Good morning Angels fans! It is great being over .500, have some links!
Angels News
Last night, the Angels won against St. Louis. It was also the very first Angels vs Cards game that Pujols wasn’t in the starting lineup for. Seriously. New Era indeed.
Actually, it was weirder than that. With an Ohtani day off and Mike Trout 0-4, the Angels handily won with nothing from Troutani. Maybe the rest pull their weight when they can’t rely on the stars…
Speaking of Ohtani, he gets good sleep. You should as well. Sleep is why he is able to play so often.
Oh and it is too late to bet on Ohtani to win MVP. You would LOSE money if you did. Yes, in MAY he is already at a negative money bet.
Quijada has damage to his elbow. Not good.
Oh and Warren too. Out for a bit.
Tepera is back! And Wantz is back at AAA. That seems like a net negative…
Around Baseball
Rodon’s return is delayed. No one knows what is wrong.
German Marquez needs TJ surgery. Rough year for pitchers. And Rockies.
Meanwhile Harper has returned from TJ surgery. That was fast.
Players have some words on the new rules. I mean I have some words too and so do you.
Wish they would shut up during the game, but they are being paid 10K per interview so I guess that is why they do it. Ask better questions.
Jayson still thinks Oakland will have an MLB team in 2033. I mean, he has been at this longer than I have, but his reasoning seems weirdly optimistic.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
Lorenzen beat Sherzer today for his first win in Detroit- glad for him
Possible pitching help on the farm:
Coleman Crow (AA) 24 IP, 31 K’s, 6 BB, 0.63 WHIP over 4 games this year.
This follows on a 2022 that saw him punch out 128 guys in 128 innings at the same level.
Probably best to keep him stretched out for emergency starter.
Bullpen:
Kenyon Yovan (AA) 12 K’s across 10 innings. WHIP of 1.00. This follows 51 K’s in 31 innings in High A last year where his WHIP was closer to 0.8.
Yovan may be up the soonest, if only for a peek. Trouble is 40 man spot, so someone probably has to fail big first.
Q’s spot just opened up….
I see lots of concern over Loup, Tepera, etc, and sending down Wantz etc…
I admit I’ve lost track in the last few days, but didn’t we open up 2 spots because Q and Warren are gone? Won’t Wantz take one of those spots? Or did they already fill them?
Silseth took Warren’s spot. Devenski took Q’s spot.
Tepera reclaimed his old spot from Wantz
You’re never going to believe this, but one of our pitchers needs TJ surgery.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1653877255578304517?s=20
Totally unproven theory… but I wonder if his involvement in WBC at all contributed to this outcome. An unusual offseason routine, sudden ramp-up to pitching in high-stress games, etc etc.
Gubie talked about it last night on the air. Both Garcia & Urquidy who went down for the Astros earlier this week also played in the WBC
The fact that guys would be going into highly competitive situations where adrenaline is flowing etc (unlike Spring Training games) and alot is on the line, they could be tempted to overthrow… and as you say, without the preparation of ramping up to that level gradually through Spring games…
Voila ! ; you have a recipe for injury. Obviously, this applies alot more to pitchers than it would for position players, but they would not be immune either…
I think this is why the USA roster had an all star lineup but didnt necessarily have the best arms .
That makes alot of sense. Those big money arms saw the danger.
If Arte really cared about championshits he’d invest in better ligaments for all our players.
Cancel the WBC!
I absolutely love the WBC.
But I think we’ll see enough teams forbid their pitchers from competing as to make it a shell of what it should be next time around.
In which case, it might as well be canceled.
hold it in November in a warm weather country
Dome stadiums only
The way this guy overthrew every pitch, what’s the surprise here?
Remember the black triangle that Red Floyd showed us a couple of days ago ?
Anyone?
It shows the repeating cycle of being an Angels fan… Well guess what? TODAY is the type of day that diagram was made for ! We’ve won two straight and people like “BannedInLA” have called for a win today and have talked about a sweep… Ah, yes, the dreaded call of “sweep.” The naive cry of the overly-enthusiastic and short-sighted Angels addict.
This addict clearly doesn’t understand the Cycle of Addiction. Today is the day it rears its ugly head… Ohtani on the mound etc… Why shouldn’t we feel confident?
Just remember :
TrAdition.
So you’re saying the curse of the JHW is real?
JHW ?
John Henry. He’s something like one win and 7 losses when writing the post game piece.
He’s scheduled to write the piece today.
I might have to rearrange my schedule if this keeps up.
Make it so he only writes his post-game piece on off-days.
Yes, please do that Jeff !
Or maybe have him take on different assignments !
Thats cold Jack
This triangle got blow up tonight.
BannedinLA wins and you lose
Remember how many of you were angrily demanding Carlos Rodon get given millions of “commitment” dollars from your dad…. I mean Arte?
I do.
not me, i just wanted millions for deGrom
Perfect.
Thought you were the SS guy
Giants beats the Astros!
🙂
Heaney led Rangers took a pounding today – 12-7
Cy Rookied also — Dbacks top prospect made his debut – Brandon Pfaadt
This team could actually be in much better shape to make the playoffs if only Arte had opened his checkbook and signed some better pitching.
