The Marlins acquired reliever Michael Peterson from the Braves for cash considerations.
Jake Burger has a left quad strain and went on the injured list.
Left-hander Bruce Zimmerman just opted out of his deal with the Brewers.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
In the last few days, I have poured over everything that has been placed out there about the All-Star Game and they either rave or dis the whole spectacle. Some say ratings were high some say low. Some like the extra innings deal, some don’t. What I can add is slowly, surely but slowly, Manfred is killing Baseball. Here is how, see how many you agree with.
Maybe being 73 years old, I liked the past that made me a fan, Baseball has really after family has been my light of being. I have endorsed expansion, the DH, banning the shift, and lowering the mound in the sixties. But now it is not the same game and maybe a fan in the ’30’s didn’t recognize the game of the ’70’s with different divisions and the DH and felt as I do back then. What changes do you like and do not like, would like to hear it.
Since we still have time before the season resumes, I was wondering if people are still standing by their pre-season predictions for the team’s final record. I started off with 72-90 before the season started, but now I’m thinking the team is on the path to a better record, just not a winning one. I’ll say they win 32 games for the rest of the year and finish with a 79-83 record.
I’m good with mine 82-80
Really missed on my Anderson the hitter prediction though.
Tim Anderson? Yeah, that didn’t work out. I predicted best pitcher would be Kikuchi and best hitter Soler
With series against Phillies, Mets, M’s, Tigers, Cubs, Brewers, Doyers, Houston, 32 wins is a tall ask. I’m rooting for it, but a tall ask, I think.
I don’t discount the other teams, but Seattle, Texas and Detroit concern me more since they’ve destroyed Angels pitching so far this season (so has Baltimore, but I don’t think they face them anymore). It is a tall order, but I think doable with how the team has played over the past 2 months.
I think I predicted 65 wins so that would mean 18 more…and 48 losses. No idea what will happen because of the trade possibilities. Tomorrow’s pitcher is TBD. Bremner?
They won’t need to bring up a starter until Tuesday, but I don’t think any team wants to repeat the Rangers’ David Clyde experiment, even if Bremner has college experience rather than straight from high school.
don’t know the $$ details but this is a nice headline
“2025 Texas A&M baseball commit signs with Angels after third-round draft selection”
The Draft was too much a crap shoot failure, game playing with a pick that will not come around for another who knows how many years, so why not take one of the best on the board. Perry likes to play with slot dollars so he can boost that he got what, the best 4th rd pick. For weeks I wore on my sleeve that Holiday should have been our focus and fuck Boras. Holiday was never college bound.
Now it’s time to concentrate on how to improve the team, not so we make the playoffs but so we can make the playoffs and advance. To accomplish this, we sell, sell, and sell. Not buy anything. There are not many third basemen going to come in and last for a long career, not even Bregman. If you have confidence in Perry, you are a whole more trusting than I am.
This team will not improve this season without Mike Trout staying at his current pace
and a lot of luck, so we still need to build upon what we have with trades. Teams that are looking to advance in the playoffs will need Anderson, Hendricks, Rengifo, along with 20 HR playing LF’ers. I would like to keep Detmers, although he may bring some value in return if paired with another player.
I have lost a lot of interest at the moment in this team after this draft and that’s on myself. I really have to be the one to force myself back into seeing what our GM has done positive and as of, yet I find this a difficult task. I still enjoy reading everyone’s comments though.
go angels!
Where have you been? EVERY Draft is a crap shoot G Pa.
what about the draft where Moniak was the #1 pick?
Cowboy, not every draft involving the Angels having the second pick do I feel the wrong pick and how many of those have there been.
So you werent a big fan of Danny Goodwin as the first overall pick and Brian Anderson as the 3rd overall pick?
Well said!!
It’s not about making the playoffs this year (although, once in, anything can happen).
It’s about getting to (and winning) the World Series.
This team (terrible fielding, weak hitting, weak pitching, bad managerial decisions) just has too many holes to overcome in order to win a game, much less a series.
Can you imagine us defeating Skubal, or Fried, or Framber Valdez twice in a series?
