Ippei Mizuhara will plead guilty to bank fraud and submitting a false tax return under a 37 page plea agreement. He will probably do at least six years but is not likely facing anything like life imprisonment. It will probably cap out at about 9 years maximum. “Associate No. 1” to whom he wired the money, is apparently Ryan Boyajian who happens to be a star of Real Housewives of Orange County.
The Mariners selected left-hander Kirby Snead. The Pirates will now promote their number one pick in the 2023 draft, Paul Skenes. The Rays just placed Ryan Pepiot on the injured list and reinstated Taj Bradley. Pepiot was hit in the leg by a comebacker on Sunday. Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera just went onto the IL with a right shoulder impingement. Rangers right-hander Dane Dunning also has shoulder issues. In his case it is called a right rotator cuff strain. The Giants placed their designated hitter Jorge Soler on the ten day IL. He also has a right shoulder strain, or does he? He might just have trying-too-hard-itis.
The Red Sox just designated infielder Zack Short for assignment. The Athletics are making moves all over the place.
The Cincinnati Reds just re-signed first baseman/DH Mike Ford to a major league deal worth $1.3 Million.
The crappy uniforms hall of shame does not have any Angels offerings, thankfully.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
I hope we get a certain bot tonight, we didn’t get too many last year. 🤘
We’ve seen him once this season. Detmers gives us a good chance for a bot comeback tour
From Sam Blum on his talk with Wash today:
No rebuilding!!! Playoffs here we come!!!!!
You could easily replace Washington’s name with Ausmus, Maddon, or Nevin. They have all said the same thing and all have fallen way short.
As long as Wash isn’t making any of the personnel decisions at the trade deadline, I’m ok with that. The attitude of the skipper should be exactly what he said above. I have no problem with that. If it was otherwise, that would be weird.
What was that quote about “not chasing wins”?
Perry is the one in charge of the plan. I sure hope he isn’t delirious enough to think he should go all in again this year and try to make the playoffs. He should sell every asset that makes sense.
Unless the Angels have a huge, unexpected turnaround, I think Perry has no delusions about being “buyers” at the deadline, w/o Trout, Rendon and anyone else who may go down from this point forward.
Last year was an obvious ploy to make a certain someone happy. Perry has no such situation this year. He should, and would be able to do the right thing this year.
I didn’t know our old friend/foe landed with the Royals. Hopefully Detmers K’s him 3x.
Apparently we’re not getting the lineup until 1st pitch. Haha
Too many toys to choose from for Wash. He was going to be the guy with the set line up. 🙂
“sEt L1n3uP”
6:12 and nothing
That’s because we’ve acquired Mookie Betts, Juan Soto, and Zack Wheeler, but they are still scrambling to assign them numbers.
Trout needs to be our full-time DH moving forward but, I digress.
The stats from Witt Jr. and their Catcher are “Wow”.
Wonder if they are loading up on all these waiver/MILB players to prepare for the big sell off of players with some value.
I have a negative opinion of Perry so I think it’s more desperation but I like the idea you have.
If he’s unwilling to provide a timeline, it’s just easier to not expect him back this year.
Honestly, I would be surprised if he’s back this season. Obviously Perry had to say the injury is not season-ending to sell false hope to the fans.
And yet another: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/05/angels-sign-drew-ellis-to-minor-league-deal.html
I like these moves. No way these players can get worse on the angels like all their expensive additions.
We should call up captain Jack.
Now There is another!
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/05/angels-claim-niko-goodrum-waivers-rays.html
As long as Vader doesn’t sense him, he’s ok.
Obviously not a threat to the empire or anyone else for that matter . Career wise he hits lefties pretty good . You might be able to platoon him with that other new guy and get rid of Ehire or lump of Cole
Are you alive? Yes? Here’s a uniform.
Exactly.
Another utility guy who was sort of good at one time.
ARHM MAH GIRD! SO MUCH TITANIC DECK CHARS! LOOK. AH SMIRK SMART FACE. I GNER HIZ DORRY.
Ehire, Pillar, Tucker and now Guillorme all seem to have previous ties to Ron Washington .
So what are we calling this motley crew ?
Wash’s unwashed?
Helping to set a new culture and tone for this team takes a village. Wash is building that vision and village with people he knows and trusts. Everything takes time. We know this is a lost year, but I have hope in the foundation that is built and if we can change a culture, we might be able to do something sooner rather than later.
