The Phillies signed David Robertson. The Diamondbacks just designated infielder Sergio Alcantara for assignment.
Relief pitcher Daniel Bard retired, Jake Bauers is on the ten day IL with a shoulder impingement. The Astros put Isaac Paredes in the injured list with a hamstring strain.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
The problem is, we’re not good enough presently to make the playoffs so standing pat is the same as selling. We have 2 starting pitchers who are better than average and 4 guys in the pen. The rest of the pitching staff is not very good. Realistically on the offensive side we need a 2B and a RF to give us any chance at a WC. Rengifo is 40% below league average as a hitter and Soler is almost 15% below average. Our catchers are both 10% below. The other 6 Have positive OPS+s. Even league average hitters would be significant improvements over Rengifo and Soler. But even if you did that, I just don’t think we have enough pitching and this assumes no injuries. We need to be sellers and trade everything that’s not nailed down. Keeping Ward doesn’t make sense for just this year and next. Only if you extend him for a couple more years. We’re very thin and have had great injury luck this year. With mostly the same team next year, a couple of injuries would derail us. I really think we’re shooting for 2027 when we have more depth and more money. That doesn’t mean giving up, it just means doing the things that we’ll help us get better as we move forward.
Exactly. I don’t want to win 85 games this year. I want to win 85 or more for seven years starting in 26 or 27.
Would have replied to Jack but I think it would get lost. These national sports writers are so lazy! Maybe they should look up stats. Here’s a blurb about Ward possibly being traded
“ Ward comes with an additional year of team control after this season, and his underlying numbers suggest he is still largely the same hitter as last year, when he posted a .246 average and 25 homers.”
Largely the same? Well batting average maybe but he’s already at 23 HRs in 99 games. Don’t know, maybe the writer thinks 35 is the same as 25
A few updates on some Angels pitchers who aren’t here:
-Caden Dana (fatigue) is returning to the AAA rotation this week.
-Chase Silseth may be coming back to AAA as a reliever.
-Ryan Johnson has been temporarily shut down as a workload/fatigue thing at High-A. He’s not hurt.
https://x.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1947422805848691051?t=qm0hIGTIrJicZz42SimGkg&s=19
Interesting Ryan Johnson has pitched a grand total of 69 innings between the Majors and High A appearing in 24 professional games this season. Last year he pitched 106 innings in college appearing in 16 games for DBU . I dont believe he ever pitched in instructional league as the Angels shut him down after he was drafted.
While he has pitched in way more games already then he ever did in college his total innings to date pale in comparison to his college workload. This has to be concerning this early in the season especially considering his last start where he pitched ta 104 pitch CGSO.
I am not too concerned tbh. Probably being extra careful with his arm after moving back to the rotation from the pen.
The fact that the org did the same thing with Silseth and Dana, with both returning from their “fatigue break” makes me feel good enough.
Yah. He’ll make five or six more starts and cross 100 innings.
All these people are yelling SELL , SELL !!
A small percentage are saying BUY. But almost nobody is saying stand pat.
That IS a legitimate course of action if anybody was wondering…
The reason you don’t stand pat is because that means Rengifo, Ward, Kochanowicz, Hendricks etc. come back next year (unless the contract is up, and Angels don’t renew).
And you’ll get the same results – no playoffs.
Well, for the record, I would be in favor of trading Rengifo. But definitely not Ward.
Also, I think that it is faulty logic to assume that even if the Angels miss the playoffs this season that it automatically means they will also miss them next year.
Things can change alot from year to year…. And with young players they typically improve with experience…. so it is fair to assume that our young core will be better next year; that includes Neto, Adell , Schanuel, O’Hoppe and maybe Soriano as well…
While I fully expect Suarez to go back to 25-30 HR next year, as I’ve stated before this lineup looks really nice
Neto SS
Schanuel 1B
Suarez 3B
Trout RF/DH
Ward LF
Adell CF
Soler RF/DH
O’Hoppe C
Moore 2B
That’s an elite lineup
I like it. Let’s do it.
That’s a lot of pop. Though I’d just try to sign Suarez this winter.
IF we get Suarez that would be an incredibly dangerous lineup with really NO weakness in the batting order. But even if we don’t get him I like our chances of having a pretty potent lineup anyways …
Have said it before, but I’d really prefer not to sign Suarez long-term, looking at home/road splits, prior performance in the AL West, and the age curve on 3B in their mid-30s.
