Baseball is back in all its glory. The big flags over the outfield, the flybys over the stadiums, the Angels losing in both heartbreaking and humiliating fashion. We waited so long and now we wonder why we do this to ourselves.
The Angels have now lost 11 of the last 12 Opening Day contests. 1 out of 162 doesn’t normally mean much, but this one really gave out 2024 vibes. That said, we have another one tomorrow.
And, besides, if we are being honest with ourselves 2025 is another extended Spring Training year that is all about watching young kids develop and trading off what we can to get more young kids. And the kids did OK yesterday.
Ryan Johnson went from Dallas Baptist University straight to MLB and brought some wicked stuff with him for an inning. Unfortunately, he tried to pitch 2 innings.
And Logan O’Hoppe cracked a solo home run to prevent a shutout.
Just 5 more consecutive Opening Day home runs until he catches Tyler O’Neill, who homered yesterday to extend his Opening Day home run streak. Six openers in a row is pretty incredible.
Prior to the game, the Angels finalized their 26 man roster. Kyren Paris made the cut but didn’t get to play. In his place, Tim Anderson and Kevin Newman combined to go 0 for 6 with 3 strikeouts, all by Anderson.
Newly crowned Angels ace Yusei Kikuchi had a pretty solid day. He went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs, two of which came on a blooper that found the perfect place to land. There’s wasn’t much hard contact against him and he kept his pitch count very reasonable.
The good news is the Angels will definitely not lose today. And if you are hankering for some baseball, UC Santa Barbara visits Long Beach state with Tyler Bremner starting for the Gauchos. Pick up a ticket or look for ESPN+ to stream the game.
As for the remaining 161 games, the staff laid out our predictions this week.
Fangraphs also did a prediction piece, and it appears we are on the same page.
From around baseball:
The Giants and Reds played a thrilling game highlighted by Wilmer Flores 2 out, 3 run homer in the top of the 9th. San Francisco entered the final frame trailing 3 to 2 and put up a 4 spot.
The late inning heroics in Cincy were one upped by the first walk of of the year down in Miami.
Jose Soriano takes the bump Saturday to try to get this team back to .500. I have a gamethread ready to roll. In the meantime, enjoy all the baseball insanity and March Madness.
I will leave you with this: my 5 to 7 year old Angels are the cutest bunch in history. We decided to do walk up music for the kids to make it more fun. My son is a huge fan of classical music decided to go with Darth Vader’s theme. A couple of games ago he strolled up to the plate with that music going and the bases loaded and cracked the game winning hit. Hilarious and epic at the same time.
Baseball is fun. Or at least it should be. Link what I missed and enjoy your weekend.
Lineup looks much much better today.
LF Ward
1B Schanuel
CF Trout
DH Soler
3B Moncada
C O’Hoppe
2B Rengifo
CF Adell
SS Newman
P Soriano
No Anderson, which is good. But we’ll see if Moncada does any better in the 5 hole.
I’d flip Rengifo and Moncada. That’s a minor adjustment to an otherwise good card.
Replace Newman with Neto in a couple weeks and that’s a legit MLB lineup.
In any Major League lineup the 4 and 5 spots in the order are SO important. They typically get the most AB’s in RISP situations…. Soler was a total failure in the last game, and highlighted how important that spot is. It is even more so when Trout is your number 3 hitter. I suspect that Mike will be getting walked ALOT this season (AND hit by pitches unfortunately). That makes it incumbent on the 4 and 5 guys to come through, but I don’t have confidence in either of those two, even though Soler has proven himself in the past. He is susceptible to the strikeout.
I really hope that sooner than later O’Hoppe gets moved into the 5 slot.
Soon There will be another .
That’s why they call him Big Poppa
As for today, if we again get zero RBI’s out of the 4 and 5 slot I think we probably lose again ….
Not quite, but it’s closer. We’re short a middle of the order bat but that’s not likely to happen until 2027.
If they are not going to give Paris playing time, why is he here? His hot bat in the Spring will certainly fade hard.
I was going to say the same thing. Option him back to the minors if he isn’t going to play. This is stupid player management.
trÅdition
This!
Prospects for scoring 1 run are very good. 2 or more … uhhh.
Doyers score 5 in the bottom of the 10th last night, easily flipping the switch when they needed to…….. can the Angels score 5 runs in the first 5 games?
Prophetic.