Careful, this might get a few people.
Wash is leading a rebuild. They won’t call it that, but it’s officially a rebuild the day Shohei signed elsewhere. Not a lot of mangers around that are willing to take that on. Wash and Neto seem to be early proof, I’m sure the other kids are benefiting too. I admit, I like the genuine enthusiasm. This team isn’t suited for the baseball bubba philosophies of Joe Maddon. Or the bland unoriginal, standard Nevin. Unfortunately for Wash, he needs upgrades to about 15 of the 26 man roster. That will takes years.
Yeah, that’s the rub. The question is how committed to the rebuild the rest of the organization is. As we know we’ll need to get really lucky in the draft and eventually be willing to spend some money. Two highly improbable things.
I think we will spend money, that’s something Arte is good at. It’s finding the right guys to spend it on will be the biggest hurdle.
The right FA along with another year of good coaching for our youth and we start to move in the right direction. The less we have to rely on Trout the better. Imagine the day when he’s just a role player
Like maybe that Soto guy. I heard he is decent.
That will be #1 on my IIWPM list!
Soto would be a good candidate because of his age. but will require a lot of money and possibly an overpay to convince him to come here.
I agree but I feel like we have the position player role players and what we’re missing is 3 middle of the order Allstar or near Allstar free agents/players or 2 plus Trout. As previously mentioned, assuming Neto, Schanuel, and O’Hoppe turn into the players we hope they do, we still need a 2B, a 3B, a DH, and 1-2 OFs, 3 if Trout DHs. If Adell develops then he fills one of the OF spots. I like Mickey, but I’m not yet convinced he’s an everyday player. One of the new middle of the order stars will replace Rendon in two years but we’ll still nee a couple more. Even if O’hoppe can become the #5 hitter, if Trout hits 1st or 2nd we need legit #3 and #4 hitters. Unlike last year, O’Hoppe isn’t hitting for much power right now. Gotta see how it plays out.
We’re set at C.
For now, we’ll pencil in Shanny at 1B. 1B is one of the easiest positions to fill in the future if needed.
Sign that Kim guy for 2B.
Neto at SS.
I think we’re stuck with Rendon for now at 3B, plus whoever else we can get to hold down the fort.
Outfield of Juan Soto, Trout, Adell and Mickey (rotating to DH also).
Sign that Burnes guy.
Followed by Detmers, Soriano, Canning, and Silseth? One of those might be swapped out by then.
Meanwhile I hope we’ve traded away Rengifo, Drury, Anderson, Ward, Sandy, Esty for some farm boost.
There, that’s my “IIWPM Fantasy Land 2025 Edition”.
I was thinking long term but that would be a good plan for next year although, depending on how people do this year, I would also add another middle of the order bat at DH, or OF if Trout moves to DH, and then replace Rendon in 2 years. We need to draft and develop corner IFs and OFs as well as a 2B. Depends on whether your plan for next year is to get better or tread water. just adding Soto would not be nearly enough. Still a long way to go this year though. Maybe the plumber becomes our 2B. Today, I would not count on Moniak for anything other than a 4th OF, but a lot can change in the next 4-5 months. Adel is the same way we need to see what he does the rest of the season. Ward may still be here next year as well. I was pretty sure he had 2 years of control left after this year. Remember, I’m not insisting anyone on the roster other than Canning get traded because of his service status. Rengifo may be in the same boat, Along with all expiring contracts. But, we should pursue trades for everyone on the roster other than our 3 young pitchers and the 3 primary youngster position players. If Adell continues to play well, he will likely be penciled in for next year. We’ll see who steps up.
My plan above is just what I hope we do no matter what. We want to get better, and I think that fills a lot of holes with good players. I’m trading away all the players that are not long term (in July) including Ward and Anderson. If they really did what I’m saying, I’d expect 2025 to be a “get seriously better” year but not necessarily contending, unless everything went right. Not many teams can go from worst team in MLB to contending in 1 year.
If I thought we really had a shot in 2025 for serious contention, then maybe I’d keep Ward and Anderson, in their final years, if they are still doing well. However, I don’t think that is the likely path.
Wait – we’re rebuilding with guys that have been released multiple times over the past year because they can’t hit, field or run?
