Good morning Angels fans! How are you today? Have some links!
Angels News
Angels lost last night after getting blown up by Baltimore. Silseth did not give the bullpen any help, not even making it 5 innings.
Oh and Tucker Davidson left the game after being hit by a comebacker. Like we need any more injuries…
But hey, at least Walsh looks healthy! Might be coming up soon.
Which is needed since the Angels are not healthy at all.
Want a Trucker Hat? Angels Have a Trucker Hat giveaway May 19th.
Around Baseball
Yankees got caught cheating! No, not the Aaron Judge stuff (maybe?), but their pitcher who got caught with the sticky fingers! We knew they were cheaters!
Kumar Rocker, the pitcher the Mets thought would break, broke the top 100 prospect list! And then broke his arm and will get TJ. He has since been removed from said list.
A’s fans super unhappy with the almost done move to Las Vegas. Attendance plummeted to 2K. Well, actually less than that, somehow.
And Wade Miley is injured as well. Brewers rotation is missing 3 members.
Somehow, signings in the DR have become even more insane. A 10 year old’s family was given 80K for 50% of the signing bonus in 2029!
Anything I missed? post below for upvotes!
50 years ago today Bobby V – remember it?
https://nypost.com/2023/05/16/bobby-valentine-still-lucky-fifty-years-after-horrific-injury/
he was definitely my dude in 1973 (he’d given me some broken bats in ST in PS and I was 12) it was major suckage – like Kendrys
“Named the Angels’ starting shortstop in the spring, Valentine began crushing baseballs immediately. He spent most of April above .400, and on May 2 was still hitting .397. He cooled off, partially because he’d been asked to move to center field — a position he’d never played before — to spell teammate Ken Berry, who was battling a sore back.”
So if I am not mistaken, the Angels had won every series against a sub .500 team and lost every series against an above .500 team so far this year. Until Cleveland.
So does that mean we should be able to win this series against Baltimore?
They lost the series to the Red Sox, who were below .500 at the time.
Well now I don’t know what to think
Watching Padres vs Royals game until Angels game starts. Padres are struggling at 20 win 23 loss thus far, already losing yesterday and now down three to Royals, likely losing the series. Padres spent woodles and noodles of money off season, as Mets have. Both teams are 20 win, 23 loss. Comparatively speaking, Angels are in a better shape so far.
Wantz looked good early in the year.
Wantz was left in far too long on Saturday.
Wantz looked horrible last night.
Here’s to hoping he was less than 100% and will bounce back. Knowing the Angels, that’s a lot of hope.
I would be way more likely to attend an A’s Angels game in Vegas than in Oakland and I guess that’s the point.
All well and good, but Mike T depresses me. He’s making me wonder if this might be his first really down year. I hope I am wrong: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2023-batting-leaders.shtml
OK, today helps.
Moniak has better stat line and off to a better start than even BFMarsh
OBP .500 vs .408
SLG 1.000 vs .525
This is classic small sample bias. All of us would love to see Moniak succeed, but most would wait at least for a couple of months before comparing the two.
most would wait
yes lol
Marsh hitting .283 now…..just saying
Ruh Roh. Didn’t we want this guy for Ohtani? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/dustin-may-leaves-game-early-due-to-elbow-pain.html
Dustin May can always replace Carrot Top in Las Vegas if this pitching thing does not work out for him. 😎
Today’s Starting Lineup:
Ward
Trout
Ohtani
Renfroe
Druly 2B
Thaiss 1B
Urshela 3B
Wallach
Neto
Similar to Monday’s lineup except Thaiss and Druly switched.
Last five games:
Ward .261 BA / 0 XBH / 0 BB
Trout .167 BA / 1 XBH / 2 BB
Ohtani .316 BA / 3 XBH / 4 BB
Renfroe .250 BA / 2 XBH / 1 BB
Druly 2B .200 BA / 1 XBH / 0 BB
Thaiss 1B .294 BA / 1 XBH / 3 BB
Urshela 3B .250 BA / 3 XBH / 1 BB
Wallach C .438 BA / 2 XBH / 0 BB
Neto SS .278 BA / 3 XBH / 0 BB
if you are operating with the hot hand philosophy of batting order construction, is this the order you are going with?
Trout at #9.
