Good morning Angels fans! Ohayō! Have some links!
Angels News
While USA vs Japan was the most watched baseball game yesterday, it wasn’t the only one. The Angels also played in split games. Splitting the team meant a split in outcome as Angels won vs Arizona, but lost vs Oakland.
One of the players, Taylor Ward, hit an inside the park home run.
Fletcher, Sandoval, Rengifo, and others on non USA or Japan teams are now with the Angels camp and some contributed yesterday.
Mike Trout will play in the next WBC in 2026. He is having fun.
WBC
Japan vs USA was watched by a ton of people. And they all saw Troutani front and center.
Trout got the first hit, a bloop double. USA did not score that inning.
Ohtani walked. Japan did not score that inning.
Trea Turner scored the first run for USA. Arte Moreno screams in angst.
Japan tied it up. Monster Home Run.
Yet another home run and Japan has the lead.
Schwarber cuts it to 3-2. Phillies doing their part.
It all came down to Trout vs Ohtani. 9th inning, USA down one.
Japan won, and Ohtani wins MVP. Ippei would translate an interview with Fox Sports after the game.
Around Baseball
The season is almost here, so it is time for Fangraphs positional rankings. We should make our own…
Catcher is not looking the best for the Angels.
1B looks even worse. Walsh isn’t thought highly of anymore, huh?
2B is also not good. Ummm, well, that isn’t ideal.
Hey, why worry about that when you can look at the giant video boards? Who has the biggest ones anyway?
As Baseball faces uncertainty here, the future of the sport is international. Well, maybe what happened with the WBC might get people to care more here.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
Great WBC for baseball and us Halo fans who truly know how great/good/talented are players are who participated. The pundits and biased media think this is another garbage team that will be very competitive. I hope that the bullpen overperforms, which I think is the most suspect area on the team. As for the position spots, you have to consider the guys who were hurt and had a down year. Stassi won’t be as bad, which will put less pressure on O’Hoppe. Walsh has all the signs that he’s healthy, but I hope with a more rounded lineup, he’ll be in more advantageous positions, and with a different hitting coach, and not hurt, he’ll be closer to All-Star form. The only downside is, will he lose rhythm sharing AB’s? TBD. 2B has a ton of options, so I think that’s a vastly underrated area. But hey, the season is won on paper, so we’ll have to wait and see. So far, I like this bunch and I hope Ohtani carries over his leadership and passion from the WBC and Trout shows everyone how hungry and great he is with another MVP-type season. I still want a better 5th starter, because I think with 5 quality starters, it’ll put less pressure on the pen. Either way, based on what I saw from Ohtani and Trout, I think the leadership in the clubhouse will change for the better.
‘vile’ treatment….Must be from Dodger and Mariner fans.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/cuba-rips-miami-for-vile-treatment-of-its-players-at-world-baseball-classic
Really ? What did the Dumb asses running the Cuban government expect from a Miami crowd?
So If Shohei Ohtani Owns Mike Trout and Patrick Sandoval Owns Shohei Ohtani doesn’t that make Patrick Sandoval the new king of the Angels?
I don’t know if I’ve seen anything as incredible as that at bat. The only thing that would have been more incredible would have been Trout hitting it out. It wouldn’t have been quite Kirk Gibson or Red Sox coming back from down 0-3, but exhibition or not, that was an incredible moment. Today, I feel like I did after the WS ends each year… “What, no WBC?” It was an incredible tourney, absolutely loved it. I even watch part of a Czech game.
This organization is (and has been) the target of so much ridicule for so long, and now after the WBC it is even moreso. The two top players each leading the top two teams in the WBC to an exciting climax.
Meanwhile, the MLB team that has BOTH of those players sucks.
All payroll over-analysis aside… Arte could have done a lot more to put an end to the jokes. Imagine if he had approved Trea Turner IN ADDITION to all the upgrades Perry made this winter. What kind of lineup would we have with Turner at SS instead of Squid/Fletch. How big a boost to our playoff odds would there have been.
Yes. The problem has always been that Arte just isn’t willing to spend enough on stars in their 30s.
This reminds me. I’d still kinda like to see Arte crack and just go full Cheap Thanos and knock our payroll down to 60M for a few years. A man can dream…..
I figured my comment would probably be a perfect setup for you to hit off a tee.
But you gotta admit, right now Turner being our SS instead of Squid would be pretty freaking helpful.