Teams usually rebuild by improving the roster. To quote someone “build back better” is the concept. This is not a rebuild, we’re still tanking to improve our draft position – which will begin the rebuild.
I agree about the holes. Too many to plug right now. Plus very thin in too many areas. We do have a decent amount of pitching which is nice, but our MI depth doesn’t exisit!!!
Officially a rebuild when Shohei left and Arte decided not to spend the equivalent money on anyone else
Sooner would be fewer years instead of more years but certainly not next year or probably the year after. 2027 instead of 2029.
I agree Biggiswirth. Even if our young guys sans Trout finish last in the AL West I hope Wash is not fired. I DO think he is building something as you say. Whereas Nevin clearly had no plan other than to be a hardass “grit” kind of dude, Washington knows how to win and HAS won as a manager in the bigs.
I like the focus on defense (something we’ve been near the bottom of statistically the last several years) and I like the general emphasis on being aggressive and creating runs on the bases. I just would like to see that tempered with some better judgment, but, as others have mentioned the plan is new so it will take time to polish the rough edges.
Whatever happens this season I would like to see Wash stick around for a couple of years to materialize this plan.
I actually get what you’re saying. The team was a non-contender on day one. We all knew that to various degrees of bitchmoan. Now, via our fanbases EDJUJU we’ve managed to injure the entire team before mid-May.
Well. OK. It’s a little early to play a lot of the farm kids. We can play some kids. But you know what else teams need? The Dodgers vintage of Charlie Culberson. The roadbed of a good roster. We’ve got games. We’ve got roster space. Why not see if we can find a couple “culture guys” who certainly aren’t gonna carry the team, but will help “make” the team? Washingtonians. Nothing to lose for trying.
And hell, if this team losses 100+ games maybe it’ll kill off some Angels fans AND convince Arte to sell. You make a lost season a productive season still.
How can you say he’s setting a new culture and tone for the team when he still continues to use suarez?
You can’t not use a player on your roster. Also, he knows there is nothing to lose this year and every time he puts Suarez out there he’s poking Perry to get rid of him. Suarez is Perry’s problem.
We call them “The 1899 Cleveland Spiders”
LOL bonus points for the article photo
Ippei in a cage, I see what you did there.
Rex got a fortuitous shot there. I have been getting whatever mileage I can out of it.
I think deportation is also part of Ippei’s plea bargain so maybe he can get Old Dominion to pack his stuff in containers and send it to storage in Japan for him.
Fortuitous indeed- it can be cropped some now (RIP Bill Lachemann) and better yet photoshop the jersey to blue
The clubhouse pizza eating contest just gave Suarez some competition. https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-braves/report-braves-trade-guillorme-to-angels/TLKVJXN5BVDNJEKVPDPCUZA4GM/
Pizza eating contest? How could you ignore the great Calhoun?
Free Willie!
The Romans ate lying down.
A mediocre left handed bat who has never played much. Sounds about right.
That reminds me, I need to do some sit-ups and crunches
Impressive slash line: .227/.303/.297
Am I delusional enough to believe we can stretch this winning winning streak to 9?
No, but also, yes. Detmers needs a bounce back performance in the worst way against a good KC club.
Am I delusional enough to believe we can stretch this winning winning streak to 9?
…….yes.
You had me at: “Am I delusional”
😀
Angels picked up a Luis Guillorme from the Braves, an infielder.
No power, no speed.
To make a move this quickly means Drury’s hamstring must be fried.
That and 0 depth. When is the plumber back?
Why don’t the Angels give updates with injuries like most teams? Is this a media issue (poor coverage), or is there nobody on the Angels side that give the media the information?
I follow the Doyer close enough to know they have information and updates with injuries all the time.
True that. They just transferred RenDone to the 60 day without any update, although none is needed.
both sides don’t care, and there aren’t enough fans to give shit.
I don’t know. The Angels have followed an out of sight out of mind philosophy for years.
Definitely nothing new.
Unfortunately, I think The Plumbers pipes are still clogged.
Seriously. I’d much rather give these reps to The Plummer.
Cause Goodrum and Guillorme are crap but the plumber? He’ll be awesome.
He may not be any good, but like our other young players, I wanted to see him play this year so we could get a good read on who he is. There’s certainly still time. He played well last year when he was up.
