A huge thanks to all of you who have served in the armed forces and kept us safe. Also thanks to the families of those who serve and support our soldiers. Missing a loved one for extended stretches is tough. We appreciate all of you protecting us and allowing us to spend time on something as trivial as baseball.
Now here are links:
We’re only a week into the off season and Perry Minasian has pulled off four moves he hopes will bolster the Angels in 2025.
First he flipped Griffin Canning to the Braves for some much needed DH help in the form of Jorge Soler. Yesterday he signed Kyle Hendricks to essentially replace Griffin Canning. In the aggregate this basically equates to $11 million in payroll additions to update the DH position for 2025.
In an effort to fill in some depth, Perry claimed Scott Kingery off waivers from the Phillies and slugger Ryan Noda from the A’s. The Noda acquisition is particularly intriguing as the Angels acquired a similar three true outcomes player in Niko Kavadas at the trade deadline last summer. Both of these first basemen were acquired after Perry spent a first round pick on Nolan Schanuel just a couple of drafts ago.
Here’s a look at Noda.
Meanwhile, Nico Kavadas has been playing really good baseball in the Arizona Fall League following a solid last couple of weeks at the MLB level in 2024.
If we could somehow combine the defense and low K rate of Shanuel with Noda’s walk rate and Kavadas power we’d have a great player. As it stands, we could have a bit of a camp battle and some actual AAA depth at the position.
The Arizona Fall League has been good for Angels prospects. We haven’t mentioned 2022 draftee Samy Natera Jr. much around here, but his is an interesting story. I highly recommend that link as it looks like we might see Samy at big league camp and possibly Anaheim soon. Samy is carrying the second lowest ERA in the AFL and absolutely dealing.
I love a lot of things about this community and realism is near the top of the list. We realize this team is a ways away from competing and we realize that many if not most prospects will bust. But if you get enough of them and they are rated decently, you should find a few who are good players.
I have to say, this is the best list of minor league upside I’ve seen from the Angels in the decade plus I started following the farm.
I really like my chances of pulling two decent starters and one solid bullpen arm out of that mix, perhaps more. The cool thing is we can all see multiple scenarios for how that could play out.
Want to take your hand at playing Perry? Well our off season tradition has begun. Here are the ground rules. And here is my take on a plan as well as John Henry’s.
The real life Perry says he’s open to anything this off season. Thankfully he made that statement after Diddy stopped throwing parties.
From around baseball,
Congrats to the 2024 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners. The Angels had two finalists, but we play on the wrong coast and the team sucks. 14 players did receive their fist Gold Glove Awards.
Shohei Ohtani is having surgery on his non-throwing shoulder and expects to be ready to hit in Spring Training. His return to the mound is still TBD.
To my recollection, Ohtani had a patellar tendon surgery and one Tommy John surgery while a member of the Angels. He then had a second elbow surgery last season. Now this one. He’s still pretty young and none of these are too outrageous, but they are adding up and if you’ve turned 30 or more you know things just don’t heal the same as you age. Not wishing him ill will, just stating facts.
The next Japanese phenom to come stateside will be Roki Sasaki. Who is he? Well here’s everything you need to know.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. Again, thanks to you veterans and the families of veterans.
How our AFL All Stars did last night.
Niko Kavadas (LAA No. 29) lined a single to center in the first and acquitted himself well in right field, where he laid out for a diving catch to end the fourth.
Samy Natera Jr. worked around a one-out single to record a scoreless fifth inning, striking out three — the most K’s of any pitcher in the game.
Scouting reports on our two AFL All Stars.
Niko Kavadas, 1B (No. 29): Originally a member of the Red Sox organization, Kavadas came to the Angels at this year’s Trade Deadline in the Luis García deal, and he made his big league debut in mid-August. He’s established his power-hitting bona fides by hitting 71 combined homers over his three full seasons of pro ball and he’s kept it going this fall with six more long balls. He tops the AFL with a 1.297 OPS, and is tied for the SLG lead (.797) with Josue Briceño.
Samy Natera Jr., LHP: A 17th-round pick in 2022 out of New Mexico State, Natera is a bit of a late bloomer who missed most of the 2024 season with an elbow sprain. The 6-foot-4 lefty can get his fastball up to the mid-90s and has used that and a solid breaking ball to pitch effectively this fall, with a 0.90 ERA (second in the AFL) and 13 K’s over 10 innings.
