The Angels released LaMonte Wade Jr. The Phillies released outfielder Oscar Mercado. The Astros released Omar Narvaez. The White Sox released Noah Syndergaard and Penn Murfee.
The Brewers just placed Jacob Misioroski on the 15 day injured list. Patrick Sandoval probably won’t recover from his internal brace procedure in time to pitch in 2025.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Dumb idea of the day:
We have Travis at catcher next year. Sign James McCann or Jake Stallings to split with him. Maybe another Chucky type in the minors.
Sign Harrison Bader or Cedric Mullins for three years.
Move O’Hoppe to 3B/LF. He won’t have a ton of range, but he is young and floppy still. Not super super slow. Has a solid arm. Start teaching him 3B now and see if he can survive over there. Same with LF.
Play Pareza all over, but a lot at 3B. Play O’hoppe 3B/LF.
Move Adell/Trout/Ward/Bader/O’hoppe through OF and DH
Too bad the Angel front office doesn’t have internet access. They could research how to fix Trout’s knee with Tommy Cadaver Surgery. Go Bruins! Free Dr Nick !
Understanding Meniscal Transplant Surgery at UCLA
Meniscal transplant surgery is done to replace a small piece of missing or damaged cartilage in the knee. It’s replaced with one from a cadaver donor.
https://uclahealthib.staywellsolutionsonline.com/RelatedItems/3,90411
You mean they’d take cartilage from Rendon and implant it into Trout?
I know there are some math/stats guys around here. Not just baseball stats, but stats in general. I have wondered, and am now wondering if the following is possible.
Is there are a way to:
1) Use the “average” value of pitchers and position players.
2) Determine the average value of the players a manager can possibly use in a given situation. Then handicap all of those decisions based on how good/bad the managers options are.
3) Then look at all of the decisions a manager makes in a year. Who he plays when against which pitchers. Who he has pinch hit in a given situation. Who and when he brings guys in from the pen or leaves starters in.
4) factor in things like closers having been used twice the games before, or a usually solid hitters poor performance against a particular arm. You know, the stuff managers have to think of.
And then get basically a baseline good/bad result for all of those statistically similar decision situations for all the managers in baseball. Which would then show us which managers are making the best decisions regardless of how good the roster he is choosing from is? So a manager on a bad team, when having his decision value adjusted for what he has at his disposal, may actually make fewer “bad” decisions than Dave Roberts and his pile of talent?
An example being that we have to bring in Zeferjahn in the 7th a lot while some teams bring in a guy with a 0.980 WHIP. The robot handicaps that so that those 7th inning with similar score differences and similar line ups coming to bat can be measured over and over to see who is the better manager all things being equal. I know that’s a ton of stats and math for 30 teams. Can that be done?
My guess is that gambling sites with in game betting get close to this at least….
Hmmm.
Turk’s would be the man here.
I’m thinking we can find expected probabilities of a hitter vs. a pitcher based on handedness with a dash of previous experience. Let’s say a guy has a 110 wRC+ against lefties and the alternative has a 90.
Or a reliever with splits being brought in to face a certain part of the order. I remember Kevin Jepsen always struggled vs. lefties but Sosh would use him in the 8th inning even if 3 lefties were due up.
This would be a herculean task. Gambling sites obviously have a lot of the predictive modeling done, but being able to compare the likely outcome vs. those of others would be cool.
Yeah, I don’t expect anyone to do it here…. I’m just wondering if it’s even possible. Like, are the Doyers out there creating the ultimate manager measuring software?
Our Dominican Summer League team has won 8 in a row. Now 26-19.
Let’s sweep the ACL and DSL 🔥
The kids. So hot right now.
We are gonna own the 2030s. Question is will any of us be alive to see it
Space crabs kill all us.
Once the exhilaration of that game-winning 3-run HR wears off, the reality is the White Sox dominated the Angels in this series, except for 6th, 7th and 9th inning of game 3.
So, after 10 games of this 13-game homestand, we’re 5-5.
10 games shaved off the schedule, and we’re no closer to the playoffs than when the homestand started.
For today’s game:
Houser – while he’s a 9-yr veteran, I couldn’t find any stats of him facing the Angels.
For the season, he’s 6-2, ERA 2.10
Kikuchi has faced the Rays 12 times, going 6-2, ERA 3.47
For the season, he’s 4-7. ERA 3.30
Glad to see Moore back in the majors!
