Baseball is a great distraction. And while distractions from real life are great, weeks like this show just how meaningless a bunch of guys throwing a ball around really is. I genuinely hope you all are safe and I can’t express my admiration for our firefighters enough.
So, with acknowledgment of what really matters done, let’s get to the distraction that is baseball.
Yesterday was the deadline for arbitration eligible players and teams to reach an agreement on their 2025 salaries. If such an agreement could not be completed, the two sides would file their desired numbers and head to an arbitration meeting over the coming weeks.
It is important to note the arbitrator must decide between the two numbers and can not formulate a number of their own. So, if the player files for $5 million and the team counters with $4 million those are the two options. A compromise of $4.5 million is not allowed. As a result of this risk to both sides, compromise is common as the deadline approaches.
Tons of deals were reached across MLB yesterday.
For their part, the Angels had a really productive day.
It is fairly notable that Ward agreed at $7.825 million as he was projected by MLBTR for a $9.2 million salary. This will also impact his earning power next year on his final trip through arbitration. It also made his trade value just a little higher if the Angels are leaning that way.
As for the remaining players:
Jose Quijada filed at $1.14 million with the team filing a $975k.
Mickey Moniak filed at $2 million with the team filing at $1.5 million.
And Luis Rengifo filed at $5.9 million with the Angels at $5.8 million. It is mind boggling to me that two sides couldn’t bridge a $150k gap.
All in all 17 players exchanged figures with clubs this season. The two most notable gaps are in Milwaukee and Chicago. Brewers backstop Wilson Contreras filed at $6.5 million with the Brewers at $5.6 million. Meanwhile Kyle Tucker and the Cubs are a full $2.5 million apart; Tucker at $17.5 million and the Cubs at $15 million.
In less pleasant news, Mike Trout will be deposed in the Tyler Skaggs wrongful death suit. The Skaggs family is hoping Mike will state the Angels brass knew about Kay’s drug dealing and the opiods flying around the locker room.
Hat tip to Cowboy26 for pulling up this link showing the dirty laundry that was aired during Kay’s federal trial. That’s your longform reading this weekend. Trout has previously stated he was unaware of Skaggs drug use but will be under oath on Wednesday.
The real story isn’t Trout, though. It is whether Team Arte is intentionally withholding evidence.
There are a lot of suppositions about this case. Whether Tyler was an addict, a guy who partied too hard, or somewhere in between his death is a great example of the margin of error when it comes to fentanyl: zero. If you need help with pain killer dependence, please get it.
Settling arbitration figures often leads to more player activity. Teams know their budgets and trading partners know exactly what they are getting.
Now that the Padres have agreed to a deal with batting champ Luis Arraez, the rumor mill surrounding him has picked up.
SI updated their list of free agent predictions and envisions an old friend returning. I’d bet otherwise.
Most of us expect a reliever or two to be added to the roster. The main site looked at the state of the current bullpen and that only added to my belief a new reliever or two will be signed.
One story that I’m following is the emergence of former highly rated Padres prospect Hans Crouse. The slider is wicked and maybe, just maybe Perry found a diamond in the rough here.
Much to the chagrin of our old pitching coach, though, the era of the slider might be coming to an end. That’s a pretty good look at pitch usage across baseball.
There was one addition for our Halos this week. Connor Brogdon will be in camp on a minors deal. For a while there he was filthy with Philly and he dominated in college. Hopefully he’s healthy and back to throwing these darts.
But if the Angels do make a “big splash” in free agency and give up the 46th overall pick in the draft, how valuable is that pick?
MLB execs took a poll on everything from drafting to farm systems. The Angels were picked as being under rated in one key department. Can you guess what it is?
The farm system will get a boost next Wednesday when the international signing period begins.
Here’s a primer on the top 50 prospects expected to sign next week.
Not coincidentally, the Roki Sasaki signing will take place by the end of next Friday ensuring him the full allotment of some team’s signing pool. I’d love to see the Padres pull this off, but life is hard so I expect him up the 5 wearing blue.
That being said, both the Dodgers and Padres have done well scouting internationally and one of them is likely going to leave an entire class available to be poached. I hope Perry keeps a million or so tucked away and snags one of their top targets.
