another 2 way player. In the end it has all worked out.
Moreno would allow it now, but not in the past? Soft GM’s are of the past and never had control like perry seems to have now. The real test will be rendon in the next 3 seasons.
that didn’t answer the question though. he should have been called up in 2016?
I feel like this is Walsh’s burner or his college buddy or something, the logic just does not make any sense.
2017. 2 years in the minors is plenty when he raked and did the same in college. Convince me otherwise that pujols didn’t hold him back.
It’s pretty standard for teams to have players prove themselves at each level moving up. In 2016 Walsh hit pretty well in low A ball and earned a promotion to high A in 2017. He hit well in 2017 at high A and then was promoted to AA where he struggled. He started 2018 where he hit well, got promoted to AA where he hit well and was promoted again to AAA where he still hit well. He raked at AAA in 2019 and was given some chances in the majors. At the time, he was still trying to pitch a little too. I have a ton of complaints about the Angels, but they basically handled Jared Walsh well. He wasn’t held back by any significant period of time.
In 2018, Walsh wasn’t even next in line for 1B. When he joined the Bees they moved him to almost exclusively OF because Thaiss was next in line for 1B and Ward was playing 3B.
Don’t let things like facts and reality get in the way of a solid bitch.
All of this Is reason #1,489 why we should have never signed Albert in the first place.
Not bitching. I believe walsh would’ve been a more productive player for the angels over pujols if he was called up 2 years prior.
He came up as a 1st baseman and played there when he was here. You don’t think he would’ve been more productive than albert pujols?
He came up as a 1B because things changed. In 2018 Ward was given a shot at 3B. In early 2019 the team gave up on Ward at 3B and decided to try Ward at OF. They shifted Thaiss from 1B to 3B and Walsh to primarily 1B.
So when Ward was actually called up he was in line for 1B, but pre-2019 if Pujols was blocking anyone it was Thaiss.
Thaiss never had the minor league numbers walsh had, how was he blocking him if they each can play multiple positions?
convince me that Walsh would have been good at the major league level in 2017
I know jared would’ve been more productive than a -1.4 war over the course of a year.
Sure, but if Walsh spends the season getting .1 WAR in the MLB he might not ever became the player he is today because of lost development. You don’t sacrifice long-term development of a player just to get rid of an overpaid veteran in season with low playoff prospects.
That’s exactly what the angels did this season with their outfield. Sometimes moves need to be made regardless of contract or ties to the owner. In 2017 pujols should’ve been replaced and in 2018 should’ve never got that many ABs.
the difference is the outfielders waiting after upton have played in the upper minors. walsh was in A ball
Yup. Happens often with college players.
He came up in 2019, mostly as a pitcher.
Not a very good one either. Glad it’s working out for him though. Now if only we could get Packy Naughton to be a good SS!!!!
Naughton is in the Cardinals organization now. He can play all the SS he wants and it won’t do the Angels any good.
He came up as a hitter dumbass. Just Go look at 2019 game logs. he has pitched in 5 MLB games. All of which were blowouts where provided much needed mop up duty. His pitching was a novelty until he hurt his arm.
uh oh evrybody’s nott az smarht as yoo ugahn.  😆 
Walshy was mediocre at Low A Burlington in 2016. Thats like centuries away from the Show .
In 2017 he finally broke out High A San Berdoo only to fail miserably at AA.
It would have been a disaster to promote at the majors any sooner than they did. I believe Walsh needed everyone of those 1,952 Minor league plate appearances and initial 125+ MLB plate appearances to develop into the player he is today. Now his desire to be a two way player might have retarded his development, but claiming that the Angels suppressed his Major League development because of Grandpa Pujols is a total fantasy.
What do you consider failing? He hit 325 in 2015 and 290 in 2016.
Batting .290 is mediocre huh? You must have high standards for minor leaguers
.290 with a .769 OPS for a 22 year old in low A is fine, but far from great.
Its mediocre and probably was midwest league average for a 22 year old in 2016. The Angels rewarded him with a promotion to high Class A the following season which was probably deserved. But according to The IE’s twisted logic, the Angels should have immediately fitted him with a locker at Gene Autry Way.
I said he was mediocre in 2016. I didn’t talk about 2015. In 2015 Walsh was a 21 year old just out of college playing most of his first season in the Angels Developmental league. he had an OPS of .978 . Having played 4 years in college he SHOULD have an OPS of .978 in a Minor league rookie league. The Angels placed him in the Low A midwest league the following year and his OPS dropped all the way down to .76p . At 22 years old (5 months older than the league average) That is the very definition of mediocre. Now explain to me again how he was jobbed?
I never said he should’ve been called up in 2015. I said 2017 and I also said in my original comment he would’ve been a more productive player than pujols.
There was absolutely nothing that he did leading up to and including his 2017 minor league season that warranted a callup to the bigs. NOTHING.
But if a frog had wings…..
Don’t argue with a nerdy internet TUFF GUY. Probably knows who both of Jered Walsh’s great grandmother’s maiden names were and birthplaces too. This fool values BS info and data like no other.
In 2017? You mean the year the Angels signed Luis Valbuena precisely because Walsh wasn’t ready? Nah, if Pujols wasn’t here, the Angels don’t DFA Valbuena.
He was hitting .311 in 2017. I don’t see your point, man. Valbuena was never going to replace pujols.
