The Angels promoted Nolan Schanuel on Friday. And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for:

They said it couldn’t be done, but on Saturday evening the Angels sucked even worse than they’ve sucked. Here is the 2023 All-Overpaid Team. But “What if” the Angels didn’t suck?
The Dodgers signed Kolten Wong to a minor league deal. Brandon Crawford is back on the ten day IL. It’s been a boom or bust year for shortstops. Outfielder Aaron Hicks also went on the ten day IL with back issues. The Reds have reinstated Hunter Greene from the 60 day IL. Tony Gonsolin is probably done for the season.
Elly de la Cruz had another inside the park homer.
Here is your basic Savannah Bananas trick play.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
So, do you believe that Nevin and staff are history in ’24? You want an experienced manager who is young, full of positive attributes, doesn’t mumble, respected by players, loved by fans, and can win? Ok, fine, but ask yourself this, why would he come to the Angels ⁉
No
Yes. And they should be.
Well, we can’t lose tonight, so there is that. 😁
Correlation or not? First Tropical Storm in almost 100 years in 2023 and Halo injury list in 2023. Hmmm, don’t believe in Indian Burial Ground theory still, hey?
Exciting news, Trouty returns, 7th in this movie’s franchise history, fandom waning, plenty of available tickets. More exciting to see the over-under on how many games he plays as the sting is ending.
Looks like the organizational philosophy to not “chase wins every day” spread to the grounds crew. A damm shame they couldn’t get / keep the field ready to play on such a pretty day.
Bring in the helicopters, a baseball field’s hair dryer. 🚁
That would be chasing wins tho. Not allowed!
I believe everything Nevin says, if I could only make sense of it though.
That happened the day/a couple days before Opening Day at Dodger Stadium 1962. Gene Autry owned the radio station KMPC, and he had the traffic helicopters hover over Dodger stadium infield to dry it out after a water main burst and flooded the field.
If there was standing watet I’d understand but if so hard to imagine it getting better by tomorrow.
Chuckles all round from Williamsport.
Both Dodgers and Scott Boras sent their scouts to watch the game between Taiwan and Japan with preprinted contracts in both Chinese and Japanese.
Nothing personally against the plate umpire, but she sucks!
It’s a little league game, for God’s sake. She was inconsistent and had smaller than postage stamp strike zone. She should never be invited back to Williamsport.
Angel Hernandez in the news again.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/mlb-ump-angel-hernandez-under-fire-egregious-strike-calls-braves-giants
He lost his discrimination suit, so it would not surprise me if he intends to burn it all down: You think I was bad before, just wait.
On the bright side, perhaps Hernandez will persuade the feckless toady that runs the Commissioner’s Office to adopt an ABS system.
Or alternatively, fire his ass.
The usual suspects would deem it “waycist”
I’d agree with you except for one stark reality: Hernandez is not missing those calls out of spite; he just sucks!
He seems to be untouchable, so he takes the incompetence to staggering levels.
Bottom three farm systems in MLB according to ESPN:
28) Los Angeles Angels 29)Atlanta Braves 30) Houston Astros
It’s interesting (and maybe only interesting?) that the bottom three farm systems in baseball belong to Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos and his two former lieutenants who have moved on to run other clubs: Dana Brown in Houston and Perry Minasian with the Angels. It’s not by accident that all three teams are going for it this year, and the strategy is nothing new to the Braves and Astros.
Big difference between Braves and Astros going for it (with legitimate chance) and the Angels going for it just to do so and thereby weakening their already crappy farm system.
We’ve had this discussion many times …. What is the purpose of being a fan ? What is the purpose of rooting for a team?
I’d say that you want them to WIN. I don’t root for “a strong farm system.” I root for my team to win. Now, it is true that building a strong farm can be a good way to achieve that aim. But it is not the only way. And depending upon the circumstances of the individual franchise, favoring the farm over the present MLB roster can actually hurt in that goal… I think the 2023 Angels fell into that category…
Unfortunately, injuries, Nevin and trAdition foiled the playoff dream.
Many did not think they fell into that category. And what happened afterwards only lends support to that choice.
You seem to bring up a “discussion again”, which appears as your insistence that people making the other choice (for acquiring young talent) are somehow not caring about wins, and therefore not real fans. That argument just isn’t logical.
