This guy stole home a little more successfully than that guy from Tuesday’s links. He kind of stumbled his way in on a bear crawl.
The Angels selected Cesar Valdez on Tuesday. He was underwhelming so far. In positive news, Ky Bush and Sam Bachman pitched well recently. Several sites think the Angels are more likely than not to make the playoffs. This presupposes that the Angels aren’t about to reel off a huge losing streak of some sort. They are getting ready to crash headlong into the Blue Jays and Yankees. Can they spoil the Yankees out of this? Let’s hope they can knock the Yankees down a couple of pegs!
We had some more Basebrawl in Chicago on Tuesday. Meanwhile the Astros hit five homers in the same inning in Boston. It’s nice to see the Red Sox get beat up. Too bad the Astros did it.
David Price is back from the COVID-19 injured list. Meanwhile Jason Heyward went on to the COVID-19 injured list.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Next up for Trout on the all time Career BRef WAR list is Joe DiMaggio.
I see Joe did it in 13 years. Trout is at 12.
It gives me a new appreciation for Joltin Joe’s career because I’ve seen how quickly and dominantly MNT has done it.
DiMaggio is an American icon and likely Mike passes him at #66 by the end of May. He already passed Brooks Robinson (23 seasons) this month.
A good year puts him in the Top 50 by the end of 2022.
Don’t forget, however, that Trout has missed the equivalent of 2 full seasons in games. So Trout is where he is at the equivalent of playing 10 seasons.
Yes, to put that into perspective, Trout has 1800+ fewer plate appearances than DiMaggio.
That’s insane – essentially 3 seasons. He could legitimately have another 30 WAR AND 100 homeruns.
It should be a fun ride!
Win the World Series or end the season below .500, either way I still hope Arte sells.
I thought it was a new rule requiring all minor leaguers to receive housing in 2022?
So Arte just decided, no……..I won’t.
Maybe that’s spring training housing? I know until Covid the Angels, like most other teams, used host family housing for a lot of lower minors guys… I don’t know if that’s still a problem. I asked an MiLB player about it, he said hosts are pretty standard unless you got a bonus that was “a couple years salary at a normal job” but that 2020-21 that got all messed up.
I asked about the guys in that “clutch your pearls, young ball players are starving” article from a while back, he said that guy, and the others in it, were mostly scrubs who would have been hosted by families but got screwed in the Covid shuffle. I guess a lot of low minors teams also have local landlords they have relationships with that they rent houses from and they move players in and out as rosters change…
Maybe this is last year and now they’re required to provide housing…. or they have X amount of time to get housing together this year?
All I know is it’s not that hard to buy a few motels/apartment buildings, it’s not even a bad investment, and it’s not like Arte’s got to get each player a master bed/bath.
Cincinnati Rojos claimed him off waivers in 2019. SF Gigantes signed him on a 1yr deal for $9M in 2020 then another in 2021 and well now, THE OLIGARCH won’t touch him because he’s very good and expensive now.
Working on my Espanol……stay tuned!!!
Who Photoshopped a Blue Jays uni onto that strip club bartender?
Team D&G or Team EOTW (end of the world) were all spot on: Texas goes up 1-0 in top of 1st over Astros. Immediately Astros take a 2-1 lead. Definitely, we’re a terrible team just because of this.
Both doing better than D cell thus far…….all 3 make basically the same amount.
But those 2 guyz close for Max Fried and Walker Buehler not Michael Lorenzen
💪 💪 💪 👈 BYE!!!!!!
Hello. This is a vinegaroon. I am scared of these bugs. This scary bug has as much to do with anything as your headshots. It’s also cooler in a death machine kind of way.
Braden Olthoff, pitching well, not a Jerry pick.
https://www.milb.com/player/braden-olthoff-687467
🎩 👓 👢 👇 🤘
Your emoji game…. very multi-facetted.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-19/fbi-probe-mayor-unelected-people-run-anaheim-angel-stadium
More on the investigation.
Sh…should we tell them it’s Disney? I mean, they know that, right? They must know.
Specifically, its the lobbyist that controls where Disney’s and the Angel’s campaign contributions go.
Ah yes. Heyward and Price. If Arte really cared about winning he’d have signed them.
Remember that classic from bitchings gone by?
8 for $54 million a year combined between the 2….Cheap Arte was correct this time!
👊 🎩 👅 👇 👖
2002heaven is apparently very contagious.
Everyone put your masks back on.
Except this guy knows how to re-size the images appropriately.
With everything that went wrong, it still comes down to if Raisal performed, the team picks up a couple of wins.
He’s a mediocre pitcher at best
So when Iglesias turns it around, you’ll eat crow? Dude should be fine. The top relievers have had stretches in the past and it will keep happening. That’s baseball. Relax
Agreed. Even the best pitchers give up home runs. Raisel might give up 1-2 more than usual this year and have his worst season ever, and he’ll still be among the elite closers.
