Tyler Anderson is only good in even years. I have been trying to tell people this for years but have been told that “Oh it was because he was on the Dodgers” or something. But no, his best years are even, his worst are odd. And guess what, 2025 is an odd year. Tyler Anderson went 4 innings, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 and walking 1. He allowed 3 home runs in only 4 innings. Odd year.
But 4 is not 7 and the Angels tied it up meaning Anderson was not going to get yet another L today. He will stay at 2-7 with an ERA over 4.5. Yeesh. This makes him a good 1 year candidate next year though.
It was, however, a day game, and the Angels suck in day games this year at 12-22. Worst in baseball. The sun is a deadly laser indeed.
Highlighted Recap
Things started bad for the Angels with a 2 run blast in the 1st given up by Anderson.
It got worse in the 2nd with ANOTHER home run.
At least the defense is doing well, with a nice catch by our speedy centerfielder.
Still cannot rob home runs though as Anderson gave up ANOTHER ONE.
However, the Angels scored in the bottom of the 3rd to make it less bad.
And then Mike trout tied it up with his 200th Angel Stadium home run, 398th overall.
Anderson left with it tied, and it remained tied for a while. Who could break through? It was the Rays, with yet ANOTHER home run in the 7th.
The Angels had a chance, loading the bases in the 8th. However, they did a NOBLETIGER instead. That is a No-Outs Bases-Loaded Ending with Team Incapable of Getting Easy Run. As the next 3 batters all struck out. PAthetic.
Angels lose the game, the series, and the homestand. Meaningful games indeed.
Upcoming
Angels have no game on Thursdays this month. Will go to Detroit this weekend.
Wanna’ have a little fun? Check out Ted Williams’ career stats. My gawd.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/willite01.shtml
Imagine what Williams’ stats would’ve been had he played those 3 years he missed while serving in the military (at ages 24, 25, 26).
Side note: Trout is the only player in MLB history to have 200 homers and 100 steals in one stadium.
And that is with all the games missed. That’s cool.
This Teodosio has been refreshing in Center. I’ve been clamoring for more team speed for years and he brings that element.
I don’t expect him to be a high average hitter, but, if he can keep the strike out rate to around 25% and keep the ball in play, his speed will help his average. Can he bunt? That would be an extra bonus.
The speed and defense are two things we need. Cautiously optimistic about this dude.
I saw him try to bunt in yesterday’s game. It was one poorly executed attempt, and then he spent the rest of the at-bat just swinging away.
It’s just odd how players don’t know how to bunt.
I understand that if you’ve got power (Judge, Raleigh, Schwarber, Ohtani), you don’t need to learn how to bunt.
But, a number of these players know they are not power hitters back when they were in high school to college. Why did they never learn to bunt?
ESPECIALLY if you can run.
I think our last solid bunter was Erik Aybar.
5th in HRs, 16th in runs scored, which will happen if the strategy is HR or nothing, and 25th in ERA
Everything is a real fixer-upper, even our home. Need to redo all the plumbing. Maybe we could re-sign the Plumber?
https://x.com/SamBlum3/status/1953234433877889376
The gross failure of Perry Minasian’s trade deadline strategy – from his stated motivation to its inevitable outcome – is cleanly expressed in one team: the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins were the most aggressive seller at the deadline. They stripped their team down to the studs and sent out 11 friggin’ players, while bringing back as many in prospects and cheap long-term contracts.
Now the Twins are merely a half game behind the Angels in the WC standings, and will likely overtake them this week. The Angels have lost their last two games, and the Twins have won their last two, while playing the Tigers no less.
Because: that’s how it’s done.
If you want to retain your kids and have them “contend”, while keeping your (implicit) rebuild as short as possible, you do it by bringing lots more young talent into the system, not wagon-circling with aging veterans on short or expiring contracts.
And guess what, many of those new prospects and cheap players are going to be the next wave who accompany your Netos and Schanuels into future contention and meaningful games. The young dudes learn nothing by losing late season series among faces they are familiar with, who won’t be there in ’26 or ’27.
M&M did it all wrong, and have been doing it all wrong for a while. You can win in the short-term and the long-term both during a creative rebuild. But they know that, I think – this is all about gaslighting casual fans and optimizing for stadium crowds. But I bet they lose more in the endgame with decreasing turnouts as the team sputters out in Sept.
Just very sad to watch as a fan. Not the team, but the organizational execution.
No. the team’s also not very good.
Well said. It’s what many of us have been saying over at least the last 5 years.
Hell, the last decade. But the team has been particularly retentive and undynamic in the Minasian-Rendon era.