I really dig Trea Turner, he reminds me of 80s players with rounded skills. Problem is Turner’s a crap SS. So really all we’d be getting is Gio Urshela but cooler…. and also so expensive that we don’t have most of the other depth we brought in this winter.
My main take away from the Turner/Arte thing is that it tells me maybe, if he was willing to pay Turner 27M a year and Ohtani 30M this year then MAYBE Arte is envisioning something like a 250M a year payroll… which could realistically work with Ohtani + a farm, sort of, as long as we don’t keep guys like Sandoval. But it’s the first thing that isn’t total speculation that points to Arte maybe going well over the lux tax while keeping Shohei.
Imagine also a world where Trea Turner would want to take Arte’s money unlike Carl Crawford, Zack Greinke, Adrian Beltre, Mark Texeira, Zack Wheeler, Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg & Wilson Contreras.
Yep, we can always get bogged down hypothesizing about this sort of stuff. I’m just pointing out that clearly Arte said “Well if you are going to sign all those other depth players, then forget about Turner”. That had nothing to do with players “wanting” Arte’s money.
BTW, did Beltre, Texeira and Cole not “want” Arte’s money?
I thought we made no offer to Beltre. And the Yankees offered more money to the other two… so they just took the highest bid.
If I remember correctly, Beltre signed with Texas before Del Taco Tony even arrived (unfashionably late) this the meetings.
Shohei said striking out Trout to win the the championship was the greatest moment of his life.
Still blows my mind people say this doesn’t matter. Might not to you, but certainly looks like it did for the people playing it and the attending crowds which set records this time around.
The players care, other nations care, that’s what matters.
Just because it was an exhibition doesn’t mean that it didn’t matter to the players. Exhibitions can mean a whole bunch. This was world baseball on display. I think the players took it very seriously and wanted to represent their countries well.
The fact that it was an exhibition can be seen by the fact that Team Japan sought input from the Angels regarding the usage of Ohtani as a pitcher. In a non-exhibition situation, that would not matter. Do you think Team Argentina sought input regarding Messi’s usage in the World Cup from his team Paris Saint-Germaine?
Just because it was an exhibition does not downplay its importance to the players or fans. But ultimately it was an exhibition for the purpose of promoting world baseball.
But if they would just get rid of this stupid thing then I could go back to sometimes watching a few good players sometimes take two at bats in a game all March. Or put it right after the WS…. cause sometimes I just need to watch 200 baseball games a year…
Bought tix to the Apr 2 game against the A’s. Somehow snagged front row behind the Angels dugout. Gotta love the lack of A’s fans.
When I lived up there…. $2 A’s tickets and no one cared where you sat…. and we would literally just walk into Warriors games after the 1st quarter and no one cared…. ah…. mah lawn.
I can’t believe we got to watch Sho throw two 100 MPH fastballs right by Trout. It was a good AB. Amazing.
What I noticed last night, Mike taking deep breaths and letting out huge exhales entering in the batters box. Clearly trying to control his heart rate and clearly this was not an exhibition to the Trout and the players.
I had downplayed this whole WBC event and was obviously wrong.
Well that particular moment was a big one for sure. A lot of attention and spotlight. It had been talked about all tournament. But in the big scheme, it was an exhibition and promotion for baseball. It does not count for anything. The WBC is not anything like the World Cup in soccer.
You and I can downplay it but it stings for the players
What really ‘stings’ for these guys? A great moment in the movie Fever Pitch is when Jimmy Fallon’s character sees the Red Sox players out to dinner laughing and having fun down 0-3 in a 4 game series to the Yankees. Meanwhile the Boston fans were dejected.
We fans have a tendency to create story lines and attribute emotions that are not reality. We project our own feelings onto the players. They take their hacks, execute their pitches and move on.
What I am hoping for is that Trout takes the fun and competitive juices of playing in the tournament and translates that to motivation for this season.
I hear ya – good you were able to compartmentalize it but some of us felt really INTO these games and I hope you’re OK with us feeling this way. Trout’s words in the coming days will show us how he really feels.
It’s likely somewhere in the middle – it wasn’t “just an exhibition” and it wasn’t “everything” it was a taste of real pulse-pounding competition in a high stakes situation.
It was 1000% must win. It’s all over now. I am a donkey.
Trea Turner said his grand slam was the biggest hit of his career. Stands to reason that losing would also carry legitimate disappointment just like the success *CLEARLY* brought legitimate joy to Turner and, last night, the Japanese.
I get you as a fan were not invested but it’s a weird take to insist these guys don’t care or shouldn’t when all of them have been repeatedly telling us how much they do.