I am laughing at this thread of comments
No laughing matter gitcho. We could’ve had this guy in the 5th Rd. Speed, + power, possibly gg glove caliber OFer, by all reports is great in the locker room, with + grit.
And 2002 approved
Whoa.
https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/2025/all/team/angels
It looks like Perry just found another $597K of pocket change in the sofa cushions of the 7th 8th & 10th round draftees to apply to his Preppies.
’twas expected. Perry went underslot on picks 6-10 last year, and only paid his 8-10 guys $1k each.
All of these signs were unranked seniors – had zero leverage.
But its good to know that Stoopid Perry still has got a plan. Although I’m not sure a pool of around $4 million in over slot funds to sign all of the prepsters is enough (assuming that Shores and Snead sign for slot)
Within Minasian’s own strategy, I think the success of this draft depends a lot on signing Haley, Gray and Mitchell.
They start with about $750k at those three slots, so they have at least $4.5M to cover those guys, assuming they get Bremner at a $2M+ discount. I think that may be enough, though they may lose some others (eg, Alton James, TJ Ford) in the process.
Snead might sign for slot, but I doubt Shores gets $2M. His ranking doesn’t justify it, and it also doesn’t fit the Angels’ MO. Chris Cortez, an underslot signing similar to Shores last year, took a roughly $500k haircut, and I would expect Shores to as well. (Though that might simply be reallocated to Slawinski, who might need more than $1M to sign.)
Just looking at the BA 500 rankings for the Angels draft class, there’s so much value tied to those three prep kids who were ranked roughly as 3rd-4th round talents.
11 – Bremner
78 – Slawinski
84 – Snead
86 – Shores
89 – Haley
114 – Mitchell
118 – Gray
179 – Jackson
213 – LaCourse
256 – Munroe
314 – Davis Jr
444 – Zaborowski
486 – Harrelson
5 of the Top 100 or 7 of the Top 125… that’s statistically better-than-average if it works out.
As a weighted average, it’s probably a tick below average since they largely passed over second round talent.
BA is also more bullish on some of the prep rankings than other sources, as they tend to rank more on future upside than performance or probability.
Thats pretty obvious . But, unfortunately its wishful thinking on Shores. https://www.mrt.com/sports/article/legacy-grad-lsu-s-chase-shores-signs-los-angeles-20774184.php
But Perry knows best ??
BTW it looks like Snead is $132K below slot which is about what Lacourse signed over slot for ?
One thing is forsure — players want to be drafted by the Angels.
“Right now, they are saying starter,” Shores said. “They’re going to build me up as a starter it sounds like. Anything can happen. The faster I get to the big leagues is really all I care about. Whatever role that fits in me getting to the big leagues, that’s the role I will take on.”
“I’m super excited about the chance to move up fast,” Shores said. “It’s the reason I want to play professional baseball. The minor leagues are great and all, but I want to get to The Show. If I’m fortunate to be on a team that likes to move guys up fast, then that’s great for me and I’m going to work hard and get up there the fastest I can.”
hey it worked for the Padres to convince Tony Gwynn and Ozzie Smith to sign with them back in the day.
Bremmy seems to like it too.
Aware that he is headed to an Angels organization that promotes its top draft picks aggressively, Bremner is excited for the opportunity.
“What I understand is that if you’re ready, they’re going to send you,” Bremner said. “You’re not going to wait around and waste time in the minors. Everyone wants to be a big leaguer, so the quicker I can get there, the better for me.”
Eh, that’s unfortunate. There’s still Munroe for potential savings.
A touch below slot:
https://twitter.com/CarlosACollazo/status/1945955497837826512
Monroe gave them about $100k under slot. So assuming they get the max discount from Bremner they have about a $ 3 million over slot bonus pool to spread around to 6 prep pitchers and 2 prep outfielders to keep them from college commitments
Not gonna be an easy task.
They can also spend $833k over their current pool allocation without losing future draft picks. (5% overage just incurs a tax on the overage, which they usually absorb.)
So, let’s say, Bremner gets the full allowable discount: $2.56M. (Guys that attend the Combine can have their bonus slashed 25% tops.)