Seems like Moreno doesn’t want to greenlight even the most modest reboot out of fear of losing even fractional fan interest, and Minasian is visibly the most chickenshit of all the subservient GMs during Moreno’s reign of terror – basically PR spinning complete inertia into a “personal growth” year, as if it were a strategy, not thumbsucking in the corner while master has his rages.
But hell, there’s only been one GM in the last decade who rocked the boat and pushed back against ownership, and fans turned on him almost immediately once he realized he’d need to wear a diaper and shut the hell up if he wanted to retain the title of manager under Mr. Burns. Under more permissive ownership, that guy had probably the best trade deadline in the MLB this season, while surrendering very little of his farm to do so.
I don’t understand how they don’t understand that the best way to sell tickets is to have sustained success.
That’s what gets season ticket packages sold and packs the stands on a Tuesday.
If their goal is to sell tickets then they’re idiots.
But they do continue to sell tickets, because it’s a huge urban metro, and there are plenty of casual fans willing to attend. But I suspect it’s harder to get regular sellouts, so I’m sure they’re sweating and scrutinizing the margins, while mistaking every 2-3 game win streak for the next turnaround.
Great comment: “while mistaking every 2-3 game win streak for the next turnaround”
It’s the truth. Not only ownership, executive leadership, and baseball operations do that – too many fans do the same.
That said, the Angels have lost quite a bit of attendance post-pandemic, while other fanbases have significantly recovered.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance
Their average crowd size in the 2004-2009 golden years was 40k+. They maintained an average of ~37k for much of the 2010s, but they’ve been in a low band of 30k-32k in the past four years.
They used to be regularly in the top 5 in average MLB attendance pre-pandemic, but they haven’t been higher than #12 in the Minasian era.
Minasian has presided over the worst half decade stretch of losing in franchise history and the worst stretch of crowd underperformance in past three decades. It’s quite a record – both as a business executive and in terms of team outcomes – but many in the fanbase still seem to have his back, miraculously.
I’ve been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk up bad decision making to Arte’s meddling, but the trade deadline debacle this year pushed me into the anti-Minasian camp
Directionless is not a place I want the team to be so I’m over PTP
I don’t really think the deadline was PTP. More his bosses. But I also don’t think he’s all that good over all.
Yah. I think, between the TV contract issues, NOT getting the development deal along with the new stadium, and attendance being down well below 3M a year the team’s not gonna be running up payroll for a while and will still likely lose a little money.
The whole “but the team’s value has increased” thing doesn’t matter in the day to day. It’s like telling a guy who makes 60K a year but owns a small house in Thousand Oaks he’s basically a millionaire. Sure, sort of, but he still drives a KIA.
That’s the current Angels. Better off than a lot of teams, but not with the cash flow we had ten years ago.
I got asked on deadline day “would you rather be the Twins?”. I said yes. I’d still rather be the Twins. Better team, better farm, better stadium, better uniforms, better draft, better FO, even better shitty owner who is selling, cooler history.
Yes, choosing from zero, I’d rather be the Twins.
Angels sign Cavan Biggio
More dumpster diving, he was hitting .174.
So the Angels just got better?
Soooooo, an offensive upgrade over Peraza.
LOL
TT… any opinion about Juan Flores – Bat/Glove? Seems to have fallen behind. Don’t hear much about him anymore.
https://x.com/Jared_Tims/status/1953302031159959878
Flores remains an excellent defensive catcher but his placement at Tri City at age 19 is really aggressive – it’d be aggressive for any prospect, but especially for a catcher, given they develop more slowly, and most hit the bigs age 23-26.
He’s always projected as a defense-first backup with questions around the hit tool, but now he’s playing in a league that depresses offense, among players 2-3 years his senior. But he’s there for a reason – the team wants him paired with the project arms they’re trying to develop.
He’s still very much a prospect though – someone you’d tolerate a .200 avg from in a pre-ABS era because he handles pitchers well and his throwing ability is so strong. 60 grade glove and arm, probably still 2+ years out – but ya, under the radar on a farm where Davalillo, with his big time raw power, is the New Coke.
Red Sox extend rookie Roman Anthony – 8 years, $130m – potentially as much as $230m
Red Sox Extend Roman Anthony
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/red-sox-roman-anthony-extension.html
That is a stunning contract gamble. Wow.
Look at Julio Rodriguez – the Mariners signed him to a 12-yr, $210M guaranteed contract in 2022, his rookie year.
Look at his stats from 2022-present: his two best years were 2022-2023.
In 2024, he regressed quite a bit (2023: 32 HR, 103 RBIs; 2024 = 20 HR, 68 RBI)
For 2025, he’ll likely be better than 2024.
For Rodriguez, this does not look like a contract that will age well, considering he’s in the prime of his career, and his stats should be increasing.
