A rare two game weekend set against the crosstown logo stealers is all that remains between now and the All Star break. The way this season is going, the fewer the games the better.
Unless, of course, those games are started by Shohei Ohtani who has been beyond brilliant on the mound.
And the numbers he’s putting up are beyond belief. Seriously think about it. If a decade ago I said I’d bet you whatever you have in your wallet/purse that a player would come here and put up these type of numbers in a month, you’d say no way.
It is to the point the English language has run out of superlatives. All you can do is sit back, watch, and realize we might be able to fathom this one day.
Watching Ohtani lately is about as amazing as seeing the Webb telescope pictures.
Ohtani and the future. Those are what we can discuss. And Jeff Fletcher swung by to talk about both and his new book.
Hopefully Jo Adell unlocks his potential and becomes part of the club’s future. He is back up. And I can say his at bats against Houston Wednesday were really great. He picked up a couple of K’s but one came on a really deep at bat and with CB Bucknor behind the plate, you never know if a guy really struck out.
Over at The Athletic, Perry Miniasian said the failure of the club is 100% on him. He couldn’t just come out and blast Arte for hamstringing payroll and shorting the farm, could he.
But if it is on him and he’s in charge of the draft, we might have a problem. Personally, I think his roster construction was bad at times but as a first time GM I hope he learns from it.
Speaking of the draft, it starts on Sunday.
Here’s a quick primer and guide on where to watch it.
EastSPiN takes a look at the strengths, weaknesses, and drafting patterns of all 30 teams. I don’t think they have our strength correct but I like the piece overall.
The real man of mystery in this year’s draft is Kumar Rocker, the hottest name in last year’s draft. Take a look at the scouts watching him.
Rocker has had an interesting year to say the least. Catch up on it here. Who will sign him, and in which round? Hard to say.
For some Angels centric draft coverage, make sure you catch my interview with Taylor Blake Ward, who does mention Rocker as a possibility for the Angels.
Want some mock drafts?
Here’s one by Jonathon Mayo at MLB.
Both of those project the Angels to take high school righty Brandon Barriera in the first round. Here’s a primer on Brandon.
From what I can tell, MLB mock drafts are to be taken with an even larger grain of salt than their NFL counterparts. But the pattern in all is pretty clear, bats should come flying off the board first leaving the Angels with pretty much their pick of arms in the 13th spot.
If that’s the case, the Angels might also look at Gonzaga’s Gabe Hughes who would likely help the big club sooner. Other college arms to consider are Oregon State lefty Cooper Hjerpe and Connor Preilippe.
Turk’s Teeth is the prospect guru here, but with our reputation for “developing” talent I’d go with a college guy somebody else has developed if I had my pick.
Enjoy your weekend. Hopefully the Angels can get a W or two against the boys in blue.
20 pitcher draft still sucking…. https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1548411186529464321
We should trade him before the clock strikes midnight.
💪 💪 💪 💪
Maybe your boy friend wants him since TBW was his draft choice. Oh but wait he’s too smart for that.
Cy Cooper in Training?
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1548368605573615620
The 20 pitcher draft sucks Perry, and I WAS RIGHT, BULLPENZ DON’T MATTER ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY BLOW UP IN YOUR FACE (see Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepura). How about we take 8 SP’s and 6 SS’s this time no OF’s RP’s, or C’s who play in the outfield (sans our 2nd rd pick for Thor…UGH!!!).
💪 💪 💪 💪 💪 👈
HEY TOOTS WHY DO YOU SAY THAT THE ANGEL’S 20 PITCHER DRAFT SUCKS? IS THIS BASED UPON SOME ACTUAL FACTS OR YOU JUST TALKING THROUGH YOUR ASSHOLE AGAIN?
Data doesn’t always amount to a pile of King Kong’s #2
Why don’t you learn how to make a real time observation for once. That’s why were looking up at our former GM and his team’s 10 game win streak. I win again!!!!!
see Chase Silseth (I’ve checked milk cartoons and called the FBI’s Missing Person’s Unit). Austin Warren and Patrick Sandoval let’s just say aren’t very good.
You mean our former GM who left us with this shitpile & Roberto Baldoquin to start with?
You guys need to get room . That way You & Jedi can Sevais each other at the same time.
Should’ve not played at all. 😆 😆
All we have to do is clone Ohtani and Trouty. Problem solved.
No Trout
Day to day, then week to week, then month to month, then see you next spring!!
