Livan Soto is back up with the big club. Let’s hope he remembers how to hit. Anthony Rendon is now on the injured list with his groin strain. Jared Walsh is still at Triple-A.
Rockies pitcher Jake Bird taunted the Phillies dugout so Bryce Harper charged him from the dugout. A bench clearing incident ensued. Here is the Jomboy video. Both Harper and Bird were ejected. Harper had earlier done some jawing in the same game including an apparent F bomb concerning the Rockies organization.
It appears the Athletics will press forward about seeking money from the Nevada Legislature. They have an agreement to place their stadium on a part of the Tropicana property.
Ryan Feltner has been discharged from the hospital and placed on the 15 day injured list. CJ Cron just went on the ten day IL with back spasms. Athletics right hander Mason Miller has flown to Dallas to get a second opinion on his forearm tightness. The Reds placed outfielder TJ Friedl on the injured list with an oblique strain.
What do you think? Is the pitch clock causing increased arm injuries?
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
This was posted on rotoworld. I’m posting it here with a mea culpa that I was completely wrong about wanting to draft him.
Rangers’ pitching prospect Kumar Rocker has been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his right elbow and will undergo Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery.
Ugh. The 23-year-old hurler had impressed through his first four starts at High-A Hickory, posting a 3.86 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 42/7 K/BB ratio over his 28 innings of work. He’ll now miss the remainder of the 2023 campaign — and likely the first few months of the 2024 season while recovering from the procedure.
So Billy really wasn’t trying to put one over on Bora$$?
Chase Silseth is starting.
And?
It’s his first start and I thought it should be Anderson, so I was wondering if there was a move I missed, but now I remember Suarez has a mystery ailment.
Yup, it’s called can’t-pitch-itis
Is Ward in a platoon with Moniak? I see him losing PT as he’s not playing well so far.
No
As long as Ward is batting well (he had two hits yesterday), he will be playing unless it is a scheduled day off for him. I think he does play good enough left fielder, but anytime he comes close to any fence trying to catch baseball, am I only the person who cringe and clench so hard that I need to check if I cracked any of my teeth or bones? He does play with bulldog mentality, which I like, but I am still PTSD from what happened to him last year when he pretty much collided with the right field fence at Angels stadium and he was not the same for the remainder of the season.
Not sure what well is but In his last 12 games (53 PAs) Ward’s batting .320/.340/.420 Ward seems to be more comfortable down in the lineup versus how he was in the leadoff spot last year.
Moniak will utilize his speed more than just about anyone in the lineup ( Phillips cant get on base enough to make a difference) I’m not sure he will walk enough to be an effective leadoff hitter but I was more impressed with his 2 stolen bases and his BB during his birthday performance than the HR.
The Angels do seem to be valuing platoon splits alot more lately. (Of course it helps when you finally have some depth) If Walsh was to return and Phillips was to be DFA’d they potentially could have anywhere from 1 to 6 LHB’s in the lineup at any given time depending upon matchups.
My guess is Moniak is up here to be used. It could be part of an evil stupid plan by PTP. We’re almost two months in. Trout/Renfroe/Ward have a had a bunch of innings. So has Ohtani at DH. Bring Moniak up for a couple weeks. get him a look at MLB pitching again. Rest all 4 of those other guys for various games in various ways while Moniak starts 3 or 4 a week.
If Moniak gets hot cool. We can trade Ohtani early for pitching and we have 4 or 5 guys who can rotate into DH.
REEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
It is a sinister plan.
Moniak and Silseth will replace Trout and Ohtani, who both get traded, with Rendon lumped in too.
With the massive $ savings, we acquire the entire Oakland A’s team and farm system and fold them into ours.
Does that mean that Angels get to add 9 wins that A’s had thus far this season? That would put us in the first place in American League West. Goody.
Also, as part of the merger, our new name is the Los Angeles Angels of Oakland in Anaheim.