If he had signed Verlander, right now we’d be dominat… oh wait
If he had signed Rodon, right now we’d be dominat… oh wait
If he had signed DeGrom, right now we’d be dominat… doh!
I remember this.
Today
1 Neto SS
2 Trout CF
3 Ohtani P-DH
4 Rendon 3B
5 Renfroe RF
6 Drury 2B
7 Ward LF
8 Urshela 1B
9 Wallach C
Best possible lineup card with current roster
Gotta make the Unicorn happy with that lineup.
Renfroe should be hitting cleanup.
Absolutely….
Shocked. OCD speaks.
By the way ML has anyone let Renfroe know how you feel about this?
Cuz hes now only 6 for his last 32 in his last 8 games for an OPS of .518 ( in those 8 games he batted 4th twice and 3rd once so its not like his incredible talents are being completely wasted in the 5 hole lately.)
Career wise, Renfroe has always been a better hitter batting 5th vs cleanup. This year ( Batting 5th 74 PA’s .878 OPS vs Batting 4th ( 46 PA’s .787 OPS) has been no different
But if we all really hate Anthony Rendon do you think that could provide Renfroe with a sort of gravity assist that makes him into a reliable #4 hitter? If that happens, is there any way to do it without making Arte look good in any way…. cause Renfroe can’t be really good without it glowing on Arte right?
Renfroe isn’t a good cleanup hitter. He’s a free swinger with power. Those guys regularly hit fifth or sixth.
Agree, like a 6th or 7th to be honest
Angels win percentage by day of the week as of 5.2.23.
Monday: 2/4
Tuesday: 4/5
Wednesday: 3/4
Thursday: 2/4
Friday: 1/4
Saturday: 2/5
Sunday: 2/5
The Mamas & The Papas
Tuesday Wednesday, so good to me,
Tuesday Wednesday, it was all I hoped it would be
Monday Thursday, can’t trust that day,
Friday Saturday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Sunday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be
and for Shohei-day?
Looking at the “bullpen usage” chart for today, it looks like Tepera and Loup will be the relievers if Ohtani needs to exit.
Ohtani better go 8!
Better go 9
Someday this organization won’t keep doing embarrassing things. Chicken shit Arte and his cohorts. I swear the guy didn’t sell because he saw how happy the fans were he was gone and he’s just holding on out of pure spite.
https://www.reddit.com/r/angelsbaseball/comments/136pf8t/blum_heres_something_angels_reporters_are_dealing/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
They never cease to amaze me. They are definitely testing my loyalty.
FYI Rendon is playing like a winning player right now irrespective of any lack of power. He gets hits when guys are on base to score runs. That’s what counts in baseball.
As a fan, IDGAF how the organization treats reporters since they don’t play in the games.
I know there was some complain when the reporters were moved down the RF line; put him under a tent in the parking for all I care.
This is from Perry not from evil Arte unless you want to blame Evil Arte for hiring the Platypus.
So PTP wants to control the information coming from the front office and the coaching staff? Good for him I would too if I was running this team.
I know that this is such a gross injustice to all of us loyal fans who have a right to know what’s going on every waking second with this ball club but it should always be more about what’s in the best interest of the organization to put a winning ball club on the field without magnifying any distractions.
Poor Sam Bummer is riding in his whambulance again. he might have to finally get out of the passenger seat and do some real old school gum shoe reporting including talking to players and getting background and off the record that he can use judiciously to convey unreported events and actions.
In further shocking news, I also don’t tell the entire world how I do (and plan to do in the future) things that I do to make money that other people can’t do. I am also not transparent at all and would be yet another pickle up Sam Blum’s ass.
I hope things like this eat at people like you as much as they seem to.
Not a blum fan at all so whatever
I actually think Blum himself just kind of crosses the “populist prick” line a little. I don’t think it’s bad to have a reporter who asks hard questions and even posits theories for people to quibble over. But Blum has made himself the main character in most of his reporting, making him the brave geek who is standing up to The Man…. so that other sedentary twerps with a rebel complex can live through him and pay him.
That’s kind of lame. But a different guy. With a less pathetic personality. He could probably NOT have Blum’s Twitter persona but write mostly the same articles as Blum and it would be fine with me.
Like this current topic of his. It’s like Blum is either too stupid to figure out the fairly valid reasons for this policy, or thinks we’re too stupid and is acting on it. Either way he’s a hack.
Yeah but hes been on The View man.
And why was he on that show? Didn’t know they covered MLB… I see it on his twitter page, well I won’t say what I think of the view. Is he dating Joy Behar?
Hmmm You think he likes older black women?
Sooooo…. this = Angels. Hopeless. Right?
Stuff from Sammy. Can’t read, to cheap. Best not to request an interview Wise. Get near a pitching mound with him bad things will happen.
Interview idea for Sam…Interview Phillips about the HR hat, while wearing your little birthday dunce beanie in your Twitter picture.
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1653777507114536960?s=20
I got the Athletic subscription for $1 a month for a year when they had a special offer. I really like it so far.