Greatest post game meltdown ever.
I think he has another one that rivals it when questioned by a sportswriter.
Go Colts!
I saw the score and wrote off the game but tuned back in just time to hear Wardy go yard. It would have been interesting to read the game thread comments go from gloom and doom to elation.
Here’s a summary of that game’s thread comments:
Oh no, we suck!! Should’ve traded everybody! Angels suck!Yes, we won! Just need a 5-10 game winning streak and we’re right there in the hunt for the playoffs! Angels rock!
Yep – we are the cesspool. Crazy cesspool.
schiz·o·phre·ni·a
/ˌskitsəˈfrēnēə,ˌskitsəˈfrenēə/
noun: schizophrenia
Mercado is better than 2 of the 3 guys we had starting in the outfield on Saturday night.
yes he is.
the more perplexing question is if Matt Lugo is better than 2 of the 3 guys we had starting in the outfield.
maybe. maybe not. another thing I wonder about is why he isn’t playing meaningful games in Anaheim now.
good question
My question has become WTF does “meaningful” mean now.
It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is….
All I know is I have yet to find the woman who agrees that if I get a blewy from a college girl that works for me it’s not actually sex so it’s cool.
But apparently, in the late 90s, they were thick on the ground and I missed it.
And we have to cap this discussion now.
Although I’m absolutely dying to make some off colored jokes here.
Why do you hate blow jobs?
I don’t think that’s the concern here.
Am I missing something?
Back in the 90’s, in my yute….. I’d sometimes need to distract myself, and I’d think about baseball stats and other baseball activities.
Tony Gwynn could’ve gone 0-for-1199 at the end of his career and still retired as a .300 hitter. Think about that for a minute. Absorb it.
https://x.com/Super70sSports/status/1952345078648696974
Today in 1993, Robin Ventura fucked around and Nolan Ryan served him a combo platter of the “find out” daily special …
Equal rights for blowies. Equal rights for blowies !!!
Give me blowies or give me death !!!
I’m sorry Jeff. I’m really, really sorry.
You called?
Rewatched Animal House last week. Never gets old.
My fraternity was the crazy one on campus and got its charter pulled.
Is Mis now on TJS watch?!
Who?
Jacob Misiorowski
a left tibia contusion
Just to help here…. that’s his shin. He bruised his leg badly.
When I was pre-med, the shin bone was connected to the ulnar ligaments.
Oh well, you learn something new every day.
We scientist just call those the leg stretchies now.
I am just wondering why the Halos don’t cast of flotsam and release Rendone.
I believe the answer is they want him to dangle and still have to communicate with the Halos org. I predict he is cut right before the season starts, after he reports to ’26 ST and looks as bad as we all believe he is at this point.
(Heavy sigh)
As of right now it’s not hurting the team to keep him on the IL.
The money is spent.
They are holding out hope he can help the team next season.
Wouldn’t it be funny if he *did* help in ‘26?
2026 World Series incoming?
It would be great. And the bar is pretty low.
By WAR, Rengifo is at -0.3, Newman is -0.7, and the new kid is -0.2. The first two are from FG, the last BBREF.
Moncada is 0.3 due to his 8 home runs but has negative defensive grades and has only played 46 games at third.
A 1 WAR season in which he plays 90ish games would actually be a boon to this team.
The 2026 Angel 3B is quite the mystery – there is pretty much no one right now. Alford & Munroe likely won’t be anywhere near ready.
Peraza is the most likely I guess right now. If he can start hitting, this could work.
In looking at the free agent list, third base is a very thin pool.
I do think there’s a decent pitching staff to be had without going insane. Civale and Getz won’t cost a ton, then snag a May or Soroka.
Bullpen arms are aplenty.
But the bats on the market are pretty bad. I’d love to have IKF and Peraza as the two utility guys.
Would we root for Bregman? Suarez will get paid, too, but on a shorter deal because he’s older.
Not only the FA list but all throughout the league. 3rd is sparse with talent. For me, I’d snag a player who can 1. play GG defense and 2. hope for offensive output. I was kind of monitoring Ke’Bryan Hays before the Reds snagged him, great glove but is struggling with the bat after early success.
KeBryan Hays hitting is a lost pyramid level mystery. How can he still suck so much? Pirates fans no longer need to care.
