Morning Angels fans. Have links.
Angels News
Perry was busy again, getting our new backup catcher Travus. He hits well and really brings depth to this team. At 2 years 12 Million US dollars, it does eat up 6 M of the budget this year, but is a vast improvement over Thaiss.
And that budget is getting bigger. Arte Moreno insisted that the Angels budget will increase this year and that has to do with the new tv deal he signed. No idea what it is yet, beyond it being a 3 year deal with Fanduel Sports Network, which is just a renamed Bally Sports. Allegedly, the Angels will be offered as a stand alone streaming option as well as a cable package per usual. Details to be announced.
Oh yeah, and we have a new assistant pitching coach. Sal, from Atlanta. He was Travus’ catching instructor in Atlanta.
It is offseason time, so it is list time and Joel has his top 10 MLB shortstop list out right now. Neto is 7th.
Around Baseball
Silver Sluggers are announced. Here is the list. No Angels.
More importantly, the MARBLE RACE IS BACK! The Angels may not be able to win IRL games, but they can win marbles. As they have done well in 2022 and 2023. Remember, it is elimination, you do not want the Angels to reach the bottom first.
The 2028 Olympics in LA will have Baseball in it. MLB players want to play in it.
Hurricane Milton wrecked the Trop in Florida. The roof can be fixed for 55 Million US dollars.
Alec Bohm of the Phillies is on the trade block. Do they want a Rendon?
Jordan Montgomery is also on the trade block. Maybe our articles are predictions?
The Giants are also looking to trade players. WOW.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
it’s all about the farm to fill most of the slots. All about the farm to make meaningful trades.
IIWPM I’d spend more time preparing for the draft and scouting. We have Neto and O’Hoppe. We need 5 of them instead of 2. Trout would be a 3rd if he ever plays. I’m fine with punting on 2025 and/or 2026 if we commit to the farm. That also means giving the minor leaguers everything they need, like housing and nutrition and coaching on fundamentals.
Otherwise anything we do is just patching the worn out tire and hoping it doesn’t blow.
Well said.
I’ll say we have 2.75 or 3 yutes to build with….. I have nothing to offer other than my gut feeling Schanuel has more potential than he’s shown so far…..which hasn’t been half bad for a 22 year old kid, that basically went straight to the majors out of college. More experience and better swing mechanics can increase power. Still think it’s in him to walk a Shit-Ton……..just needs some time.
Players Who Developed Surprising Power
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/seven-players-who-developed-surprising-power/
I hope he does. I would like surprised and give all his fans here credit.
Even O’Hoppe is somewhat suspect after last year. He’s got 2 years under his belt and he was much worse as a hitter last year than his first year. He hit for a lot less power. At one point 4 months in, he had an OPS+ north of 120 and an 800 OPS, even without hitting for power like his rookie year. He was looking like a star. The he went in the tank and ended up with an OPS+ under a 100. And he was 24 last year. I am optimistic about him, but based on his performance, his actual performance level is an unknown. Neto was the only one who improved as a hitter. O’Hoppe is a bat first catcher, so he needs to hit.
Kike Hernandez is an intriguing option to me. I’m looking more at his fielding metrics than bat, which is 15% below MLB standards but still serviceable.
He can provide depth at a lot of positions of need including CF a couple of days per week and late in games.
Yah. He’s another “move him around to solidify the roster as we try out several rookies at several spots” type guy who has added value for us.
Kike, good depth, good defense, good teammate, good eye Doctor.
I’ve always wondered if eyesight issues are not taken seriously enough.. thinking they are young, healthy and good enough. Hear how fighter pilots can increase eyesight strength, focus and concentration. Somehow I doubt Osama bin Art would spend the cash on that……cheap Art.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2024-08-11/kike-hernandez-glasses
We need more Grady Fusion baseball men than Peter Brands who are a dime a dozen…..💪💪💪
So we need a new fusion of Grady?
Washington DC to San Diego to NYC to ???, it would make sense to add SF or LA next, but Cohn’s deep pockets may preclude that Criss Crossing adventure to just a mire subway trip.