For myself, I’ve been a fan a very long time, and I want this team to get back to the playoffs, and win lots of games. I think the best way to do that would have been to trade everything away at the trade deadline and focus on future years. I wanted a stronger chance at lots more wins in the future instead of a slight chance of more wins this season.
Trading all their expiring contracts would not have been popular but it might have added enough significant young players to the ones they have that would have put them in a position to compete for the next 5 years. Now, they’re back in no-mans land with a good nucleus that requires significant spending to add the players required to make the team competitive. 🙁
And lost some potential young talent along the way in short sighted trades.
We figure to have quite a bit of coin available to spend on Moore & Drury type players to go with the young core.
It wasn’t a “slight” chance. In late July the Angels were only 3 games out of a playoff spot. That is more than a “slight” chance. Besides, how many years have we heard “wait until next year” or “we’re 5 years away” etc, etc… At some point as a fan you just get sick of that and just say, “fuck it, I want to win NOW!” That is where I am at, and I believe alot of others are too! And it was not like the talent was not there… It can’t be denied that the Angels had horrible luck (if you want to call it that, but I am not sure) with injuries with all of the following missing significant time ” Trout, Ward, Rendon, O’Hoppe, Neto, Adell, Urshela, Walsh, Bachman, Joyce… Drury missed some time as well, and we know about Stassi.
Should I go on ? This team has shown the ability to beat good teams, but there are two or three teams that continue to have our number and hurt us, namely the Astros and Dodgers. But as stated it is possible a few of those games go our way with even reasonable health. Yes, Nevin HAS cost us at least a few games all by himself. That said, in late April the talent on board was certainly good enough to stay in the race if not more…
I have to believe it would be a lot better than our current 61-64 had the health situation been a little bit different …
You and I agree and disagree. I can see no way that a focus on building and strengthening the minor-league system hurts the team. Unless, of course, the organization is so screwed up that they don’t know how to develop and maximize those young players within the system.
That is the ongoing problem. It’s the Organization plain and simple. It’s screwed up at all levels and is run with a focus on marketing first. So, pay for expensive, flashy free agents versus building a deep baseball team that churns out young, fundamentally sound talent year after year. That is how the great teams are run.
I have come to the point that I am going to root for whatever makes it most likely for Arte to sell the team. I am hoping that if the team fails spectacularly this season and Ohtani leaves we have our best shot at Arte selling, Carpino and Kuhl going with him and a new dawn rising with a owner who focuses on building a great baseball Organization.
Look, I totally agree about the rot on an organizational level. I have been leading the call of “Arte is the cause of all the losing” for a long time. That said, sometimes a talented team can beat the odds and win DESPITE the fact that have a terrible owner. Hell, the Cincinnati Reds won a World Series in 1990 with Marge Schott as the owner, who was clearly the worst owner in all of baseball (she was an antisemitic, racist, penny-pinching, vulgarian) … So, it is not like it can’t be done.
Because of the Ohtani situation and Trout’s current career arc I was indeed in favor of “going for it” in 2023. And frankly, with a different and good manager and one or two good arms added I think we can compete in 2024. We’ve got some good young talent now (Moniak, O’Hoppe, Neto etc) and can conceivably have a nice mix of good vets and exciting kids in 2024.
I lacked the optimism that this team could compete even with Trout and Ohtani. I felt the ast was a good predictor of the future. That is why I was so adamant that Ohtani be traded.
I’m very positive about the future IF;
1. Arte is gone and with him Carpino and Kuhl etc; He is replaced with an owner who is willing to surround himself with good baseball people and doesn’t believe he is all knowing.
2. Actual serious focus and finances are put into the minor leagues, scouting, drafting, coaching and player development.
3. I’d like to see a POBO since I believe that is a sign that baseball operations are important to the new owner and that he/she is willing to empower a high level executive to focus on running a baseball team.
4. The focus becomes young talent first and supplementing with free agents 2nd (or third).
Whatever makes this more likely is what I am rooting for. We can only hope.
When Perry left ATL. he went to team so toxic, the Angels, it created an evil cloud of negative energy. The amount of “Suckage” (actual scientific term) in the Angels organization was so strong that it filtered through Perry and touched all that had a recent working relationship with him. It manifested itself by creating a “Suckage” in the minor league systems, not at the MLB level.
Don’t have knowledge about the research behind this, but it‘s science…it was likely a government-funded study.
“Embrace the Suckage!!’
Yay! We’re not the worsyest!