In Arizona (2025): 1.036 OPS
On the road (2025): .817 OPS
In Arizona (2024): .853 OPS
On the road (2024): .730 OPS
Career in Anaheim Stadium: .233/.314/.456
Two years in AL West: .234/.327/.423
I think Suarez is having a career year, and is partly a creature of Chase Field. After a career year, the Angels will we playing probably 30M+/yr and will lose their second rounder to get a player who will soon be in decline, and likely putting up a 110 OPS+ with 25 HRs a year (if they’re fortunate to keep a 35 yo healthy).
All very good points and valid concerns. Plus when I looked him up he’s old, not jut 30. Not someone I would pay 30M a year for. But I appreciate what’s behind people considering it. A 3B that could hit in the middle of the order would address a number of needs.
I was a big booster for trading for Suarez in the offseason – based on both the underlying metrics (which I thought presaged a potentially big year), and the timing. I think his performance this year would have validated that exchange.
But I don’t expect the same performance by any means in his age 35-38 seasons in Anaheim. I don’t think he’s a unicorn like Adrian Beltre.
Trading Ward doesn’t mean he can’t be replaced by something comparable, while also improving the team in the long term.
There are a number of contending teams out there who have blocked outfielders at the moment – the Cubs are a big one.
The Cubs have a fierce lineup, but their two weak spots are LF and 3B. I’m sure they still view Matt Shaw as their long-term answer at 3B, but Happ’s contract is up the same time as Ward’s.
I could see a package that sends Ward for Owen Caissie, and maybe Happ to make it more payroll efficient. Moncada could go along in the bargain, to spell Shaw down the playoff stretch. Hell, they might even be interested in a reunion with The Professor, given recent rotation injuries.
It’s just one example – but there are “buy and sell” strategies that are possible that could send out Ward and bring back short- and long-term assets in exchange.
“Fair trade” in the sim. Not saying the Cubs jump at it, but some variant of it makes sense, since they’re completely in win-now mode, and it would give them an OF of Ward, Tucker and Crow-Armstrong for two attempts at a championship.
Just take a look at the Cubs’ AAA team – they have a full three-man OF currently blocked by the state of the MLB club. Caissie, Kevin Alcantara, Christian Franklin. If anyone can spare a projectable OF, it’s the Cubs.
Standing pat is a legitimate course. But I hope the team does not.
Naturally, need good returns and not just warm bodies.
Do we want to sign Rengifo in the off season for ~$6m/yr? Or give 2b to Moore?
Questions for FO.
Proposal I came up with after looking at others on the board:
Phillies get Taylor Ward
Angels get Mick Abel, Tanner Banks, Otto Kemp.
Abel has the skills to replace Anderson in the rotation and would already be an upgrade over Hendricks. He’s making minimum wage and will have 5 or 6 years of control.
Tanner Banks is a decent bullpen addition with 4 years of control.
Kemp is a league average bat who can move from LF to 1B and 3B.
None are world beaters, but that fills some key needs for the team and nets about $23 million in salary relief between Ward, Anderson, and Newman no longer being on the payroll. We’d still need a SS capable utility infielder.
I’d do it.
Stand Pat Stoneman would agree.
It takes a lot of optimism to think “stand pat” will get us somewhere anytime in the next few years. It would make sense if we were already going toe to toe with other play off teams, but now? Half the guys you want to stand pat with will be gone next year, unless part of the plan is also paying them. And they want to stay. Is Ward gonna become a six WAR player next year and pick up the slack? Is it possible you just aren’t that into prospects? How do you see us winning 90 games in 2027 if we stand pat?
The whole point of putting together a pile of scrap heap FAs along with Ward and Rengifo was to hope they produce, we kiss .500 and then we trade them to improve the overall org. That plan seems to be working. Why abandon it now? Where is the flaming demand for championship caliber blah blah blah?
I’ve contemplated this path as well. For now, I’m still all about selling but if the team somehow goes 7 and 2 over the next three difficult series I and gets their playoff odds to double digits, that might change.
As of now, we have a 5.6% chance at October baseball which means a 94.4% chance this is a year of improvement but not being good enough.
Tyler Anderson, Kenley Jansen, Kyle Hendricks, Yoan Moncada and Luis Rengifo are free agents at the end of the year. The bad thing is none of them have big value.
Taylor Ward has another year left, meaning his value is the highest it will be while donning this uniform.
Then there’s the possibility of trading Detmers or Adell now that they are hot.
All in all, I fully expect Arte to cash in anything of value from the farm to chase the 5.6%.
It would be a mistake to trade either Detmers or Adell. It would destroy the chemistry of the club.
Perry won’t. They are finally playing well. But from a purely transactional standpoint neither has had this much value in years.
I’ve seen some proposals on the simulator that at least made me think about it.
But with a guy like Adell if he blossoms into the All Star he’s playing like right now, you don’t want to be the guy who traded him away.
