The Angels outrighted Chad Wallach to Triple-A Salt Lake City. Last night’s game with the Reds was canceled due to after effects of the tropical storm. It will now be part of a double header on Wednesday.
Brandon Marsh was just activated from the injured list. Mariners pitcher Emerson Hancock has a shoulder strain and will probably wind up on the injured list. The diamondbacks and former Rays pitcher Ryan Thompson have a minor league deal. The Giants will promote top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison while the Tigers will promote outfield prospect Parker Meadows.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is day to day with left middle finger discomfort. Aren’t we all? He’s still playing baseball. Tommy Pham is in a social media feud after a video of him having a heated exchange with a fan surfaces. The fan either got ejected or not ejected depending on who you believe.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
On MLBTR it says that Trout is back, even though he admits he’s still sore and not fully healed.
This goes back to what a bunch of us discussed a few days back. I sure hope he isn’t risking anything by playing through this hurt (such as compensating and either hurting another part or creating a bad habit that hurts his performance). Because I think it would be very unwise to risk that, if they are doing it just out of some desperate hope that they’ll still make the playoffs.
Why did Moreno back out?
According to the story, part of the reason Moreno declined to sell has to do with what happened during the sales process. A source told Gonzalez that as Moreno tried to talk up the Angels to potential buyers, the Angels owner ended up selling himself on keeping the team.
Will Moreno eventually sell the team? It seems unlikely to happen any time soon now.
https://larrybrownsports.com/baseball/arte-moreno-not-sell-angels-reason/619388
LOL!
“Here’s why you should buy the Angels, why it’s a good investment for you, and why you’d make money a thousandfold…
Hold on! I actually want those things for myself. Buh-bye!”
How old is he now? It’s just more signs of him being senile. If he didn’t want to sell the team, he shouldn’t have done that. I still think he needs to sell the team
Hey guys Arte can now get himself a POBO for next year . https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/08/white-sox-fire-ken-williams-rick-hahn.html
You we sure these aren’t comments from Angel Fans? Shared misery.
Idiot_Wind
August 22, 2023
Congrats Sox fans, just pray you don’t end up with Billy Eppler
lesterdnightfly
August 22, 2023
Good start, but did Jerry Reinsdorf fire himself? THAT would be progress for the Pale Hosers.
Where’s “5thStarter”?
Carpino be like in his Gollum voice “no one cam take the precious!”
Wow Velazquez instead of Regnifo. Did they have a lovers quarrel
E6 X 2 tonight
Rengifo isn’t even listed on the lineup card as being available. And somehow Velasquez is in the starting lineup and on the bench. Schrodinger’s Velazquez.
Rengifo has been traded for Pages and Joc.
and the Stripper.
Just trying to keep my daughters off the pole.
https://youtu.be/_1aO4pCvxN0
No but apparently Phillip forgot he still exists?
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1694108375762817239
Freudian slip
Every time I see X instead of Twitter it reminds me what I think of it’s boss
I am glad I did not google X. I have heard others searching X on internet were appalled.
Guaranteed victory with Queefy Joe out of the lineup. Oh yeah, and it might help a little with Trout and O’Hoppe playing. Too bad the Halos aren’t deep enough to keep Velasquez out of the lineup too. I miss Neto.
Trout is back lineup edition:
1B – Schanuel
CF – Trout
DH – Ohtani
2B – Drury
3B – Moose
C – O’Hoppe
LF – Grichuk
RF – Renfroe
SS – Velasquez
I would have preferred Trout to protect Ohtani, and to give Ohtani more ABs too, but I understand going L-R-L.
there’s no way squid is actually starting over Rengifo right lol
Renwhofo?
There’s no way Squid qualifies to play for a major league team, right?
Protection K’s?
Mike Trout has been activated.
Now the real push for October begins!
October golf course construction in Millville
Um
History has proven the countdown has begun to his next visit to the IR list…. 😂
When to the Astros game last night… nice stadium, terrible bathrooms (when you can find them) though.
And I won the burger contest! Headed to Napa/sutter home wine hq in October for the finals.
Not sure what winning the burger contest entails but congratulations!.
Suck it Asstro fans!
Cool. Was this for cooking or eating burgers?
Cooking. Forgot, Craig Biggio was one of the four judges so that was cool to meet him and talk to him for a bit.
This is for Sutter Home Wines Build a Better Burger contest. I went up against 3 other people, and now will go up agains the winners from Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, and Philly to win $25K. Just wild.