🎤 One of these teams is not like the other…
Trout is back !!!! Which is much better than Trout not being back….
https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/article278451629.html
1B – German dude
DH – Shohei
CF – Trout
2B – Drury
3B – Moose
C – O’Hoppe
LF – Moniak
RF – Renfroe
SS – Rengifo
Just missing Neto now…..
I posted the same thing haha. The post-ASB collapse hurts even more.
All we had to do was tread water. We couldn’t even do that 😭.
Lineup looks incredible tho
The starting pitching totally imploded – along with Carlos Estevez at the same time.
So you’re telling me there’s a chance.
Stranger things can & do happen.
I think there is a legitimate chance the Angels finish over .500 for the first time since 2015. Something like 83-79 is doable. But the idea that they could play .800 ball over 38 games and jump Boston, Seattle and Toronto for the 3rd WC is a bit far fetched to put it mildly.
Obviously.
I don’t see anyone here saying that it will happen. At this point, it’s simply a matter of taking it one at a time. This will remain my position until we’re mathematically eliminated as we have a looooong offseason to complain. I’d prefer to stave off that bit of “fun”
for as long as possible.
I get it and respect it.
I just walked the bases at a local baseball field…It’s SOAKED.
I nearly slipped and ate shit between 1st and 2nd 😂😂😂
Little amount of E. coli might even be good training/challenge for your gut/immune system. 😉
Here’s an interesting perspective of Shohei’s grand slam on Friday —
A wasted Grand Slam that was … Poor coaching and no real offensive strategy other than “be aggressive” result in wasted/blown leads…
I would blame the pitching more than the offense on that game. When you’re staked to a 5-1 lead, it’s the pitcher’s job to hold it and not implode.
Yes, but the offense needs to KEEP THE PRESSURE ON. The Angels did not do that on Friday night. As Eric accurately pointed out, after that Slam all our hitters became homerun happy and started swinging wildly at the first pitch almost every AB. This is something we do all the time… It is the responsibility of the manager and hitting coach to address and fix and they haven’t done it.
Prediction. Tucker Davidson pitches a no hitter for royals tonight. Lol. Tradition
No game tonight.
https://x.com/jefffletcherocr/status/1693666942731886901?s=46&t=3pP7Z-kN6oKfFrW3jqFGhA
Is the field flooded…there is no rain in the forecast.
https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/ca/anaheim
That’s probably what it is.
Anaheim got 2″ overnight.
It is intriguing to see that they are playing double header on Wednesday instead of tomorrow. Several questions come to my mind.
-Is there a possibility of triple header if they can’t get the field ready by tomorrow night? Has there been any triple header in MLB history?
-Who will be added for 27th player on Wednesday? Nevin better not add Herget again.
-Who should start the first game on Wednesday? Ohtani or Giolito? (Ohtani is announced as the starter for the first game and second game TBA)
It would be cool if it was a triple header with the possibility that they could set a MLB record for most losses in one day.
OR WINS!!!
I’m going to the day game so I’d really appreciate Shohei pitching that one 😇
Then I hope that Nevin stick with the plan, my friend.
Would you stay for the second game if they offer $10 ticket? Or hide in the restroom and hope that no one checks? 😉
I considered that on Saturday. After seeing how that 2nd game went … absolutely no interest lol
Saturday on the way to Chuck E Cheese for Winston’s birthday.
Ran into a vanload of drunk Dodger fans at the Lebec Rest Area.
On their way to Chavez and I ask if they were doing both games.
A designated driver said, “We’ll see how many beers they drink.”
Why are they now called rest areas rather than rest stops like before?
What insane political correctness made the word stop have cooties.
Not a political topic but a simple question for you smarter people here.
Yes I have spare interwb time on my hands.
Corvair Center Forum is upgrading servers.
El Mirage got 3″…you can forget the September SCTA Landspeed event.
You know, there are a lot of brands on the market with all the flavor without all that caffeine. -Real Genius, 1985.
Ohtani should definitely start game 1 as he figures to DH both games. It would be stupid to start him in game 2 after burning some energy as the game 1 DH prior to his start.
Yes, there has been a precedent where he pitched a CG shut out followed by a home run in the second game. I thought that there was some chance that Trout might DH to give Sho some rest, but with Jordyn Adams gone, Sho will play both games.
Which makes me wonder : With all the rain this past winter and then this storm which dumped inches of water in a fairly short span, and with all the run off, is the Salton Sea any less “saltony “?
