Chase Silseth got hit in the head by an errant Trey Cabbage throw on Saturday. He was knocked down and went to the hospital but the Angels skipper Phil Nevin thinks they avoided something serious. I’m not sure if this is some kind of a blame game, but the news came out on Sunday that Shohei Ohtani and his agent refused an MRI back when he had the finger cramp issue. If he wants to break signs, he’s darn well going to break signs.
California won the Little League World Series with a walk off homer by Louis Lappe.
Matt Chapman and Bo Bichette both left the Blue Jays game yesterday with injuries. The Blue Jays also put Erik Swanson on the 15 day IL with thoracic spine inflammation. The Guardians, for their part, designated Noah Syndergaard for assignment. The Astros think they might finally get Michael Brantley back.
The Dodgers claimed Tyson Miller off waivers from the Mets and moved Tony Gonsolin to the 60 IL. Not to be outdone by the Angels fairly sedate bench clearing incident on Saturday, the Rays and Yankees emptied the benches twice in the same inning on Sunday and still no punches were thrown. These guys could never make it in hockey. There was some trash talking. Randy Arazorena thinks Albert Abreu plunked him on purpose.
Here is Manny Machado beating up a water cooler.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Nevin pregame on radio:
Silseth: Less headache with the same amount of swelling. My prediction: If no neurological deficit after 24 hours of accident, he will not miss his next start.
Neto: He started to hitting from the tee and doing some field work. My prediction: He will be back for Oakland series.
Trout: He is doing some indoor activities. It is a matter of pain tolerance in his wrist. My prediction: He will give another try with next homestand against the Orioles.
“My prediction” is from you Mr Chan?
Correct, sir.
So Dr Chan.
I like it. The Angels should bring you aboard.
BTW “no neurological deficit” is a very subjective term and potentially could affect each and everyone of us.
It’s actually pretty objective in that any impact on the brain will reveal itself by rapid pressure not he brain matter either by enlarging blood clots or swelling, usually causing that person to have extreme pain, sudden loss of vision or consciousness. Without that happening in the first 24 hours, the chances are that person will be ok in 99% of the time.
He’s a future investment and, if he was my investment, I would not be in any hurry to get him back out there. The Angels are playing for nothing.
Thank you for translating the indecipherable Nevin-ese
I was just reading the Athletic article that talks about the genius construction of the Mariners BP, mostly from waver-claims.
They pulled off what we tried to do for years.
JeDi knows what he’s doing
With all the world’s problems…..If I had the ability to change the course of history 1 time, today, I’d use that one magical wish on the M’s not making the post season. Not only that, I’d make sure it was a painful, franchise changing and tortured experience. Full of Nightmare fuel for their fans. 😀 😀 😀
F the M’s!
Eat it Jerry!
The Angels have three games against them from 9/11 to 9/13 to make their life miserable. The Angels will most likely have pain free Trout and Neto back and either or a combination of Sam Bachman and Ben Joyce. Sho with Trout protecting him may be pursuing rare 400 TB per season and, of course, MLB homerun crown. It will be fun series to watch.
I genuinely doubt Trout comes back.
He is still with the team although he had another business to attend to. I applaud CtPG people for not being critical. I still think he will play soon, definitely by Seattle series.
https://twitter.com/MikeTrout/status/1695497395310932224
The golf course looks amazing!!
I have lost all faith in the Angels and injuries this season. I can’t give them the benefit of the doubt anymore lol
I like Mike and think he’s a great young man but unfortunately this isn’t a good look. It would be one thing if he was playing but he’s not and hasn’t been for some time. I know it’s not his fault, but during the baseball season when he is being paid 40 million dollars a year to play baseball, there is no other business to attend to unless it’s charity work associated with baseball.
Ever?
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time. (but I hope not!)
I did not know Shohei spent a couple off-seasons in Seattle… learning that very quickly ruined my afternoon lol.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp/extra-mustard/2023/07/12/mlb-all-star-game-shohei-ohtani-seattle-comments-mariners-fans-optimistic
That’s where driveline is located – if I recall correctly
That is correct. When he was asked how he felt about Seattle during ASG pregame interview, he mentioned that he spent considerable time in Seattle in last 2 off seasons. Even though he did not name Driveline specifically, many people agree that that is the connection. He just mentioned that the city is beautiful and he liked Starbucks.
Ah, I didn’t know Driveline was located there. Appreciate yall
To think, if Shohei signed there, we might have to see that shit-eaten smirk on Jedi’s face and Servais mug might actually flatten out. I’d rather he go to the Dodgers ten times over Seattle.