If the Angels cannot acquire a 3rd baseman that can hit above .250, go get a slick fielding fielder who can pick it. Help the pitchers. Rengifo is really bad and Moncada is not ay better.
Peraza is a slick fielding third baseman who can’t hit a lick. So that’s covered.
That’s what is being reported but I’m not buying it. He came up as a SS. A few sporadic games at 3rd won’t carve out any definition that his glove can be counted on. Perry thinks he caught lightning in a bottle with Peraza. I do not.
Hays won a GG while with the Pirates. Francona and the Reds wanted to bolster their defense behind the pitchers, so he was picked up for donuts and is under team control until 2030. Back to back years of 3+WAR, ’22 and ’23. I’d feel much better rolling with Hays than anyone on the Angel roster.
Okay, according to his Baseball Ref page Peraza has spent 172 innings at SS, 205 innings at 2B and over 600 innings at 3B for his MLB career. He also shows a positive defense rating at 3B while neutral or a little less than neutral at the other positions. Sounds like sporadic isn’t the proper word here.
Advantage: Born in 59.
Yup. I think if they give him the “adell treatment” and just tell him he’s 3B is 2026 there is a chance it works out. By which I mean solid defense that doesn’t hurt us and maybe even a .700 OPS to go with it.
That would be quite an improvement. I wonder if the team could get Chone Figgins to work with him.
Might as well start that experiment now. We know what Moncada is and that he’ll be available next year if we want to re-sign him.
Give the kid a couple of months to get comfortable and see what happens.
It wouldn’t be pretty, but with a lack of depth in the minors, giving Peraza that chance might be the best option. Of course, we’ll hear “Bring Back Moncada” after every miscue.
Peraza has the defensive chops, but that value is heavily diminished when he has a bat in his hand. This team already has too many sketchy bats with only 2 players hitting above .250, most are hovering around or below the Mendoza line, some, like Peraza, are far, far below the Mendoza line.
Seeing this list has done one thing – made me a huge Oswaldo fan.
So we will definitely need to wait for a clean Slate.
I don’t see “Clean Slate” in the farm system?
I want him to get cut, then get paid mostly by us to crush balls for the Pirates or something. If anyone deserves to fk over CtPG Guy it’s Rendon.
There’s no upside to cutting him right now, other than making guys like you pump your fist.
plus he’d pull a Pujols and be NL Player of the Year in 2026.
Upside would be to cut him in the off-season when they have to put him on the 40 man roster
Yup. Not sure how he survives cut day 1 unless he’s in Tempe in Feb doing gymnastics and crushing baseballs 450ft.
More Rendon talk I see. Amazes me that some even think about Rendon. The organization should levy a fine for anyone mentioning his name, he is dead to this franchise.
He can play on August 1 next year, since that date does not exist.
Earlier in the week, you were referenced as someone mentioned the 13 year anniversary of the game that did not happen. I noted that my Google Calendar for that year (2012) went from July 31 to August 2 with no August 1st. We then issued a calling Red Floyd…..!
He can’t. It would “gut the lineup”.
Was at the meetup Saturday. Had a great time at a truly sucky game. I do want to mention that with the fact that Pope Leo is a Chisox fan, there were a couple of people in orange priestly vestments and big white pope hats on the corner of State College and Orangewood blessing traffic. Between that and meeting LanaBanana I can now officially die happy.
Was great hanging out with you.
So we just lost two out of three “meaningful” games to an awful CWS team. This team is in sub-purgatory and will continue to be there as long as these Two Stooges are running the store.
I agree with your main point re the Org but don’t quite understand getting so upset. This team isn’t a playoff team as built so why get too up or down with it? The wins are fine, the losses okay – it’s not worth the energy expenditure. Not sure why folks are still emotionally invested given the Organizational realities.
Mainly because I’m old and would like to see kind of progress toward getting better in my lifetime. But you’re right, in the bigger picture, none of this means anything.😀
Five gams better than last year at this point in the season.
Feels like more than five better, as I feel better when we are chasing a lead. We got a chance to compete in 2026, but Frick & Frack at the helm of the Halos will probably goof it up proper.
Team was 49-63 at this point last year and finished a brutal 14-36.
It’s gonna take a lot of magic to get the Angels to be better than any of the play off teams next year… and the Rays, Royals and Guardindians will also likely be better. And the A’s if they can find like two 4.00 ERA starters.