Seems logical. Over in Joshua Tree, thanks to a freak of topography, you can smell the delightful aroma of dead fish and freakish chemicals blown up by the prevailing zephyrs a few times a year.
Things to ponder on this fine Monday….
If triple header do we get two or three extra players?
I wonder if manfraud and his minions thought of that?
TBA= Barria
They announced the new projected starters.
Giolito for Tuesday, Ohtani for 1st game and Detmers for 2nd game Wednesday. Canning and Barria will be available for long relief.
Still, teams play on wet fields all the time… As long as the infield is okay it should be playable. And one would assume that the infield was more than adequately protected and covered.. Sure, the outfielders would be slowed down going after fly balls, but that would effect both sides equally…
It is IMHO the biggest blunder that AM/PM and/or Nevin did not consider that wet/muddy field is the only way that would have prevented Ella De La Cruz from getting his third inside the parker this season. 😉
One good thing…bullpen will be rested.
Wha? Came from Cincinnati, leaving tomorrow. Last memory of this angels season will be the Saturday night massacre. 😢
You can fly back out for the World Series !
😂
https://twitter.com/Jolly_Olive/status/1693653547588477398?s=20
Had to look it up…Kyle Bradish
https://www.mlb.com/player/kyle-bradish-680694
Was that a Minasian trade?
2019 Trade – Eppler
For Dylan ‘puker’ Bundy.
If he pitched for the Angels, he would be similar to Jaime Barria’s numbers.
It’s about time. It only took 4 years.
This was the guy Turk’s Teeth said could come back to bite us. As usual, Turk’s was right.
He also said to draft that Brady Singer kid when Will Wilson was on the board.
Just imagine subbing Tyler Anderson and another crappy arm with those two AND having $13 million to spend on bullpen help.
But we got rid of Cozart’s contract. Surely that was worth drafting Wilson right?
When the Angels selected Wilson they passed on Corbin Carroll and George Kirby.
On that “what if” article – This seems like a stock phrase to describe the Angels “The ensuing failure has been nothing less than spectacular”
😂
According to Forebears.io, there are 357 people in the world with the last name Schanuel.
211 of them live in the USA
136 of them live in Brazil
6 live in Germany
3 live in Canada
1 lives in France
It’s a name of Germanic origin, but only 6 in Germany.
But he wasn’t rushed to the Majors. `;~}}
I’m not hung up on that question. The kid seems poised & mature beyond the date on his birth certificate and his hitting profile plays well at this level and particularly on this squad. He’s a contact hitter – which we desperately need and many of his outs have been solid line drives. He doesn’t seem overmatched or at least not yet.
“at least not yet“
The “Scha” part is Germanic, but the “uel” part is Hebraic.
Yes, good call out.
Interesting. I need to learn more stuff like this.
I’d imagine this explains the lack of Schaneuls in Germany. Either they exited the country or simply didn’t survive the holocaust.
They drafted him to use up all of the extra S, N, A, H and E’s from all the custom Shohei Ohtani jersey’s that won’t be used after he leaves.
This proves actually that Arte isn’t cheap.
If he was cheap he would scout only in Asia and take players with 2 and 3 letter last names so as to save on letters for jerseys. Can still charge full price for a player named “Yu” vs “syndergaard”
2 letters vs 5 – 10 is a good savings on merch cost.
Was pronouncing it — “rhymes like Samuel”
Apparently its “Schan-well”… Get a French or new orleans riverboat captain vibe from that. Anyways.. from wiki:
“Schanuel has 20/10 vision, considered twice the ability of the average person.”
Chuck Yeager had vision like that. Made him an Ace-in-a-day, five planes shot down in one mission.
Ted Williams’ eyesight was so good, he could see the individual stitches on the ball as it hurled towards him when he was batting.
The Boys from Brazil?
This maybe somewhat interesting heritage.
The Foundation Building Materials’ keystone of the game tonight against the Reds, if the game will be played, is “Ego Death” by Polyphia.
