Good morning Angels fans! Have some links!
Angels News
Angels beat the A’s again. Jansen got his 10th save as an Angel and the Angels have won 5 in a row!
Christian Moore is being sent to AAA. That is very unusual, as the PCL really messes with hitters and pitchers due to altitude and the like. Maybe it is a confidence boost for him? He has been struggling this year in AA.
Around Baseball
Rain has pushed a Twins Guards game til SEPTEMBER as they play a doubleheader today. Cowards should play all 3 today. When was the last triple header anyway?
You know how old the best baseball players are now when 4 Kyle’s have 10 home runs this year. Logan and Taylor are on here at least.
Poor Pirates last scored 5 runs when they faced the Angels on April 22nd. They wish they were in the AL West the way Angels fans long for the AL Central.
At least no one expected Pitt to be good, Baltimore is bad AND had expectations. Why are they so bad? Well, apparently they did not get any pitchers, not even Sean Manaea.
Is that better or worse to be a Rockies fan though? And how did they get so bad? CBS investigates.
Scorigami is a Jon Bois invention on unique Football scoring. It has taken almost 9 years but someone has finally figured out a Baseball version. Is it any good?
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
OK. They deserve it, but I’m getting kinda sick of The Athletic shitting on the team everyday. Wasted Trout and Ohtani blah blah. Ohtani was going to leave no matter what and if the Angels hadn’t signed Trout to that contract they would’ve gotten shit too
Nice to see that Wash rewarded Paris for his improved approach and plate discipline (as well as him wreaking havoc on the bases with his aggressive swiping of bags).
Nothing like a really good game for a rookie to unsure you land on the bench the next night !
Some dope is suing the Rockies because he got hit in the eyeball with a foul ball. Part of his claim is that the team was so bad at the time that it was easy to not be watching the action on the field.
Lock him up, I say!
No schanuel no moncada
Can’t chase wins every night!
Our 2 hottest hitters?
Eh Who needs them?
don’t worry because
!
Moncada is 3/4 with 3 homers vs Sears. I assume he is hurt but that is giving the Angels too much credit. Just brain dead management.
Wow Newman and Anderson and not Paris after he had a good game yesterday
AND we are going against the A’s best pitcher in Sears.
I think tonight is the night the streak ends….
Moncada is 3/4 with 3 homers vs Sears. WTF
Sample size means 0
😂
Ouch
Looks more like Willy Adames
BTW-Not one, but TWO Angel OFers have had balls roll between their legs in the last two games. I still don’t think Ward ever saw the ball go behind him through the wickets.
Props for Lugo to being right there when it went thru Wards legs, runner would have easily taken the extra base
Indeed.
Dino’s son also at Corona HS.
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1925240940765254141
Hopefully his eyesight is better than his father ; Dino “See No” Ebel.
Wouldn’t at all surprise me as an Angels selection at #47 if he were available, given the organizational connections.
If I’m selecting a SoCal prep bat at #47 though, I’m taking Quentin Young all the way, should he be available. As a bloodlines pick, I’m going with Dmitri and Delmon Young every day over Dino Ebel.
Quentin is probably my favorite prospect in the draft, irregardless of drafting range. Like all kids, there’s some bust risk there, but the ceiling is enormous, and he’d be real fun to follow.
Sounds fine as to Young. The review of Ebel that he walks a lot in HS and it’s hard to find video of at bats isn’t exactly a glowing endorsement. I get the connections but second round?????
I think that probably has more to do with TBW’s (in)frequency of scouting him than his prospect pedigree. Ebel is a consensus top 2-3 rounds guy in the draft. Well-rounded prospect, solid defender, though the power projection varies from scout to scout.
Maybe Moncada should get pissed more often.
Hope the Umps continue to F us if that is going to be the result.
Paris got fooked by the HP Umpire who robbed him of a three walk game.
The fluent strike zone this season is terrible for players, especially those like Trout & Schanny who lay off (For the most part) bad pitches. Now, if it is close (Within a foot of being a strike) you can’t let it go past you.