AFL All Star Game at 6pm on MLBN.
Kavadas starting Natera in the bullpen.
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/al-fall-stars-vs-nl-fall-stars/2024/11/09/787606/preview
Arte has TV money! Angels reach a new deal with DSG that includes an app that can be purchased without a cable subscription.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/11/angels-reach-new-broadcast-deal-with-diamond-sports-group.html
This guy s good news but we really need to see the terms to see what kind of haircut Arte will take.
Looks like it was a restructured deal so my guess is the terms are less favorable to the Angels.
Most likely a lower guarantee but some sort of revenue split on the app revenue.
Most likely we dont really know. With the added streaming component he may actually be getting more $$$$ annually than he did with Diamond. I suspect he had to get MLB’s approval to allow out of market streaming which considering the condition of all of the RSN contracts they were probably very accommodating .
According to the times no real revenue changes over the next 3 years. https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2024-11-11/angels-arte-moreno-fanduel-sports-network-tv-deal
Is it time to consider a few ideas for the Angels future success for the rebuilding project?
If I was Perry Minasian I would but Trouty a first baseman’s glove and one for O’Hoppe also. I would give Rendone a kick in the ass as he is going out the front door with a huge ck in hand while taking his shit eating grin with him down the road. But that’s just me.
Can’t wait to find out where we will be drafting next June. We can pick up some good picks next June so that we can be competitive sooner, but it would be kool to pick invest in some prep talent also instead of just the college boys who are quicker to the big leagues but age out faster.
Neto seems to be injury prone at this point, but he still has youth on his side, so, look forward to a speedy return in April at the latest.
We’re only #23…seven teams worse than us.
Todays dose of glass half full of Hopium folks.
https://www.mlb.com/news/where-every-mlb-team-starts-2024-2025-offseason
I just read that Sasaki from Japan is being posted for a minor league deal and coming over for next season. This is the best opportunity the Angels have to turn things around. I doubt they will get him, but this is their chance. He could be a franchise-changer.
Sasaki is a Dodger lol
Probably and it will ruin the league
Roki probably has zero interest in Angels. Hope he chooses the Padres. I’m sure Ohtani will do his best to recruit him. Such a K Durant, you’re turning out to be just one in a group of great players on a ridiculous stacked $$ team. They didn’t even need your bat to beat Yankees.
But they sure needed his bat to get there.
Yes and it set them up for the post season with the best record.
Sasaki is never ever signing with the Angels as long as Arte owns the team. There is a higher probability the Trout and Rendon remain injury free for the next two season than there is for another top player from Japan signing here.
If in a Japanese player the last thing I want to do is follow Ohtani’s path of wasting six years.
I have a sneaky suspicion he’ll be a Met.
I hope it’s the Giants but LA makes sense.. Most of all, would love to see JeDi get his hopes sky high again only to get crushed.
Just saw the Neto news. As if the regular season isn’t enough of a soccer kick to the balls.
Geez
Yup. You may recall that, at the end of the last season when he got hurt, I was like “Sweet. Maybe we can shit JuJu another shortstop named Zach/k into having a career ending injury whilst trying too hard playing for us…. cause we hate Arte.”
He’ll likely be alright. But if we all wish hard enough for more misery to fill our sad sacks with maybe it can all go horribly wrong. Just think. We could then complain about drafting him cause we’re cheap… and cheap medical staff…. cheap sandwiches in the clubhouse…. probably cheap seats on planes…. the opportunities are endless.
PARADIGM SHIFT
a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions.
e.g. bullpen relievers still matter as they did between Rollie Fingers to Mariano Rivera.
💪 💪 💪 💪
BYE!!!
AFL Home Run Derby…LIVE!!
https://www.mlb.com/arizona-fall-league
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1855013542178832741
Home Run Park Batting Cages baby. Home of the Clyde Wright Pitching School.
Good Times!
Brief MLB.com scouting report on Natera Jr.: “A 17th-round pick in 2022 out of New Mexico State, Natera is a bit of a late bloomer who missed most of the 2024 season with an elbow sprain. The 6-foot-4 lefty can get his fastball up to the mid-90s and has used that and a solid breaking ball to pitch effectively this fall, with a 0.90 ERA (second in the AFL) and 13 K’s over 10 innings.”
We’re the Angels, more over we’re Arte’s Angels!!
We don’t EVER FIND GOLD OR DIAMONDS in a landfill. If you want good players you’re gonna have to compete for the better ones that everybody else knows about too.