By way of Las Vegas.
Sounds like a 4th outfielder. Is this the end of the samurai-helmet-loading-boy?
I agree with your assessment on Ward as a mediocre lead off hitter. His swings are pretty long, so he is going to have more swing and miss and subjected to streakiness. I think there are better choices. Moniak or Neto. Moniak obviously has been just called up with only two games under his belt. But I see that he has much shorter swings than Ward, and he is going to be steal threats once he is on base. (Angels are 28th in steal this season. Pittsburg leading with 50 while Angels with only 18, 6 of which are from Shohei). Neto is another possibility, but for some reason I cannot explain, I actually like Neto as 9th batter. When he gets on base, it is like having another lead off hitter.
Another matter is why don’t we use steals and hit and runs more? We have many fast runners including Shohei and Mike Trout. I would like to see using Angels quick players to put pressure on Orioles starting pitcher today.
No Clue. We won a World Series being aggressive on the base paths.
Better late than never. Let’s start using our fast twitch muscles today and win!
It would seem that Phillips will be the odd man out.
Moniak is the better hitter and he can also occupy the designated base runner role that Phillips currently has.
Once again, I’d love to see Trout bat leadoff for 2-3 weeks and let Ward hang in the bottom third of the order.
But wouldn’t Fatboy just clog up the base paths?
Of course, the Ohtani speculation rages on in the media.
I cringe a little when I see journalists post that Ohtani will likely not be traded, and reject a QO, and sign with a new team. One of the worst case scenarios.
Unless, of course, he has just won the World Series. Then my cringe would be far less.
It is still too early for official starting lineup, but I was wondering if Mickey Moniak may be inserted as a starter because announced Orioles starting pitcher is Dean Kremer, right hander, who pitched great against Braves and Rays in his last two outings, 6 inning each and winning both. I am thinking that Shohei’s neck strain may result in him being off today, which would put Trout in DH and Moniak in CF. What do you think?
I’m guessing Renfroe will probably get a day off but Kremers platoon spots are pretty neutral.
Wow, you were right with your guess!
Today’s Starting Lineup:
Moniak RF
Trout CF
Ohtani DH
Ward LF
Thaiss C
Druly 1B
Urshela 3B
Rengiho 2B
Neto SS
I like this lineup but Id like it even more if Walsh was playing in lieu of Rengifo.
No argument there. Something about “Patience is a virtue.”
When and if Walsh returns then what happens? Soto returned, and then who sits? No one really as long as Rendon is on the IL, he may yet be there for a while. (All the King’s men and all the King’s horses couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again 😄 🛠 ) Urshela was a smart pickup as we all could agree on, for Rendon will be a bonus showing up for 100 games. Drury at 2B with power doesn’t suck either.
im assuming platoon @ 1B when rendon gets back
Let’s not forget Thaiss. He may have played his way into extra ABs on days he’s not catching.
I am still not used to all this depth. What a crazy concept.
Depth is nice, but we are paying a price on defense.
I think it’s curable though. The Phillies proved that last year.
The first step to curing it is Walsh back at first base. He’d have gotten a few that Drury simply didn’t.
It won’t be a fix all, but it will help.
Agreed. I recently finished that book on Ken Caminiti you recommended it was amazing how important it was to his success that he had someone established like Bagwell or even Wally Joyner to throw to from across the diamond..
I wondered about that in yesterday’s game. I thought it was odd to put Thaiss in 1B when it looks like he’s finally settled on the catcher position, and also considering he’s played 4 straight games, plus a day game after a night game. But Phil might also have just wanted to give Drury a rest, and Lamb is in the minors.
Great. They brought up our former Groundskeeper just in time to shut us down before we leave town Tommorrow night.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/orioles-recall-cole-irvin.html
Or Thursdays afternoon. Cy-cole
Whoa. This is a 4 game series in Charm City?
Hopefully the Angels know that.
