Sorry guys. I had an awful day yesterday.
Photo credit: Rex Frfegosi
Sorry guys. I had an awful day yesterday.
Photo credit: Rex Frfegosi
Off topic but just saw on FB and thought it awesome.
A USS Truman aircraft carrier lost a $56 million fighter jet after it rolled into the Red Sea. The Plane now replaces Aaron Rogers as the biggest waste of money spent on a Jet.
Well, well, well. What do you know. Wash misspoke, err lied, err took the party line by saying Trout would play today. NOT. I trust none of the brilliant faithful here believed him or anything he says. He is a mouthpiece for the Org and nothing he says should be believed. At a minimum, taken with a huge grain of salt.
after the game yesterday Wash said nothing serious, Trout will play tomorrow (meaning tonight). Lineup says no. No Trout. The next step is wondering what’s wrong. Then hoping it’ll get better. Then deciding to do the surgery now instead of later, hoping to come back after the break.
If he can’t play tomorrow he’s definitely feeling discomfort and will then be announced placed on IL this wknd. Trout was a sure HOF candidate, but after the last couple yrs and the fall out that looks evident the next 5yrs……..what are his final career stats going to look like?? Older fans remember 80’s Dale Murphy? Best in the game 5yrs heralded to make HOF, then began to fall off and forgotten. Trout-Murphy? Hope not.
Murphy was a favorite of mine but you are correct, he had about 5 good years and a career WAR of 46. Trout had 11 good years and a career war of almost 86.
Murphy only accumulated a little more than 1/2 of Trout’s WAR and as a hitter was 20% better than average, while Trout is still over 70% better than average as a hitter for his career, not to mention the 3 MVPs. Trouts career OPS+ says he is the 2nd greatest RH hitter of all time and one of the 10 greatest hitters period. Mike Trout is an inner circle HOF by WAR, OPS+, and Rate numbers. His counting numbers like HRs and RBIs are of course impacted by the injuries the last 5 years.
This will blow your mind.
Mike Trout 297/408/579/986 OPS+ 172
Hank Aaron 305/375/555/928 OPS+ 155
Willie Mays 301/384/557/940 OPS+ 155
Mickey Mantle 298/425/557/977 OPS+ 172
Aaron and Mays obviously had astronomical counting numbers and WAR because they had incredible longevity and continued to produce at a high level. Mantle had lower counting numbers but still had 500+ HRs and 1500+ RBIs. Trout is sort of the Sandy Koufax of position players where he was super elite for 10 years but his productivity was cut short by injuries even worse than Mantle. Mays and Aaron were still having 9-10 WAR seasons at Trouts current age.
Injury running the bases. Takes the field the next half inning. Taken out pinch hitter. After game, He’s fine just precautionary, plans on playing tomorrow. Then needs another day, he’s fine. Then He’s day to day, still a little something, he’s fine………..few days go by. Find out he had a small set back, but he’s fine…..few days after that, we need another player, put him on the IL retroactive to the injury date, no worries, he’s fine, probably come off IL when eligible, could play today if he absolutely needed to. Then they quietly run more tests. Wait another week. Say he should start rehabbing in another week or two. Then we all forget about it a month and a half later they’re announcing he needs surgery. Should be back in a month or two,….months go by, season over. Comes back in 2026 best shape of his life. Hits .213 with 10 HRs and 14 RBI, hurts himself again…..running the bases
-trAdition
Anyone going to the Savannah Bananas things at the Big A? There was a 60 minutes episode on them a few backs that I just watched last night. Seems like a good time.
It was posted yesterday, but feel free to nerd out on MLB.coms Draft Prospect list today too.
AS of now we pick #2, #47, #79, #105, #109, #140 if I remember right…. and we hope to trade for a pick in the 30s.
Actually would it be fun, before the draft, to do a post where we all pick at the Angels positions and time capsule that shit. See who guessed best in a few years?
Or I’ve also done it with friends in groups of 32. So Everyone can pick 1 player from the guys ranked 1-32. They can even all select the same guy if they want. Then 32-64, etc. all the way through 5 picks (I think it was on Fangraphs board) and we see who does the best after 5 years.
Could be fun after the college season is done….
I will definitely set this up. We will all put our realistic wish lists and then we can pull it up every now and then.
Would be cooler if the high picks weren’t so uncertain this year. I feel like this is the draft to have many picks, not necessarily the #2 pick.
When I look at the consensus top five pitchers in the first round – Jamie Arnold, Seth Hernandez, Kyson Witherspoon, Liam Doyle, Kade Anderson – I really couldn’t tell you with any certainty who will be the most successful pitcher five years out from drafting.
