And just like that, the Cactus League is wrapping up. Jose Soriano starts today against the White Sox and then the Angels face the A’s tomorrow. Normally the big names get to head home a day or two early so tomorrow’s lineup will probably look pretty weak.
What has gone right for the Halos out in the desert? For starters, Aaron Hicks.
And while it is too early to tell if this is Jo Adell’s breakout year or just a good Cactus League run, he is trending in the right direction. The home runs are getting all the love, but he’s hit the ball the other way in key spots this week and been great on the basepaths.
With those two playing well and Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, and Mickey Moniak already in the fold, how will manager Ron Washington manage the crowded outfield? Considering one of Trout or Hicks will DH most days, I’d imagine one of Adell or Moniak sits each day. Probably not a real head scratcher.
FanGraphs pegs the Angels for the fourth highest WAR in center field this year. I’ll actually take the over on their projection.
The mainstay in center, Mike Trout, is having a bad Spring but is pushing Arte Moreno to add more to the roster.
The fact Michael Lorenzen signed a one year deal with only $4.5 million in base salary is a great indication Arte is done spending this year.
While I understand letting the kids play, a simple addition of Clevinger or Lorenzen would’ve still given the kids plenty of playing time while improving the team.
You know who else is quietly having a good spring? Tyler Anderson.
Nobody had a worse week than the duo of Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter Ippei. I, for one, am not buying any of it. Even in LA County $4.5 million in theft would warrant criminal charges. No bookie gives an interpreter a huge line of credit. Nobody gives their interpreter bank access. And banks require extra identification for wire transfers, especially $500,000 ones. (I work in home loans and real estate and deal with this security all the time).
Add in the fact Ohtani’s spokesperson has gone from saying Ohtani helped his friend and covered his debt to Ohtani knowing nothing about it, and the stink gets worse. Ippei might deserve to star in the reboot of a TV show.
Fellow Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto got off to a disappointing start for the Dodgers as well.
I’m so hoping the Dodgers implode and embarrass themselves again.
In the time flies category, it has been a full year since this epic moment for baseball.
Hopefully this makes up for last week’s links being so short. Full disclosure, I was in Phoenix with my dad watching Spring Training games and didn’t bring my wireless mouse. It was a great trip, just the two of us.
Please have a great weekend and link what I missed. We have farm ball baseball and March Madness on top.
Who are you rooting for? Who takes it all on your bracket?
Sunday RedSox tickets for $18 all in – Section 236 row D. HR catching territory. 4 seats available on Tick Pick. That’s considered a premium game so face value is likely $50.
Bring in your own hot dogs and peanuts and park and walk and you could bring a family of 4 for around $100 all in.
We’re not on his list of teams.
https://www.mlb.com/news/jordan-montgomery-rumors
I would suggest there’s zero info in that article. Down to two teams yet lists four. Who knows? Could be six…including us.
and I just read an article “linking” Montgomery to the Cubs, another team not listed in the mlb dot com thing
Well…it certainly made you think.
I “think” we’re not getting him! I think you think so, too. Even if we’d been listed as finalists.
I really don’t want any free agents.
Bring up the kids and let them play.
The only list we’ll be on regarding Montgomery will be his No Trade list
Savage comment.
Today’s Lineups
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/angels-vs-dodgers/2024/03/24/747822/preview
No Shanny but Rengifo is playing.
The fact that Ippei met Shohei at 19 as an interpreter for Americans ball-players with the Ham Fighters makes their close relationship make more sense.
I predict Ohtani will not play in the Tuesday game
Why?
Because of the possible reaction to the betting thing. Bad enough he left for the dodgers. He’d still get a very friendly reception. And if they had stuck to the first story, Shohei helps his friend, he’d be well received.
But changing the story, throwing Ippei under the bus… there will be some boos on the road and the uptight dodger lawyers don’t want that, especially in Anaheim.
Lets Hope Ohtani can use the At Bats
Pomeranz Released
Wow would have loved to have him.
I guess Strickland lands the final bullpen spot?
