I was driving home for a birthday dinner on Tuesday night and flipped the game on the radio. The first play I heard was Steven Duggar making a catch. Duggar? Took me a second to realize he’s an Angel and about the dozenth guy to play on the grass for us this year.
I’m not going to hate on the guy. He’s doing his job and hopes to improve on a forgettable first half of the year. But if you look at the current lineup full of waiver claims and “where’d he come from?” guys it is clear that right now the Angels are best described as Ohtani and a Bunch of Guys.
Fortunately, Ohtani is masterful and single handedly worth the price of admission. The bump in ticket sales when Ohtani is in town is growing and notable.
This week he joined Babe Ruth as the only members of the 10+ home run and 10+ wins as a pitcher club. The difference being Ohtani did it against the best talent in the world.
The game is so much more inclusive and international than in the Babe’s days. Ohtani passed the great Ichiro Suzuki for the second most home runs hit by a Japanese born player.
And for all the mentions of how Ohtani and Ruth are similar statistically, there’s a much more tangible connection between the two. Ruth’s tour of Japan in 1934 is really important in the Japanese love of baseball. Here’s some great footage of that tour.
It is rather interesting that a man who is the face of segregated baseball did so much that led to future integration of the game. Such as barnstorming with negro league All Stars.
So while I’ll never consider a man who played prior to integration, international talent, and formal minor leagues as the GOAT, I think we all owe him gratitude for working towards a more inclusive game and thus society.
Off my soap box and around the league…
When teams expect to improve but fall backwards, heads roll. Ask Al Avila, who was canned by the Tigers on Wednesday.
If Kyle Lewis could play against the Angels every day we’d be building his bust in Cooperstown. Unfortunately he can’t so he was optioned to AAA.
I link trades using BaseballTradeValues.com pretty often. How did the real deals stack up according to their valuations? Pretty well.
It is notable that the Angels now have the least valuable trade piece in all of MLB according to BTV.
I’d rather win with a bunch of non HOF’ers than lose with 2 HOF’ers.
A parking lot full of Fords, Chevys, and Toyotas (passionate fans) than a lot full of expensive Euro SUVs owned by casual, bandwagon or transplant fans.
Nobody remembers the LF from those 3 World Series Champion Giants teams..
💪 💪 💪 💪
Everyone had already forgotten about you until todays diarrhea diatribe. 💩💩💩
Dude. The team’s based in Orange County. You talk like it’s the figgin Tigers or White Sox or Pirates…. there has never been a “blue collar” bone to the Angels body since their PCL days. It’s not a bad thing, it just is what it is.
But the biggest clue that you’re full of shit comes when you say Toyota = Passion.
You know there’s an ocean of difference between a smart and edgy contrarian and a schmuck creep who does a lot of edging right?
Does it matter really if the Angels finish 4th or 5th in the Western Division? Yes, it does. To be in the best position to rebuild the team, we need to lose. Sad? Yes, it is, but as we all know the truth hurts at times like this. We can’t win with the 2 greatest players in the game any more than the Lakers having West and Baylor could win the Championship over the Celtics. Years later they Draft Majic and Worthy, trade for the rest of the gang and…..3 Championships. We need to rebuild as tough as that is to face. If you want a Championship, we need to rebuild faster than the Orioles or Tigers have done their rebuild. As we move forward, we still have Trout, Fletch, and Rendon, that doesn’t count our very good starting staff. Sandy, Detmers, Suarez, Rodrigez, Bachman, Lorenzen and others.
Standing still like the last 13 years has got us nowhere and will continue to get us nothing but treading water as has become the usual for the Angels. 2008-2009 were excellent teams and did not win even getting to the World Series. It’s time for the Angels to be winners again in 3 to 4 years and it could happen if we put a new team together.
Time to put a player development plan together with the best available talent, not the best affordable people. Time to put together a full and experienced scouting staff, not cut corners. Analytics are more important now than ever and that takes 4 or 5 college educated numbers nerds. Money saved is well spent on this new way of approaching the idea of rebuilding.
I dunno…. the A’s look pretty good at being bad.
