The Mariners have a minor league deal with catcher Pedro Severino, who recently opted out of a minor league assignment with the Padres. The Diamondbacks just released Jandel Gustave. He has an ERA of 16.43 at the Triple-A level this year. Yikes! Miguel Andujar accepted his outright assignment from the Pirates. The Mets woes continue. Outfielder Tim Locastro will undergo thumb surgery. Dustin May is now officially on the 60 day IL. Drew Pomeranz of the Padres just underwent clean up surgery in his elbow.
Corey Kluber is struggling so the Red Sox moved him to the bullpen. Happy birthday Bartolo Colon! The Reds just designated Silvino Bracho for assignment. I still think that name sounds like a character in a gangster movie. The Rays designated Zach Burdi for assignment. In other Burdi news, Nick Burdi of the Cubs just underwent an emergency appendectomy.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Right now, this very moment, 7:42PM, I feel like Aaron Loup has just left a meeting and is packing the stuff from his locker…. I am using the power of attraction for the first time. I have heard so many strong, intelligent, independent women tell me I need to try this. I think I feel it working……
If this doesn’t work maybe astrology will?
As an avid Shohei apologist and fan of As the World Turns (around Ohtani), I have to share what was reported on the Nitoryu Samurai in Japanese newspaper today.
Shohei placed Kabuto helmet on his pal Sandoval after his homerun yesterday with Shohei pretending like he was taking a picture of Sandoval with the hat.Shohei was included in a photo session with Taiwan Rakuten Monkeys cheerleaders. He did not look comfortable or happy
You’re right: he doesn’t look comfortable here.
How are Japan/Taiwan relations???
I’m sure Pornhub has a category. Kiyotchan will research it. 👍
Taiwanese people for the most part express favorable feelings toward Japan, direct contrast to how some Koreans openly harangue their hatred for the neighbor country. Even though Japan occupied Taiwan as part of rewards for winning a war against China, the representatives from Japan worked well with local Taiwanese to modernize much of archaic infrastructure (abandoned by mainland China), established Japanese style educational system, and started profitable commerce and agricultural activities. If you visit Taiwan, even now the old generation can still speak, write, and read Japanese competently and they would thank Japanese that they were taught in Japanese school.
Baseball has also been popular in Taiwan because of Japan. Before World War II, there was a high school from Taiwan who qualified to enter the famous Koshien tournament and made all the way to final but lost a close game. I read that close to 90% of Japanese natives were cheering for the Taiwanese. They recently made a movie about it. I would say baseball has been a great ambassador between them.
Thanks. Yes, I knew about the Korea/Japan thing due to history. In my middle school days I had a Korean friend and a Japanese friend for whom this exact dynamic played out that you described. As for Taiwan that was interesting info that I was unaware of.
SHOHEI! I”M HERE TO HELP! I’ll take the three on the left! Onward to victory!
Gary Sanchez DFA’d. No, we don’t want him
Why wouldn’t you want a bat first catcher who can’t hit? Did I mention that he’s also a poor defensive catcher? Pretty sure that after considering things you’ll see the merit in my argument.
I commend Minasian and Angels scouting department for NOT signing Sanchez along with 4 SS with 3 of them with $300M contract and Carlos Rodon ($162M x 6Y) among others.
Just work a little harder. You can find a player that the Angels did not sign, trade for or draft that turned out to be good and then post a picture of him every other day.
Folks around here will love you for it.
Speaking of guys who we didn’t draft, the Cubs just sent Nick Madrigal down. He’s a guy I wanted to draft. He’s also a guy that got brought up to the bigs quickly. He has not worked out, even though I thought he’d be good.
You are talking about one of the five former Oregon State Beavers on MLB teams (Kwan, Rutchman, Larnach, Rasmussen, and Madrigal) who won the
College World Series. I was a bit worried about both Kwan and Madrigal being small framed and lack power to hit for extra base or homers. Both of them are decent defenders, but not spectacular. I assume he still have options, and I hope that he will continue to work hard to return to the active roster.
Perry wanted to, Mets clipped him
This is what the AL West Career Home Run Leaderboard looks like after Trout’s home run last night:
take away roids and Trout is already in second.
First Trout became the Angel franchise career leader in home runs. Next, he will become the AL West career leader in home runs. Will he ever become the American League career leader in home runs? Or the MLB career leader?
The answers to these two questions explain why we should be celebrating Trout’s ascension onto the ALW throne, which for him so far has been a thirteen year journey.
