Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter can supposedly hang onto their jobs for the time being. Yes. Stupidity confirmed. Once Judge’s toe ligament was torn, Ohtani was a lock for the MVP. I wonder if a bunch of money changed hands between the time Judge had a sprain and Judge had a torn tendon. Who’s money? The scouting reports are not too bad for the Angels farm hands who are in the futures game. Make us proud, dudes!
Matthew Boyd of the Tigers underwent successful Tommy John surgery yesterday. Obviously, he is out for the season. Meanwhile the Tigers placed Ke’Bryan Hayes on the injured list and promoted Jared Triolo.
The Giants picked up Jakson Reetz on a minor league deal. Beware the Giants! We all run for shelter when they come chargin’ out!
Reety-awrighty, he da zomby woof
Reety-awrighty, he da zomby woof
They said aw-reety
An’ they was aw-righty
An’ I was a Zomby for you, little lady . . .
They are about as evil as a boogie man can be! Tellin’ you all the zombie troof, Here them is … the Zombie Woof!
In keeping with today’s weird names motif, the Brewers selected Thomas Pannone and optioned Peter
Strezlecki.
Awww man! Tito is in health trouble again.
Photo credit Rex Fregosi
Not too early “Must Win” game today.
-Winnable game and a home game
-Because
-Due theory
-Offense is due to go off
-Sandavol is due
-Trout is due for a big game, only to trick us into thinking he’s back
-Because it’s Thursday and Thursday is our 2nd favorite win day, Monday #1
-Phillip has an itching middle finger, needs to flip off the “POTG”
-Somebody is going to win today, why not us
How about I don’t want my olfactory senses to be overwhelmed by the putrid flagrance that is emitted from this site once the sh’t hits the fan with Angel’s loss?
Sandy pitching consistently well & Trout resembling Trout would be the best acquisitions we could make vis-a-vis the trade deadline…..
But we’re facing another Cy Loser today.
Schadenfreude
From ESPN about last night
The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 10th against Nationals reliever Jordan Weems, who was having trouble throwing strikes. They had their 3-4-5 hitters up. Ty France popped up to the catcher on a pitch that was out of the strike zone. Teoscar Hernandez struck out on a checked swing on a fastball way off the plate. Cal Raleigh then grounded out to the pitcher on a check swing on a 2-0 pitch that may have been out of the zone. Absolutely terrible at-bats. That’s three straight extra-inning losses, and the Mariners are now 4-8 in extra-inning games
Laugh all you want but the Angels are just as guilty of doing that
Hence why we are taking pleasure in the Mermen’s tribulations
Angel Donkey rating for June 29, 2023 “Happy Donkey”
M’s Donkey today
One thing I love about Seattle being several games under .500 is that last year Mariners games were not aired on Portland radio since the Ms had been so bad for a long time and interest was down. In 2022 they made a wild card berth so now the games can be heard here but the team is as bad as they were in 2021 and the years before.
Some radio guy made that decision, “they’re good now, let’s put them back in the on the station”, only to get this terrible product
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1674472104262246405?s=20
Rendon willl go down as the worst contract of this franchise’s history.
Meh, crapping on media is not something I care
about – at all.
Agreed, the media are leaches with feet & hands.
Don’t forget the forked tongues. Haha
We need something to complain about. 😀
LOL, hopefully we, as Angel fans, have less of on-the-field stuff to complain about.
Bro, we’re Angles fans. The fodder
for complaint is a continuous loop !!!
No, Josh Hamilton (A name forbidden to be spoken her) by far is the worst ever for the Halos.
Rendon can at least hit his weight and he showed last year that he wanted to get back before the last game-That shows a lot to the fans and the org.
Agreed. Rendon still has a chance to contribute. A little luck would be nice.
Hamilton had demons and they surfaced immediately in SoCal.
As a former pro and anyone else who has co-workers, dropping that BS, “Oops I did it again (Then mic drop)” with the media in the OF @ early spring training is something that goes beyond all gall.
