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LA Angels Wednesday News Crash: A Winner is You

March 27, 2024

Good morning Angels fans! Baseball season is finally, really here! Have some links!

Angels News

The Angels win the Freeway series 2-1 thanks to scoring more than the other team. HAHAHAHAHA! Nature is healing.

You know who else is happy? MLB player Miguel Sano. He is now officially on the opening day roster. And he hit a home run to celebrate.

Maybe this will be a good year after all? I mean look at the giveaways this year. And the food.

One thing the Angels are doing is finally fixing scouting with an actual Asian scouting coordinator. Better late than never I guess…

Speaking of, you can now listen to the Angels Spanish radio feed on the AM 830 app. Kinda 12 years late but whatever.

Around Baseball

Jordan Montgomery finally signed! Sneks, 1 year 25M with a vesting option up to 25M for 2025. Umm… not what anyone expected.

Seriously, Boras screwed up this time. Only 1 of his FA got over 100M this time, and almost all took short term deals. MLBTR predictions look way different. Like almost half a billion dollars different.

Apparently interpreters do have access to bank accounts according to an MLB interpreter. I mean I guess that makes sense.

We need more MLB promotion in things for kids. But what? How about Paw Patrol with Aaron Judge? Arson Judge would be funnier.

I am envious of other MLB stadium food options. Look at this Campfire Milkshake, for instance.

Anyway, now that pretty much all the FA have been signed, it seems that the NL West will have the best rotations in Baseball. Poor Rockies.

ESPN may ditch Baseball. (Or negotiate a lighter cost). I say good riddance to be honest. ESPN has been bad for Baseball for years now. They do not care. Let NBC have more games instead.

Anything else? Post below for upvotes!

55 Comments

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Legend

Mia

30 days ago

Legend

Eric_in_Portland

30 days ago

too bad tomorrow’s game isn’t at night ’cause the rain will stop. Pretty sure we’re not going to get it in

Super Member

RexFregosi

30 days ago

Reply to Eric_in_Portland

They’ve already cancelled Mets game and Phillies game

Super Member

2GA2Join

30 days ago

Jered Walsh just made the opening day roster. Good for him.

Super Member

2GA2Join

30 days ago

Reply to 2GA2Join

He’s one I definitely felt sympathy for. He was a good player, and it was a bummer that his Angels tenure ended the way it did.

Legend

WallyChuckChili

30 days ago

Reply to 2GA2Join

Legend

Cowboy26

30 days ago

Reply to WallyChuckChili

Unfortunately that book has fallen out of print.

Super Member

BannedInLA

30 days ago

Reply to 2GA2Join

Agreed. Too bad he flamed out here, but it’s nice to see a seemingly good dude bounce back.

Super Member

RexFregosi

30 days ago

Has the final roster been published I saw Jo get on the plane to Baltimore …Soriano and Sanó made it? Strickland? Adrianza?

Legend

Cowboy26

30 days ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Hunter Strickland made it but I believe Adrianza and Zuniga did not.

Super Member

BannedInLA

30 days ago

Reply to Cowboy26

I was definitely NOT in favor of Adrianza.

Legend

Cowboy26

30 days ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Then its #Neto162 or we’re in DST.

Legend

Twebur

30 days ago

Arms race complete?

Even though Drew Pomeranz had an opt-out clause that needed to be decided on today, it sounds like that may not have been the reason for his release.

https://x.com/BeyondTheHalo/status/1772047279341633990?s=20

Last edited 30 days ago by Twebur

Super Member

2GA2Join

30 days ago

https://sports.yahoo.com/scott-boras-finishes-offseason-to-forget-with-jordan-montgomerys-1-year-deal-044015216.html

Super Member

2GA2Join

30 days ago

Will Smith is signing a 10 year extension with the Dodgers.

I guess his movie career is kind of dried up, so he’ll have this for a decade.

I wonder if there is any thought from our front office about locking up any of our young guys like this, at some point.

Legend

Twebur

30 days ago

Reply to 2GA2Join

$140mm 10 years. $130mm deferred?

Super Member

RexFregosi

30 days ago

Reply to Twebur

Learn to rap, kids

Trusted Member

fyasko51

30 days ago

I think this year, the team will be more competitive. Last season, there were so many ugly losses. Phil just mismanaged so many games and the players had no accountability. August was on of the worst months of Angel baseball Ive seen. Im very happy to have Ron as the skipper, he’s a mix between Sosh and Maddon. Ron preaches the fundamentals and has the personality to be relatable. The kids look excited to play. The team might surprise the league, they might not but as long as they are out there playing to win, that is what I want to see.

Super Member

Angelz4ever

30 days ago

Regular season tomorrow baby!!

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

30 days ago

Inhale deeply on the hopium.

It begins.

Legend

Twebur

30 days ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Give away, opening night, NEXT YEAR.