Back spasms will and always be a lingering problem for Trouty going forward. Halos have good drugs. That’s a fact. He can soldier on.
😂 😂
Same ol, same ol. My eyes will be focused on Erica vs Rengifo.
This year is not a great draft and the farm system is ranked 3rd from the bottom. It is said Angels are focused on an arm while our position level prospects are poor. I‘d pass on Barreria or Hejrpe or catchers. There is one pitcher I like and that is Lesko then Prielipp would be next.
I’d like a hitter but Perry will make it 21 straight.
Yah. I’m team Lesko.
What life altering hitter do you see avails at 13? Cause all I see are guys whose scouting reports read “swing has an issue, strikes out” or “will hit like Stephanic.” neither of which fire me up more than a pitcher….. cause MOAR PTCHN
Nothing too strong of thoughts on a bat to be honest but I would still take a shot at bat. I like Tremarr Johnson but he’ll be long gone. Collier? The OF you listed below, Chase DeLauter, could be an interesting slection or Neto but nothing screams 50+ FV
When you say you want to take a shot at Bat, are you advocating drafting Trouts kid Beckham A. Trout?
I saw some TMZ videos of Beckham taking BP in MNTs Newport Mansion, kid was ringing them off the walls. Suit him up!
I’m hoping for Rocker. I can’t imagine it’s any less risky to pick a HS lefty than it is a proven Vandy pitcher with potential injury concerns
The Tri city Rocker will not be drafted by the Angels. Perry’s looking for a bargain like he did last year with Bachman so he has extra slot money to spend on later picks . Kumar and his wonderful agent will be maxing out any slot amount they get
If possible, I hope we don’t use our top pick on another “probably projects to the bullpen”.
Our farm is already bottom ranked.
You may be right, but we desperately need a SS, and this draft has many that may fall down to 13th the drafting order.
I was thinking about Thor and wondering what $ amount is reasonable? He’s getting $23mil this season but for his ERA I’m thinking $10-$12 mil. I’d love to sign a guy for that much money to put up a sub 4 ERA.
Yes that’s what I propose too – it’d be great to sign him for more time here, just 60% of what he gets now.
If not then trade away
It’s $21M and thank goodness it is on a short 1-yr deal.
Trade him to the Padres for the compensatory pick in the draft. Perry gave up a second rounder for this guy, let’s get it back. Perry…smh.
Just get something. He is on the short lis.t of available starters who might help in the stretch drive. You have to cash in
Yeah, if he wants to resign after he is traded for $10-$12M, sure.
I like it if it translate into another Ky Bush selection
I’d think he gets something like Eovaldi: maybe 4 years 70 mil? It’s tough to find decent inning eaters, and I imagine quite a few teams believe they can help him get back to form
WYT throwing out the first pitch.
those doyerblues will be pummelled tonight and will regret their trip to the A
Arte may be willing to pay Shohei, but Shohei can play wherever he wants on this planet.
Let’s hope he wants to stay.
And if he doesn’t want to to stay, hope he let’s Arte know asap so we can get 5 MLB players and 5 prospects to replace him.
And if he goes to Seattle or Boston, i will just start to fill up my spring/summers with sailing or golf or some other stupid sport, instead of baseball.
Adell’s defense looked good last night – hope he comes just stays and plays at this point.
He was rated a plus defender coming up, iirc. Why he had so many issues was weird. The LF vs RF explanation seems strange to me, but Adell does seem better in RF even if not elsewhere.
IMO He still looks like a baby giraffe on roller skates even with the added work he put in at the Lake.
He played CF his first couple of years. I really think it took him a while to pick up the spin of the ball off the bat in the corners. He still might not fully have it.
In center it was more like playing wide receiver where he could just take a good first step and run to the ball in a more direct path.
I always have been envious of Outfielders that can play all 3 positions. The reading of the pitch and watching for the ball coming off the bat is completely different. The Angels have had some great Right Fielders and Centerfielders even more so, but not many that can play more than two of the 3 spots. It’s not as easy as it looks. I’m fine with Adell in RF.
Whoops
Agreed. His body language looks different this trip up. He’s playing with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, something to prove. I was 4 rows back in Diamond Club on Wednesday and he was really engaged in every at bat.
He took confident first steps last night.
I’m really rooting for the guy. I’ve seen him be great with kids in Spring Training and he plays for the Angels.
