Luis Rengifo ruptured his biceps while in the on deck circle and will not return for the rest of the season. The Angels selected Jhonathan Diaz on Thursday. Shohei Ohtani has been out of the lineup for about a week with an oblique strain. Nevin keeps saying he could be back manana. Zach Neto and Ben Joyce have been reinstated from the IL while Trey Cabbage and Kolton Ingram were optioned to Triple-A.
Random Mike Trout speculation posing as a baseball story.
The Dodgers selected Wander Suero and placed Gus Varland on the 15 day IL. James Paxton is on the 15 Day IL for the Red Sox. The Reds just activated Joey Votto, Jonathan India, and Hunter Greene from various injured lists. The Marlins selected the contract of left-hander Daniel Castano while the Tigers selected Sawyer Gipson-Long. The Mariners just designated Luke Weaver for assignment.
The Braves just clinched a playoff spot. They “had words” with the hapless Pirates. The Pirates have a billionaire owner who won’t invest in the team and “deserve better.” Be careful what you wish for. You could have a billionaire owner who meddles by investing in long contracts with spent position players.
Luis Severino is out for the season with a high-grade left oblique strain. Speaking of the Yankees, they were no-hit through ten innings today by the Brewers. They won eventually.
I don’t see a Gamethread yet.
But it will just be 200 comments about how we fail at RISP and Rendon, and that we’re tanking…
… and as if my typing the word “Gamethread” did something
Activating Jose Suarez is a Super Stealth Tank move .
😅 lol
It’s time, the series against the hated Mariners. Man I hate these dudes. But now, with Corporal Nevin driving a tank, I can watch the game and not get all twisted up if the Angels don’t win. It’s a win-win. Oh, would love to see a brawl.
Next!
Cuban RHP Jan Carlos Hechavarría (19) officially signs with the Los Angeles Angels.
He left Cuba in 2019. Four years later, in what was a long way, he is entering into the MLB system. FB: 92-95 MPH.
Hechavarría is the Cuban-born player #29 who signs in the current international period (2022-23).
https://x.com/francysromeroFR/status/1701356479268151518?s=20
Ohtani’s MVP campaign continues…batting second.
There is no campaign, he’s had this in the bag for weeks if not months already. Even if he didn’t have a single AB for the rest of the season.
Better call the verbiage police.
Question is how many walks he will have during the series. I hope that every time he is walked, he will try to steal second if possible.
We’re blessed to see him finish the season in what figures to be the end of the line in Anaheim.
I truly hope he takes the HR title.
He’s scratched…again.
Moose is now the new DH.
Darn
Neto is in the lineup. I don’t believe we’ll see Ohtani again
Disagree. If Ohtani is being scratched at the last possible minute, he must be very close and everyone is being hyper precautionary in an otherwise lost campaign.
We’re far more likely to see Shohei towards the end than Trout.
Double Darn!!
“ Rengifo’s 2023 campaign wraps with a line of .264/.339/.444, with 16 homers, 51 RBIs and 41 walks (up from 17 walks in ’22, a marked improvement that boosted his on-base percentage of .294 a year ago to a career-best .339 this year). “
I think I jinxed Heefo when I said I think he can get to 20 HRs this year, right when he was on the on-deck circle waiting for his AB.
I saw his improvement with my own eyes, but even I was surprised with the 41 walks. I didn’t think it was that many considering the knock on him was that he always swings at the first pitch.
Pretty similar line to Trea Turner, although I assume the defense values are far different
The young core we may try to develop is not the nucleus of a World Series winning team. Take a look at Atlanta, Baltimore or the Reds for examples of teams of teams that have great prospects and doing it the right way. There are several other teams among this group.
Our yutes are fun to watch, but they will need lots of help from outside the farm system to compete at the “we fly flags” level of winning.
Does anyone know the story on Stassi. ’23 would have been year two of his contract and he never had even one PA this year.
He is on the restricted list and won’t play at all this year. Someone in his family has a grave medical condition, but nobody will say who or what.
Thank you.
I hope that personal situation gets better So sad for Max and his family. O’Hoppe is our future at the position and Thaiss is a decent backup.
We have a few weeks left of this season, The first time ever I wanted the season to close before the end, although watching the players trying their hardest is rewarding it is hard for me to not to think of what could have happened if everyone stayed healthy. I have never seen a team loose so many players to injury. We had 2 players who did not get injured, and one was not here the whole season, and he now plays for the Braves minor league team – Squid. The other was not even supposed to break camp prior to Spring Training – Thaiss. Although Fletcher should have been brought up in September, but even he did not play the whole season with the big club. One other was Renny in RF.
