The Angels did not get mentioned in this article about the best starting pitcher fit for ten teams, presumably because the Angels don’t have “postseason aspirations.” Here is what managers, including Ron Washington, think about the state of the game.
Infielder Jared Young got a major league deal with the New York Mets.
Minor League Deals
Connor Capel got his minor league deal with the Brewers. Jake Brentz got his minor league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. Nick Solak got his with the Pirates. The Dodgers signed RHP Matt Sauer to a minor league deal. Brian Serven got his minor league deal with the Detroit Tigers.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
This is getting good .Way more exciting than last years team.
https://x.com/DevineGospel/status/1869137194935529630
Wow
So she has a type ha ha.
Roids to Weed.
Matt Thaiss traded again – now he’s a member of the ChiSox.
I’m sure the Pale hose wanted to reunite him with Edgar Quero since he’s such a great mentor.
Booked my AirBnB for Spring Training. Going to be there earlier than usual but we are also doing a full family trip so I get to hang out with my sister who lives in the Bay Area and my nieces and nephew.
I was gonna get an opening day ticket in Cincinnati this year but now I’m too poor.
As a consolation prize I was thinking of taking a photography/baseball trip up through your old neck and hit a Visalia, Fresno, Modesto game or two, then try and go to an A’s game in Sac. There’s some stuff I want to photograph along that route so I could make a week of it for cheap….
I do miss ST though…. very fun. Trouble is all my friends who lived in Phoenix moved, so I’d just be hanging out there alone.
well I’m broken hearted. My dearest darling wife passed away 7 weeks ago and I’ve been totally depressed most of the time. It’s a poor tradeoff but now, after a couple of years of being her caregiver I’m able to make trips away from home so I’ll be going to Seattle for an Angel game or three.
Really sorry to hear this Eric. Deepest sympathies. May you find some peace and comfort in the beautiful game of baseball.
Damn Eric. I’m sorry. But it’s good you’re lookin out at the world and seeing what it has to offer.
Oh, dude. I am so sorry. I know it’s rough right now, but it will get easier. It never goes away completely, but it fades.
Oh, and ST was my first thing a week or so after Mrs. red passed. My family practically shoved me into the car and made me go, rather than canceling.
Eric, I am very sorry to hear this. We’re glad you’re here with us. One day at time my friend. Greatly appreciate your contributions. Have a better day today.
Yep… it’s the first spring since 2017 we can’t hang with Ippei. He moved away too.
So our grumpy old Gang of Four ( sans the uniform) will be making a trip to the Sac in Early May. We will be attending the Sunday afternoon Rivercats game on May 18th against the Salt Lake Bees. And then as an added treat we are staying over the night (hopefully not inside the stadium) to watch our very own Halos play the Sacletics the following night on May 19th.
Thats going to be weird but whole bunch of fun and would love to see any Gate Crashers if anyone can make it.
Yankees land Bellinger.
Pretty small talent return. They must be sending a decent chunk of cash.
Nope $2.5 million in 2025 & $2.5 million in 2026
Basically the Cubs are paying for his player option buyout
Yeah, I had that backwards.
Cubs received little talent so the Yanks got little salary relief. Not sure what is up with my brain today.
Brain cloud. You are going to die. But what time you have can be wonderful, and your death can save hundreds, if you are willing to jump into a big volcano for me….
I wonder how many people got that. I visited the set during filming.
Oh, also, he needs to buy some indestructible luggage.
OH no. So angry. Whay Arte? Why no Bellinger to make finishing .478 more exciting for me? It’s only 32 million.
$25M per year for a 2 WAR player is, well, a touch pricey.
A little higher than average for sure. He’s 29 so maybe $10m per WAR would be considered “reasonable”. That is pretty much what the Yankees are paying (I think) with the money that the Cubs are paying.
Yeah… but if your teams gonna compete it’s totally worth it.
Besides, it’s a contract year, so Belly will probably put down the Bong and have a 5WAR year.
Just looking at the return, I do wonder, had the Angels retained Sandoval, if a Sandoval for Bellinger swap would have been competitive with this offer. (Poteet himself has a long injury history, and is more of a swingman these days.)