They’ve picked up about $700k savings on their five other college signs.
So $2.56M + $700k + $833k = $4m+
That assumes they’re rational and discount Bremner the allowable amount. But the Shores bonus doesn’t give me high confidence that they’ll operate rationally.
So they told Shores he is going to be a starter. I guess he will be the first experiment of “can we teach the fireballer with no location control, to be a starter and consistently locate the fireball.”
In the 3% chance it works, we will have an ace.
I’m just hoping he becomes a quality BP arm.
But an 80% chance we have another late inning reliever
And what % of the season will be spent on the IL, a la Joyce and Bachman? Over or under on 60%?
Before or after he blows out his arm (again)
Not the first experiment though – it’s kind of the pattern on the farm at the moment.
Cortez was a reliever/swing guy with a big fastball and control issues (5.4 BB/9 in college), and they’ve been developing him as a starter.
It’s not quite working yet – he has a 1.49 WHIP, a 6.4 BB/9, and has completed six innings only twice in 17 starts (last time in mid-May). And that’s in a very pitcher-friendly league.
That worked so well with Sean Newcomb
To the lab!
“Tomorrow I head over to Arizona,” Shores said. “It’s time to go. It’s time to get to work. It’s time to finally play some baseball again.”
When it was time and moment to seize the NCAA ring, they handed it to him. He is a national champion in 2025 and will be in MLB I think.
That’s totally insane that they’re giving him full slot, if that proves true. Not only out of step with what they’ve done previously, but also weak from a business negotiations standpoint.
What was he going to do, re-enter the draft as a 22 yo senior reliever? He’d likely have a similar outcome to Prager.
With Collazo confirming the full slot deal, I’m just shaking my head on this one.
https://twitter.com/CarlosACollazo/status/1945953462077808874
He got almost $780k more than fellow second-rounder, and Golden Spikes finalist, Alex Lodise. (Lodise was MLB ranked at #43, Shores at #77.)
My top Round 2 target Mitch Voit was selected with the 38th pick, and got $300k+ less than Shores who was picked nine slots later. Voit was also ranked higher than Shores, and the Mets had no conniptions giving him $800k under slot value.
It’ll be interesting to see what AJ Russell from Tenn gets. Russell is the only other reliever who got selected in the second round. I think he’s the superior prospect, and has a better likelihood of bullpen-to-rotation conversion than Shores.
I do think the Angels have made progress with their overseas amateur scouting and player acquisition process with some guys in the minors that seem to have promise. I would love to see that become an organizational priority as drafting college players with short development schedules will continue to result in a shallow minor league depth pool.
Having said that, I’m not sure that expecting the Angels to make good decisions is a reasonable expectation on my part. I think they had a chance to do that last week with the #2 pick and badly missed the mark in not taking Holliday. Not many highly evaluated, high ceiling kids of former major leaguers have failed. Being exposed to an MLB clubhouse as a kid and being comfortable in that environment is a really big advantage.
Absolutely agree!
Just look at Barry Bonds – he was at the ballgames and on the field a lot of times with his dad.
And his talent had nothing to do with his career? We are talking about athletes who have been at or near the top of their class for years. I would think their comfort would come around pretty quick. Not like it takes years to get over the experience.
It didn’t help Kavan Biggio
Here’s Keith at TA
Los Angeles Angels: Tyler Bremner a surprising but solid selection; Johnny Slawinski a great grab in Round 3The Angels had the first shocker selection of the draft, taking right-hander Tyler Bremner (1) with the second pick — but was it that much of a shock? In hindsight, I don’t think it was. Everyone expected the Angels to take a pitcher. Bremner came into the year as the top right-handed pitching prospect in the class, and based on 2024 data and video I saw, I would have taken him over Jamie Arnold back in February. Then Bremner stumbled out of the chute and everyone seemed to move on. He finished the spring very strongly, with 10 or more strikeouts in six of his last seven starts, and his stuff held or even improved as the season went on.