Man, people forget Juan Gonzalez…. He was a beast of a man. Hit the ball harder than hard, like the hated Yordon Alvarez today. In a Spring Training game as a kid I saw him hit a double to left center field. It hit the wall on the fly. We didn’t have to look up to track it. The damn thing probably never cracked 30ft in altitude the whole time and still hit the wall on the fly. He swung very hard.
Also a roid user allegedly… As was his teammate Pudge Rodriguez.
Yeah… in that era I just don’t care.
Sam Bachman to get called up to the big club. Alright, we get to see what he can do.
still no word on the move or on the counter move.
Always ready to give out credit where credit is due, how about our favorite Piñata figure, Luis Rengifo, who made a spectacular throw to Chad Wallach to get Rafael Devers at home in 1st and 3rd with 2 out situation in the 2nd inning yesterday. It is remarkable in that this happened right after Neto’s “error” (official score was a hit) which, if caught, would have been routine double play.
I think that nipping the opponents scoring opportunity especially after an error in the bud in early portion of the game is essential in establishing positive momentum for the remainder of the game.
Great play, but if he is always being replaced for a better defender in the late innings AND he cannot hit, why is he on the team?
If we had David Fletcher of 2018-20 seasons, we would not be discussing this. In my mind, he is still one of the best 2B in current MLB. I would love to have seen Fletcher-Neto tandem in making double play.
That was a great play. True dat.
Like others here, very baffled at the selection of Bachman over Yovan or Joyce.
Joyce has actually been better than his ERA indicates. His intermittent control issues, like Bachman, are probably explainable by the experimental tacky balls being trialed in the Southern League, but his velocity has been more consistent, and he’s very used to working out of the pen. Bachman hasn’t worked out of the pen once this season.
Bachman has walked 10 guys in 8.1 IP this month, to 6 Ks. Joyce has appeared five times out of the bullpen in the past two weeks, and only walked two guys, with nine Ks in 5.1 IP. On performance, elevating Bachman over Joyce just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Meanwhile, Yovan’s performance speaks for itself. He’s excelled both in the normal and tacky ball environments, and has recent experience in high-leverage relief scenarios.
Maybe it’s more than just the numbers. He was the No1 pick and Perry’s rep is on the line and he has got to account for a guy who has been less than stellar. Let’s see what he’s got, he is the most experienced.
He’s not more experienced than Joyce in a bullpen. Joyce has been exclusively a reliever since college.
Not sure the component metrics support Bachman over Joyce either. Neither does my eye test, or scouting reports – Joyce remains a darling of scouts going back to ST, and that despite occasional control issues at AA.
But the biggest issue is that Bachman has only pitched *twice* in May (once in the past two weeks), and didn’t have a clue where his ball was going in either start. Joyce has been a reliever going back to college, and is being used 2-3x per week
If it’s about GM rep? Not sure how Minasian benefits from promoting a pitcher badly struggling in AA to an unfamiliar role in a competitive divisional contest. It would seem to benefit neither the player or the team.
(edit) And I supported the quick O’Hoppe and Neto call-ups, btw. As well as the Silseth bullpen conversion. These are all rational moves. Bachman feels like a noodle toss.
front office priority then right?
“#1 drat choice does good” = FO and Scouting are genius!
The Angels need to fortify their middle-inning relief corps now that Barria is starting, Silseth is being moved to later inning duty, and Davidson is proving to be somewhat untrustworthy.
In spite of his unseemly 5.81 ERA but probably because of his tremendous man-beard (such heft!), the Angels have called up their former first round draft pick Sam Bachman to help out the club, the promotion occurring about three decades after the unrelated release of Belgian techno anthem, “Pump Up the Jam.”
https://youtu.be/9EcjWd-O4jI
Almost forgot to rec POTJ. Gotta do it so we win.
Technotronic got their name by combining “techno” meaning a sort of dance music, and “tronic” meaning “tronic.”
Meaning “Of the movie Tron”.
Sly Cunk on Earth reference there. Best thing about that show was its identifying the centrality of Technotronic to all of global history.
Perry personally scouted this guy Slinging Sammy Bachman. He’s his biggest fan.
Proof? Source? Eh.
“I see the things that aren’t there. I’m not biased, the rest of the world is.”
Interesting to read your take.
I was very dubious of the whole thing when I saw it, but decided not to post something negative because I figured maybe I just don’t know what I’m talking about.
But you know what you are talking about.
And it just verifies what I already thought, that this move makes no sense to me.
Could be getting called up somehow linked to him being part of a trade sometime soon?
I’ll play contrarian to general sentiment: The front office has been making some rational moves of late, so it feels odd when they don’t.