And best of all, the bathrooms at Sutter Home Winery are nice.
?
Are you saying people will need those after eating these burgers?
Given your name, I guess you would know that.
DUDE! That’s awesome! You’re a Ron Swanson level burger master AND you got to meet Biggio! Hell yeah bro!
Had a feeling Angels v. Reds would bring gcgomp out of hibernation.
Congrats!
We know who is manning the grill at the CtPG BBQ!
Tonight’s revised lineup prediction:
1B – Schanuel
CF – Trout
DH – Ohtani
2B – Drury
3B – Moose
LF – Grichuk
RF – Moniak
C – O’Hoppe
SS – Rengifo
I usually prefer Trout at #2 but Ohtani needs protection and honestly more ABs than Trout.
1B Schanuel
DH Ohtani
CF Trout
2B Drury
3B Moose
C O’Hoppe
SS Rengifo
RF Grichuk
LF Moniak
If only we could sub in peak-Ward and Neto into that lineup, you’d think we’d be headed to the playoffs!
😭
Well, while I’m at it, how about peak-Rendon and peak-Walsh too…
I went with the L-R thing down the lineup. Interesting options for Phil either way.
I usually prefer trout grilled on an open flame marinated with olive oil, lemon juice, butter and garlic.
Bon Appetite!
Why wouldn’t Renfroe play today? I would think he and Trout will be the guys getting a rest game on Wednesday, so they should both play tonight.
Moniak is no longer a maniac at the plate so I think you’re right Renfroe will get the lions share of the starts in RF.
Are you saying that Mickey’s not so fine and he doesn’t blow your mind?
I like the outfield options (and defense) with Trout, Moniak, Grichuk & Renfroe.
Multiple articles about Acuna being as good as Ohtani.
Acuna isn’t even close…he doesn’t have an out pitch.
And Acuna’s defense has been poor the last two seasons. He still has a good arm but his range is lousy. I suspect this may be due to lack of effort, because his speed certainly hasn’t declined.
Too GA today to look up Ohtani’s fielding stats….bet they’re really good.
People are always inclined to declare other players as good as or better than Ohtani to drum up excitement. We always saw the same with Trout.
Of course, if Ohtani plays elsewhere next year, I’ll be like that too. 😄
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/ohtansh01.shtml#standard_fielding
Here they are – you tell me.
honestly I don’t know what any of that fielding stuff means
I think the best way to measure a pitcher’s defensive value – especially in today’s game where both leagues steal bases at a greater than 80% success rate – is his ability to prevent stolen bases. And Ohtani is one of the best in the game at doing so.
I’m no stat geek but a .967 fielding percentage seems pretty darn good.
Not for a DH.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38192608/mlb-2023-angels-future-shohei-ohtani-arte-moreno
Nothing really new, but a decent summary. The lack of success of DiPoto and Eppler stood out:
“The Angels drafted 321 players under former GMs Jerry Dipoto and Billy Eppler from 2012 to 2020, and only one — David Fletcher, currently toiling in the minor leagues — has produced at least 10 Baseball-Reference wins above replacement in the major leagues. “
but but but … I wuzz tolled dipotoo was teh awesome
*whispers*
it’s always been arte.
Arte is responsible for poor drafting by the GM’s ???
*whispers*
yes
That guy kinda looks like Arte too 😂
Quite possible. Remember Beltre.
yes he’d be responsible if he hired the GMs who did the drafting. If you run a business and you hire incompetents then it’s on you. And by “you” I mean Arte.
Every GM he’s hired has sucked but he’s the one who hired them, so blame falls on him.
Yes. When the owner is a poor judge of talent he will hire the wrong executives who will hire the wrong managers who will draft the wrong players and hire the wrong coaches. It all stems from Team Arte.
https://crashingthepearlygates.com/2022/10/06/arte-morenos-legacy-of-abject-failure/
Good piece for a national publication. Yes Arte and Co. won early on with the players and farm system they inherited. It has been all downhill since they took over.
I do feel bad for the guy this year. He actually listened to his GM for once and bought depth, he broke the luxury tax line for the first time in forever, and it still blew up in his face.
The Baseball Gods hate him…
It’s the billboards. The gods detest billboards.
To a degree Arte’s success is due the inheritance of existing Angel player and system riches But Arte needs to be given credit for some things considering he signed off on the strategic Free Agent signings in 2003, The drafting of Jared Weaver ( who was a known hold out candidate) and Mike Trout and the signing of Torii Hunter.