More just a hypothetical – not sure I’d want Bellinger on these terms w/o more cash coming back to the team, even if a lefty CF is a good fit.
the ONLY way I wanted Belli was to buy a prospect in return.
I think we both would’ve loved to bring back Cam Smith in a Bellinger trade and I recently posted Rengifo for Belli and Moises Ballesteros.
I do think Arte is misplacing his spending by not trying to add prospects for contracts like this. Smith and Ballesteros are far more likely to be significant parts of a future contention window than Kikuchi, who is making very similar yearly money to Bellinger.
Yep. Beyond just trading the Wards for kids, if Arte actually went and traded for the last two years of a couple crap contracts but got three or four 50 grade prospects “bought” by doing so who would be seasoned by the time those crap contracts end….. 3D Chess.
Wil Wilson wasn’t available ?
Just a truly demoralizing graphic
https://x.com/brooks_gate/status/1868870430846808280?s=46
Only 63.5 games back?!? Clearly doesn’t include 50 WAR Wash!
since 2010, and we were pretty good through some of the early years. I don’t want to look at “since 2020”
Thus Mets, Royals, Tigers, Padres, Cubs, Phillies, the whole NL West must feel even worse? Rockies fans….. geez, why go on with life?
This means, over 14 years, we are 4.5G back on average…. for what ever that or any of this is worth… the whole chart is kind of as useful as reminding an MMA fighter that you used to kick his ass when he was 12 in most cases.
It also shows that spending truly isn’t the end all be all….
Or, reminding us WWE fighter Mike Trout used to kick ass 4 years ago.
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1868768319333187621
The Best Last Place Team since 2010.
winning!
Not as demoralizing for the Marlins who ended up 140 Games behind 4th place.
And that includes the decent winning seasons of 2010, 2011, 2012 and the 98 wins of 2014!
Think about what that graphic looks like from 2015 onwards.
Or what it looks like going back to 2001
We were actually competitive through 2015, that year we were in the wild card chase to the final game. Our decline was 2016 through 2024 (though we were awful in 2013 as well).
That’s true re 2015 but I thought having a 10 year retrospective was more interesting than 9 years.
2015-2024 Angels
703-815 for a .463 win percentage
That averages 75-87 per season
Feels about right for the last 10 years
Now, had they graded the Halos on a curve……
Trey Cabbage off to the Giants! In Japan.
Too bad he got married last year. Such ample opportunities when you’re a tall gaijin with totemo okane. I wish I was still there to show him the hot spots.
I guess he didn’t want to play in Korea, probably because they make kimchi out of Cabbage.
Ha!!
Hey, not to offend anyone, but South Korean ladies…I’d go play there.
Yeeeeaahhhh…. it’s true…..
Lettuce hope he does well.
The Athletic:
Rise of the National League: Big-spender owners shift balance of power away from the AL
true.
Arte approves.
BA gave us our top 10 prospects in order last week if they haven’t been noted.
Dana, Moore, Aldegheri, Klassen, Rada , Joswa Lugo, R. Johnson, Guzman, Flores, Kent.
Basically two 55 rated players and a bunch of 45s. But there is some optimism to be had here. Way more interested in seeing how these players develop than in any other storyline.
The 45 score on prospects is tough for me. I’m not saying it’s wrong or anything, but it seems like it’s just the score they give a guy who looks good but isn’t obviously a possible star…. then they try to justify it with some stat.
Like I’ll see a guy who is a 50. He has a 60 grade fastball. He is tall. He walks a lot of guys. I’ll see another guy, same age. Same secondary pitches as the first guy. Two inches shorter. 60 grade fastball. Walks a lot of guys. 45 grade prospect. Why? Because he walks a lot of guys.
Or even the uber talented 50 grade OF who has a .650 OPS for three years in the minors…. who is obviously a better prospect than the seventeenth rounder who is the same age and has hit .820 OPS for three years and is a 45 because…. average footspeed…. and zero hype score.
If you’re ever bored, go look at the top 30 prospects for a bunch of teams from back a few years. It’s true that a lot of 50+ grades are names you recognize, but there are also a bunch of 40+ guys where you’re like “oh, him?”.
