Thanks to a series win against my dad’s Giants squad, the Angels are back to being a .500 team. 58 wins, 58 losses, and 46 games left to go. Obviously the math to get to a 90 win season is daunting but I think it is important to finish this year with a winning record. I don’t care if it is 82-80, the winning percentage needs to start with a 5.
Normally I’m not a fan of moral victories. Real victories are what get a team to the promised land. But this year Perry Minasian has pulled out all the stops to field a winner and I think it is important his effort be justified. It would send a message to not only Ohtani but the fans and league that the Angels can build a winner.
Getting healthy down the stretch and finishing with a little momentum would be nice, too. On that front…
Angels catchers got off to a nice start with the bats and Thaiss still has respectable numbers across the board for a catcher. But Chad Wallach’s bat went into a freezer and hasn’t escaped. A timeshare with O’Hoppe and Thaiss should make catcher a strength. And if you’re looking for any additional reasons to like Logan, check this out.
No player should give a boost to the lineup and morale than Mike Trout. He took some time to discuss his current status and outlook this week. Sounds like his still a ways off to me, but who knows?
Trout’s hand didn’t get in the way of him signing this epic card with Shohei Ohtani.
That Ohtani guy is pretty good and made significant MLB history this week. If you built a player who notched 10 wins as a pitcher and 40 home runs as a hitter in a video game I’d have laughed at you and said “get real.” Ohtani has done just that.
Mike Moustakas is becoming a fan favorite, at least in my house. His bomb on Wednesday night gave Ohtani that 10th win and is another in what is a string of clutch hits for the Halos. I really hope we keep him round.
I’m perfectly on board with dumping Anthony Rendon, who still refuses to discuss his latest injury, and opening up a roster spot for next year; hopefully filled by Moose.
If there’s any owner in sports accustomed to eating dead weight contracts it is Arte Moreno. It is crazy to think this is the first year in forever that he isn’t doing so. From Matthews Jr. to Wells to Hamilton to Pujols to Upton, there’s always been a big dollar guy sitting at home collecting checks.
One a more positive note, newcomer Lucas Giolito pitched well enough to help the Angels win a heck of a game.
Former Angel and Cal State Fullerton alum Michael Lorenzen threw a no hitter in his first home start as a Phillie. Lorenzen also played his high school ball in Fullerton. Which segues to this incredible stat:
Speaking of good pitching, nobody does it better than the Tampa Bay Rays. The polar opposite of our Angels, the Rays have baseball’s best success rate of turning duds into studs. Here’s how they do it.
Life is good for Baltimore Orioles fans. Their team is doing great and a fan in Camden Yards snagged this awesome catch.
The Green Monster has provided many an odd bounce and memorable play. I can’t recall one like this week’s when a ball got stuck in a light for a ground rule double.
Just like kids melting down in grocery stores is all the advertising birth control pills need, horrific umpiring is creating the demand for robot umpires. George Springer went overboard in arguing a borderline call but Aaron Boone was clearly in the right to argue these atrocious call and went at horrible umpire Laz Diaz (foul language warning).
Enjoy your weekend of MLB and Little League baseball. Please link what I missed below.
Laz tells Boone “You’ve done nothing here-go look at your record”, he has managed the Yankees to one or two100 win seasons, in the playoff hunt this year with almost as many injuries as we’ve had.
Laz Diaz is really a cause for concern as he represents what the real Elephant in the room is, a very weak Umpires Union and a screwed-up Commissioner of MLB. A strong Union would never have allowed bad umpiring on the field so that their position in negotiating would come from a strong, not wrong, point of view.
Laz Diaz and Angel Hernandez deserve each other.
I am a fan of Marlins, Guardians, Cubbies, Tigers, Orioles, and Giants for the weekend.
I hope that Xzavion Curry and Javier Assad turn into Cy-Rookies this evening. Not so much for Randy Vasquez.
O’Hoppe has the look of a natural Blue Chip athlete.
The International O’Hoppe Appreciation Society..sons and daughters of Anaheim of Los Angeles.
I’m in. 👍
The dude is cut.
Aside from being cut, I was more impressed with the athletic fluidity that only top tier players seem to possess.
Guys like Tatis, Betts, Trout, Ohtani and a few other just “move” differently (in their prime).