Magic can totally happen. But there’s no reason to think we’ll be much better in 2026.
Perry whiffed on Soler and Moncada
Mike’s knees hopefully will be better
The core kids continue to get better
Main thing is addition by subtraction of useless vets, plus the kids keep developing.
Yup. If the kids I already love get even better and Pereza and CMo suddenly become 2 WAR guys…. even if we get stuck with something like Soler in the OF, we’ll have an OK line up.
Pitching….. ehhhhhhhhhh…..
But won’t Perry have to sign more useless vets to fill out the team next year? Or are you thinking he’ll just mass promote from the farm? Either way, I don’t see much addition on the horizon.
I wish we could just mass promote from the farm like the Twins. It could be a disaster, but an educational one. Either way it will probably jump start the Twins rebuild by a year or two.
You’d need a few position prospects to do that though and you just don’t give up six months of the explosive production of Ward or eight weeks of the greasy veteran grit of Jansen on a sub-.500 team for prospects who aren’t 100% sure to be stars.
I can’t remember if Arte told me that or a bunch of guys here on CtPG. They were all basically saying the same thing.
Not much on the farm to promote, so there will be some FA signings.
As constructed this team cannot compete in 2026. Hoping for reincarnation is the way we’ll see this org compete in our lifetime.
Disagree on a couple of points here Fan. While I do concur that the team is not a playoff team right now, it is not for the reasons you stated. It is not primarily because of a lack of talent, but rather the piss poor leadership, both in the dugout and in the offices…
The most glaring lack of talent is in the SP, which indeed is a big weakness. But we are pretty decent with our 1-2 starting pitchers (not great, like Phillies mind you, but decent)… However when you get past Kikuchi and Soriano we definitely get exposed against good teams.
However, our bullpen (when healthy) would be pretty strong. I would take a corps of Kenley, Joyce, Stevenson, Zeferjahn, Burke, Bachman to be competitive against most teams. Not having Joyce in the month of May really hurt us..
As an offensive ballclub, at least in terms of SLG and driving the ball with authority, we stack up well against most other clubs…The problem is that we are not good at the little things… This comes down to coaching and preparation. Not consistently getting runners in from 3rd with less than two outs, not advancing runners when needed etc really hurts us. This shows up especially in those extra inning loses where you get the ghost runner at 2nd and then the Angels fail to get that guy to 3rd with only one out. Other teams do this, we don’t. This is an organizational failing for not emphasizing this stuff and teaching it.
I have said earlier in the year that the hitting coach should be fired, and I stand by that. The performance on Friday and Saturday night against a piss poor White Sox team would tend to reinforce that. I mean, only mustering a single hit on Saturday night against that starter was unforgivable.
The over reliance on the HR to generate runs is the fault of an inadequate hitting philosophy. And THIS falls on the hitting coach Johnny Washington. He clearly does not know what he is doing. For most of the season the stats have backed it up. It is interesting that it took Mike Trout coming back from the IL for this team to start improving in team OBP… He is the main reason we have improved from worst or second to worst in MLB (9th or 30th) to now 24th. But this improvement is due to Trouts greatness, not Washington figuring things out. Trout is who he is and Washington wasnt going to change him.
As for the manager position both Ron Washington (get well soon) and especially Montgomery have cost us numerable games with their moronic decision making… I can count games approaching double digits that the combo has cost us due to complete mismanagement of the bullpen in mid to late game situations… If win win at least 5 of the 10 or so games in question that puts us at 59-53 and smack dab in the middle of the Wild Card race.
So, despite the lack of depth in starting pitching this team could be highly competitive AND a playoff team with good coaching and above average managing. We have had neither in 2025.
Who is this Stevenson/Stephanson guy everybody keeps talking about as being in the bull pen?
Allegations and unsubstantiated rumors.
Big Foot + Aliens = Last wild card spot.
A year ago today, Tigers were 53-60, and then Big Foot + Aliens showed up.
And Chafin was with the Tigers last year, so maybe there’s a chance.
Pitching Chaos was, literally, baseball Big Foot. Well, and Skubal…..
I’d feel better if Skubal was an Angel right now.
Stop huffing and put that thing away. The coaching and management are fine. It’s the lack of talent. If we had more guys who can hit and pitch well our coaching staff of middling abilities would be fine.