A 4.60 ERA is not good for a reliever.
No, it isn’t. But there is no reason to believe his ERA will stay that high when it is considerably higher than his xERA and career FIP.
I mean, it doesn’t even matter really at this point, this is the horse we’ve put our money on. Ride or die! Jk, I bet he turns it around pretty quick.
No, because he’ll finally just be doing what they’re paying him millions of dollars to do.
We totally should have signed Mark Melancon
3-4 becomes 5-2. Then there’s Tep. And Thor. A day off is good, home games are good.
Yah. The team just looked like it was at the end of it’s resources in this series. A little rest will do em good.
Is mayers dfa’d yet? This guy sucks in mop up duty and cluch spots. MOVE ON, perry.
Having an unreliable bullpen sure makes Maddon look dumber. Walsh not hitting cleanup is still is one of those mysteries of the universe. Walsh has more RBIs than Mike Trout even with the platooning. Still wondering if Maddon knows the difference between Walsh, Ward, and Wade. Finally, Rengifo still playing in a major league lineup? WTF.
I think a lot of the batting order has to do with matchups. It is typical for managers to alternate right handed and left handed hitters; so other than Ward followed by Trout you’d have:
Trout RH
Ohtani LH
Rendon RH
Walsh LH
But I do get what you are saying ; Walsh makes more sense at cleanup than Rendon.
I get that.
This is my line up if we’re going right, left, right, left
Ward
Ohtani
Trout
Walsh
I’m too GA to have looked, but sometimes the platoon splits don’t reveal that big of a split anyway. I know Maddon has concerns about Walsh against lefties, but I’d put the other three up against anyone at any time. I believe it’s better to have Walsh hitting after the big three.
And please, Marsh instead of Wade or Mayfield in LF
Always, without exception.
And never Rengifo, always use someone else at those positions.
See my post above,
Ward
Ohtani
Trout
Rendon
Walsh
would be better. I haven’t looked closely at Ohtani, maybe Trout/Walsh/Rendon/Ohtani would be even better, but I think Ohtani likes to be near the top of the order.
Yeah, I don’t have a problem with this lineup you created, especially since it keeps Ward and his high BA at the top of the order. The one thing I will say, is that ironically the 5 spot is often the more pivotal spot for batting order, especially in the 1st inning. Just think, a typical scenario would be two outs and two runners on. In that case the 5 hitter (not the cleanup) would be responsible for coming up with the big hit to drive a run in for the 1st.
I realize one could say that the same hitter could do it batting 4th, but I simply want to widen/broaden the discussion a bit. Things are not always so obvious and straightforward. When I argued against batting Rendon Cleanup it was more about the fact I felt he should not be assigned with protecting either Ohtani or Trout than it was him hitting 4th.
Why not? If you walk Trout or Ohtani a double from Rendon is just as likely to drive them in with a double as Ward is with a double or HR, but Rendon is harder to strike out to end the inning, which means the opposing team has to get through two batters instead of just one.
Fun but flawed, experiment. Assuming current AVG and OBP are accurate probabilities,
the chance of a Rendon hit OR Rendon walk + Walsh hit = 26.1%
the chance of a Walsh hit OR Walsh walk + Rendon hit = 26.2%
Stats like RBI depend heavily on how often someone is on base. These players have driven in:
Trout: 13/81 baserunners (16.1%); .217/.400/.435 RISP; .300/.426/.620 Men on;
Rendon: 16/91 (17.6%) baserunners; .241/.400/.345 RISP; .316/.406/.544 Men on;
Walsh: 18/97 (18.6%) baserunners; .317/.404/.634 RISP; .269/.329/.537 Men on;
All 3 players are about equal with runners on base. Walsh is doing better at driving in runs when they are in scoring position, but Trout and Rendon are doing better with runners on first.
Overall, Rendon is better at drawing walks and Walsh hits harder. I’d say Rendon walks/Walsh hits HR is better than Walsh hits HR/Rendon walks, so I support the current batting order between those 3.
Way to use bullshit numbers and facts and stuff to form an opinion. You should have just argued that Walsh shouldn’t bat clean up because he doesn’t smile enough, which means he doesn’t handle adversity well, which means he lacks grit, which means he’s a cancer.
And in other cancer news, Rengifo’s got an OPS over .700 with one bullshit error on the season so far…. thus he’s still in an MLB line up.
On the other hand he’s not a scrappy white guy and his facial hair is stupid instead of grizzled. So maybe he should go.
What do you mean those are bullshit num … oh, didn’t notice who was posting at first. Nevermind, I’ll go back and read the rest now.
Dont fall into the chasm!
Close call, but I spotted the ledge just before stepping off.