“We released Drew Pomeranz now so as to give him a chance to land with a big league club” pending quote coming from the FO.
Actually thats not the case. Under the CBA a player of his tenure and stature ( he ended last season on the Padres roster) had the option to demand his release if he wasn’t put on the 40 man ( and subsequently the 26 man) by March 25th. Obviously Pomeranz is thinking that because hes left handed someone will want him for their opening day roster where I believe he would have been better off going to the Great Salt Lake and get some reps in until the next scheduled opt out in Late April/Early May (or sooner when an injury occurs) but it is not to be.
This should mean that Strickland made the team. Now we have one more bullpen spot to fill to either Zuniga or Soriano. I’d bet Zuniga pitches both tonight and Tuesday as a final test.
Made up quote was a joke with small truths behind it. We gave him a whole extra day.
Anyway I agree and guess Zuniga makes the opening day roster. As I’ve mentioned before who makes the opening day (again, should be celebrated) and who plays a bulk of the season are entirely different but are both positive. Someone earns it out of camp while the other(s) earn it due to injury/next man up combined with taking advantage of given opportunities.
If Zuniga walks the Doyers blue this series I doubt he makes the 26th man. hes got options left so no biggie to send him down for some seasoning. that would force the Angels to temporarily junk the Soriano starting experiment instead of continuing it in the minors.Depending upon Stephenson real injury status they may have to do that anyways.
I like the Freeway preseason series. It’s closer to real baseball than any Cactus League event especially under the lights. Alot final decisions can be made much easier in this context.
Yeah, we shall see. Guesses, intuition, speculation are a fun aspect to this site. I do love the freeway series and miss attending. Price to get in for our one home game is cheaper than opening day. Not that bad to head up there either. For HRD and ASG I took one of those motorized rental razors to/from the stadium, man that was fun!
On the position player front there are 1-2 choices to made depending upon injury status. If Schanuel comes out of yesterday’s game feeling good I suspect he’ll avoid the 10 day IL . Rengifo is also an interesting case. It seems that the Angels are hell bent on Rengifo making the opening day roster despite his 2 hamstring injuries that have led to him only playing in 11 games and garnering only 30 lackluster CL ABs. It seems to me with his spring the Angels would be well justified to start him on the IL and have him continue to rehab the injury including a rehab stint in AAA since they start their season the same time as the Angels.
So if either Schanny or Rengiblow land on the IL thats a guarantee both Adrianza and Sano make the 26th man roster . if not, one of those players starts out in the Great Salt Lake. If both do that creates a roster crunch on the 40 man as neither of those 2 players nor Hunter Strickland are currently on the 40 man. The Angels can maneuver some players to the 60 day IL Like Bachman, The Plumber and even Stephenson all retro to either Late February or in the case on the plumber Early march when he played his only Cactus League game. It will be interesting to see how bad off Stephenson really is depending upon whether he is placed on the 15 day IL or 60 day IL . If he is placed on the 15 day IL that means someone else currently on the 40 man ( Jimmy Herget maybe?) gets the hook.
…..or, “We released Drew Pomeranz as he hogged all of the hot water.”
I would have kept Drew over Strickland but ok w/o both.
The Angels could have kept both but chose not to since they probably didn’t want to DFA anyone else off of the 40 man at this time. Makes you wonder how Pomeranz’ stuff and velocity really were this spring since middle inning Lefties are invaluable. And, considering after Moore we really don’t have anyone in the system until Quijada returns.( Maybe the Angels are convinced hes coming back sooner than later?) The only other LOOGY type guys in the system I could find with any success this spring was this guy who I doubt if much of prospect https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=jones-009nic and Tyler Thomas who definitely need some more seasoning.
That is where my head is at, would be nice to add another lefty. Strickland throws hard and flat. But I never saw Pomeranz pitch this Spring, maybe an easy call to cut him loose.
