Carlos Correa would even boo himself. What a difference a year makes. Speaking of Twins, Kyle Farmer had four root canals and 35 stitches as a result of being hit by a pitch. Tyler Glasnow just left his Triple-A rehab start after only one inning with general left side tightness. Antonio Senzatela has forearm tightness down near the elbow. Uh Oh! Phillies closer Jose Alvarado went onto the IL with inflammation of the left elbow. Braves right-hander Kyle Wright expects to be on the injured list for a long time.
Jordyn Adams is drawing positive attention from MLB writers for his improved hitting especially slugging. Jared Walsh is off to Salt Lake City for his rehab assignment, which could be a short as three games.
Here is an article about an MLB pitcher who used ventriloquism and voice impressions to get opposing players ejected from games. Eventually the umpires caught on.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Eovaldi pitching well and someone that I will be watching forward to see if signing Tyler Anderson was a better deal for the club.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1656816528082317313?s=20
Cabbage getting a chance?
https://twitter.com/Kanyu_Halos/status/1656836063284060160?s=20
Our newest catcher…Meibrys Viloria
nice!
Hope he helps
20-18 is good. Ok, not great, but good. San Diego is 19-19. Are Padres fans giving up? Or do they realize there’s another 124 games to go? We should, too. We’re near where we want to be.
Yeah. But what about my PTSD and all the sand in my vagina!?! This team has been bad before, thus it can never be good again until it has been good again! Your favorite flavor is mediocre!
I get it. But I think 2-4 against the decent teams in the division does not bode well. But yes, from 30,000 feet 20-18 is not something to get upset about.
Angels Baseball and Softball Camps!
https://view.mail.mlblists.com/messages/1683848621935f4907b21dc5f/raw
I haven’t seen TootieTwo in a while. Kind of miss him. He was the vinegary Cholula splashed on the top of this CtPG omlet.
Not missed.
At All.
Not even a little.
OK, now you look like you’re just hungry for stink on a travel day.
You needed some emojis after this comment.
The Halo Way didn’t post any photos from yesterday’s game, but I did find this shot from 2021 that somehow seems apropos of the current Halofan state of mind.
I was thinking about some lyrics from a local theme park attraction
merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
merrily on our way to nowhere in particular
merrily on our way to nowhere at all!
All I see is Rengaso cutting one loose and Suarez making himself useful by spraying it down. Taking one for the team,
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1656719087844597760?s=20
The Angels scored 11 runs in their three-game set with the Astros. Here is the list of how many runs each individual Angel produced:
Remember, if you make a productive out that moves a runner from first to third, and then the runner scores later, you get credit for 0.50 runs.
3.25 Ohtani
2.75 Renfroe
1.50 Drury
1.25 Neto
1.00 Ward
0.75 Rendon
0.25 Thaiss
0.25 Trout
This is the third time Ohtani has led the team, tying him with Mike Trout as the Angels who have done this the most. Drury has surprised me. He is a solid complementary bat. He is the kind of guy like Jorge Soler/Steven Pierce/Ben Zobrist who winds up winning the World Series MVP.
And here is the Actual Runs Allowed/Batters Faced list for the Angel pitchers so far this season (with BF in parenthesis):
0.03 Estevez (79)
0.04 Moore (70)
0.07 Wantz (59)
0.08 Ohtani (182)
0.10 Sandoval (160)
0.11 Barria (81)
0.11 Silseth (35)
0.13 Anderson (147)
0.14 Detmers (136)
0.14 Canning (104)
0.14 Tepera (35)
0.15 Davidson (71)
0.15 Devenski (29)
0.17 Herget (42)
0.19 Suarez (123)
0.22 Loup (50)
Barria and Tepera were on the bottom of this list after the first series of the season, but both have been climbing. Estevez and Moore are elite. Kudos to Perry for finding them.
It looks like maybe the Angels would be better off with Barria and Silseth in the rotation and Suarez and one of Canning/Detmers/Anderson as the long relief guys.
Examining the Angels’ desperate need to add catching depth: ‘It’s concerning’
https://theathletic.com/4507774/2023/05/10/angels-mlb-catching-depth-matt-thaiss/
Didn’t we draft like 10 catchers in one draft a few years ago…what happen to all those guys.
ANTOHER CATCHER!?!?
Playing OF?
Note to self: start taking ventriloquist classes with son, become world class, get season seats behind home plate, utilize said ventriloquist training to help get opposing batters and managers tossed.
Ha! A regular Mortimer Snerd!
😆
Anyone else think it odd that the Yankees are still counting on a, now 30-year old, Jeffery Maier to spark their offense. I guess when you are last in your division you pull out all the stops (just the Yankee (fans) cheating again).