I did too. Now I’m hooked. It’s worth the full price just for Sam.
You never have to pay the first price. Cancel, and they will offer it back to you at the same or a similar discunt
I did not know that. TBH I’m not really sure how much they’re charging me. I think it’s $8/m and I’m OK with that. Now, $85 for streaming cable to watch the games… I’m not paying for that.
Whoa ML. Are you allowed to say discunt on this site?
One thing we will both always agree on. We both enjoy discunt.
I’m not sure, in the midst of a tight competition, I would want to just be open to negativity while I try to maintain morale amongst “my guys”. Especially after last year. If I as a sort of leader I am saying “you guys can do it” why am I going to invite decent? My job is to encourage winning. I don’t have any duty to what ever version of “the truth” press boy wants to push.
I really wish he’d tell us the story behind his little hat. 🎉
Maybe we dont want to know?
Pujols is the worst contract the angels have ever signed imo.
We still got 3.5 years of Rendon and his 88 OPS+ and sub .950 fld % baby.
We still have “personal services” Pujols!
So far his WAR for the personal contract is a -.2
I thought it was a 5 year contract, so we’ve only got 1.5 left.
Worst contracts — see Wells, Vernon. See also Cozart, Zack.
Hamilton, gotta be Hamilton.
i agree that Hamilton was the worst. Some contracts are reasonable or good ideas that work out poorly. Others are bad ideas that work out poorly. Hamilton was a bad idea that worked out poorly. Pujols was a reasonable idea (I’m saying reasonable, not necessarily good) that worked out poorly (although not as poorly as Hamilton).
I rank them Pujols, then Rendon as of today.
Chris Devenski, Jake Lamb were all All Stars in 2017, so I have hope
Josh Hamilton was a multi-All-Star when he signed here.
and we haven’t made the playoffs since he left
Angels should have kept him… lol
Ouch!
Come on. You knew what you were getting.
Shohei Day!!!!
Amazing to be in 2nd place and over .500 when you consider both our 1B and our C completely vanished from the roster and are still MIA.
Hope those two are getting through it – we will need them.
Still no timetable for return
Angels general manager Perry Minasian told reporters before Tuesday’s game against the Cardinals that Walsh (head) continues to make improvement, but there’s no timeline for a return…
Impact Walsh was cleared to resume some baseball activities, but is still unable to ramp up enough to begin a minor-league rehab assignment at this stage. Because the left-handed hitter has missed so much time, he’ll likely need a lengthy stint in minor-league games before he can return to action. Once Walsh is healthy, he should see the majority of playing time at first base, but there’s no guarantee of that happening in the near future.
14 HOURS AGO
ROTOWIRE
AL West Leaderboards
Batting Average
Jarred Kalenic SEA .309
Mauricio Dubon HOU .305
Jonah Heim TEX .300
Mike Trout LAA .297
Shohei Ohtani LAA .294
Home Runs
Brent Rooker OAK 9
Adolis Garcia TEX 8
Mike Trout LAA 7
Hunter Renfroe LAA 7
Teoscar Hernandez SEA 7
Shohei Ohtani LAA 7
Jarred Kalenic SEA 7
Walks
Alex Bregman HOU 21
JP Crawford SEA 19
Kyle Tucker HOU 19
Ryan Noda OAK 18
Mike Trout LAA 15
Marcus Semien TEX 15
Taylor Ward LAA 15
Stolen Bases
Estuery Ruiz OAK 11
Julio Rodriguez SEA 6
Jeremy Peña HOU 6
Travis Jankowski TEX 6
Kyle Tucker HOU 5
Shohei Ohtani LAA 5
Jarred Kalenic SEA 5
Starting Pitcher ERA
Luis Castillo SEA 1.82
Shohei Ohtani LAA 1.85
Martin Perez TEX 2.41
Framber Valdez HOU 2.60
Jacob deGrom TEX 2.67
Strikeouts
Shohei Ohtani LAA 46
Jacob deGrom TEX 45
Nathan Eovaldi TEX 39
Luis Castillo SEA 38
Framber Valdez HOU 37
Relief Pitcher WHIP
Phil Mason HOU 0.27
Andrew Wantz LAA 0.71
Ryan Pressly HOU 0.73
Gabe Speier SEA 0.77
Sam Moll OAK 0.77
Saves
Paul Seward SEA 8
Carlos Estevez LAA 6
Will Smith TEX 4
Jose Quijada LAA 4
Ryan Pressly HOU 3
Thanks for these- interesting looks
Shohei isn’t walking much, but both Ward and Trout are, then Shohei swinging, then we all see Anthony walking a bunch too 🤨
Adolis Garcia is real.
I miss the days of higher batting averages.
Why are they so much lower now? The proliferation of power pitchers and 97+ mph fastballs?
Well, the Troutani tweet is misleading – sure Trout went 0-4 with 2Ks, but managed a walk and a run – so not nothing.
Good morning, second place is nice.
Winning always generates good things, unless of course, you’re the owner of the New York Knights.
Go Halos!!
Aren’t we in 3rd?