None of this is to say that it *won’t* magically work – the new tacky balls in AA have not meshed with Bachman one bit, so maybe they just need a neutral environment to see what they have in him.
But, one, it seems like you’d want to given him 3-4 weeks in the Panda bullpen to adjust, and two, in my stack of things that “just might work”, this isn’t really at the top.
Yeah. It’s like when a friend declares “I went with the Nissan Altima!” and you’re like “O KKKK… I guess?”. Out of all the options available right now? His only key features are heat and a slightly longer battery life.
We’re less than two years from that draft. Most clubs don’t have anybody from that draft on their roster and plenty of college draftees are in AA ball right now.
Perhaps Perry just believes in him more than everyone else. Maybe he’s seeing what he loved enough to make a first round pick rather than the full picture.
I’m eager to see him. Perry personally scouted this guy. He was a reliever risk selection but possessed good hard stuff down in the zone.
Yeah. Unless we’re talking about a top 5 pick I think “reliever risk” is kind of a hot new topic for blither. Pitcher in HS or college? Yes? Reliever risk.
I am all for drafting SOME pitchers who just plain throw gas, since it can’t be taught, hoping they can learn a third pitch and hold velo, and then when you “fail” they just become a dominant pen arm. Don’t do it all the time, but sometimes? If you can’t get the top college starter? Sure.
My guess is that Perry didn’t sit there alone in a room beneath his custom Sam Bachman #1 Pick! poster and just make the call for OVERDRIVE because his feelz.
I’m not a real GM, and thus I am even far far different than a POBO, but I will still bet good money that he asked some guys in Madison about this, probably talked to some guys in the Angels FO too. Maybe looked at some video, read some shit on a screen or some paper. As did some other guys. he might have even (gasp) talked to Nevin.
I’m not a detective. But I bet that happened. I feel confident PTP wasn’t sitting there alone, desperate for validation, calling up his boy.
My only guess as to reason is that Bachman throws hard (unlike most of our pen) and can likely last more than one inning since he’s been starting. Maybe that is more what the team wants now. For all we know it’s for a week, just to semi-rest a couple pen arms.
Adding if I may…Sam and Joyce both throw hard, both will be on the ML roster this year, see what they can do. Likes both guys, only needs one now and feels Sammy is slightly more ready to contribute, for one reason, or 3 small reasons. “From you” length to go 2 innings being a possibility, or maybe a pitch he has in that arm cannon they are liking a lot, will play well up here. Maybe they just feels that he’s slightly more healthy. Maybe PTP overnighted a Fedx box of MLB balls down “Alabama Way” and had them throw….picked the one who threw them better.
The other guys will will likely be up here….sooner, or later. Or maybe it will be someone else? Good thing is, it looks like the boys are in an old fashion competition and they know they aren’t far off being called up. And guys they’ve played with (THIS YEAR!!) are up and contributing… and they can be next. I’d say that’s a great F’ing dilemma to have.
Oooorrrrr….. ER NER! TOOTAL UNPROOFEN PLAYAR CALLED UP INSTEAD OF TOOTAL UNPROOFEN PLAYER! SO ANGER! PERRY IS STUPIDZ CHILD MAN WITH MOH TIVS! ARTE!…. i see dee eefil.
The ONLY angle I can conjure is they want somebody who can replace Barria as a 2-3 inning guy and Bachman is more suited to that.
The corresponding roster move will be a DFA of Loup or Moronta.
Hopefully Murphy or Yovan is up soon to replace the other.
Yeah. I think this is it. I think they are letting Ingram, Murphy and Yovan simmer a little longer. This is why Webb’s been up too. Those guys are all on track to help us in the 2nd half when we need it.
Bachman can actually go down and start more games in AA. He clearly needs to build up more if his velo drops at 3 innings. The Angels probably want that. Why am I guessing this? Because he held velo well past 3 innings in college.
Your rational thinking is too sensible.
I’d rather insist that Bachman needs to be our future ace starter just because he was a 1st round pick (so “expectations”), and freak out that we’re calling him up early to be a reliever, possibly rushing him and messing him up like how some people think we did with Adell.
I’ll be OK as long as the pile of Kachanovicz, Detmers, Bachman, Bush, Marceux, Silseth, Joyce and Jake Maddon produce at least some competent starters and relievers. And I don’t care who does what. None of these guys were 1st over all picks or anything. If we get nothing out of that pile long term then I’ll be like “ERR MAI GIRD! FAY YELL YER!”… in about 3 years.
We also literally have that entire pile of other arms from 2021 like Olthorff and Murphy as well as guys from last year like Mederos, Phansalker, Phillips, Dana, Southard…. PTP did exactly what I wished for and got a friggin PILE of arms, hell even 1B guys in his system become relievers. PLUS the 1st round pick he used on “not pitcher” is Neto.