Lorenzen’s ERA is just about 5 (4.94), his FIP is 4.47, his whip is 1.35, his K/BB ratio is the worst of our starters. I consider him a typical Perry signing. On our team he’s a “key member of the rotation”. On another team he’s a reliever or in AAA.
But in fairness to Lorenzen, those numbers are skewed by his last three starts where he pitched 11 innings and gave up 19 hits 9 walks, 4 HRs and 16 earned runs . In his previous 10 starts he pitched to a 3.45 ERA 3.67 FIP and his WHIP was a very respectable 1.13. So I think its incumbent on the Angels with a player like this, that obviously wants to be here, to figure out whether this recent trend is the result of someone who has lost it or someone who has been detrimentally affected by an injury that is now healed.
I hope he can pitch to his earlier numbers. I can’t help thinking, though, that I don’t trust our coaches.
Time to kick it into overdrive. https://twitter.com/trashpandas/status/1558182281994416128
Let’s goooo Netooooo.. puling for O’Hoppe.
That’s the best affiliate lineup in a long time.
What do you guys think about developing Bachman as a home grown closer ?
It is what the Yankees did with Rivera. Good chance it would help him preserve his arm and shoulder and you would not have to pay alot for volatile FA guys from year to year?
Not sure . His velocity was down last night at 92-94 and generated zero strikeouts in 4-2/3 so I’m guessing he’s still feeling the residuals of the back injury? It does look like he’s developing a competent third pitch with his change up but the coaches have him on a 70 pitch limit , I wouldn’t read too much into the pitch limit though since it seems like Ky bush and the rest of the panda starters are adhering to the same limits.
burn the cowboy hat, please.
A small sample size, but interesting to me, is Brandon Marsh in Philadelphia. He’s hitting .278 and is striking out 17% of the time instead of the 40% for us. Zero HRs over there. My point is that the hat thing encourages all or nothing. I suspect Marsh is going back to being a contact hitter, which suits him better.
I thought it should have been done away with during the losing streak.
You make a great point about guys wanting that moment in the dugout tho!
I saw a social media clip. Philly has made him get rid of all the movement before the swing. He seems much more compact.
I agree. Everyone fell in love with it, and so everyone wanted to get in on the action. I don’t think it’s entirely a coincidence that on a year that they are doing something extra to celebrate HRs, that the team’s Ks are at an all time high.
Yes all of our problems can be traced to the Hat. https://thehat.com
Burn. It. Down. All of it. If these exceptional baseball players can get rammed up each other’s asses for an entire season because “Dur Cowboy Hat” then f*** them. If our “demand a winner” “”””leaders”””” in Trout and Ohtani can’t lead us past that problem f*** them too. And the manager. And the coaches. And the uniforms. And the fans.
PTP can stay and farm. Arte I’m stuck with. I just wanna keep Rendon to f*** with the guys who are reminded of their wives exes by him.
Everyone else goes. Cause the hat.
Definitely. Get rid of the hat starting tonight and watch the Angels go 50-0 for the rest of the season.
mmmmmm… the Hat
It’s been 7 games. If what ever made Marsh suck was so simple it could be fixed in 19 ABs I’m not even trying to pull the standard anti-my own team “WTF is wrong with our coaches?” wank out of this. I’m going with “How f***ing stupid does a guy have to be to have something that easy to fix screw him up for so long?”
Jesus, he did say small sample size. Of course they’re going to tinker with his swing. He’s their guy now.
Now you’ve fed his ego calling him Jesus. Could just lead off saying “Lucifer” – might be more fitting to his devilish behavior. 😂
I take it back now. He’s 0 for 4 tonight, 3 Ks
The Hat, they make a great pastrami sandwich
PASTRAMI CHILI CHEESE FRIES
Check his minor league stats, no evidence of being a contact hitter. Let’s go O’Hoppe!
Lylin’ Eyes tell me he is or was or might be.
You post this and of course Marsh has an 0-4 night with 3 SOs.
Tatis Jr. 80 games for PEDs
Wow.
80! Effective immediately so he’s done for 2022.