I believe Trout’s contract is well-earned, even with the next 5 years being sub-par; but then again, I’m biased in favor of Trout.
The question is – would we do the same with Neto?
I’d do that same deal with Neto. He means more to the Halos future success than Anthony likely means to Boston (ie. Boston has more talent than the Angels)
Tim Laker and Johnny Washington need to be shown the door. This level of failure is on them.
I’m not taking the risk on anderson next even year.
In honor of Tootie, who could choke to death trying to swallow his fist at any moment. Our team spirit animal:
We even pitch like him.
Deer sighting! Not surprised he finally showed up, or that he may be the private hitting instructor for many of the players, especially Trout and OHoppe.
I knew we struck out a lot by watching the games but when Randazzo said the Angels lead the American League in strikeouts “by a wide margin” that was 😬.
That plus our below par defense and it’s amazing we are even this close to .500.
22 starting pitchers with their most strike outs this season came against the angels. 😅😅
Angels lead the league in strike outs, and it ain’t even close.
Our pitching must be doing Great!
Oh, wait…
They are. They are so awesome allowing runners that the Angels lead the league in turning double plays. Trent Rush stat of the day!
The game was the dictionary definition of the Angels as they are currently constructed. Meh starting pitching, ample power with the obligatory bomb, tons of strikeouts (15, was it?) a key hit by Schanuel, and complete inability to play fundamental baseball in scoring runs with less than two outs. A hard game to watch with our flaws on full display.
16 strike outs
Can’t wait for Friday and Skubal 🙄
I actually really like watching “the Grunt” pitch. And if we manage to beat him, even better.
I’ll admit it. Some of you guys were right. So was Arte. This is way better than having a couple more 50 grade position prospects in the system.
Same ole same ole
Did anybody here really want us to buy? Or hold on to Anderson, Jansen, Heefo, Ward? That might be a figment of your imagination.
Just finished dinner with my New York family so I missed the 8th inning. Aaarrrrgh!
There was a lot of “Let’s hold onto Ward and Jansen, but trade Moncada and Soler for prospects” type bullshit.
Which means the people were either really stupid, or were really saying they want to stand pat and go for it. Or worse, they’d be bored for eight weeks if we trade our good players.
It’s really all about 2026, not these last 50 games.
That’s why keeping Ward makes sense to me.
The bummer is, with Ward, it’s the same damn team in 2026. Unless you think we are signing like 8 quality free agents.
This is such an open wound, for the second straight year failed to trade the right guys. Trying to rebuild and compete at the same time. Pick a freaking lane AM/PM.
Only need 7 now, we signed Gavin….or is it Cavan.
https://x.com/Jared_Tims/status/1953262739327193288
Maybe we can get Will Wilson back?
I thought we were out on Wilson.
Only when Granderson is available!
I applaud the Twins approach
There are many here who were and are pretty hard over about keeping Ward and Jansen. Don’t believe there was anyone that wanted to keep Anderson and Heefo. But, it’s pretty typical that fans often only want to trade their junk (players who are bad) and keep anyone who is performing good. You need to trade value to get value. I supported trading Ward, Adell and Detmers, if you could get the right young players back, like good players who are blocked. There were several examples given off proposed trades like that that would have likely made us better this year and in the future. We don’t know if they could have been executed, But I’m fairly sure they were not considered by the organization since they didn’t even trade their expiring contracts and therefore will be starting over again next year. Since we didn’t really use the draft for replenishing our position players in the minors, we’re very challenged to get better moving forward without spending a lot of money.
As optimistic as people are, none of our Young players are really significantly better this year than last. The main difference as mentioned by others is relative health, the addition of Kikuchi, and a healthy Trout, and success in 1 run games. I’m not sure any of those things should be counted on going into next year. Possibly Kikuchi, but he did have a career year this year.
No gritch, you were right . We should have traded TA for a 50 grade position prospect or two.
Stoopid Perry.
If you can find anywhere where I said we should trade TA for a 50 grade prospect I’ll let you punch me in the balls…. or do what ever with my balls. Dealer’s choice.
We talk’n Simon Birch type Balls?
I need a great statistician to help me here. So, thus far, we are better than the Doyesr since we beat them But not as good as the Rays now. But are we thus not as good as the Doyers since they beat on the Rays? But we beat the Red Sox and are thusly in the play offs? No?
Stats are lame.
I concur.
My favorite stat of the day per Wayne.
We have the 2nd best record in night games in the AL.
That’s way better than a high team OPS right? That at least puts us ahead of the Rangers in the standings.
Unfortunately, not so much for day games. 🙂
Oh, brother
The team has mastered the art of striking out. The level of consistency displayed is very rare for an Arte Moreno owned team.
It won’t help.