Soooo…. trade em for Bryan Reynolds and and Kyle Freeland, then sign JD Martinez right? Look out Rays. Here we come.
What a series win over the Phillies!
For today:
Sanga has faced the Angels once (2023), going 6-2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs, and lost.
For the season, he’s 7-3, with an astounding 1.39 ERA – holy cow!!
Anderson has faced Mets 6 times (while with Colorado, Pittsburgh, Dodgers, Angels), going 2-3, 2.88 ERA, 23Ks.
For the season, he’s 2-6, 4.34 ERA
It’s going to be tough game today!
Looks like Schanuel is back in lineup today.
Angels 4 games out of the last playoff spot; but, we have to leapfrog 2 other teams.
To paraphrase what that character in the movie Trading Places said: SELL, Minasian, SELL!!
Angels transactions:
•Reinstated OF Chris Taylor from injured list
•Optioned OF Gustavo Campero to Triple-A Salt Lake
CMo and Stephenson are now alone on the IL
Taylor can be Wards replacement for the remainder of the year, get it done AM/PM
In the meantime, Taylor should prevent Newman from seeing the field.
Addition by subtraction there.
Obligatory [insert Seinfeld “Newman” GIF here]
That would be Matthew Lugo, BatBeer.
I’m good with Lugo getting a long look in LF. Similar contact traits as Ward, can pop an occasional homer, and maybe better defensively?
Ward ain’t going nowhere…
with another year of control after this one, I fear that you are correct Frosty
It would be stupid. So yeah, we’ll keep him. You just don’t trade a player of Ward’s caliber when you are within sniffing distance of sniffing distance of getting your dick punched in in the play offs for one season.
And what if they catch fire? ( The team not their dicks)
Fantastic. I’ll enjoy it this year. We will still be pretty shitty down the line. Worse comes to worse we can stand pat for a couple years and then trade Neto and Adell when they got close to contract time and we’re still in 3rd place with 47 wins in July.
They are not alone P12. Rendon is still there to comfort them.
I don’t know who that is.
BA New Prospect ranking
1. Tyler Bremner
2. Christian Moore
3. Caden Dana
4. George Klassen
5. Nelson Rada
6. Ryan Johnson
7.Joswa Lugo
8.Samuel Aldegheri
9. Denzer Guzman
10. Gabriel Davalillo
11. Johnny Slawinski
12. Barrett Kent
13. Trey Gregory-Alford
14. Chase Shores
15. Chris Cortez
16. Sam Bachman
17. Matthew Lugo
18. Dylan Jordan
19. Nate Snead
20. Talon Haley
21. Jose Fermin
22. Walbert Urena
23. Juan Flores
24. Jake Eder
25. Joel Hurtado
26. CJ Gray
27. Isaiah Jackson
28. Sammy Natera
29. Hayden Alvarez
30. Luke LaCourse
Well. Better than it was. But realistically still not good at all. That’s a lot of pitching.
21 of 30 pitchers, and 19 of top 26.
I’m surprised Munroe didn’t crack the top 30. He’s not the next coming of Brooks Robinson but that’s also not a great top 30.
Or Alford the Big Red Dog.
He was an unranked guy who doesn’t have the traditional power of a 3B, and many expect him to slide to first eventually, where his limited pop would make him a reserve at best.
Likewise, Alford. Senior sign who didn’t make the BA Top 500. We focus on these guys because positional depth on the farm is so very thin, but they wouldnt be top 30 guys in any other farm.
Yeah, I was looking more at the bottom of that list than Munroe himself.
But when you have the worst rated farm system in baseball, shouldn’t each of your top 4 or 5 picks make the top 30 list? I mean, if you make good picks.
@16_Bachman…smh. I might be mistaken and I’m sure the folks here will correct me, Sammy is the only player in the BBA Top 30 Angel prospects from the fabled twenty arm ALL pitching draft of 2021? Perry should be hung up by his short hairs.
Samy’s actually from the far more successful 2022 Neto draft class – Minasian’s one solid draft class to date. Four of those guys have touched the Majors (though Neto is the only one who has made a definitive impact), and two more are likely to as relievers: Southard and Natera Jr.
Way too early to assess ’24-25 classes, but 2021 and 2023 look like duds to date.
Yes that is true for the Angels but I believe Ky Bush (dealt away with Quero for Giolitto & Lopez) is still the no. 20 prospect for the White Sox organization which is pretty stacked. Mason Albright (who was dealt away to the Rockies in the Grichuk/C J Cron deal), was no. 20 for them last year but may have fallen out of the top 30 this year.
Eeeek, Ky down to no. 20? Maybe not that bad as the White Sox have been purging the roster in lieu of acquiring prospects.