The organization deserves it
Other teams are in a Pennant Chase
We’re in a Chase – Silseth
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Should have been a win yesterday. Allowing Alonso to bat with an open base was pure stupidity. Thanks Phil, your lack of baseball acumen is showing.
Angels are 2-4 in the last 6 games.
0-4 when Squid started at SS.
2-0 when Squid doesn’t start at SS.
I wonder if there’s any correlation.
Probably more to do with the guy making the lineup the last six games.
But yes, he should never start……and he shouldn’t be on a major league roster.
I was trying to find the same stats yesterday. He is a loser.
LINEUP
Renfroe benched. I mentioned it in the yesterday’s gamethread — Renfroe should be benched for his poor display of effort.
If we had a viable OF prospect, I’d bring him up to replace Renfroe.
Fully admit, I liked the Renbloe signing in the offseason.
Now, why in the hell a soon to be FA that is (obviously mailing it in / hurt / or on team that has a hitting philosophy that is not suitable for you) still on this roster? What a typical Angel free agent. Probably ruined another career,
Go Angels! Go trAdition!
Boooooooo. Hisssssssssss. Move on!
I thought the trade was good too. Then started to deep dive why this guy kept getting traded…
What’s wrong with bringing up Nelson Rada? He plays centerfield hes got 52 stolen bases this year.
Rada-tooey
Could also be Renfroe’s scheduled day off, but the way he slowed down what could have been a close play at 1st did not appear that he was giving his best effort. Phillies starter is righty, so that might be another small reason, but I am happy that Cabbage is getting another chance to show his bat.
Still hoping that Neto returns tomorrow or Wednesday.
Is Neto that close ?????
Regarding Renfroe, it’s either a day off or benching. Would be quite coincidental that the day off comes after his lack of effort yesterday 🥸
There was an inkling just before NYC trip when Nevin talked about Neto starting ‘baseball activities’ and accompanying the team for the east coast trip. I was thinking if he was not going to play any game at all, why would he accompany the team? All media attention then was on Shohei’s injury, but I distinctly remember Nevin’s words on Neto.
I read that too. We haven’t gotten any update since, so I’m doubtful those baseball activities have even started.
Anyways, this keeps Rengifo in the lineup 🙂
Or move Rengifo to 2B.
Last night I have heard someone talking about Bryce Harper returning to play as DH only first and now playing 1B. Bryce Harper did not have any rehab assignments prior to his return, and he has been recently playing great baseball for Phillies. The Angels attempted to do the same with Trout, which turned out to be a mistake, but with Harper’s success, more teams may not put too much emphasis on rehab assignments to minor league games.
Baseball activities are such vague term; they could mean just play catch to actually play sim game involving batting and fielding. We have no idea what occurs during their practice before the media arrive.
Like Plummer and MacKinnion, Cabbage is another AAA stat accumulator who could not make the jump.
Cabbage had an important 2 RBI producing base hit (wWPA 10%) in that memorable CG shut out game by Sho in late July, which probably led Minasian to declare the Angels were buyer.
The most difficult barrier for these AAAA players is to sustain their success at MLB level. Gotta cheer for these players who have had to struggle a lot but still give their all.
I need that average about .250 before I buy his rookie card
Make an exception for that Ippei Holoview Holofoil parallel card
Ippei has a card? Would not shock me. I don’t follow the hobby like I used to. I remember the days of only Topps. Then came Fleer and Donruss…then Upper Deck in 1989. The hobby exploded and imploded. Now, everyone is issuing a card.
At your service, sir.
https://youtu.be/oBSPybTcEIY?si=klobPShIPGEzG6Aa
LOL…that’s awesome.
I tried looking and couldnt find any for sale
For the record, I ME I was the first person to ask for Ippeis autograph at spring training.
Shohei was hard to isolate for an autograph since it was his first spring … trout and Calhoun drove him along a back road so as to avoid all the fans waiting for autographs.
Grace McNamee (Japanese consultant who had helped Nomo transition to LA) was in Tempe one day (maybe to help Ippei or Shohei somehow?) walking with Ippei (ohtani was off with trout/Calhoun as i said) and I asked for Ippei’s autograph …
Mrs Grace says to me “sir! That is not Ohtani-san!”
I replied “OF COURSE – He’s the interpreter and I want HIS autograph ”
Ippei shook his head , Mrs Grace shook her head and they continued walking away – confused as hell.