Soto camp claiming that there are 4 teams to talk to, but only one can afford the 500-600 million price tag. The Pinstripes will sign two of bigger names and say they got a two for one discount. Recently we saw Blue turn to Red, in MLB we may be seeing Green turn to caution Yellow.
Arturo has possibly part of a change in the way business takes place in the MLB team offices around the country in that the odds of signing a high priced 7-10 year deal foe BIG Money and it being a loser are not worth a gamble any longer. Cole was a winner so far, against Rendone being a bad signing, Albert was a bust at 10 yrs vs Ohtani being good so far after the first year. Machado and Harper good compared to Trout and Hamilton and Wilson being not so good. When the deal has little art to it, it ties up things so there is little wiggle room to make other prettier deals that would be even shorter term.
I like not worrying about whether or not we sign the next big name or not, I really like the rebuilding part of this game, and it makes reading IIWPM fun to read knowing that big names like Soto and Bergman are not part of the equation.
Pretty sure all the teams are heading to Boras offices in Fashion Island for this round of meetings. Soto and Scott are not fling around.
Soto is currently a great hitter and a complete mercenary. It’s either his immense ego or some other hole in his soul that he needs to validate by getting every dollar available. I am totally convinced that whomever signs him will come to regret it.
I love him at 26 with his record. Who knows but he’s at a great age to sign to a long-term contract. (I’m not talking to you Arte)
For me it’s not the model year, it’s the miles. He’s also from the DM and might actually be 52 years old. Not the that has ever happened.
That is something to think about.
I don’t think they regret the contract for a long, long time. At his age he should still put up 5 truly excellent seasons before he starts to decline.
Even when he does decline, his skillset should ease the drop. Elite command of the strike zone makes up for a little bit of age.
Yeah, but I thought that about Trout also. What are the percentage of great players that suddenly become below replacement when they hit 33-34?
Looking back on it I’m sure most of us saw the risk of Pujols and Hamilton. I never would have taken Harper or Machado over Trout at the time, but here we are. I am not sold at all on Ohtani’s contract, especially with him appearing to get hurt now and then. He still needs to show that he can pitch at the same level.
I think I read that the Pale Hose have an up-and-coming catcher, maybe we should trade for him…… 😆
This team would look a lot closer to actually being something if we had Quero and Bush in the fold.
Plus we’d have another $6 million per year to spend elsewhere.
The Angels have 2 possible catching prospects in Dario Laverde and Juan Flores who are still teenagers.
Hopefully they add more over the next two drafts, but the d’Arnaud signing at least gets these kids to AA ball so we can see if either is MLB caliber.
In the meantime I’m as interested in seeing him plan and call games to help out the younger pitchers as I am about adding his bat to the lineup and bench.
The Angels seem pretty cold on drafting catchers now but pretty hot on trying to find one internationally. And….guess what? Our top 2025 signee is an another catcher. https://x.com/Jared_Tims/status/1856487718420918740.
Nice. The two I linked above are also international signees.
Interesting they don’t pick up the occasional mid round SEC/ACC guy. But that’s where Perry likes to pick up guys who might start but likely head to the bullpen.
Nice, another 2 way-player, Linebacker & Catcher.
I love the veteran, low-cost, short-term contracts to help the kids along. It’s exactly what the team needs to move on from ten years of mismanagement, in this rebuild.
Per the Trade Simulator Thaiss has a -0.3 trade value. So trading him for anything other than a bag of balls is unlikely unless you package him with a player of some value. If guessing it’s DFA for Thaiss.
At this point unless a GM really likes Thaiss they all wait for the DFA and try to sign him to a minors deal.
Maybe one trades a contract they don’t like for Thaiss, but that’s it.
Yes, I agree. Decent catchers are worth more than their stats show. Thaiss will be traded in a non-shiny transaction, maybe sandwiched with Ward.
Thaiss, being a catcher, may be in enough demand that some team trades us one of their “Gonna DFA him” guys for him…. or a Rookie Ball 1B.