KY is recovering from TJ, so that alone accounts for the fall in the rankings.
Not a very impressive improvement after having the 2nd pick in the draft.
Surplus of high-risk high-reward pitchers. I really like it lol
Man, sbnation has gone to shit.
Silver, Screen and Roll…just fine. Luuuuuukaaaa!
Yeah, I spend some time on that site during the season… Not so much in the off-season…
Here’s a scouting page on the last of the seven HS hurlers we drafted, Cole Raymond. Can dial the fb up to 95 and has a “gyro” breaking ball, per them…
https://www.perfectgame.org/players/playerprofile.aspx?ID=1298491
Turrible.
Mookie Betts entered Monday sporting a .240 batting average (ranking 120th out of 158 qualified MLB hitters) and a .684 OPS (132nd). Can he turn it around or do the Doyers have a Mike Trout contract on their hands?
It’s odd because his K rate is solid.
Either weak contact or historically bad BIBIP.
Or just another guy in his 30s regressing.
Verlander?
He is 0-8 in SF – yikes
Yes. But smokin hot wife.
IDK. she’s starting to get a little chunky for my taste.
It’s expected for someone in his 40s on a one year contract. I think most people are surprised how bad Betts is and how much money he’s owed.
Kendricks has been better. Angels front office must be smarter 😅😅
in the last 2 years, he has a WAR of (-)0.3 and (-)0.7
While making nearly $40M
0-8 in a pitchers park, time to hang up the cleats
Not according to his brother Ben and hes naturally objective.
Mookie is playing out of position and at SS, the hardest of all positions. He was the best RF in the game prior, so if the Dodgers are so smart, why are Seager and Turner gone especially when money means so little to them. Put Mookie back in RF and then watch what he does.
They had prospects bust out at SS. It hurts a team when that happens. Just ask our pitching staff from the last 10 years.
Or ask DMac or 3Wood
Sure. Meantime he is not very good.
The way the Doyers and MookieBetts.com explain it, he just wanted a new challenge. The game is so F’ing easy for them and all we do is win…. So, I need to be stimulated……said the “Doyer juice’ed” up little fella. They don’t chase wins, the wins chase them….. and of course Fred Freeman will never regress, he’s the MLB’s Tom Brady.
Essentially, it was a strategic move by the Dodgers to optimize their roster, combined with Betts’ personal drive to embrace a new challenge and contribute to the team’s success in a new role.
I know BS when I smell it!
Sounds like something a middling software company says in reporting week.
Betts broke into pro ball as a SS and also played 2nd. I don’t think where he is playing has anything to do with it.
Made me look at his savant page (I love this site).
He’s not that old so I’d bet he’s due to catch fire a bit at some point and start squaring some balls up.
No, Mookie is still lethal
We shall see.
There are only 7 players (that qualify) between both leagues that are currently batting .300+.
I sometimes deride the obsession some have for velocity but, with more pitchers throwing harder now than in previous decades, there probably is some correlation between lower batting averages & harder throwing pitchers.
Used to be 9 so it’s dropping. It’s 1968 all over again.
Velocity certainly plays a big part of it. Also, in today’s game, batters have to face 4-5 arms a night now, everyone comes in throwing gas at different release points and arm angels.
Pitch type seems nastier now in today’s game. Now you have splitters, sinkers, cutters…with velocity.
Would like to see the MLB average velocity of a pitch overlapped on MLB batting average. All kinds of metrics to play around with.
Emmanuel Clase. Who the F throws a 99 MPH cutter? That’s not fair.
Time to move the mound back to say 62 feet and watch averages start to go up. Athletes in all sports are vastly better than fifty years ago including pitchers. Manfraud should seriously look into changing the mound distance. Against 100 mph FB’s who can hit .300 any longer. I doubt that Cobb or Williams or Carew could.
I think Carew or Gwynn could. As long as contracts are based on HRs this will continue to happen. Aranda is hitting .320 with 11 HRs. Schnauel has little power but a decent average. Batters need to change their approaches and be rewarded for it.
Dude. I love Aranda.
I love Aranda, too. I’m saying there’s room for guys like that in the game. I don’t mind Schnauel.
No need to move it back, just lower it again. Make it nearly flat. Be like Little League out in the mid west. Kids pitching from the flat.
You think TJ surgeries are common now? Lower it 2″, we will see pitchers arms breaking off and taking flight. Umpires will need to decide if getting hit by an arm counts as a HBP.
Seeing & mostly hearing Dravecky‘s arm break while pitching is still one of the most gruesome things I’ve ever witnessed and I only saw it on TV.