DRAFT!!! I love the draft like I love county fairs. They are never really all that great, but still a ton of low key fun. DRAFT!!! After the first 3 picks we all are pretty much Lyle Spencer! DRAFT!!! It’s time to complain about your team drafting a guy you’ve never heard of instead of a guy you heard a paragraph about 48 hours ago! DRAFT!!! It’s time to act as though your team’s future depends on guys whose names you will likely never type again! DRAAAFFFT!!!
I keep trying to love all these position player prospects. There are no Bobby Witt Jrs in this draft. Most of the HS Uber Prospects will be gone by our pick and we need help faster than 4 years anyway.
I guess I still like Susac at C if he falls to us. I guess it would be OK if we get a bat first C who strikes out a lot. He looks like he’s gonna be Robinson Chirinos + to me, but that’s not the end of the world.
But Jace Jung looks too likely to be Danny Espinosa plus bad fielding and Zach Neto looks like a guy we can get in the 4th round to be a utility guy…. and his parents can’t spell Zack which is a bad sign. Honestly I think I like Peyton Graham out of Oklahoma more than either of these guys cause he can play SS/3B/2B/OF fairly well potentially and hit and run OK too. But for the #13 pick?
Guys I like ( and actually have followed for a while now)….
1A) Brock Porter:
If he, by some miracle, falls to us and we don’t take him I will be pissed off the way stupid people were pissed off about us not taking Kumar last year. He’s really big. He throws very hard. He already has a change up. Teach him a slider, throw him 200 innings in MiLB and you most likely (as likely as things get) have a rotation arm.
1) Dylan Lesko:
Sure, he’s in HS, but we have a giant pile of college arms ahead of him. Sure, he’s had TJS. He’s a guy who, if healthy and coming out of say Vandy in two years, could potentially be one of those Strasburg type “clear #1” pitchers. You know, a guy the Angels never get to draft. He has a smooth and easy delivery, throws hard, and best of all already has a 70 grade change up, so he can develop fast. Tired of drafting back end starters? Well, here’s our chance to roll the dice on a #1.
2) College arms:
I’m fine with Hughes from Gonzaga and Hjerpe from Oregon. Just like TBW and Jeff. Solid college arms. More risk, more upside I like Prielipp out of Alabama too. He’s the classic “if he masters that change up he’ll start” guy.
3) Brandon Barriera
He’s a HS arm. He’s kind of small (and he’ll starve to death cause Malvado won’t feed him, am ah ride?). He could still end up being really good, just higher risk to me than Porter/Lesko. the fact that the Halos took so many college arms last year works in his favor too. Gamble on an ace.
4) Dark Horse:
If the Angels draft Chase DeLauter (OF) from James Maddison I’ll be OK with it. I’ve only watched film of maybe 20 of his at bats, but he is strong, has a nice swing, and doesn’t have to sell out to get power. He plays CF now but could be a solid corner OF on an MLB team quickly. If the plan is to draft this guy and trade Adell I’d understand.
It’s important to note, I don’t mind drafting guys like Lesko n Prielipp with arm surgery because these picks weren’t gonna pitch this year anyway most likely. It’s not that big a deal.
I don’t want to draft Blade Tidwell because his name is too stupid. I don’t want to have to think that name all the time. He’s also not that good.
And hey Jeff, I feel your pain on them stocks. Don’t sell low, it’s mostly not money you lost, just money the economy’s borrowing from you for a couple years. Buy what you liked while it’s beat down baby!
County fairs are tons of oily food. Pass.
Now I want a deep fried snickers and funnel cake
Great way to work out the Gall bladder. 😛
I’m here for a good time, not a long time.
after reading about this DRAFT thing, my first thought is we should get a couple more guys like #27 – that’s where we found him – surely there are others.
Which #27? Daddy Wags, Vladdy, MNT or Willie Fraser?
well we didn’t draft Daddy nor Vladdy
MNT
Fun fact Willie 15th went higher than Mikey 25th in Round 1
Deep fried Twinkies! So gooood!
Deep fried everything, demos of the latest and greatest kitchen/ household gadgets to make meals easier, and Men Without Hats tribute bands.
I didn’t read this, but I bet it has something to do with Draft Beer.
I wish CTPG had a swear jar. Except it would be a “Moreno Should Sell the Team,” and anyone who says it has to donate 1$ on Patreon
Then pretty soon WE could buy the team! Brilliant idea!