Trusted Member

TrojanBoiler

30 days ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Doesn’t even pull the bowl out of the downstem to ensure proper hopium intake. That’s not going to cut it grandma.

Super Member

BannedInLA

30 days ago

Reply to TrojanBoiler

This waste will not be tolerated !!!

Legend

Mia

30 days ago

Reply to TrojanBoiler

And then leaves the bowl smoldering. SMH.

Legend

Fansince1971

30 days ago

A new season is always something to be excited about. It means baseball almost every day and new content for all of us to discuss rather than constant speculation.

Whatever happens – having baseball to watch and discuss is better than no baseball. So, whether you are an eternal optimist, a realist or a pessimist or something in between, the season’s start is always something to celebrate.

Trusted Member

Roy Hobbs

30 days ago

I am committed, at least for the first month, not to rain on anyones optimism regarding the season. Everyone starts the season as a playoff team. 😎

Legend

Cowboy26

30 days ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

You mean the month with the absolute worst part of the season”s schedule? Sounds like you aint going to be around much after May Day.

Trusted Member

Roy Hobbs

30 days ago

Reply to Cowboy26

I will, I will just no longer refrain from realistic team performance comments.

Super Member

Pineapple12

30 days ago

Alright, prediction time: 87-75.
We are gonna be fighting for that WC3 spot.

— Detmers wins the AL Cy Young
— Neto produces 4-5 WAR and is an All-Star
— Trout swipes 20 bags and gives us 6+ WAR
— Rendone plays 60 games and hits 2 HRs
— top 5 bullpen
— Sandy and Silseth establish themselves as core pieces in our rotation
— Wash adds 15 WAR

Whatever happens, I’ll enjoy this season of Halos baseball as I always do. We’ve been embarrassed and beaten down for the last 10 years, maybe it’s our time for a little luck. Why not us 😇

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

30 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Trusted Member

Simba

30 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

I love that even the hopium projection has Rendone at 60 games.

Super Member

BannedInLA

30 days ago

Reply to Simba

I’m predicting 130+ games for Rendon. Where does that fall on the Hopium scale? Full blown addict?

Super Member

LanaBanana

30 days ago

Reply to BannedInLA

Full blown addict – and then some.

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

30 days ago

Reply to BannedInLA

full blown addict, full time dealer and hopium farmer.

Super Member

steelgolf

30 days ago

Potato taquitos is what they are celebrating? Is this Idaho? Of course I despise corn tamales too, they just seem cheap, redundant, and not that flavorful. My prediction is that I will eat zero potato taquitos at the stadium, or elsewhere. Now, let’s get to some real season baseball.

Legend

Twebur

30 days ago

Reply to steelgolf

Seeing all the Birria on the menu, reminded me of Jaime Barria… 8.32 Spring Training era for the Indians.

Trusted Member

Roy Hobbs

30 days ago

Reply to Twebur

Somehow we still have Suarez though.

Super Member

steelgolf

30 days ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

Ugggh.

Trusted Member

HalosFanForLife

30 days ago

Sano made the roster. “Well, he wanted a job, and he swung the bat,” Washington said before the game. “He did everything that we asked him to do. He worked his butt off and he’s very deserving of being on our roster, and that’s why he’s here.”

The benchmark appears to be very low for Wash.

Super Member

halofansince1978

30 days ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

Working your ass off and doing everything asked of you sounds like a high benchmark.

Super Member

Angelz4ever

30 days ago

Reply to halofansince1978

Add to that producing on the field.

Super Member

smithy610

30 days ago

Reply to halofansince1978

In a season between no-to-low expectations, I’d rather have someone hungry and gung-ho for the second chance to prove himself rather than someone who’s sleeping a baby because he’s set for life.

Trusted Member

Angelstan

30 days ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

We will see what Sano brings. He can play 1B and 3B. He has bat speed and power. He looks like he is finding a potential groove. He got himself in shape.

Yes, his average was still unusually low in preseason. Yes, it’s unproven if he can hold up over any length of time and/or whether he will hit .175 with an occasional HR. But watching him the last two weeks, he looks like he could help the team. The proof will be in the pudding.

Legend

Cowboy26

30 days ago

Reply to Angelstan

But he also walks alot too. Unlike the young outfield twins

Super Member

smithy610

30 days ago

Gosh, who knew?! Ippei not only stole money from Shohei, but also made it very hard for his teammates to be besties with him.

Ireton, however, won’t be around as often as Mizuhara, who hardly ever left Ohtani’s side. To some on the Dodgers, Mizuhara’s presence felt burdensome, even if that wasn’t his intention. Roberts, with a wry smile, admitted that it was “difficult” to constantly go through Mizuhara to access Ohtani.

I guess Ippei wanted to make sure all that betting money is just to himself alone and not be shared around the clubhouse. Yuk yuk.