I agree it was a ‘taste of real pulse-pounding competition’ and that these guys in the moment wanted to succeed. I also can understand why it was such a big moment for Japan. I also can understand why, after a decade of frustration playing on a pretty mediocre team, Trout would have had the fun that he had playing in meaningful games. Finally, I’m happy for all those who had as much fun watching it as you all clearly had.
Where I think I have disagreed is that Trout’s strikeout and the team’s loss was somehow devastating or ‘everything’ as some have suggested. .That type of hyperbole is for fans not players. Otherwise they would be paralyzed by fear of failure in a sport that has all-stars fail 7 of 10 times.
If Trout had hit a HR there it would have been a great moment for him and a tough one for Shohei. They would then both move on in their lives and baseball careers without it being devastating or ‘everything’. That’s for the fans.
As I mentioned, I hope this experience motivates Trout and Ohtani to put the Angels on their shoulders and get to the playoffs this season.
😎👍
I’m not talking about the fans and how you felt about it, speaking about the players personal statements and reactions.
What do you expect them to say?!
Maybe the new realization of a cut from the 1.1 Billion revenue pie helped convince Arte not to sell?
Manfred: Adam Silver was right when he said MLB’s pace is perfect for gambling
https://www.ballysports.com/national/news/manfred-adam-silver-was-right-when-he-said-mlb-s-pace-is-perfect-for-gambling
My conspiracy theory is that Arte has the guy he alluded to in the SI article on standby to become a partner and knows he can at any point sell 25% of the team and have a massive cash infusion to fund anything he wants (Ohtani, a partial stadium thing etc)
You know what’s sad about all this catshit? If a person has a gambling issue, sports or no, now they can’t enjoy gambling OR sports unless they want to torture themselves or cave in and go on a run.
It will actually be pretty funny if, when the MLB is behind soccer, track, the NBA and the NHL in popularity 100 years from now, they can trace the issue back to when the MLB started shoveling gambling data into everyone’s face.
Some grizzled current intern, at age 75, will give the quote “Well, gambling addicts couldn’t watch us anymore…. then we went out and did our level best to make more gambling addicts…. who also couldn’t watch us anymore…. then we ate the horses….”
But I’m not sure that many bettors are excited at placing bets with Bally now that they filed bankruptcy.
Just Sayin’
“It’s hard to sum up into words what these last couple of weeks have meant to me. I had the time of my life representing the country I love playing the game that I love. I took pride in wearing that USA on my chest and I hope it showed. We left it all out there and though we came up a little short I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
I want to send a huge thank you to my teammates, coaches, our families and all you amazing fans all over the world. The energy was electric and made the WBC a moment I’ll always cherish. So thank you all so much. It was an honor to be your captain.” ~ Mike Trout
This is why I love Mike Trout and why I love baseball.
This is a great quote.
I think we need to retire ‘Fat Kid’ and start calling him Capt America – it is a fitting nickname for him.
Yeah. KIIIIIID is kind of a dumb nickname for a grown ass man with a child.
If I ever get to own a dog again I am going to name him Mike Trout just so I can have a little more Mike Trout in my life.
its a wet day here in AZ but i expect they’ll still send SLC to Talking Stick today to play.
After today, only 2 more AZ games. Tomorrow is an off day game-wise, but it’ll be an interesting day to see any BP at Diablo if they have it and to see Mike and Shohei back wearing the same uniform.
i didn’t enjoy last night
i didn’t like rooting against Ohtani
i hate the fact the US lost
i hate the fact Trout struck out on the worlds’ biggest stage
all yuck
i loved the tournament but no more Angels vs. Angel and the USA must win every year from now on.
Rex – I am sorry that it was a tough loss for you. It was just an exhibition to promote baseball so it meant very little in the big scheme. The USA loses all the time in sports – look at the Olympics. There is joy in watching the competition regardless of the result. The moment I will take away and remember was that last pitch from Ohtani which was truly magical under the circumstances.
Time to move on to the regular season. I truly hope that you get your wish and Ohtani signs a long term deal with the Angels and Trout crushes the key pitch in the World Series to win it all for the Angels in ’23. Both are unlikely – but you never know and that is part of the fun.
you know the game meant a ton to Trout so yes it was an exhibition of course but it was everything too.
Couldn’t enjoy the agony of watching that at-bat over a few pitches and …
Now we sit for months to see if he’ll re-up like Judge. So much for wrapping anything up this spring, especially since the conversations with Arte hadn’t engaged yet.
