I left the office on Wednesday and there was still a smattering of light outside. Just enough to make me realize the days are growing a tad bit longer meaning baseball is getting ever so closer. Watching the sun drenched Australian Open always makes me pine for the day games of the Cactus League and start counting the days.
Wednesday February 12th is report day with Monday the 17th the first full squad workout. So, 7 days left in January plus 11 to go in February and we are almost there.
What’s even better is that sandwiched between those two dates is a day of love and celebration across the land. Yes, NCAA baseball kicks off on Friday, February 14th. Long Beach State plays a home game that evening. So do the Titans of Fullerton. The UC Irvine Anteaters play at noon on MLB.com. Those are each team’s full year schedules so take a look and catch some games.
Spending Valentine’s Day at the ballpark would be pretty cool. And if I wanted to go out couples or not, that’s one place to avoid all the cliches and jacked up menu prices you’ll find everywhere else.
One guy who looks ready for the season is Luis Rengifo. This is his walk year so expect big things.
Rengifo is young enough to be an extension candidate but also valuable enough to be a nice trade chip. We’ll see in July which direction the Angels and Rengifo take.
Luis is not the only piece of the roster set to turn over. Looking at the rebuild, the Angels have 11 players currently making $105 million annually who are set to depart over the next two seasons.
The key to opening an new contention window is replacing those expensive players with better, younger, less expensive players. This will allow the team to target a handful of top notch free agents rather than fill a dozen holes. Which position players are on tap to replace the departing players?
Really, I could write more about this. Take a look at FanGraphs list of the Angels top prospects and their estimated arrival dates. 11 of the top 12 have estimated arrival dates of 2025 to 2027 and Perry has two drafts and two trade deadlines to add more talent before the Angels see that $105 million in salaries drop.

One might wonder why guys like Chris Cortez might arrive as early as this year. Take a look at this:
Relievers don’t get high draft grades but they do get big money nowadays. I’d love to see a homegrown back end of Cortez and Joyce for a while.
In looking for video of Cortez I ran across this gem. Apparently Cortez and Angels first rounder Christian Moore had a run in last season.
If you haven’t watched much SEC baseball, I recommend it. I started watching more college ball during the last MLB lockout and really enjoy it. The game play is solid but the fan support is incredible. They do college sports right down south.
I’d love to link some current Angels news but I only have one thing: Tim Anderson, come on down.
I’d like to personally extend Tim an invitation to come to my gym and learn the basic techniques of striking. I train under a former world champion and will gladly do as many drills as needed to make sure this disgrace of a fighting stance and outcome never happens again.
(That link is a highlight reel of my coach and good friend “Razor” Rob McCullough and is definitely worth a watch; particularly the KO about a minute and 45 seconds in. Warning, it contains violence ha ha.)
Tim Anderson joins Scott Kingery as formerly high profile players fighting for a job in Tempe. The Athletic did a nice piece on Scott this week. If you don’t have a subscription it basically boils down to this: Kingery uses Aaron Judge’s personal swing coach and the Phillies wanted him to prioritize contact over power. The two sides couldn’t agree and he felt he simply wouldn’t get a fair shot in Philly.
From around baseball:
The Dodgers signed all the relievers because of course they did.
Welcome to Atlanta, Jurickson Profar.
Toronto signed Anthony Santander, saving the Angels the 46th overall pick. But holy deferrals, Batman! Toronto took a page from the LA Tax Dodgers and deferred $62 million of that $93 million contract. That’s basically what Ohtani defers each year, to illustrate how ludicrous that contract is.
Speaking of Ohtani, his Pete Rose of a translator tried to convince a bank they were speaking to Ohtani when he needed a cool 200 grand. A more detailed recap of the story points out Ippei will be sentenced for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani on February 6th. I’m assuming he gets to defer his restitution payments until after his prison stint.
Mariano Rivera and his wife are being accused of covering up sexual assault at the church they founded. I don’t want to link this but have a feeling it will pop up in the comments. Let’s please respect the fact there might be a victim here and leave it at that.
And to top it off, Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner were elected into the Hall of Fame. One doofus didn’t have Ichiro on his ballot and he’d like to have a drink with said doofus.
Let’s wrap this up by remembering just how great Ichiro was. I’m glad I got to see him up close several times. He never disappointed.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. I may or may not be blessed with a new nephew this weekend. Being an uncle is the second best thing to being a dad and this will be #21 on the niece and nephew count. That doesn’t include any friends kids who call my Uncle, those are our siblings kids.