We have hitters who have improved under Washington. Shockingly, they are the hitters who actually have talent. It’s pretty easy to yell about how bad a coach is when the measure is things like getting Rengifo to bunt, etc I don’t know if Jesus, with the help of Tony Gwynn, can pull that off.
It’s like yelling that a bunch of 5th graders suck at the hi jump so obviously the coach sucks. I guess that type of being “right” feels good. But really, it’s cause those 5th graders lack talent and ability.
And your “ASS FOUR DUH MANOR JARS!…” paragraph…. that’s some serious cable news level opinion piece reaching. We’d be six games over .500 if we just had “other guy you can’t name” as a manager? For reals? That’s clown shoes stuff right there.
This team will likely be competitive in two to five years. After our gerrr furrr eeeet trade deadline five is more likely. They will have a different manager then. But the better team will be because we got more talent on the roster, not because we got “Not Washington” to manage and coach the hitters.
The coaching and management are fine.”
😆 😆 😆 😂 😂
I know right? Moated!
You realize that fine and good are two different words right?
Lol. They are still not “fine.” Far from up….
If I was so inclined to spend the time I could provide details to show you exactly where and how both Washington and Montgomery f_cked up in-game situations …. Could you do the obverse ?
Are you the guy asking someone to prove a negative? Yes. Yes you are. Can’t do it. But….
See big guy, I actually follow other teams. And I look at stats some. And I go on other teams boards a fair amount. Instead of, you know, just talking shit and feeling chesty. Then getting the sads when people mock me.
And I have to read your brain bubbles all the time. And I am pretty sure you’d be bitching the same bitch on the Bless You Boys, D Rays Bay, Rum Bunter, Brewer Fanatic, Redleg Nation, Gaslamp Ball….
All those sites I go on have their guy who is basically you. And no manager is ever as smart as that guy. even when the team is really good.
There are a couple guys out there who truly believe that Pat Murphy and AJ Hinch are “costing the team games with their horrible decisions” and thus these teams are not champiham sandwich makers.
I’m not saying that our managers are all that good. I am saying that managers I DO think are good make plenty of mistakes and blow hards blow hard about them. Even if the team wins 100 games.
And the team tends to win 100 games because the players are good, not because managers and coaches are slightly less flawed. Managers make about 300 decisions a game from the time they fill out a line up card. Any time they lose a game some fella who needs it will be able to find something to point the stink finger at. This was likely even happening with the 27 Yankees cause there’s nothing like the sensation of pulling that finger out, am I right?
This is why I’m saying our manager/coaches are “fine”. If they had the Mets roster they’d even be “good”. But they don’t. Trust me, there is a guy out there who believes the Brewers would be set for the WS this year if Murphy just used the bullpen better.
Why would people on “Gaslamp Ball” be complaining ? Their team is 62-50, 12 games over .500 and firmly in the playoffs as a Wild Card with a 4 game cushion on the nearest competitor….
90 % of your act is to use sarcasm and boring insults in an attempt to shut others down. But you rarely if ever back up your rants with statistics, or even well reasoned arguments…. The gitch version of a debate is essentially “CTPG guy hates his dad, is stoopid and chesty, and therefore I am right.” Hrrr DRRR ZURR !
So boring.
Do you actually watch the games or do you just look at the boxscores afterwards ? Because you don’t seem to know anything about how this team is managed… I could tell you time after time where Montgomery left the starting pitcher in too long and it cost us the game and yet you would not know what I am talking about because you don’t watch the games… You are actually a fan of other teams — have said so yourself !!
Why are you even here ? I think you are just here to make noise and stir up conflict…. You are the Agent Provocateur of Crashing the Pearly Gates. Some have seen through your act, but others have not…. And quite frankly I am just tired of it….
So please do me a favor and just go away.
I don’t read Gaslamp Ball, but I’ve read lots of comments about how stupid and incapable Dave Roberts is on Dodger websites, and he’s been as successful as any manager around. People like to grouse.
Well up until last season one could argue that Roberts underachieved with the most stacked roster in baseball… and that would be a valid argument.
Last season basically shut that all down. The problem with going after Roberts pre 2024 is that he was and arguably still is a puppet. He wasn’t even making his own lineups so those fans were ignorant and should really have been directing their ire at Andrew Freidman.