Receipt: Note there are no fans who can stop Ohtani and get his autograph as this is on the back road near the Buttes Hotel …
Story:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22614059/first-impressions-los-angeles-angels-shohei-ohtani
Coyld be this:
August: .152/.250/.261
Only putting out 80% effort keeps the injuries away.
Could also be on thin ice if the Angels end up with a third straight losing season on his watch. You Know Who will purge and clean house……Perry, Phil will be gone probably..
Source?
Tbh, I really don’t know what I’m talking about but if I had 3 billion dollars and bought the team Perry might be the only one I keep. I think everybody knows at this point, from the league, to the national media what we’ve known for a while now. This org needs to clean house, top to bottom.
FWIW, I would keep Perry, too. And if Buck Showalter is fired I would sign him to manage. Don’t know if that would go over well here with the season the Mets have had, but he seems to win games. I think he would be better than Phil.
Fire Everybody!!!
The problem is he purges everybody but himself and his cronies.
I don’t think there’s a blame game going on between Perry and Shohei/Shohei’s agent. Perry was just factually discussing what led to Shohei’s elbow, since there’s been a lot of questions of WHEN did the Angels know and WHAT did they know. There were accusations of how the Angels have been negligent in their handling of Shohei (hello, Ben Verlander). It’s just right of Perry to defend his organization. I think if there was any lie in what Perry said, Nez Balelo would have come out already.
And I also don’t blame Shohei and Nez for refusing the elbow imaging when they did. It was a finger cramp. They had no reason to believe then if it COULD be related to an elbow injury. That’s certainly their prerogative to protect themselves. Would it have been prudent to do so? Absolutely. But they cannot be forced and no one forced them to do so.
As had been mentioned a lot of times, from Maddon to Perry to Phil, Shohei’s run of success from 2021 to today was predicated on trust and honesty. Management trusts Shohei to be honest with them about how he feels and they’ll respect that. On the other end, Shohei needed to trust that the management trusts him enough to be honest to them (i.e., not insisting on resting Shohei even though he says he’s 100%).
Perry respecting his player’s wishes not to do the imaging back then is just him holding up the end of his bargain.
Good points. I’ve been listening to a lot of Angels podcasts recently (thanks, DMAGZ13!) and it was really interesting to hear a Victor’s rant/take about who ultimately has responsibility and accountability for decisions like these between the team and Shohei, and how on team sports consequences rarely only affect the individual. Without blathering too much, it gave me another bullet point on my list of reasons why “superstars” in baseball might be a overrated. Maybe it’s me being jaded over this last decade, but I think I’d prefer a team of #gritty hyper-team focused players vs this bimodal situation of GOATs and hasbeens/neverwases.
Perry did not need to publicly say anything but he came off like he was defending himself and the organization. Blame game. Puts a damp washcloth on the relationship.
I mean, if Shohei and his agent didn’t want an MRI done those are the facts. Not sure Perry did anything there that would sour the relationship.
A lot can be said about regarding the dysfunction of this organization, but the way we’ve handled and treated Shohei Ohtani isn’t one of them. He has full autonomy to do what he wants, when he wants. And in return he’s given us everything we could’ve ever hoped for.
We’ll see. I don’t think it adds anything to the relationship. We all know it is an Ohtani world and he is calling the shots on when he sits.
Agree, Angels don’t push back against the Ohtani militia. I remember the early years where they would sit him around pitching starts. I’m sure Ohtani’s representation told Perry, there will be none of that anymore. Then went on to dominate.
Agree. Can’t imagine this isn’t going to bite back when Sho is asked to stay.
No, he did not need to, and he created more questions than answers by mentioning that the Angels inquired about medical/MRI evaluation. He could have said Sho and the Angels mutually agreed that he did not need the evaluation at that time, and no controversy would have ensued.
There are two sticky points from Perry’s explanation.
One is why he has to include Nez Balelo for permission to have Sho undergo MRI? (Does that mean even he is to undergo simple x-ray, the Angels need consent from Nez?)
The other is he revealed that the tear was not from the same location as the first UCL tear. I am appalled that there was no media follow up on that point. Jeff or Sammy? You guys call yourselves journalists?
Good points and questions.
If Ohtani leaves I suspect Blum will be reassigned within The Athletic or laid off.
For a beat writer, he barely covers the team anymore.
This is probably the issue I care the least amount of all issues.
The New York Times owned Athletic doesn’t really give a shit about the Angels even when we featured the GOAT and the UniGOAT.