Legend

Angels2020Champs

30 days ago

Reply to smithy610

In 2013, he was hired by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters to translate for Chris Martin and other English-speaking members of the team. He first met Shohei Ohtani while interpreting for the Fighters as the two both arrived in 2013.

I know from Ichiro, the team hires an interpreter based on what the player wants. Then they become the team employee. So it’s a package deal. I’m not on one side or the other, although I definitely had some fun taking the ohtani is not perfect side this past week. Clearly Ohtani, until proven otherwise, will get the benefit of the doubt and the bus will continue to roll over ippei. Most likely, they both have some culpability here. It’s been a fun past few days of thoughts, personal experiences, etc. and at some point there will be more news to discuss. While ippei, maybe rightfully so, will continue to get his lashings he was also an immense help to get Shohei to where he wanted to be.

It’s been quite the offseason, more-so on here than actual Angels transactions or lack thereof. The fantasy FA acquisitions, possible trades, who is going to step up or regress, what the lineup, rotation or BP usage is going to be reminded me a lot of being in elementary school… trading cards, building the best lineup with a stack of randomly picked out cards, etc. Way more fun than playing with pogs and slammers. I mean that all in a good way, there are only great memories there. It’s been fun and entertaining (yes, to me adding in music, movie, show quotes/memes/GIFs is a bunch of fun and something that is commonplace in friend/family group messages I participate in) and that includes the personal name calling.

Anyway, as evident by JHW’s awesome news crash today, this site is amazing!! Makes me think, brings out the boyhood love for the game, and why I want to continue to pass baseball onto my kids. So I appreciate everyone here. If the season goes better than projected, I can’t wait to bring back some of the family/friends that have lost that love and feeling the past few years. If it doesn’t go so great, well as linked above there’s still giveaways, the ballpark food/atmosphere and we can always fix the worlds problems together.

If you made it this far, awesome. If not, totally cool as well. I’ll be attending about 1/2 the Wednesday day and Saturday night fireworks games. If you don’t want to pay for parking, want some tips on which ushers/sections are ‘cooler’ than others, where/how to be on the jumbrotron 2001 or which 3rd party site has the best deal then I have some tips/tricks I could pass along.

Opening day and week is one of the best times of year for me and happens to lineup with spring break quite nicely this year.

Thanks for reading, contributing and being CtPGs guys/gals. A few short hours from those beautiful words:

Super Member

Kiyotchan

30 days ago

Reply to Angels2020Champs

I totally agree with you that CtPG is really, really awesome. I just cannot stay away. I envy you for living close to MLB ballpark, being able to attend the opening day and other “important” games. Portland will never have an MLB park let alone 1A team, before I say goodbye to the present life.

I don’t know who Ichiro’s adviser has been, but he was always careful about being misinterpreted so he always used translator, but it also gave him time to think about what he was going to say. But, I hear that he will do his entire speech in English when he is at Cooperstown next summer. I am hoping to be there.

Even though Ippei was considered to be a confidant for Ohtani, I did not know that some people found him as obstacle/nuisance, as new interpreter, Will Ireton, Filipino by blood, former interpreter for Maeda, will not be Ohtani’s side constantly like Ippei did. Perhaps for Shohei and his person growth, this may not be a bad thing.

Since I will purchase MLB Extra Innings this year again, I will be watching many, if not all, Angels games and, of course, Doyers games. May have to use DVR since I am doing many other things, but it is always exciting to have “real” games started. Spring is here.

I will post whenever relevant Shohei things are reported; otherwise, I will remain as faithful read-only fans.

Super Member

smithy610

30 days ago

Reply to Kiyotchan

It feels to me that this is the Ippei pile-on happening. I mean, Dodgers were already complaining about “access” to Shohei and they haven’t started the regular season yet?!

Meanwhile, the Angels had Ippei and Shohei together for 6 years, and while most everyone said that Shohei is low-key, no one ever complained of Ippei being a hindrance to communicating and dealing with Shohei.

Super Member

Kiyotchan

30 days ago

Reply to smithy610

It is interesting that Japanese media has written off Ippei, no mention of him whatsoever. Perhaps his lying about where he went to school (UC Riverside?) turned them off; many politicians and celebrities in Japan had to commit social “harakiri” once their lies about what American college they graduated from were revealed.

Nikkan Sports reported this morning that perhaps not having Ippei would promote more interactions with teammates and they would find out that he understands and speaks more English than they may have expected. Perhaps, that is a good thing for Shohei.

Super Member

MarineLayer

30 days ago

Reply to smithy610

I agree, It looks like they’re making him take the hit for everything. The worst thing for MLB is if Ohtani was betting on baseball, and while I don’t know if he did, I do know they will do everything in their power to cover up, including making Ippei take the hit for him.