Okay, but would you then admit that those same types of people might be complaining even if their team is currently successful?
Look, it is in the nature of fanhood to complain when the team loses and then celebrate when they win… Like here, we get the “Playoff Bound” posts after wins and the dire, everything sucks “Blow it All Up” posts after we lose…
That IS something that you see everywhere, to some degree.
But there is a big difference between complaining without providing informed and detailed analysis, and then complaining WITH that analysis to back it up… I like to think that I do the latter. But not every fan does that…
Exactly. Who needs “directed ire guy”? Why do they need him? Sure, ire will happen. But is ire a vitamin? Does anybody need a daily dose? Especially if you have to mine it like undersea diamonds?
Clearly I never look at stats or watch Angels games. Even if you look at the comments I made today… just a bunch of bluster about baseball men and a photo of an eagle right? Very good. And yes, the Padres are pretty good. That’s my point. Guys still manage to complain about their manager’s decisions, even when a team is good. Reading comprehension is a son of a bitch right?
You get a lot of shit from me cause you seem to be all about shit. On top of that, Jack, I’ve been here longer than you. And no one can see through me because I’m not made of ghost meat.
no comment on Ray.
On Wash: besides a few guys here at CtPG, he’s pretty much loved and admired throughout baseball. Atlanta loves him, Oakland loves him, and take a peak at the Rangers a decade ago.
im guessing the same ones who wanted to run Scioscia out of town are the same ones that think it’s Wash that is the problem.
Atlanta and Oakland love him as a coach, not a manager. I would be fine with him as a coach, just not a manager.
Just to be clear I find Wash to be less of a problem than Montgomery. Monty is simply horrible. Washington actually HAS done some good things while here, and I would not begrudge those contributions….
But he also has alot of chinks in his armor as a manager…
Yeah. I don’t LOVE Wash, but I also don’t think it’s gonna be easy as pie to find someone better. I also don’t think nameless better manager is gonna make this group of players much better.
So, I just find it amusing that we want to fire the hitting coaches every year. Like the guys who have been playing for 20 years have no idea what to do in situations. It’s funny because every single team has this issue.
It’s the players. Always has been. If you want to get rid of the “problem” players then every mlb team has to turn over their roster every year.
“…every single team has this issue.”
Ummm, wrong.
Got him! Yes!
Exactly. Go Reds, Tigers, Padres, Phillies, Mets and Brewers.
And come on Angels.
2016 has been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long year.
The ten year year.
Everybody everywhere was like “Trade Ward and Jansen at the least! And try and get us future studs for Adell and Detmers while you can! We don’t mind if the team is horrible for the rest of the season and likely next too! Do the smart thing!”
It’s like Arte was listening to the panicked whining of absolutely no one when we decided to remain contenders for this year. What a dummy.
It’s totally unpossible that half the the people, even on CtPG, were pushing a version of “rebuild” that included totally plausible moves like trading Newman, Rengifo and Soler but keeping everything else. You know, the big balls moves that orgs make to build fast.
Arte came up with this plan no one wants all in his own head.
As regards yesterday’s game I want to give props to Taylor Ward on a big performance:
2-4 with 4 RBI’S, including a clutch hit in the 7th that was desperately needed to push the comeback forward, and of course the game winning 3 run HR in the 9th.
This is the kind of game you need from your stud in the middle of the batting order. He now has 82 RBI’s on the season and is on pace for well over 100… Short of a bad injury he will get there… He is also likely to hit 32 + HRs.
For those who like to diss the stat of RBI you are wrong. Yes, hitting 3rd through 5th will give you chances, but you STILL have to come through in those situations, which is something Ward has done pretty consistently for us.
I for one am glad we didn’t trade him, and I repeatedly said to Fungo Ale and others that we would not do so.
But don’t discount opportunity when looking at RBIs either. Ward has driven in 56 of 331 men on base this season, or 16.9%. As a comparison, Pujols in 2016 drove in 88 of 525 for 16.8% of the time. By the way, Nick Kurtz has driven in 38 of 183 men on base which doesn’t sound impressive but is still a 20.8% clip which is elite.
Okay, so you are going to Cherry Pick the best Pujols year with us (or one of three best )?? What about Pujols in other years with the Angels ? And how much money was Albert making compared to Taylor?