Looking at the Angels minor league rosters, struggling to see anyone worth adding to the September call-up list. Maybe Paris or Eric Torres or Soto? Maybe…ugh. Not blown away. Nolan Schanuel would have been an obvious choice but after that, el zippo.
Eric Torres and his 10.00 AAA ERA aren’t seeing a MLB bullpen anytime soon
The Foundation Building Materials’ keystone of the game for the Angels later this afternoon against the Philthy-delphia Phillies is “Bad Idea, Right?” by Olivia Rodrigo.
I know we’re done
I know we’re through
No playoffs for the Angels. No Ohtani pitching. No Trout Trouting. Five games below .500 with Loup still Louping. What’s the point in watching a pointless game?
Seeing you tonight
is a bad idea, right?
https://youtu.be/Dj9qJsJTsjQ?si=txRMt0rlhVBE8Nr8
I’ve been thinking about something recently and curious what yall think:
Assuming Mike Trout and Mookie Betts continue on their current trajectories, how will the 2 be historically remembered?
Trout’s peak was undoubtedly and objectively higher, but if Mookie wins another MVP this season he will have 2 MVPs, 2 runner-ups, and 2 WS championships to Trout’s 3 MVPs and 3 runner-ups.
Trout has played in 52.1% of games since the 2021 season.
Mookie has played in 85.4% games during that same span.
Trout has a sizeable WAR advantage 85.2 to 63.6, but if he can’t stay on the field the gap will continue to shrink.
I’m on record stating Trouty is my all time favorite, which makes watching his physical deterioration all the more depressing.
Ohtani is playing every day with a torn UCL. Trout returned for 1 game at the 7 week mark of an estimated 4-8 week recovery timeline before hopping back on the IL.
I love Trout. It would be nice to watch him play baseball more often.
I remember Trout and Betts for their 2018 seasons.
Betts played for the Red Sox in 2018, and their manager was Alex Cora, the man who had just served as the bench coach for the Astros and was the ringleader of their sign stealing cheating scandal. Cora’s 2018 Red Sox participated in a sign stealing cheating scandal of their own.
Mookie Betts, playing for a cheating team in 2018 won the AL MVP award. Mike Trout finished second to Betts in MVP voting that year.
If not for the cheating Betts, Trout would currently be a four-time MVP award winner.
Great point, GG !!
I also mistyped– Trout has 4 2nd place finishes.
He should be a 5-time MVP tbh.
Don’t forget.. 5 if Miggy hadn’t won a triple crown and was given the MVP when Trout had the better season.
I’ve never seen anybody like Trout or Ohtani. I’ve seen players like Betts… I love Betts but I think Trout will go down as a top ten of all time, inarguably, and arguably a top three player, maybe even top but I think that might be WIllie Mays. Ohtani, if he recovers could be inarguably the best but I don’t see that happening. I think he’ll be the Unicorn but three of the best seasons ever played does not make him top 10 yet IMO.
I definitely believe Shohei Ohtani is the undisputed greatest baseball player ever.
In terms of Trout, his peak is also top 5-10 ?
That’s where I was trying to go in my original post — peak vs longevity.
OHtani has the three most incredible seasons. I don’t think reasonable people would argue that, but I don’t see that as longevity yet.. and at the least, while still a great hitter, he can only DH for the next 18(?) months again. I suppose it depends on how you deffine greatest but I’ll take Trout for now, in my time as a fan… 50 years…
I really appreciate your insight and thoughtfulness!!
Hypothetically, if the rest of Trout’s career is injury riddled does that change anything in your mind? Does he need to stat-pad for legacy purposes ?
Following his 8-year run of “best player in the league”, he had the 40 HRs last season and not much else.
The shortened Covid 2020 year robbed us of a prime Trout season. Since then, injury after injury after injury
Don’t forget that dudes like Williams missed out prime seasons fighting in a war.
Yeah but not playing doesn’t count for anything so how can you knw?
Indeed we do not know what would have happened during the lost seasons of guys like Williams and Trout, if they had played games.
I think he’s tops on my list but it’s certainly arguable. I just don’t remember ever seeing a player that dominated so much (without steroids) and was written about so much. It’s anecdotal and I’m an Angels fan (for now) and the internet certainly provides a lot more than the first 30 years of my fandom, but I think he was just better than anybody else by about 10% off of the top of my head. I love stats and have read a lot through the years about what he has done and it just appears that way to me. He had an incredible eight years that is arguably the best stretch in modern baseball history, where Ohtani, nearly inarguably, had the best three year stretch. Ohtani’s three years are the most incredible seasons I’ve ever seen. He definitely got robbed last year. I can’t believe 11 wins as a pitcher didn’t beat 25 homeruns (with juiced balls) as a hitter.