He’s a certifiable idiot. He’s a mess off the the field, and now this.
Padres gonna Padres
Lololol
https://twitter.com/bnightengale/status/1558228780518297600?s=21&t=4lBen8KtZVXsn-MeeujDbg
wow…
What would it take to get him in Anaheim?
Ohtani
Tatis is now basically damaged goods.
I think it is fair to question entirely if his numbers up to this point are even legitimate or not… Just imagine how angry the Padres Front Office is right now.
You could be looking at $340 million guaranteed contract down the drain. Only time will tell, but they have to be feeling VERY nervous right now…
A dirtbike…. and some drugs.
Just take on half of his contract.
An absolute numb skull
HHHAAAAAAHAAAA! HA h h haah haaaa!
That contract they gave him though, but there will be people who would support paying numbskulls like him that much money.
LOL is this for real?
https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1558235518726332416
it worked for Big Pill Poppie
Is it for real that he said that? Yes. Is it for real that he was using it to treat ringworm? No. You use antifungals to treat ringworm, not steroids.
if it were for real he’d name the medication.
That’s not what Bartolo’s doctor said….
Not in his world…..
Ringworm? Like in jock itch or athlete’s foot. Steroid cream would make it *worsy* not better. Jeez, if you’re gonna lie, at least think up a good lie
“I was incredibly stupid and entitled and got caught. Now that you’re all angry with me, I am going to see if my treating you all like you are stupid will help me because I am me and I’m awesome.”
Wow. I didn’t see that coming. :O
Do you think Shohei’s flipping us the bird in that picture?
Nope just Arte.
He can flip me off if he wants.
Yesterday Rocket City won 3-1. Five hits, 3 by Neto, 1 each by DiChiara and O’Hoppe, the latter a two run HR. Bush 4.2 innings, 1 ER. Torres his 15th save, ERA at 1.55. Oldest is DiChiara at 23. Go Trash Pandas!
I am following the Trash Pandas as well. They are certainly impressive. Let’s hope that a bunch of them can make the transition to MLB in the next year or two. O’Hoppe is particularly looking great.
The Orem Owlz (former Angels rookie team) had two great years in 2015 and 2016 with Fletcher, Walsh, Adell, Marsh, Ward and those players have made contributions to the big club. The jump to the big leagues is a big one as we all know.
I think we have some really nice prospects, but if we jump them to the big club as soon as next year I expect a lot of them to struggle initially. And I mean more than 100 ABs. So we won’t be able to handle that.
Relief arms, of course, may handle the transition best. And then we can complain that said pitcher is just a pen arm.
Do we actually want a good farm? Or will that just be a new way to be miserable?
Actually, I don’t care. I want a good farm. So that’s settled. Let’s do it.
If Neto & O’Hoppe play Major league caliber defense why not bring them up early even if they struggle at the plate? Why would this be any worse than the Velazquez/Gosselin and theStassi/Suzuki show we have going on right now?
Probably the most talented Angels AA team of all time is the 2005 Arkansas Travelers. The talent at one point or another during the season included an infield of Kendra’s Morales at First, Howie Kendrick at 2B, Admiral Aybar at SS and Hot Dog Alberto Callaspo at 3B while Napoli was behind the plate . The starting pitchers that year included Joe Saunders, Ervin Magic Santana and JTY. The bullpen was much less impressive but did feature a 21 year old Jose Arredondo.
I think you would be hard pressed to top that in terms of concentrated future Angel talent.
Those were the years (post 2000) that the Angels were doing things right. Not only with great draft picks but also teaching the “Angel way” through the entire organization.
Actually I think that even started earlier with Minor league instructors like Joe Maddon, Bob Clear and Howie Gershberg.
Yes and I would put Tom Kotchman in that group as a scout and coach/manager.
Definitely as well as his trusty assistant, the Rally Penis
Maddon! You are in the penalty box.
Maddoning to hear for you, isn’t it?