Let’s look at all cleanup hitters if you want, but Cherry Picking situations where other guys were or are better does not impress me …
Wasn’t trying to cherry pick here, but since Ward is projected to drive in 119 runs, I chose a comparable season. Driving in 16 to 18% is what good cleanup hitters do, that was my point, not trying to belittle what Ward has done.
In 2017, Pujols produced a WAR of -2.0, but he still drove in 78 of 449 for a 17.4%, exactly what should be expected of a cleanup hitter.
Just for you, here are some well-known RBI guys this year:
Judge 48 285 16.8%
Raleigh 46 307 15.0%
Schwarber 50 310 16.1%
Well, according to your own numbers Ward is at 16.9%. That is almost identical to the guy who is the odds on favorite to win the AL MVP (or has been for most of the year). So what is your point?
Ward is actually better at consistently driving guys in than both Raleigh and Schwarber as well !!
You are making my argument for me.
When evaluating RBIs, don’t just look at the total number. Look to see how successful the player is at driving in runners. Yes, Ward has done a better job than Raleigh, who has more RBIs, but both lag behind Kurtz who only has 61 RBIs. Ward is having his best season, but he’s doing what should be expected of a cleanup hitter with the number of opportunities he’s had.
If you are talking about Kurtz the thing you are forgetting and leaving out is CONTEXT. He plays for a horrible team that has been behind in the vast majority of their games in the season… Therefore, much of the time he has been facing pitchers who are protecting big leads, and thus are throwing strikes (mostly fastballs etc) most of the time. With big leads the opposing pitcher wants to avoid walks etc..
This makes life MUCH easier for a hitter knowing fastballs are coming…. The game situation has alot to do with things.
I agree that context is important, but I have neither the desire nor wherewithal to go that deep. But don’t you think the pitcher last night was just as dedicated to protecting a tie score and throwing strikes to Ward?
He didn’t go that deep either. We are all living on What If Island at this point. If you pile up enough What If then it’s impossible to prove that I am definably wrong. It’s great. I’m right.
Can’t fault somebody for something I’ve done and will do in the future. However, I do try to use actual data rather than rely upon a generalization, without knowing how accurate it is, to make my point.
You do use data, and I give you credit for that. Sometimes the conclusions drawn from that data may not be accurate, but yes, you do use data.
Unlike gitch. Gitch just spouts off and pontificates.
Data. It’s for geeks.
Wha ????
It was tied at 5-5. That is not the same as a team being way up and using their third tier relievers and simply challenging guys.
Very different….
So, I guess what applies to Kurtz applies to Ward as well, since both play on crappy teams as opposed to the Yankees, Mariners and Phillies?
The A’s are much worse than the Halos and it is not even close…. Our 7-0 record against them (among other things ) should be proof of that…
So, that point you’re making is that players on teams much worse than the Angels should have their achievements discounted since they have an easier time of it?
I would not totally discount it, but a HR that is hit in the 9th inning (or in the 7th or 8th inning for that matter ) of a game you are losing 8-1 probably isn’t as valuable and indicative of one’s talent as one hit in the 3rd inning of a 2-2 tie …
I can agree with that just like I would for that HR hit while your team is leading 8-1. However, I will maintain that somebody who is driving in runners at an elite level shouldn’t be discounted.
However, I still stand by my original point that you need to look at the opportunities a player has to drive in runs when evaluating RBIs. Ward has done that well this season, best on the team and better than many of the top run producers, but he has not been exceptional at it. Still, I’m glad Ward is on the team, and I hope he can produce at this level or better next season if he isn’t traded.
I’m waiting for the stats on that “much worse” italics. Does the A’s being 8th in team OPS while we are 18th count as a stat? Or just our record across 7 head to head games?
Isn’t Kurtz holed up with his cult somewhere up the Mekong? Maybe we can send Willard to go find him.
Here’s the issue. Ward’s fine. Cool.
But look at the other “Are they good?” teams….
The Reds have four hitters in their standard line up that are basically the same or better than Ward. As do the Royals. The A’s have five. The Rays have four. The D Backs had six, and were sellers. The Rangers have been snake bit all years and have five….
Ward’s 2025, on it’s own, is cherry picking since it’s his best season. But more concerning is that we held onto him like he’s our virginity and he’s not really a building block with a capital B at all.
Wards having a perfectly fine season. In fact, it’s 5% better than his career norm. That’s nothing to poop on at all.