Man. Nick Gonzalez out with broken ankle…. God hates the Pirates
Wait I thought he only condemned the (fallen) Angels
I think you mean Nick Gonzalez must hate baseball
If only the Pirates had an annoying beat writer and then Gonzalez might be able to tell that guy “no habla ingles today”.
Jake the scarf
Well, that’s a given. Real turd that Nick.
I will be at the Dirtbags game tonight with Bigiswirth. If you want to meet up with us, I’m not hard to find.
Look for me or email my name underscore 1976 at hotmail.
Good to see you and your family last night. Big win for the Dirtbags!
Breaking news!!
Sam the Hat claims exposing young children to Angels Baseball has the same deterrence as the Scared Straight prison program. And the movie Red Asphalt has on drunk driving…just say no to the Angels. Let your children become Doyer Fans.
Mocks PTP and Wash for being positive….
https://x.com/SamBlum3/status/1905735668166533593
My four year old is already a fan of the team and I legitimately apologize to him all the time for what I’ve done to him.
Still better than being a Dodgers fan though, blech
With you on all of those but my boy is 7.
Builds character….. or makes you a ker.
I’m Sam the Hat…. baseball expert.
I asked a GM and Manager if they think their team will be better and compete this year.
I am shocked that they said yes even though the whole world knows the team’s not very good.
Answer to me you jocks!
I am flabbergasted. Read my flabber. Smell my gast!
I just started watching baseball last year.
Or maybe I am a window licker?
Or maybe I’m a clown lady who tweets so Becky and Andrea get in the dirty hot tub with me and we can spill some tea.
Heee hee hee.
He’s perfect for the Angels fanbase and their angry yet limp wristed bitch ju ju.
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1904989757484208328
Interesting that after signing his new $1.25 million deal, Mickey not so fine Moniak is not in the starting lineup for the Rockies against the right hander today in Tampa. I guess they’re having him take time off to revamp his swing so can turn into the next Kyle Tucker?
So far neither of two organizations have been able to fix him so congrats to Colorado if they are able.
I intend to react emotionally with every game, win or lose. It’ll be fun.
I’d like to trade for Eguy Rosario from the Padres…. he’s DFA and I liked him enough to consider him in a IIWPM that I didn’t write because Perry kept making moves too damn fast….
His numbers look pretty good for a middle infielder. Near .900 OPS in AAA last year, and in a small sample size in the majors his career OPS is .783.
Yeah I think we could work with that. Curious why he was DFAed at 25 years old. Surely he’s not out of options.
He plays a lot of 3B too…. gooooo….
He is a guy with nowhere to play. The Padres have expensive guys everywhere. The disease I am hoping the Angels avoid. Gotta play Bogarts….
We have a lot of guys with no where to play too, just for different reasons.
In A total of 100 MLB Career Plate Appearances His platoon splits (which split pretty evenly) are:
vs. LHP .348/.348/.870
vs. RHP .146/.226/.146
We can always use another hitter who punishes LHP but cant hit RHP worth a shit. Right? I mean we only face right handed pitching about 70% of the time.
Better gamble than Nicky Lopez, and probably healthier than, and with an equivalent ceiling to, Moncada.
Though he may never hit RHP and might put up Adell-esque K rates in the MLB.
But can he pitch?
He can’t pitch… so forget him. His righty splits are OK in MiLb so he may get semi-solid against righties with some ABs.
For those in dire need of Angels affiliated baseball, it’s worth noting that Salt Lake’s opener is tonight, at the El Paso Chihuahuas (San Diego’s AAA team).
Game starts at 5:35pm Pacific.
They haven’t listed the Angels starter yet, but the current rotation lines up as:
SP1: Caden Dana
SP2: Dakota Hudson
SP3: Brett Kerry
SP4: Chase Silseth
SP5: Touki Toussaint
They moved Aldegheri to AA with Klassen, Farris, Costeiu and Natera Jr.
(Note the Touki signing at Salt Lake.)
Turks I know this is random but you are the scout/prospect guy here.
Who do you like at 2 for the draft? I’ve read some reports from other Turk Teeth wannabes that this isn’t as deep of a draft as last year and even the top players have some big question marks. That includes Holliday.
Its actually a rather deep and fairly broad and balanced draft class, but not a class with a lot of no-doubt impact talent at the top. Meaning, it’s a good draft to have extra picks but not the ideal draft to have the #2 pick.
My list of first round targets has been shifting as college play has unfolded, but it’s not terribly different than the consensus rankings.