If you read a lot of scouting reports you’ll also see that they REALLY LOVE fastballs. Again, this is kind of justified. BUT it does make for a bunch of high grade prospects who wind up in the pen or busted out by injury and a bunch of “45s” who had a 65 grade slider and a 45-50 fastball who are guys you have been bitching about Arte not signing.
It’s one of the reasons I’m not mad about PTPs attraction to lefties with strong secondary pitches. Sure, you need some flame throwers too, but a guy who throws 93 MPH with control and two solid secondary offerings is easier to develop, maintain and find. If you’re trying to find seven solid arms to build out a decimated pitching staff they’re not a bad idea.
I fully agree. The ratings are not a pure science. I believe (or at least want to believe) that a few of our “45s” will become legit and productive major leaguers. If so, the future is brighter than many might think.
And I am really on board with the possible over-valuation of the fastball due to the potential injury and walk issues you identify. Yes – a lefty that throws in the lower 90s with great control and sharp secondary pitches might get a 45 evaluation but has the potential to be a very productive major leaguer.
The argument that someone will probably post for this is “Yeah, buhwhen a control pitcher mizzus it getz hammerz!” which is true. But I’m not advocating for 85 MPH guys with a change up. I’m talking about guys who have a fastball enough to set up pitches. Guys that development coaches can teach to give it some rise or sink maybe. And then one or two secondary pitches that are above average.
Yes. These guys have to have their stuff working. But it’s not as though a guy that throws 98 can get away with all that many mistakes at the MLB level either. We’ve all seen plenty of that. I think we all just have an attraction to “horsepower”. I know I do. And it leads to the flawed idea that when things fail for a pitcher at least a high velo guy can maybe overpower MLB hitter…. which is often not the case.
SP depth is building and it’s exciting..
MLB:
— Soriano (26), Detmers (25), Kochanowicz (24)
MLB exp / reliever risk:
Silseth (25), Bachman (25)
almost MLB-ready:
Dana (21), Aldegheri (23)
high-upside / reliver risk
Klassen (23), Johnson (22), Cortez (22)
Best trade this off season, the Cubs acquiring Tucker from Asstros. 👍
That freakin’ guy kills us with the bat and glove.
yes, so far 😉
I got a feeling that Perry is getting ready to pull off some sort of move (Source-Prognostication/Hopium) in the very near future. Not a MiLB signing…..
My hopium dealer agrees!!
one thing is for sure – Santa is coming next week.
We’re probably done making any sort of major moves this offseason imo
I know in my darkest of heart, but that Hopium is real!
I hear ya!
I spend the majority of my hopium supply on Trout, Adell, and Detmers lol
It’s December 17th.
Kikuchi is telling me more is to come. Or, why go out and extend an offer to him. If Halos do nothing more, then time to fire Perry Magoo.
We may night sign anyone else important. I hope we don’t. But it will be exciting to subtract guys like Ward and Rengifo for some prospects if that happens. Stuff will happen. Just not stuff that “moves the needle”, which is fine with me cause my needle moves fine on its own.
Is there even a 5 percent chance that Sasaki chooses the Angels?
Bookies do not think so. The Angels are part of the “field” comprised of 22 teams. You get all 22 teams and 15-1 odds. So Vegas would say probably 1% at most.
The only thing more meaningless than those predictions are the ones based on last year’s statistics/analytics! I wish people would stop trying to reduce our beautiful game to a math test!
I get it. But the question posed was math based (chances of Sasaki going to the Angels). Probability is the specialty of sports books. So in answer to this specific question- what Vegas thinks is at least illustrative.
Now Vegas can obviously get things wrong. Ohtani was 12-1 going to the Angels in 2017. But the Angels were not part of the “field” – ie they were a team given individual odds at that time.
Weird take since math has been a part of the game since the beginning.
You’d think so, right?
Dodgers, Padres, Angels, Giants, Mariners will always have appeal to Japanese exports
The Nintendo Mafia (Seattle) is real!
Well, former Halos employee #17 was only a “…7% chance of signing with the Halos” at one time.
60 Days…nice round number!!
Andrew Wantz agrees!