No power, no speed.
An obvious Angel! what took him so long to get here?
He’s going to fit right in.
A left-handed hitting good glove 2B/3B with a career OPS of .348 against RHP’s?
I’d take that all day long.
Rendon will be the player to be named later. `;~}}
We can only hope.
Does David Fletcher get called back up to the Braves now?
Braves also got SS Zack Short from Boston today.
Zack Coshart?
Sounds like our next leadoff batter…
Competition for EHire as the most boring player on the roster.
Another candidate for the Mural. He and Calhoun can take up 2 spots each. A career OPS+ of 90, 24 this year and 71 last year. Only once has he played more than 69 games in a season. He’ll fit right in. We need a cheap body and he’s a cheap body. Basically we need players to fill the positions the youngsters don’t occupy so that the youngsters can play. Essentially we are having difficulty finding enough players to fill the 9 positions. Other than Trout and the youngsters, this may be the worst team in Halo History. As someone else said yesterday, this is not a complaint about the moves made after the season started, but a comment about what wasn’t done before. By the end of the year, we may not recognize the roster.
The guy that couldn’t outplay David Fletcher for a roster spot? Got it. Great.
So, Boyajian, who was clearly involved in money laundering, at the very least, is given immunity for testifying against Bowyer? The feds must really want Bowyer bad, probably spent a ton of money investigating him and need to get this conviction. That desperation could work out well for Ippei, which may be the reason he pled guilty right away.
It’s sounding like the casinos in Vegas that facilitate illegal SoCal booking making operations are the biggest fish the Feds are targeting, along with Bowyer.
Here’s a nice article of how Pillar has been a good influence in the clubhouse. Like I said in an earlier post, Pillar knows what his role is with the team and isn’t delusional about it, unlike Hicks.
Love it! With a super young team, good veterans are so vital.
I’ve always liked Pillar from a distance, nice being able to like him as a Halo. His contribution will no longer go unnoticed 🫡.
Not sure how accurate this is, and average age isn’t necessarily the best indicator of how young a team is…..but according to this, we are the 7th oldest roster in baseball. The Ageism angle I think is an excuse for a Bad roster.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/rosters/_/sort/average_age/order/true
Yeah, the eye test doesn’t match that list. Who is our 37 year old?
It just feels to me our core is young – Adell, Moniak, Schnauel, Neto, O’Hoppe, Detmers, Silseth, Canning. But I guess if you do consider everybody else then it skews older. Our bullpen definitely skews older.
This organization promotes “washed up player” signings as a “positive leadership role” every year.
Can’t imagine having a job promoting this team. Every day needing to put a positive spin on one of the worst organizations in all MLB for the last 15 years must be exhausting.
I think Garcia is 37
Sounds like they should have made him the manager. Isn’t that what Washington was supposed to do.
As per usual, Wash’s responses are refreshingly honest. He provides actual answers to questions.
This was also a fairly obvious critique of Hicks to boot.
Every time we have to play against the Royals it takes me back to 2014 playoffs and our losing 3 games, but as the years pile up, the taste in my mouth gets worse. Why? That was the last time we made the playoffs, and the Royals went to a World Series.
Still have no idea how that ball landed in Aoki’s glove.
His eyes were closed.
Royals bottomed out big time after they won the WS in 2015. Two back-to-back seasons of under 60 wins in 2018-2019, and they just finished last season with 56 wins. But now they seem to be on the upswing and the future seems bright.
Meanwhile, the Angels haven’t seem to hit the bottom yet. Or maybe the bottom just seems to get lower and lower each time the Angels seemed to have hit it.
Yes. As we learned quickly, those Royals were good. They cracked the secret code for two years. It’s a shame one of the better Angels teams was playoff fodder for them in those years.
or even 1985, the year the Royals won the WS, we finished 1.0 games back in the AL West.
In 1984, we finished 3 games back of them. They were our biggest rivals in the 80s.
Those were great Royal teams.
Watching Hamilton was very painful.
It’s because you haven’t had anything to eat since then.
😄
I’ll never forget Weaver after game 3. You could tell that he KNEW that the window slammed shut on the team AND himself as an effective starting pitcher.
2014 was basically Weaver’s last gasp.
Royals are next…GO HALO!!