That was pretty gross.
Actually, what freaked me out was seeing a hard dick like Will Clark look like he was gonna bust out crying. I was really young and knew a lot about Clark so it was really scary seeing him look like that.
Not sure about a cutter but I know a pitcher who can throw a 100 MPH sinker. That would be our 2025 2nd round draft choice Chase Shores.
I think the bullpen use plays a big part too. Guys used to get 4 or 5 at bats against the same pitcher every game. Now they get 2 or 3 and managers will often use a reliever specifically for a star player.
We all know in baseball you do the bulk of your damage against the bottom feeders. Take Ted Williams and put him into today’s game and instead of going 3 for 5 against a 4th starter, he’d go 2 for 3 then see two lefty specialists in the later innings.
The ACL Angels are playoff bound. Four games left – they’re Central Division champs.
But I was told that all of the Angels affiliate teams are the worstiest
Our DSL and ACL teams kick ass lol
Shores and Munroe are listed on the ACL Roster as ‘Not Reported Yet’. Interesting to see them listed here now.
Last year’s DSL team was exceptional. This year’s DSL team is 17-18.
It doesn’t feature the pitching strength that last year’s club did.
The ACL isn’t a full team affiliate – it’s a short season developmental league, and a lot of rehabbing players also moonlight there. This past week’s lineup has seen a lot of Teodosio and Drury, for example.
The full season affiliates actually are pretty worsy, unfortunately.
Denzer Guzman in his last 21 games (AA):
72 AB
.306 / .433 / .639
10 doubles
1 triple
4 HRs
16 RBIs
16 Ks : 14 BBs
Raised his season averages to:
.238 / .333 / .427
22 doubles
11 HRs
49 RBIs
7 SB (70% success rate)
23.3% K rate
11.2% BB rate
Guzman doesn’t turn 22 until February. 📈📈📈
The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.
https://flic.kr/p/2qLUapP
Good. I have no idea if he can field, but still good. So he’s 21 years old and is having his career best OPS in a neutral setting against what’s probably the toughest mix of pitchers he’ll see in the minors. That’s encouraging.
Watching Rada and Guzman improve in their 2nd season of AA after getting their heads bashed in last year means something.
It definitely does. Those two shouldn’t have been rushed to AA last year.
But can he pitch?
I do hope Ward reaches his personal bests with the Angels before he gets traded (yes, sure, IF). But he’s certainly helping out Perry by being streaky hot at the right time.
Hope Mike reaches his milestones as well soon enough, and he gets near 40 HRs before the season is over.
Jo already reaching a career-best 21 HRs with some more games to go. I think understated in his development this year is that he doesn’t have to look over his shoulder that he will be replaced or benched anytime he scuffles. No more Moniak, no Paris, and Trout DH’ing full-time has helped a lot in his growth. He’s not afraid that an 0-fer in a series would get him benched. And thus he can relax more and focus on his game.
I think Washington’s “You’re gonna start in RF no matter what so get comfortable” plan last year really turned him on. I looked last week, I’d forgotten that he’d actually started hitting fairly well at the end of last year. So other than his struggle for six weeks to start the season he’s been pretty good for a while now.
Stupid Wash.
You forgot my entire article about Jo hitting better the second half of the season? How dare you!!
I’m a flibbertygibet
One of my personal favorites.
Underrated as fk.
I think you (and so many other of the ignorant and short-sighted crowd) are going to be very disappointed when the trade deadline comes and goes and Ward is still an Angel.
Because I don’t think he’s going to be traded. Nor do I think he should be traded, or should I say “given away” to an MSM darling for essentially pennies on the dollar.
The buttercups have been fertilized and watered all spring and summer. They are nearly in full bloom now. Perry will be a buyer at the trade deadline.
I REALLY hope he’s not a true BUYER. You know, the trade prospects for a rental player type buyer. If he got a guy with a long contract that we want for several years in a salary dump I’d be annoyed still, but I could at least see the logic.
I mean, there’s a “crazy Ivan” where he extends Rengifo, Ward and trades for a longer contract off of a loser team and that’s how he stacks up our line up for the next few seasons.
Don’t love it. Doesn’t bode well for paying guys like Neto and Adell. But it could happen. Or maybe they do some crazy move like take Eduardo Rodriguez off the D Backs but also land Jake McCarthy and a prospect?
Stuff. It can happen.
I think if we don’t trade guys it will be because the trades weren’t there. Or because we went on a big run here over the next ten games. And yes. That can totally happen. Like last season. There were guys we would have traded but they got hurt and/or sucked heading into the deadline. So a lot of trades didn’t happen.