If you are acting with the hot hand philosophy of batting order, you look at more than just 5 games.
Canning in a day game, wind gusts up to 25 mph, wind at NW 13 mph spells trouble. The over under home runs 1.5.
it’s not a day game
Many of us are sometimes so rigid in our thinking that the series are consisted of three games, not four. I hope that this series being 4 game is the first sign that we will break the pattern of losing 2nd and 3rd games. Let’s win today.
yep, thought it was a 3:35 est game, that might save us a couple of runs
Doubt it…
4th inning? Here.
Bueller?…….Bueller? Bueller? …………..Bueller?
2 outs? Here.
Matt Wise? Here.
Canning is going to be on a short leash today. I think Phil Nevin saved Barria, who has not pitched for almost 2 weeks, for that reason.
The stadium faces northeast and a NW wind blows southeast, so that should keep balls to LF or CF in the park and might push balls foul in RF.
True NW or magnetic NW?
The magnetic pole shifting always works against us. Same as the umpires, sun and wind. TrAdition.
I thought Oklahoma blows because Texas sucks?
and Nebraska sucks – thats why Kansas is so windy
Wow, why the hate for Midwest? It’s not their fault that it is plain and flat and have no mountains to intercept the wind.
iirc, every stadium faces northeast…… or maybe that’s the NFL i can’t remember
Does that mean that moss grows on the batter’s eye in every stadium?
Every stadium is supposed to face this direction.
However, the minor league stadium in Bakersfield faces due West. Yes, the sun sets directly into the batter’s eyes while A ball pitchers, many not known for great command, go to work.
That’s what I grew up with. And why the Dodgers ultimately moved their A team away.
Most fall within the 90 deg from North to East, a few face Southeast, and Minute Maid park is every so slightly Northwest.
The facing direction of every MLB home plate : MapPorn (reddit.com)
OMG this truly is map porn. Love this.
I am offended by trucker hats. They don’t reflect my values at all. I’m boycotting! Let me see, who doesn’t have trucker hat giveaways….
ok, the A’s have Teacher Appreciation Night. I’m offended by teachers so forget that!
ah! San Diego with Straw Hat Night. I’m going to have to root for the Padres because I like straw hats that reflect my values.
Hey! I’m a teacher. If I’ve offended you it means you’re a bad student. Detention for you.
I’m not a trucker but I’m guessing you’re a bad trucker too.
I’m OK with Strawberries so I have no opinion, right or left..
You like Straw Hat, but what about Shakey’s , which was around before Straw Hat?
Shakeys was around before Straw Hat? What about Me n Eds?
Didn’t realize Me N Eds existed down here. Awesome.
We’ve been hitting the Lampost Pizza by Mile Square park after tee ball games.
truckers, suckers, puckers, muckers are all ok here.
just no Dutch – that’s the policy.
Not setting out to sounding protective of PTP as he done as well or better than the three GM’s who preceded him, but here’s the deal. In 2021 the team had a winning record on September 1st without Trout and Rendon. In 2021 Trout injured, just he came through when he did play and year two of stud Ohtani couldn’t lift the team higher as Fletcher was out as well as Rendon, we had no full-time position players at a lot of positions Highlights were Trout when he played, Rengifo was a good at bat as we’ve ever seen.
2023 was built to sustain injuries and still be competitive. Urshela, Drury, and Renfroe were all about making sure we could still remain competitive. The starting pitching has regressed this season and it was the strong starting spot. Bullpen had to be looked at through rose-colored glasses. Tepera and Loup could have been normal relivers and this season returned to being good. The life of most RPers is every other year type thing of good and bad. Moving Bullpen arms up the ranks and filling in for the inevitable injuries was looking decent, and seeing as Anderson was signed in addition to the other 3 FA’s there was little room for improving the BP, except he added our new closer and 8th inning set-up man.
Who knew that Walsh after a very good ST was to continue to have problems. Stassi’s hip issues would linger, Fletcher would not hit, Rengifo would regress and ditto for Suarez, Herget, Warren, Wantz, and even Ward and Trout.
On the plus side we have a Neato Neto, Thaiss looking for real, Ohtani being Ohtani, Wallach pretending to be Carlton Fisk, Drury and Urshela each play multiple roles and Renfroe being really good in RF.
