Welcome back to the Major League Baseball regular season. Following the All Star break, a full slate of games today kicks off the stretch run to October baseball.
With only 3 games to choose from and 2 of them losses, the Highlight of the Week is pretty obvious. Travis d’Arnaud has had some big moments for the Angels lately and won last Friday’s game on a walk off single to left field.
My search for that highlight led to this little gem.
Following the Diamondbacks series, the Angels got 4 days of rest and relaxation. Not a single one appeared in the All Star game. Hopefully they ate their Wheaties, though, because the schedule gets really brutal for a while. Three games in Philly followed by three games at the Mets followed by a Seattle and Texas homestand.
The MLB trade deadline looms after those four tough series. MLBTR took a look at how the Angels might approach the deadline.
One interesting tidbit of news is that Mike Trout will be eased back into playing the outfield.
And if you missed it, ESPN released a documentary on Jim Abbott this week. ESPN+ will have it available to stream or just look out for it. Jim is a personal hero and I’ve been blessed to meet him a couple of times. He’s as great as you’d expect him to be, which is really saying something.
In the meantime, make sure to read that very good piece.
Perhaps Jim should chat with Silent C, who was optioned to AAA last week. Then Angels have made it to this point using only 5 starting pitchers. It looks like that will change in a few days.
Our draft coverage and threads were the best I’ve seen on this site. A huge thanks to Turk’s Teeth for his phenomenal work in the weeks leading up to the draft and to Nolan for following the top college prospects all year.
Tyler Bremner was a surprise pick at number 2. He was a guy we followed closely but expected to fall down the board after a rough stretch early in conference play. However, the pick of Bremner makes sense for the Angels per Bill Shaikin of the LAT.
I honestly don’t know how to caption this next one. Losing his mom has to be the most gut wrenching experience of Bremner’s life. That was shortly followed by a joyful experience he wasn’t allowed to share with her.
What are the Angels getting in Bremner? A mid 90s fastball that sometimes gets too straight and a ridiculous change up that is one of the best single pitches in the draft class.
But wait, there’s more. In addition to Bremner, the Angels selected another 20 MLB hopefuls, some of whom are already signed.
The draft was heavy on pitching, particularly high school pitching. It leaned younger in the middle rounds than is usual for Perry. The bat I’m most excited about landing is Slate Alford. The kid mashed all year and seemed to come up big in big moments.
Yes, the Angels picked up two third basemen in the first 9 rounds. Seems like outside of the Glaus years the hot corner has always been a problem here.
I should be more excited about 4th rounder Jake Munroe. He’s another big boy at 6 ft 2 about 230 pounds who slashed an notable .346/.451/.593 with 13 homers and 13 doubles. He has the nice, compact swing that leads to a lot of contact and a lot of line drives.
The fact of the matter is I simply watched Georgia more often this year and I’m more familiar with Slate. I’d like to drop the completely unoriginal nickname of Slater on him right now if that’s acceptable to the board.
Lots of insanity can happen after round 10 and the Angels made some noise there. 12th round pick Talon Haley has an incredible personal story and makes for one of the most intriguing picks of the draft.
Perry must’ve drank a Monster because after drafting 21 players in 20 rounds he then went out and signed another slew of players.
From around baseball…
The All Star game was pretty mundane until it wasn’t. A late round rally by the AL turned a 6-0 deficit into a tie game. That led to the first swing off in All Star history.
The game was a hit, drawing 7.2 million viewers.
Unfortunately, Ketel Marte’s home was burglarized while he enjoyed his shining moment of playing in the game.
I thought the tribute to Hank Aaron was amazing and befitting of the great man Aaron was. His smile and compassion are truly missed.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. There are fights from dawn to dusk tomorrow so I’m a happy guy. I’ll also host an open house on Sunday, but let’s focus on the fun. I hope you have a great weekend and that Mike Trout puts on a show in front of his family and friends.
Let’s all admit this one thing, regardless if we are buyers or sellers. We get Rendon back next year. That’s huge. I can’t wait to see those 10 days he stays healthy. (In all seriousness, would you even invite him to camp? I’m guessing they will for the 1% chance he plays well. Okay I’m being optimistic, .1% chance. .01%? Any stat guys out there?)