You could also ask about the same comparisons of others
Miggy Cabrera vs Pujols, Kershaw vs Verlander & Scherzer
Probably early on Pujols, Kershaw, and Trout were better but of late these others were better and healthier.
Comparing Miggy to a long time senior citizen is down right wrong.
The Angels scored 10 runs during their weekend stay in Gotham. Here’s how many runs each Angel produced:
3.00 Ohtani
1.75 Rengifo
1.25 Drury
1.25 Moniak
1.00 Renfroe
0.50 Cabbage
0.50 Schanuel
0.25 Wallach
0.25 Grichuk
Of course Ohtani responds to his frustrating injury news by leading the team in Actual Runs Produced. This was the 15th time Ohtani has led the team in ARP. Rengifo at the top of the batting order has produced runs. It would be nice if O’Hoppe could contribute to the run production.
And here is the updated Actual Runs Allowed per Batters Faced for our Halo Hurlers:
0.07 Moore (169)
0.08 Soriano (140)
0.09 Ohtani (531)
0.09 Bachman (77)
0.10 Silseth (205)
0.10 Joyce (21)
0.11 Sandoval (545)
0.11 Canning (415)
0.11 Estevez (236)
0.11 Lopez (231)
0.12 Giolito (631)
0.13 Anderson (528)
0.13 Detmers (524)
0.13 Rosenberg (37)
0.14 Leone (174)
0.15 Loup (190)
0.15 Wantz (96)
0.16 Barria (306)
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)
Jaime Barria must be in the doghouse — he hasn’t pitched in the last two series. DFA’d Zack Weiss is now a Red Sox, so I pulled him from the list. The only pitcher whose ARA/BF changed at the completion of this NYM series was Aaron Loup who improved from 0.16 to 0.15.
That Silseth injury – failing to get an easy out by throwing to an empty base and then beaning your own player on the relay – is the kind of thing you’d expect to see in a Bad News Bears movie.
In real life, however, the comical nature of it turns to horrifying. I’m glad he appears to be okay.
Silseth needs to diet, dude has taken on a Lance Lynn physique at 23-yrs old. I don’t recall him being so rotund 2-years ago when he was drafted. Seems the minor league players revolt about lousy living conditions have indeed resulted in improved menus.
Had he been a little more fleet afoot, get the heck out of the way. Should have been more aware of the players in motion and how the play was developing. When you go to cover a base, one should keep out of the throwing path. Cabbage getting an error on that throw meant he had to take on for the team. #FreeCabbage
Shohei fouling a ball off of his foot yesterday is how I will feel if the Angels don’t finish the season with a winning record.
In my book a winning record = the playoffs. If you don’t make the playoffs, you are just another losing team. I’ll still root for them to win, but I no longer really care if they lose. It’s more about individual players’ accomplishments now.
Same
I disagree and would use the Orioles as an example. They were terrible, then they got better but missed the playoffs. I would consider that successful, especially because then they got even better and now have the best record in the AL.
So improving is an important step that should be appreciated.
Fair point. I feel though that most would agree the Orioles situation is an example of “ramping up” or getting that youth core experience before they break out. “Late stage tanking” if you will. For us it feels more like we sold our used car to play a few more games of roulette and though we we’re ahead for a bit there, now we’re broke again and also don’t have a ride home.
Only if you continue to improve
Is there anyone feels if we finish a game or two over .500 as a sign that things are turning around?
I think that is called “failed at tanking”.
We can either win big, and make the playoffs, or lose big and get good early draft picks. Finishing in the middle does the least to actually help this team in the future, except just to emotionally satisfy people who want to see wins that have no affect on playoffs.
I’m 100% polar; give me life (playoffs) or give me death (team tank).
In the days before FA, you would live with the same players for years. You would learn to embrace the flaws, the sub-.220 hitters and if you improved from the previous season by a couple of games you could feel it and say, “wait ’till next year.” Now, player movement and turnover is so large, it is a digital world, either 1 or 0.
It makes sense for them to lose to get a better pick now.
Hell yeah, we need a Tank Commander. Ausmus and Maddon were good at it.
Pee Cock announcers (not Gubi) mentioned something about Sho choosing not to wear any protection around his ankles especially we know he tends to hit his lower legs with his (high EV) batted balls. I would not mind if he changes his mind by wearing at least one to protect his right ankle.