He sits 94-96 on a four-seamer that works when he locates it to the edges or runs it in on hitters, and his changeup is a 70 that misses bats on both sides. His slider looks right from the data, but he cuts himself off when he lands and doesn’t finish the pitch to make it a real third weapon for him. He walked just 6.1 percent of batters on the season, so you can see a fourth starter right away if he never makes any changes, with a lot more upside if the Angels can help him fix the slider or maybe have him try a two-seamer. Bremner’s mother fought cancer all spring and died about a month before the draft, which would be more than enough justification for any player struggling.
Then the Angels did the most Angels thing: they took an advanced college reliever who could probably pitch in the majors this year, LSU starter-turned-closer Chase Shores (2), who sealed up the Tigers’ College World Series win in an outing that saw him hitting 100 on his sinker with an above-average slider up to 91. He needs a pitch for lefties, as they posted a .412 OBP against him this spring, but once that happens he doesn’t need a lot of development time.
Texas high school lefty Johnny Slawinski (3) was the best prep arm in the state and one of the best projection arms in the draft. He’s in the low 90s now and shows both good carry and that low release height teams are always chasing. His slider projects to plus and he has enough feel to say his changeup will get to at least average. He’s very athletic as well and may benefit from just playing baseball full-time. This was my favorite pick of the Angels’ draft class.
Tennessee reliever Nate Snead (3A) is more Angelsing, a college pitcher who hit 100 in the CWS and boasts a power curveball at 82-85. He struggled this year to keep anything down in the zone, so he got hit more than he had in the past. He also needs a pitch for lefties.
Louisville third baseman Jake Munroe (4) transferred to the Cardinals from junior college and finished second on the team in walks and third in homers, with a .346/.451/.593 line. He’s hit over power, though, with maybe average raw power, showing real zone awareness and strong contact skills. He looks like he should be a power hitter, though; he just hasn’t hit the ball hard enough to say he has that ability in games.
North Carolina high school righty CJ Gray (5) was also a quarterback and he pitches like someone with a great arm who hasn’t spent a lot of time on the mound. He’s 92-96 and flashes an above-average slider, but the delivery — while not violent — is all over the place, so I can’t imagine he’s going to throw a lot of strikes right out of the chute. If the Angels are willing to be patient, such as giving him all of 2026 in the Arizona Complex League, there is clear upside here, with very long odds.
More..
Michigan high school right-hander Luke Lacourse (6) is 90-91 with projection, but it’s the slider that stands out, as he reportedly hit a spin rate over 3400 at the preseason Super 60 scouting event. It’s a super-short arm action with effort and head-whack at release, though, none of which is great for future command or durability. He is committed to Michigan State.
Arizona State outfielder Isaiah Jackson (8) is very athletic and has bat speed, but his hit tool is a 40 right now. His power and speed are both above-average, he can play center and he can hit a fastball. In the eighth round, I am taking an athlete like him all day.
Speaking of sliding. I knew Kershaw’s scout, Calvin Jones – who ironically himself was signed #1 in the supplemental by a scout I knew with the Mariners when I was still playing. Calvin passed away a few years ago. He told a great Kershaw story. Tommy Lasorda was meeting with the scouts and said in Tommy language, “We can’t mess this draft up.” (I don’t think he used the word “mess”). Kershaw had moved to the top of most people’s draft boards. He had a big game near the end of the season and there must have been over 100 scouts there. Kershaw had a really bad outing. His next game, only a handful showed up. He was lights out. Calvin said he had gone to all of Kershaw’s games for close to 2 years. He was sold on how he came back. He told Tommy, “If you don’t take this Kershaw guy, you are going to “mess” this draft up.”
I so wanted to infuse some bats and positional coverage in this organization but warming up to the some of the arms drafted, namely Slawinski. I liked Perry pursuing HS arms over grabbing a college arm in the later rounds.
Bleacher Report graded the Angels as having the worst draft of all the teams. Time will tell.
So Bleacher Report is now using our Draft Analysis?
Man – digital sports journalists are where it’s at man. They know everything. Don’t believe me? Ask them, they’ll tell you.