Make the “Corona Kid” one of our Kids!!
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1925045364090142749
I did not know he’s Shohei
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1924995209697624399
You can watch the CIF games on Hudl app for free if you have an account. Now that my young son plays somewhat competitive baseball I understand the game a lot more. I mean I’m a sports junky since 5 years old and coach sports and play too … but watching baseball now from the ground level is a different look. Watching the Corona team was fascinating, lots of hits right back up the middle. Pitching strikes.
I have a son, daughter in law and granddaughter living very close to Corona High, been to 2 games last season and 3 this season, they are awesome. My favorite prep is Hernandez and love watching Carlson too. Well coached team. I would like to see the Halos draft Hernandez with first pick, but PTP prefers college kids.
When Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs was asked a few days ago what he would do if he were leading the draft room for the Angels at #2, he said he’d go hometown discount and draft Carlson, hoping to apply the savings to other picks down the line.
He wasn’t predicting what the Angels would do – just describing what his own draftroom strategy would be. (Interesting, as I respect Eric L’s takes, and I would probably not pursue that draft strategy. 🙂 )
As a prep he can hit with good speed, charging a ball to either side or straight ahead he is years ahead of any prep shortstop I’ve ever seen.
Angel
Oh yeah, he’s been a middle-of-the-order presence for Corona for a bit. His athleticism is off the charts.
That delivery is beautiful.
Effortless and still gets high-MPH
Reading the article on the Rockies and wondered if it was written by Sam Blum.
He seems to do stories on other teams too. He did a right up about PNC Park and the Pirates earlier this year, nothing related to the Angels. Probably out snooping around trying to dig up dirt on Art.
Damning indictment of the Rockies…..
“…..but the overarching point should be obvious by now. This Rockies organization seems untethered to results. A normal franchise would’ve made wholesale changes to its process and personnel. These Rockies don’t seem to know or don’t seem to care how far behind everyone else they’ve become. Which is worse? “
Why does this approach sound eerily familiar….?
Times have changed A4ever. We got new pitching and hitting tunnels in AZ. New food court and an ice cream machine. Above ground pool, super fast WiFi, place to do your laundry. Those extra big, extra thick shower towels, everyone gets a silk robe with their number on it, covered parking, one of those $25,000 high tech Toto toilets, takes a picture of your poop, emails it to Perry and Dr Nick.
NEW trAditions!
😱
..and now we finally have a zero gravity treadmill…
The Rockies columnists can cry foul if they want. I may be wrong, but I have thought for some time that the Rockies organization has had a fairly solid history posting records with a bunch of overachievers, has beens, and other “talent” they have strung together. Recently, it seems they stopped paying guys, and thus haven’t filled in various holes. I haven’t followed their draft history closely, but I think since 2000 they have developed a lot of players and done better than one might expect given their situation, a funky ballpark, and being a place it is likely hard to get free agents and other players in. Maybe I’m totally missing things. It’s unclear what fans expect, and the division with the Dodgers, what the Padres have done the last couple years, Giants and DBacks is basically a no-hoper each year for Colorado.
Not sure what you mean. Including the 2011 season the Rockies have posted two seasons over .500. Those were 2017 and 2018. Yes they have been a bad org wrt to signing their own players, but just my opinion, I wouldn’t say they have had a fairly solid history posting records. Imho, there is no GM that can fix the Rockies or Angels.
World Series team in 2007, playoffs 2017 and 2018. And I cannot name high quality free agents that want to go there. Dodgers bought Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman who were also predisposed to do there because it’s LA. Rockies have been doing it with mirrors and middling guys. My point was mainly what do Rockies’ fans expect? It not like they have missed the playoffs for 20 years and never been to the WS. Yes, there are down cycles but it’s hard to win there.
Send Petty over to fix them. Promote Condon to 3rd, Zac Veen in CF, insert Dollander and Brecht as a No 3 and No. 4. starter. Come on Rockies, so lame.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Halos have employed the Three Stooges as defensive coaches.
And hitting too.