That was interferance…terrible call.
This proves that the view held by many that NYMLB replay eyes favor the Yankees followed by East Coast Teams.
Angels sign a bullpen arm to the minors:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/angels-sign-reyes-moronta.html
Reyes Moronta-Devinski
Out of all the coaching staffs that could fix a pitcher that needs fixin’, the Angels are the last place he should have come to……
Pitching for Dummies by Matt Wise
Chapter 1 – The lead off walk….. it’s bad
Chapter 2 – How to make 2 strikes your friend
Chapter 3 – How to make 2 outs your friend
Chapter 4 – How to navigate that tricky 4th inning
Chapter 5 – How not to shit the bed, after a mound visit…by me
Chapter 6 – The art of the shutdown inning, after your team scores runs
Chapter 7 – LOBsters are actually dirty disgusting bottom feeders
Chapter 8 – How to avoid The Meltdown inning when it’s not your fault (defense sucks)
Chapter 9 – How to politely point out the defense sucks without throwing
teammates under the bus
Chapter 10 – Aaron Loup and trAdition “Not ideal templates for Success”
Chapter 11 – How a newly hired bullpen coach becomes a pitching coach…overnight…The Mickey Callaway story
Chapter 12 – The true reason we suck and why the Baseball Gods hate us
Chapter 13 – Arte really is evil and why he will eventually fire me
It’s amazing all 13 chapters, introduction and appendix can fit all on one page.
Arte isn’t going to happy with the cost involved in keeping his belly satisfied
I resemble that remark.
His center of gravity is only tracked by satellite. Doesn’t have core muscles. He has a core, like the earth has a core.
He does have a cool nickname…El Tibo
Which means “The Chick” as in chicken?
Would enjoy a retrospective of guys we didn’t sign in free agency that were viewed as huge mistakes in the fan base/blogosphere
Off the top of my head:
Correa
Story
Strasburg
Corbin
Ryu
Keuchel
Moustakas
Bauer
Really emphasizes how important it is to be producing your own Netos and Detmers to avoid these trainwrecks.
I was on signing Correa all the way, oops. 👀
When even Steven Cohen had to back out of the Correa deal when he had already bragged to the world about how he snagged the best FA in the offseason, you know it’s THAT bad.
I know it is early, but you might be able to add many more to that list, as some of us (oops) were in on Trea Turner, Rodon, DeGrom, Contreras, and there are probably more.
I bunch of years ago many of us were keen to sign that guy named Ohtani… it looks like we all made the right choice on that guy.
We needed a SS for going on two years and yes it’s not my money I wanted Arte to piss on the luxury tax and get any of the best FA on market starting with Correa and Turner and down to Elvis.
Perry was betting on Neto – kudos.
I never wanted a pitcher in FA but we will need more for the playoffs it appears unless Detmers and Sandy step up.
I know we’ve debated on this forum for ages the goods/bads of signing expensive free agents etc etc, but I still feel at some basic level that Perry “probably” could have signed another solid pitcher somehow, if Arte had approved a higher budget. Which means that if Arte was serious about really making a push to contend in possibly the last time you ever see 2 of the greatest players in history on the same team… then he should have been open to spending more.
Instead, we are constantly trying to figure out who of Davidson, Silseth, Barria, Suarez, etc are going to pitch.
Yes, yes, I know that would equal more top-heavy and high risk, and the rest of the players on the diamond would all have to be guys making only $1MM a year blah blah blah
See, this is the problem with “getting a sense” etc. Sure, do that. But can you list the quality FA pitchers Arte should have got back before Jan? How many actually quality pitchers were there really?
Yes, I understand your point. I’m not as much saying that I think Perry should have been able to use foresight and pick all the perfect players that I of course can pick now.
It is more that we can see what a rough place this franchise is in (8 yrs?) yet it seems like a budget limit was more important. Weren’t there a number of mid level starters who singed for about 10-12MM AAV? That wouldn’t have been that much more, even crossing the tax barrier. The depth would sure have helped.
Perry acquired a bunch of good pieces. But it seems he was stopped short.
We have “yeah, the Angels improved their roster overall and might have a shot this year” instead of “the Angels did a fantastic job filling their holes and upgrading some positions, making them favorites for a post-season berth”.
I think he ran out of options, rather than running into Cheap Arte:
DeGrom
Verlander
Rodon
Kershaw
Taillon
Bassitt
Eovaldi
Morton
Syndergaard
Greinke
Lyles
Hill
Gibson
Bundy
How many of those guys who signed elsewhere do you think were being lured here? How many of those guys did you actually want? How many of those guys would have been a great deal of help these first six weeks? The list gets really short.