Looks like the most important thing to the Angels every year is already out the window in 2025.
Health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEyTl_gRWs
TrAdition!
It’s time to sign Kim from the Padres. He can play short as needed and move to 2B when Neto is back. He can also be traded after a year or so as appropriate.
Exactly. And I’m sure third base will be open prior to Neto coming back.
Stefanic elected free agency so we no longer have that quasi-replacement level third baseman hanging around in AAA.
If the Plumber can’t make it here, he can’t make it anywhere!
https://youtu.be/le1QF3uoQNg?si=IN-gwR8j4p4eqWZX
We missed out on Tommy Edman
Kim just had arm surgery.
We dont even know if he’ll be ready for the season opener.
Yikes. Ok. No good then. Thanks for mentioning it.
I think most of us would like to see this happen. I know nothing about this player but, the consensus seams to be positive.
Yes. But only if we can get him for say 2 years at 20 million. Right?
If he’s hurt, we cannot use him. The projected salary for him was three years, $24 million from what I saw. That would play fine.
I was joking. It’s the thing around here to be “all in on building the farm” but then turn around and declare that we need to sign several power hitters and top flight pitchers…. “but only for short term deals”….
you know. All those top of the line bats and arms that are always signing short term contracts.
Sigh
“Zach Neto had shoulder surgery this week. He tried to rehab but still felt some issues. Perry Minasian said he might miss the start of the season. Didn’t specify beyond that”
https://x.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1854967900375052487?t=J4DBlJxSAr9hFsuXYQcfSw&s=19
Perry Minasian says Kyle Hendricks will serve as a full-time starter for Angels in 2025, club identified some delivery adjustments that may have caused performance issues in 2024 and are betting on him to pitch to his 2023 and prior levels of success
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1854968474608803933?t=yqZBWFC51cyTNfSGWZhLeA&s=19
You lost me at: “club identified some delivery adjustments”
They couldn’t fix Detmers. They couldn’t fix Canning. They couldn’t fix Mederos. They couldn’t fix Plesac. They couldn’t fix Cueto. They couldn’t fix Cimber. They couldn’t fix Cisnero. They couldn’t fix Wantz. They couldn’t fix Moore. They couldn’t fix Saurez. They couldn’t fix Zuniga.
But this time they will fix Hendricks? Yes, it’s only a $2.5M gamble on a non-rebuilding rebuilding club. I just find the humor in Perry’s “spin” attempts after 4 years of slinging crap against the wall.
You forgot Rosensplat.
I have a soft spot for Kenny! With those youthful looks and rosy cheeks he looks like the grandchild we have always wanted but have yet to be blessed with.
2 sides to every coin, right?
Wash and Barry did a fine job with developing/fixing Soriano, Anderson, Silent C, Joyce, Strickland, Zeferjahn, Burke in 2024.
Players with talent can be fixed, players without talent (Cueto, Cimber, Wantz, Suarez) cannot.
I don’t think Hendricks is fixable fwiw.
Barry seems to be adept at developing sinking pitches. Joyce and Silent C really improved their sinkers, Soriano got better control of his knuckle curve, and Anderson had good downward movement on his changeup.
So Hendricks might see a bit of a boost with Enright. He already has a solid GB rate.
I’m biased against pitchers with low velo. Would loveeee to be proven wrong.
The good thing about low velo pitchers is they actually manage to pitch most seasons. Hendricks may be TOO low velo at this point, we’ll have to see.
Damnright we will.
🙄
Shit. Neto and O’Hoppe are the 2 of the most exciting players on the team. Can’t put Rengifo at short because he will be at 3rd.
Going with the under with Neto’s heal time…….$2,500,000 Ippei Bucks on my IppeiBets account.
He’s part of our New trAdition. Due to higher Grit content in his Gut and Blood. Just a hunch.
Agree!!! He is a stud and will be in the Opening Day lineup.
Double agree. We aren’t talking about trout or rendon’s shoulder here. I’m sure he will be fine and ready to go
Dirt rubbed and Windex applied. I’m good skip!
Amen. he is young. Hopefully they are just “cleaning it out” and he’ll get back soon.