Base running for sure.
Despite our defense’s best efforts, we won our fifth in a row.
Go Halos!!
I’m sitting on the dock of the bay,
Watching the wins come our way.
What a fun stretch of baseball!
Yoan Moncada has been that dude. We are 12-7 in games he starts (excluding the game he got hurt after 1 AB vs TB).
83 PA
.229 / .349 / .486
134 OPS+
4 HRs
4 doubles
1 triple
26.5% K rate
13.3% BB rate
0.7 WAR
Moncada has been sensational. I’m interested in exploring what both a trade and extension would look like. He turns 30 on May 27.
Mea culpa—I wasn’t impressed by the Moncada signing at first. It felt like another typical PTP ‘washed dude’ deal. But he’s been awesome—2025’s Kevin Pillar. I’m in love! 😍
It’s Minasian throwing crap against the wall and something actual stuck, at least for now. yay.
Perry will extend him for 2 years (definitely need a cheap 3rd baseman)
So, the crap that’s sticking now, will have time to dry and sluff off.
He’ll likely wash out and only be here a year, the shrapnel from the 430 foot blast will land by then
A broken cock is hard twice a day.
Comment of the day.
Moncada was a good lottery ticket. Health has been his big concern and that is still an issue, but I was happy with the signing and would be fine with a reasonably priced extension.
Jorge Polanco, promoted by a few of you on the site, looking like a better fit.
I haven’t really paid close attention to Moncada’s career, except I know he was a top prospect for awhile. So I don’t know the knock on him. Is it really just the injuries?
If he stays healthy and plays well enough, I wouldn’t be opposed to a 2-yr extension. It’s not like we have an exciting young prospect waiting at the hot corner.
He was part of the Chris Sale trade between the White Sox and Red Sox, which Boston cleary won as Sale was a key component in winning a World Championship, while Moncada fizzled in Chicago…
Moncada put up 5.1 WAR in 2019 and 4.1 WAR in 2021.
Injuries derailed his production the last several years, but it wasn’t like he was some bum that fizzled out of the league because he sucks.
Tim Anderson fizzled.
Hmmm… I had not remembered him having WAR like that..Looking back just now it seems 2019 was his only good season. He had only one other year where he hit over .270, most others being around .230 to .260 with years of .212 and .225 sprinkled in.
Other than 2019 he didn’t light the world on fire. In 2021 he only hit .263 with 14 HR and SLG of .412. The only reason he had decent WAR that year was that he walked alot.
He hasn’t been able to live up to the lofty expectations set on him as a prospect, but he’s been pretty good. Really about health. Saying that, I would be nervous extending/re-signing him.
Well…walking a lot matters. It’s less informative to cite his batting average from 2021 but not his (elite) .375 OBP. Both his walk rate and his OBP in 2021 were in the top 10 of all qualified MLB batters.
And even then, his batting average was well above the league average of .248.
Yes, but you traded him for Chris Sale, who at the time was one of the best 2-3 pitchers in baseball. I think if you are Chicago you’d expect more than one really good season and another strong season with alot of crappy seasons mixed in.
I still say Boston won that trade.
I didn’t trade him, but the Sox did. 🙂
CWS got four prospects back in the trade – including the #1 prospect in the MiLB at the time. They got close to 19 WAR from Moncada and Kopech prior to any extensions, and Boston got 14.5 WAR over the remaining life of the Sale contract, prior to extension.
Seems like a roughly value-equivalent trade, and a pretty rational one for a rebuilding club.
Which team won a World Series with the player they got ?
Case closed. WAR doesn’t mean anything if your team does not win.
It doesn’t really close any case. One team was beginning a rebuild after five seasons of sub-.500 play (despite having Chris Sale for seven seasons), and trying to acquire the best prospects it could because its contention window had definitively closed (some time beforehand). The other team was trying to acquire one of the best pitchers in baseball, because it was in the prime of its contention window. (And they made considerable investments beyond Sale to win that ring, starting with Price at $217M.)