Nobody asked me, but,…Why is it that I am more frustrated in a loss in the 10th with a base runner who has no business occupying second base any more than I should be out there playing second base, and he scores the go ahead run and following the script very closely we cannot do the same…….Should Arte sell the team? I don’t give a darn……Please someone tell PTP that new hitting coaches should be one of the first orders of business after the World Series. All 3 of them may be nice guys, I’m sure, but they are being listened to or they just talk the talk…….I have wondered why the two players that are so talented are such a wreck at the plate, I refer to Marsh currently and prior to being injured, Fletcher. How can two hitters with such talent become worse at the plate as time moves forward?…… I very much dislike the term, “The Bump”. It is not amusing, funny, or cute imho. Sounds like something is medically wrong with the pitching mound or it’s Preggo……I have never been a Stassi fan, but now in the second half I think he needs to improve his whole overall game……I really do like our starting pitching staff, do wish it would stay healthy the rest of the way…..Our Blowpen is on life support. PTP did a great job of putting it together, it’s just that other than being ineffective, it basically sucks that they can’t pitch. Elvis has left the building all season until getting 3 outs a couple of games ago……I fill bad for Walsh, but he has not hit for one year now, he needs work down at SLC to get straightened out……Adell is playing a lot better after his trip up north….. I would rather have Wade on the team than have Villar. Not popular I know, but I just do not get into his game at all…..One issue I have with WAR, is it does not give enough credit for games played per season by a player. To be a G.O.A.T., you should be playing in your team’s games 90% of the time. There should be a bonus of some sort built into WAR for doing just that……Shohei Ohtani I think is the Greatest Player in my lifetime for the last two seasons he has put together. His first half last season with hitting, his first half this season for his pitching. Most incredible. ….Thank you for coming through these thoughts with me.
I did not read most of this. What I am sure of though is that all of it will be instantly solved if Arte just sells the team…. and we fire Mike Scioscia.
I got “baseball field is pregnant” out of it all.
…..and all the babies are running home. Or is it the hole they dug out. 😎
Ha-Ha, Oh Brillant One how so wrong thy are.. 😜
Echo the earlier thread post:
Sell the team to Ohtani and he can be the Owner, GM, Manager, Scouting Director and chief purgologist to rid this organization of demons that dwell at all levels.
I’m sure he could get some Japanese mega-corp to financially back his play.
Anyone who thinks Moreno will trade Ohtani is fooling himself. Arte cares about money more than anything else and no one generates revenue like Ohtani.
Yes! I hope we don’t re-sign Ohtani because to do so is tacit support for the evil money grubbing of Moreno Malvado! Down with the patriarchy!
SMH, 🙄 🙃
I see your point but ….
“If the player wants to be an Angel he’s gonna be an Angel”
“Take it or leave it”
These are famous Arte paraphrased quotes that show he makes an offer and then sticks by it no matter how low it is.
Well that wasn’t exactly the strategy with Rendon. Bora$ milked Arte’s ass for top dollar on that signing.
Yeah, there’s that line if you don’t know who’s the mark at the poker table, it’s you. Arturo’s the mark.
Sigh. Facts, what a bummer. They’re the same as they were in 2019. So a player averages 5.8 WAR over his 5 full seasons with the Nats. At a conservative 7M per WAR that’s 41M a year. His performance is on the upswing (hurrderr pay for career year) as apposed to heading downward (hurr durr pay for regression). He’s had one injury shortened season in 7 years. He’d have had almost 7 WAR (worth 49M) in a full 2020.
All we needed to avoid Arte being bent over on this contract was a GM named Nostradamus. Most of the people who had a huge problem with this deal were either folks that didn’t realize that pretty much ALL free agents are over 28 years old or twats who were butt hurt because Arte didn’t magically pull an ace pitcher out his ass.
Thank you for that dissertation. Not sure why that was even necessary. My point was solely that I don’t believe Arte utiized his old cliched negotiating tactic with Rendon despite previous histories. So it would not be wise to think Arte would only negate this way with Ohtani.
That is all. Now you can return to proliferating your provocateur proctology premises.
Yes but if he isn’t going to be resigned he will hopefully be traded for something
He’s not going to be resigned for many years
My personal belief is Arte will ride the Ohtani money train until it’s final stop in 2023. Then Ohtani will walk. In the meantime Arte will have maximized the marketing, advertising, merchandising and international interest revenue which could net him in excess of $500+ million in the next 1.5 seasons. All at a cost of roughly $20 million. No way he lets that kind of return go somewhere else.