That was one of the biggest dumps I have ever seen anyone drop on their co-workers, employer and in this case an entire fanbase.
Hamilton hit .255 here, Rendon .251 and Hamilton was a way bigger dude so he hit closer to his weight.
Rendons contract is objectively worse.. it’s twice as much money as Hamilton yet Hamilton produced more in 2 years here than Rendon has in 4.
.255 31 123 to .251 21 110
kind of wild the whiny beat writer the NYT assigns to track the franchise is mainly focused on harassing Arte.wait till he finds out the donuts are a day old.congrats on getting the line-ups, right. I guessed wrong myself – its Rendon’s day to feel the full wrath of Sammy’s tantrums
he would be a good beat writer for Seattle
I heard a rumor the guy in Oakland that Rendon had a meet and greet with was a spy for Sam. 😀
Rendon is a douche. He’s the reason the middle-finger was created. He’s the human version of period cramps.
Nope, that’s always going to be Cokehead.
I guess Nevin likes Calamari!
https://twitter.com/RhettBollinger/status/1674470853839564800
I was this close to nailing the lineup (Squid vs. Fletch)
Yes, you were.
I was pleasantly surprised that Nevin and I share the same culinary taste.
I like Walla Walla onion rings, too!
No Squid.Free Fletcher
‘Horrific Terror and Pain’: Warning Octopus Farm Will Lead to Cannibalism
https://www.newsweek.com/horrific-terror-pain-octopus-farm-plans-cannibalism-1809674
Wow, that’s terrible. PETA thinks that octopus are Einsteins of the ocean. I guess I am ok with just eating Walla Walla onion rings. But, plants also have lives, too.
I did consider Squid since Fletch had played 4 (?) games in a row.
Always go with your gut instinct after you’ve examined the relevant data points.
Not the order though.
Don’t you dare interrupt my self-congratulatory dance.
Funny, they still list a pitcher by how they bat-Sandoval red for LHed.
Thank you for pointing that out. I did not know red meant lefty and blue for switch. Checked BBRef, and Sandoval is left handed batter. The old National League rule does not die easily.
College Bat? Or College Arm?
Draft fever is heating up and the mocks are all over the place for #11 and half the picks ahead of us are HS players are those aren’t likely, but i see several bats and several pitchers mentioned – we will get one of the 5 or 6 best college players in the land.
I cant decide what i’d prefer – its about time for a premium college bat to be drafted (we we can’t rely on the Thunder Thaiss and Tank Ward to carry this offense forever), but you just can never have enough pitching, and if Bachman is a relief pitcher, we could add to Canning/Detmers/Bush/Siselth.
The 3B at TCU seems like a fit – our own Jung?
Just a comment about MLB draft compared to recently held NBA one, where San Antonio selected Victor Wembanyama from France. MLB draft focuses on mostly American high school and college players where as NBA consider players from world wide.
There is no question that MLB is the best professional league in the world, just as NBA for basketball. Why has not MLB considered worldwide draft?
Lucky for Shohei and Angels that MLB did not think about it in 2018.
It’s a topic that comes up every time they renegotiate the union contracts. The owners want an international draft, the players’ agents do not.
That’s the reason why I love this site. I had never looked at it from agents perspective. Of course, it would be more profitable for them not to agree to international draft. Thank you for making me smarter everyday.
I am also pleased that Shohei picked CAA Sports/Nez Balelo to represent him. The firm seems much more sound and less sleazy than Scott Boras.
As a general rule,
I say pitching first.
You can always sign Drury & Renfroe type players at moderate prices, but FA starting pitchers are more expensive.
I agree Banned,
In addition, FA starting pitching is an even bigger gamble than position players. (IMHO).
Sam is telling Arte that the scoreboard is in need of repair. And they are out of toilet paper in stall #4 shitter main entrance.
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1662641914804584448?s=20
kind of wild the whiny beat writer the NYT assigns to track the franchise is mainly focused on harassing Arte.
wait till he finds out the donuts are a day old.
