Niko Goodrum just got a minor league deal with the Mets organization. The Dodgers got Esteury Ruiz from the Athletics in exchange for pitcher Carlos Duran.
Rafael Devers got a hit on his 22nd try.
The Blue Jays just released Zach Pop because they pretty much had to. Hector Neris has just elected free agency. Sean Manaea just got a PRP injection for his oblique problem. He is shut down for two weeks.
Extensions
Ketel Marte just got an extension with the Diamondbacks through 2031. Kristian Campbell got an eight year extension with the Red Sox. Jackson Merrill got a nine year extension with the Padres. Garrett Crochet’s extension was only for six years, but he got a whopping $170 million. Why are so many players getting extensions?
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Bee steals home.
https://x.com/SaltLakeBees/status/1907882082766049651
Wait. So AA dont love Perry anymore?
https://x.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1907924858518028383
Cincinnati Reds called, asked us if they could borrow some offense?
Black outs are so stupid
I can’t watch Snakes play in Yankee Stadium but even worse, I can’t watch Kings at Utah (cuz they used to be Coyotes.)
Used to be 🤨
How long til they change the Utah Coyotes to the Utah Jazz or Seagulls or something?
Next year. Until then:
Go Hockey Club!
all I can say is AK AK AK
October 13, 2002?
Nice.
my favorite game. ever.
My kid just sent me photos from the baseball game he’s attending in the Bronx. Lucky brat! It’s a blowout though.
They must be using the torpedo bats today.
Judge is having himself a day
Another Snake Slam – now it’s a ballgame
Just logged back in to acknowledge. Wow. Snake Salami
This sucks . https://x.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1907925996755628186
Geez . Yes it does.
Man. I liked him. Most shocking, the Bees have a head athletic trainer. the way we talk around here I expected the catcher to just go out and hand him a card with the contact info for an AI E-Health consultation.
That does suck. He’s worked so hard to get back to this level.
Looks like it might be his Lat, maybe just a strain and not an arm injury? Pointed to his side? Or was that his elbow? 2 months opposed to surgery hopefully.
AK TCHU ALL EEEE….
no seriously. I found out that the reason lat strains on ball players (and obliques) take so damn long to heal is that there in a tendon that passes through there. they actually hurt THAT a lot of the time and it takes forever to heal.
So after a hot start, one of Perry’s other jewels from Luis Garcia Chowd Heist, Matt Lugo has cooled of consideraby. Today he reached his zenith in Angel ignominy hitting for the Golden Sombrero in 5 Plate Appearances. He was still able to single and steal a base today so let’s hope this is only a temporary hiccup in his path to Anaheim.
I guess one tell is they’d rather keep a kid with no OF experience on the roster playing CF instead of Lugo
It’s a lite day so….
Does anyone know how handicap seating works at the Big A? I want to take my uncle to a game but he’s not gonna make it up a bunch of stairs in the nose bleeds anymore….
They must have something. Otherwise they would be getting sued all the time by ADA lawyers.
Ahhh! https://www.mlb.com/angels/ballpark/accessibility-guide
Pretty simple, just select the accessibility button on the ballpark app or team website. Screen shot attached for accessibility seats for tomorrows game as reference
Thanks amigo
Chase Silseth with his best start of the year today in AlburCrackie.
88 pitches 5 IP’s 1 ER 1 Hit 6 K’s 4 BB’s
his walks were little high but glad to see him starting to cook at AAA.
Perry’s Pitching Lab
🧪🧪🧪
And all this with just a peanut butter and pickle sandwich in his system.
Neto just went deep for the Bees. Shouldn’t be long now…
Still hasn’t thrown a ball form the shortstop position in a game. The Angels are being very cautious with him so I’m figuring at least a week after he starts playing the field.
Yes it will be a while.
A couple weeks doesn’t seem too long. Sometime in April would be nice.
Is there a rule that says you cannot take the field with a glove and a fungo bat?
just depends when he plays defense.
Once he plays defense, it’ll be fast. Could be a week, could be a month. I’ll put the over/under at the next homestand
I think we’d all be happy with that.
at mlb dot com
“The Angels are off to a hot start and it’s largely because they’ve received solid starts from all five of their starting pitchers.”