I’m not sure why you’re hung up on trading Ward for pennies on the dollar. He’s gonna get more expensive after next year. When you trade a guy you don’t have to pay him and that’s a good thing. Keeping him or any other player with a solid trade on the table means our farm still sucks. We keep him and we are basically as good in 2027 as we are now. But he’s older. Guys with less than a year left on contracts even more so.
Not sure what’s ignorant or short sited about looking at Ward, his age, his salary, our roster, our farm and thinking we should trade him for prospects. As apposed to, I don’t know, holding onto Estevez last year, holding onto everyone this year (other than that sad and childlike list of guys you’re willing to trade that no team wants) and hoping position prospects will just spring from the fertile soil for us within the next two years. That’s informed and visionary?
Progress generally requires sacrifice.
Progress requires making smart decisions, not dumb decisions.
Trading Ward for 2-3 low graded prospects (which is what the Angels would likely get if they make that dumb move) is not smart. They are a team moving upwards, with an upwards trajectory. And Ward is a big part of that.
Plus, he is still under team control for next season. Furthermore, he has SAID he wants to stay here, so your typical complaint about losing a guy for nothing does not apply in this case.
Do we want to pay him to stay here or get some prospects for him? Likely some fairly good prospects, not total trash, as he does have some trade value right now? Then spend the money we would have spent on Ward on a different 3 WAR player down the line? Which is better for the 2028 Angels?
See, Ward has value. That’s true. But we need to parlay his value (along with anyone else we can trade) into MORE players with some value. Otherwise we kind of just have what we have.
Why do you assume that trading Ward, who has stayed healthy, has decent power numbers the entire season, and who’s still under contract for one year would only get “low-graded prospects”, but someone like Moncada, who, while decent WHEN playing, cannot stay healthy and on the field to save his life would net a good prospect from the Yankees just because they need a 3B?!
Moncada has value…. but damn, he even pulled up a little lame running the bases Saturday. Not sure who’s betting their play off chances on that…. but if someone does, great.
I never said Moncada would yield a “good” prospect. Please don’t put words in my mouth…
Even though he might not, I would trade him just because I don’t feel he is a good clubhouse guy or chemistry guy… I’d just try to get the best deal possible and get him off the squad… He does have power so people will want him…
Fair enough, but still, why do you assume that Ward will not fetch decent enough prospects?
I think some people just don’t understand how prospects work. Some 45 grade prospects get better. Some 50 grade prospects become 40 grade. Most prospects fail.
To these people this means it is never worth trading for prospects unless it’s Konnor Griffin. And even then it’s stupid.
These people don’t really understand how important it is to get 5 prospects in hopes of filling 2 spots on the roster at league minimum. They say they do. But they don’t.
They also don’t like data, scouting reports, or simulators that will tell you what a player is actually generally worth so that you can get a sense of if keeping a player just keeps you in a more expensive rut.
These people DO complain a lot when an FO doesn’t use these tools to avoid being stuck in an expensive rut though. They complain like a stabbed fashion influencer.
“Most prospects fail.”
You said it right here yourself…
And I have explained myself ad nauseum on this topic… but I will do it YET AGAIN …;
In the majority of cases the team trading the established player or players for prospects LOSES THE TRADE.
This is especially true if the established player is an All Star caliber player.
So, we won that trade with the White Sux losing Quero for established star(s). I disagree with you. Do all MLB draft all their line ups and turn everyone into established stars. Trades come in all shapes and sizes and colors. Some are even, some lean a little good or a little bad and some are lopsided and depend on needs.
Of course anybody can cherry pick a few times where trading the established star for prospects (sometimes the star in question gets injured for instance) worked out for the team getting the unproven guy/s.
But I stand by my statement…. I can find ALOT more cases where the team receiving the star or establishd player wins the trade.
Can you name a pile of sub-500 teams that held onto their stars all the time and started winning the pennant for a few years? the only team I can think of is the Cardinals…. sort of…
If Ward gets moved, I might prefer an under the radar player in return that has proven that he can, at minimum, be a league average player – along with a few years of control.
Plus a lottery ticket on a lower rated minor leaguer.
That would seem to both sides.
Ward has 23 HR’s and over 70 RBI’s. There are plenty of playoff bound teams that can use that type of production.
Yeah, and WE can use that type of production !!! And he is already ours, lol.
I stated IF.
IF he gets moved, I laid out a scenario that makes sense for the Angels.
Not true that nobody wants guys from my “to trade” list. It is not a “childlike” list… The Yankees need a 3B man and they as well as a couple other teams have expressed interest in Moncada.