From around baseball:
The A’s spent more money this week, extending Brent Rooker for 5 years and $60 million. Why are they spending money after leaving Oakland?
A couple of years ago Diego Cartaya was one of the top prospects in baseball. Last week he was DFA’d and this week he was traded to the Twins for a high octane 20 year old arm.
Justin Verlander will continue to wear orange, agreeing to a one year deal with San Francisco. Here’s a nice piece on why this deal makes sense for Verlander and SF Giants head honcho Buster Posey.
I really wish there was more baseball news to link but arbitration week is a huge deal. Enjoy some football while we wait for camps to open. I’m taking the boy to the Pacific Symphony as he’s a huge classical music fan. We have a 3 concert mini plan and it makes for a great father/son outing.
Be safe, be thankful if you are safe, and link what I missed below.
C. Moore vs. Trevor Bauer
https://youtu.be/Q83e-b6sFaY
Was not even able to make it half way through, does the prince kiss the bride?
Yeah, it’s 20 minutes long and Bauer’s posse does make it difficult to watch.
Moore definitely held his own and smoked a couple of extra base hits. Bauer did snap off a few curves that Moore looked foolish on. The kid has a great swing – I was impressed.
So was this an add or an audition for Trevor with the Angels for a job?
Man that was painful to watch. That posse is just so……wow.
Team Arte got the trial delayed again.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6053713/2025/01/10/angels-skaggs-family-civil-suit-delayed/?source=user_shared_article
A thousand curses on Eric F*&^ing Kay.
I doubt it will get delayed much longer beyond the new court date although it could upset our playoff drive. 😄
I guess this week is MNT’s depo and he will have his own lawyer present which seems a little strange for a civil suit discovery deposition for an uninvolved third party?
Having counsel is good, keeps the attorney asking questions from straying into fishing trips.
I didn’t know a possible long game for org is to drag the civil case pass the 5-year limit so it can be dismissed.
Yep. And Arte has just seen a buddy deny, delay, and obstruct his way to walking away with a ton of crimes.
So he knows it is possible.
And that’s so easy to accomplish. All Arte has to do is fool 77 million Americans into voting for him and maybe as an added bonus he can finally get his deal done with the City of Anaheim.
He’s got to make it 5 years instead of 4.
Other than that he doesn’t need any help from anyone.
I’ve always liked you, CB26
L.A. Strong.
Angels and surrounding LA-OC teams are supporting the American Red Cross and LA Fire department Foundation. All proceeds go to these organizations to help those affected by the fires and provides support and much needed equipment to 1st responders.
https://www.mlb.com/angels/news/mlb-fanatics-announce-la-strong-merchandise-collection
on Kings pre-game last night, Patrick O’Neal announced his home in Malibu is gone.
😥
This was their family home owned and lived in by Ryan and Farrah. Needless to say one can only imagine the film and family momentos that were lost. Truly tragic. My heart goes out to him.
Thanks for sharing this.
The Orioles claimed Roansy Contreras and DFAd Livan Soto.
Trade Rengifo and fire Perry for signing Suarez again. I am just beside myself that we will at least see Suarez at Spring Training. 🤮
I’m starting to enjoy the fact that Suarez is still on the roster.
Me too. If Suarez was the biggest issue we have with our roster we’d be in great shape but sadly he is one of many.
That’s why you start with releasing Suarez, and work your through the other issues.
We need a lead Fall Guy. It’s just easier to keep him, otherwise we’d need to designate another.
According to the Angels transaction page, we signed Connor Brogdon before Christmas. 12/23/24
The angels will pay 1.1 million dollars to make their team worse. Interesting.
It’s a bargain compared to the spend on Rendon!
There was hope for rendone before he sucked here. With Suarez there is nothing but failure
Rendon would have been a perennial All-Star if he would have went to the dogers.
Suarez put up a combined 3.4 WAR in 2021 & ’22.
That’s higher than any 2-year period Rendone has had with us btw.
With me it is about frustration with Suarez. He’s good. No, he’s bad.