This general direction is what I wanted, so I can’t complain now.
I wonder if CtPG Donkey is still angry about skipping Kumar Rocker. He was so tender that day when all the MSM draft guys were piling on us for that.
Actually, this reminds me. You guys want to know who my dark horse end of the year bullpen arm is? Check out Tri-City’s closer Kelvin Caceras. He and the more well known Robinson Pina are both looking pretty sick, even if it is just Tr-City…. where offense goes to die.
Yeah I wondered this too. My guess is he’s stretched out more and could give more length in the bullpen than the 1-inning guys
If he’d harnessed his control at all in recent weeks, I’d say sure. But he walked six in four in his last outing, and has suddenly shown flyball tendencies this season. That’s not at all who you want in long relief at this point.
We’ll see.
Meh . what ,are we trying to incite a riot here, TT? Before you get everyone’s panties all balled up into a wad, go look at all of Bachman’s 6 starts.Other than the one start where I’m sure the Dupont tacked balls ultimately led to a GS meltdown, he’s been pretty damn dominate in the first 3 innings of each of those starts, And, like Zach Neto, Im sure the Angels saw something in spring training that they feel very strongly thy can build upon.
On the other hand , Joyce has finally strung together 2 relatively clean relief appearances in a row, after many out of control and embarrassing appearances . I get the league experimental ball problems, but walking 12 batters and hitting 5 more in 10-2/3 innings takes a while to get over. I’m sure Joyce will make it up to Anaheim sometime this year, but I would want to see more consistent control from someone that can seriously injure his opponent with a wayward pitch.
Relative to Yovan, I think it’s great hes anchoring the backend of the bullpen when almost everyone appears to have no idea where their pitch will go, but his K/9 is not anything to write home about. Yovan is a feel good story and I’m happy hes found his niche in the bullpen after wasted years trying to hit , but not knowing the scouting reports on the appearance f his arsenal of pitches , I’ll leave it up to the Angel brass to figure out whether he’s ready or not. I’m sure, like Joyce his time will come very shortly.
So please tell us what is wrong with Yovan? Is it because he doesn’t have the 100mph fastball? All he has done is get batters out. Plus he was an excellent hitter in college.
Yovan might have been a better call up from AA. He’s been killing it there- closer, with 0.51 ERA.
It’s still May and Moore/Estevez have have pitched a ton so we’ll probably see him too.
And Joyce….and Torres…And Soriano
But hes not as sexy.
Minasian
Step 1: Turn starter prospects into relievers
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
I like it.
9 relievers on staff.
I remember Minasian saying we cannot have too many effective pitchers in one of his interviews.
Sam Bachman getting called up!
https://twitter.com/samblum3/status/1661783898848890886?s=46&t=b3GzRpbtEWhzBnN_52yN2w
No restraint with the kids this year. Big arm, two pitch guy that could play better in short stints.
Agree.
I really like his power arm. I think he is well-suited to the bullpen, though alot of folks here had him pinned as a starter. I like the long term potential as a pivotal piece of the pen. I have my fingers crossed…
That sticky ball at AA makes it hard to read how he’s throwing. He had a 5.81 era.
I’ll leaning towards trusting that Perry knows.
if you look at his AA starts he definitely loses steam after about 2-3 innings. Silseth has the same problem
Damn weakling kids need to mix in some cardio and build up their resistance.
That could mean he’s an ideal candidate for the bullpen. Go all out for 3-5 batters !!
He’s had starter innings, which is good for his year two development. But hell yeah, for this season’s needs, if he can throw 30 innings out of our pen too, maybe even hit 70 innings for the season, while helping the Angels that’d be great.
Just gotta watch the walks.
Walks…
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1661789371463524354?s=20
So what we’re all saying is as a starter, Bachman has no overdrive.
It’s quite a head turner! Hopefully he let’s it ride and takes care of business! Somebody stop me!
I’ll take 2-3 innings of solid (hopefully) relief work from the BP….
We can always use more of that.
We’d all prefer to see these guys develop into viable starters, but become a potential lights out reliever is almost of equal importance in this league when starters only go 5-6 innings anyway.
Framber Valdez is on the phone waiting to talk to you.
Maybe they can smuggle in some regular balls for side bullpens and get a sense of his control and the shape of his pitches.
You do realize there’s a difference between having a guy “pinned as a starter” and wanting a guy to work as a starter in the MiLB to see if he can start right?