There’s a rational case for all of them (though I’m not sure that I could argue Anderson over Arnold or Witherspoon).
Baseball America published its own rankings – 400 deep – on the same day. There’s some convergence at the top of the rankings (though still no clear consensus on 1-1), but the wide variance in the rankings after the first round speaks to both the depth and uncertainty in projecting this class.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/top-400-mlb-draft-prospects-for-2025/
The two lists in combination give a good sense of who has helium. Some guys that have been attractive value targets have moved from rounds 4-10 are now top two round guys. The Lodise cousins, Mason Neville, Korbyn Dickerson, Charles Davalan, etc.
I’ve been dropping my “state of board” comments into Nolan’s NCAA thread each week, but I might turn it into a larger actual blogpost (wut!) in the coming week.
Can you?? Not trying to blow smoke up your ass but your posts are the most insightful on here.
Thanks for the kudos – appreciate it.
I usually do 2-3 posts around draft week, and probably will do so this year as well (though my editor status has definitely lapsed into emeritus land, hah).
But I could try to put together something in the next two weeks before college playoffs start, just to free my notes from their musty private chambers.
(I used to do weekly minor league roundups here and at the old site, but the state of the farm is just too bleak to spend 3-5 hrs a week on that punishment!)
Makes sense. I went to ST once in 2018 and used the old shop’s guide for it. Super helpful. I’d love to go again but I just can’t justify going to see the angels there when we are already fielding so many minor league players closer to home.
Anyway, I’ve never followed college or the minors much and your posts offer up way more than the typical prospects list from wherever site I usually check… especially since you plug in what the angels needs are and/or relate it to who we have already. So yeah, please keep up your posts!
My first experiences with baseball were with Cal League games as a kid – back when I was growing up in the San Joaquin and there were affiliates in Visalia, Fresno, Bakersfield and Modesto. I followed a few California MLB teams indiscriminately back then, including the Angels, but my passion was more around farm clubs.
I lost my excitement for baseball during the steroids-and-strikes decade of the 90s, and only turned into MLB broadcasts again near Y2K, when I owned an old car with only an AM radio, and had daily long SoCal commutes. First few years, I listened to mostly Padres and Angels games, because I wanted to focus on underdogs. Three years into that, the Angels won the WS.
I’ve only attended Angels ST a couple times, given the distance. And I honestly only watch the Angels games once or twice a week, and more via radio than TV. But I do tend to tune into a minor league or college game almost daily, and watch a lot of video across prospect media (been a longtime subscriber of MiLB.TV and several publications – BA, D1baseball, Prospects Live). Not just Angels farm games, but also a bit of Padres and Dodgers, and select collegiate and farm games with interesting pitcher matchups.
But yeah, my engagement with the Angels is mostly bottoms-up, definitely the past 10-15 years.
Ha – I’ve been such a bitter commenter and public critic of the Moreno regime going back to about 2010, I’m sure I’m persona non grata in the front office. I’m certain they’re familiar with Halo’s Heaven and CtPG, but HH in particular was basically the punk squat of the Halosphere, and I’m sure they studiously tuned us out.
If Washington is such a defensive wizard, why does our defense suck! Is there anything Washington is good at as a manager?
Is this the first time you’ve seen a pile of guys working for a guy who knows how to do things but they just won’t actually DO the things he tells them the way he tells them to do it. Either can’t or won’t?
Cause yeah. That’s out there.
In sports, that usually gets the guy fired, since you can’t fire the entire team. You need to locate a message that works with the players you have.
Well, yeah. If you are trying to contend. But you don’t do that because Taylor Ward and Rengifo and Anderson suck. Not on a development team. If it was obvious that say O’Hoppe and Neto, Nolan hate Wash I’d be a lot more concerned, but they seem to be steadily getting better. Looking at you Jo Adell.
Charles and John Henry do the hardest part of the site: post game recaps. And we all have families, jobs, etc.
So, I’m going to throw out an invite. If anybody would like to take on a bit of a role at the site and cover some post games and occasional links days, please let us know.
I have a couple of interns lining up for next school year but baseball takes place over the summer.
I might like to put together an editorial type story later in the season, but that would be a one-time shot. That’s providing I can still right the Inglish prety guud…..
Well, the 70th game of the season is away, so that won’t work.
Born in 1955? At this rate, the Angels might have a record of 19-55 between game #74 and #75. That would be 6/20 vs. the Astros.