But 2010 to 2023, for a large part thats on Arte for sure.
…and of course his claim to fame: lowering the prices of beers to inebriate the fans from being able to see the shitfest on the field
I always felt he got too much credit for a small decrease in beer prices. In fact, it was clearly a factum put out in the universe by his PR team in order to build a magnanimous image with the fanbase.
Of course.
You say “of course,” but alot of people just didn’t understand that at the time when he was getting praise for lowering beer prices.
Arte signed off on the acquisitions the real front office he inherited wanted. He also signed off on drafting Weaver, who the real front office wanted.
Good on Arte for listening to a competent front office.
The scouting director Arte inherited drafted Trout. The first GM Arte and his college buddies installed fired said scouting director.
That GM hire was the beginning of the end of the Angels glory years.
I’m too GA (of course) to look this up, but every time people on here talk about Bane being fired and how big a screw up that was, I seem to remember a vague report that the Bane firing was because he did something illegal or at least against the rules, that led to his firing.
And the Angels let him go as sort of a “ok, we got caught, so we’re firing this guy to show that we don’t tolerate this behavior and you don’t need to pursue this matter further” (as in MLB Rules Enforcers like Torre).
I agree that Bane seemed to have some really good skills… but was there something to this to show that maybe we shouldn’t keep harping on this as if it was just a pure bad move by Arte?
We {most likely} aren’t making the playoffs. I know that. We all know that, and some will claim they knew it in Spring Training lol.
That will not stop me from rooting passionately for this team until we are mathematically eliminated.
*crying intensifying*
This may be our last 37 games with Shohei Ohtani — I hope everyone enjoys it. For the 3rd straight season we are witnessing the greatest individual season in the history of baseball (and professional sports).
*still crying*
Shohei is the GOAT and I wouldn’t trade the Ohtani Era for anything. Understandably, this is a minority view, but I have enjoyed the entire 6 years of Shotime, regardless of team accomplishments.
37 guaranteed games left of it …
It might also be our last 37 games of Kiyotchan posts. It’s always sad to lose a valuable member of the community.
😔😭
I have to say I will also miss the Mercenary Mr. Chan.
Say it ain’t so!
“That will not stop me from rooting passionately for this team until we are mathematically eliminated.”
Should be the sentiment of most of us.
👏
I get being a loyal fan and rooting until it’s over. I can also understand the Ohtani love.
What I cannot subscribe to is blind loyalty in the face of a completely dysfunctional Organization and owner who has empowered incompetents like Kuhl and Carpino to essentially run baseball operations. It is foolish to blindly support such incompetence no matter what your level of fan-love and commitment to the team.
If the Angels were a stock you were invested in, you would have to question owning it due to poor leadership and management. You might love the product but realize that the leadership will never allow it to reach its potential and sell. I view my commitment to a team as an investment – I invest my time and loyalty to the team and they reward it with a competently run Organization. The Angels have failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
We as fans do not have to blindly support our teams. We have power. We can choose not to invest. In fact, I think it is more of an act of love and loyalty to call out the bullshit and demand change. Blind loyalty is submissive and passive.
Here, I feel the best thing for the long term health of the Angels is new ownership and a new Baseball Organization that is not primarily focused on marketing. How is that most likely accomplished? Get rid of Arte and his stooges. That has the best chance of happening with a disastrous season and Ohtani leaving. So, that is the silver lining of this season for me.
I agree that we need new ownership. Not sure that I can do anything about making that happen but new ownership over the winter would make me so excited about the future.
The reality is that baseball fandom is not logical. This is by definition. The term “fan” comes from “fanatic”, and fanaticism is not logical. Fandom is emotional and tribal.
If you looked at it in economic terms, there is NO REASON for anyone to be a fan of any team.
Maybe if we grunted more???
Emotional and tribal – that makes sense in the old days when people came from small towns or villages and we were not a global society. What you are saying is more similar to the English Premier League where teams were the center of social life in say Liverpool where there are two teams (Liverpool FC and Everton) within a mile of each other. In that situation, the tribal mentality makes sense, because the other fans literally live all around you and are part of your ‘tribe’. To some extent I could see that being true of the Green Bay Packers as well.
That kind of mentality doesn’t really apply here in So Cal. So many of the Angel fans today are rooting only for Ohtani. They come from all over the place and have no real connection to a local ‘tribe’. Even the team’s name is not local now that it is associated with a city of 20 million plus people.
