Writing links seems to be a feast or famine affair. Either nothing is going on or there’s too much cover. This week definitely goes in the latter bucket.
Trade deadline? It was insane and everybody is lining up to rank the winners and losers. Pretty cool how they already know which prospects will and won’t be worth their billing.
One of the teams being pretty much universally lauded as a winner is Philadelphia. Experts thing they nailed it. What is notable about that is their two largest trades were with the Angels.
As far as the Angels dealings, the staff here has had their say and that say isn’t very positive. Most of the commenters agree.
But now that the dust has settled, we can really get into who the Angels got back.
Mickey Moniak is a former first overall pick who hasn’t lived up to the billing. Just like his current manager Phil Nevin. This provides the youngster with a nice opportunity to learn.
Hopefully he turns his career around without the type of chemical help Phil Nevin almost certainly enjoyed.
Logan O’Hoppe now sits atop the Angels prospect lists and adds to the very interesting AA Trash Pandas. The winner of the AFL Sportsmanship Award comes off like a pretty cool guy in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
O’Hoppe joins Sam Bachman, Ky Bush, Jeremiah Jackson, Luke Murphy and the Thicc King on that squad. If you’re looking for the next wave of Angels, there they are.
Speaking of the Thicc King, he had a great debut in AA. Yes, he went straight from the SEC to AA and still mashed. Hence my love of drafting SEC players.
Sonny apparently has a heart bigger than his swing. It is fun getting to learn about this kids.
And, yes, I’m reaching out to agents for interviews.
At the MLB level, there wasn’t a lot to talk about but we did see the return of fan favorite and friend of the site David Fletcher.
One thing Rahul and I discussed over fries at the ballpark Wednesday was the lack of innings for Jaime Barria. Apparently we aren’t alone.
I’ve long lamented the lack of using our long relievers. But when you have a manager pulling starters in the 4th and 5th inning, why not use a guy like Barria one time through the lineup and save the other arms?
It was a sad week as well. Yesterday Nicole Hazen, wife of Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, died at the age of 45. 45 with four young sons who need and will miss her dearly. Condolences to the family.
Lastly, and most importantly, baseball lost an absolute icon in Vin Scully this week. Words just can’t do enough. Thank you Vin for so many great moments in life.
The only fitting way to end these links are with Vin’s final broadcast.
Enjoy your weekend. Please link all I missed below.
We didn’t draft this SEC masher…… 😠 😠 😢 😣
Univ of Florida 2016……..Taylor Ward and Jamai Jones were not from there either.
The uniform Fletcher is pictured in at the top of the article, should be our permanent uni. That is all.
Amen.
Why?
I am a Fletch fan. There are some here that think less than I do, who would like to see him as a backup player. So let’s review what he has meant to this offensively challenged team. Certainly, we all know about the fact he is considered one of the best fielders in all of MLB at second base and near the top at SS along with being very good at 3rd.
In 2018 Fletcher was brought up at the halfway point and participated in 80 games. He tied for 5th in Doubles with Upton and Calhoun. Tied for 3rd in Triples. Only 34 strikeouts in 284 At Bats. Was 4th in Batting Average and make a lasting impression with me the more we watched how he played.
2019 Fletcher finished #1 in GP-AB-Hits-Doubles. He finished #2 in Triples and SO %. Finished #3 in Runs-Batting Average to LaStella and Trout. He came in 20th in BA in the AL, 13th in hits and 24th in OBP.
2020 with the Angels in that strange, shortened year because of Covid-19. He came in #1 in AB-Hits-Doubles and Batting Average. Second in RS and Triples and OBP. Third in GP-EBH- In the AL he was 3rd in Average at .319, 8th in OBP
2021 the numbers !st in AB-Hits-. Second in GP-RS-Doubles and Third in Triples-EBH-SB. 14th in hits in the AL.
He is elite fielder that is hard to strikeout and has power to get Doubles, gets on base to score runs. Goes first to third as well as anyone not named Ohtani.
A Backup Player, no I think not. Rengifo cannot field and he has hit for a month, not years, don’t be so quick to write off Fletcher just yet. The team should go after a SS in the off season and keep Fletch at 2B.
I think David Fletcher’s a solid over all player (generally). He is exactly what a good team wants as a utility player and we have him signed to a contract through 2027 that is a good deal. I think if we had him, Rengifo remains solid, and we got a SS who is just solid as well, we’d be pretty happy and Fletcher would see about 130-40 games a year at various positions. If Rendon ever plays again we’d be even more golden.
Here is David Fletcher’s bref, which shows his solid yet powerless player profile.