It’s like Detmers and Jo Adell with his swing adjustment. Maybe the Angels need a good sports psychologist who speaks Spanish.
I’m pretty sure the key to success in any endeavor is to take something that is 50/50 good and bad and loudly declare that it is always bad and then bitch and moan about it like it’s prenatal cancer. Then adamantly declare that there is no way it can possibly be good, it MUST wind up being bad.
That’s how we get shit done. M’erica!
I’m with ya. Simply wanted to point out Suarez hasn’t been all that bad. Well, until the last the 2 seasons, which have been very very very bad lol
Last 4 appearances as an Angel: 2 games started 17.0 innings pitched 19 K’s 3.8 K/BB 1.06 WHIP 1.59 ERA .598 OPS against .That is why the Angels kept him around.
The angels didn’t keep him around because he pitched ok in 4 meaningless games. He’s here because he’s cheap, sucks, and is perfect for teams tanking.
I think it’s more Hes fat. No hes really fat.
FREE SUAREZ!
I never said rendone was any good. I said I only had hope for him BEFORE he arrived. Suarez sucked before and after those cherry picked years.
I’m not trying to argue or ruffle your feathers, just stating facts.
You said with Suarez, there’s been nothing but failure. His 2021-22 were not failures.
55% of his MLB starts and IP came in those years. I don’t think that’s cherry picking a random dataset.
It’s been a minute since El Demente has been not terrible, but he’s also only 27 years old. I don’t see the harm in bringing him back for $1 mill as a long reliever/spot starter. If he sucks again, DFA.
He he isn’t starter or reliever material, there’s a reason why no other team in baseball wanted the guy. 20 wins and 29 losses with a career era of 5.29. Yeah, real successful and worth a million dollars.
Bringing up his only 2 good years of a 6 year career is cherry picking at its finest.
Well sure, unless of course you bother to do stuff like look up his stats. He had positive WAR in two out of the last 4 years. Not saying he’s good at all, just saying he’s not “nothing but failure”.
Then again, reading is gay. Why look up stats? They’re lame.
He can be replaced by any league minimum gas can in the minors system.
.2 war over 6 years, yeah, nothing but failure.
Quijada has provided 0.3 WAR over 6 years. Is he a total failure too? Silseth has provided 0.1 WAR over 3 years so I guess he should go too.
Quijada has been here 5 years and 2 of those years he pitched a combined 12 innings.
I didn’t realize you were qualifying beyond years and WAR. Quijada did pitch a year in Miami and 5 with the Angels producing 0.3 WAR in 128 innings. His best year was 0.7 WAR at 40.2 innings. Over his six years in Anaheim, Suarez has produced a grand total of 0.1 WAR from 376.2 innings pitched, with only 2 seasons being positive and they produced 1.8 and 1.6 WAR respectively. For his part, Patrick Sandoval pitched 6 years and produced 6.2 WAR in 536 innings. So is Suarez a good pitcher, no, but he’s had moments when he was better than average. The same can be said for Quijada, who by the way has never started a game, something that Suarez has about 60% of the time. I don’t think anyone on the board is saying Suarez is good, just that he hasn’t been a total failure.
And for what it’s worth, I don’t understand why Suarez still has a job next season either. If I had my druthers, I’d have tried to sign Sandoval for 2 years at about half of what Boston paid.
He sucks. Watching the guy throw 90 mph meat balls and miss his location for 6 years straight is enough for me, but carry on with your rant.
BA lists three breakout prospects for us in 2025. Criteria was they couldn’t be in the Top 10
Gregory-Alford
Preseason Rank: 12
BA Grade/Risk: 50/Extreme
Track Record: Gregory-Alford carried a strong summer showcase circuit and Team USA performance into a solid spring as a Colorado prep arm in 2024, then touched 99.7 mph at the draft combine. The Angels monitored his progress heavily over the scouting cycle and signed him to a record $1,957,500 bonus for an 11th-round pick to lure him away from a Virginia commitment. He didn’t debut after the draft, focusing instead on strength gains and pitch design in bullpen sessions.