Here’s my current board:
Jamie Arnold LHP (college)
Seth Hernandez RHP (prep)
Ethan Holliday 3B (prep)
Liam Doyle LHP (college)
Tyler Bremner RHP (college)
Wehiwa Aloy, SS/3B (college)
Marek Houston SS (college)
Kyson Witherspoon, RHP (college)
Quentin Young 3B/OF (prep)
Xavier Neyens, 3B (prep)
Gavin Kilen, 2B (college)
Dean Curley, SS/3B (college)
First group are high risk / high reward picks, though Arnold is a pretty high floor #2 starter choice – not gambling much with him.
Second group are high floor options who look like MLB players to me, though perhaps without the ceiling of the first group.
Third group are a mix of power over hit high schoolers and a couple standout college performers who aren’t likely to be available when the Angels select in the second round.
For me, the most interesting selections are going to be rounds 2-6.
So if you could pick one guy who has 3B after his name, who would you pick and are any of them worth it. Would you use the 2nd pick on any of them.
I’m really fond of Quentin Young – more so than other prospect hounds. He’s someone, if the Angels could trade for a CBA pick in the 30s, I would hope to pick up. He has killer bloodlines and might project to double-plus power, if he can get to it. And his excellent arm puts him at 3b or RF.
My fantasy draft has the Angels picking up Young in the CBA round, and Andrew Fischer at #47. Even one is probably too much to ask for, but both would be potentially transformative.
Holliday is a future 3b, of course – similar risk profile to Young.
There are plenty of hot corner college performers the team could target in rounds 2-5: Andrew Fischer, Brent Iredale, Jake Munroe. Also tooled-up high schoolers like Boston Kellner, Dylan Dubovik, Gabriel Moreno.
Upside prepsters like Xavier Neyens and Gavin Fien aren’t likely to fall to the second round, though.
Thanks, I hope Perry is listening.
Yes, no Wyatt Langford, Dylan Crews or Paul Skenes in this bunch and for that reason, I’d swing for the fence with Holiday. This team needs a legitimate talent boost. The positional players in the Angels farm are low impact.
Arnold is in my backup slot. Seth is interesting, will be watching his progress.
Arnold is my unambiguous #1. If he falls to the Angels, they should grab him, because they just don’t have top of the rotation opportunities like that, and won’t get a top ten selection next year. There are not too many players in this draft who have both a high floor and a high ceiling like Arnold – he’s a fairly safe, high value arm.
If the Nats pick Arnold though, it becomes a wide open book. I rarely recommend prep pitchers in the first round, as the bust rate is so high, but Seth Hernandez is a special arm with frontline projection, and many are mocking him to Seattle at #3 (and Seattle knows pitching).
Otoh, the Angels have not developed a high school pitcher with 5+ WAR in decades. On yet another, their most recent success stories (Soriano, Koch, Dana) were all teenage arms when drafted. Maybe there’s a needle to thread there.
Hernandez is local, already has four above average pitches, hits triple digits, has a multi-year track record, and leads with a plus FB-change mix that rivals Bremner’s. He may be the best pitcher at any level in this draft, but the Angels would need to take the 3+ years to develop him.
I’ll take the 3+ years. In two years we’ll have sorted through all the Dana/Klassen/Johnson pile some…. I like all three of Arnold, Bremner, Hernandez
We actually have some minor league pitchers now. Still very few position players though.
You’ve probably heard this from others here, but I still think the Angels pitching pipeline is more quantity/depth over quality/impact. A lot of future bullpen guys, and backend / taxi squad starter types.
Few of the farm arms have frontline ceiling. Maybe someone like Klassen, but he’ll need to make serious advances with command before that happens.
There’s no one currently on the farm that looks like Arnold or Seth Hernandez. Since the Angels can’t compete for top of rotation arms in free agency, the draft is really the one efficient place to fish for them, so I still think it’s reasonable to bias toward pitching in the early rounds.
I agree with that, but we didn’t even used to have that.
True, the days of Hunter Green being the club’s top arm are past.
I do think if there are breakouts, they are likely to come from somewhere unexpected, much like Soriano. A bullpen to starter conversion, or one of the prep or Latin arms making a big jump.
Yep. Barret Kent is Barret Kent.
Dreaming of Klassen and Urena sticking in the rotation. Reliever risk is high with both, I know, but their arms are incredible
I know I always tend to skew positive when it comes to prospects, but if those two turn into good relievers (emphasis on good) that’s not that bad of an outcome in today’s game.