Seeing “Angels” and “hot start” in the sentence gives me goose bumps
I know those words, but that sentence makes no sense. 🤣
https://youtu.be/xq0XNILIYTw?si=RQ9IwvmdNef7Ux9p
I have visions of cups and butter
Rocket City roster is up. Thoughts: Basically the same as last season’s closing-day roster: Moore, Rada, Klassen, verse, chorus, verse. It’s like SLC doesn’t exist, except to keep lifers on ice. https://www.milb.com/rocket-city
Tri-City also up. A few intriguing talents there. Most excited to see how Randy DeJesus performs. Think he’s underrated as a prospect. Basically had an .800 OPS last year in low-A in what would have been his debut pro season if he was an American prospect drafted out of high school. To put it in context, he had essentially the same season as Max Clark, a consensus Top 10 prospect in all of baseball… and yet barely cracks the Halos’ Top 25? Anyhoo… Cortez is also in high A, and perennial OF prospect Alexander Ramirez, among others… https://www.milb.com/news/mix-of-youth-experience-balances-dust-devils-2025-opening-day-roster
Final IE roster seems like a work in progress still… but overall it appears a new, more patient developmental philosophy has settled over the org. Ryan Johnson nothwithstanding.
I’m with you on DeJesus. Saw him in a game and take BP…. he hits ropes. Right now he is Sorano from Major League, but if they get his contact rate up at all he’s a beast. He has a canon for an arm too. RF all the way.
He is actually my poster child for “45 grade prospects become 55 grade when they improve their hit tool”. If he survives the clinical depression hitting in TC will give him he will be mentally strong as well.
Pedro no like ball that bends!
Bats are afraid
Unfortunately it seems that all of our potentially good hitting prospects go to die in the dust bowl of the Columbia River Valley.
If we get any offense whatsoever out of De Jesus this will be a huge wake up call for the organization’s prospect lists and international development efforts.
I will be very disappointed if Cortez doesn’t dominate at Pasco. Perry spent a top 50 pick on him is it would stink if he turns out nothing more than another mediocre reliever.
Jose Fermin and Walbert Urena both looked interesting in spring training.
That’s actually one of my BIG WATCHES this year…. do they stretch out Urena? If that works…. oh boy. That kids got STUFF. We have a couple high school age pitchers from the DR in our lower 30 that should be watched too. They may take big leaps as starters this year.
Walbert is in Rocket City’s rotation!!
Seven potential starters there.
Klassen, Aldegheri, Farris, Natera Jr, Costeiu, Hurtado, Urena
Was fairly certain Costeiu and Natera Jr would be promoted, but Hurtado and Urena are more of a surprise.
The article about extensions doesn’t actually discuss why players are getting extensions, it talks about why the extensions are happening after the season started, a totally different subject.
I was thinking about the Paris situation last night and I think Perry messed up. Without considering anything else, Paris should be playing everyday. The problem is that the big picture is not about wining this year but building a team for the future. The team would have been better off keeping Moniak as the 4th OF and sending Paris down. Yes they would not be as good right now but it would solve their immediate problems. They are going to use up a year of control for Paris when they don’t need to and they have players that need to play so they can generate trade value like Rengifo and Moncada. Later in the year, when they trade those guys, they could bring up young replacements who are ready. There is just no place for Paris to play if you still want to look at Adell and you want to audition Rengifo, Moncada and even Ward. They have too many players right now and they need to be able to trade some for future assets. This is assuming they are serious about rebuilding.
They need to stay focused on their long term plan and Perry and Washington need to be on the same page, which they may not be right now. If you start Paris at 2B, you have no place to play Rengifo and if you start him in CF, you are sitting down Adell. Now they’re stuck with either not playing Paris, sending him down, or sitting or releasing Adell or Rengifo. I’m interested in what the rest of you think the path forward should be.
I disagree a little bit here Roy…First, I am not convinced that the Angels can’t be competive this season. Houston has lost alot and with no Tucker or Bregman they don’t inspire fear the way they used to. The A’s are a team without a home and though good offensively are not great pitching-wise…. The hated team up in Seattle haven’t impressed thus far, so really only the Rangers appear threatening… Of course it is still early, but a good argument can be made for the Angels chances of being competive in the AL West THIS SEASON! But I will soon make a post about our start and optimism vs pessimism vs realism… It is somewhat complex.