Scouting Report: Gregory-Alford is a 6-foot-5, 235-pound righthanded power arm with big arm strength and arm speed. He works primarily off of his mid-90s fastball that has touched 100. It gets on hitters in a hurry due to solid extension and the angle he creates, though it has limited life. He complements his heater with a hard, mid-80s slider with late break that can miss bats in and out of the zone and has plus potential. He rarely used his nascent, mid-80s changeup in high school, and it lags behind his two other offerings. Gregory-Alford has a clean delivery but can sometimes rush his quick-tempo pace. That leads to inconsistent mechanics and strike-throwing, something the Angels have focused on improving after the draft by adding more strength and repeatability.
The Future: It’s easy to dream on Gregory-Alford’s physique and potential midrotation upside if his strike-throwing and changeup develop. If not, his two-pitch power arsenal could one day play in relief.
Scouting Grades: FB: 60. SL: 55. CH: 40. CTL: 45.
Laverde
Preseason Rank: 15
BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
Track Record: The Angels signed Laverde out of Venezuela for $350,000 in 2022. He hit well for the next two summers between the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Complex League, reminding some of former Angels catching prospect Edgar Quero. He struggled early with the bat with Low-A Inland Empire in 2024 and was sent to the ACL to recapture his offensive prowess. He returned to Low-A and slashed .301/.397/.404 over his final 42 games.
Scouting Report: Laverde is a bat-first lefthanded-hitting catcher. He makes in-zone contact at a high rate with his line drive swing, which he pairs with sound swing decisions and zone recognition. He has decent bat speed and exit velocities for his age. His power is mostly gap-to-gap and his stocky frame doesn’t have a ton of projection left, which could lead to plenty of doubles but less over-the-fence power. Laverde is a solid athlete and average runner underway. He’s a converted outfielder who is still raw behind the plate. Laverde has a fine foundation and will need to improve his throwing mechanics and fundamentals. He has steadily improved his game-calling and receiving skills to go along with a solid-average arm. The Angels have no plans to move him off catcher, but his bat might fit in left field if he needs to change positions one day.
The Future: Laverde’s defense needs to improve to fulfill a ceiling as an everyday backstop, but his hitting ability gives him a chance at a strong-side catching platoon down the road.
Scouting Grades: HIT: 50. POW: 40. RUN: 45. FLD: 45. ARM: 50.
Morrobel
Preseason Rank: 17
BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
Track Record: The Dominican Republic native inked a $900,000 bonus in 2023 as the Angels’ top international target. Following a solid pro debut in the Dominican Summer League, his stateside debut in 2024 was limited to 15 games after jamming his shoulder while diving for a ball in the Arizona Complex League, where he hit .308 with a .727 OPS.
Scouting Report: An athletic switch-hitter, Morrobel has well above-average bat-to-ball skills and excellent barrel control to go along with solid bat speed from both sides of the plate. His flat swing plane and lack of early physical development has yielded virtually no power so far, and he has just modest power potential as he matures. A highly aggressive hitter, Morrobel swings at early-count strikes to put things in motion and rarely walks. He’ll need to get better at discerning which strikes to swing at as he climbs the ladder even if he rarely chases. He’s an average runner and instinctual on the bases. Morrobel is an above-average defender at shortstop with subdued actions and natural feel for the position to slow the pace of the game. His quick release and potentially plus arm should allow him to stick in the middle infield.
The Future: Morrobel will have to get stronger and generate more offensive impact to project as a regular. His defense and contact skills allow for a potential utility role. He will make his full-season debut in 2025.
Scouting Grades: HIT: 50. POW: 30. RUN: 50. FLD: 55. ARM: 55.
I am on the Crouse train. I thought he had some pretty filthy stuff last year.
But given my track record with relivers I “buy into”…. yeah, he’ll be lucky to survive the year.
If he can’t pitch he might be able to ski or speed skate.
He seems legit to me. Many telievers rely on being utilized in the right scenarios. Like Suarez pitching when the Halos are up or trailing by 7.
If we aren’t trailing by 7 when Suarez enters the game, we are when he leaves it.
Crouse was impressive but I thought Ty Buttrey was too, so my predictive powers don’t seem to be any better.