If Joyce, Klassen, Urena can be the anchor of the bullpen with Soriano, Silent C, and Dana as rotation stalwarts that is both better than we’ve had in years but also a ton less expensive.
Well, which makes more sense?
“I can see that if XYZ prospects do ABC then they have a shot at being valuable because they CAN do HIJ. Let’s see if any of them can do it.”
or “None of these guys look like aces right now. I’m sad. Get me twenty new guys that all have three good pitches and control NOW. Ditch the rest.”
They kind of have to find the positives and work from there…. because reality is real and shit.
Oh, I think most on this site believes in the pitching crop as being quality/impact but the projections and stats indicate otherwise.
Yep. We want three starters? We’ll need about 12 fairly quality pitching prospects. Sure, some of these kids will jump in quality, like if Urena gets a third pitch and some command. But we’re gonna want about 4-5 Dana level or better arms to be sure we get a top to our rotation.
Bee’s full roster
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1905707670340010146
Touki in the Bully . Shaun who is dead to me with the stinker start last night of course he wasn’t as bad as Brogdon who gave up 6 runs in the 10-3 drubbing the Chihuahua’s gave our Bees last night
Not that one but this one
We’re going the way of the A’s?
We’d be lucky if we were the A’s…
Ouch
https://x.com/cowhitchurch/status/1905388965026562251?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Damn that is brutal.
trAdition
Perry needs to release or acquire someone so that we have something else to talk about other than yesterday’s game.
This would be the move of all time. 89 losses. 89 roster moves…
88 lines about 44 scapegoats
Thats funny.
I actually saw The Nails in concert many, many moons ago performing their one hit wonder at Old World in Huntington Beach. I remember the lead singer had to read the lyrics off of a sheet of paper. Always thought that was weird considering it was probably the only real hit song and they had to perform it over and over and over again.
For a second there I thought you said you saw NAILS in concert… I was like “hell yeah bruh!”. Nope. Not the same band….
At least it would be entertaining and a challenge to see if he could do it.
if this season were a football game, it’s the first drive of the season, and on the first play: Incomplete Pass.
It’s now, 2nd and 10. What play does CtPG call? PUNT!
*chillax – its not even April
1st down Incomplete Pass.
2nd down False Start 2 and 15 replay 2nd down
2nd down illegal Shift 2 and 20 replay 2nd down
2nd down Completion 32 yards
1st down penalty on the play, called back illegal man downfield replay 2nd down2nd down incomplete pass
3rd down and 20 run 8 yards, holding, replay 3rd down, 3rd and 30
3rd down and 30 run up the middle -2 yards, 4th and 32
4th down and 32 Punt Blocked, holding penalty, and penalty refused
1st down Chicago
I like Rengifo on offense but he is such a defensive liability. I watched the play multiple times and n my opinion that was a slow reaction play that a good second baseman turns into a double play. Goes down as a hit, but with a top second baseman – I believe we get at least one there.
Another bad decision by Wash ?
Silent C is set to start Sunday, but the weather forecast says it is a 90 % chance of rain. It is very likely Wash will burn or waste a start by our second best starter because the game will be rained out. It would be better to have Zeferjahn or Joyce open, then if weather is okay you go to Silent C for innings 3 through 8.
Rushing Johnson to the big leagues is yet the latest moronic move of this ceaselessly moronic Organization.
I seriously doubt that the kid never gave up a homer before. Shot happens.
Oh for sure but no reason not to allow him to season.
he took down the top of the Dodgers line-up last Sunday in Chavez Ravine, he’ll be fine.
Rex – if you saw a giant pile of shit you’d be looking for the pony 😃. I’m not saying Johnson will be or won’t be “fine”. That is not the point. There is no reason to gamble on that and give him time to develop in the minors. It’s an unnecessary risk.
its all good.
his first inning everyone was raving. the HR he gave up was on Hop.
Nothing’s really being gambled. We aren’t gonna miss out on the play offs because of this. We didn’t DFA a better option to give him a try. As noted above, the pitch he gave up a dinger on was a solid pitch. He can still go to the minors. If he is demoted it could/could not break him mentally, but you know who is in a better position to judge this? The Angels manager and coaches. He may not even need demotion. It’s been 2 innings. Even so, I’m not any more or less confident about his future now than Monday. I’ll worry at the end of the year, or when his arm snaps in half.
But it was the same M.O. as the Doyer game. Great first inning but it was as if the players went back to the dugout shared what they had seen at the plate to the next inning batters and they knew what was coming.
