Players and their families are unpacking boxes and moving into their long term rentals in Phoenix and Florida. One last weekend of free time before pitchers and catchers report for camps next week.
Crazy how the off season seems to both drag and go by so quickly.
What looks to be the strength of the team this year? The rotation.
What do I expect to be a strength by the end of the year? The bullpen.
And the Panda bullpen express looks to be getting started now.
The offense could be pretty strong as well, especially if Jared Walsh is back to form. He says he’s feeling great and ready to roll.
Meanwhile, there are some intriguing arms still sitting out there. Perhaps the price tags on Andrew Chafin, Zack Britton, and Matt Moore explain their continued free agency.
I’m confident asking price is why Michael Wacha is still available.
And let’s be real, we’ll need some lightning in a bottle to compete with the stacked Astros. Perhaps said lightning could be found in a now-healthy Ken Giles who held a showcase for teams on Wednesday.
Holding out hope Perry makes more moves? Yes. After all, he brought in Ryan Tepera and Archie Bradley after camps opened last year and the Angels are connected to every notable free agent.
Here’s Minasian talking about the team and his outlook for 2023.
One thing holding Perry back a bit might be learning the salary of Hunter Renfroe. The team and Renfroe had an arbitration hearing last week but the results won’t be released until other hearings happen.
MLB insiders are saying Perry won the Renfroe trade. Not hard when it is a salary dump. That’s the same reason people think he lost the Iglesias trade.
Where does Perry’s off season of building depth and keeping all our real pitching prospects land us? At about 85 wins per ZIPS.
Which is right in the thick of Wild Card contention.
A major reason for the lack of recent moves is that all but Houston has a full 40 man roster. However, we’re about a week and a half from teams being able to move players to the 60 day IL and open up roster spots. Here’s a look at the players likely to be moved to the IL and the teams that will open roster spots by doing so.
In the I Can’t Believe This Wasn’t Already Done, the Dodgers will retire Fernando Valenzuela’s number this season. Fernando is, by far, the most iconic player in the LA iteration of this franchise. This should have been done a couple decades ago.
Perhaps the Angels can get around to retiring #15 soon?
As Gitcho pointed out the other day, Ohtani is far from the only talented player in his walk year. Aaron Nola is going to get his bag next year.
The very popular and good Julio Urias is also on the verge of free agency. I’d greatly prefer keeping Ohtani, but as a hybrid baseball fan and marketing guy I can see a lot of value in bringing in a stud, popular, Mexican-American player. Urias could bring both wins and increase market share.
Family is more important than business. I love to see the Angelos family, owners of the Baltimore Orioles, dropping their lawsuits against each other.
One intriguing arm that was set to become a free agent after the end of the year isn’t going anywhere. Yu Darvish tacked on 5 years and $90 million to his current contract in SD. I’m fine on missing out on that.
Yes, I want to witness all of Ohtani’s career here in Anaheim, but the market has enough elite pieces to soften the blow quite a bit if he leaves.
Really, I’m a big fan of the win-win. So it is good to see Bo Bichette and the Toronto Blue Jays agree to a three year extension that provides the Blue Jays with cost certainty and Bo with life changing money.
I can’t mention Bo without thinking of his dad Dante. Here’s a clip of him hitting a walk off HR at the first game at Coors Field. That score indicated exactly what to expect from that ballpark.
Have a great weekend, all. Link what I missed.
Time for baseball!!
Maybe the secret police is so worried about a youth takeover he decided not to leave the country? https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1623833913859936256
When the first question is “is he hurt”….ahhhhh, trAdition and a sure sign spring has sprung.
He’s hurt…just a few days of course, maybe a week..he’ll be fine.
And we are only 48 hours away from the beginning of another season of TrAdition!
I’m a little rusty
is “he’s not hurt “ code for 60 day DL to start the season or torn UCL/ needs TJ?
Well at least they’re not announcing that he just has the flu.
He did homer in the very game after O’Hoppe’s debut. I remember some blurb about stassi focusing on his hitting after some atrocious season and that being the difference in his hitting performance the following season. After that he fell off a cliff. Maybe hoppy and quero light a fire under his ass.
This is also something to focus on when evaluating GMs (or POBOYs tee hee). How well do they insure reliable performance by adequately threatening already rostered players?
From what I read here, I’m in the minority of Minasian supporters. I think he’s the best thing to happen to this Org in ages. I hope he lasts long enough to even justifiably evaluate his technique.
I actually wanted to see what Eppler had the ability to do unsaddled by the Pujols contract, but…hey, whatever.
“That shirt.….You think you are the number one dad?”
“The best in the world, which means I’m better than just number one.”
https://www.mlb.com/news/teams-that-made-the-best-offseason-moves
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1624186050271940610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1624186050271940610%7Ctwgr%5Ed13bc59236d04f6b93898f1822e955adff4be39c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhalohangout.com%2Fposts%2Fangels-invite-several-top-prospects-to-spring-training-01gs06a0cnep
I suppose this might be why they passed on Chafin. Or Chafin just plain didn’t want to play here for the same money.
Maybe he liked pitching in AZ before?