This team is this close to going on a winning streak and the mood around here will change, and until then playing at .500 is got to work for now.
And that’s playing .500 against good teams. The Angels get to finish the month against the Marlins and the White Sox.
While I’d be thrilled with 9-5 over the rest of May, a more realistic 8-6 leaves the Angels at 30-27, on pace for 85 wins. An 85-77 record would have missed the playoffs by 1 game last year, so it isn’t quite good enough, but it’s only one hot streak away from a wild-card.
I ditto your opinion regarding Minasian’s work. I would like to add trading for Logan O’Hoppe. Yes, I do miss Brandon Marsh as you do. But, it needed to be done. I have a feeling that Phillies preferred Marsh over Jo Adell. Although Logan went down with his left shoulder rotator cuff problem, which no one anticipated, he will be the main catcher for the foreseeable future just as Neto the main short stop.
I agree with your giving a lot of credit to Thaiss and Wallach’s unexpectedly uplifting performance thus far.
I actually think it’s pretty nice that the Angels have two players who look like they can solidify the role of catcher and shortstop for the foreseeable future.
Honestly flipping Thor for Moniak may have been an even better move than the O’Hoppe trade. Its really early, but Moniak has been balling all year and has first overall pick pedigree.
Syndergaard only lasted 4 innings on Monday against Twins in a crazy 12 inning game, which was walked off by Dodgers. He has only one win against 3 loss record thus far. I appreciated his presence as a leader and setting close-knit culture amongst pitchers last year, but I don’t think he would have succeeded as a starter this season as Angels, so it appears as though the trade was more beneficial for the Angels.
Indeed.
When evaluating a GM, one must somehow try to include the moves they didn’t make, along with those they did. Of course, there is no real way to quantify the moves that someone doesn’t make.
He is sporting a roughly 5.94 era!
Yeah that’s what I was saying. The O’Hoppe trade was good, but PTP absolutely fleeced the Phillies on the Syndergaard trade. He gave away half a season of a mediocre pitcher and got back the first overall pick from a few years ago.
Yeah, that’s a can’t lose trade right there.
And don’t forget Bartee for Figgins!
Oh wait, wrong decade.
my take is a 10-game winning streak will erupt at any time.
pitching needs more consistency but the offense will sore runs
And Ohtani will sign a multi-year deal before the season? What are you smoking and can I have some?
He’ll sign, no worries – be patient
Arte will figure out the funding
Honestly, I truly hope he doesn’t. It will sink the franchise for many seasons to come. I hope he is traded at the trade deadline for a few good prospects. But you and I have gone back and forth on this before.
But for you – I hope all your dreams come true no matter how unlikely.
First and only condition for Ohtani to stay in Anaheim: Post season spot this year.
Money is not that important for Ohtani: Evidence #1 He came to the US before 25 yo and his first three years were for MLB minimums ($350K) until he became arbitration eligible. It is reported that he would have made at least $15 mil for first three years if he waited in Japan for 2 more years. Evidence #2 It is widely known that he does not spend for himself and save all the money he makes ($40 mil + another $40 mil from endorsements this year)
As long as Angels have possibility for post season on August 1, Arte will not trade Ohtani. If Angels do not make this season’s playoff, he will most likely go to another team. (Yes, that will make many Angels fans tremendously upset.) If Angels make the postseason, however, he will be willing make concessions with Arte; Ohtani more than anything else would like to win World Series. He will be like Tom Brady, who restructured his contract so that New England Patriots had more money to improve their offensive line. He understands that baseball is a team sport; he is keenly aware that Angels need to add better bullpen help (which he sees everyday), which requires money.
Coming to the U.S. early increased his international appeal, enabling him to get endorsements to make up the difference in the salaries.
Ohtani can get money + a chance to win, so he isn’t likely to take a huge pay cut just to stay with the Angels. He might take a small pay cut to stay and to avoid an off season of negotiations, but that’s still going to be $450+ million.
Man, I want some of whatever it is you’re smokin’
I appreciate the thought process but with all due respect- you have no idea what Ohtani is thinking. Nor do I.
I think Tucker left the game because he sucked, not because he was injured.
He was walking OK afterward but he probably has a little bit of a boo boo.
sucking is the new injured
The 15 day sucking protocol.