But it broke again..not sure Sam realizes that somebody needs to input the information. Might not be a bad scoreboard, just a bad importer of info.
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1673911253339889666?s=20
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/06/28/angels-gm-perry-minasian-says-david-fletcher-was-recalled-because-he-looked-like-fletch/
Dominic looks like a Fletch too – call him!
This article talked about the death of David Fletcher’s dad who died suddenly and unexpectedly a the tender age of 60.
That has to be brutal on the Fletcher family and can understand why the Angels didn’t bring him up right away when Neto went down.
Watching Fletch run the other night its obvious to me that even though he’s much closer to the old Fletch speed wise, but my Lylin’ eyes tell me hes still not 100% back and may never be.
Yeeesh, Chef Barria served up some Chicago Style meatballs last night. They gave me indigestion.
The game was still within reach despite the poor start, but Wantz and later Davidson shat the bed as well.
Those were Barria’s sous chefs, completing the meal.
Well played dude, well played.
The dearth of news on Neto is not at all Neato. This wreaks of a late July or early August return.
All teams have injury woes, but losing two rookie studs like O’Hoppe and Neto really sucks. Especially Neto as the dropoff from Neto to next man up is huge.
At least Thaiss/Wallach have held their own in place of O’Hoppe.
With any abdominal muscle strain, premature return to re-injure the same is the worst case scenario. 6-8 weeks are common pattern, so late July, early August is the usual expectation. Neto being young, it is probably late July.
However, when it comes to cracked nail. I have no f’cking idea. Depending who Angels hire for nail specialist/spa expert, it could be a few days to 6 months. I am still PTSD from the time when I dropped a sliding shower door on my big toe.
This is SoCal, just send Shohei to a Vietnamese owned nail salon and they’ll fix him up.
Why would you recommend that? Shohei is batting well. He does not need Slump Buster. Mr. Robert Kraft may desire your phone number so you can text him your recommendation, however. 😆
Slump Buster…funny stuff K.
Maybe we don’t miss O’Hoppe on the offense, but the defense will be much better once he’s back.
And yeah have Neto out definitely reeks (past the AS break?) but at least Fletch is back
Fo Sho
This was from Jeff Fletcher’s story 2 days ago.Hopefully this is a little less Dearthy for you:
This translates to:
We won’t see Neto until August:
Lineup prediction:
Moniak – LF
Trout – CF
Ohtani – DH
Drury – 2B
Renfroe – RF
Moose – 1B
Escobar – 3B
Thaiss – C
Fletcher – SS
Though it could be Drury at 1B and Rengifo at 2B.
Swap Moose and Renfroe and I like it.
I like that your suggestion Moore as well, but i’m
assuming that Phil will think in terms of lefty vs. righty and Moose’s defense at 1B.
That said, if Renfroe is heating up, keep him in the lineup, eh?
L/R/L/R/L/R/S/L/R
Yup, that was my thought process.
But your lineup is L/R/L/R/R/L/S/L/R
Re: Ward – I’ve generally favored Ward over Adell for the past two years, but yeah, he’s struggling and shouldn’t be leading off as often as he still is.
Moniak has earned more AB’s at the very least.
That said, leadoff remains a problem. I don’t think Fletcher is the answer either.
I’d advocate a leadoff platoon of Moniak & Trout as I like speed + power at the top. Trout drops back to 2 or 3 when a righty starts and bats leadoff against lefties.
Drop Ward to the bottom third of the order for a long spell.
I think the decision to play Moniak closer to full-time is already been made. He’s started and played the last 4 out of 5 games and I believe the Angels kept him out of last nights game due to him tweaking his hip.
He’ll probably start today while the Angels give TBW a day of rest .
Does Jo Adell
figure into the equation if you were King?
Trade Ward for pitching, Renfroe to 1B, Adell, Moniak and Trout in the outfield.
Makes sense….
Renfroe can still man right when the Moose is at 1st…
Need some pitching help now….
Adell just has too much talent – let’s roll with him and yep, Renfroe can play 1B.