It was stupid to just send the guy to the pen strait out of college, which some folks wanted because donkey can’t just let a draft pick develop and needs to be unhappy with the FO’s pick from hour 1. There’s a wide gulf between being adamant a guy will be a starter and not being adamant he shouldn’t even give it a look.
But it’s all good if we see if Bachman can start but it seems he’d be a better leverage reliever and we get “stuck” with that. I hope he can harness his control a little. His velo drops after 3 innings in the MiLB so if that continues he’s for the pen anyway, but they can also try to work on that later. Starter’s still a development option for him cause he’s young, bullpen’s also still a solid outcome though if he’s good there.
I agree that his power arm’d be great for the pen though I am actually a little surprised they promoted Bachman over some of the arms they already have in the Panda pen. Maybe it’s because he can hit 100 and can go more than one inning?
I don’t know who said he shouldn’t even be given a look as a starter but it sure wasn’t me.
Then you must not be some folks.
Converting Bachman to relief seems long overdue, but one would think they’d try it in the MiLB first, rather than experiment with a MLB bullpen with a lot of recent churn that’s just beginning to stabilize with discernible roles.
But the team also has two shitty training grounds for these experiments unfortunately. A double-A context with a tar baby ball like something out of It Happens Every Spring. And a triple-A context where breakers don’t break, and thin-air elevations turn baseball into pachinko.
I know you said at draft time you saw him as a reliever.
I like it. Someone isn’t performing, next man up.
Bachman is a power pitcher which should play well in the BP.
another Panda to the rescue!!
Loup DFA must be the corresponding move??
Hopefully so!
Or Moronta.
One of them is gone tomorrow.
And let’s hope the corresponding move is a guy who’s name rhymes with poop.
I doubt it. It’s probably the guy whose name rhymes with Toronta.
Can’t pitch, lots of money to feed. My money is on him.
Hello, My name was Reyes Moronta. Prepare to be DFA’d
lol
One of the best ever movie lines hijacked
Dude was tearin’ it up at AA. Definitely deserves the call up! 👍
huh? 5.81ERA? 6.15RA? 20BB in 23 innings? What does “tearing it up” mean to you?
Mascots fear him?
https://youtu.be/euHfP6X_axY
There we go, been foot stomping to make him a 1-inning back of the bullpen guy and give up the starter capacity
I just read that both Moore and Estevez are leading MLB with 22 appearances each. So, it is timely to try to insert Bachman as set up guy for few games to reduce stress on those late inning guys. I don’t know if there are any other options from the minors, but if this does not work out, might be talking to Kansas City about the availability of Arloides Chapman.
Id go after Chapman regardless of Silseth’s & Bachmann’s success. It would complete the bullpen and give us another high leverage dominant lefty out of the pen. (after we DFA Poup of course)
Major League hitters would tremble with fear.
Alroldis ?
He’s not the same guy he once was. His WHIP is a little high but his FIP is 1.88. Still only 18 IP with KC. Possible you could squeeze a couple good months out of him, but the fact he’s a lefty is nice. Maybe as a short term guy he’d work out… But I would not want to commit to him longer than a few months or the rest of this year. I’d rather promote from within to a worthy candidate… I am just expecting Chapman to implode at any moment …
As a trade deadline candidate only Frosty. hes only on a one year $3.75M deal with KC anyways. Plus we still have young Trash Bully arms that could come up next year after another year of seasoning.
Yah. If we can get 20-25 innings of 1.88 FIP out of him then cool. Just don’t trade anything big for him. Trouble is, there will be demand for him… and we have prospect arms.
How do we do that? No surplus depth in our farm……….oh wait, we do have some pieces to trade! I’d say we might have some surplus pitching and a few position players. HOW ABOUT THAT!
Now…. what would we need to give up to get an aged-team-deserting-veteran, that can’t keep his tattoos from getting infected?
I sure hope Adell isn’t part of that deal.
Now that the pipes are working fine, trade them Jimmy Herget and the Plumber.
Jimmy Herget and the Plumber.
If the say not enough? Throw in, paying for the Plumers Union dues for a year, and pay for Jimmy’s optical care for the year….Jimmy likes his glasses.
I guess Herget did not like the contact lens that made his eyes look blue. Maybe if he used red, he might have had better breaking balls.
In all seriousness, we all need to develop the skill of asking ourselves “Are there other teams that may want this guy in trade? Do I honestly think the guys I am saying we should trade for him are a package none of those teams can beat?”
It really helps avoid unnecessary frustration. I can still remember the convulsions and whining when the Pirates didn’t seem interested in any of the ridiculously lame trade bait CtPG guy thought should be enough to get Joe Musgrove and various other pitchers. None of that agony has to happen.