Time will tell if this draft worked, but seems like they played a good game. Every analyst can try to give a grade, but as Ron would say, “That’s how baseball go.” You just never know.
Ivan Tatis has apparently signed, according to his family’s Instagram, so the full draft class has signed and are making their ways to Arizona.
Sheesh… that actually got done.
21/21! Wacky draft. I look forward to your post-draft content, TT
I’m writing something right now, and hope to publish it on Sunday afternoon.
It may seem self-indulgent, but I think it’s actually fun and useful to lay out my shadow draft (based on my boards and discussed draft targets), and folks can grade me 3-5 years down the road.
Particularly because Perry and I took completely polar opposite strategies. I definitely won’t sit here and say Minasian is going to fail with this draft class – it’s a wildly unorthodox draft – really every bit as risky as the Eddie Bane 2010 draft. I would never have taken this route. It’s an upside draft with really long odds.
But had Bane hit on even two or three of those prepsters in 2010, he would have gone down in history as one of the greatest draft gurus of all time.
Not sure I see the similarities TT . Bane Prioritized high schoolers in the first round despite having more first rounders in team ( possibly league) history. he shanked on every single one. But that was already his reputation after already hitting the motherlode the year before where the Angels took 3 high schoolers as their first 3 picks of the first round . If anything 2009 emboldened him even more as the Draft Guru.
Conversely, Perry typically ( as he has done on everyone of his drafts) has prioritized College players in the first few rounds. With the limited draft bonus pool system there is much more risk taking prep players early thereby burning your pick. This is the first draft though that Perry signed everyone. I’m fascinated how Perry has changed his philosophy from draft to draft whether it be all pitchers, mostly college players or now a crazy amount of Prep players ( 7 pitchers and 2 position players. Yet despite that preference our 2025 draft pales in comparison to the Brew Crew who took 12 high schoolers out of their 22 picks ( 8 prep Pitchers and 4 position players) Now it remains to be seen if the Brewers can sign all of these guys or were just taking big flyers as Perry did last year with Connor Gatwood. But Perry was able to institute his plan and get every single one of them signed. Of Course with the lack of upper level talent, Salt lake and Madison will probably be watching some pretty sad baseball next year.
2 ways to cover the same topic.
Likely Trade Deadline strategy
It might not make a ton of sense to the average baseball fan. Why would a team that’s four games out of the Wild Card and two games under .500 make an aggressive push for the postseason? Well, this is the Angels. There’s a palpable desperation to every move they make, and they’ll take what little chance they have and go for broke. Maybe that changes with a bad couple weeks, but every indication is that the Angels believe they have a playoff-caliber team. For better or worse. — Sam Blum
————————
It’s still too early to say what the Angels will do, as the next two weeks will be critical for them. If they play well, they could look to add an outfielder or relief help. But if they fall off, they could move veterans such as impending free agents Kenley Jansen, Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks, Yoán Moncada, Luis Rengifo and possibly even Taylor Ward.
Rhett Bollinger
Same Old Hat
his work has evolved into a sad meme.
The NY Times should just save the money have the team covered by AI. We would learn about the same as we do now.
With the draft behind us and the and the draftees are getting signed, time to shift focus on the next objective: trade Ward, TA, Heefo and the Cubans.
Don’t slip on the bar of soap again, Perry. Need to make some moves.
if Jansen is on this team post-deadline I’m going to freak the f out.
Copy that…missed Jansen
If we are only able to get someone who won’t get above A ball for Jansen I won’t freak out. I’m not into warm bodies.
never took you for a necrophiliac
Baseball resumes.
This is odd: yesterday, CBS Sports had Jose Soriano pitching for us in Friday’s game vs. Phillies. Now, it’s Zeferjahn. Did Soriano get traded? Is he injured?
For today:
Luzardo has faced the Angels 7 times, with 1-1 record, 2.53 ERA, 29Ks
For the season, he’s 8-5, with 4.14 ERA
Zeferjahn has never faced Phillies. Also, this is his first MLB start.