Anyway, the Paris situation has been made unnecessarily complicated by Wash’s insistence that he ONLY play outfield. This seems stupid to me. As others have pointed out, even if Wash feels he is not ready for a full-time spot in the infield there does not appear to be a good reason why he could not at least be part-time in the infield. I mean, he DID come up in our system as an infielder. It is his natural position. Something seems off about all of this. It makes me think that Hatcher is My Homeboy may be right in his speculation about a power struggle between Wash and Perry. Presumably he has no real proof of this, however, it would explain what is otherwise a pretty illogical situation.
Finally, I do NOT think Paris should have started in AAA or be sent down now. I think this team CAN win games. We HAVE been winning. And btw being competitive and building for the future are not mutually exclusive. As many have commented, Kyren has been integral to winning those first two series. Let’s hope he is in the starting lineup tomorrow and at least one other game this weekend.
I agree JF,
Paris is considered, by Wash, to be an OFer only. Ward, Adell & Trout are the OFers and Soler is the DH. Looking at it that way clearly shows why Paris is not in the line-up everyday.
Paris is not the first MLB that started off on fire and having to fan the coals while on the pine. Wash is sticking with Paris as OF only.
If that’s the case, the off-season mistake was acquiring Soler. If DH is open, Trout goes there, and Adell can return to right where’s he’s more comfortable.
Your solution is to push Trout into a role he’s uncomfortable doing and one everyone involved with the decision making process came to the conclusion that it may actually cause more injuries to him.
Why not have him play 2nd base since there’s an opening?
He’s already uncomfortable in right field. And DH increases his chance of staying healthy.
Not as much as not playing the field and apparently you didn’t see the interview where they talked about the move to RF. Everyone stated that the extra swings he would take in between at bats as a DH would likely lead to additional injuries like those he’s incurred over the last few years.
Interesting…
Yah. The OF situation is volatile with the Trout/Adell switch. I can see not wanting to mess with that too much this early. It would help the team get a look at Paris while Neto’s out if he filled in at the IF spots too. He’s not gonna be worse than Rengifo.
I think part of the problem is Rengifo and Moncada had short springs and Anderson took a while to get going. Wash has to deal with that, and that’s a longer and more important problem than nursing Paris along.
Play Rengifo at 3B. Problem solved.
I would support that but I don’t think Wash would be willing to sit Moncada.
Yup and therein lies the problem and why Wash and I are not on good terms right now.
Paris is a well-known defensive commodity at this point, and it’s not a great commodity… had a .920 fielding % at shortstop last year in AAA over a substantial number of games. Seems like 2B (or OF) is his future, but playing him there in AAA is impractical because of a man named Moore. Tricky predicament all-round. Maybe trade Ward for a Top 5-type prospect to a contender and stick him in left? Seems like that would send a bad message to the team though, in terms of competing this season. Maybe better to give him spot starts, pinch ABs and just wait for the inevitable injury that will surely give him playing time.
I would not trade Ward. I think my idea of letting Paris do both could work. I know he was not great in the OF but because of his bat the team has let Rengifo do this…. If he can do it why not Paris ??
I’d play Paris till Neto is back… in many spots. Then pat him on the back and send him to LSC. Tell him the plan is to play him at 3B/SS/2B/OF and that if he hit’s he’s our utility man of the future. Bring him up post Rengifo trade (we hope).
That would be my plan, too.
True. The Burial Ground has yet to claim it’s victim this year.
THIS is why I have my one sticking point with Washington. I get it if they want to get a longer look at him while the roster’s down a guy with Neto out. Cool. If they send him down after, also cool. BUT why not play him in the IF too then? Get him in there for different guys on different days. There will still be time to showcase Anderson and Moncada with Newman on the bench when Neto is back and Adell can still play most games while Paris starts 2/3 of the games at CF/SS/3B/2B.
But I don’t really know where the other 4 players that are in on this are at right now and Wash likely does…. for example, I’d DH Trout a game soon maybe, but he obviously needs time in RF….
