LA Angels Thursday News Crash: Blast – Crashing the Pearly Gates

Legend

1 day ago

Angels prospect Trey Gregory-Alford went through the order twice (plus one), five scoreless with scattered traffic, heater sat 96-99 with a handful of 100’s, off-speed was getting whiffs when located — immense upside with rarity of holding upper 90’s into pitches 60-70+

https://x.com/taylorblakeward/status/1958724870671360294?s=42

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Turk's Teeth

22 hours ago

Reply to Twebur

I watched the outing – I think “when located” is a key phrase here. For as effective as TGA has been in his first four starts at IE, he’s still a bit all over the place when it comes to command. He was missing well out of the zone with the slider at times.

With the heater, he keeps working 97-99 in the upper 20% of the zone, and young hitters keep swinging, even though it results in long flyouts or IF pop-ups. It’s an approach that’s been quite effective with rookie hitters, though I wonder if it will hold with more advanced hitters in A+/AA.

The velocity is rare – it’s the command I have questions about.

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Super Member

Turk's Teeth

22 hours ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Even though Jordan has the lower ceiling, he just projects more as a starter to me when I watch the two back to back.

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RexFregosi

17 hours ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Nice to see Munroe have a big hit.

DJ has a much more polished delivery than TGA.

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SD19

1 day ago

That homeless team is closing in fast and wants out of the cellar bad. Gonna be a battle fending them off to avoid wearing the shit crown yet again.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to SD19

Sigh. Sadly, this is true. And they are really young. And they have a good farm and will get better. The A’s after moving to Vegas give me concern. Trading Miller clearly broke them and no one should care that their farm jumped like 7 ranking spots this year.

Last edited 1 day ago by gitchogritchoffmypettis

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FungoAle

1 day ago

Reply to SD19

Hell of a lead off hitter they have in Nick Kurtz

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Twebur

1 day ago

Improvement in this area going into 2026-27? Could go a long way in scoring a few more runs and adding a few more wins….. more competitiveness being goal #1.

The Angels have struck out 1,235 times this season.
That’s 62 more than the next highest team (Rockies), and 378 more than the Blue Jays.
The highest total for a season ever is 1,654 (2023 Twins).

https://x.com/SamBlum3/status/1958020741040935381

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Twebur

1 day ago

Reply to Twebur

New Angel City Connect hat for 2026

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Trusted Member

milehigh

1 day ago

Reply to Twebur

Need a disconnect hat

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Editor

Super Member

Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

Reply to Twebur

Another reason I like Bellinger as an upgrade over Ward in the medium-term.

2025 K rates:
Bellinger: 13%
Ward: 27%

It ain’t all the long ball.

Also my fascination with the Reds’ OF prospect Hector Rodriguez, who is a contact merchant (and hard contact at that), who has kept his K rate below 15% at the upper levels of MiLB play.

Would be willing to trade a .230 hitter with 30 HRs+ for a >.270 hitter with 20 HRs+ at this point, and it’s not a difficult exchange to make. Especially when it comes with an above average glove.

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Trout_is_my_Bestie

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

I totally agree with this take.

Barring issues with age, cost, and cheating past, I would also support adding Alex Bregman. He is also great at getting on base without striking out, while filling our third base hole.

I don’t know if he will opt out of his contract, but if he does, would you support throwing some money at him?

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Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

Reply to Trout_is_my_Bestie

I wouldn’t, given he’s making $40M/yr and would want enough to make opting out appealing in contract years and AAV. Though I generally like the contact profile, Bregman is having his best year in six years, and I don’t think he’s going to age terribly well in his mid-30s on a 5+ year contract.

Bellinger is younger, and will probably cost ~$25M/yr, not Rendon money, which is likely what Bregman will cost.

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

I like Bellinger too, but aren’t there higher priorities if any money is spent? Something like Keep Ward, get Framber (or another Starter)

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Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

For me, not really. Like others here, I don’t see future improvement by simply bringing back the old cast.

I think Ward is at career peak, and only has one year left on his contract. There’s nothing exciting on the farm to replace him – at least nothing with power at a corner. I’d rather upgrade him, and try to get something in trade in the offseason.

Arte has shown little appetite for spending on impact pitching – I expect one or two fillers to plug gaps, but not a $20M+/yr type like Framber, who will also cost the Angels their second round pick. Seems like an awful lot for a team 2-3 yrs out from contention.