If Luis Rengifo is, mostly, the guy we are seeing now then he is probably a better over all player to have in the line up. Here is his bref. If he continues to show progress through the end of the season he could be a nice candidate for a similar contract to Fletcher.
He isn’t a viable permanent SS solution.
SS isn’t a gutty little overachiever position anymore like it was in the 1950’s. Cal Ripken Jr, Migual Tejada, A Rod, Carlos Corea, Derek Jeter all define the position as it is today as the most important position in Baseball. If Rudy Ruettiger was a MLB player he’d be a 2B). We have to stop being a Disney inspired player story factory (somebody with limited modest ability) and start developing Thoroughbred athletes. That’s probably because of how the Angels spend their MLB Draft and International Pool monies (Quantity over Quality). Especially since May 2003.
💪 💪 💪
https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2022-08-05/angels-shohei-ohtani-losing-season?utm_source=reddit.com
Congrats guys, we broke Ohtani.
I knew sooner or later he was going to get sick and tired of being gaslit by this organization. He probably saw whay Ichiro had to put up with in Seattle.
Let’s hope so. Let’s burn it down.
Let’s gooooooo!!!!!!!
WE GOT THIIISSSS!
Thor 2 claimed by the A’s
I saw that. It makes no sense.
but but william frijole is much smarter than we is.
No I just think he knows his 40 man roster better and doesn’t carry as much Flotsam and Jetsam that we do such as Elvis Peguero, Kenny Rosenberg, Matt Thaiss or Dillon Thomas- all players who probably wont see the Big A field this year or ever again.
Yes. The sense I’ve had about well run orgs is that every player on their 40 man roster had a role. They may be flawed players in some form or another, but they were all able to fill the role they had effectively (and everyone not on 26 man roster had specific people they could replace competently.). In other words, no wasted space. We, otoh, have had too many players with similar skill sets and too few with others, ie why was Taylor Ward in CF or Jose Rojas playing OF? Not an efficient roster. I think one place we should definitely start from is better roster construction.
Remember that game against the Mets on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (nationally televised) when Tyler Wade started in CF? He made a huge mistake on a very catchable flyball that started the ball rolling for New York and cost us that game…
To your point, stuff like that should never happen.
Bonehead managing leads to similar problems (e.g. When Nevin used Stassi as a pinch hitter in the ninth on Thursday he burned the last available position player. If the Angels tied the game, was he going to have Stassi play the infield or one of the pitchers? Suzuki was already catching.)
There would have been no temptation to make that move if Velasquez could bat competently, so it is not all on Nevin’s shoulders I know.
That was a lineup decision and I place it squarely on Phil Nevin.
Of course, if Perry is making the lineup that is a different story.
I bet if Joey Gallo was on this team, Nevin would probably use him as a pinch hitter just to strike out lol.
Perry is in over his head in more ways than one but his largest flaw is roster construction
Truth, the fact he didn’t bother going after a SS is just mind boggling. I doubt Arte told him not too and I’m not going to defend him of think he’s a good owner.
When the team was Healthy, we didn’t need a SS. Hence the start we had.
I know 24-13
Imagine claiming the worst Thor movie.
I liked Adventures in Babysitting.
We now know who is running the team between Arturo and the Intern. It will be fascinating to see how much Arturo can get for one year of Ohtani.
When you say “fascinating’ dont you really mean “depressing” ?
Yea, it’s definitely a euphemism for depressing.
Condolences to the Hazen family. Way too young and a horrendous form of cancer.
Ugh, so tragic. I can’t imagine trying to raise my kids without my wife. Life can be cruel sometimes, guess it’s a reminder to stick together and help our fellow man. Never know when we’ll be on the other side of things.
Yes, what a brutal thing. I hate cancer.
This is so “friend of a friend” that it’s stupid. But, a guy I know knows a guy who is minor personality on a large LA sports station (not AM 830) who knows a guy in the Angels FO.
Said Angels FO small fish…. Angels will trade Ohtani in the off season. They don’t really think he’ll sign here. If it turns out he is interested in an extension they will try to get it done before his arbitration pay rate kicks in, but they have no intention of paying his high arb number for a year, then risking letting him walk for nothing. Though it IS clear Arte intends to make an effort to extend him before they move on to trading him.
If this is true (big if, but my guy says radio guy says FO guy is generally on the up and up…. for what that’s worth) then WHY NOT JUST TRADE OHTANI THIS PAST WEEK?
The third party intimation that my acquaintance got was that PTP wanted to trade him and Arte wasn’t into it right now and that the FO guys were frustrated by it.
So it really could be that the Angels pissed away a top return for Ohtani to get two more months of him drawing people to home games. That’s pretty lame if it’s the case.
