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LA Angels Wednesday News Crash: Spring Training Wins

February 26, 2025

Good Morning Angels fans! Have some links.

Angels News

Spring Training games are finally here. While we aren’t doing Postgames for these since the time isn’t worth it due to the constantly shifting players and it being games that don’t count, the game threads will be left up. Once games actually matter, like the ones in SoCal on the 23-25 of March, then we will have Gamethreads again. For now, just enjoy each other’s company, and hope against hope this team is watchable.

Now, speaking of this team, they have started off pretty good, going 3-1 for their first 4 games. Again, since there will be no postgames, here are some of the highlights of the first few games.

Logan looking good

Angels win Game 1 on a walkoff ERROR

Soler first HR as an Angel

Hendricks looks good

Ward looks good

Trout is healthy!

Around Baseball

The new Ump system is here. Players can challenge balls and strikes, but you have to win or you will run out of chances. It is experimental right now, and some of these are close, like this ball.

Someone who isn’t happy about this is Mad Max, who hates lots of things and should retire anyway so, of course too many people will listen to him.

What doesn’t help is that the strike zones seem to differ from what Statcast is using and what the challenge system is doing.

Disney may get sued by the Portland Pickles. Yes, really, because they used their logo without permission.

Should Starting pitchers stay in longer? The Newsletter says yes.

Wisconsin Frozen Pizzas, the Baseball Team, one day only. Timber Rattlers will be the Frozen Pizzas on July 12th because Wisconsin consumes the most Frozen Pizzas per capita in the world. You even get a bobblehead!

Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!

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Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

God. That whole “Frozen Pizza” thing is an design atrocity. You could only wear that jersey to hang out in front of an off brand gas station in Salina, KS. But I still love it…. it’s like a Molly Dream that someone actually said should be made reality. The Bobblehead…. sheesh that’s incredible.

I like Max Scherzer as a pitcher, but my lord he’s such a red ass. I don’t understand why guys who are supposed to be so “tough” these days are always the one’s crying about a change to the shoe laces and how long they can count grass between pitches. It’s throwing a baseball Max, not in flight heart surgery. And if you were as grizzled and chiseled and you are supposed to be you’d shrug your shoulders, take the ball, and still pitch well without us ever having to hear from you. Why not try that Longmire?

Thus far I am really enjoying getting a look at a bunch of our kids. I am excited. BUT I also have to keep in mind that these are all VERY talented athletes and they look really good playing baseball until they get to that top 0.5% of opposing players. I always remind myself, I followed Taylor Tramell closely in Chattanooga. He looks like a baseball god. He is a failed MLB prospect. We will have those.

But I am excited because, other than at OF, we seem to have several fairly good looking guys in several spots. If three out of four fail we’ll still get some nice contributors out of all this. Other than our top prospects I am rooting for Merchon, Kavadas, Fontenelle, Minacci, Anthony Scull, Randy De Jesus and Capri Ortiz to have unexpected awesomeness this year in our system.

The team will still suck this year, but at least I feel like paying attention, unlike seasons where all I got to watch was Stephanic followed by ten minutes of kneeling and bobbing in front of Ohtani, followed by Brandon Drury looking like he has IBS.

Legend

Twebur

21 days ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Ideas for Angel Alternative Identity Day?

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Twebur

If we’re gonna go wild…. The Jugs… jerseys with tits on em. And a bobblehead that is 35 year old fake boobs.

Or uniforms that look like a real estate lady…. Trader Joes open house snack mini-quiche bobble heads?

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

21 days ago

It is very easy to dream on some of these young guys in camp.

Denzer Guzman’s tripe was beautiful. His speed is top notch and so is his glove. He needs to learn to hit or lay off breaking stuff, but IF he does…stud.

Nelson Rada’s defense is so great. He’s young and needs to add to his hit tool, but IF so…stud.

Dana looks to be a little refinement away from being a stud

I could go on. But the point is for the first time in forever there’s more than 1 guy to dream on and the ceilings for a ton of these guys are really high.