I pulled up Nick Jones from the link, not a bad 2023 in the Southern League but lack of consistent success, walk rate probably haunts him. Maybe he puts up a good 2024. What happened to Eric Torres? He fell out of the Top 25 Angel Prospect rankings and noted you did not mention him. Torres was pretty dominant back in 2022 with Rocket City. But not sure how good his stuff truly is.
It was weird. Torres lost the strike zone early last year. it might have ben that pre tacked experimental ball they were using early last season in the Southern league last year as his walk and HBP numbers were awful but he never recovered even after getting promoted to AAA.
David Samson with his nothing personal podcast does a good job of asking the right questions with this gambling thing.
Moniak on it:
“I’m just shocked, and I’m as curious as anyone to see what comes out,” Angels outfielder Mickey Moniak said. “I have zero idea what’s going to transpire, or what has transpired over how many years. But great friends, great people. Ippei was as part of the team as anyone else.”
Casablanca on it:
looks like Ippei Santos is in more trouble with UCR
The Fixer has arrived on scene. His education records have been deleted. Expect nothing but targeted actions and news to discredit Ippei on every front to isolate him in publics eyes as the lone shooter. FREE IPPEI!
Well we can all take solace in the fact that this place will never become like that lone gunman loving Warren Commission.
But the FBI/Feds are investigating…..it might depend on his political affiliation 😀
If they find any Red Angels caps his home, they’ll Assange him…..
I hear there’s a room vacant in the Ecuador now….
As a Highlander, I’m relieved but why didn’t he just say UCSD, UCSB, or UCI?
Or Chico State!
Because UC Riverside is considered to be the “ Harvard of the West”, very prestigious.
Besides, claiming to spend time on the “Mean Streets” of the IE would give him street cred. It’s where he cut his crime teeth, stealing mail and being a porch pirate, blaming the IE for his degenerate tendencies.
It occurred to me last night as I spaced out in the car after a joyous evening of watching the Budos Band play and eating a Canters Deli Reuben….
Buttercup, as the Angel’s fake ass “Sweet Caroline”, has been gone for a a few years now. It’s been long enough that, literally, there will be kids going to their first games at the Big A this year that are completely unaware that it ever happened. Most of the Ohtani era it was gone too, so a bunch of those fans are oblivious as well. Another couple of years and it could be completely forgotten.
Unless a bunch of dickheads start considering it their duty to make sure those kids learn “the real truth” or whatever about Buttercup.
So should then just finally let it diealong with TrAdition?
I’m down with that. Now if we could just get that memo to Arte and the gang because even without that song this Organization is still singing that tune.
I don’t know what folks should/shouldn’t do. But I do have a pretty firm grasp of what winners and losers cling tenaciously to.
Buttercup. TrAdition. I’m pretty confident I know which category the people who can’t stop bringing that type of thing up live in and I doubt any of them are fking the prom queen.
And we all know that teams tend to mirror their fanbase to an extent….
But really, Arte’s the problem and as soon as he’s gone everything will be totally different.
If you didn’t know buttercup was buttercupped a few years ago, I really don’t want to be the one informing you of who is winning homecoming courts these days
I wish Candy had shut down the Sux. I mean I’m still bumming about that.
So was Don Sutton. He was so peed, he called the cops on him.
Peed His pants and supporter?
I dunno…. it seems to me like, and for no solid reason, every fan base has game/player related crap that just sticks around. Bad beats, horrible free agents, etc. and it doesn’t sicken them into a giant pile of losers. For example, Steelers fans have a lot to bitch about lately and will eternally hate the bumblebee uniforms.
But, I don’t know…. they don’t wallow in every lame detail they can think of as regards the team going back year after year after year. That’s for Browns fans. I don’t want us to become Browns fans.
Last great/good American HS player this team ever developed.
Ervin Santana and K-Rod last two good Latin players.
BYE!!!
Oh.
It’s you.
You’re here.
OK everyone else. You see my point now right?
arte isn’t serious about winning until he drops trains “calling all angels”
Rada had a nice pop
Oh well, the “star rookie” shine has worn off Dana. The flowing blonde hair will only carry him so far….