Chapman is pretty much the obvious early “Need a pen arm?” trade piece. Do we really want to beat out every other team that answers yes to that question? Maybe?
But why develop skillz when we can say what makes us feel good?
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Chapman has been auditioning himself well with 2 saves, 6 holds and 2 blown saves. Obviously a plethora of MLB teams want him. What are Angels willing to trade? He has $3.75M one year deal with Royals, and I am assuming that Arte would agree to add a few additional millions to Royals if we can get him?
The Royals don’t want cash ( I doubt Major League Baseball would allow that transaction) They want prospects. Thats why they signed Chapman in the first place hoping he would have trade value at the deadline.
Normally that goes with the veteran player being traded. Not the other away around.
I feel I am getting smart everyday.
I did not know that. I often hear “for later cash consideration”, so I thought you could add cash to incentivize particular trade ideas. Angels could easily absorb the $3.75M contract and saving that comes from discount by fractioning of the season? Do they go by the number of games that he actually played or the actually number of days that he would be an Angel? Mathematician in me wants to know.
I’d like this if we don’t have to trade anything we’ll really really miss. He’ll be in demand, so the inevitable “just trade Rengifo for him” ideas are clown shoes.
Chapman would be so perfect for our bullpen. Only concern would be if he insists on closing. Estevez had been lights out.
Chapmans 35 years old. he needs to give up on that dream.
Agree..washed up.
Bring up the kids!!
I don’t think he’s closing in KC.
He has been actually been used more as set up guy than closing for KC. He has 6 holds and 2 saves with 2 blown saves thus far.
Good point . I doubt he would be in position to demand anything here
Yeah, having 2 guys heading for 70 appearances is pretty unsustainable. We’re gonna need some panda power.
I don’t know if this is it at all, but it always looks like those teams that surprise in the playoffs are the ones that find a magical player like K-Rod in their system, and they come in and just dominate.
Thats because they’re young, throw gas and no-one has faced them before. It’s a little early for Bachman playoff magic but Joyce is still in waiting.
Joyce is the one I’m excited about. I guess he just needs a little more control.
Magical players in the system also help teams get to the playoffs.
Lackey and Shields were mid-season rookie pitcher call-ups that helped get the Angels to the playoffs and then K-rod piled on to help win them.
Uh oh aaron. You done messed up?
Perry’s definitely not fooling around this year. I like this youth movement, and so far, Neto, O’Hoppe, Silseth (when out of the bullpen) have shown great promise despite their youth and inexperience. Hope Bachman also delivers.
Perry tried the reclamation projects – to some level of success (Devenski), but now it’s all about the future!
Perry’s just trying to save his job. 3-years of underperforming bullpen construction. While it may look like he is being aggressive, there is a waft of desperation
I like it too. All the MiLB guys have had some bulk innings. Guys like Silseth, Bachman, maybe Crow can maybe be useful now in the pen. Why not? Could catch fire, will at least see MLB hitters. And it’s not like once you use a kid in the MLB pen for 30 innings he’s marked for life. They can still try to lengthen these guys into starters if they want. Silseth, for example, really just needs to up his efficient pitches by about 30 per game. Plenty of career left to do that.
I hope he’ll be taking care of business
everyday
If your city has a team in BOTH the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals at the same time and also the AL ROY, does that city’s baseball team even matter or exist? asking for a friend
Even the umps have been a little kinder to us during the winning streak…He was awful last night and we benefited. I’ll take it.
https://twitter.com/UmpScorecards/status/1661743482522980352?s=20
Another reason for no Robot Umps…the bad umpire cottage industry. `;~}}
Plus will robo umps have cool strike three calls? I don’t think so…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqUtfb0SIjU&t=1s
But Not as good as the master.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWY9S-uKU-4
Mr Wendelstedt is apparently well known for his wide strike zone, but I must say he was rather inconsistent last night.
I actually had almost 20 year stint at umpiring high school baseball, and it took me at least 10 years to feel confidently competent after suffering many missed calls followed by jeers from the crowd. (Most baseball coaches were little more understanding.). The umpire organization that I belonged had sound support system and instruction program where we had solid 10 week sessions including multiple on field practicums before each baseball season starts in March. Now that my eye sight and legs are not what they used to be, I retired from umpiring. I mostly enjoyed the time; therefore, I tend to be easy on umpires in general.
P.S. Jim Joyce, who will be forever remembered for butchering that first base call for what should have been a perfect game for Armando Galarrhaga, came to my umpire group as a guest speaker at no cost. He discussed all the death threats and negative comments that he got from Tigers fans, but he was forever thankful and humbled by all the support he received especially from Armando.