Either way, even if they sign him, I think it’s lame because it goes against my vision for the Riverside Meth Savages.
If true, I’m not surprised. Perry doesn’t seem to be the type to get attached to players, legacy, generational talents, etc. If he had 100% decision making power, he would have traded Ohtani. He just seems the business, transactional type to me.
Of course it’s Arte. Who else could it be?
Which is ironic considering his family legacy is all about baseball relationships. His Grandpa was BFF’s with Tommy Lasorda. His Dad was a long time clubhouse manager with the Rangers and BFF with Bobby Valentine. His young life as a bat boy involved developing special relationships with many baseball dignitaries including Nolan Ryan.
Maybe he’s so concerned about showing favoritism that he is trying to demonstrate to everyone he can make cold & callous (yet unnecessary) decisions now.
Honestly, who knows, but it sounds completely (un)reasonable and entirely Arte. Fair assessment.
It makes a lot of sense to trade him during the off season.
Arte will require MLB level players coming back. Contenders aren’t going to give up MLB level players in early August.
If the Angels were going to do an actual tear it down rebuild they’d take prospects like the Nationals did for Soto.
Arte doesn’t rebuild. He retools. And I can’t imagine the Padres, Dodgers, or Cardinals giving us their starting second baseman and a piece of their rotation when they are actively chasing a ring.
In November when they can go out and replace them, sure.
The only issue is it eliminates the Padres, the most aggressive team in negotiations like this, from a bidding war.
Teams that make sense:
No way the Braves. its not their type of gig. The Giants are a much better possibility even though its not normally Farhan’s M.O. But historically, they did come out of nowhere to sign Bonds back in the day and, IIRC, made a strong push for Giancarlo before the trade to the Yankees which was a massive salary dump deal.
Giants need a face of the franchise and he’d be perfect in the bay area.
I am more skeptical they will be willing to part with the necessary talent as they are mid-rebuild.
They should just circle a giant Bonds face over the scoreboard as the old/new face. The thing is life-sized is big enough.
Yep most of the teams listed are too sophisticated to overpay especially for at least 2 all star (or ascending all star) players with more than one season of control.
You never know. All it takes is an owner who wants Babe Ruth in his jersey.
So Arte will sell Ohtani for $1,851,943.75?
Why would be be giving out Friend prices?
At the end of the day, raiding the Dodgers or Yankees or Mets of three or so top prospects is probably going to be the best we can do.
I vote for the Doyers then. As much as I despise them they definitely have the best farm system
Ohhhhhh…. that’s a good point. If we want some good MLB level players then the off season actually does make a lot more sense…. hadn’t looked at it that way.
I could sense Perry wanted to trade him just from the way he phrased things in his press conference.
Also: you don’t listen if you’re not willing to trade him. Heyman’s note that Arte was not interested in trading him while Trout and Rendon were hurt smacks of wanting to sell tickets on a bad team in August and September.
Which….if thats how you think, you’re not a guy whos about to ratchet up payroll and take a loss to win around your bad contracts.
All of this is why we never have experienced GMs or team executives. Arte gets to boss around his first time GM’s that are grateful for the opportunity.
I don’t buy anyone who is saying “I think he’s gonna ratchet up payroll…”. Why? He’s always jumped payroll according to how much money (attendance) he’s getting. Covid 2020. Covid 2021 and shit team. Strike and shitty team 2022. The guys nose has been open for almost three years now while paying Pujols, Trout, Rendon and Upton to do nothing.
How many spare millions do people think a guy has laying around?
He may have truly needed to keep Ohtani and make a little money these weeks because the business truly needs the money.
Which is all fair since its his business. Arte when he used to speak to the media always talked about being in the red or black when speaking of budget.
But he spends like a drunk on star players. He was prepared to build a stadium district. When you can throw HUGE money around why would you sweat small money that can make an impact?
A competitive team that sells tickets in September and October is a good investment! Most of the teams getting that revenue aren’t spending on Albert Pujols.
The issue is then that you are running a business *as a business* for profit down to the level of altering trades for lesser prospects because it saves you $3M THIS YEAR or rejecting huge prospect packages because you can make a million more selling tickets…then you wonder if he should just sell his baseball team and buy some real estate instead.
Well, because business. Player payroll is a line item. It’s separate from money spent trying to build a stadium. I don’t mean that as a complaint, it’s just how people who aren’t total morons spend their money. Just like I have a set amount of money I spend on things per month and when that’s spent I don’t get to have any more of it that month….. but bigger.
It wouldn’t surprise me if certain payroll expenses are in a separate sub-category… “The Billboards” if you are an Angels fan with daddy issues… but these are players who are in the “spend money to make money” category. The XL payroll investments that may get some fans out, sell TV ads, jerseys, etc. They pay back some or all of their own expense.