Ward? hmmm – have we ever tried making him an IF/C?
They tried him at third for a little while. I got the impression they didn’t think it would work out.
Despite his obvious problems this season, Trout is still sporting a 0.363 OBP and even though he’s doesn’t steal much these days, he can still run. We’ll get more first-to-third on singles and 1st to home on long doubles with Trout than we will with Ward.
This isn’t a long term solution, but it could be a “Justin Upton at leadoff” temporary fix.
Agree with your take on Angels leadoff spot. We have not found the ideal yet. Mickey has several deficiencies as lead off, too aggressive, strike out a lot (33), too few BB (3) and has not had any hit against lefty.
Trout is an intriguing idea. He is a patient hitter with 43 BB thus far. He does have fast legs, but cannot expect him to steal.
Fletch would have been the ideal lead off hitter if we had 2018-21 version of him.
By default and righty Lynn pitching today, Mickey would be the best fit lead off amongst available Angels hitters.
When you’ve just tied the game, but have no idea you are about to get blown out.
This reminds me of how they smiled with the back to back HRs against Colorado giving us a 4-2 lead
Taylor Ward is the 4th best OF on this team and needs to be treated as such.
Ward has been miserable for the last month+ with one minor hot stretch. I’ll pull his numbers after I fully wake up.
I do not enjoy watching him play baseball. Drop him in the lineup and scale back his playing time.
Rant over.
I will never understand the fascination of playing struggling, non-superstar veterans over the hot young bat who might be the team’s future. It’s even more confusing when said “veteran” (i.e. Ward) would have been considered the hot young bat only a season ago.
Moniak has been putting up MVP-caliber numbers, with the exception of games played. It’s probable he’s playing better than he truly is, but why not play him enough to find out? Give him the starting job and play Ward against lefties.
Ward is good enough to be a solid 4th OF, but 2022 is looking like an unrepeatable career year.
Since today’s White Sox projected starter is Lance Lynn, I reviewed the Angels starting lineup when they faced him on 5/31.
Moniak RF (2H 2R K)
Trout CF (HR 2RBI K)
Ohtani DH (2HR, 4RBI, BB)
Ward LF (2H, 2RBI, 2R, K)
Thaiss C (H, R, BB)
Urshela 3B (H, R, 2BB, K)
Walsh 1B (double x 2, 3RBI)
Neto SS (0H, K)
Soto 2B (H, K)
Lynn was knocked out after 4 innings, surrendering 8ER and 3HR. Angels had great offensive day. Of course, past does not predict future, so no guarantee Angels would do well against Lynn this afternoon.
I don’t think Ward will start today. I would start Renfroe, Drury, Moose, Escobar, and Fletch. The remaining four seem pretty obvious.
Everybody hits Lance Lynn this year
Including Team Canada and Venezuela.
His las start was very good. He might finally be getting healthy, and dialed in. Hope not, but might be…
agreed. he needs some head-clearing time, not more time at leadoff.
Thank You Captain Obvious…we need pitching!!
https://www.mlb.com/angels/news/jaime-barria-struggles-in-loss-to-white-sox
A shorter list would be which teams, vying for the playoffs, didn’t need pitching.
No such thing as any team in contention not looking to improve their [itching.
It might be obvious, but it’s encouraging to hear the club acknowledge the shortcoming and signal their intention to address the issue.
I’d prefer to see them make a move sooner rather than later, but we’ll see.
The first step is admitting you have a problem.
More specifically we need bullpen help.
3 spots should be filled with a trade, Loup, Davidson, Wantz. Maybe roll Barria back to long reliever (give him another start to confirm?) and pick up another starter. Get Moore back and healthy. Do it PTP.
Barria was throwing fine a couple of weeks ago. They skipped his start and gave him a ton of rest. Then he got shelled.
Not enough evidence that he isn’t a fine #5 starter.
Whether or not Barria is a legit #5 is not the issue.
Other than Ohtani every one of them are suspect.
We bring is a legit #2 and everybody gets better.