The White Sox front office was transparent that they were intentionally tanking – and all the press on the trade reflected that. From the MLB article at the time: “The deal presented a classic case of one team with immediate championship aspirations and another ready to rebuild around young players.”
It was an effective strategy for them, because after a long time in the desert, they would return to the playoffs in ’20-21 during Moncada’s peak, and won their division in 2021. That was a very short three year rebuild – something the Angels could have emulated a year or two out from Ohtani’s departure.
Teams have cycles of contention – but you know that.
The point was that the Red Sox got exactly what they were looking for in that deal; namely a front line “Ace” who could put them over the top and as stated, win a World Championship.
And it was not like Sale was just an auxiliary piece either. He was essential to their achievement, having his best season as a pro, posting a 2.11 ERA, 1.98 FIP and a total WAR of 6.5.
Other than Mookie Betts he was the most important player on that team.
You are either intentionally misrepresenting what happened with Sale in Chicago, or simply don’t know.
The main reason the White Sox parted ways with him was that there was alot of internal dissension between Sale and the management. This had been building for a couple of years, and included Sale accusing GM Ken Williams of lying to the players and betraying their trust, and also an incident in which Sale destroyed some throw back jerseys prior to a game because he didn’t want the team to wear them.
This stuff represents the real reason they parted ways.
We should trade everybody. You can still re-sign them over the winter.
I lean this way too. However, if we are in the divisional race, I’d prefer to try and win it (no, doesn’t mean be a buyer like 2023 lol)
5/20 Top Prospect Performance:
Christian Moore in his AAA debut.
3/4 (all singles)
2 RBIs
1 walk
1 strikeout
👑 Luis’ reign at 2nd base is nearing its end. I firmly believe that the motivation behind calling CMo up to AAA is to get him hot to then justify bringing him up to the majors.
Sure. Rush him to the big leagues. Expose his weakness. Break confidence. Demote (or leave him on the roster to avoid looking like a mistake was made). Minassian 4-yr philosophy in a nutshell.
ah, but tickets they will sell!
yes, think of the tickets and Moore jerseys that will get sold.
I actually don’t agree with what they’re doing with CMo, but that’s my read on the situation.
I do think that Wash is the coach within the org that can help him the most. We’ll see what happens.
Yes, Perry really broke Neto. And Schanny. And Joyce (elbows don’t count).
Did you read how he was languishing in Double A???? The move to AAA sounds like it couldn’t be worse. He might enjoy the extra motivation of being close to the show.
Moore is a singles hitter right now – he has one extra-base hit (a double) in his past 15 games and has one home run this season.
Further conditioning my view of Moore’s debut at SLC:
What’s notable about Moore this season is that he has made considerable progress on lowering his chase rate, at the expense of his power. Moore had a 29%+ chase rate last season, and a 13% chase rate now – the second biggest improvement of any minor leaguer YoY.
With that improved plate approach, Moore now sports an ISO of .086, vs last season’s .238. He’s more like Nelson Rada than Moore of old. His K rate has not improved at all, however, meaning he’s swinging outside the zone less, but missing in-zone – which is the more alarming tendency imo.
I think launch angle is Moore’s friend, and perhaps they’ve sent him to the PCL in hopes that he can hit it into the air more, as a singles-hitting 2b with a below-average glove isn’t what the team needs in the short or long term. I think Moore in the MLB right now would look a lot like Tim Anderson with the bat, and Rengifo with the glove.
Which MLB teams are actually trying? Charting a divided league’s haves and have-nots
Andy McCullough
May 21, 2025 10:00 am UTC
In the eyes of Major League Baseball executives, money alone cannot guarantee you the World Series. To capture a title requires execution, determination and, perhaps most of all, good fortune. The baseball postseason can be a crapshoot, especially in its recently expanded format.
What money does provide, executives on both sides of MLB’s payroll divide will tell you, is more opportunities to win it all. If October is a lottery, spending helps produce more tickets. The correlation between spending and winning is obvious. A team with a top-10 payroll has won five of the past six championships. The outcome last October made the sport’s disparity appear even starker.