Has anybody ever seen a MLB team with this many injuries?
This was in Sunday’s LA Times from Lucas Giolito about his time with the Angels:
”When I got there, the vibes in the clubhouse and everything were really fantastic. They’re coming off an amazing series (in Detroit). That game Shohei threw a complete game, the next game he hit two home runs. And when I arrived, it was ‘Man, I’m gonna be part of this? Crazy. We’re gonna make this awesome run. It just didn’t come to fruition.”
Matt Moore had this to say:
“It’s one of my favorite clubhouses I’ve ever played in. There’s a lot of veteran guys over there, so it kind of felt easy to jump in and connect with a lot of those guys. I thought we had a lot of bad luck with injuries this year, and we were still able to show up and fight every day, and that’s something that I’m proud to be part of.”
Wow. Goes against all of our Insider knowledge of the team
As far as the clubhouse goes only Rendon seems to have caused any issues and that was recently. PTP said he gives credit to Nevin for clubhouse and dugout enthusiasm. Maybe I missed something – there is always that possibility.
What issues has Rendon caused in the clubhouse ?
There is ZERO information that his teammates dont like him and dont get along with him. in fact I’ll bet you he is well liked by them. Im sure he endured himself to them quite well when he was bitch slapping the Wanker in the face with his cast or when he got in n altercation with a fan who allegedly was directing him and his teammates. And many of them probably admire him with his No Habla Ingles schtick he uses with the press and wish they could do that from time to time.
All of this proves that in many many cases having good clubhouse chemistry does not correlate to wins and the exact opposite can happen. It’s like the old stories about the Oakland A’s during the early 70’s. By many reports there were constant fights and arguments amongst teammates but that didnt stop them from winning 3 consecutive World Series.
There was reporting that some of the other Angels did not care for his recent remarks and attitude.
If you are getting that info from the LA Times…look away, or know the opposite of what is being said is likely true.
Exactly.
Sports fans fail to draw what should be obvious conclusions. If the corporate media lies about pandemics, the economy and proxy wars, they’ll certainly lie about athletes they dislike.
As Fox “News” learned from the Dominion Voting Machines lawsuit, sometimes lying corporate media companies actually have consequences for their lying.
25 players…25 cabs.
And-Or
The 86’ Mets frequently had fun together as a “team” on planes with the ladies and some cocaine.
Free Lenny Dykstra from prison
Free Kevin Mitchell from getting game-winning hits without wearing underwear
Free Strawberry from his in-game locker-room romances
But we NEED a “Clubhouse Cancer” narrative to justify hatred for Tony, and the poor play of the team.
Just because hes not a clubhouse cancer does not mean hes not an asshole.
Giolito had a lot of Angels fans holding on to his potential of winning a lot of down the stretch games, and I sure that right now he is wondering why he pitches like Matt Harvey. I hope he can fix what is wrong with his pitching.
Matt Moore is the one player I hated to see leave because he was very successful with even being out with an injury for a few weeks. Happy for him that he found the clubhouse a great experience and enjoyable.
Although I think that Nevin is in no way a major league manager, he has only had positive reviews regarding his clubhouse management.
The manager/owner of a “once great” restaurant me and my friends used to frequent is a great guy too. One of the friendliest, kindest person you’ll ever meet. Most of his family work the restaurant, great people. Food is crap now, you go there to eat, and I’m the farthest thing from being a food snob. It’s really bad. Bathroom was even dirty. Plain and simple, they just don’t know how to run a restaurant, or likely any business. It’s not easy running a restaurant, or a good MLB franchise. And like Arte, they don’t know how bad it is.
Angels 👎
Unnamed restaurant 👎
Free Rengifo from his torn tendon
Free Phillip from his employment
Free Wise from his
SWEEPER pitchFree Arte from Ownership.
Someone must have given this guy a Contract for 7 years and $245 million.
The Catch?
Great clubhouse. Terrible team on the field, making mental mistakes and lacking in fundamentals on top of the injuries. That was not a winning formula in 2023
Agreed but after hearing from PTP about how important clubhouse chemistry is to winning and then seeing this shit show I’m questioning his judgement even more.
Clock has started for his next injury.