There is no comparison right now between Trout and Ohtani. Trout is and has been great for a decade but Ohtani has been otherworldly for the last 2 1/2 years. He hit over .400 in the exhibition and had a sub 2 ERA. That’s freak status.
We might see Ohtani pitch to Trout a lot in the upcoming seasons. I hope not.
As for Trout, I think he just tips his cap to his teammate who beat him on this occasion. He then flew home on his private jet to the welcoming arms of his wife and son with $400+ million dollars. I think he will be fine. I don’t think that exhibition was ‘everything’ to Trout. I doubt it was even in the top-10.
*except against Patrick Sandoval
I think this tournament was great for both Trout and Ohtani, but especially Trout. Aside from the playoffs against KC, this was by FAR the most relevant game Trout has played in his career and it was much needed “playoff” experience. If the Angels make the playoffs, this experience should help Trout the next time he experiences pressure like he did last night. I was on the edge of my seat!
I like this angle – he felt the competition of a title game.
Definitely. You could tell he was really nervous. It wasn’t a particularly good look that he never even made contact with any of Ohtani’s pitches, but like I said, he needed to experience that
Better now than in 2024-32 when he’s in the WS every year after Ohtani leaves.
I feel ya buddy. That was painful – big time. I’m still comforting my wife this morning as she was so bummed for Trout
Angel vs Dodger video board pixel size. Angels roll with beautiful GIANT 8k and the Dodgers have TINY black and white standard definition with no remote and a broken knob.
Eat it Doyers with your shitty little tv.
Doyers still using Rabbit ears?
Trout swung at the right pitches and took the right pitches in that final AB. His eye was good and he worked the count laying off a couple tough pitches. Ohtani just made a superb last pitch. The two heaters down the middle that Trout just missed had some hair on them but in mid-season form Trout crushes those probably 4 out of 10 times.
My suggestion is not to make too much out of or draw too many conclusions from that last AB of the WBC. Just appreciate getting to see it and, if anything, marvel at that last Ohtani pitch made under high stress. It was a thing of beauty.
That last pitch from Ohtani proves he is an alien with super powers.
The way it broke to the outside of the plate was the best of all time.
But seriously in the end…pitching and defense win championships.
https://www.mlb.com/video/ohtani-s-strikes-to-trout
That last pitch is something I will remember for the rest of my lifetime. I have watched it over and over and still cannot believe it broke like that. It was as good a pitch as I have ever seen.
Wonder if that will be a new pitch in Ohtani’s arsenal this year…amazing.
A slider? He’s always had a slider….
A Sweeper.
That is a slider. It’s just the hot new thing to say “Zomz! Sweeper!” or “Zomz! Gyro!” about a slider depending on if said pitch is more vert or horizontal. Or, if it’s like Ohtani’s you bug your eyes out a little and say it has two plane break. Zoooommmzzzz.
Ohtani throws a more sweeping slider because he has two effective vertical pitches, cutter and curve. Always has.
Splitter, not cutter. Cutters usually move arm side….
Ok dad coach. 😜
All I want to do when I see Ohtani up there with admitted cheater Afraud and the alleged doper Ortiz is hurl. Won’t even watch the interview. Will try and find a transcript of it. How Afraud is allowed to even be around baseball is unfathomable to me. Any cheaters should be banned for life.
The time leading up to the ultimate Troutani matchup should have been exciting to watch live if not for work, but overall great tournament with great games all around from the beginning.
With the WBC settled now, well, let’s do the one thing left.
3 Angels games on AppleTV this season.
https://twitter.com/macrumors/status/1638550715647008768?s=46&t=3pP7Z-kN6oKfFrW3jqFGhA
Yuck.
Not really any worse than super-bro Paddy, pimping HR’s like they just walked off a game 7 win
I want some Katsu Curry!
Katus “Alex” Curry, yum
Good morning my friends, I’m not sure today will be as edge of your seat exciting today or not after last night. Personally, the wet snow piling up outside needs attention, but my back and neck are screaming “Don’t do it.” and I am willing to wait a little longer to tackle wet and heavy snow. ❄
What did you think of the WBC rules that were played by? Blast from the past, but fun to watch, proving that Manfraud did not really need to start changing the game as much as he has?
The Medal ceremony was awkward, and why was Tony Clark involved?
Up next will be the resumption of NCAA Basketball Tournaments, then The Freeway series, Opening Day, The Masters, Kentucky Derby and more Baseball. Wow Wee, I do love sports, but I love MLB the best.