&ct=g
I think Brienne of Tarth could pitch better than Dana
Yep. 20 year pitchers who have never pitched above High A should be dominating quasi major league lineups even if it is Spring Training and his defense sucks balls
I mean 3 walks, 4 hits, a wild pitch and only 1K in 1.2 innings against the only team that’s supposed to be worse than the Halos in the West isn’t ideal.
Obviously but a 20 year old who was by average 3+ years younger than the most advanced hitters he faced last year and now facing major League hitters in his first Spring Training camp is still extremely impressive for this organization. . But now whining and clutching your pearls about this learning experienc is beyond comical.
I tuned in just for Dana today. Really pushing hard for the pearl clutching reference there. Just said it wasn’t ideal. GOT gif was for giggles but you’d need a sense of humor for that. Run with it like you do boo. Sorry to invade you and pineapples safe space/group sext.
It was THE LAST VESTIGES OF ROSTERS IN THE LAST GAME OF ST
It’s been reported he’s not fond of being called or compared to THOR.
Respecting his wishes, I think we should call him “THOR II – THE SEQUEL”.
😂
I think what’s important is to first establish who our best young prospects are, then allow them to screw up once because they are young. Then, on the second screw up, shit on them so hard and so long that they literally collapse under the weight of the poop. We need the shit to get so deep into them that their actual souls are streaked with it. If they show flashes of improvement we need to do all we can to make sure they know that there is NO WAY they can possibly develop past the deficiencies they show in their early 20s because Arte.
This way the entire world that reads CtPG knows that Arte hates having prospects, we are all smarter than PTP because he’s just a tool of EvilArte, and we won’t be fooled again because we’ve all watched 10,000 games and are real men of baseball.
Then all we have to do is figure out why the franchise we root for is such a hapless, joyless, luckless pile of shit when it’s fanbase is made up of pure awesome.
April 22nd will be the 10,000 game in Halo history! Make sure to be one of the first 25,000 fans to get your pin. Of course, CtPG guy willl talk to MNT and the weatherman to make sure there’s a rainout. TrÅdition!!
Just don’t forget to:
💪 💪 💪
?h=1112&iar=0&w=1416&hash=2E311EE1524A685D210B4E71F20D5FD1
🍆 🍆 🍆
Indeed. What a shit take.
WTF is Cana?
You know it’s intended to be Dana….
Maybe he meant Mark Canha?
Or Canada . Nobody seems to like Canadians anymore.
Dana time and the sun is finally peaking out (here). Wish they would replace the dumb pitch clock with the pitch type and speed. I’m sure the ump will let us know if there’s a violation for the pitcher or hitter. Also wild how Ballys is fitting in a commercial between pitches. Surprised it hasn’t been a fan duel or draft kings one promoting in game betting.
Denny Hocking on the TV broadcast is just bad. He has zero tone. I guess he’s all Arte can afford.
With Trent Rush on color, ruff
Hocking has a face and bod for radio only 😉
Sorry, I can’t stand either one of them.
Glad you said it, I’m trying hard to not be so critical of everything. He sucks!
It’s just bad. The guys voice is not conducive to wanting to listen to what he’s saying.
He’s one of those guys that will spend 5 minutes (over) hyping someone and they immediately have a horrible AB or a pitcher walks someone on 4 pitches.
I just ran out of pineapple joy juice this morning too.
When reality + angels hits:
Argh, shiver me timbers
Oh he has a tone, its Monotone!
With a hint of a Crisis Hostage Negotiator.
He sure as F ain’t doing books on tape any time soon. Pay that guy to tell a bedtime story about every player on 2024 Angels organizational roster, it would put you right to sleep.
Pretty wild angels website is charging a minimum of $25/ticket (after service fees) plus $22 parking ($2 fee added) for a 1PM WEDNESDAY game. Family of 4 for $122 to get in the door is outrageous.
Seriously fuck this organization and how it’s run. Hoping for less than 1 mil in attendance this year lol.
3rd party vendors have much cheaper tickets and Karl Strauss has parking for $10.