These are the large “capital” expenditures that keep flaming out on Arte. It would be fun to see him try to get by without them…. though this site would almost instantly descend into quivering frustration and sorrow as soon as he passes on signing anyone championish for an off season and ESPECIALLY if he let home grown stars walk.
The Ohtani thing is so unique because it allows this owner who is so averse to rebuilds to trade 1 guy who may want out anyway and forego a real painful rebuild.
Some fans may be *more* energized by knowing the farm is healthy for the first time in a decade. Most obviously would prefer Shohei not be shipped out but what are ya gonna do. Season seat holders want a consistent winner, not just a Sho every 6th day.
But how much of these types of fans show up in stadiums, and buy overpriced beer and merchandise? I would say that most fans of the Angels are not that aware that the farm system is either top ranked or bottom ranked, or who is really exciting that’s coming up the pipeline. Most fans probably just pay attention to the product on the field, whether they win or lose, or whether they go to the playoffs or not. Unless there’s a rookie that was as tantalizing as Mike Trout was, they don’t really look at the farm and say, “Who’s next after Mike Trout that’s coming up?”
I would wager most are like “Hey, that Detmers guy looks cool, he’s new right….He’s gone, what happened to him, where did he go?…. That kid Adell looks young, he’s a rookie, right?! Who is this Marsh guy again? When did he start playing?”
We are in a bubble here in the sense we follow this team very closely, but I highly doubt majority of the fans that Arte depends on in coming to the stadiums do.
Yeah I said some and that most would prefer he not be traded.
But it’s a weird logic to stay embarrassingly bad to keep a star. Read facebook or IG comments on Angels posts. Fans who post know why we suck. It’s not just blogs of diehards.
Casual fans of the team know the narrative is that we can’t find depth or pitching.
The problem with your “logic” is that there is an assumption that by keeping him we “stay bad” and that by trading him we will get good. Neither one of those things is certain, and it is especially not true that trading him for prospects will suddenly make us good.
It will be interesting to check in with Washington and San Diego in 2025/2026 and really see who “won” that trade.
Of course. I’m operating under the assumption Ohtani does not want to be here.
If he signs an extension next week, I’m thrilled he’s here. But until I hear anything other than quotes about him being sad and non-committal, the best move for the Angels to mitigate the Doomsday scenario of him leaving with nothing to show for it is to cash in big time with prospects and assets.
I just don’t see them convincing him to stay if they haven’t been to the playoffs his whole time here. I also don’t think giving him excuses on why they haven’t will work either.
Some people will say the diaspora or the “Cali Life”, but the Dodgers and Padres could offer that as well.
It will probably be like what companies do to try to get you to accept their lowball offer: company swag, ping pong/ foosball table, company lunches, and “were are like a family”.
Most Americas don’t have budgets, that’s why they invented credit cards. Most of my “wealth” comes from the appreciation of my house. Cutting payroll is couch cushion money at the level of a billionaire like Arturo. The real money comes from appreciation of the Angels as an asset. Think about how much he would take in if he sold, even more if the team were popular and good.
To illustrate your comment about appreciation Arte, purchased the Angeles for 184 million, right not the estimated value of the Angeles is 2.2 billion.
Almost all of which is Schroot Bucks
Yes, but appreciation is not liquid money that can go from one bank account to a player’s bank account. Yes, the thing Arte owns is worth a couple billion. He may have something like 5% of that available to actually do stuff with and he’s not likely to borrow against it to sign a pitcher, especially if he needs to borrow against it to buy a baseball stadium.
His actual ops money is what’s cut up into line items. And not buying everything on credit’s probably got something to do with how he became a billionaire.
He just did Forbes interview where he volunteered that he’s sitting on 500M in cash that’s not tied up in any stocks or real estate.
I am guessing the cash on hand was spreadsheeted to go along with the financing for the stadium/development deal.
Just because he has a half a billion dollars laying around, why should we expect him to just dump it into the team for a season or two to satisfy all our Ohtani/FA longings, and hope for the best? No owner in their right mind is going to pour their good dollars after their bad, impulsive ones – even (especially) Arte
Yeah. Nobody just has 500M sitting around doing nothing for no reason. Hell, I generally won’t leave 2K just sitting for long. That sounds like a Stadium downpayment.
If I recall properly, the Stadium and Development was a separate land corp and Arte owned it. It was invested in by many others.
What no one really is privy to is where did the Cable TV deal money end up. Wasn’t mine so basically, I don’t really care any longer.