Yup. If, in two years, we have a rotation of Soriano, Detmers, Bremner, Klassen, Dana with Silent C, Snead, Joyce and Shores all killing it cheaply in the pen and Slawaski killing it in AA along with Urena in AAA or something then I’ll be like “Damn, that pitching lab play really paid off”.
But it will still depend heavily on us finding offense…. though who the hell knows. With Punkapus we may get an “all 60 grade power hitter draft” next year….
Of that crew, CJ Gray is the one I’m most interested in. In some ways, he’s a talent equivalent to my draft target in the same round, Matt Barr, if a year behind in development.
Gray was the prep pitching standout at the MLB Combine – one of 11 players BA called out for having loud performances that caught scouts notice.
BA Rank: No. 112
Gray is one of the most exciting projection arms in the class. He took the mound first among the pitchers throwing bullpens on Tuesday and woke the radar gun up quickly.
Listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Gray works from the first base side of the rubber and has a long arm action with some of the best pure arm speed in the class. He averaged just over 95 mph with his sinking fastball and ran the pitch up to 96.5 mph at peak velocity—the second-best mark of day one pitchers.
Gray also mixed in a firm changeup at 88 mph and an 85-86 mph slider with spin rates in the 2,400-2,500 rpm range. Gray got around a few of the sliders he threw and lacks command with the pitch—as well as his arsenal at large—and is more stuff-over-polish at the moment.
He’s a tremendous athlete and dynamic mover on the mound who could be a monster in a few seasons with more reps and some refinement with his delivery and feel to repeat his arm slot.
Agree with K-Law that they shouldn’t rush this guy – he has the fundamentals for a #2/3 guy in a few years. Gray, Jackson and Alford were all good value for where they were selected.
Big Brain Minasian really showed the rest of Baseball going hard after the #18 guy with the second pick. Great work!
The Draft ratings are the similar to Free Agent ratings.
Guys that have what could be career years shoot up in the ranking and guys that don’t have monster platform years or regress for any reason seem to fall regardless of past performance.
Taking the pitcher who came into the spring season as one of the top rated college pitcher who struggled due to understandable reasons and still was able to make adjustments and finish the season strong was great work.
It’s not that Bremmer is a bad selection, it’s that there were better choices available. Holiday-Anderson-Hernandez come to mind. To me it was Holiday as the player who would have played third and been an All-Star for 10+ yrs.
Minasian tried to galaxy brain it, when the obvious choice was right in front of him.
If we do not sell at the deadline, I hope and pray we do not buy. The common misnomer is how many games a team is out a WC spot. When you are “Four games” out of a WC spot, you may have three teams in front of you, but you also have the three teams that are currently in WC spots-That means you are chasing six teams, not three. Also, later in the season, you need a lot of help as you probably don’t play all of the teams in front of you, therefore your fate is not solely in your hands.
We need to stay pat or sell at the deadline. Jensen will certainly bring a nice return, other than that (Neefo & Ward) is probably hopeful thinking.
Not to mention the two teams that are likely better than you and are 4.5 games out….
Kiley’s post-draft prospect ranking:
Moore
Klassen
Dana
Bremner
Rada
Guzman
Lugo
Fermin
Johnson
Aldeghari
What? No Chase Shores? But …. But……. Velocity, man.
You know We cant be CHASEing wins every draft there SG.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Pure Nevin gold.
makes sense, though Johnson I’d have in the top 4.
it also re-emphasizes this draft needs to hit, because there’s nothing there for MLB in the lower half.
Should not be long before Bremner jumps Dana. At least I hope he does, given a No. 2 selection.
Rada seems to be plateauing.
I feel like Dana has plateaued now as well.
Maybe for now but he’s only 20. He’ll be a serviceable mid to back of the rotation pitcher.
Rada’s Future is as a defensive 4th OF/pinch runner who runs well, walks, and make’s contact. He’s really young still, but he will never be an everyday player.
Where would Holiday be on that list?
I believe Holliday will be e a top 100 prospect in the next iteration. Bremner will not be.
Bremner could be too 100 at some point in the future,
Bremner will never be a top 100 prospect since by the time the pundits can figure out his talent level he will have already lost his propect eligibility by pitching in the bIg Leagues