I would have thought he would be effective at least once time around the line item but right now I dont know how you would be thinking this guy can be stretched out as a starter . Certainly not in the major leagues.
I’m not sure the intention is to keep him up long term. I’m kind of sure they aren’t gonna stretch him out as an MLB pitcher… but I’m wrong almost all the time about pen arms so….
He’s just getting a look right now. If he’s sent down it’ll hopefully be a good platform for him and some guys in Alabama to look at and start developing. It may make that development faster. Or he survives at the MLB level for a year in the pen and then they stretch him out… try to Reynaldo Lopez him.
I think you meant moRONic but I will say this :
4.2 Innings 6 hits 6 runs 3 walks 0 strikeouts.
Jim Abbott’s very first MLB & Professional Game stat line
I mean sure – but for every one of those examples there are many that demonstrate the point that bringing kids up too early hampers their development. We have all said it here a lot – sending players to the minors to build their confidence and further develop has merit. If there was a meaningful reason for Johnson to be up with the big club right now, that would be different. But there is zero reason. He is 22. It just is unnecessary given this team’s realities.
Hey Cowboy, not sure if you saw my question from yesterdays thread … I just asked it this morning. You had said that Mike was sitting courtside at bulls vs lakers. Did King James go up and greet him either before during or after the game ?
I’m not sure if he did but I didnt see it on the telecast. Billy Mac made light of Trout being there due to his long time tie ins with the Angels. Other than than the initial announcement they never went back there.
Don’t celebrities of trouts status meet the players before the game?
No game today is criminal
Exactly. Especially after a loss. To have to stew on yesterdays game for over 40 hours until the teams next great performance is beyond ridiculous.
That shit show needed to get flushed ASAP
All I can say is that Wash better not have Tim Anderson batting 5th again. That is a HUGE hole in the middle of our lineup.
Anderson will be Hicks’d by May 1st. He doesn’t have any juice left.
The good news…. as long as living people are involved there will always be more shit show baby! It’s gonna be a rough season.
Guess these million-dollar workers need a day off after a tough game! 😆
I’m prepping for the announcement that trout is day-to-day after the HBP.
And look at that, the sun did rise on another day. And we can’t even lose today!
Apparently you’re not a real Angels fan. Where is your in depth analysis of a single very bad game from a team we know will be very bad? The “This guy who sucks needs to bat 7th and this guy who sucks HAS TO bat 5th!” coachdad take? Are you not very so smarter than Ron Washington? How so? Where is your passion? Your grit? Fan is short for fanatic after all…. be more feelzy!
Well we know that because I like to watch the Dodgers. Good baseball is sacrilege, I guess.
I’m fine knowing Washington has forgotten more about baseball than I will ever know. And that’s ok.
The best managers ever wouldn’t be able to get a winning record out of these guys.
Of course, as usual, i’d love to be wrong.
No sunlight yet here in SoCal.
Bah humbug.
🤣
It rained last night during my drive home from San Diego. My wife and I saw Seinfeld and Gaffigan. Rained from Sea World to San Juan Capistrano.
I took a calculated bet when I posted, what can I say. Millions of years of sunrises had me confident.
It’s out now. ☀️
I’m singing the “Mr Morning Sun” song from the Teletubbies (Or some other mind-bending children’s program)
I’m starting my own Ron Washington mental faculties watch. And this after game one of the season! There is a reason no team has EVER, in the history of mob baseball, used a position player to pitch in the first game of the season. Especially with a day off today! It makes no sense. None whatsoever. It is a clown move. An embarrassment. What kind of message is he sending to the bullpen staff?
Salacious?
https://youtu.be/dmmY9SGMFI0?si=HGlKunAKNTWYe39P
As a manager, Washington is a decent infield coach. He ain’t no manager.
It was such a weird scenario, especially after he already started to pitch to a batter. It’s like wash forgot to warm up a pitcher and once Johnson was done, he had no other choice.
😆 I was listening to the game on the radio and was thinking, WTF, they are already throwing in the towel on the season in the first game? That’s a low point even for this team.
It’s an embarrassment of
richesembarrassments.MLB’s anus 2025.
Anaels!
I’m aroused by your outrage. Please give me moar.
Sorry, but I can’t be a party to anyone’s arousal on this site. There are other sites on the interwebz for that sort of thing.
The insertion of Lopez into the game was made to appease his boss, there is more than one numbskull involved with this calamity