Zeferjahn >>> Crouse
I like Crouse as a low-leverage arm. Zefer’s power arm has significantly more upside imo
I like Zeferjahn too
The devastation in the Palisades is mind numbing. It is too difficult to process. Like it was bombed. And so many front row Malibu homes are completely destroyed as well. This is unreal. Agree that baseball is a distraction but I am having difficulty shifting my focus.
It’s heartbreaking, sad, devastating, and tragic – especially the loss of life.
And after everyone rebuilds and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit, the status quo will settle back into focus and history will fade from the memory.
When the hills burn again in 50 or 100 years, it will again be heartbreaking, sad, devastating, and tragic – especially the loss of life.
Just a devastating week. Families are left with no place to go. There was already a critical shortage of housing and rental units in the area.
Professionally this will be tough on several levels. Good luck getting insurance if you are buying a house any time soon.
But my business is personal. I generally spend weeks if not months with my customers as they buy and refinance homes. I get a ton of repeat business. So I care about them and seeing several of them lose homes is just brutal.
My oldest son is 25 yr vet with LAFD & his station is Palisades 69, just down from the village. He’s been on the job since Tuesday, says its been brutal. He got some sleep last night, hopes to have tomorrow off then go back on the line.
He must be beat!
Best wishes for your son. My friend from the gym/favorite sparring partner is LAFD nowhere near there and was fighting those fires.
We don’t give firefighters the love they deserve.
Your friend is probably just as beat & had a brutal time too. Everyone out there got brutalized from these fires. Very sad.
The only arbitration that might go to a hearing is Moniak. The other two are too close at this juncture. Moniak’s folks are being overly aggressive as he should be happy to be with the club and getting as much playing time as he gets. But agents and advisors will do what they think is best. Hopefully, things will work out in general.
From Bowden. He’s picking the Rangers first and the M’s second in our division…..
Los Angeles Angels
Grade: C-plus
Free agents:
• LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 3 years/$63 million
• C Travis d’Arnaud, 2 years/$12 million
• RHP Kyle Hendricks, 1 year/$2.5 million
• INF Kevin Newman, 1 year/$2.5 million
Trades:
• Acquired OF/DH Jorge Soler from Braves for RHP Griffin Canning
• Acquired cash considerations from Cubs for C Matt Thaiss
• Acquired LHP Mitch Farris from Braves for RHP Davis Daniel
Key takeaways: The Angels have dropped $80 million in free agency. Kikuchi, the headline signing, should bring some stability to their rotation. On the flip side, I didn’t like the signing of Hendricks, whose best days are behind him. I liked the d’Arnaud acquisition; he should help develop fellow catcher Logan O’Hoppe and also provide a clutch bat off the bench. Soler adds power to the middle of the lineup in the DH spot.
Biggest question: Will Mike Trout finally stay healthy and give the Angels a full season of production that helps him return to the top 10 of AL MVP voting?
Season prediction: Fifth place
If they were spending $80 million, it’s hard to believe all they got was a DH, a midrange starter, a guy who no one knows if he can stay in the rotation beyond May, and some backups. Am I missing something?
Starting with Lorenzen at $7 million, they could have spent $80 million much differently and compiled a lot more overall talent. One could say (I suppose) they like guys on their roster enough not to do so. Of course, the retort would be why? They like Suarez enough not to upgrade? We could go around the diamond and bullpen with that analysis. There seems to be plenty of upgradable guys.
Anyway, I hope their moves work out somehow. It would be fun to watch a competitive product.
Despite the rhetoric from Arte and Perry, the Angels are not interested in winning. Being “competitive” and “competing” is NOT the same thing as being competitive and competing for a division, league or world championship.
We should fully expect the 2025 iteration of the Angels being competitive and competing when they play Colorado, ChiSox, Blue Jays, Marlins, Nats, Cards, or Pirates. Not so much beyond that.
Competitive Tanking.
Something we’re well versed in.
Even worse, at the club payroll level, to realize the team that this organization is putting on the field costs upwards of 200M is just disgraceful.
To beat a dead horse, it would look so much better if RenDone and his bloated contract could be erased.
I would look much better if 25% of my body could be erased. And I was a couple inches taller…..