I still do wish he would sell the team, mostly because winning a World Series has passed us by for the foreseeable future. I do think that no matter what happens, nothing will be worse than Arte owning the Angels.
And if the new owner turns out to be any better like when the Royals switched ownership, at least there was an effort to do some sort of change change. Sometimes you need to do crop rotation to replenish the soil of it’s nutrients.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2022/07/09/why-this-baseball-billionaire-is-betting-on-amazon-att-and-jp-morgan/?sh=ac52a3e568b6
You can read up on it. I actually under-sold it. He has $780M parked in cash or cash equivalents.
We can contort ourselves in circles but the point stands: it’s not just team equity that Arte has. He is so liquid he brags to Forbes about it when they ask.
No, he’s not forced to lose money because fans are pissed. Neither was Donald Sterling. He made damn sure the team turned a profit every year too
Yeah. I’ve read the article.
I’m not saying he’s losing money, as in taking a loss. I am saying that his profits from the team are likely being negatively impacted by both a crap team drawing fewer people, Covid losses, and big losses on stars contracts.
It doesn’t matter that he has money. What likely matters to him is that the team is supposed to cost X per year and bring in XX per year and it is probably not doing that now.
I’m also saying that a businessman with that much liquidity usually has plans for that money, like buying a big chunk of land. Or, at the very least, acting as debt/loss/valuation mitigation. If it’s 800M so what? He’ll still have intentions for most of that, it’s not gonna just sit there collecting dust…. or feeding your envy furnace.
The baseball money and that cash could be largely different piles. Thus “the baseball money” gets the treatment you’re frustrated with in these trades.
On a tangent…. this could be the area of team business that guys like Kuhl/Carpino are sucking ass at.
It’s not and it wasn’t. You can read the article if you’d like. Google is a thing.
My point is that if Arte can spend wildly acquiring Vernon Wells or Josh Hamilton or Anthony Rendon, maybe he can find it in him to eat $3M to sweeten a trade return?
What ails the team is not new or a mystery. It is about the player development. There are things he could do to improve that that don’t cost $30M a year so it’s weird to pinch on the cheap stuff but not the big line items that he has shown no skill in choosing.
Is this the DiPoto Thanksgiving guy???? hahahaha
I have no idea. This could be 100% Andrew bullshit and the Angels FO, Ohtani, and Arte are all going water skiing together this summer before signing a lifetime contract.
It could also be 100% true now and 100% wrong in December.
Hey!! Recommended for remembering my “ Inside”scoop on DiPoto saying that Arte won’t “Pat that Jap” I reference to Yu Darvish. I don’t have that coworker anymore to tell me about thanksgiving dinners during the dipoto era.
😳
RE: So it really could be that the Angels pissed away a top return for Ohtani to get two more months of him drawing people to home games. That’s pretty lame if it’s the case.
This jives with that Arte “quote” that since Rendon and Trout were injured – he wanted to keep Ohtani for the fans coming to the ballpark for the rest of the season.
Well since you’re showing yours…..
My ex neighbor’s College roommate’s son now works for the Angels and claims that the Angels are planning to trade Ohtani during this offseason.
So there than.
Well, if we both know someone who knows someone who wears a clip on tie at the Angels offices then Ohtani is surely gone.
I’m inclined to believe this because it fits my already held beliefs.
Is Arte the worst owner in all sports? Serious question. Shady stadium deal, Skaggs, basically no front office and 7 straight losing seasons. I used to see him up and down the stadium, talking to fans at the tailgates. Now, guy is gone, haven’t heard a single peep from him.
I’ll take an owner who spends his money foolishly in an attempt to win over a Nutting type that pockets tens of millions of other teams money just to make himself richer.
Arte isn’t the worst owner, but he’s certainly the most disappointing. To be gifted two generational talents, spend tons of money, and still not sniff success takes failure of epic proportions.
At least Arte fails while trying to win. Nutting and others set out to fail.
Arte is just the Jerry Jones of baseball.
I agree with everything but the last sentence. At least the Cowboys have a settled home field and make the playoffs from time to time.
If Arte was in Texas and allowed to legally bilk taxpayers into building him a stadium, the Angels would also have a settled home.
But would be expected to have at least multiple winning seasons.
They won their Division last season and hosted a playoff game (though they did lose that game in a disappointing effort. I think the Angels right now would jump at the chance to lose in the first round of the playoffs.) .
Exactly.
I thoguht you were using “nutting” as a verb … was afraid to google it.
Whatever it is, it sounds cool.
Ha ha. I have used it as a verb several times but this is a family site ha ha.