Add to that, you had no idea Anderson, Detmers or Suarez (or Ohtani sorta) were gonna struggle to the point that they have thus far.
I don’t think Arte would have refused an extra 12M for a good pitcher. I don’t think there was a pitcher all that good that was available to us. We went after Taillon and Bassitt (rumor has it) and they made sense but we got outbid, and even on that 50/50 split we’d be meh about Bassitt and pissed about Taillon.
Who is more valuable to your offense:
Player A with a .301 batting average and a .315 OBP
or
Player B with a .220 batting average and a .330 OBP?
Not enough information. What’s their SLG, tendency to GIDP, stolen base potential, and defensive ability?
.315 and .330 OBP are pretty close, so I would lean toward the player with the higher average, because singles can move runners from 1st to 3rd or drive in RBIs even when the bases aren’t loaded. However, that changes if the .220 guy hits for power and rarely hits GIDPs, while the .301 guy is always slapping grounders.
Tell me their respective Slugging % numbers and I’ll answer the question.
I’d have to go with the better BA here. The difference in OBP isn’t enough to warrant the low BA for the second hitter. It would be interesting to see what FanGraphs would say about it.
Let’s assume they are both singles hitters. 3 singles every 10 ABs; 2 singles every 10 ABs. Getting on base 32% of ABs verses 33% of ABs.
I’ll go with the higher batting average, but there’s really niot enough data provided to make a thorough evaluation.
Let’s say the two players have identical SLG, so the question is whether it is more important to not make an out (higher OBP) or is it more important to put the ball in play (higher BA).
You could also throw in the caveat that not all outs are created equally.
In extra innings, a leadoff ground out to first or deep fly is more productive than drawing a walk because it advances the runner. Hitting safely would be even better.
Situationally, a .220 batter could be better than a .301 batter if their outs tend to be productive rather than of the strikeout variety.
Last but not least, a .300 hitter always looks sexier on a stat sheet.
Take the the .300 hitter.
A based loaded walk scores 1 run.
A based loaded single often score 2 runs.
Also, a single is just way more manly than a walk. I always opt for manly.
Agreed. Not in a West Hollywood sauna in the 1980’s kind of way of course. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
why must Ward at Leadoff continue to be a thing
Don’t want to overload Neto. He’s already an everyday player at under 25 years of age.
Ward is likely to “find it” IMO, but that being said, I would give Trout a go at leadoff. It might spark him and help the team.
He’s got a .799 OPS in May. Why am I angry at Ward in lead off? Who would you prefer? Neto? Sure, CtPG has a strong predilection towards young white men of less than average size, so I get liking the guy, but his OPS is like ,530 something in the same time. Who else can we stick there? Trout? .598 OPS….
Renfroe and Trout look so much alike it’s weird…seperated at birth?
Here are some AL West single season records for a boring off day. The Western Division was created in 1969 when the Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals were added to the league.
Batting Records
145 Walks: Harmon Killebrew 1969 MIN
.390 Batting Average: George Brett 1980 KCR
130 Stolen Bases: Rickey Henderson 1982 OAK
157 RBI: Juan Gonzalez 1998 TEX
57 Home Runs: Alex Rodriguez 2002 TEX
262 Hits: Ichiro Suzuki 2004 SEA
27 Hit-by-Pitches: 2002 David Eckstein ANA and 2021 Mark Canha OAK
Pitching Records
383 Strikeouts: Nolan Ryan 1973 CAL
27 Wins: Bob Welch 1990 OAK
62 Saves: Francisco Rodriguez 2008 LAA
223 ERA+: Justin Verlander 2022 HOU
Fielding Records
512 Outfield Putouts: Chet Lemon 1977 CWS
70 Catcher Caught Stealings: Jim Sundberg 1978 TEX
70 caught stealing by Sundberg is never to be equaled, Chet Lemon’s 512 putouts is safe too.
Gonzales and ARod’s records are with PEDS, so are not really records imho.
Rickey and Ichiro records will never be eclipsed.
Great info here, thanx.
I’m impressed with Killebrew’s walks. I was sure Rickey Henderson was going to have the single season ALW record.
I’m thinking the only one we might have a chance of beating is Neto with the Hit-by-Pitches…
😂
Ricky was a fun ballplayer and of course a great one.
We all have had nagging questions in the back of our heads and wanted to ask a question, but didn’t. So here is one, is Rendon’s fielding problems part of all his medical issues? And if so is he IL bound? We are waiting with bated breath for the answer to that question, right?