So my belief is the team will get nothing in return for Ohtani (but Arte will continue to make a fortune off of him in the short term) and that he will leave the team after the 2023 season.
I suspect he will walk too but they will gamble on winning him over with a more drastically changed 2023. Maybe they bump salary for a year or two, who knows.
I do not see them trading him because the PR of THEM choosing to send him away would be a death sentence for Arte with the fans (even if there is some logic to doing it) and Arte is insecure. He will make an effort to improve the team and if its not enough, he can say the Angels did everything but Shohei made a decision just like Gerrit Cole or Max Scherzer did to go somewher else.
Sounds great. Let’s hope so. Let’s hope so hard it happens. We can do it!
I expect the Angels will do something like this….it wouldn’t surprise me at all.
They won’t let him just walk. The worst of all options.
Can we make a poll: Will the Angels trade, re-sign, or let Ohtani walk? Would be interested in those results.
I think he’ll either be moved at the deadline or in the off-season.
But I also wouldn’t put it past Arte to refuse to move him until next year it becomes clear the season is wasted.
He could even make it to free-agency if we are competing at the deadline in 2023.
But yeah, most likely this off-season.
As soon as he leaves, all that ad money coming out of Japan goes with him..
Arte and his loser friends are Yankee fans obsessed with history too. Ohtani possibly even moreso than Trout is deserving of an overpay just for the prestige of his career being in your uniform.
If he stays, I could see it being with a massive contract that has an out clause after 1 or 2 seasons.
re-sign ohtani, calling on Arte to extend the payroll. I’m ok with all the losing – just want to see history for the next 5-10 years. Hopefully, a re-build and replenishing of the farm system is going along in the background that ends up with some playoff trips. A single playoff game win here and there would be gravy.
I’m with you. I don’t want to lose him.
Yes we can! Actually a great idea to fill the all star break.
I’ll set one up for next week with some pros and cons for each scenario.
“Yes we can?”
Jeff, please no political statements on the board.
Let’s stick to baseball.
It’s not like the first AL West Champion Angels team used that slogan decades ago or anything.
Wait. So some bastards stole our slogan? What will they do next? Lets hope they don’t try to steal our invaluable Hitting and pitching coaches too.
Hope.
Ahhhh, shit….
You forgot your /s at the end of your comment.
Re-sign! i’m now in the camp that he’s an ace that we can build around. After going so long with a pitching staff getting decimated by TJ and bad bad decisions it seems we have a dependable 1 type (Sho) and other pieces showing signs in Sandoval & Detmers. Not sure about Thor $-wise but i’m feeling a little better about the rotation for the future. yes, i am aware of the buttercup factor.
Arte will resign. He needs the Ohtani allure. The only way this changes, if Shohei tells management of his intentions of playing out his contract and leaving.
If Arte resigns, who’ll be the new owner? (Sorry about being a smarty aleck)
LOL…No problem, I pray about Arte walking away all the time.
Monster contract with a player option each of the first few years. Let Ohtani get his guarantee but also have leverage in pressuring the Angels to win now or leave before he’s 30
My heart wants PTP to establish a very high cost for a team to acquire Ohtani. If someone meets that price, do the deal.
My head tells me that Ohtani will not be traded and will either re-sign with the Angels or go somewhere else.
The poll results in July 2022 will be 80% keep Ohtani, 20% trade him.
The actual results when Ohtani signs somewhere else will be 99% wanted him traded in 2022 – and will wail and gnash teeth endlessly, 1% was drunk and didn’t understand the question.
You guys do realize that one of the only people on the planet capable of just asking Arte “Hey, if we sign Ohtani to a huge contract, and we have Trout on a huge contract, and we have Rendon on a big contract, are you gonna park the payroll under 200M still or shoot it up towards 250M?” it’s Ohtani right?
Ohtani doesn’t have the balls to ask. Ohtani’s mom however – she could ask the difficult questions.
Is cloning still a thing? Can we just clone Ohtani 5x.
8x. Will still need to keep Trout employed since he can hit the high-heat better than god and any player that has played the game or will ever play the game.
Cloning is definitely our best option out of this mess
Organization wide Full panel of blood work and (all) body fluid samples taken…..and a freezer.
All in the guise of a Next generation complete body wellness program.
….done. New addition to our farm system , but it will take a while to grow.