So you’re basically left with filling an OF corner or 3B. There’s not a lot on the market that I like at 3B (not a Suarez fan in terms of what that will cost in years/AAV), so OF looks like a good 2026 target to me.

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Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Ward, Moncada, and Adel, make 15M this year and counting raises will probably cost at least 20M next year, maybe more. You would have all of that money to apply to Bellinger, and if you traded with the Reds for Hector and Sal, you would have replacements for all 3 with the 2 young guys making the minimum and be in a much better position going forward. You would still be shedding Anderson and Jansen which is another 23M that you could apply to a starting pitcher like Framber or someone else. The team would be much improved in the near term have more future cost control and you would be shedding Soler and Rendons contracts after next year which is another 53M. There are paths for moving forward, they just need to be explored. Keeping the gang together is not the answer. It will insure a continuation of the last 9 years. Even if you decided to forgo Bellinger for next year and sign someone the following year, you would have additional money to spend and be younger. But like Turk says, you have to get guys when they are available. There may not be a better free agent OF available next year.

Last edited 1 day ago by Roy Hobbs

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

2-3 years out of contention? Clearly you know nothing.

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Turk's Teeth

22 hours ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Can’t tell if the meta-meta-you is playing optimist or pessimist at the moment.

I assume both?

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to Trout_is_my_Bestie

This just in. Man on Angels site is willing to let the team sign an expensive free agent that will be by far the top name at his position on the market.

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Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

I would feel so different about the team if we made some of these moves and got Hector and Sal from the Reds And signed Bellinger and a starting pitcher, and traded Adel, Ward, and what ever else other than Neto and our 2 starting pitchers that it took to get them. It would set us up to improve next year and possibly be a legitimate contender in 2027. It is unfortunately not likely to happen. We could do it over the winter.

Last edited 1 day ago by Roy Hobbs

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

I dig Rodriguez. trouble is I get the sense the Reds do too.

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YOUknowulovetheIE

1 day ago

Reply to Twebur

I’d be embarrassed as a hitting coach

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Born_in_59

1 day ago

Toad2065 sorry I missed your question yesterday. I was thinking of Andujar at 3B, but with the way he’s hitting for the Reds, he may decide to stay in Cincy. DeJong is actually hitting well this year but has had more injury problems than Moncada, so I don’t see him as an upgrade.

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Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

The DSL Angels won their first playoff game…barely. They took a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth, and Caseres gave up a two run HR, and two subsequent singles, with the go-ahead runner at the plate. The inning was further marred by a balk and an error on a foul pop-up. Messy one, and Juan Jordan had to relieve Caseres to get the final out.

Pitching and defense have not been strengths for this DSL group, though the bats at the top of the order have been just enough to overcome.

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grichmanpoorman

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

I mean, some of them are 16. It’s all gravy man.

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Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

Reply to grichmanpoorman

Sure – it can be said of all DSL kids.

I know you get uncomfortable with any description of the farm that verges on criticism, but I look at it as an analyst – not as a fan that needs to hype the troops.

Last year’s DSL squad had strong pitching, and the defense was tighter, and we’ve seen the benefit of that at the ACL/Cal League this year. I find distinctions useful – YMMV.

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Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Nice. I do believe in the value of playing winning baseball of the farm. Situation hitting is a skill. Same with pitching.

I like guys being in tight spots with the game on the line now so they can prepare for the same at the big league level.

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Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

To me it’s interesting the very different way the 2024 and 2025 squads are winning. Last year’s squad had less power, but 2-3 dominant SPs (and enough defense to support them) that really carried them deep into the playoffs.

This squad has less standout pitching, and are pretty raw defensively, but have 5-6 players who can put the ball in play, and 2-3 with decent power.

It’s a notable distinction when the overall picture of the farm is all arms / no bats, and given how significantly the farm depends on their Latin prospects to compensate for the draft infrequency and low hit rate on position players in domestic drafts.

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

It’s nice to have a reason to go watch baseball in Tempe in the heat of the summer. And early success means early eyes on them so tracking their progress makes it better when they move up.

There should be good things when those 5-6 players who can put the ball in play, and 2-3 with decent power are combined with Perry’s HS arms of the 2025 draft. Slawinski, Haley, Gray, Lacourse, Mitchell.

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Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

The “meaningful” action has shifted to Tempe, lol.

Good for Rex’s camera, not good for Rex’s face, skin or body.