Angels bullpen is now ranked #26 in fWAR, #27 IN FIP, #6 in blown saves. And we expected the bullpen to be better 🙁
Oh there you are bullpen… I remember you. 😱
It was for awhile at least
Thats the problem, we don’t have a bullpen, we have a broken arm farm
some guys are out and we could see some recent draftees get called up soon. I kept thinking, the Angels need to be tested in close games. If they Velasquez can hit above Mendoza line, he won’t be an auto out. Overall, this team has exceeded expectations and have some youth who could show up.
Sam Bachman (Turner Overdrive) raise the Red & White Maple leaf PLZ, will possibly make his debut before Labor Day.
BTW some songs when we win (Taking Care Of Business, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet!).
What a difference one month makes.
No Stassi I might add. He mysteriously disappeared for 10 days.
Rangers are 11-5 over their last 16 (8-5 before starting that series), so it looks like the Angels caught them in their hot streak.
I really hate those guys.
Pitching failed the team this series, both starting and the bullpen. The team held leads in all of the games, both early and late.
Rengifo sometimes reminds me of Aybar – the bad Aybar, the 10-cent head Aybar.
Schedule gets pretty rough for basically the next full month. I’d like to think that focuses the team more and we do better than some fear we might.
Ah but this year is different-
This year, we are the danger. We are the one who knocks.
https://youtu.be/Ca3kPemW2CE
Mayor Pro Tem of Anaheim is saying there is no way the stadium deal with Arte Moreno’s development co. is going through. New Stadium, maybe not going to be any time soon.
I’m not sure it even seems like bad news at this point.
I liked the idea of a *new* stadium but part of me felt like they were going to end up just chopping up the outfield and putting more bumper stickers on the walls of the Big A like they always do. Only it would come with a hugely congested and unenjoyable parking experience.
I have 2 very small kids. I don’t feel like having their entire childhood spent going to a construction site so they can see more office buildings and hotels.
I would love the deal to fall apart. It might incent Moreno to sell?
Nashville here we come. Or San Antonio. Or Santa Clarita.
All the same to me.
Yay! New uniforms!
I can’t find any actual info on this. So did Arte bribe people?
There was an LA Times article. The FBI is investigating the mayor for soliciting bribes in the form of campaign contributions from the Angels. It mentioned there is currently no evidence the Angels didn’t anything wrong.
yet…..
Not a LAT subscriber……anything new here? Saw the headline had ‘cabal’ and of course assumed Arte MUST be involved.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-19/fbi-probe-mayor-unelected-people-run-anaheim-angel-stadium
YES! The empire of Christian strpper loving billboard salesmen cabal members has grown!
COBRA!
Info could be coming, or the new probe it will take years, who the F knows. Shake down still might be in effect too. They may have forgot to grease some palms last go round. But we know crime bosses don’t have their finger prints on this shit..Arte would have delegated that to his underboss’s and consiglieri’s.
The saddest part of this, is the shame involved. Imagine, for the first time in American history, a scandal involving a land deal with politicians and a business owner/developers. And of course Evil Arte and the Angels are in the center of it.
trAdition
Serious question: if the FBI finds no wrong-doing, isn’t there a signed deal in place?
Serious question. Does Anaheim want a baseball team or not? The deal can happen as is no matter what. Obviously some “interest” did not receive “justice” and now needs to “protect” the public from the government wasting money on sweethearts. If the city decides they want to come back at Arte with a bigger ask I’d look for him to leave the Heim.
There’s a lot of cheap land in North Dallas…. LAA Angels = The Dallas Bulls, National League Team in USA’s 4 biggest market….. soon to be third if people keep leaving Chicago.
Sweep by the Texas Rangers was really impressive baseball. That was the series from hell, as we should have used the broom, not the Rangers. If not the broom, then we should have won the series at least. Bad outcome all around.
Renny is building up his trade value, I hope. This Rengifo is about the dumbest player I have seen in decades. He finds new way every night to implode. In the field he is a walking disaster and I just hope that the ball is not hit his way on every pitch. I would rather play against him. What are Joe and Perry hoping to find in him, a decent player perhaps? Not going to happen. Trade him for cash considerations.
Not true about Rengifo. The not smartest player at least last year was Will Craig, ex of the Pirates(see Javy Baez) and he was a first rounder
Iggy is not the stud pitcher we had envisioned not too long ago it would seem. That was a heartbreaker last night. Our Bullpen has turn into the Fire Brigade, coming into the game to light fires not extinguish them. But Joe calling on Suarez was off the charts just a bad move, and then sticking with him for so long was just not smart baseball.
Not sure that’s true. All closers have periods of suck age from time to time, eg, Aroldis and Kenley.
Good morning as the sun is coming up to tell us what a beautiful day we are going to enjoy today. Walsh had a 2 Homer Day and Marge approves.