I used to feel a tribal and local connection to this team when I was younger. That has long since passed, and my connection to the team has become more logic-based rather that irrational blind fanship.
I find it exceedingly difficult to root for a team that is self destructive and run by a dysfunctional Organization. That does not mean that I do not have a deep seated love for the Angels – it just means that I do expect something in return. My expectations are not unreasonable – they are simply that dysfunction be recognized and replaced with a solid baseball Org. If that happens, I really don’t care if they win or lose. I will be rooting for them to win, but I will be proud of the team no matter what.
This. Then again, there are people who are unfortunately loyal customers to restaurants or hotels with a 1.5 out of 5 star rating on yelp.
But as a fan, I am a customer, and if I am not a happy customer and my investment is turning into a dumpster fire, then I have my right to file a complaint or state my opinion bluntly.
What will make me a happy customer is when they change up ownership and build an up to date stadium.
The reality is that I love baseball. I look forward to each day’s game regardless of how the Angels are playing. When we don’t have a game to follow, I feel a void. The Angels have been my team since I was 12 years old and I will die an Angels fan. I am frustrated and saddened by the team since 2016 and the loss of Ohtani hurts and I have enjoyed watching his development as one of the game’s greatest players. But once the season is over, I will be waiting for next spring training and Rex Fregosi’s early photos and hoping that 2024 will be our year…
This is me also.
Here’s something interesting. Baseball America ran the rest of the season 1,000 times and has come up with its probable outcomes for all teams.
It predicts a ‘best case’ for the team of 84-78 and a ‘worst case’ of 78-84. The average predicted finish per the analytics is approx 79-83.
It predicts the team will finish approx 18-19 over the last 37.
Has these for all teams and provides a claimed 90% certainly rate. Interesting stuff.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2023-playoff-odds.shtml
That’s probably about right.
Geesh. Why do they even play the games anymore?
Well, the methodology is predictive based on recent past performance – so it doesn’t account for players returning from injury (so, doesn’t account for Trout instead of Adams, or O’Hoppe instead of Wallach). We might do a bit better than this.
I think 84-78 is the optimistic one.
Which would be the first winning season since 2015.
Yes. There is around a 10% – 15% chance of that happening.
If Trout is activated for this series, I would like to see Shohei pitch but not hit in game 1 tomorrow. Trout can DH, and Shohei can hit during game 2.
Unless he asked to take additional time out of the lineup, why rest him? If the intent remains to win as many games as possible, clearly he needs to be in the lineup. Saving him for future seasons makes zero sense.
I was thinking getting max effort from him on the pitching side tomorrow. The Detroit doubleheader took a lot out of him last month.
With Jordyn Adams returned to SLC, there are only 3 OFs on active roster. So, Sho will be DH for the second game (unless Nevin decides to put Rengifo or Squid in OF).
As you suggested, the Angels should have ‘experimented’ with Sho just pitching not DH in several games earlier in the season. That way, they could have quantified how much batting hurt his pitching performance. The fact that Sho seemed to hit well when he pitches pretty much eliminated the possibility of the experiment.
Trout is going to be activated, which will give them 4 OFs on the active roster.
You are right. I forgot about Grichuk for some reason. Then, it will be up to Sho. If he says, he wants to play, I don’t think Nevin would say no. Hopefully, Sho got recharged by 2 full days of being off by sleeping in his own bed.
Well, winning as many games as possible drops our draft position, so…
😉
And to think what ball player out there in college today will be manning left field in Anaheim for us this time next year.
College? I’m thinking he’ll be shopping at the LLWS
The Foundation Building Materials’ keystone of the game tonight against the Cincinnati Red Stockings is the Crossroads guitar duel between Eugene and Jack to determine the fate of Willie’s soul.
Let’s hope the baseball game tonight is as exciting as the interplay between Ry Cooder and Steve Vai will always be.
https://youtu.be/CqdL36VKbMQ
Can’t believe I’ve never seen that. Movie actually got good reviews, too, including from Roger Ebert.
Wow I didnt know the Karate Kid was that good with the guitar. I just thought he was only known for owning a car dealership in valley
Rock & Roll will live forever!!!
So Vlad has been over-using his left middle finger? I’m guessing the Jays have had several recent series where Angel Hernandez was calling balls and strikes……
Along with Laz Diaz.
Doug Eddings was atrocious over the weekend and most of his career as well.
Please spell his name properly. It’s Doug F***ING Eddings, and has been since the 2005 playoffs. Also acceptable is “Pureshitski’s bitch”.