That chart is completely missing the called 3rd strike on Trout that was several inches above the zone.
The winning streak will not be broken tonight!
Woo-hoo!
Brilliant!!!
Here here and huzzah!
The key to the Boston Series was great starting pitching with some timely hitting.
It was great to see
Barria
Canning
Anderson
really come through and, hopefully, they will stay on track.
What is great, too, is to see Neto, Thaiss, and Moniak step up. These are three contributors we didn’t see as having an impact at the beginning of the season.
Definitely add some nice glove work to your list.
Yes, that 6-2-6-3 put out was the bomb.com
Drury heating up as well.
Proudly being a Shohei apologist and delusion of grandeur acting up this morning, I would like to give you something to ponder and dream about for the remainder of Thursday without Angels game to look forward to.
Roki Sasaki
While many of you may have heard this name or even know quite a bit about him, let me succinctly introduce him.
-He is a 21 yo pitcher currently in NPB (Lotte Lions), who has pitched a perfect game for the first time in 29 years in NPB, striking out 19 batters (including 13 in a row with 3 from Red Sux’s Masataka Yoshida, who had the lowest strike out rate in NPB that year).
-His pitching strengths include around 100MPH fast ball going as fast as 103MPH, devastating split, and great command. Shohei admits that there are two better pitchers in Japan than he, and Roki is one of them.
-He is from Iwate prefecture, where Shohei and Yusei Kikuchi of Blues Jays are from. It is a tiny prefecture with 1.2 million population. (I heard unconfirmed news that multiple MLB GMs are importing water from Iwate for their underperforming pitchers to see if there is any benefit.). It is of note that Roki lost his father from the horrible Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
-He has voiced his desire to pitch in MLB and so far, Lotte Lions have been mum about it, but they have been understandingly careful with his usage. He has pitched 5 times this season with 3 wins 0 loss with ERA 0.83.
Here is my dream. Assuming that Shohei re-signs with Angels after this season, Roki does “Shohei”: that is he jumps to MLB before he becomes 25. Roki worships Shohei, so after interviewing multiple MLB teams (including salivating MFYankees), he declares he selects to join Angels.
I’m with ya on that bud!
Japanese players don’t look to team up with other Japanese players, especially superstars
So if (when) we lose Ohtani, Would Roki come here as his replacement at the top of the rotation? Certainly Ohtani would still say good things about the organization (even though we aint re-signing him for $600 Million) . But would Roki want to be in the shadow as the successor of the great Ohtani?
He is young enough that Shohei could be his mentor, rather than him be a rival. I don’t know where we got the narrative that Japanese players want to be the only Japanese star on their team – is there a source on this?
Doesn’t mean it’s accurate, but I’ve read that in several different places. Too GA to dig up the sources.
If it’s true, it’s a cultural thing, a sign of respect. They do have a culture that actually teaches respect and still follows traditions. But what do I know.
Yes, it is true that Japanese people are expected to follow this junior/senior young/old customs. One uses different words, phrases, and intonations to show respect if one is younger or junior. If not done properly, he or she will be harshly reprimanded. That is the reason why we see Shohei when he plays against teams with Japanese players (and former players) who are senior to him, he is the one who approaches and bows first and engages in conversation.
But, when a report came out hinting that Shohei desired to go to a team with no senior Japanese player on the team, I thought that might have come from New York because Yankees had Masahiro Tanaka (6 years older than Shohei) at that time and when they heard that Shohei declined Yankees, that was one of the explanations that they used.
Again I have no idea if Roki would pull “Shohei”, but Shohei would welcome to be his master. Shohei is known as a competent prankster, so he will come up with some creative initiation/hazing ritual for his junior admirer to further strengthen their relationship.
As I premised by saying this was totally my delusional hyperbole, I have no idea if Roki would pull “Shohei”, but it is entertaining to imagine if that were to happen. I would love to see the misery and hopelessness on those AL East teams fans faces. Red Sox fans were really upset that they got swept by “lowly” Angels and calling for Cora’s execution.
If Toyota, Nissan, and Honda get together and buy the Angels from Arte, why not retain Shohei and have Roki on MLB minimum for at least 3 years?
I don’t know if you watched WBC this March, but the relationship between Shohei and Roki was heartwarming. Obviously, Roki was in awe of Shohei, but Shohei had this knack of relaxing Roki. I don’t know what particular conversations and interactions they had, but it was widely reported that Roki appeared much more relaxed and smiled more. Japanese newspaper report that Roki smiles more this season when he is pitching for Lotte. So, my surmise is that he would jump at the opportunity to pitch with Shohei on the same team.