For the season, he’s 5-3, 5.66 ERA.
With Soriano, the odds of us beating the Phillies were low.
Now, with Zeferjahn, the odds got even lower.
hmmmmmmm…….
Our FO and manager need to gamble more. Light a fire under those bums.
Love the Zefernator. Time to get back at it, Halo fever, catch it!
RP for one inning?
Talon Haley off to Arizona? (Pic below)
Looks like we got Mikey Cascino too!
“Mikey Cascino heads to Arizona today to begin his journey with the Los Angeles Angels.
From 3 years at A3 Academy to the MLB Draft, it’s been incredible to watch Mikey grow as a pitcher, a competitor, and a young man. He’s earned everything coming his way.
Wishing you nothing but the best, Mikey. Go dominate.”
https://x.com/A3_Trojans/status/1946196755969708190?t=p8uU7risNVdQ83HJLrvG-w&s=19
Last one left — Ivan Tatis
can’t read the text there. Hope he’s not off to check out college life off-campus
From his mom
“I love you so much babe go live your dream, and know that I’ll be cheering you on. I cant wait to see you again”.
Considering that all of our HS picks are already off to Arizona, well, pretty sure Talon is a Halo!
Awesome, 1-percenter, huge.
So he rides a Harley?
Haley was another top 100 rated guy right? I didn’t think we would be able to afford him with the budget we had left. That’s awesome!
Baseball America: #89
MLB Pipeline: #91
ESPN: #107
JustBaseball: #111
Basically, a consensus third / early fourth round talent.
Having signed all their prep arms, the Angels have assembled a draft class – if you just sort them by industry rankings – that was roughly talent-equivalent to their slots in rounds 1-10. IE, they received round-appropriate value back, despite taking some of their larger swings later in the draft.
They just did it by going deep on the riskiest player archtype by far: high school arms.
One of my guys said he would have been low 1st early 2nd without the health concerns. The arm is there. We shall see.
Great news if so. Was not at all confident that Talon wouldn’t be this year’s Connor Gatwood.
A sad bit of news to bring us all down. Dick Lovelady has been DFAed again. 😭
Why is zefferjahn starting today
Bullpen game. Buy a free week of Silent C being demoted before you have to deal with his spot. We are also for dee chessing our way to aligning our rotation so that our best pitcher goes in the first game of the series against the White Sox.
Ummm, no. But we ARE aligning things so Kikuchi and Soriano face Seattle in the first two games of the very important Mariners series coming up….
The Angels brass must be reading this blog and probably saw my comments about this kind of stuff…
Odds the White Soxs have their way with us is higher…..
-trAdition
That must be it.
I assume he’s the opener to get through the meat of the order then Carson Fulmer comes in to take the bulk.
We have not played a game since Sunday so all starting pitchers have had at least 4 days off and we decide to have a bullpen game? I guess so.
That was my point exactly
Kikuchi and Soriano are now lined up to pitch the first two games of the important Mariners series at home next week. It ALSO allows both those two to pitch against Texas in the following series, which they would otherwise not have been able to do…
Nevin would say they are chasing future wins but not tonight. You may be right but logic seems odd to possibly throw a game away so you have a better chance to win later. They all count the same in the standings.
I would disagree… Games against divisional rivals (or against a Wild Card foe) technically count as TWO wins or losses, because if we win for instance the Mariners are ALSO losing, so these games/series are more important in the standings, everything else being the same …
But isn’t the FIRST game against the Phillies soul crushingly important? Though slightly less important than the even more gut churning need to beat the Mets in the first game? How will we shift stuff so our hopes aren’t dashed like a robin’s egg in the third game of the Rays series? And game two against the Doyers, a blood boiling inferno of desperate need?
I think it’s more likely they just said “Let’s just get everyone an extra day off and then send Fulmer or someone down.”
All of this “get Scherzer to face Verlander” type stuff sounds like a contender… on September 7th.
Kikuchi last pitched on July 12th vs Arizona. Today is July 18th.