And we should trade him if anyone wants him and will give us some solid prospects for him. And Ward. And Rengifo. And Anderson. And DeArnaud. And Soler. And Trout. And Newman. And Kendrick. And Jansen. And Zeferjahn. And the Gene Autry statue.
Wait, no way. We need to keep the Autry statue.
😂
I’d take this seriously if you weren’t so wrong on the majority of the predictions you make on this site. Keep throwing shit at the wall JF, you’re bound to keep hitting on about 15% of them.
This is ignorant and short sited.
I was being theatrical
Does that mean ignorant and short sited? I am too stupid.
Its my low hanging cop out for when something I predicted turns out to be completely wrong.
Lol. You must not read many posts here because I am sure not wrong on the “majority” of my predictions here.
I will be sure to remind you of that fact when Ward doesn’t get traded.
BTW; last season I said Ward wouldn’t get traded when everybody was calling for it. I was right about that.
Can’t be wrong when you’re always right 🧠💪
Nobody is right all the time… and I have been wrong too. I was wrong about Kenley in my preseason prediction…. But I have also been right a helluva lot, for instance every game of the recent Toronto series where I predicted a loss each game, and to add I also said HOW we would lose in two of those games…. So I was right at least five times right there !
Well. I’ll hand it to you. No one give a shit about being right and letting us know about it as much as you do.
Coming from you, the guy who has never admitted he was wrong.
Bro. One of the longest running jokes is that I can’t pick relief pitchers or draft picks to save a kitten from the fire.
Oh cool, you have to go back a year to find a correct prediction. VERY impressive, JF.
You also claimed just 2 weeks ago that the Halos would never average 5 runs a game in the recent series against Texas (they scored 22 runs in 4 games for a 5.5 run average). You even admonished another for “having the gall” to suggest they could, which was really weird of you. You also claimed strongly that the Texas coaching staff strategically setup their rotation weeks prior just so they could face the Halos. Which, again, was just plain weird.
See my post above…. since you seem to want to cherry pick those things that support your claim and ignore everything else…
not cherry picking, just highlighting a recent example that stands out because of how mean you were to another commentor for absolutely no reason other than you disagreeing with them.
Just disagreeing doesn’t automatically make it “mean.”
Correct, you can disagree all day long without being a dick on top. For instance, lets scroll up a bit in this very thread….
“I think you (and so many other of the ignorant and short-sighted crowd)….”
Was it necessary to call others ignorant and shortsighted for wanting the Halos to trade older players for younger prospects in the hopes of building a better team in the coming years (some would even argue they’re being the opposite of short-sighted)? You can disagree with people while still being respectful.
I think he just doesn’t understand how to engage in conjecture. How to start a sentence with “I think” or “I bet” or “I won’t be surprised”. Or how to not give a shit if he’s wrong or right.
He’s a lot of fun if you let yourself enjoy him.
You realize saying we need to trade Ward and saying he will definitely be traded are two very different things? Sort of like declaring you are always right and actually always being right.
I completely understand the difference. But I strongly disagree that we HAVE to trade Ward. For what were are likely to get in return it would be idiotic.
Especially since Ward wants to stay here and he is one of the more productive middle of the order bats in the League.
But you don’t know what we will get in return. Do we even know Ward wants to stay here? What, did he say after a big win months ago “I like it here”? Does he like it here at 10M a year? Have you looked at Fangraphs? Or anything? Is he really one of the most productive middle of the order bats? With a 116 OPS+ he doesn’t suck, but he’s not even killing it amongst LF.
I’m not saying he sucks. I’m not saying it’s horrible to keep him. I am saying that someone of his value or better needs to be traded if we want to have any prospects in the system soon.
Unless having a farm system doesn’t matter now. But the opposite way of doing things? Who has pulled that off?
Besides the fact you are ranting about how you will be “right” when they don’t trade Ward. I’d say you’re “right” if Ward has a .950 OPS and we make the play offs next year. Not just because Ward is still on the roster for any number of reasons.
WC race
NYY (55-44) — @ TOR
SEA (53-46) — vs. MIL
BOS (54-47) — @ PHI
TB (52-48) — vs. CWS
TEX (50-50) — @ SAC
LAA (49-50) — @ NYM
CLE (48-50) — vs. BAL
MIN (48-51) – @ LAD
KC (48-52) – @ CHC
Been a while since scoreboard watching in July. Time to make our move.
Well, we were scoreboard watching in July just as recently as 2023, because, you know…
Just teasing you P12!
2 years is a long time too haha!
Once they get over that .500 bump I think they go on a run and get into a wc spot sooner than later. No kochan losing every 5th day should help.
I’m thinking and hoping for same.
Once they get a game over .500, they go on a bender and reel off 8 wins in a row.