Exactly. We never know.
I forgot we kept Jhonny-than Diaz. I actually think he could make a nice pen arm.
Stoked to see Torres, Murphy, Joyce, and Neto. I think those guys are close to the bigs.
It will be a good experience for the rest of them and with about half the starters playing the WBC we should get a decent look at some of them.
I’m hoping Joyce is the “lightning in a bottle” for The Angels this season.
Is B-Joy going to be the next K-Rod?
Don’t forget Ingram who was already placed on the 40 man last November.
Argh, Arizona just signed Chafin. For 6.5MM. Perry could have easily done that.
C’mon man!
So much for Arte having “unfinished business”
Just curious, which of our pen arms are you cutting if we had signed LHRP Chafin?
Wantz and Weiss both have options left. We don’t have to cut anyone.
An Esteves/Chafin back end of the bullpen would’ve been nice.
We do off of the 40 man with any FA signing which means one of Marte, Weiss or the plumber has to get DFA’d
With the Cubs signing Fulmer yesterday That pretty much leaves only Zack Britton available as a viable bullpen arm that could help us.
I wonder if the pending BK of Ballys negatively affected the value of the team resulting in Arte deciding not to sell. The potential buyers would likely have had some information on this subject as part of due diligence. My presumption is that Arte had an inkling (or knew) the bids would be far lower than he wanted and pulled the plug before they came in. That way he could spin the ‘I’m staying bc we have unfinished business’ BS and any future sale would not be negatively impacted by the low valuation.
Arte’s bids he received were far lower than he wanted? Source?
There never were any bids. Those were due in Feb and the sale was cancelled before any bids were received. I believe he got wind they were going to be far less than he wanted. I do have an insider buddy who does not know for sure (everything has been hush hush) but believes the same thing.
Right so even though there were never any bids, Arte was really disappointed with the bid amounts.
I think he probably had information. That happens all the time.
He would have had information before he had even put the team up for sale. Its called “lunch with a friend”
The RSN BK issue has been going on for a long time. if Arte still retained minority ownership in the local Bally sports channel would know a hell of alot more about what was happening even at the point of the original August potential sale announcement.
Here, let me show you how this works on a far less grand level.
I announce through various means that I am available to create some art or a video for a band.
Several bands or labels say “Hey. We want some.”
To avoid time wasting and hurt butt I then declare to these people that I will require at least $XXX above production costs to make them a thingy. Please gather together what it is you may want me to do so I can get you an idea of hours/cost.
Of the seven folks that originally got in touch with me, one does not respond and tells his friends I’m a sell out who doesn’t support real art. Two more say thanks, but they don’t have the cash right now. Another offers me less money than I want but will throw in a bunch of records that I don’t want. Three tell me they’ll send me some ideas and look forward to looking into things further.
I now know that, though no “bids” are in yet (or brief/agreements) there are three customers willing to pay at least $XXX for my dim brilliance.
I then realize that I can make more money painting zany wisdoms onto rocks I tell house wives came from Sedona and selling them out a tent in the park. In fact, because I believe LuLu Lemon is a right and not a privilege, I realize that the wiz stone biz is my passion. I scrap the design conversation for now.
If you don’t think the Angels vetting process didn’t involve something like this then I don’t know what to tell you. Congrats. You are the billionaire whisperer.
All of this is of course beside the fact that news reports said the bids that weren’t formal bids were high.
The only attestable comments I’ve seen said the bids were high. But why let that get in the way of a good Cheap n Evil theory? I mean, we hate Arte. We hate him hate him hate him!
Jeesh- was just wondering aloud if there was any possible connection between Bally’s BK and the non-sale. I said from the beginning it was conjecture. I think it is the kind of news that could affect the bids.
It was not an anti-Arte comment at all. Why you went there I have no idea.
Glad the content police are standing by and ready to issue citations.
All the reporting was that there were 4-5 groups willing to offer 2.5B or more. That could be bad info but if it really came down to price, I feel like the bidding war is something he’d want to see before he backed out.
It just came down to him being impulsive and wishy washy. In hindsight he probably never really wanted to sell and instead “rage quit” when the stadium and team imploded at the same time. And like a frustrated 13 year old playing video games, once he had time to gather himself he obviously wanted to keep playing.
Dick move for the fans and players and employees though to have them put through the roller coaster because Arte is temperamental.
I believe that reporting was from spin. There never were any bids bc the sale was cancelled prior to any bids being received.
TrAdition dictates the Angels never get any controlled spin so why would this be the first time? If there was any truth to your “Inkling” there would be more ( or at least one) of these themed reports on social media.
The person who put this thought in my head is very close to the Org. He says there is no way Arte would not have sold if someone would pay him close to $3B. He thinks the interest was around $1.5-$2B and Arte pulled the plug. Only the very insiders would actually know and they would lose their job if they said anything.
Could the person I know be wrong- of course! But the Ballys BK and the impact of that revenue stream could explain lower bids. Again it’s all speculation. We are purposely kept in the dark.