Another example is when Ichiro played with Kenji Jojima and Kazuhiro Sasaki on Mariners together.
Shohei has an ego, most superstars do. He wants the Far East, local media exposure to himself. He came to the Angels to be THE GUY from Japan. Nothing wrong with that.
Do we have a source on that? This is a guy that wanted to play the MLB, sure, and turned down a fortune to do so. He is also the guy that chose the Angels and was reportedly swayed by Trout’s low-key environment pitch. He doesn’t seem like a superstar ego type, just like Mike.
I would like to sign Roki Susaki. I also think Margot Robbie is pretty.
After last year, i will always cherish that 28th victory of the season.
Joe was 27-17 last year, then it was 27-29 so Joe was canned, and it got to 27-31.
Finally it became 28-31 a year ago so 28-23 sounds alright by me
– something to revel in on the off day.
Well said….
That was a brutal stretch last year after a great start.
Yeah, that sucked. Unfortunately, after a losing streak like that someone had to go and you don’t fire players and the GM doesn’t fire himself.
And also, this team is built much, much better compared to last year, where it was Wade/Velasquez/Mayfield anchoring SS and 3B (can’t remember when Rendon went down if it was before or after the losing streak. I know Fletch was still injured then).
I mean, just look at last night. You have Walsh come in as a late inning defensive replacement. If that’s not depth, I don’t know what is. Also, if the game had been closer, I would have expected Nevin to PH Moniak for Ward when Paxton was taken out and a RHP replaced him.
Since nobody is saying it I will.
101 gameds to go…Easy Does It.
And with the Rangers, the Astros and 5 teams in the AL East above .500 it’s going to be a fight the whole way. The good news is the Angels are still fighting and they still have a chance to win.
Indeed…we’re playing good!!
Amen. All I realistically want is to be in the hunt for a long time.
Magic’s first game with the Lakers:
After the ball bounces out of bounds, the Lakers get it back with four seconds left in the game, down by one point. They throw in inbounds to Kareem and he wins the game at the buzzer with a skyhook. Magic Johnson hugs him as though they’ve won the Championship game, Abdul-Jabbar kind of throws him off of him and tells him that it’s an 82 game season, never get too high or low.
And they won the championship that year as Magic’s enthusiasm never waned.
He was an icon for a positive attitude but the realities of the grind are still real. I’ve mentored and trained sales people over the years where I try to emphasize the importance of managing our own relational expectations while still maintaining a positive attitude. The unanticipated benefit has been me slowly learning to be a better husband, friend and employee.
Filled in for the Cap’ game 6 in Philly, epic game
Against the Clippers even. Man, somethings never change.
Yup. I am really really happy we are almost done surviving tough May…. July also looks like it’s gonna be a total bear.
111 games togo, but who’s counting lol
He means we are gonna win 101… in a row baby!
Really nice series against Boston. Let’s keep it going against Miami. One game out in the wild card standings.
Before the month started, my realistic goal for the Angels was to be 31-26 (projects to 88 wins) by the end of May. With the sweeps of the Cards and Red Sox, they now have a shot at 32-25 (90.9 wins). Go Angels!
Yes, I just wanted the team to survive May with an above .500 record.
Houston is playing in Oakland so an easy sweep for them there… We can’t afford to lose even one game right now.
There is no game tonight, but if there was, the Foundation Building Materials’ keystone of the game would have to be “Let’s Stay Together” by Tina Turner.
In their last three series, the Angels split with the Orioles, one of the best teams in the league; they beat the first place Minnesota Twins; and they have now swept a team with a winning record, the Boston Red Sox.
The Angels have turned themselves into a good team, and the first verse of this Tina Turner cover song expresses exactly how this makes me feel:
“I’m, I’m so in love with you
Whatever you want to do
Is alright with me
’Cause you make me feel so brand new
And I want to spend my life with you.”
https://youtu.be/4rFB4nj_GRc
RIP to Tina Turner. The world lost an amazing singer/stage performer and person who exhibited tremendous resiliency in life and provided shining light and hope to those who were battered by domestic violence.
Wanted to point out that I fully expect Angels will add St. Louis to the list of swept teams with better than 0.500 winning percentage by All Star break. Cardinals are clearly playing better (Nolan Arenado is on fire; I feel fortunate that he was not when Angels played them) and to their fortune, they are playing in one of the weakest divisions, National Central.
I really wanted Tina Turner to live forever.
No one lives forever. Not even Abe Vigoda.
https://youtu.be/TqFoiM0zxdY