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

my first August in 1995 thirty years ago I started graduate school at ASU – meaningful action and Tempe have always been synonymous since.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Fun facts from the SIM that dreamers don’t want to believe matters even though it gets almost all of the trade values right which is why it exists….

Taylor Ward’s incredible production had a value in the high teens in July. He is now a 9.6. Lost about ten points. While top prospects like Konnor Griffin are 70 points you can get 50 grade prospects for around 8 points from some orgs. Reds 3B stud prospect Sal Stewert is 15.8.

The only players we have with a surplus above 10 points are, in ascending order Ben Joyce (10.6), Logan O’Hoppe (11.2), Jo Adell (14.1), Reid Detmers (17), Jose Soriano (27), Nolan Schanuel (34.4) and Zach Neto (42.4). I didn’t include Bremner and Moore cause we wouldn’t be trading them.

Point being, all of those guys will decrease in value as they get paid more, unless one of them becomes Aaron Judge. The other point is we have nothing else of value to trade, nor will we in years to come.

At some point, if we decide to stop being “team reload” it’s gonna really be a bummer to launch a true rebuild. It would have been a lot better to trade guys like Ward and Jansen, much less Ohtani when he was well over 100 points, than to have to trade what has value in 2027…. or just keep being meh and hate the A’s for beating on us for a few years in the late 2020s.

Fking “meaningful baseball”.

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Roy Hobbs

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

No Kidding. Any way we can get Sal? They have a 3B. That’s the kind of thing we should do if possible.

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Turk's Teeth

1 day ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

Sal and Hector were my #1 targets at the deadline. Reds needed just a little more pop to overtake the Mets, and the Angels had that to offer.

(“#1 targets” in a fantasyland, of course, where GMs do GM-y things.)

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

meanwhile outside the SIM

https://www.tiktok.com/@swillysports/video/7537935939021098271?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7541181222849545783

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

you gitch what you gitch so don’t throw a …… no crying in baseball.

the trade off was a gift from the gods – a Dodger sweep – that’s worth ‘points’ too. For every Dodger fan you know or will meet the rest of the year, that is worth 10 points for each one.

when you start thinking about what coulda have been at the deadline? find a Dodger fan. that wasn’t a simulation.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

That should keep me warm at night in 2029 when we are still a 70-80 win team.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

We finally beat the Reds. All it took was me not watching. Time to admit that I was meh on signing Koochi and he’s been a lot better than I thought he’d be. I didn’t think he’d suck, but I didn’t buy “Astros Kikuchi” either, but he seems to have continued being last August version all year.

If I were a GM of a sub par team that needs to actually rebuild instead of shooting it’s load and then reloading year after year I’d build a hitting lab to go with my pitching lab and then spare no expense on both. Then I’d trade for position prospects. BUT I’d also invest in retreads. Sure, internetspert will hate me for dumpster diving, but I don’t care.

I’d jump on Cal Quantrill. Get him cheap and start preparing him for next years rotation now in my lab. I’m so confident he can be useful – goodish that I’d give him two years now.

I’d also nab a guy like Abraham Toto and see if we can’t get his OPS+ up to 100 and make him a useful depth piece.

I’d also set up a “defense training ground” for the off season where I literally talk to current players that may be interested and cast offs that may want a job and I hire individual coaches for each player or couple players. Find some nice place like Palm Springs, or even Anaheim. Have a guy like O’Hoppe spend all of Feb working with Benito Santiago on catching and Darin Erstad on playing the OF. Sign Willi Castro early and have him work OF with the same Erstad and do three weeks of individual 3B training with a highly paid Scott Rolen. Hire someone to teach Nolan to be flexible, move better, run like a human. Maybe get him a little time with Ersty on the grass too. Hell, maybe even try something wild if it’s vaguely workable and sign a guy with a cannon like Max Kepler and have him work with some incredible 3B coach for a whole month day after day. Do the same with some MiLB/QuadA HITTERs who are positionally blocked and cut from other orgs. Or really work Niko K Vader out heavily in LF.

Try this slowly at first with just a handful of guys. If it works, hire a couple scouts whose job it is to find low key player targets for this method. Try to build more Max Muncie into our roster.

I’d “retire” Washington and put him in charge of this.