Or maybe just the 70th home game? I count that as the first home game in September (9/5) vs the A’s. Friday night with an Angels & Ducks Cooler Bag giveaway.
I’d do it but there are too many big chunks of time in the summer where I go out and play shows or have design deadlines that would make me flake half the time. All I’d be able to do is post a giant headshot of Joc Pederson and declare that catchers and relievers don’t matter.
Ducks vs Angels ownership and building
The Bg A its literally on the wrong side of the tracks…… in the ghetto, the stadium is in
Shi Tpa Town
The stark contrast mainly comes from the fact that the Ducks owner also owns the Honda Center/Pond and the surrounding property that he is developing. Arte was screwed over not once, but twice, in negotiations for the stadium property. I wouldn’t want to spin my wheels a third time either. Even if you reach a deal, EVERY non- profit/ special interest group will come out of the woodwork to protest, file lawsuits, etc. to try and extort millions to go away and withdraw their frivolous lawsuits. Last time they wanted all of it to be low income housing.
I agree that the fan should’ve been ejected, not re-seated, but how much damage does a pat on the back merit? $2M….$3M? Does he really think that was a Rockefeller heir that touched him? What a dope Pham is! He was at one time a sought-after commodity, now he’s playing out his career with the Purgatory Pirates.
In Mexico they used to throw glass beer bottles, rocks and bolts at players on the field. The team’s action/advice? Telling you to keep your eyes open, especially when entering the dugout.
1998 (I believe) white sox v angels. In HS (underclassman), sitting 131. Degeneration X wrastlin just came out with the ‘suck it’ mojo. Magglio Ordonez got popped for domestic violence during the season. I lead a maggggggllllliooooo chant to get his attention for a few innings and we all proceed to give him the ‘suck it’ X when he looks over. He gave us a thumbs up. Not the pinnacle of my existence just a note that us fans can be douchey sometimes and how the player handles it can make things better/worse.
Yup. No worries Charles. Life > Hobbies. Especially when the big news is “Angels. Outlook same as last October. Still not very good.”
Besides, we all should be focused on our national nightmare concerning the welfare of Bill Belichick and his girlfriend. The Nation needs to come up with a defensive game plan to keep him safe, if you know what I mean 🙏
My prospect crush of 2025, Walbert Urena, had his best start of season last night. Walbert is the 9th youngest player in AA at 21 years old.
6 innings
1 ER
2 hits
2 walks
8 strikeouts
Last 2 starts:
10 innings
2 ER
5 hits
6 walks
1 hit batter
14 strikeouts
Exciting arm.
Growing head count of pitchers in the organization looks promising. Decent amount of guys showing some nice potential to contribute with the big boys. Perry deserves some credit. Maybe zero #1’s, but at least at bunch of #3,4,5’s that keep you in ballgames more nights than not. It’s an improvement at least.
But unfortunately, I don’t see 1 kid in our system that looks like he can hit at the major league level.
Maybe next decade we fix that……right as the pitching potential evaporates.
The dearth of hitting prospects in the the farm is glaring. At least CMo is heating up and Denzer Guzman is having himself a nice start to the season, both in AA.
I’m obsessively hoping Klassen and Urena pan out as starters AND hit their ceilings. Probably the 2 best arms in our system.
It’s easier to find hitting (For other teams anyway) than it is for pitching. Having an org with a pitching pipeline would be awesome.
Yep. You can trade a pitcher for high minors position prospects pretty easy. IF some of our boys pan out.
Also, clearly, we need to draft a bunch of position players….. though really they should just take BPA all day at this point.
Yup. He’s exciting. We have a couple under 21 pitchers I actually like the make up of. And he’s up to 5 IP per start now. That’s cool. Excited to see where he’s at in August. Cup of coffee for Walbert? Klassen and Walbert get the hype, but Mitch Farris and Joel Hurtado are actually looking good too. Hurtado is not overpowering, but he is also clearly PITCHING when he starts and he does well.
Clark, Vargas and Olejnik lookin interesting at IE. Marcheco & AJ Block at the “not a prospect” stop in Tri Cities, maybe Keytel Key too…. then the whole TGA, Dioris De La Rosa, Ubaldo Soto, Dylan Jordan pile in Rookie Ball…. lot’s of could be.
Then there are my personal dark horse favorite “sent off to die in Tri Cities” position players… Randy De Jesus and Capri Ortiz.
Plenty of baseball to love in the world baby!
YES. Here Charles, when a day is shite and I need a moment of mindless unsuck I watch this fantastic actor perform his craft….
Feed the pig too.
https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1917247212414984509