He doesn’t need an “extra” day.
Everybody loves extra days. Kooch went to Atlanta, maybe they are just letting him take it easy and watch some cartoons today.
Given that prep pitching + relievers was this year’s draft room strategy, I’m frankly a little surprised that the Angels didn’t take Seth Hernandez at #2. He probably would have accepted a similar discount to Bremner.
I wonder how close they were to going that route.
I think they wanted to get at least one guy who is close AND a starter. Like “In two years we’ll have Bremner in the rotation and Snead/Shores in the pen at the least”. Then go after longer term kids.
I do think there was solid mid-rotation pitching available in rounds 2-4, but yes, that was probably their logic.
I just suspect Hernandez + Eyanson > Bremner + Shores in the longer run. It’s weird to pop Shores over Eyanson even *with* the Bremner pick, but this mule will be dead enough by the weekend.
Seth could very well be on a fast track. Minasian fumble in the 5-yard line. Pulling for Bremner though. Worried a bit about the FB.
Love Seth Hernandez. He and Salwinski, would have been nice. No 1. And No. 2 type of starters.
Hernandez + Slawinski
vs
Anderson + Eyanson
Both sets available in rounds 1 + 3.
I feel pretty confident that Tatis signs at around slot. Then it comes down to whether Haley will take Mitchell’s bonus to sign.
Haley is ranked similarly to the seven figure bonus babies they’ve signed, but he also has two UCL repairs and cancer in his recent past.
Get this feeling it’s Cascino vs Haley here.
That Slawinski bonus is intense, but Briggs McKenzie asked a similar amount from the Braves to sign. These Top 100 prep arms are expensive.
Players from Round 11-20 signed for $150K or less do not count against the bonus pool… so the whole $767K can go to one of them… probably Haley?
yes he can sign for $917K if the other players sign for $150K (or less) or dont sign at all.
Incidentally, I understand Tatis has gone on social media and has said he signed with the Angels. The Facebook page for Cascino’s High School has indicated hes heading to Arizona but I have no clue what either player signed for.
I’m gonna be pleasantly surprised if PTPRP signs all those kids.
Yikes!!!! He better be up as a rotation arm in 2 years. Over double the slot value?
I don’t care if it’s in two years. I doubt it will be. Just be good.
It’s not my money, welcome. Here’s Johnny!
So a little over $1m savings from the Kade Anderson deal.
So basically, if Bremner and a HS kid make it then it was a solid move.
BTW, Jeff, I loved that the link to Shaikin was to the Guam Post, not the LA Fishwrap!
Well theres been a lot of layoffs at the Times lately. Good to know Shaikin landed on his feet. ( just make sure he watches out for snakes though- Theres alot in Guam)
Guam. We have spiders, and snakes….. and trees for them to live in….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vudA72hibg
better than a dead skunk in the middle of the road.
https://youtu.be/nssSIKOrSNk?si=yDqgw3kq8IismJG7
Thank you for that Rex. LWIII could really sell a song!
Ha ha. The article was under a paywall at the LAT but somehow that popped up on Google.
I’m sure the Guam Post paid the royalty fees, ha ha.
What about Figgy? He worked his ass off and was an All-Star 3B
I love Figgy! He was not your prototypical 3B but he was a great player for years for the Angels.
The last true power 3B we had was Glaus. Dallas McPherson was supposed to be the 3B heir, but the rest is history.
Getting Figgy with it….his skill set was nice at the top of Mighty Mike’s teams.
True, that was a good run. And we’ve had several “not bad” runs like Freese.
But when it comes to your typical third base power bat, there’s really a list of one.
NAR JEHF! I was here for Freese. I was told by experts over and over again that he was horrible and Arte is stupid.
I didn’t think Callaspo was bad either. No power but can get on-base decently enough.
But since Figgy we just never found a long-term solution at 3B. I was hoping this draft would do that, but Perry loves his 100 MPH
bWAR
2007 Figgy 3.4
2008 Figgy 2.3
2009 Figgy 7.7
2014 Freez 1.7
2015 Freez 2.8
2020 Tony 2.2* (60 game season, so full season ~4.9)
I miss Figgy. Would be nice to have a dynamic leadoff guy who steals bases again.