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Born_in_59

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Out of your many sterling ideas this season, I like this one the best. With the heavy investment in facilities in Arizona, I’m not sure why the fielding lab wouldn’t be located there, maybe because potential instructors would likely be closer to Anaheim, but this is a forward-thinking idea and a logical next step for player development. The Rancho Cucamonga minor league facilities might also be available too since the low A team will be located there next season.

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Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

At least it’s a plan which more than can be said for the current operation.

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

What a concept – practicing baseball in the fall and the winter.

maybe if it catches on, we could build a facility, and other teams will build facilities then we could have something like Fall League ball and Instructional League ball. And we could bring all the players together from all levels and have all the coaches there too. For fun, let’s put the place in a college town. I know a spot.

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Jeff Joiner

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

This is a great comment.

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Born_in_59

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Rather than year-round baseball, I thought he was suggesting intensive, one-on-one training during the winter months. This would be like when the Mets hired Todd Zielle as their 1B for the 2000 season and had him work the winter with Keith Hernandez to learn how to field the position. To make that part of the development track rather than a one off seems to be a sound idea to me.

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to Born_in_59

This does happen in Tempe. Like Logan spent a lot of January and February there. Activity at the complex there I believe is constant but there is down time between Thanksgiving and New Years, but then it starts ramping up slowly.

The main obstacle – MLB guys have union contracts; they get the winter off. And then the coaching staff has to be paid too. The club can’t mandate anything now of this sort – it would have to be driven by the player.

As for low levels I don’t know how that works but I’m sure kids from the DR would rather spend the fall and winter here if the Angels are paying their way. I’d guess there are winter programs down there too at a complex.

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Born_in_59

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Thanks for the information.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Yup. MLB players would have to get paid…. like we specifically tell a guy that we want to sign him, pay him a little extra, and send him to Tempe with XXX coach for six weeks before spring training as part of the deal.

Or we’d have to coax our current MLB guys in their case. It’s not like we’d do this stuff with 20 guys. I’m talking about like 4 guys or something.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to Born_in_59

This is what I mean. But scout/recruit players with the intention of doing it.

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Born_in_59

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

It’s the recruit with the intention of working with the player that got my attention. You can’t write work during the off season into the contract, but players who are only getting a one-year deal, perhaps their last chance at that, would probably jump at the opportunity to improve their game/chances for another contract.

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RexFregosi

16 hours ago

Reply to Born_in_59

NRI guys usually show up when P/Cs report but again I don’t think they have to. I always try to highlight the guys who show up early and it seems I always grumble about Mike not showing up until he has to.
last year all the kids were here early, but Mike wasn’t.

There was the Fielder practice infield, but it got removed for the Pitching Lab, so yes, in a sense we traded Fielding for Pitching.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to RexFregosi

Do a lot of guys from the MLB roster go to Instructs etc? Like O’Hoppe? I haven’t really paid attention.

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RexFregosi

16 hours ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

No with MLB players they don’t really come to the Desert to work at team complexes in fall, they will start trickling in here in Jan.

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Super Member

Angelz4ever

1 day ago

Let the kids play and focus on the #11 pick in 2026.

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Legend

steelgolf

1 day ago

Reply to Angelz4ever

They will end up in the 15 to 20 area because trAdition.

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Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

1 day ago

This is Kiley McDaniel’s (ESPN) ranking of these players for the long term, considering their upside, risk and proximity to the big leagues, in consultation with scouts and execs around the league.

Players in the big leagues are eligible for this update (MLB rookie eligibility rules apply here — 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster) so you will see some recently called up major leaguers.

Now let’s get to Kiley’s final 2025 ranking of the best young prospects in baseball.

60 FV tier

1. Konnor Griffin, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates
2. Kevin McGonigle, SS, Detroit Tigers
3. Jesus Made, SS, Milwaukee Brewers
4. Samuel Basallo, C, Baltimore Orioles
5. Leo De Vries, SS, Athletics
6. Max Clark, CF, Detroit Tigers
7. Colt Emerson, SS, Seattle Mariners
8. Sebastian Walcott, SS, Texas Rangers
9. Travis Bazzana, 2B, Cleveland Guardians
10. Aidan Miller, SS, Philadelphia Phillies
11. Walker Jenkins, CF, Minnesota Twins
12. Josue De Paula, LF, Los Angeles Dodgers
13. Bubba Chandler, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