Odds are most will fail but when you have half a dozen guys to dream on, that should mean 1 or 2 are really good.

Super Member

Pineapple12

21 days ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Perry has been putting in major work in Latin America and it shouldn’t go unnoticed. 11 of our top 25 prospects (via MLB.com) were signed out of LATAM under Perry.

Huge injection of lottery tickets into the farm. Like you said, hit on 2 of them and we got something going.

Legend

Fansince1971

21 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

I appreciate your extremely optimistic viewpoint. Just as a counterpoint – the Angels farm system is awful. So being a top 25 prospect in the system is not really that meaningful. It is more likely than not that none of these guys you are focusing on will become major leaguers. I don’t mean that as negative- it’s just a reality of a very poor farm system. So it’s not likely not the feather in Perry’s cap you make it out to be.

Spring Training games are essentially glorified exhibitions. So I wouldn’t make too much of wins or losses or really anything. It’s just a fun exhibition time.

That said, enjoy the games and keep up the optimism. It’s clear that this is something you really enjoy and I think that’s great.

Super Member

Pineapple12

21 days ago

Reply to Fansince1971

I actually was gonna qualify my comment with that exact sentiment of our farm being so atrocious, the bar wasn’t set very high to exceed. I agree with you.

For me, I love sports and enjoy them. Finding the positive in hopelessness is one of my personality traits.

Trusted Member

toad2065

21 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

On the other hand, ’71 would bitch if Perry gave him money!

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

21 days ago

Reply to Fansince1971

You are a patronizing tool.

Super Member

MarineLayer

21 days ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

Personal attacks are so uncool. Criticizing opinions is the right way to weigh in if you disagree.

Legend

Fansince1971

21 days ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

No patronizing intended. My comment was 100% honest and well intended.

Your comment on the other hand was a 100% intentional troll-like personal attack. Jeff – can you ban this guy for a week or something?

Last edited 21 days ago by Fansince1971

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

21 days ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

No personal attacks. Don’t want to get a time out, right?

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

21 days ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Sorry. Revised: “Your comments, perfumed with both reprimand and a final, false whiff of hey-buddy-nice-job beneficence, are patronizing and tool-like. But it’s clear that this is something you really enjoy and I think that’s great.”

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Thank God you’re here. We were in danger of not having the negative counterpoint and thinking we had a top 5 farm system for a second there.

No one is saying this is a good system and these are all Ronald Acuna Jr. We are saying that these are some things that MAY work out fairly well for us that didn’t exist in the past.

Last edited 21 days ago by gitchogritchoffmypettis

Super Member

RexFregosi

21 days ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

what feels different this year pitching-wise is there are no real veteran leaders who have been with the staff for a while. TA, Kikuchi, Hendricks are new and aren’t vocal, they’re surrounded by all the young guns

Guzman is an athlete, most everyone else in this camp are just baseball players.

Legend

Twebur

21 days ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

2025 will help figure out how our pack is structured going forward. Who will be our pack leader? If healthy, it’s Trout…but availability is the most important ability.
https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1894732238236844113

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Twebur

Zach “Big Papa” Neto and Logan O’Hoppe are already more “clubhouse leader” than Trout has ever been.

Super Member

RexFregosi

21 days ago

Reply to Twebur

Good link. the leader is Wash. Wash the Wolf.
and he has two capos, EY and Bo. Trout is like one of the old wolves out front. Not many of them. We have a lot of young hungry wolves in the pack.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

I know our team doesn’t do ANY international scouting because Arte, but I am actually excited for the NEXT phase of top prospects. Yes, these guys are teens and most of them will fail like Maitan, who CtPG Guy can’t let go of because, apparently, it’s awesome to NOT sign a top intl prospect since they often fail. But I like a lot of what we have.

The guys we are most likely to have heard of Joswa Lugo and Felix Morrobel are great examples of a trend I like in our farm. They are kids, but they don’t swing wild and strike out a ton. Both are short stops now. Both can stick there maybe, but we don’t need them to.