I used to call it the Disgraceful List but I don’t have an new term since MLB changed it to the IL.
Ineffective List?
Other candidates are: Inglorious List, Incorrigible List. By the way, highly recommend these movies: Inglorious Basterds and The incorrigible AKA the Bastard
Inquiring minds want to know: when hasn’t he sucked?
Ever since Minasian kept him rostered to prove what an awesome GM he is.
This year? April 1,2023, April 15,2023, April 17,2023, April 20,2023, April 24,2023, May 4,2023 & May 10, 2023.
And I actually thought he was grooving pretty good until he hit that batter and had the liner rocket off of his shin.
I think I like bullpen Silseth more than starter Silseth.
I think Silseth had good stuff, is it pitch calling or location or just needs to keep banging out innings?
Agreed, we need reliable long relievers more than starters who lose effectiveness around 60 pitches.
He doesn’t miss enough bats for my liking. Maybe with more experience he’ll improve.
Like Detmers, Sandoval, The Supplemental Kid (Anderson) and Suarez
I think PTP built the rotation to be more of groundball, let-your-defense-do-the-work type of pitchers. For that approach to work, the pitchers need to generate weak contact with their pitches, and the defense should sound enough to handle a lot of groundballs in a game, both good and bad hops The problems so far are the pitchers have had their own issues, and the defense has not helped them either. So the team is where they are.
Ohtani is really the only shutdown type of pitcher in this rotation. Maaaayybeee Sandoval and Detmers too, on the fringes. But Anderson, Canning (and Suarez) have never been known to miss bats.
It’s was never going to be a high-end rotation. It looked like a large collection of SP 4s and 5s. Who would you want starting a game two, let alone a game three in a short play-off series. We are simply not build to succeed at that level.
Best of a bad lot.
Silseth doesn’t seem to have the endurance to be a long-time starter. You just can’t be if you’re running out of gas by 60 pitches. Maybe he can be a “long” opener type. Does MLB still have those?
He does, its management that has been holding him back and limiting the outings
There’s nothing in his metrics that support that. I agree that management doesn’t make him better and encourage progression from where he is.
Silseth himself said it’s an issue for him (endurance), and so he worked in the offseason to build it, as well as get stronger:
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/03/16/angels-chase-silseth-banking-on-stronger-legs-new-pitch/
In fact, all of his metrics so far suggest he runs out of gas by the 60th pitch. That’s the reason WHY management was holding him back:
Maybe Elon can implant a chip in his shoulder or something to improve his pitches
well yes but in 1987, some people i’m sure were saying they liked Finley better as a reliever.
we’ll see – i’d love to have him in for 2-3 innings multiple times/week, but if Bachman, Suarez, etc are there in 2025, then who?
Coupled with all of the rest of what the Angels deal with, it’s obvious the Orioles ballpark is very favorable to lefty hitters. Somehow despite having numerous lefty starters, the Angels manage to start the series with three consecutive righties. The lefties would really have helped. Maybe Anderson will be ok on Thursday.
Suarez, left hander, would have been the starting pitcher, but everyone agrees that Suarez should be DFA’d or move to bullpen. Just to add some humor today, I think it was grossly negligent of Shohei’s parents, little league and high school coaches, and Nippon Ham Fighter former manager Kuriyama-san not to convince Shohei to become ambidextrous. In fact, I encourage Angels organization to file lawsuits against these individuals and Japanese government.
Silseth was just inserted into the rotation. Management could have played around with the order and let him pitch elsewhere while holding a lefty for yesterday. They didn’t of course. So 3 straight righties.
“Kumar Rocker is going to have Tommy John surgery later this week.” (Ranger MiLB)
Just wanted to post for those that think only Halo hurlers need to get TJ surgery.
This was in the cards since the first medical report done by The Mets when they originally drafted him. And this is why they backed out of the deal. He will be on the shelf for 2 seasons, come back and be kinda meh for the first season, then start becoming the Kumar Rocker that people were talking about in the draft.
Hate me some MFY but BOO HOO Toronto.
Your pitchers are tipping pitches…it’s on you.
As for Angels baseball:
Better to skirt the rules to gain an edge to win then to be squeaky clean and lose. Where is the Angels Bubba Harkins when we need him.