And what about the multiple potential bidders? Where are those leaks? If I were a potential bidder and had my team spend significant time only to get the shaft ,Someone(s) is going to be bitching on social media as “An anonymous source” even with NDA’s
Too many people were involved in this process to have zero speculation or information about you and your buddies “inklings”.
Unfortunately, we will never know who’s right. So speculation on both sides is what we will have to live with. I’m comfortable with my thoughts. I’m sure you’re comfortable with your thoughts. Let’s leave it at that.
I don’t think anyone on this site is going to be comfortable with their thoughts until this team starts winning consistently again.
Wait. Is Andrew your source? And now Arte is being so transparent that “guy who is close to the org” knows what he’s thinking?
It’s common that people fix up their house as they prepare to sell it and then decide not to sell since the house looks so nice to them
That’s magical Spring Training thinking. Unicorns
Total guess on my part, but I don’t see why this has to be more complex than…
Arte and team had a shitty 2020-22.
Arte is tired as the season ends. Decides to get out and take the cash.
Arte still has to run the team while the sale process gets rolling.
Months pass.
Arte realizes he still likes owning a baseball team. He is way less tired.
Arte decides not to “retire” yet.
I love how so many of us around here are so sure it’s GOT TO BE more than that. There must be cheap! There must be evil! Our dad is an asshole! I mean Arte is an asshole! We hate him hate him hate him!
The fact is we probably won’t know for a long time, if ever.
I’m going to assume there’s a stadium/development deal in the works for a while. Fully knowing I might be wrong.
No matter what his intentions, I have a really bad feeling about the Bally bk’s effect on the team.
Unless Arte ends up owning Bally Sports Socal for a song.
More simple logic: high interest rates and inflation makes it better to hold onto the property until they both come down, meaning higher sales price. Just like the housing market in most places right now.
But more than that, Arte, like most very successful businessman ( His sale of the billboard business that he grew is still a major coup) likes the process behind negotiating making the deal.
I have no doubt that he still is a huge sports and baseball fan so this team is more than just an asset that he can will and deal for a monster profit since essentially The Angels have no cost basis left from 2003.
But what would now include putting together a massive development and new stadium deal with the City? and/or grinding out a killer deal to purchase for a regional sports network to carry yours and other professional teams in the second largest media market in the country? Arte maybe of advanced age now but How much would his sports & development empire be worth ( along with the radio station) if puts all of these elements together ?
So I firmly believe that this is more about Arte’s ego and love of the deal than anything else.
Perry did something!
Angels sign Fernando Romero.
Oh boy! Non-roster invite day! Austin Warren in the hizzouzzz! Jake Webb! The shell of Chris Devenski!
All jokes aside I think Jake Lamb may help if he can catch some magic and I actually think Godoy could be passable catching depth. He isn’t bad behind the dish and hits well in the minors, could mature into something with a little value at his age.
Decent lottery ticket.
And ours is a pretty good organization to join right now. We’ll have plenty of chances in Spring.
the final piece
Awful Announcing is reporting that Diamond Sports Group, parent of the Bally Sports RSNs, will file bankruptcy next week. Lots of money teams were counting on for coverage rights will most likely go up in smoke.
Wonder what this means for Angels coverage and crew?
It’s not gonna matter. Billionaires don’t even notice when the TV contract stops paying. It’s like when you or I throw a penny in a fountain.
It means we can’t re-sign Pujols!
Bloomberg has been covering this for months. It feels like a hurricane heading towards MLB.
Be pretty funny when teams in LA and Chicago markets start crying about lack of tv money and need for more revenue sharing.
Except the Cubs own their network, The Dodgers half of theirs, The White Sox 25%, and none are connected to Sinclair/Bally at all.
Thought I’d read the White Sox games were under Diamond. Looks like I’m wrong.
Angels are
Didn’t Arte retain 30% ownership in FSW err BSW? Or did that go with the Ballys overpay?
Also when Fox/Disney was selling off their RSN’s I thought there was some stories speculating the Arte could buy out the majority share of FSW. Maybe after the bankruptcy ( which has been planned for awhile) Arte ends up with control of the network for a fraction of what it was sold to Sinclair/Ballys just a few years ago.
Who’s playing on team Wakanda?
Unicorns. The team’s all unicorns. Cant even hold a bat, but team speed is amazing.
Which one of them Unicorns is going to be our new owner?
The one that intends to move the team to Oakland after the A’ss leave. Because only a magical creature can save baseball there.
I thought the color white made you look thinner?
Perry Mason never wore white after Labor Day.
yes, I missed all the WBC stuff. The official rosters came out after I had these scheduled.
I’m planning on doing some WBC preview pieces but go ahead and link away/discuss here if you’d like.
WBC looks like it will be seriously fun to watch. Dominican Republic looks very good, USA is stacked, Japan has our boy leading the staff. Gonna be good!
The DR has the pitching.
Those three are definitely set up to make it to the final round. Then a wild card fourth team.
It will also be fun watching the national teams play regular teams for a few days leading up to the tournament.
I was excited to see how many Angels were represented. It got me wondering if it was a reflection of an improving Angels MiLB. But then, I started looking up some of the names I didn’t know…oh well, I’ll just be happy that we have a lot of guys who really love to play and represent.