That’s a great reference. I’ve been using Sterling as a comp but yours in more on point. I think he really cares but there’s no telling just what about and when he makes a decision we’re often left grasping for why. All said I think he really likes money and being the king of his little fiefdom. I love watching Ohtani but was pro trade as I just can’t see them emerging into a competitive team otherwise.
He’s not even close to the worst owner in sports. He’s also not even close to being the best. He actually reminds me a lot of 1980s George Steinbrenner.
Either way, much like summer being hot and the sky being blue and dogs being shorter than horses, it is what it is, so it’s what we have to work with. All we can do ourselves is look for ways thing COULD work out well…. or be tear stained bitches about it.
Lol. George Steinbrenner WON. Even though George did not win in the 80’s overall as a decade he had done enough winning in the 70’s to pay for two decades or more ! And he did make it to the Series in 1981. In short, he won ALOT.
He and Arte are not even close.
In the 80s Steinbrener liked to spend on flashy stars while not winning, all while having no farm system… which sounds pretty familiar to me.
That sounds pretty horrific. I guess hope and prayers will still be the plan, then again, it’s been this way since 2014.
Well, old George got his act together eventually. Maybe our boy will too.
If you simply looking at results and outcomes, I’d put him firmly in the bottom quartile. An above average amount of bad publicity and exceptionally poor results on the field.
He is not but he is a bit of a poser/underachiever.
He is also just shockingly bad at staffing and business management relative to the industry he’s chosen to compete in.
You forgot the treatment of minor league players.
They all do that. its just that Arte is an easy target
No. See, I’ve been on this site that’s all about Angels baseball, and they have made it pretty clear that all of the other teams players sleep in kingly comfort and eat chef prepped meals while every single Angels farm hand is forced to sleep on a rock and fight in a pit full of dogs for every meal.
That’s why they’re all so injury prone.
The minor league life style has always sucked. The Angels were the kings of “Locker Tag” dismissals way back into the 80s.
I thought that was only the BCFKA Indians
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/383d3064-93f5-4ff7-a141-c72d4dc45311
😂😂😂😂
Oh we dreamed of having a nice comfortable rock when I was in the minor leagues…
Insert Monty Python skit here 🙂
Oh bullshit. If that were really going on there’d be less injuries and a lot grittier ball players on our team.
In fact if the Angels even had just a modicum of innovation they would institute this policy immediately. (They can settle out of court at a later date)
Riverside
Meth
Savages
Wasn’t aware of that – thought angels were extra on this regard.
I wonder whether Trout or Rendon has next-year’s season-ending injury first, and whether it will be a new one or a continuation of a current one.
where are the vegas bookies for predicting angels injury? We’d win money hand over fist.
I didn’t even turn the game on yesterday even though I was home and available. I did check in on gameday but have been less invested as the season goes as it’s just too hard to watch. I’m certain that my wife is tired of hearing me say that bad teams find a way to lose. She is as positive and hopeful as any fan but no longer pushes for me to turn on the game.
I watched gameday and the GDT while working. Can’t look away.
Mike Trout’s rotational exercises are said to be going well.
Was it mentioned whether he was standing or sitting and rotating?
Insert – smart assed comment about how that will help when he plays next season?
Don’t care anymore.
It is sad when no one on this site really believes he is coming back this year. Lol, and many don’t even want him too and would rather have the better draft slot. I fall into the I don’t care camp myself.
Yep, these kinds of updates are pretty much a ticket sales shill.
I still don’t get that logic. The team sucks. Trout’s not playing. But I’m going to buy a ticket today because the team says Trout will be back sometime?
That’s kind of a “need an extra negative” reach.
My guess is that it would piss off a player if the FO just came out and said “Yeah, he can think and say what he wants, but he’s not playing again this year.”
It’s why you see “PLAYER shut down for rest of season.” news but you rarely see “STAR PLAYER shut down for season” until it’s super obvious, like TJS.
Lemme explain. Trout update … Facebook feed … Wife sees trout “might return” … She buys tickets in center field … Day of game … No Trout. She cancels and does a girl’s night. Me and my son are forced to attend a terrible 2-7 loss i would much rather have watched on TV …
The shilling is working dude. Trust me.
That’s really funny. I’ve got an open weekend and actually gave a few seconds consideration to driving six hours to Seattle, renting a room and scoring tickets for my wife and I for a few games. Fortunately the ether wore off before I mentioned it to my bride. Otherwise I’d be spending time and money in some Pike’s place souvenir shop tomorrow.
What? And miss out on all that grief doled out form the wing nut delusional Mariners fans?
Sounds like a personal problem.
hahahah! Yes, very personal. I’m eyeballing one of them minor league rocks to sleep on tonight.