It’s 4…..But a getaway day lineup is forthcoming. So strategy wise it’s a Throwaway game, as we know usually result in a loss. A 5th-inning meltdown, lackluster offense, defensive brain farts, Rengafo Rengafing, Phillips late inning PR pick off, and of course scrubby pitcher with his best start of the year. Basically viewed as a 3 game series…. all part of the trAdition.
It sounds like Orioles starters are set for the rest of the series, but I would not be surprised to see Irvin pitch as multiple inning reliever as soon as today.
If something douche-y is said or done on a Major League Baseball field, there’s a 39.8 percent chance Bryce Harper is involved, per Elias.
Wow Grich, I’d expect that to come in around the 65th percentile.
Who knew!?
That’s a 🤡 clown stat, bro
😂 Todays Golden comment!
Yeah. Bauer’s out of the league now and Greinke only does annoying things sporadically.
Greinke’s just an autist, leave him alone. Haha
And hell leave you alone just as long as you remember to wash your hands.
Another 21.7 percent of the time, it’s Josh Donaldson
The “pitch clock causing increased arm injuries” theory will be an interesting one to follow. Obviously small sample sizes for now, and it’s still mostly anecdotal, but I wonder if it’s causing increased stress on the arm, elbows and shoulder to immediately do another pitch within 15-20 seconds. So far the pitch clock has been great in that it’s making the games fast and watchable, but if it’s indeed causing arm troubles, how fun would it be then to see a lot of pitchers go down? Will teams eventually pivot to limiting starters to around 5 innings/80ish pitches to lessen stress on faster pitching?
I wonder too if the pitch clock is somehow related to Ohtani’s recent bad outings. He’s our player so we notice, but Jeff Fletcher pointed out it’s not just Ohtani who’s been having rough outings so far:
I would like add Framber Valdez to your list. He pitched yesterday against Cubs but was taken off after 4 innings giving up 4 earned runs. His ERA is a little under 3. Why did he pitch like Cy Young against Angels and Shohei last week. Houston still managed to win last night to my disappointment and dismay.
The pitch clock is certainly a factor in why some pitchers are having issues, but double in Shohei’s case as he likes to call his own pitches.
I think the issues with the pitch clock are more quality than injury. Suarez, among others, apparently have been clocked (All puns intended) by the new rules.
We already have the WBC causing increased arm injuries so why not?
Soon – polar ice cap levels will be to blame for pitchers going down
No, it will be global warming. Summer is coming up soon.
I believe the pitch clock has been used in MiLB for a couple of years so you’d think it being associated (By some) to injuries would have already been posited by the baseball “Experts.”
There have always been fast operators on the mound in the past and I don’t remember any injury correlation.
Maybe the pitchers also need to dial back their velocity. Detmers is an example of someone who is throwing harder with decreased effectiveness.
So true, all of his pitches have more velocity this season and the BA’s against those pitches have increased as well.
Is that because generally The faster the pitch the straighter it is?
The depth that PTP built is kind of nice. Now we lose some and we win some. Much better than just losing some.
I hope Walsh regains his swing and becomes 2021 Walsh, because I still prefer his defense at first over everyone that has played 1B so far.
I am in total agreement with your opinion about his excellent defensive ability at first base. He probably could have caught several errant throws by Rendon earlier in the season.
Walsh doesn’t have the best range as a first baseman but having someone that can vacuum up pretty much every errant throw is so critical to the psyche and confidence of every infielder and pitcher on the team.
I love Wash’s commitment to maintain his defensive skills. I understand that he practices catching errant throws and overhead fly balls beyond first base in the foul territory before each game.
Where was he lacking? No one we played had better range, especially going back into RF or foul territory. Any liner headed towards 1B was caught lickedy split and he has a great arm to boot.
We agree that he was a vac at 1B, and he stretched out as good as anyone in the league, nah, both leagues.