My point is Pujols isn’t the whole reason Walsh didn’t get a call up earlier. If Pujols wasn’t around, the Angels would have signed some other washed up veteran (for a lot less) to fill 1B while they were trying to figure out what to do there.
In fact, now that I think about it. Walsh was playing mostly OF in AAA, not 1B.
Was Walsh .300 hitting in College? How about for his high team? I betcha he hit over .300 in Georgia American Little League.
You do understand that every level of organized baseball represents a much harder level of competition right? Or do we need to draw you a picture.
He got better at every level when he got consistent AB’s. He did hit over .300 his last year in college as well.
How about American Legion?
How about the French Foreign Legion?
So why did he slip so low in the draft then? BTW who was his paternal great grandma? The master of the BS data universe.
If Pujols wasn’t owed 80M and we were the Pirates Walsh would have been up in 2016. Maybe.
I mean, the pirates had a better record that year, lol.
Um, Walsh reached AAA in 2018. The Angels brought him up in May 2019 and he sucked, so they sent him back down in June. They brought him back up in August 2019, and he was even worse.
It’s a reasonable argument they should have given him more regular playing time during his stints on the team in 2019, but based on what actually happened, it looks like Walsh wasn’t MLB ready until 2020.
Thats been the issue for never getting consistent playing time. Even when he was called up, he split games with pujols. There was never consistent opportunity because of that anchor at 1st
Based on your thoughts, conservatively, say he’s brought up in 2018 and Pujols is released.
Albert would have been owed 114 million bones. There is just no way the Angels, or probably ANY team, would have done that. Not even the Mets are that stupid (anymore).
Perry wasn’t the gm. If he was pujols would’ve been gone at that time as well. Sunken cost is worth it if the production is there. Walsh/ward replacing upton is a perfect example.
I agree with avoiding sunk cost fallacy. I’m saying it wouldn’t have happened, in Anaheim or if he was with any other franchise.
Even with perry releasing jup and pujols, you don’t think he would’ve done it 2 years prior with pujols? The angels were already 6 years into his contract and he was only declining.
Releasing someone in their last year and releasing someone with 4 years left (we’re talking a Walsh 2018 call up right??) != the same thing.
No I don’t think Perry would have been given that kind of latitude.
I don’t. It’s not a pure sunk cost. Keeping Pujols costs $0. Releasing Pujols costs extra because you have to bump up his replacement to MLB minimum.
You don’t release the overpaid veteran until you think you have a shot at the playoffs. If Trout doesn’t get injured a week after Pujols was released, maybe the Angels are competitive enough at the break to justify making a move for the wildcard race.
Not to pick on you AAF, you’re just the last comment in this line.
At this point the “If Perry were GM in 2016 he would have released Pujols, eaten 100M, and Walsh would have crushed the MLB!” argument has reached the same point as when 2 16 year olds argue about whether or not Superman can father children or will he blow a hole in the woman when he blows his load.
At some point you just have to stop trying to mix stupid and smart.
He released $61 million in a matter of one year. My comment isn’t that far of a reach going by what I’ve seen him do. Thanks for the condescending comments though.
Of all the hills to die on, “Jared Walsh should have been up in 2016” is the weirdest one I’ve seen in some time.
This thread needs to die. Even if we all agreed with you, it doesn’t matter anymore.
Don’t misquote me. I said 2017. I also said jared would’ve been a more productive player then the -1.4 war and 29 gidp pujols provided that year. No hill to die on there.
His numbers prior to 2019 were good enough for a call up and never got it. Especially with a shit pujols, didn’t even get an opportunity before then.
Probably too late for this argument. However, Every day that he sits this year is a wasted opportunity. Duffy is a good bench piece but should never be a reason to sit Jared!
I agree, but it looks like maddon loves his rest days, even for players in their prime years.
You do know that they waited on him to develope as a pitcher first. That ended and they put him full time at First and that idea was to wait for Albert to be gone so he was held back.
I remember him being drafted as a 2 way player. He had lots of games as a 1st baseman in the minors, though. I’ll have to look up how his pitching was, something I forgot about. Thanks.
Probably not. Walsh made a steady progression before his big break out year in 2019 in AAA. Soth left the Angels in 2018 while Walsh was making significant strides in Advanced A ball, AA and finally a promotion to AAA. https://www.milb.com/app-firstpitch/player/jared-walsh-665120
Note sure that he could have made the jump from Advanced A ball to the MLB in Soth’s last year. That would be a tough leap.
His minor league numbers are all there though. He should’ve received an opportunity to outperform pujols and never.
We really need a thumbs down option for Tooty two
He’s like Hastur the Unspeakable… You mention his name, and … BAM! There he is.
3-1
why not post the 32 other non Angels with 3 or more wins? heck, 25 of them have better ERA than Webb too.
Since you seem to be a big Giants fan;
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/
Breaking News!!
Video of 2002heaven and his family obtained!
So why didn’t you post his picture in 2019/2020 when he was 5-7 5.36 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP ???
Dude you need find something useful to do with your life instead of posting this deceptive worthless crap
He cold join in on the conversation and discuss positive things about this team while they’re playing well. But instead he just lusts after random players on other teams as if he’s making a point that other teams have some good players. Troll is gonna troll.
Great links! Thanks for dropping the twitter info.