But again. Guys. For the love of God. Look at the bref pages of the teams you are talking about us overtaking, or even fending off next year.
You’re right about Kurtz & Co. The A’s will likely be better than we are next year.
I’m not concerned as much with hitting next year, unless we have Drury level tanking by Neto, but the team’s success will depend on if Perry and Company can improve the pitching. We lose 2 starters and most of the bullpen with a track record. Kikuchi and Soriano are fine, but I’m getting a flashback to Tanana and Ryan and a whole lot of crying with the starters. Also, half of the bullpen will need to be replaced. I think Detmers has the potential to replace Jansen, like Percival did Smith, but the rest don’t have much of a track record. If Perry can’t fashion a better-quality staff, the team isn’t going to compete unless our fairy godmother waves her wand.
Not sure it will happen, but I would not be shocked if Jansen decides to stay in Anaheim, mainly wanting to get his 500th save here…. I mean, if he wanted to stay here this season instead of being traded maybe, just maybe he likes it here ….
The question would be if Arte would offer him something that wasn’t insulting (like he did to Torii Hunter before he became a Tiger)… If they offer Kenley something fair he might actually stay.
I think there is a good chance Jansen will value a shot at 500 saves over the money. If that’s the case, it would be which team will provide a chance to get the 25-35 saves he’ll need.
And as long as he doesn’t start giving up HRs left and right, I don’t think I’d mind if the team brings Chafin back next year. Jansen, Detmers, Chafin and Stephensen would make a good start on the bullpen.
I really like Taylor Ward. It’s exciting to see people liking him. It’s almost as if most of the people on here didn’t shit on him constantly and CoachDad him to death for most of a decade.
We are gonna have him next year and likely a new manager too. So we’ll all get to see if having a “stud” with a 115 OPS+ for four more months and “NotWash” managing turns us into a powerhouse in 2026 soon enough.
And we’ll get to see what that looks like in 2027 when Ward’s gone or old and overpaid. And Rada is still the best offensive weapon on our farm. can’t wait.
It’s very likely that we will be incredibly fantastic. But I’d still rather just have a team where our stud is more than 15% better than average. I’d like our six or seven hole hitter to have a 115 OPS+ at some point. How we’re gonna do that before 2030 without any position player prospects? Probably magic + no Johnny Washington.
His name was brought up not too long ago about being a FA piece that the Angels should aquire. We still kinda need MOARE PITCHIN’. Does a guy like Sroman make it and latch on to a team like the Halos?
Stroman is toast. They already have better options in house.
I’d rather watch Murderos flail around and learn stuff.
In meaningful games?
Meaningful is a spectrum… and age is just a number…. and the sims don’t take into account the grit of our meh players we want to trade for top prospects…. all I know is I am twice as smart as Perry.
We need to find a way to introduce you to Arte so he can admire your brilliance and hire you right away. But then you’d probably turn him down since it would interfere with your educating us with scintillating comments. I’ll thank you in advance for sticking with us.
Unlike almost every true Angels fan I know for a fact I would crash this org into a flaming pile of goo in no time. FOing is hard.
Copying this over from yesterday’s postgame thread to start off the week with a little optimism:
TGA with an excellent debut for the 66ers last night, showing good continuity with his end of season ACL performance. The Angels capped him at three innings, as they did with Jordan and Soto last night, with 5 Ks and only a single, walk and WP across that stretch.
Meanwhile, Slate Alford had a nice breakout game in his second attempt, delivering the sort of offense you’d hope to see from a 22 yo SEC slugger vs low A ball pitching. 4 for 5 with two doubles and some loud contact.
Fun to see him and Kerrington Cross match up – both looking pretty dynamic and both targets on my draft boards in this year’s draft series.
In the early going, the new wave of Latin kids and recent draftees have been showing up this year’s crop at Inland Empire, which had looked pretty fringe-y to date.
Thanks for this Turks. Always thankful for your super informed and researched minor league reports. Since the old days at HH always have loved your posts.
Yes, nice update. I like Jordan’s delivery, drop low and push hard to the plate. It looked like Tom Seaver and seemed very polished. He also seemed to have a bulldog mentality.
It would be nice if the LA Angels had someone like Turks to cover the teams’ minor league system. If is was not for Turks and this blog in general, I would not know anything about the Angels and their future prospects.