I am biased, naturally, he has been a fav of mine much like Fletch, but even in his “bad year” of ’22 his kept his “D”. So I hope he returns guns blazing.
Walsh can also play some outfield and he was a two way player at one point (and thus could pitch the 9th inning of a blow out to save the bullpen).
Oh, no! You mean we will not see Brett Phillips ever again? I love his sub 60mph pitch that assures us that the gravity is still in place. Don’t you like to see MLB player hit that slow pitch softball toss like Rendon did from the left side?
It’s actually a boon to them team that we haven’t seen much of Brett Phillips. Because it means Ward/Trout/Renfroe has stayed relatively healthy and effective. This was what I was counting on to happen and why I agreed with the move to send down Moniak to AAA despite having a nice spring.
And this year, there’s Moniak and/or Adell to use instead of Rojas/Aguilar/Duggar/Harrison/Lagares/Sierra
1st-half 2021, please
Thanks for the update.
Looking forward to seeing Washy up with the club soon.
5 strikeouts in 3-games? I see he has not lost his touch.
Ohtani had a legit chance at the cycle needing double in the ninth.
Trout co-operated with a single to get on and Ohtani another at bat.
Only a single by our unicorn. Oh well, all his stats went up a little bit!
Trout walked actually.
Really edge of the seat stuff last night. Shohei is amazing!
Interestingly, he did not pitch that well for about the 4th time in a row, as his ERA has climbed above 3.00, but that’s a small nit to pick. There has been some talk among “experts” about a poor pitch mix leading to this, but it is way above my pay grade to know if this is actually true. I suspect normal variance during a long season.
+1
Also not sure what effect the revolving door at the catcher position has on his routine
I forgot about that. Obviously huge. He was pitching so much better when O’Hoppe was catching him.
Hmmmmm?
Which part is hmmmm?
Is it the catcher?
He needs a better catcher that he’ll listen to.
We Need Stassi back since we cant trade to bring back Machete.
Matt Wise has finally gotten to him. Took a while. You can’t stop The Wise One, can only hope to contain him. 😀
You have to give huge kudos to Chad Wallach and Matt Thaiss. Both of them have been playing well BOTH defensively and offensively. Shohei always pays respect to Senpai (his senior), so having a veteran catcher like Chad would work well for effective communication. Matt Thaiss will see playing time as long as his bat remains hot; he is hitting above 0.400 with RISP.
It is concerning how quiet the Angels have been regarding Max Stassi’s status thus far. It is similar to Michael Brantly of Houston, who was slated to return to Astros lineup but now shut down and uncertain whether he can come back before All Star break, let alone this season. I always wished Brantly to be on the Angels roster since he is a terrific baseball player, but from my perspective as Angels fan, I am happy that he may not be available for a while. Astros continue to scare me.
Big time – definitely they’ve done great and in my comment I didn’t intend to BLAME them for Shohei’s relatively poor performances but instead just to point out that a man of routine is working with a constantly changing routine. ✌️
Wallach has been serviceable with the glove. Thaiss is definitely improving but neither one should be a starting catcher for an elite staff.
Their strength this year has been their bat not their tools of ignorance. Actually the best defensive catcher in the organization that isn’t on the IL right now is probably this guy. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/angels-meibrys-viloria-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html
In fact it would not shock me if the Angels ultimately carry 3 catchers especially if Stassi comes back. Both Thaiss & Wallach have no options remaining. Thaiss is proving his worth enough to be able to play other positions. (He looked good at first base last night). Wallach is having a career year with the bat but has tendency to run out of gas if hes overused.
Adding a third catcher makes sense, especially if Thaiss is used as a super-utility, including catching.
With Brantley’s current health status Im surprised we didn’t sign him this off season.
Rodon too.
We could’ve also traded for Mondesi.
Raul?
No, Stassi should take his time, besides, I gotta bad feeling this is a very bad Stassi family health situation.