Juan Flores will never be mistaken for Realmuto, but he is defensively very gifted and the Angels will not need to spend on a back up catcher soon.

I dream of turning Carpri Ortiz into a guy that can play 3B, SS, 2B, CF. If he can hit .250….. with his speed…. and Rada’s speed….. ummmmm.

Then we have my dark horses. Sure, we have Nelson Rada, and he’s young. But Randy De Jesus has RF written all over him, he hits ropes and has a canon. Hayden Alvarez is only 17 but will likely have some power and is another guy with a solid plate approach. He will likely be a CF who fills out and is moved to be a fairly fast LF. Anthony Scull is a lefty bat who hits the ball hard and, you guessed it, doesn’t strike out a ton at age 21. He is also fast. But of these three guys, all of them are fairly fast, all of them have some pop at an early age, all of them can at least stand in CF, all of them have an at least average arm, and only De Jesus strikes out too much right now.

These three guys, plus Rada and Ortiz, make me think about 1980s Cardinals outfields, or more recent Rays outfields. Sadly, of course, most or all of them will fizzle in AA. But I still really like this direction. I am really happy with the system’s obvious inclination to get kids with a starting point that involves low strike out rates.

I also think Dioris De La Rosa and Ubaldo Soto could both be top pitching prospects in a couple years.

We don’t have Jackson Churio in our system. But we have a bunch of very toolsy guys who don’t fit the CtPG Guy autobitch of “but no baseball skills or experience”. They all have things they have to develop, either power or contact or improved contact, but they have very focused routs to improvement at a young age and I think all of them are the type that are rightfully 45 grade prospects now that can jump without a crazy amount of development.

All that’s 2027-28 stuff though….

Super Member

Pineapple12

21 days ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Love this post, Gitch. I don’t have the time rn to write such a comprehensive analysis, and this echoes my thoughts exactly

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

21 days ago

Did the take and bake pizza thing ever make it in OC? We used to get them in Sacramento fairly often. We’d fire up the oven and warm up the house a bit on cold, rainy nights.

Super Member

Pineapple12

21 days ago

Trout, Ward, Soler is a formidable top of the lineup.

Adell getting the start in CF with Mickey backing up 👀. Sink or swim with Jo in CF and live with the results, yes please.

Super Member

RexFregosi

21 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

yes, need to play Jo as much as we can in CF. he’s not off to a good start. he has a month to become competent.

Member

UndraftedProspect

21 days ago

There is a daily links that has it all. From the Pickles to the Frozen Pizzas. From one of the most pleasant people in baseball (Trouty) to one of the perpetually annoyed (Schertzer). Although, I enjoy following Mad Max. He is like the predictable grumpy old man in a sit com. Baseball is fun.

Super Member

halofansince1978

21 days ago

Reply to UndraftedProspect

I resemble that remark!!

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

21 days ago

Reply to UndraftedProspect

Definitely a great day of links.

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

21 days ago

I often start the season not optimistic and seeing a lot of gaps. Maybe because expectations are low and after last year being so ugly, I see an improved team. I look down the lineup and see the potential for a few guys to find it. Adell, Moniak, Lugo in the outfield, Newman, Kingery, Kieboom, Anderson, and Paris in the infield, It’s got to be so competitive at camp on the infield. So many high ceiling dudes, mostly first and second rounders, fighting for spots. I really think someone is going to have a breakthrough or get it back (Anderson). Hitting is so fickle. One small adjustment can change everything. My least comfortable position for us is centerfield. The upside is still there, and my hope is he’ll find it.

But let’s face it. If Trout can’t stay healthy, we lose too much production to compete. Oh yeah, and there’s this thing called pitching. We shall see there too. Lots of promise in the wings there too. The West is going to be competitive. If nobody dominates the West on West matchups, it could be interesting come the deadline.