We like players who walk. Glad to see we’re picking up some of those. We also like players who hit for power. Glad to see we’re getting some of those too. The last year or so has been the first time Perry has started to actually acquire depth that can be either used or traded as opposed to just collecting trash.. Don’t know why he wasn’t doing this before but very glad to see he’s doing it now. A few more years of this and we may have a bunch of tradable assets and or usable players. We need to find a long term solution at 3B who can field and hit for power, and 1B as well while were at it, although a one of our new acquisitions may be able to do that.
I think Fontenelle will get first crack at 3B shortly. I think 1B will be filled via free agency as there is a certain guy available in 2026 that would be a great homecoming for him and his family.
Fontenelle is a long way from a Major League debut. he’s just trying to recover from a horrific injury and find his footing in the AFL. So far, even though he’s playing better as of late, his timing has been way off (look at his K numbers) and cant seen to generate any power.
It would be foolhardy to include him in any ML discussions this season. The Angels need to make alternative plans acquiring someone formoutside the organization at 3B this offseason if they have any chance at a vast improvement next year.
Yeah. Realistically I am just hoping for a good season at AA for him. But I do like him as a prospect. Underrated.
I know all the tuck jobs on this sight will cry just reading it, but Rendon is likely to be our starter at 3B opening day. We don’t really have other options, we should not pay for another option right now, and we are paying him to be an option.
They said he has to earn playing time. That means he’s gonna play and then if he sucks they’ll pull his rope… but he’s gonna play. Unless of course his leg just plain falls off in Tempe.
Come on Real Menz of Baseball Fanness. Wish real hard like a starving kid outside a Burger King and maybe it will happen. Then yall can enjoy complaining about Wagaman.
Man 3B has been a rough spot for almost ten years and it’s not getting easier to fill. That’s league wide. I looked at the top 3B prospects heading into the season. There are about 4 really strong ones… then a bunch of guys who “may need to move off the position”.
Free agents? Look at the top 3B free agents over the last ten years. Then look at who is coming up the next couple years.
And that’s why we rolled the dice on Rendon. That’s why Eugenio Suarez is valued. That’s why Kybryan Hays has a contract. 3B is a hell hole for GMs.
If PTP developed a pile of legit 3B prospects we could trade for just about anything I bet.
Angels have no in-house solutions. Hell, I’d settle for a short-term solution like Polanco or even lowly Urshela if it came to it for 2024. After a down year and at age 33, could the Halos pry a $21M Arenado away from a team who looks like they might just rebuild next year? Anderson, Ward and Rengifo are trade pieces. Bachman is moveable.
Rengifo should start at 3rd, but he may be tasked with opening at SS due to Neto having shoulder surgery. Even then, Rengifo is awesome but has gotten injured in each of the last 2 seasons.
There’s no answer for 3B
“Angels prospects Niko Kavadas and Sammy Natera Jr. have been named Arizona Fall League Fall Stars”
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1854931650763014601?t=7irus3gMOJtkWuXTTofhfA&s=19
Trade ’em for a legit AA or AAA 3B prospect
Thanks to all of our vets here at the Wailing Wall of Anaheim. Jeff, when you put it all together, we actually might have some AAA depth. Not Marianas trench, but not saucer-of-milk-for-the-cat depth that we have been dealing with. Thanks for pointing that out. Trout needs to resign himself to Mostly DH going forward. That being said, if he’s good and mobile in training camp, cool.
I think the current AAA team looks like
Lugo LF, Adams CF,
Fontenelle 3B, Mershon SS, Moore 2B, Kavadas/Noda 1B and DH
Pitching will be a mix from above.
That’s as good as we’ve had in a long while.
Better add Lugo to the 40 man then.
another tidbit about the legend – no other player in the history of MLB had better sideburns – world class (even rock stars couldn’t hang with these) – check out his 1974 card too.
He was the best hitting SS in the majors for 10 years and won multiple gold gloves.
And yielded us The Express
And was the manager the first time we ever won anything
https://youtu.be/tICfzmdkl9E
I wonder if Gerritt Cole has seen this 🤣
That’s mean Rex…but I like it!!
I was there!!!
Me too, we were standing right next to the Angels dugout and tried to go on the field. That particular Anaheim PD Officer wasn’t having it 🙂
We were up on the view level, just past first base. I got hugged by a guy in a gorilla mask and an Angels jersey that was soaked in beer. Didn’t care!
I was about 30 feet away from Carew in the second row.
We have some dirt from the mound in a Szabo beer cup.
George Foster, Elvis and Ambrose Burnside said Hello.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM
Nice list of minor league pitchers with a chance. I don’t know what happened to Silseth. Hope he’s healthy now. Aldeghieri and Dana looked good at times last season.