Stealing this one. Thanks.
BTW, the stadium is the safest part of downtown San Bernaghetto, so O’Hoppe shows how smart he is by staying in the stadium. Besides, walking out to your car during the game is bad imagery for the 66er’s youngins.
Seriously though, it shows he’s all about being there for the fans.
His love and exuberance for the game along with Neto is why I’m excited about the young core moving forward.
Hey guys, I was put in solitary confinement at my facility right after the trade deadline and the Halos trades. I am so jazzed to see where we are in the standings….WTF!?
We haven’t loss in 3 days
O’Hoppe signed autographs for 25 minutes? Great, now he’ll be back on the IL for Carpal Tunnel syndrome.
The Boone/Diaz clip is pure comedy gold 😅
😂
Alek Manoah, who just beat the Angels the other day, has been optioned to Triple-A.
He’s having a very ridiculous year. At least they didn’t send him to Rookie Ball this time.
The overslot high school pitcher we drafted, Barrett Kent, had a fairly impressive debut in AZ last night….
https://www.milb.com/gameday/acl-angels-vs-acl-white-sox/2023/08/10/743098/final/box
Nice.
Who can we trade him for?
A reliever with an 8.57 era
Mike Moustakas is the anti-Rendon. Impossible not to like or root for.
I tried to not like him due to his 2014 slaughter of our ball club…. but he’s kicking ass in our uniform now. Very impressed.
🫡
Love him. Unlove Rendon.
I’m not getting all the “let Rendon” walk talk. You pay him if he walks, you pay him if he stays. Why keep making stupid decisions that cost more and more money – which ultimately gets funded through reducing expenses elsewhere like training, farm system, etc. It’s one thing if you need the roster spot, but the Angels clearly don’t have someone they are holding back because Rendon is on the 40 man roster.
Keep him on the roster. If he becomes toxic, suspend him. Why let him go to another team and potentially decide to perform while we are paying his salary? Let him retire and negotiate the exit package at a reduced rate. If he decides to sit out six months or something before “unretiring”, who cares – it won’t be with the franchise paying full freight on the salary.
I’m also assuming that the insurance company is paying the salary right now. If it’s not coming off the bottom line, you don’t release yet.
If they big guys in the clubhouse said no more, or this guy should’t be here, then by all means drop him like a sack of potatoes.
When/if he comes back, he may want to try and produce one more year and see how the body holds up. If it doesn’t, then I think the retirement concept will play out and we move on.
Regardless, we can’t count on anything from him in the near future and the team needs to build something as if he wasn’t rostered.
I’ll add that if healthy, we might as well capture the productivity….
While I do think he’ll be given every opportunity to contribute to the team early next year, he’s not exactly producing for us either.
Over the last three seasons, Rendon has played 148 games and posted an OPS+ of 94 with a slash line of .235/.338/.364.
Luis Rengifo has out performed Rendon with the bat over the same time frame, pretty notably so over the last two seasons. Yet we wouldn’t be worried about Luis Rengifo suddenly producing with another team.
We need to realize that we have a 34 year old, broken down shell of Anthony Rendon on the books next year. And that guy isn’t likely to help us or anybody else.
Not sure where Rendon is on our list of problems, my guess is not near the top 5.
I think his whipping-boy status is probably a useful distraction.
Not knowing what the main “problem” is with this organization (because they have so many) is #1. The Rendon signing was not a bad FA signing. Like many in the past, it’s the length of the contract that’s the huge problem. Every one of those long term contacts that have failed have all been Arte’s doing. Hell, Trout’s contract is headed in the same direction.
But after what happened this year, I agree, he has 0 chance of returning to the Pre-Angels Rendon. May as well run him back next year, see what happens. Just keep it/him from getting toxic.
Long Live trAdition
I’d say the #1 problem is the guy who keep signing all these bad contracts.
Although I’ll give him credit for this year. He wanted Trea Turner but listened to Minasian.
Another half decade of that and we might be decent.
They could trade him and eat all his salary. Another way to move him if people are concerned about just letting him walk.
If the Angels are gonna rebuild, Rendon looking useful would be helpful in getting some sort of asset out of him on his way out. I certainly don’t need young players around him in the clubhouse learning how to be an ass.