Last edited 21 days ago by HalosFanForLife

Member

ErSTAN

21 days ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

I’m with you. The last three years of precipitous suckitude has cured me of a lot of my halo anxieties. Knowing that were gonna to be terrible last year allowed me to sit back and just enjoy baseball on daily basis. Definitely feel we’ll be better this year, but not competitive better (I HOPE I’M WRONG). The lowered expectations allows me to not be such an angry cee you next Tuesday of a fan. I’m excited to see the progress. 😇

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

21 days ago

Reply to ErSTAN

The current expectation may be low, but hopefully, the near term future expectations will be elevated as we see improvement and development in our major league and minor league prospects. So your point is a good one, the wins don’t really matter right now.

Super Member

RexFregosi

21 days ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

The main thing to do this spring: keep Trout healthy and in prime baseball playing condition, otherwise no chance we compete and another 99 losses are on the way

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Trout healthy, still no chance to compete, and that’s OK. Gotta build from somewhere.

Still plenty to watch. Neto, O’Hoppe, Adell, Moniak, Silseth, Detmers, Dana, Aldegeri, Joyce, Crouse, McDanials, Zeferjahn, Nota, Kavedas, Silent C…. who will take steps forwards? Steps back? Tune in and find out. Plus guys like Moore, Rada and Klassen…. and Kikuchi actually….

Watching a team build instead of trying to semi-compete to keep Trout and Ohtani happy is way more fun.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

21 days ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

I am interested and optimistic about 2027 when a lot of money will be available and we should know a lot more about many of our young players. Hopefully, we will also have many additional young players to be optimistic about. If they do it right, and trade their veterans for prospects, it may be a bit rough for the next two years. Our desire for the veterans to perform well should be so they can be traded for future assets. We should be sellers the next 2 trade deadlines regardless of our record, but watching the kids develop will be very rewarding. We need to remain committed to the rebuild.

Super Member

MarineLayer

21 days ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

I think this is an awesome take. I wish I was smart enough to have thought it up.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

Amen. I also hope Trout rebounds. People talk about it like a bummer, but I would love it if our George Brett was a .900 OPS guy and on the field still when our core starts being good and we are in the hunt. It would be pretty joyous and fun for me…. unless I want to focus on “couldabeen”, which is for losers.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

21 days ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Hopefully, between this year and next year’s drafts and what we get back in trade for the veterans we will have a lot more future possibilities. We actually have and are developing a really good back half of the line up in particular with Neto and O’Hoppe. If we are able to acquire or develop 2 middle of the order bats by 2027 to compliment Trout, we could put together a very good line up. If, for instance, Rada is ready to go by 27 and can get on base at a .375 clip and Schanuel is able to do the same, all we would need is those middle of the order hitters and we would be in business. Perhaps if Lugo, Moore if he cant play 2B, or one of the other guys we have can replace Ward, we would not be that far off. A lot can happen between now and then but the next 2 years will be very interesting and hopefully there will be some good surprises.

Member

milehigh

21 days ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

If I read Spotrac correctly, and that’s not a given, there are no contracts beyond 2027 except for Trout’s. That’s a lot of money off the books. Of course, a lot of arbitration and contract decisions need to be made after this season. Looks like another interesting off season after October.
https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/los-angeles-angels/contracts/

Super Member

Pineapple12

21 days ago

Idk about yall, but watching Soriano and Silent C throw 97 mph death sinkers 2 out of every 5 starts would be FUN.

Soriano is our ace!

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

21 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

I’m with you. Filthy stuff.

Super Member

RexFregosi

21 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

when we surprise people and get to the playoffs, the #1 reason will be our young pitching stepping up.

Super Member

Pineapple12

21 days ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Getting hurt by this team is my favorite annual tradition! 88 wins and WC spot 🔒 it in.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Hell, give me 80 wins and I’ll be stoked.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

21 days ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Dude. Silent C is basically one skill away from being really good. Throw hi, strait heat in a spot the batter won’t crush at will. Then he’s really really hard to set up for and get a hit. If he does that I will love me some Silent C on top of Soriano.

Legend

GrandpaBaseball

21 days ago

That close pitch was a pitch called right, amazing luck for the Blue.

Super Member

halofansince1978

21 days ago

Winning is fun!!