Feeling good so far about the season. Taking first two series is a monumental start, but it is a long season. Paris looks to be a breakout candidate, and a few vets are just getting warmed up. Of course, the itching, for the most part, has been a strength so far.
Go Halos!!
Opening day tomorrow, this positive start has made tix from Stub hub almost double compared to last week. Going to be a long day, Red Carpet event starts at 1230 while game not til 630. I enjoy tailgating but that’s like 5 hrs in the lot! The event is worth it, went last yr and whole team came out to greet fans, then later some old fan favorites. Cheers🍺, hope a lot of CTPG members will be there.
Have a great time if you go.
Have fun! Tailgating is marathon, not a sprint! Hope you don’t get too pished in the pregame.
Yep. Got to pace yourself…. slow and steady wins the race.
You can tailgate at the Big A? For some reason I thought they stopped that….
Angels website says no tailgating, nobody cares. Coolers of beer, mini grills, folding chairs, cornhole toss, footballs, kids playing catch. Anaheim bike cops cruise thru and don’t say anything. I’m pretty simple; open back hatch and have my beer cooler and a couple chairs. Do the chips/salsa or sushi/ poke thing. Way cheaper to get my beer thing going before game. Only inside food I buy is the garlic fries.
Winning 2 out of 3 in a series makes me happy. If they can win 2 out of 3 in 85% of their series and just split the 4 game series, they will have over achieved.
A good start but we need to maintain this over the season. Could this year be different? Time will tell.
It is nice to start off well, instead of….well, you know.
I see some hope for the season but temper my expectations since the Angles were 4-2 at this point last year too.
An acute observation.
He is Right, though…
I guess their hypotenuse is the square root of 20.
Good point Born. I did some research on the Angels and how they have started the season over the last 12-13 years. It is very interesting…
In fact, the Halos have started the season 4-2 in six of the last eight years (I am not counting the highly unusual Covid season in 2020). Of course, we know where those starts got us — nowhere.
This is one big reason I was so disappointed about yesterday’s game; we had a chance to do something we had not done in a long, long time, which is start 5-1 in our first six games. We have started 4-2 six times in the last eight full seasons and each time we not only missed the playoffs, but ALSO had either poor or miserable seasons in which we finished below .500. So, in short, starting 4-2 is definitely not something to get excited about. Is it better than being 2-4? Sure, but there is alot of work to do. Not saying Angels can’t be a good team, perhaps even a winning team, but this 4-2 start proves very little historically speaking.
In those seasons we started 4-2 the collapse typically came in either mid to late April or in May. For example, last year when we started 4-2 that was immediately followed up by a horrific stretch in which we lost 12 of our next 17 games and 16 of 22. That essentially buried us for the season.
In 2023 we started 4-2 then went 3-6 in mostly home games which really cooled our jets.
In 2022 we started 3-3 and had terrible collapse in May.
So, in summary, the next two weeks are VERY important for the Angels if they hope to reverse a bad historical trend. And it starts tomorrow with a HUGE series at home. Frankly, I am a little scared about facing an angry and hungry Cleveland team who just got swept in San Diego. They are too good to go on a long losing streak, so it is unfortunate timing for us …. But we will see.
So, 4-2 is not 6-14.
So you’re saying we need to go 2-12 over our next 14 games, right?
I started to chuckle and then realized how possible that scenario is.
The only reason for hope this season is because in past years those collapses were probably somewhat due to injuries and a devastating lack of depth.
Is our depth elite now? No probably not, but check out our backup/depth players now compared to even 2023
d’Arnaud > Thaiss/Wallach
Tim Anderson / Newman > Andrew Velazquez
Kyren Paris > Brett Phillips
Detmers > Suarez
Dana > Rosenberg/Davidson
Plus other guys like Lugo and Crouse if they are needed.
Agree about improved depth. But when you’ve had a losing culture you really need to kick the door down. Opening it gently will not work.
That’s why I sent a case of Brondo to the club house.
Starter ERA of 3.25 on the road trip, that’ll win you a lot of games. Run differential looks bad right now but if you removed the two losses it’s +5. If you’re going to lose, lose big I guess
Didn’t Soth do that? As I recall, we were wildly over our pythag, because we’d lose big, but win a metric crapton of 1 run games.
the Rays Way