Moreso than simply removing Silent C, we desperately need TA and Hendricks to deal.
Kikuchi and Sori set the tone. Can’t let up now
AAA Salt Lake lost, 3-1 yesterday
Jack Kochanowicz: 5IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 4BB, 4K
It’s the walk rate that I want to see improve. If he’s going to succeed as a sinkerballer, he needs to command the lower zone, otherwise we’ll just repeat old mistakes.
Lots of walks + terrible defense is a shit recipe for a pitch-to-contact guy who puts balls in play.
Exactly. His sinker has been pummeled all season when it’s been left up in the zone. The excessive amount of walks can’t happen for Silent C to find success in the majors.
Soriano was effective last night because he stayed down with the sinker. Sori has been hit hard too when he’s missed location.
He also gives up a fair amount of homers. Couple that with a high walk rate and you have problems.
New York City?
https://youtu.be/1S828Y7Eais?si=mPaIIWjDVJei68Sw
…get a Hope.
Rope?
SELL BABY SELL, GET US MORE YUT’S!
JGO
Jansen and Gif Only
Why stop there? We can get to the WS in ’27 or ’28 and keep winning after that.
How is that gonna happen when the accepted narrative here is we can’t develop players?
Are you all just hoping the players get better despite being in the Angels system?
We are allowed to enjoy winning. Let’s see where the team stands after the next 10 games
I would predict .500 +\- 2 games.
Yeah, exactly. What about if we’re just about where we are now? Cause that looks like what will happen.
Exactly.
Please point out where I said we should be losers. What will we do this year when we finish at 82-80 and not make trades to help the future? I was already to trade Ohtani with a year and a half left on his contract and that might have been enough to be serious contenders this season. Winning is fun, but really winning a lot within the next few years is important also. How do teams turn it around from flounders to WS Series winners, by building teams with youth that has potential and chemistry. How do we achieve this, by being sellers. Rengifo was worth a lot more last off season than now, Ward is at top of his value now, Jansen, too. Anderson and Hendricks won’t bring much in return, so hold on if PTP wants, but losing sucks and we should know after eleven seasons of it, winners know how to build teams, not get excited and stop trading and building because they are close to .500.
I’m not 100% sold on the idea that the wheels will just fall off if we trade some guys. We won’t be better, we may get worse, but I think the young core keeps pushing along with Trout. We call up some hungry kids. We don’t have to go on a huge skid…. though we might.
But it’s not impossible for the team to battle for .500 still even after we trade important guys like Ward and Jansen. And Anderson. And Travis. And Rengifo if anyone wants him….. and Hendricks.
And Soler.
This team may finish at .500 if nothing is changed, so if that is the goal we are not going to improve must down the road. We really need to focus on 90-100 wins and then take our chances, not on making the playoffs with a team that gets through a round and pats it’s self on the back for getting to the playoffs. If we were to make the PO’s in ’27, Jansen, Hendricks, Anderson, even Ward, Rengifo will be 2 years older and may not be as good as now, so being sellers now rather than standing pat makes sense, imho.
Fair points, GB. I actually lean towards selling in this moment as well, but am taking a more guarded approach.
As much as Ward annoys the living shit out of me, there’s a legitimate argument to extend him. We have no viable OF prospects and Ward is a good MLB hitter.
If we fall apart in the next ten games you will get your wish. If we go 6-4ish, get ready to type a few dozens angry posts because Perry will be buying.
Losing Ward would hurt.After Zach, he has been the most productive Angel after 99 games.
Losing Soler (-0.4) and Giffy (-0.9) wouldn’t hurt, it might help. Both have negative bWAR
Losing Jansen I don’t think would hurt much because bullpen depth is enough, but I’d be happy to keep him too.
Yeah. But saying “trade Soler and Rengifo…. and Moncada… for prospects to help us grow” is like me saying “bring me Sydney Sweeney to love me!”
Sure, we can declare that those things are Ok with us, but they won’t actually happen.
I’m not suggesting we can reap anything at all from them, just that the world won’t end if we send them down the road.
There is a definite chance they try to extend Ward. In terms of stat value he is about the same as Wyatt Langford, Victor Scott Jr, Lawrence Butler, Jung Hoo Lee… all guys I’d be happy to have. But also all guys who are not being paid much right now.
But it wouldn’t be a soul crushing screw up to extend him. What will suck is to not trade him for prospects we need and then also have him leave for some other team.
CtPG Guy loves to assume all pending free agents are just full of boner when it comes to getting an extension from us. It’s not the case at all.
Good morning, Halo faithful, GPB wishing you another great week of Summer of ’25 and just a reminder of Go Angels! 😊 💫 ⚾