Doesn’t he need to be activated from IL (seen on FB) before wife falls for this? Most of the the less engaged people I know are more the type to ask “Oh! When did Trout get back?” than say “I bought tickets because I heard Trout may return….”
There are so many gif opportunities. I’m too GA to learn how to post one.
I started this comment on yesterday’s post-game thread. Others have added to it. This has been the strangest season I have ever seen. Below are some odd things (good and bad) in 2022 (and I added Barria being our best reliever who only pitches when we are down by five runs).
1-Detmers throws a no-hitter on May 10 and is later demoted to the minors.
2-11 games over .500 at 24-13 on May 15.
3-Lost 14 straight games (May 25-June 8).
4-Fired our manager (June 7).
5-Numerous Ohtani batting and pitching highlights in the same game.
6-Hit .199 as a team in July.
7-Won 1 of 10 home series since late May.
8-Won 1 of 11 road series since late May.
9-Detmers throws an immaculate inning (July 31).
10-Hit 7 solo homers and lose the game 8-7 (August 4)
Then added by other posters:
11-Barria is our best relief pitcher who only pitches when we are down by five runs.
12-We have seen Rengifo become our best hitter .
13-Trout figured out that Elvis was tipping his pitches and our manager then tried to cover it by saying they told him to do that.
14-Maddon walked a run in w/the bases loaded against Houston to get the team going,
15-Rendon hit a homer batting left handed.
16-Jared Walsh hit for the cycle.
17-Taylor Ward was in MVP talks at one point.
Are we missing any?
The biggest surprise for me, Rengifo becoming our best hitter. Wait! WHAT! Crow tastes like…..never mind. Not if that is not a sign of doom, then I am confused.
That may be due to the rest of the teams complete lack of hitting.
Correct. Set the bar low enough and I could be the teams best hitter!
Tbf to Rengifo, he’s really been hitting. He’s deserved that 3 spot for the last couple of weeks.
I think even if the entire team is hitting, his good hitting will still stand out. Kinda like how Ward stood out the first 6 weeks even when the team was firing on most cylinders – Trout, Ohtani, Walsh, Rendon.
Rahul and I also talked about this. Do we believe in Rengifo as an MLB regular?
I think he’s a decent second baseman. Having him at second and Fletcher at short wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
However, I think both are about average MLB players and they need to represent more of a floor than a ceiling.
I think I’m selling myself on signing Swanson for short, making sure Rengifo plays second vs. lefties, and using Fletcher around the infield. After a month Fletcher is probably the starting third baseman.
He’s not a superstar or will ever be, but he’s also not Andrew Velasquez. His potential ceiling reminds me of HK, without the ever eternal hope of future batting champion attached to him.
But maybe I’m being too generous. There were times in the past he drove me crazy and he reminded me of 10-cent Aybar.
I don’t mind him being a regular on the team. I’d rather have him get more plate appearances than Squid/Wade types. His defense is solid and it looks like he will be a .270 hitter at least. I like him playing against lefties.
I think either Rengifo or Fletcher as regular at shortstop is a non starter. We need an established shortstop until one of our lower level SS prospects is ready. Rengifo should be turned into a super sub to maximize his at bats. Fletcher’s defense (**IF healthy) is elite I’m skeptical he could play short on a regular basis, but he should be in the lineup every night at either 2B, SS & 3B
Renheefo gonna pull a Taylor Ward soon.
Pretty much where I am.
David can play a solid third base, meh short, and good second base. Even with the addition of a real shortstop, that should get Fletch into the lineup more nights than not.
Rendon, Swanson/Correa, Fletcher, Walsh is a hell of a defensive infield.
Once the inevitable injury happens, Fletcher, Swanson/Correa, Rengifo, Walsh is still a solid infield all the way around.
Actually, it’s against the Rangers. It was Seager he chose to walk.
Other than that, great, fascinating, baffling list.
Oh yes, nice catch. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/joe-maddon-intentional-walk-corey-seager-bases-loaded/zu8uafjokvqsqdvlkar1vx5c#:~:text=Maddon%20ordered%20Seager%20to%20be,Maddon%20the%20next%20half%2Dinning.
Detmers gets promoted yet fixes his mechanics in one video session in AAA.
Peguero is tipping pitches and only finds out about it thanks to Trout.
Seems like the pitching help at the MLB level is lacking.
Jeff – I could not agree more. The Angels’ coaching at the major league level leaves quite a bit to be desired.
My brother and I describe the Angels as mysteriously awful.
all this Bad JuJu definitely feels mystical
Total bad JuJu. Ask for it all day every day…. then wonder why it keeps showing up.
It does feel vaguely like a curse.
Voodoo dolls and all.