The most recent World Series pitted the team with the sport’s largest competitive-balance tax payroll, the Los Angeles Dodgers, against the team ranked third on that list, the New York Yankees. (The second-place club, the New York Mets, lost to the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.) The Dodgers have paid for a top-five CBT payroll in every season since Mark Walter’s Guggenheim group purchased the club midway through 2012. The team has not missed the postseason since 2013. The Yankees have appeared in the postseason in seven of the past eight years; their payroll has ranked in the top six each season.
The conversation about baseball’s haves and have-nots bled into the offseason, as the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets tossed around hundreds of millions while nine teams declined to sign any player to a multiyear contract. All of this has occurred as the sport’s collective bargaining agreement approaches its expiration date. A labor stoppage is expected to occur as the owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association negotiate a new agreement after the 2026 season. The duration and severity of that stoppage may depend on the willingness of ownership to push for a salary cap.
For fans caught between the coasts, rooting for teams who lack the revenue-producing force of Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani or the deep pockets of Mets owner Steve Cohen, a common complaint is “The owner isn’t trying to win.” The simplest, most public way for any owner to demonstrate a commitment to winning is through spending, either on free agents, by trading for high-salaried players or by inking top prospects to extensions.
With another work stoppage on the horizon, we thought it would be worthwhile to create a visual representation of that principle, at least as it has occurred during the life cycle of this current CBA, which began in 2022. On the X-axis, we plotted regular-season winning percentage during that period. On the Y-axis, we plotted CBT payroll, as compiled by Baseball Prospectus. The scatterplot revealed four distinct groups, one clear anomaly — and insight into the current competitive landscape.
Powerhouses
NYY, NYM, LAD, ATL, SD, PHI, HOU: They shouldn’t be hard to identify. The Dodgers have set the standard for the sport in recent years. The Mets have actually out-spent the Dodgers during this period, although the most expensive Mets team, the 2023 version, missed the postseason. Both clubs have surpassed the Yankees as the sport’s preeminent spenders.
For fans wondering why their owners have declined to pursue big-name free agents, the presence of the San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies in this quadrant will be galling. Not long ago, both clubs were doormats. The two clubs have joined the sport’s upper crust in recent years, thanks to an infusion of spending. Peter Seidler, the late Padres owner, financed the club’s renaissance, which has led to packed houses at Petco Park. The same phenomenon is on display at Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies have become a regular postseason entrant.
Overachievers
BAL, TB, SEA, CLE, TOR: There is a small cluster of franchises capable of contending while avoiding high-priced free agents. Tampa Bay has set the standard for this group — there’s a reason why teams in markets both big and small have been poaching their executives for the past decade. The success of some clubs stems from geographical advantage: the Cleveland Guardians, for example, have been able to capitalize on playing in the once-weak American League Central.
The problem with this space is that it can be hard to stay there forever. The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde last week after a wretched start to the season, which followed a winter in which general manager Mike Elias could not land an upper-tier arm to improve the pitching staff. Last October the Rays missed the postseason for the first time since 2018, and look bound for another losing record this year. In Milwaukee, where the Brewers have reached the postseason in six of the past seven seasons, a recent run at the top of the National League Central could be upended by the resurgent, big-market Chicago Cubs.
Stuck In The Middle
CIN, DET, MIN, AZ, STL, SF, CHC, TOR, BOS, TEX: Herein reside some of the sport’s most frustrated fanbases. This group contains some of baseball’s more venerated franchises: the Cubs, the Boston Red Sox, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants. They aren’t rebuilding but they aren’t exactly operating, as Boston chairman Tom Werner infamously declared heading into 2024, at “full throttle.” These teams are good enough to avoid last-place finishes, but haven’t developed talent like the overachievers have and don’t spend as the powerhouses do. Still, sometimes this group buys just enough lottery tickets: the Texas Rangers won the World Series in 2023, and the Detroit Tigers are off to a rip-roaring start in 2025.