We agree with you
Over a third of that is Rendon and Trout. Give the Angels that $70ish million per year on top of this team and we could build something really nice.
At this point we have to consider Rendon a lost cause and pray that Trout gets to half his prime.
I guess the thing you may be missing is the “$80 million” spans three years and four different players. The 2025 allotment is $32 million. Could that have been spent better? Eh. It’s not even one year of Corbin Burnes, and he’s on a six-year contact. If Kikuchi posts 1.5-2 WAR a year it was a good signing end of story.
Essentially they replaced Anderson a year early, replaced Canning, added a backup catcher, and a veteran DH. The DH and backup catcher are good additions, the fact that they had to add 2 starting pitchers because they didn’t have enough is sad. Generally though the money was pretty reasonably well spent. They just need so much more to be competitive. After next year, they dump a lot of payroll.
I agree with you. Last season, the team’s DH position produced .223/.298/.331 with 12 HR and 49 RBI. Soler might hit more like he did in SF and that would still be a significant improvement. I just hope they don’t have to play him in the field.
And, other than Kikuchi it all goes away pretty quickly too. Doesn’t gum up the works for long, AND none of it is such a commitment that Wash will feel he needs to play a vet over a kid.
All true
I’m loving how Suarez is becoming the focal point of CtPG personal itch. The guy at the bottom of a very deep barrel. The guy who costs 1.1M dollars but we hate him so much our collective brains misread his arb stats and think he’s going for 4 million instead of going on 4 years. A guy the Angels can pay right now to be left handed since that’s not totally easy to find, is about three good vs bad outings away from being productive, and who has had productive seasons in the past. And a guy the Angels can totally abandon if they get a better LH reliever. All on a team that needs to be a meat grinder for cast offs and prospects as it rebuilds and likely loses 85-90 games.
All the while we wonder why a guy like Lorenzen would prefer not to come play in front of us when he can go play for a fun team like the Royals for the same money…. and less taxes…. and lower cost of living… and fan juju that won’t give him a snapped skull bone.
We’re like a burn victim who’s face looks melted worrying about our out of style shoes.
The Angels need to get about 25 guys to pitch an average of about 60 innings this year. Keep the five that look good and abandon the rest. It’s not a big deal if Suarez gets 30 of those innings and then we toss him or keep him.
But it’s the little things like shoe style that matter. Attention to detail.
But we no longer have a Shoemaker on our team so maybe thats whats missing.
Suarez should have been tossed aside 2 years ago. Left handed suck, is still suck!
Two years ago he was coming off two strait seasons of sub 1.25 WHIP and 98 then 109 IP….
So yeah, you tell em steve dave.
LOL, I’m down with a $1.1M swing man/long relief lefty named Suarez. Good value.
Lorenzen is from SoCal. I assume he likes it here, although he may see more hope in KC for 2025.
Don’t most of us expect that Royals will contend for their division while the Angels are fighting tooth and nail to get out of the cellar?
I think what complicates the ongoing Suarez Halo evergreening, is, barring an injury, we will have 4 lefties out of 8 man bullpen for opening day next season. Not sure that has ever been the case in Halo History. However, I don’t see how you stash away Suarez’ ugliness considering that he has never been good in anyhigh leverage situations and I would think Rule 5 pickup McDaniels will be Mr Mop up so I’m not sure what he will bring to the pen next year unless they really think they need him as a 6th starter .
Suarez as a 6th starter is signaling to the rest of the league that you are screwed and waving the white flag.
He has to be better than “someone” on the Chi Sox. Surely/Shirley we could get a single used cleat (we wouldn’t seek a pair) for him?
You mean the White Sox that swept 2 series from the Angels in 2025? Those White Sox?
Thanks for warning me. I won’t sign up for those postgame articles.
Ooops, I meant 2024. Damn fingers on the phone screen.
Yes. It’s very easy to confuse the White Sox with the 1927 Yankees. I do it all the time…..
There are always “complications”. Does anyone ever just say “Oh, I’ve been an irrational bitch about this!”? Nope. Always gotta reach deep into the “reasons” jar.