As an Angels fan, there is one things I have learned, and that’s that good 3B are a dime a dozen. It was stupid to sign Rendon back then. It’s stupid to keep him now. Everyone knows we can just pick up three or four solid third basemen this November. They’re like Tesla’s in California…. everywhere.
I could see Rendon getting dumped after next season for sure. But if/when Shohei leaves I imagine Rendon is the presumed DH for the club with Trout rotating in twice a week. If he can’t even stay healthy doing that it will be a slam dunk release.
Also – if there were to be a new owner I think Rendon would be an easy cut to reboot the clubhouse.
I agree with part of this logic. However owners can get insurance for long term contracts for injury and other purposes. I don’t know if this happened. But if it did, no release at any time makes unless the carrier will pay anyway.
Unfortunately for the Halos, while insurance pays the salary of an injured player, his salary still hits for cap purposes.
I’ve read insurance typically covers up to 75% of the salary. Like all insurance, the more coverage the owner buys the more they pay and vice a versa.
I’d love to know how much contract insurance costs Arte each year. With his track record, I’m surprised any carriers will come near him ha ha.
No way Rendon is dumped ala Gary Matthews. He still can show up and field his position for around…….20% every season. He may get dumped shortly after ST in his last contract year though.
yeah this. all of the other dumps were in the last year of the contract except hamilton
Hope for the best. Playing the Astros is always tough. As for the injured, Trout probably won’t return until September. Rendon had internal bleeding and is under the care of one of the best surgeons on the West Coast. He has come back from multiple injuries the last couple years. It seems this time he wants to get things right. There may also be behind-the-scenes stuff where the Angels team doctor said one thing and the specialist said something else. I have no idea. But I don’t expect Rendon back before Trout. It’s basically O’Hoppe and maybe a pitcher in August (if that).
Just root for the team and see what happens.
Realistically, this team can just play the part of spoiler and standings filler. .500 team with a lot of injuries, hoping to finish the season with a winning record. Jettison Stassi and Rendone in the off season, then take a look at the needs and what you have in the minors.
Stassi……..Only the Angels could have a situation like this.
Did we ever receive ant word on the family emergency that he’s dealing with? It seemed really bad from Nevin at the beggining of the year, and quiet since. Did I miss any update on him?
No. About a week ago I was reading some sort of listicle about what every team should do or something like that and it mentioned in passing that Stassi was having issues with his hips.
Maybe those surgeries he had have ruined him and the Angels simply don’t want to say it.
Nothing. Understand the desire for privacy, but.
It’s just abnormal. And being an Angel fan leads me to think the worst. Something embarrassing, illegal, freakishly odd and Angel like, or silence is due to an eventual court case, etc., etc., etc……..
trAdition
I was wondering if he was in jail, but I think some news organization would have gotten wind of it by now. He’s from California so it’s not like he got deported.
California? What Jail? They don’t arrest people here.
I could make a quick drive to the corner of my house to Chino State Prison and check if Stassi is there!
Fletcher is always on vacation and Sam the Hat never takes his eyes off Rendon. Rodger Lodge is a hack. We’d never know. Just the way Arte likes it.
Hes secret police. Good luck trying to figure out what’s going on with him.
I hear he is on a Mission.
Don’t know which one though.
San Juan Capistrano?
Santa Barbara?
San Luis Obispo?
Santa Ines?
Aren’t those the siblings of Santa Claus?
2 years ago we were at .500 at this point playing mostly scrubs because of injuries, we faded in September. Maybe because I follow only the Halos closely, but it does seem we fight the injury bug every year as my brothers and sons tell me. This year’s fill ins seem so much better than in the past though, is it me or do you agree?
Climbing back into the flow of playoff mode seems so far away, but with a couple series wins with even a sweep maybe, just maybe……nah, this is the Angels after all, right? Uh-oh, is Doomeritis claiming me, am I turning toward the Doomer side, has Darth Doomer taken a hold of me, the Doomer side of the force is strong, will I fall prey to it like Allen did and post only Doomer thoughts?
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode entitled “Will GPB fall victim to the Dark side?”
Of course it’s JV to open this series…light the cheaters up!!!
First pitch bunt! Just mess with his head.
I’m thinking first pitch to Altuve behind his head…but that might backfire.
So a sinker ball ha ha.
Was that shortism?