The Basement
PIT, MIA, KC, WSH, ATH, CWS, COL: The basement can be a place for despair. In pitcher Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates were gifted through the draft a generational talent. The club has done little to build around him in the present, leading to a last-place standing in the National League Central and a losing record for Skenes. What a bummer.
The good news: Life in the basement isn’t permanent. After seven losing seasons in a row, the Kansas City Royals were aggressive in the free-agent market heading into 2024, signing a pair of pitchers, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, who helped the club return to the postseason. The club is contending again in 2025; it helps to have superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. signed to a $288.8 million contract that could keep him in Kansas City for the entirety of his career. The Athletics also added salary this past winter after several years without spending.
The bad news: The depths of the basement have never been lower. The Chicago White Sox lost 121 games in 2024, besting the benchmark for futility set by the 1962 Mets. The White Sox aren’t much better this year — but they are far better than the current edition of the Colorado Rockies, who entered Tuesday’s games on pace for 134 losses. Given the hyper-competitive nature of the National League West, Colorado might set a new record with ease.
The Anomaly: the Angels
It may be unfair to single out the Angels. But, well, look at the plot (i.e. in the “Basement”, but has spent the most to reside in the basement). The franchise stands alone. No team in recent memory has spent more and achieved less. The team’s last postseason appearance came in 2014. The club wasted the prime of Mike Trout and let Ohtani depart in free agency. And its own expenditures have proved disastrous: Anthony Rendon has 3.9 wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference, during the first five seasons of his seven-year, $245 million deal, and he may not take another at-bat for the club.
Owner Arte Moreno regularly permits his executives to spend, although the club tends to avoid going over the luxury tax. That relative largesse has led to little winning, which makes the club an anomaly in this era.
The chart that came with this was the Chart of the Day!
we are indeed special.
Agree. We are alone on an island…..spending a lot of money to reside in what the author defined as the “basement”.
We do have the fallback that “at least we’re not the Rockies“.
I’d call it the RenDone plus now Trout category. Spending a ton of long term money for nothing, as an excuse to not do anything..
‘ve won about as many playoff games.
Not the good definition of ‘special’ more like Jerry’s kids, and special Olympics
Just saw the chart lol it sure is something
Well, the idea of separating teams into tiers based upon spending makes sense on the surface, but it is ultimately misleading and shortsighted. I mean, to call a team like the Tigers “stuck in the middle” is way off. Anybody who has seen them play knows they are for real and have a legitimate shot to win it all in the postseason.
Look at what they did last year in ther run to the playoffs and especially in sweeping the perennial powerhouse Houston Astros in the Wild Card series.
As for this season they are leading the highly competitive AL Central by an impressive 5 games and have won series’ against the Yankees, Padres, Twins, and Mariners. They also have the best run differential in MLB at + 64.
“Stuck in the Middle” they are NOT.
So yes, while payroll is a big factor in ultimate success, it is not everything, and there are other recent examples like the Kansas City Royals to support that.
The Los Angeles Anomalies!
Anomalies, Amenities, Anemones…it’s all the same
Anonymouses of Anaheim
Well, me I got a bottle in front of me, Adell is a Los Angeles Anomaly.
That sounds like it could be a thing.
Don’t you mean the Los Angeles Anomalies of Anaheim?
As Troy Glaus is my all-time favorite Angel, it’s nice to see a mid-tier imitation of him, like 20+ years later. Even if it’s most likely only going to be for a short while.
It would be interesting to find out everybody’s favorite Angel. I think I’d have to go with Trout, but I think Ryan may be the greatest.
Robb Quinlan
The “gut” Paul Mcanulty
I liked Q.
My fave is probably Fregosi, though.
Hilly Hathaway
Mickey Rivers 🙂
Garrett Anderson in a landslide!
Zack Cozart
Disagree. Moncada looks like the best third baseman we’ve had since Glaus. He also appears to fit in well and to be enjoying himself. I’m going for a long, happy marriage!
Figgins had some solid seasons at 3B
Figgy worked his ass off to become an All Star quality 3B.