55 FV Tier

14. JJ Wetherholt, SS, St. Louis Cardinals
15. Thomas White, LHP, Miami Marlins
16. Kade Anderson, LHP, Seattle Mariners
17. Ethan Holliday, SS, Colorado Rockies
18. Jett Williams, SS, New York Mets
19. Nolan McLean, RHP, New York Mets
20. Eli Willits, SS, Washington Nationals
21. Jonah Tong, RHP, New York Mets
22. Andrew Painter, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
23. Jordan Lawlar, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks

50 FV tier

24. Carson Williams, SS, Tampa Bay Rays
25. Franklin Arias, SS, Boston Red Sox
26. Eduardo Tait, C, Minnesota Twins
27. Carson Benge, CF, New York Mets
28. Luis Pena, SS, Milwaukee Brewers
29. Bryce Eldridge, 1B, San Francisco Giants
30. Luke Keaschall, 2B, Minnesota Twins
31. Sal Stewart, 3B, Cincinnati Reds
32. Seth Hernandez, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
33. Payton Tolle, LHP, Boston Red Sox
34. Arjun Nimmala, SS, Toronto Blue Jays
35. Trey Yesavage, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
36. Bryce Rainer, SS, Detroit Tigers
37. Rainiel Rodriguez, C, St. Louis Cardinals
38. Chase DeLauter, RF, Cleveland Guardians
39. Colson Montgomery, SS, Chicago White Sox
40. Liam Doyle, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals
41. Moises Ballesteros, C, Chicago Cubs
42. Angel Genao, SS, Cleveland Guardians
43. Ryan Sloan, RHP, Seattle Mariners
44. Eduardo Quintero, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers
45. George Lombard Jr., SS, New York Yankees
46. Zyhir Hope, RF, Los Angeles Dodgers
47. Gage Jump, LHP, Athletics
48. Rhett Lowder, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
49. Owen Caissie, RF, Chicago Cubs
50. Josuar Gonzalez, SS, San Francisco Giants
51. JoJo Parker, SS, Toronto Blue Jays
52. Aiva Arquette, SS, Miami Marlins
53. Slade Caldwell, CF, Arizona Diamondbacks
54. Josue Briceno, C, Detroit Tigers
55. Theo Gillen, CF, Tampa Bay Rays
56. Mike Sirota, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers
57. Emmanuel Rodriguez, CF, Minnesota Twins
58. Jamie Arnold, LHP, Athletics
59. Robby Snelling, LHP, Miami Marlins
60. Khal Stephen, RHP, Cleveland Guardians
61. Troy Melton, RHP, Detroit Tigers
62. Logan Henderson, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
63. Jonny Farmelo, CF, Seattle Mariners
64. Ethan Salas, C, San Diego Padres
65. Harry Ford, C, Seattle Mariners
66. Noah Schultz, LHP, Chicago White Sox
67. Michael Arroyo, 2B, Seattle Mariners
68. Carter Jensen, C, Kansas City Royals
69. Cam Schlittler, RHP, New York Yankees
70. Luis Morales, RHP, Athletics
71. Travis Sykora, RHP, Washington Nationals
72. Ricky Tiedemann, LHP, Toronto Blue Jays
73. Alex Freeland, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers
74. A.J. Ewing, CF, New York Mets
75. Cooper Pratt, SS, Milwaukee Brewers
76. Caleb Bonemer, SS, Chicago White Sox
77. Billy Carlson, SS, Chicago White Sox
78. Cam Caminiti, LHP, Atlanta Braves
79. Hagen Smith, LHP, Chicago White Sox
80. Didier Fuentes, RHP, Atlanta Braves
81. Spencer Jones, CF, New York Yankees
82. Connor Prielipp, LHP, Minnesota Twins
83. Brandon Sproat, RHP, New York Mets
84. Tink Hence, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals
85. Emil Morales, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers
86. Lazaro Montes, RF, Seattle Mariners
87. Jarlin Susana, RHP, Washington Nationals
88. Jakob Marsee, CF, Miami Marlins
89. Jefferson Rojas, SS, Chicago Cubs
90. Luke Adams, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
91. Joe Mack, C, Miami Marlins
92. Ryan Waldschmidt, LF, Arizona Diamondbacks
93. Jeferson Quero, C, Milwaukee Brewers
94. Dylan Beavers, RF, Baltimore Orioles
95. Trey Gibson, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
96. Jurrangelo Cijntje, RHP/LHP, Seattle Mariners
97. Leonardo Bernal, C, St. Louis Cardinals
98. Charlee Soto, RHP, Minnesota Twins
99. Jackson Ferris, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
100. Jaxon Wiggins, RHP, Chicago Cubs