Another question, will we ever see David Fletcher return to the Bigs? My guess is that fan fav Fletch will return to the majors-possibly with another team though.
Anyone here surprised that Marsh is kicking ass and taking names? I can honestly say No I’m not and that I saw it coming. He will improve for a few more years and will have a stellar career as his power numbers improve. God I wish he was still here.
Fletcher was exposed and still has not found his groove. His .643 OPS in the thin air of the PCL is not going to going to lead to another MLB job.
Fletcher will show up somewhere again because of injury somewhere else and his glove.
Fletcher won’t be a free agent until 2026, look for him to sign with a low payroll team like the A’s at that time.His other chance is to get traded to a playoff contender that wants a pinch runner and defensive replacement (possibly because of an injury like you said).
I wanted him to be Eckstein 2.0, too, but I don’t think we’ll see him in an Angels uniform again.
I still have hope for him. Defense is a plus, and he’s versatile. He’s hit in the MLB before, so if he goes all “stephanic” in SLC it will mean more. He has bat to ball skills, he just needs to get them sharp again. He is also getting paid, so he’s likely to get a shot at earning his check.
There’s no reason it’s impossible to think that, if he can get a high OBP/BA going in SLC and spend some more innings at SS to make him a true IF/OF guy, that he can’t be a serviceable low pop utility man down the line, especially if the cost of Rengifo goes up or Soto doesn’t develop.
He definitely has bat to ball skills, his problem is using them to often.
From ’21 – ’23 he’s been swinging at ~5% more balls and ~10% more strikes than he did in ’18 – ’20. That’s resulted in less walks and a massive drop in BABIP because he’s making weak contact on borderline pitches.
But yes, if he can get his OBP up then he could definitely come back to the team. I hope he does.
You forgot the “gritiness” factor
Small. White. Grit. Good.
Is that the NFL equivalent of white WR’s – Good hands, good route runner and deceptively quick.
Fletch May be done which makes me sad. He had a nice payday.
But.. he’s a FAN FAVORITE! Who cares about all those silly statistics, he’s ECK 2.0!
Nagging injuries on top of an aging body effect Rendon’s power and fielding. Another trip to the DL isn’t going to fix this, but is necessary. He can still take a walk and poke weak singles buy that’s about it. He killed Canning yesterday with his lousy fielding He will take over at DH next year when Ohtani signs with the Doyers and Gio slides over to 3B. Fletch will return when Rendon is deactivated. Marsh needed a fresh start with a team that could unlock his potential. Amazingly, we got fair value back, which temporarily filled a gaping hole on our roster.
Wait. You don’t like Rendon? Why haven’t you said something?
FYI – Rendon is leading the Angels (tied with Ohtani) in productive outs and has the highest baserunners scored % among regulars. He’s also 3rd behind Ohtani and Trout in WPA.
In other words, Rendon has been one of the most effective hitters for the Angels. If he goes on the DL, the Angels are likely to lose more games from losing his bat than they are to win more games by replacing his glove.
Or just a hiccup? Because he defense smells like ass.
Bo Jackson says he ‘smelled the ass of a porcupine’ to try to cure his yearlong hiccup hell
https://nypost.com/2023/05/10/bo-jackson-smelled-ass-of-porcupine-to-try-to-cure-hiccup-hell/
That was a terrible performance yesterday by Rendon, but last week he made some pretty nifty plays. What irritated me about yesterday was pulling Canning when he wasn’t getting hammered.
7 errors are the 2nd most in MLB, on a team that is 29th out of 30, after almost 1.5 months of the season. It’s not likely a fluke at this point. I’m sure we will soon hear about a health-related issue with his fielding, which is understandable. I hope he can work through it. With that said, there is no one I rather have hitting with runners on base. And he has made his share of great plays. Still not selling my Rendon stock. He’s not the problem with this team.
I think it’s a case of the “yips” but time will tell…
Too Cool Tony? Yips? Doubt it.
Maybe compensating for wrist injury? Seems to be dropping down a lot lower, lot more side armed. Less zip thus a quicker release? My experience playing 3rd base is limited to 26 starts with the Toledo Mud Hens back in 1956, so what do I know
https://youtu.be/qfwuaJkZBnE
Yeah. Seems like rust/yips. He can still throw the ball hard. I even saw him play at Rice, where he went because he’s so damn stupid, and he had that “drop down” throw thing going on then. It’s just no one cared because he threw to to the other player instead of to ghosts. I don’t think he hurt, but who knows.
No Halo baseball today…I hate off days.
The team seems to be undefeated on days off, so what’s not to love?
See GhostGuest post above…BORING!!!