Chris Rodriguez makes his first professional appearance in 25 months:
https://x.com/AngelsMiLB/status/1701054320064770390?s=20
Chris Rodriguez on rehab for @66ersBaseball vs Lake Elsinore: 1.0IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 2Ks. FB topped at 95 mph. 20 pitches, 13 strikes. First outing in an official game since 8/10/21 vs Toronto.
When’s the surgery scheduled?
😁
No surgery…..just working toward the eternal rehab assignment
I’m sure he’s day to day, so he’ll be out for a year.
I know we’ve placed Grichuk on waivers about 30 times this month, but I still hope the club brings him back for 2024. We could do worse than having him
as our 4th OF / spot starter – particularly with our plethora of question marks in the outfield:
Ward – Will he bounce back from the horrific injury? It’s entirely possible that he doesn’t overcome it psychologically.
Moniak – Starter or 4th OF? I think he’s a starter, but I’m not sure he’s a starter. He simply doesn’t draw walks and his OBP is barely above .300. Major Red Flag.
Adell – Nothing but question marks.
Rengifo slots into here a bit as our IF-OF super sub, but retaining Grichuk makes a ton sense either way.
I think Moniak is an everyday player. He’s a decent hitter and has above-average defense, at least to my Lyle eyes. Let’s remember this is his first full year as an everyday player, so of course he would have ups and downs, but I think he’s an important part of the future of the team. Will he be a generational superstar like Trout? Probably not, but I think he’s someone who can probably put some All-Star years here and there.
The OBP thing is concerning, but I think it’s fixable, and teachable. Mickey was figured out after his 18-game hitting streak ended, but he’s shown the ability to adjust back. If playing a full year, and healthy, I can see a 25 HR, 80-90 RBIs year for him.
I also see sub .300 OBP’s and 200+ strike out seasons in his near future as well.
Trout, Ward, Moniak, and Grichuk with Adell waiting in the minors is perfectly reasonable.
Trout, more time out, because. The rest are 4th outfielders fighting for
2 spots, 3 spots, because Trout will be out.If I were GM, I’m telling Adell he has the starting job in one of the corner OF positions before next years ST even starts. I’d give him every possible chance to make it, on a team that might need some luck to win 75 games in 2024. The longest rope of any of our position players, think he has the best chance to develop into a decent/good everyday player. And it doesn’t matter, we ain’t winning next year, might see him develop. I don’t give a shit about his horrible defense 3 years ago. His defense has improved, he won’t likely be a good + defender, but he’ll makes some nice plays that counter his bad one. There will be worse defensive OF’ers in MLB than him.
Sorry Adell, probably just jinxed you.
Grichuk is like on a roll, he’s playing for a contract or Spring invite. The team has had a lot worse in LF in the last 13 seasons. Like you I would much rather see Adell as a viable piece just to see if he can find himself. No not Adell has power and speed and his potential is higher than Grichuk’s.
It really comes down to deciding between one of two paths. Not really trying to win and evaluating your players, or trying to win. In the first case, you don’t need Trout, Drury, or any Multi year contracts. In the second case, you will need to spend a lot of money. Thing is, I can’t see Arte taking either path.
Arte really needs to set-sell-sale-seal-sail.
With that said, to his credit he seemed to let Minasian make the moves to put together a winner.
I am uncertain that Perry has the decision making freedom you reference.
would have been a perfect year to get another look at adell.
It was not the perfect year to stop sniffing glue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd1ciPnTGKg
I would make Grichuk plan C, certainly in no hurry. Having watched him for 2-weeks now, I really don’t see much strengths in his game.
I like him as low cost insurance for Ward, Adell & Moniak for 2024.
Our FA money MUST be allocated to pitching IMO.
I really hope Taylor Ward can make it all the way back.
It would be a travesty if he cant .
My thoughts on Ohtani and Trout possibly leaving…
On both… it is exceptionally sad and embarrassing for the Angels that it has come to this point. I pin that completely on Arte. I don’t know exactly what it is but we all know he’s involved in the hiring and decision making and he’s hiring and making decisions that have failed miserably. The best two things that happened in the organization are that they got incredible lucky with the Trout pick, and that probably helped get Ohtani. We al know the list of bad decisions too well so I won’t go over them here, but I’ll point out how they far outweigh the lucky list that I see as two. To be honest, they haven’t signed or developed a player that wasn’t a generational player that I can think of in the last 13 years.