While the po’s are not going to happen, the quest for .500+ is still alive with a month left in the season. Tell the truth now-who saw the M’s being at the top of the board this late in the season? For that matter who saw the O’s being the best team in the AL? Seeing that Orioles went from last to first gives us some hope for next year, right?
Did you see the crash of the Cardinals and Mets coming? Atlanta has seen their All-Star 1b and SS leave as FA’s and are getting better, impressive. But I did expect more out of the Padres, but losing your big gun to PED suspension is tough.
po’s = Playoff’s.
The Orioles have been loading up in the draft, good early round picks utilizing their SCOUTING system.
No, I did not predict the Mariners would go 8-2 vs the Astros and 6-4 against the Angels, or end up in 1st place at any point of the season past the first two weeks for any length of time.
It actually really contributes to my sour mood. If the M’s can go on a tear and jump from 4th to 1st, why in the world couldn’t the Angels?
Never fear…Jerry’s Kids will fall off a cliff in September.
Or October
Hopefully September
Because the M’s are a better team and Organization than the Angels. Presuming they make the playoffs that will be two years in a row while it’s been a decade for the Angels. Scoreboard is scoreboard.
I couldn’t find any stats on unearned runs/team so I subtracted earned runs from total runs allowed using Baseball Ref. data. I assume that makes sense. The Angels have the most at 68. There are a couple decent teams at the bottom of the list too, but the top of the list has mostly division leaders.
It seems that since 2009 season that the Angels have had more than their share of front-line injuries. This year the pitching held up injury wise very well overall. It’s just that all our starters could find the plate and the more strikeouts they got by throwing off the plate the worse it got.
Where I excelled at in coaching was teaching hitting and fielding. The Angels do not work hard at fielding practice it seems, maybe because to many players play more than one position. This season I didn’t dwell as much as in the past about the fielding of this team except for Rengifo, but defense, very good defense makes the pitchers always better as it’s a lot easier to get 3 outs instead 4 or 5. The 3 best fielders in Fletcher at 2b, Walsh at 1b and Trout in CF were MIA this year.
Maybe Perry learned something this year, that fielding is something the best teams excel at.
Pitching is still a big issue with The Angels. You can’t consistently enter the 4th or 5th inning with your starter already having thrown 98 pitches. That strategy can never be successful unless the expand the roster size to 36 players.
I wonder if they even have a pitching philosophy (other than sucking)? If we have one, what is it? Has it changed over the years?
Is there a chance that Wise comes back?
I’d say he has a 10,000 to 1 chance of returning.
Bachman, Joyce, and Quijada getting injured significantly downgraded the 2023 Angel bullpen.
However, Suarez getting injured benefitted the 2023 Angel starting rotation.
Also, there’s the Ohtani pitching injury. If the Angels were still in the playoff race, that would be devastating news for more than just Ohtani’s career. I don’t think it should be ignored just because it occurred after everything fell apart.
Good morning, feeling good after playing the Mets, why of course we are because taking a series from either NY team makes our day 😃
Player evaluations for possible trades or Free Agent signings is difficult. I wanted to bring back Thor ( 🔻 ) and Lorenzen ( 🔺 ) and free agent catcher Vasquez who crashed this season ( 🔻 ). I thought that Thor would really rebound this season, thinking on Vasquez was sign for 5 mil and have a decent hitting Catcher to team with Stassi (Who ❓ ). And Lorenzen would have been a good pick up, he is better than 3 of our starters.
I though both Fletcher and Walsh would have monster years, oop’s. I truthfully expected Trout and Renfroe to have huge seasons, with Trout pushing Ohtani for MVP. I must have been under heavy medication. I sure as heck missed out in predicting Thaiss coming through the way he did.
So, what did I get right. Stassi if he did return would be DFA’d, not right but basically the same results. I thought that Urshela would do well, ditto Drury, knew that Loupy would be bad as he showed me nothing in ’22. Knew that Rendone would have exactly the type of season he had.
With the pitching I really was on a trip because I thought that both Detmer and Sandoval would have a big a year pitching as Shohei. I thought Saurez would be good to count on for a 10-10 type season. Never saw Canning returning much less doing as well as he has done. I know Anderson was going to crash and burn coming off a big Career Year.
I thought that Shohei would be traded, and I didn’t see Arte holding onto the Halos. Overall, I give myself a C-, much worse than what PTP accomplished.