💯. Has yet to be replaced successfully.
Damn, that’s 13.4 from Figgy in just three seasons!
And fans were *so* negative about Figgy at 3b at the time, nitpicking every defensive miscue and pining for power at the corner.
Pre-Turk, I even chose the screenname ‘fanofiggy’ at other sites, because it was an against-the-tide flex in that particular era of Angels fandom.
Figgy was great here, then he went to Seattle and turned into a pumpkin.
Some notable lower draft picks by the Angels in previous years:
Howie Kendrick – 10th rd
Mark Trumbo – 18th rd
Kole Calhoun – 8th rd
David Fletcher – 6th rd
Jared Walsh – 39th rd (!!!)
Matt Shoemaker – UDFA
Michael Kohn – 13th rd
Peter Bourjos – 10th rd
I do hope Perry hits some diamonds in the rough in his late-round picks and UDFA signings like the ones above.
I dont think our 39th rounder this year will amount to much.
We did sign a bunch of UDFA – but maybe not 19 of them?
Walsh…one hit wonder. AK47 the best on that list, by far.
It’s crazy how many of these players drafted won’t ever sniff the majors. I hope they use their bonuses wisely, my cousin blew his.
Chase Shores signing for slot is insanity on Perry’s side. A no-control reliever who maybe has some leverage, and Perry accepts the deal on the table. But hey, Perry deeply loves his 100 MPH.
It’s worked.. he has pitchers who have no control and are injured, but can throw 100.
I don’t like this pick. No one does. It happened. So now I just hope Shores is Aroldis Chapman.
I mean I watched him close out the CWS and I wouldn’t exactly say he has no control. The guy was coming back from TJ and command is the last thing to come back. He sure looked like he had some semblance of knowing where it was going in that game. You can find it on youtube if you want.
Rumor they have Slawinski signed for $1.5 million over but can’t verify yet. If true, it’s great news. A&M has a truckload of NIL money. Now Haley and Mitchell we’re fighting with Vandy and Texas, so I think that’s where the majority is going. I’m guessing some savings with Munroe, I’m guessing Gray and Lacourse near slot – possibly even under. The other HS guys don’t have as much leverage so they may get a check – but not earth shattering. Maybe Raymond gets a little bump as a Georgia Tech commit. Just my take.
peep my post right below. 767K left for 3 players, most notably Talon Haley, who is a must-sign.
Can Perry finish the job???
Angels, as reported by @CarlosACollazo, have signed 18 of their 21 draft picks including Tyler Bremner at 75% of second overall slot — they have $767,495 remaining in their 5% taxed overage allowance to sign Talon Haley (12th rd), Mikey Cascino (15th) and Ivan Tatis (19th)
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1946225266126467110?t=U-tm7kBqwpXuutOl7nMtNg&s=19
That’s awesome. I consider Collazo as super reliable too. It will be interesting about Tatis. That could have been a play too, but I’m still thinking Haley.
I’m thinking Tatis gets signed for 150k like Raudi Rodriguez (2023, 19th round). They are both from the same HS.
Nervous about Haley.
If Haley who has had two arm surgeries and cancer already in his young life wants to go to college, good for him. If he wants to sign, good for him. His situation is so unique, the money shouldn’t be the issue. He either wants to do college or not.
According to Mickey’s High School Facebook page hes already on his way to Arizona. Must have been for the 150K . Assuming that Tatis also takes the 150K That means the most the Angels can offer Haley is $917K
They can go 10% above the pool without incurring draft penalties. So they have a little more room.
Jeff its only 5%
Anything over 5% will incur much more severe penalties that are baaad.
Cool. Thanks for that. Don’t know why I had 10% in my head.
But they can get creative:
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1946226471326064734
Could be my fault. I’ve mentioned 10% in previous years, but current CBA is 5.
I think it’s one of Cascino or Haley, probably the former.
Had they discounted Shores, they maybe get both.