Ohtani: Let him go… it’s sad but he may never pitch near as well again, and without pitching, he may be a great hitter for four years but still only just a DH, and I can see him becoming another bad contract soon. I love him, I will tell my grandkids about how I went to games just to see him pitch, but I don’t think I’d pay $500,000,000 for what’s left of his career.
Trout: Although he’s got a lot of time and money left, the team might be better served by trading him away. Trout deserves to win. I love him, and want him to get a chance to play in the WS, and I’ll root for him to win a WS, even if it’s on the Yankees.
Emotionally… I’ll never forgive Arte for letting it get to this point.
Came here to say this. Exactly this.
It’s on Arte and his ego and inability to hire and staff and build anything more than billboards.
Perry (and Eppler and Dipoto and Reagins and…) Have been hamstring by a narcissist.
Im actually not renewing my Angels MLB subscription for the first time since leaving the OC.
The “I’ll never forgive Moreno for letting it get this far” sums it up.
/Rant
Oh and F carpino too
You forgot Dennis Kuhl
And Molly friggin Jolly
I enjoy the Angels winning, but I also believe in my Halo Heart that losing game right now is better in the long run. Not just for the first round of the draft but for every other round also. Don’t blame the team for having a lousy minor league system if they can’t draft early in each round to boost the rebuilding of the team. Yes, I am one who wanted to trade Shohei and now I would like to see Trouty in Philly oy NYC only because of some decent return and to get rid of the salary.
Winning games this season is meaningless for the future. The only thing that will keep us interested as the core of CtPG posters is if we can see some quality in a rebuild as the same old shit is now boring. I love Moose, but I don’t want him signed to be a starter next year. Go with the “Yut” and maybe in ’27 or ’28 we see real progress. There is not much to tear down really.
With Shohei not signing he placed the team in a bad position, forcing the Team’s hand to go for the big push. We got nuttin’ in return, how unwise was that, don’t miss out completely on offing Trout.
Fast forward to September
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/43a44fad-3875-469b-9bf2-f7fdac573b6e
The Yankees were no hit through 10 innings! Yay!
The Yankees ended up winning. Boo!
The Yankees won’t make it to the playoffs! Yay!
The Foundation Building Materials’ keystone of the game tonight against Jerry DiPoto’s Seattle Sailors is “Nowhere Fast” by Ellen Aim and the Attackers.
It doesn’t matter if you’re going nowhere baby,
just as long as you’re going nowhere fast. 🎶
https://youtu.be/arxD3Ro9mAk?si=ooiH2f_qV5dtORNf
The Angels scored 14 runs against the Cleveland Marathon Petroleums. Here is how many runs each of our Angel batters produced:
3.25 Grichuk
3.00 O’Hoppe
2.00 Phillips
1.50 Paris
1.00 Thaiss
1.00 Drury
0.75 Wallach
0.50 Cabbage
0.50 Moustakas
0.25 Adams
0.25 Escobar
This is the third time Randal Grichuk had led the team in Actual Runs Produced (ATL, TEX), not bad for a guy who hasn’t been on the team that long. Brett Phillips participated in the production of four separate runs in this series. Moustakas continues to be at the bottom end of these lists lately.
And here is the updated Actual Runs Allowed per Batters Faced list for our Halo hurlers:
0.00 Daniel (13)
0.00 Diaz (7)
0.08 Joyce (25)
0.09 Bachman (77)
0.10 Silseth (205)
0.10 Rosenberg (84)
0.11 Canning (462)
0.11 Estevez (255)
0.12 Sandoval (591)
0.12 Detmers (570)
0.13 Anderson (605)
0.14 Wantz (116)
0.15 Loup (210)
0.16 Devenski (140)
0.17 Barria (349)
0.17 Herget (93)
0.18 Reyes (49)
0.18 Mederos (17)
0.18 Marte (14)
0.19 Suarez (123)
0.19 Ingram (25)
Pineapple12 isn’t impressed with Rosenberg, but he has been doing a great job of preventing runs lately. His ARA/BF has dropped from 0.13 to 0.10 over the past couple weeks.
I have such high hopes for Joyce. If only his arm can stay healthy.
The Angels have now used 37 pitchers this year (thirty-five if you don’t count position players Phillips and Escobar). The 2002 Angels used only 18 pitchers all year.
haha it’s hard to be impressed with his 88-91 mph fastball !!! However, credit where credit is due — Kenny is pitching well
Vintage Weaver fastball heat.
He’s Tyler Anderson without the hitch in his giddy up.