10 players in contention who weren’t on the preseason top 200

Luke Dickerson, SS, Washington Nationals
Kyle Karros, 3B, Colorado Rockies
Caden Scarborough, RHP, Texas Rangers
Edward Florentino, 1B, Pittsburgh Pirates
Johnny King, LHP, Toronto Blue Jays
Jacob Reimer, 3B, New York Mets
Jhonny Level, SS, San Francisco Giants
C.J. Kayfus, 1B, Cleveland Guardians
Josh Adamczewski, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers
Juneiker Caceres, RF, Cleveland Guardians

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Fansince1971

1 day ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

I skimmed this – but am I correct there is not a single Angel on this list?

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Senator_John_Blutarsky

1 day ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Yep, no Angels

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Twebur

1 day ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Thinking about 2026 and 2027 has made want to smoke and drink more. Good times.

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RexFregosi

1 day ago

Reply to Twebur

Angels Baseball 2015-2025

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to Fansince1971

It’s almost as if the farm’s not very good and we should have been trading for prospects since about 2022. Even if we know that about 20 of those top 200 guys are really gonna amount to much.

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2pints

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Ward and Jansen WANTING to be here is more important than this team planning for the future. Duh

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to 2pints

I also would really like to be an Angels player. What can we get for that?

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tanana40

1 day ago

I enjoyed the Phillies sweeping the Mariners. The M’s have now lost 5 straight and 7 of their past 8 games.

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Senator_John_Blutarsky

1 day ago

Good morning!

The team is performing exactly to the level of talent that exists today within the organization. Perry did nothing in the offseason and at the trade deadline to position the team to consistently win and compete for a playoff position. Everything being relative, they are doing their best.

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Roy Hobbs

1 day ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

I agree except for Kikuchi. Other than that, you are absolutely correct.

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steelgolf

1 day ago

Don’t fall into the trap of Luis “fools gold” Rengifo.!

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Kevin

1 day ago

Reply to steelgolf

I doubt anyone is falling into a trap there — but it was nice to see a hitter make contact and successfully complete a proper play to achieve a win. The Halos need more of that.

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Pineapple12

1 day ago

Red Sox and Mariners are reeling. We had a golden opportunity to get right back in the WC race and tripped all over ourselves against the A’s and Reds.

Sigh

Last edited 1 day ago by Pineapple12

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Thing is, we just watched a team that is likely not quite good enough to be a play off team. I hope they sneak in cause I like em, but even if the Mets fall apart and the Reds squeeze in they are not likely to run through the post season.

And yet they manhandled us. We eked out one win when their offensive lameness showed it’s ugly face. Never mind the fact that they still stuffed us with 2 runs. It’s easy to think that the games were close, etc but the series wasn’t. Not really. In the end they were that 10% better than the Angels that it takes to win a series of games. This would likely be the case if we played a ten game series.

And that’s a “maybe” team. Not a Championship contender.

It’s gonna take a whole load of unicorn magic for us to contend in 2026. It’s not impossible. Look how “good” the Angels are now compared to what I thought they’d do this year. But it’s silly to look at what the contending teams do and think “what we could have done”. It’s like 24 year old me watching a real boxer have a bad fight and thinking “Maybe I could take him” when really all I’d end up with is a bruised liver and scrambled brain.

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Jeff Joiner

1 day ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

The Angels took their first lead in the series last night in the bottom of the 8th inning.

So, yes, that series was not really close.

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Twebur

1 day ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Yet a week earlier we beat the shit out the Doyers… frustrating, but that’s baseball.

We aren’t likely to repeat our higher level of play against better teams and starting pitchers next year. Nice trend, but unlikely to duplicate that in 2026.

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gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 day ago

Reply to Twebur

Take it from a guy who has followed multiple suck teams at a time. Every fanbase has that “yeah, well, we beat the (insert good team).” straw they can grasp at. Beating the Dodgers was fun as hell but it means nothing. It doesn’t mean the team is close to anything but some grass.

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milehigh

1 day ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Even if we won both series we wouldn’t be catching the M’s or Sux. Those teams and the Yanks are 8 to 12 games over .500. And we unfortunately will likely not finish.500.
Those two teams may be “reeling “, but they are still over .500 for August.

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