Unless your presence at the game will contribute to the team playing.500 ball this season, don’t do it.
I took last year off, both in person, TV and here. I’m definitely going to games and looking to have my kids play hookie for those mid week day games. I hadn’t looked at the ‘official’ website for tickets since fan appreciation night October ‘22 (parking was still $10) just sticker shocked when I logged in and want to see how the total rung up. Complete bullshit.
Lots of much cheaper ticket options if you avoid the official Angel website.
The funny thing is the team is also listing tickets for sale on these websites but they are like 6x expensive for the same section. So it’s pretty easy to figure out what tickets to avoid.
Try TickPicks as but one example.
Park a bit farther away and walk and you can find $5 lots. F paying Arte $20 for parking.
And it won’t!
By summer,I’ll bet there will be plenty of tickets for $10.
Tickpick has the same game I mentioned above for $4/each. Thats after fees! I think the pricing on the angels site is set for the season.
My daughter in law bought the tickets for Little League day in late May for the team. The best price she could get for a block of seats was $42. More than last year and worse seats!
So they are punishing Little League for loss of sales
Exactly!! And if you want to sit all together AND have your league appear on the Jumbotron 2001 you HAVE to purchase with them directly.
Insane in the membrane!
They make you get there so early for check in and the walk around too, so it’s difficult to do that and stay for the whole game.
I was looking forward to having my kids run the bases on Sunday for the first time this year but I think we’ll have to get there at gametime (we are usually an hour early) because that’s a little too long of a day and still have it be fun. Theres nothing in the park to even do for the kiddos either (unlike Colorado or SD).
Anyone buying on the Angels website is a sucker (sorry). So many cheap and decent tickets out there!
Artie will be paying people to attend before the season is over. 🙂
You mean his annual ‘donations’ to nonprofits and they don’t even go… I know this because I’ve bought some VERY cheap ‘free/promotional’ tickets through the years. Thats one of the artificial ways he’s gotten the attendance inflated, that and selling blocks of seats (section 107) to 714tickets
There already are. You can go to the Twins for $5. And that includes fees.
$22 to park is crazy, they used to have the train up the coast from San Diego for less than $10 round trip if you went to the game.
They just got it going back up!! I was going to post this the other day but didn’t think it was used by anyone here since I’ve never seen anyone mention it.
https://ktla.com/news/california/metrolinks-angels-express-train-returns-for-first-time-since-2019/amp/
Angels had third-cheapest average ticket price (season tickets) in the Majors last year. But, please, continue with your impotent, context-free bitching.
I will, thank you.
They also have the 7th biggest seating capacity. So it would make sense to try to keep tickets cheaper… for season ticket holders.
Here’s some content you won’t click on:
https://sports.betmgm.com/en/blog/mlb/biggest-mlb-stadiums-ranking-by-capacity-bm15/
https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/03/28/mlb-stadium-rankings-best-worst#gid=ci02bb5b6d70002682&pid=29-oakland-coliseum–as
3rd worst…
The home of the Angels is the fourth-oldest ballpark in the majors and hasn’t been renovated since the late ’90s. The future of the stadium is uncertain after owner Arte Moreno attempted to buy it and the surrounding land from the city of Anaheim in a deal that fell through amid an FBI investigation into alleged corruption by the city’s mayor. The Angels might get a new stadium, or choose to renovate the current one for the first time since the Rams left town, but for now it’s a mediocre place to catch a game.
I still love going and following the team please feel free to share good stories or creating your best fantasy lineup, FA pickup, etc as you please.
Again- it’s simple to go to games cheaply. Just buy on 3rd party apps like you mentioned.
Garcia seems to be ready for prime time.
2 walks, double and single. I’m just sticking around to see Dana aka mini Thor to get his innings in
Adell with a walk! Write it down.
Who is that doing color on the radio?
HR Nolan!!!!
With the porn stache!
Nothing super noteworthy
https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/23/angels-top-5-spring-training-questions-revisited/amp/