Oh its definitely a curse. Even this recent podcast continues to reinforce that. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tom-rinaldi-presents-wesley/id1632631862
The various Jordon Adell miscues in the outfield warrant their own line item. With a footnote that he claimed he has nothing else to prove when he got demoted. Hello, Jo????? DEFENSE.
You forgot the entertaining brawl that was supposed to pull the team together but instead furthered the decline, sparked the Mariners to playoff contention and cost us two players to injury (Archie who couldn’t stick the landing and Duffy due to Iglesias’s sunflower seed tantrum). The fight and it’s effects are classic Angels.
Oh, that is added to the list. There are so many.
In the name of admitting when I am wrong (it happens frequently) … I wish to give kudos to a user here who has been suggesting Barria should be starting. It’s a thing now but he/she/they were in on it way before Jeff’s comments today.
Someone here said about me that I always have to be right … Man – he has no idea what goes on in my household where I’m wrong 2 times out of every 1 chance
Do not know if your reference to a particular user is to myself, but I have been posting that Barria should be starting because he deserves the chance with the way he has pitched this season. What has the team got to lose.
This I don’t understand. If they are finding ways for Suarez, Silseth and Junk to start, why not try out Barria?
Exactly.
Or, if you know you have a guy with starting experience why not give him 2-3 innings when you pull your starter early?
I’m going to write a piece on it this off season, but I think a lot of our pitching depth problems could be resolved with more forward thinking towards pitcher usage.
Suarez is good 2 times through the order. I get that. But that means he’s leaving in the 4th or 5th inning every start. So that means we need 5 pitchers to get through one game. The odds of having 5 guys all have good games is pretty small, even with the best of bullpens.
Suarez goes through the lineup twice. Maybe is allowed to finish an inning is he’s throwing well. So he leaves midway through 4 or at the end of 5. Take a Barria type and let him start the next inning and go once through the lineup.
Do that twice per week and you’re saving 5-6 innings from the 1 inning guys plus warmups. Add in Silseth to do it another time or two per week and that’s 10-12 innings of middle relief saved.
Over the course of 162 games that is big.
I really like the idea of “Starter”, then a slow baller like Barria/Suarez, then a couple burners the last time through the order. Especially on days when the #1 or #2 starter doesn’t go.
This allows a meh #3-#5 starter to use all of his available pitches on batters through the first 2 at bats for each player. If you have a third “Barria” you then follow said starter with a Barria/Suarez/Low Velo guy through one batting order rotation, then bring on the single inning fireballers.
This, of course, gets harder when you are glorying in all the flexibility that Ohtani and a six man rotation brings. If they do sign him long term, the way he’s been pitching, I hope they just sign him as an ace and limit his hitting to a point where he can go every 5th game.
No one cares if you were right. Not just you. Everyone, everywhere, in every situation ever. No one gives a shit when you just come out and tell us how right you were about something.
nah. wudda remembered you but hey – CONGRATS! Since I’m a guy who’s “always gotta be right,” I guess this is judgement day! Woo hoo! liberating!
Kind of you to not include the numerous stories on various sports websites I saw just destroying the Angels historic loss last night. Even co-workers were texting me dogging on them right after the loss. An all-timer loss yesterday.
Exactly the kind of loss that could convince even the most positive player that he wants nothing to do with his current team…no jinx just facts.
Not sure how the loss would commence anyone to look at the Angels any differently. Do you know how hard hitting 7 solo homers form 6 different people was to accomplish? I would think most baseball players would be impressed by this accomplishment.
it’s like who really respects the Buffalo Bills’ four straight Super Bowl appearances? I do, but pretty much 99.9999999% of the world just laughs at their inability to win one.
Uh the entire City of Buffalo Does. Duh.
Dang. I’m wrong AGAIN? Unless the city of buffalo population amounts to 0.0000001% of the world’s population but I’m too GA to do the math.
0.003299% … I was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY off
I’m just looking out for your well being. That Bills mafia can be pretty intense.
You gotta get ahead of that kind of messy news: I broadcast the history to pretty much everyone i knew as it was happening. Even had a pregame “argument” with my a’s fan buddy about who was worsyer … I won that argument. 🏆
I was doing these links as that game was on. We were still down 8-3 or so when I wrapped these up.
That loss was the most Angels thing ever. Have a superstar hit 2 bombs, the team 7 overall, and still find a way to lose.
I just didn’t want to jump in and turn these links into a tirade of tears.
The Tustin Tirades.
Gut the roster…. move the team…. new uniforms are analogous shades of red and pink…. mascot is a lady dog with a pink bow…. add meth and steroids…. awesome.
What about the San Antonio Canals? Or would that be too much?
Did you let them know you don’t actually play for the Angels?