Unfortunately Sonny D also got his first hat tricks its still learning process . I’m curious how good his defense is at first since we already have a DH
Not to pick on the guy, I’m in no position to, but I really hope the guy loses some weight. Sure, the “Look at me I’m a fat f*** and I can still hit!” schtick was funny at Auburn, but his health (what is it? 3 times more games a year?) and his fortune (How much more money will he make if his hitting skills translate and he’s fairly healthy weight, stays off the IL, etc?) will all be vastly better if he drops a few while he’s young.
Otherwise he’ll be Billy “Country Breakfast” Butler but chubbier in a league where dumpy but powerful DHs are no longer valued at all.
Agreed, he could at least shed some weight to increase his durability.
He doesn’t have to become Franmil Reyes or anything. But the body of a 32 year old at age 22 isn’t too much to ask for millions of dollars.
Sonny D’s mirror image hasn’t mixed in any salads yet and hes still going strong. https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1557540691709870080
I think he might just be big boned.
Maybe his nickname should be Cartman?
Or….
This guy Torres does not get much love but filthy fucking stats. Wow.
B/R has Trout as the face of the Angels in 3 years and they have as the face of the Dodgers as Ohtani
Then apparently this will be the true face of the Angels….
Phil Nevin would approve. https://twitter.com/AngelsMiLB/status/1558111364358365184
You wouldn’t expect to see so many Babes in Japan, but that 1934 tour was a big deal and still is.
His nickname in Japan is “God of Baseball” and indeed he is still worshipped to this day.
Sendai-In the north close to Shohei’s hometown. I’m pretty sure he has worshipped this statue before.
Yokohama
There’s also another plate with Gherig on the concourse.
http://fudoki.web.fc2.com/yokohama3.jpg
Shizuoka
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LLzOEGo6mo0/U947pMtGeXI/AAAAAAAAPag/HW9cbR4zESc/s280/%E9%9D%99%E5%B2%A1%E8%8D%89%E8%96%99%E3%83%98%E3%82%99%E3%83%BC%E3%83%95%E3%82%99%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9.jpg
Koshien
The place where the famous highschool tournament takes place.
Awesome comment.
During WWII the Japanese soldiers would shout “death to Babe Ruth” thinking that it would so enrage our troops that they would stupidly attack their lines.
Koshien is one of the few outdoor ballparks in NBL, and is home of the Hanshn Tigers. Back in 2018 got to see my fav Japan team, Hiroshima Carp, square off with Tigers there and victory for the fish! I felt the same old-timey important baseball history feel at that stadium that I did when I saw the Angels at Fenway in 1995.
Sir , there is indeed a lot of Babe’s in Japan.
Very interesting to see Hirohito in the link/picture that Jeff provided above.
And to think it was only a few short years before we declared war on his country after Pearl Harbor and he became a villain to us.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirohito
Has there been any masthead talk about using getplayback.com to link watching a game with CtPG? Eventually that is.
Great links!
Looking forward to watching Facing Nolan, rugby, football and getting back to the ballpark this weekend!
None. Maybe this will start it.
I am talking to ballnine.com about some linking up. They have that cool punk feel of early HH with some great pics we could use.
Facing Nolan – saw it this week and we’ll worth it
Yes I had to take a break when “two 8-7 pitchers” came up to take a deep breath and go screaming in the streets but I thanked God for Trout and Shohei and continued the movie
We both arrived in PS in 1972, me as an 11 yr old Angel fan already and I knew all about our new strikeouts World Series pitcher – my eyes were on him most of the time so some good clear memories of him there.
Of course not enough time was devoted as I wish to his Angel career but VERY well done over all.
Nolie Forever!
In 1979 when the Magic Number was 3 and Nolan was on the mound that night vs KC. We made tee shirts with Magic Marker that read: “Smokey Nolie Equals Magic #1” As we all know that happened…GOOD TIMES!!!.
This really has been my favorite time of the year for the last decade or so.
“who the fuck (aug) is that?” when it comes to our roster.
Have a good weekend, ya’ll. Football is back.
In Choakland, I had a “Who the f*** is that?” moment with the Halos fan sitting behind me, and then I realized, except for Sierra and Goose, (and Rengifo), that the lineup was the same as the Opening day lineup.