“I think people are stressed out because there is a significant Panamanian contingent on CtPG and Suarez looks a little like a young Noriega.”
He’s a 1.1M flyer at LHR. We’re gonna have more than four LHR options HEADING INTO SPRING TRAINING. You know, where you look at a big pile of players, especially when your roster is shitty. There is absolutely nothing special about “stashing” Suarez. They can literally put him on an ice flow March 12th and it won’t matter at all to them. Especially if one of the guys that everyone keeps listing as “better” without any actual proof actually turns out to look better this spring.
The stressing over Suarez is amazing. As if he’s the only LHR they are gonna throw out there in March. Take a breath people. The FO literally shrugged their shoulders and are letting him show up in Tempe. They have to leave him on the roster for now to do that. Inhale. Exhale. The team still sucks. You’re gonna be OK.
“Young Noriega” Minus the facial acne scaring, it’s a classic reference!
That should be Suarez’s “rap name”. 😀
I do think the collective angst is stronger towards Rendon and Arte than “El Incendiario”
Yeah. He’s just the latest insignificant detail we need to all whine about if we’re true Angels fans.
I just can’t believe how big a sack of whiners Angels fans are compared to Reds/Pirates/Tigers/Royals/Guardians fans over the last few years.
From a WAR perspective, this offseason may have arguably added a couple at most. It did add depth at catcher which is good. The d’Arnaud acquisition is my favorite. The Soler acquisition is essentially meaningless (arguably 1 WAR but terrible defense) and Hendricks is a waste of space. Kikuchi might put some Japanese butts in seats but I really doubt he will do very much else.
I agree that if Trout plays 100+ games at a 5 WAR pace the team may win something like 70 games. If Trout is injured early and often and/or fails to meaningfully produce, we are probably looking at around 65 wins and perhaps will have the first 100 loss Angel season.
To be honest, all things otherwise being equal, the fate of the 2025 Angels depends on Adell, Moore, whether Neto can play like Neto, and getting some decent performance from Trout and Rendon over an entire year. I still think they need at least one more bullpen piece. But one would hope Ward, Soler, the catching, Schanuel, several starters and the back end of the BP will perform at some expected level. If so, it comes down to the rest with Adell and Moore factoring in plus Neto’s health.
Yeah. Hate to say it again, but ANY team needs it’s 30M+ a year players to not get hurt and we have not had that. IF DREAMS COME TRUE and Trout/Rendon actually play fairly well the team’s very different.
Trout is a possibility, Rendon is not unfortunately.
I guess it depends on your definition of “fate”.
If “fate” means winning one more game than last season with the current roster, then I agree.
If “fate” means having a winning record with the current roster, the only hope is COVID II strikes 29 teams and passes over the House of Arte…..
We all keep failing to mention Newman, who I actually think will be a useful pick up.
He is currently our starting SS I believe unless it’s Rengifo.
Agree
Newman looks like a good utility guy but if we think he’s a starter then we’re fooling ourselves.
Really good glove and an OBP that starts with a 3 but barely and no pop. Perfect guy to play a couple of days per week and keep other guys fresh but as of now he’s starting at SS and once Neto comes back he’s likely starting at second.
If we add a Polanco to the mix that pushes Newman back to utility and that provides a modicum of depth.
Nah. He’s just a good roster spot. Not “the man” by any stretch.
Your point was he was a good signing like dArnaud and I agree with that.
Maybe For another team at the trade deadline?
With a career slash line of ,254/.294/.342 against RHP’s , after Neto’s return Newman’s playing time should be limited to late inning defensive replacements and Sunday Matinee appearances against tough left handers
I never thought of a concert as a father/son outing, probably because my father and I had differing tastes in music. I hope you both have a great time,
I think that getting more relievers will be about all Perry does, unless something falls into his lap. Relivers should fit in the team’s remaining budget and, as the last few years have proved, you can’t have enough pitching.
Hope all of you remain safe.
The symphony is a little different than most concerts. We get there a little early and mill around. Theres often a pianist in the entry area.
There’s intermission for a snack.
We usually go to dinner just the two of us prior to the show. And there’s the car ride back.
So perhaps a future CTPG get together will be at the symphony. 😎