Rendone is off the books after 2026. Every move should be made with 2027 and beyond in mind, which is seemingly exactly how Perry is operating — Soler (2 years), d’Arnaud (2 years), Hendricks (1 year).
Develop the kids, surround them with vets, and keep the payroll clean. I like the direction we are moving.
Ahhhh Rendon, the gift that keeps on never giving.
It’s puzzling why Perry’s extension doesn’t go through 2027 to give him that year when Rendon is off the books.
Arte is gonna let Perry finish the rebuild and then go nuts in FA 🤪
Or sell and let the new team hire their choice to POBO/GM.
Oh yeah, an overpay for Max Muncy is on deck for 2027….LOL
Agreed. And having a veteran catcher to mold O’Hoppe and help the young pitchers makes sense. Same with having a couple of veterans in the rotation.
This is the year to see what shakes out of the Kochanowicz, Klassen, Dana, Daniel, Detmers pile with Bachman and Joyce getting plenty of looks out of the bullpen.
We need a couple of front-line pitchers to develop. I don’t think we’ve really had anything close to Weaver, Santana, Lackey type pitchers develop in 15 years. Without a couple of those types, I don’t see the need to sign big time free agents.
Yep. It’s not exciting, but carry on Perry. We’ll be in a good spot after Rendon is truly done if he just avoids signing Blake Snell for 200M or something.
Gah Durst I wish we’d traded Ohtani back in 2022…. We’d still have the guys from those “get the Unicorn to the play offs cause Simping is cool” trades AND we’d have a pile more 50+ grade prospects in the system right now with more trades likely to come and the draft ahead of us…. fk Unicorns. Just give me a big pile of Dudes.
No team is trading for Rendon, unless the Angels eat 98% of his remaining salary, and even then you would only receive another teams salary dump player or a lottery ticket low A player. And that is if you can get Rendon to waive his no trade clause, which is highly doubtful.
Rendone doesn’t have to waive his no-trade, he knows he’ll be watching novellas starting in the second half of the 2025 season. Ironically, he’ll probably get picked up for the league minimum by someone once he’s released, but he’ll pull the rare, “No-thank-you-very-much” as he doesn’t have to play to get the rest of his retirement check through 2026.
d’Arnaud is no Jonny Bench but he is a decent player at a reasonable cost.
I misread his salary information as 12M per year not 12M for 2 years. With that understanding, I think it’s a very solid depth move.
Thaiss was a very poor choice as a1st Rd pick, he tried his best and never gave up, he’ll stick with another team I believe, and I hope for the best for him.
The 2016 draft class was not deep; remember Moniak was #1 overall
That speaks volumes.
That first round did not produce much at all. Gavin Lux is probably the best player to come out of that first round.
The third round, however, was great.
We could have done better for sure, but look at the players picked before and after him… 20/20 hindsight in this case doesn’t even help that much (short of Will Smith, who have a dozen other teams could have also selected before the Dodgers got him). https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/draft-statistics/2016?dateRange=Year2024
Leave the Olympics to the college crowd, no need for the pros to be involved. MLB players can take up sliding the Rocks on ice in the Winter. 🆒
Hi, Grandpa. No longer no hear from me. I respect you a lot, but I have to respectfully disagree, sir. (Yes, I split the infinitive, but it sounds better with ‘respectfully’ before ‘disagree’) Shohei will play for Japan, so are you going to let Team USA be destroyed by all pro Team Japan? I would love that 😂
Correction. I meant to say Long time no hear from me. BTW, #6? World Baseball Classic is coming up in spring of 2026. Should we pencil Team Japan as the winner with Shohei, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki pitching for them? I think it is little unfair, don’t you think? 😁 😎
In the 2026 WBC, watch out for Team Wakanda!
Nice to see you back.
My dad and I are considering heading to the 2026 WBC. We’ve never done the Grapefruit League and both loved going to the last WBC. This would be a one time switch to our Spring Training plans.
Dive in and immediately talk smack? Welcome in!
Ippei-board odds only have Ohtani as having a 48.7% chance of even pitching in 2026.
Sohm would look good wearing his Red ay 3b in sunny OC. 😍