You’d think someone would read this and want to claim that Grichuk guy…
If only Grichuk could chuck wood
How much Gri could a Grichuk chuck if a Grichuk could chuck Gri
I’m perfectly happy to see Trout finish his career in an Angels’ uniform.
Sadly, it would actually be a pretty good idea to trade him. Teams would have to think that landing Trout would increase their chance of signing Ohtani, so if the Angels ate a bunch of Trout’s salary, they could probably get a pretty good return.
That would probably be the best long-term plan for the Angels. Trade Trout, and enter a 3-year rebuild with the aim to win in 2027 when Rendon comes off the books. Trade anyone who becomes a free agent before then (Drury, Ward, Rengifo, Canning, Soriano, Estevez).
In 2027 the team would still have O’Hoppe, Thaiss, Schanuel, Neto, Moniak, Adell, Detmers, Bachman, and Joyce. There’s at least potential there. Supplementing that with a fire sale of Trout and players controlled through 2026 could put the Angels in a good spot when the team is finally done with Rendone.
And for everyone who is going to suggest it, combining Trout and Rendon in a deal is the worst possible idea. Rendon has no value. Dumping him would be a pure salary move that hurts the Angels’ long-term chances in favor of Arte’s pocket book. It would only make sense if the Angels are hoping to be competitive next year and willing to sell prospects to clear Rendon’s salary and have a chance of re-signing Ohtani. Moreno might want to do that, but he really shouldn’t.
And it’s not worth releasing him either. Might as well let him DH for the team until 2027 and help the Angels get good draft picks the next few years.
But if Arte does not expand his pocketbook to account for the sunk cost of Rendon, it actually impacts the team construct, right? I too do not care for his pocketbook but having to constrain the spending to account for Upton, Pujols and Hamilton…kind of sucked for the fans, me.
Rendon is a sunk cost. There are basically 3 options:
1. Trade him along with other valuable pieces and use the savings to the budget to find better replacements. This makes sense if you think the Angels have a chance at winning the World Series in the next 1-2 years. Arte might do this because he is focused on the short-term and generating marketing revenues, but it’s the worst long-term option.
This is the option for people that think the Angels are playoff contenders next year. I think this is really unlikely to happen because Arte won’t want to give up Trout and there isn’t enough of a farm to convince another team to take Rendon’s contract.
2. Keep him as the DH/Backup 3B until his contract expires. Instead of trading players in exchange for another team to pay Rendon, trade players to rebuild the farm. This is the best long-term option for the Angels’ playoff chances.
This is the option for people that think the Angels should rebuild with an eye toward 2027.
3. Release him and sign another player to replace him. This is slightly better short and almost as good long-term as #2, but it costs Moreno more money for the same result (a non-competitive team for the next 3 years).
This is the option for people that think Moreno should waste money paying both Rendon and the crappy FA DH the team would find to replace him just so you don’t have to watch Rendon
playsit on the injured list. If that’s you, prepare to be disappointed.Or option 4, find a team dumb enough to take on Rendon’s contract and trade us valuable pieces, a ‘la the Blue Jays and Vernon. Any votes for a dumber team than us?
He did this year.
Problem with Arte eating a bunch of Trout’s salary is, Arte will look at it as his two most marketable guys are gone, and so is all that merchandise sales income. Neto or Moniak couldn’t sell half the merchandise a Trout name can, and the two combined couldn’t sell 1/4 of the merchandise an Ohtani can. Arte has to figure those costs into the equation.
The best thing you can do with Rendon is hope he gets healthier and plays well. That potentially gives you options. Right now, there are no good choices. Only bad ones. You don’t give up on assets when they are at their all-time low. This applies to both Trout and Rendon BTW.
This is my position as well.
The money is already allocated. Might as well see if the Goddess of Fortune will bless him with a healthy season or two.
Had a fun, and more importantly BRISK, time at the park yesterday.
Kenny Rosenberg is not a MLB-level pitcher. Nevertheless, the kid goes out and competes. Good for him and congrats on earning his 1st major league win!
Jordyn Adams is … idk what he is, but having him out there is a subtle reminder of how big a wasted opportunity this season was for Jo Adell (again). If not for the dreaded oblique injury, we could have given Adell extended PT and evaluate whether he fits into our future plans (ie Mickey Moniak). Another wasted year for Jo 😞.
Ben Joyce looked electric. He ditched his slider and replaced it with a 90 mph cutter — interesting.