There is just nothing Shohei Ohtani can’t master once he puts his mind to it.
https://youtu.be/1JNmz17gnMw
The Angels scored 17 runs in their three-game meeting with the TB Rays, but only won one game. It must have been the pitching’s fault. Here is the list of how many actual runs each Angel produced:
4.25 Drury
4.00 Ohtani
2.00 Schanuel
1.75 Moustakas
1.50 Thaiss
1.25 Renfroe
1.00 Moniak
0.75 Grichuk
0.50 Rengifo
After his grand slam on Friday (worth 2.50 ARP), I figured Shohei would be a sure thing for the ARP leader for this series, but Drury was on fire. This was the third time this season that Drury was the team’s ARP leader (OAK, KCR).
Schanuel kept up the amazing trend of the new guy on the roster immediately being one of the top Actual Run Producers. Jordyn Adams, however, not so much.
Here is the updated Actual Runs Allowed per Batters Faced:
0.05 Moore (154)
0.09 Ohtani (549)
0.09 Soriano (126)
0.09 Bachman (77)
0.10 Silseth (192)
0.10 Weiss (25)
0.10 Joyce (21)
0.11 Sandoval (521)
0.11 Canning (388)
0.11 Estevez (224)
0.11 Lopez (218)
0.12 Giolito (604)
0.13 Anderson (508)
0.13 Detmers (499)
0.13 Leone (160)
0.13 Rosenberg (28)
0.15 Wantz (96)
0.16 Barria (306)
0.16 Loup (175)
0.16 Devenski (140)
0.16 Escobar (11)
0.17 Reyes (34)
0.18 Mederos (17)
0.19 Suarez (123)
0.19 Herget (78)
0.23 Ingram (14)
Of the 14 pitchers the Angels used in this series, only Leone and Moore did not allow any part of any run that scored.
With one more scoreless outing, Matt Moore will drop his ARA/BF down to 0.04. He has been absolutely phenomenal for the Angels this year.
A lot of the Angel pitchers seem to have 1/3 of their outings this year where they were great/pretty good, 1/3 of their outings where they were mediocre, and 1/3 of their outings where they were horrible. The only pitcher who has been great/pretty good all year long is Matt Moore. What is his secret for being consistent, and why won’t he share it with his teammates?
Let’s hope next year’s reality is a lot closer to next year’s encouraging potential.
A couple of pupps who we will watch turn into dawgs
Hello everyone. Haven’t posted all season because the games come on middle of the night in Germany, so I watch replays the next day, therefore avoid spoilers 😄.
Couple comments on the season:
1. Why is the current Angels pitching staff still employed? How often have we seen pitchers regress when they sign with the team, or runs given up the inning after we score? The pitchers are poorly coached and have no confidence in themselves. Even cocky Sandoval doesn’t believe anymore. It can’t just be all chalked up to bad luck when Angels pitchers continually underperform.
2. I love the recent call ups. Give them reps. Shanuel, O’Hoppe, Neto, Moniak… they bring excitement, energy, and seem to actually care.
3. I’ve watched almost every game this season and I don’t recall Barria ever coming in and not giving up runs. Can we be done with him for the season?
4. I’m still convinced, we fired Maddon prematurely (we were still at .500 with tons of time), and when Nevin is inevitably fired, can we please get a real proven manager?
5. Please Ohtani, don’t leave.
6. Is Rendon ever going to play for us??
7. Seriously Trout, can you just, not get hurt somehow?
8. Can we just stay in the hunt at least until football season starts so I have something to watch for the next two weeks? OK who am I kidding, we are out of the hunt. Dang it, and it depresses me. 😔
9. I’ve read a few times in here that if Ohtani leaves, the owner may sell and if he stays maybe he’ll sell because the value of the team will be higher so here’s holding out hope he sells for real this off-season.
10. The problem with the team is not talent and it is a little bit coaching but mostly its culture. This team doesn’t believe it’s going to win. It doesn’t want to win doesn’t have a culture of winning and that has to change, and I think that has to be new ownership… see number 9.
Good talk and go Halos!
10/10 ! No notes 🇩🇪
Great post. The coaching of the pitching staff plainly isn’t helping anyone except maybe hard throwing power pitchers. The Angels have roughly three of them: Ohtani, Silseth, Estevez. Bachman and Joyce would qualify but they are hurt. That’s it. The rest of the guys are more control, spot pitchers and one size doesn’t fit all for coaching them.
Maddon was let go because he wanted to play more traditional baseball and wasn’t into nonstop analytics and Perry telling him what to do all the time.
The culture clearly is the problem. Even having the best two talents in the league hasn’t changed it enough.
Time to go with the younger players, bring in new pitchers in 2024 and hope for health.