Bullish on our pipeline of pitching prospects. Perry is doing a good job in that area.
And it could have the Texas A&M kid who went back to NIL money.
I think another trade deadline and draft and Perry will have enough of a prospect pile that we can start dreaming again. In my Perry piece I specifically set the team up with as many trade deadline pieces as possible for this very reason.
Fully agree, JJ.
I am struggling to tap into my writer’s brain this morning, but it’s feels like for the first time in a long time the org is trending in the right direction.
I agree on this. We have 4-5 decent arms now in AAA to add to depth at the MLB level. We need to get a bit better at the top of the rotation until the young arms learn about MLB hitters. I think our window starts to open in 2026.
We certainly hope so.
It’s Klassen and the rest, back-end rotation types
A lot depends on whether Soriano develops into an ace or settles as a mid-rotation arm; and trying to salvage Detmers.
There’s nothing wrong with having a bulk of cost-controlled #3-4-5 type starters if Soriano can establish himself as a #1.
Whether or not he’s #1, he was certainly not a 3, 4, or 5 last year. He had 123 ERA+. He’s already a 3 and maybe a 2 so assuming health, he will be a strong addition.
All this talk of needs and 1 & 2 starters (and Soriano’s 123 ERA+) got me curious so I looked it up. What was the #2 best ERA+ on a bunch of the good teams this year and how many pitchers on the team were better than 123?
Royals had 3 starters at 126 or higher. Their #2 was at 135.
The Cleveland Baseball Men had no starters over 116.
The Tigers had two pitchers over 123. #2 was Flaherty at 134 who they traded.
The Brewers had only one pitcher over 123. Second best was 119.
The Orioles Corbin Burnes was their best at 128. Next best? 101.
Padres. 2 pitchers over 123. 2nd best pitcher was 124. And he was out most of the year.
The Phillies had one starting pitcher over 123.
The Mets only had one pitcher over 123.
Dodgers had only one. He was at 129.
Yankees had Garrit Cole at 121…. and a part time starter above 123.
So yeah. I’d feel comfortable saying Soriano was not a 3-4.
Awesome stat pulling, gitcho. Appreciate it.
Soriano might just be that dude for us, and heaven knows we need him to be
Silseth was hurt then came back but last season was a lot of weirdness for him. We’ll see if this year’s better.
Silseth was by far the best arm drafted in the Perry era. I’m questioning if he can reclaim his upside after the many setbacks, hopeful
Chase had that dominant 3-start stretch and then Cabbage drilled him in the cranium smh
Dana gets a kitchen pass as he was less than 2-yrs removed from high school. Really liked his mound presence, but could never get his curveball working and relies on off-speed stuff to set up his average fastball. Needs a couple more years in the minors, Perry the Pusher.
Trout Porn!!
https://www.si.com/mlb/angels/angels-news/angels-don-t-want-to-use-mike-trout-at-dh-report-01jc42k5ryvs
https://www.si.com/mlb/angels/angels-news/angels-gm-provides-major-injury-update-on-mike-trout-his-status-for-next-season-01jbzbbts3bs
Putting Trout in right and moving Adell back to center is probably the plan.
I don’t think Trout has the arm to play RF. He’d get ran on to death.
When you say this, do you mean runners taking second base on a should-be single?
1st to 3rd, your best arm should be RF. Nothing scientific about it. Mookie, Dewey Evans, Barfield…
Trout would need to play LF. Joe is already such a solid fielder in RF you just hope he hit’s well enough to stick. That would really save us a lot of money. Last year Soler hit 241 .338 .442 for a 121 OPS+. If Joe could do that he could be a fixture. Perhaps his OBA would be lower and his SLG Avg would be higher. That combined with his defense would make a really nice player.
Whatever works for Trout next season is a plus as long as he’s playing. Injuries aside, Angels are blessed to have him. A future HOF, loyal to a team that can’t win. He is heading toward an elite group of players who had amazing careers, never won, and remained dedicated to one team. The likes of Tony Gwynn, Robin Yount, Ryne Sandberg, Todd Helton. They don’t make’m like that anymore, and the free agent $$ has changed the landscape. Closet player I’ve seen in recent years is Yadira Molina, Kershaw if he retires. So keep the flame burning Trout, the current and (probably) forever face of the Angels.
Thank you to all who served for your service!!