Here is a trade Adam Frazier article for your reading enjoyment. According to the Simulator, we’d have to pay people to take him off our hands.
This slipped under my Radar. Travis d’Arnaud is on the ten day IL retroactive to May 7 with plantar fasciitis. I guess we are all hoping O’Hoppe has a smooth rehab in Arizona. The team called up Omar Martinez in case of disaster.
Whoever wrote this article had their work cut out for them picking just one thing the Angels needed to improve. They settled upon the bullpen.
The Braves just activated shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. The Dodgers just activated Mookie Betts. In other shortstop news, Jacob Wilson of the Athletics left Sunday’s game with a shoulder sprain.
The Blue Jays selected the contract of right-hander Yariel Rodriguez.
Another Hall of Fame broadcaster has fallen. Rene Cardenas the Astros Spanish language broadcaster died at the age of 96.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Great! Moncada and Lowe are back in the lineup.
When the duo didn’t combine for four homeruns in yesterday’s game, you knew it was inevitable. Suzuki knows the team desperately needs Moncada’s defense with groundballer Urena on the mound.
Makes sense to me.
Moncada must have a Gold Glove. It certainly isn’t made of leather.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48752144/mlb-players-union-meet-begin-labor-talks-sources-say
Likely Outcome: A transaction freeze (lockout) is anticipated starting December 2, 2026, if a deal is not reached.
Core Conflicts: Owners are expected to push for a salary cap and stricter economic controls, which the players are expected to resist, similar to the 2021-22 labor dispute.
Player Preparation: The MLBPA has reportedly amassed a “$500 million+ war chest” from licensing fees to support players during a potential work stoppage.
Season Impact: While a lockout is likely, negotiators will be under pressure to avoid missing regular-season games, with March 2027 being a critical deadline, just as in the 99-day 2022 lockout
So what happens if Arte is counting on a work stoppage and it doesn’t happen.
History (2026 season) repeats itself. Suckzuki (I actually have one of his game worn ca angels throwback weekend jerseys) and Platypus get one year extensions. We recycle the same moncada/lowe FA acquisitions. Trout comes into the season in the best shape of his life.
This gave me a good chuckle lol
He did lose weight this last winter.
List of users who used to contribute that “got busy with work”, “became lurkers”, “been tied up” since CtPG grand opening (not meant to be a complete list)
Rev
Ennis
Rahul
Gitcho
Cowboy26
Mia
Benji
Stirrups
Scoople
Victorious
Designer
Norcal
Rex
Et al
I really miss Gitcho talking about sad donkeys.
And ohtani’s mom & everyone’s dad!
He posted once here the other night, and it was almost a faint impression of classic Gitcho, to the point where I wondered if it was a relative phoning him in.
Gitcho was kind of a psychoactive substance – you definitely don’t want to eat too much.
But I’d be in to some Gitcho microdosing right now. CtPG loses a little something without that flavor.
He said he was really busy with work.
I agree. I mostly stayed out of his crosshairs so I didn’t have to endure too much wrath outside of maybe a couple of instances.
Most of his tirades were entertaining though.
I would volunteer as tribute at times
80s
Abbott
Finley
Edmonds
White
90s
Anderson
Salmon
Percival
Erstad
00s
Kotchman
Saunders
Aybar
Arredondo
Trout
10s
Calhoun
Trumbo
Bourjos
20s
Schanuel
Neto
Silseth
Detmers
Adell
Prob missing some.
Wally Joiner in the 80s
K-Rod and Shields, 90s/00s. That stable bullpen was so critical to the Golden Oughts era of Angels baseball.
Schanuel, Neto and Silseth almost feel like cheating, since they virtually leapt from draft to the MLB, with so little time ‘in the system’. And impact still TBD on Nolan and Chase.
Yeah that 2020s list definitely doesn’t fit the mold of previous decades.
Solid additions Roy & TT!! I’m sure there are even more!
I can probably make a list of prospects who’ve yielded us better results (trades we’ve won?) too… Nolan Ryan, Fergosi, Carew, Teixeira, downing, figgins.
Many different ways to look at things.
Actually – you know the guy that we’re totally shortchanging in the 10s list?
Taylor Ward
The guy we all guffawed about when he was selected at the back of the first round as a defensive catcher. He actually became something no one thought he’d be – an offense-first outfielder and everyday player who’s managed to reinvent himself several times.
Would you ever have guessed he’d become a leadoff man near the top of the OBP leaderboards, one year after hitting 36 HRs as the tentpole slugger on the Angels?
Dude is the Zelig of contemporary baseball, and deserves more kudos than he gets.
Very good insight TT!!
100% – I remember being so perplexed by that pick. That was an absolute hit of a pick.
It’s funny – I was still doing my draft coverage back then, and Ward was actually one of my top target prospects…in the second or third round.
I was as puzzled as anyone when the draft room erupted in celebratory high fives over snaring a defensive catcher from Fresno with their first pick. In the end, they got the right player from the wrong reasons. 🙂
Otoh, Dipoto has more than proved himself a savvy drafter with Seattle. He just had major constraints in Anaheim – often lacking a first round, or even second round, pick. And that 2015 draft actually lured in Ward, Fletcher, Jared Walsh, and third rounder Grayson Long, who was flipped for Justin Upton. That’s a pretty productive one-year haul.
I’m with Pineapple, this season is worthless to care about.
I told myself I was not going to any games this year, but my fiance is a Dodgers fan so I’m being dragged out to a weekend game…I really don’t want to go and watch my team get smashed in front of 30% home fans but happy (future) wife, happy life I guess lol.
Oh god, I just checked the schedule, it’s in LA that weekend. Even worse.
Pineapple et al – there is always room for optimism in a sports team chat page. I certainly was that person for years and I have no problem with it whatsoever – in fact it is welcome. In the past two years, I have attempted to engage optimistic fans such as you all in honest discussion and asked what was the reason for the optimism. Some indicated their belief that Adell, Neto, Schaunel, Joyce etc would continue to develop and make up/exceed the lost WAR of players like Ward and Jansen. Mostly, the responses were hopium based – which is fine – but not really based in reality.
As a counterpoint to the hopium, I pointed out the last two seasons were 63-99 and 72-90, the latter being a relatively healthy and luck filled season. And that the team lost WAR and a legitimate closer over this last offseason and therefore it would take extreme luck (the type you can only hope for but is not a reality) for this team to perform even at last year’s level.
I don’t like being negative but I am a realist. I really do not see any reason for hope or optimism in this Org. The real hope is that Arte will sell and take his minions with him. Until then, I just do not see a path unless the stars fully align and even then its questionable given this Org.
I’m all aboard the full rebuild plan. Have been for a while.
But others bring up a good point. Do we trust this front office to land quality returns? If you trade away Soriano, Detmers, and others and get back a bunch of junk you do not accomplish anything.
It goes back to a point you bring up often, we have no plan! That’s the Angels franchise in a nutshell for 60+ years, just exist (sign aged veterans to get meat in the seats) and offer a product to put on people’s “what do I do with disposable income” list.
One time in our existence have we had a good farm system and good MLB team (with the core built off the farm system!).
The tail (us fans) don’t wag the dog here. Arte has himself a nice little asset, his fridge gets full of holiday cards from employees to get all the good feels, and he feels important/powerful. And that’s all that really matters here!
I do think we had a plan when we hired Soth. We had good players coming up in the farm system ( Bill Bavasi and Stoneman get credit here). Soth had a philosophy, the Angel way, that was instituted throughout the entire system. Aggressive baserunning, bunting, hit and run…..That is why we were so competitive between 2002 and 2015. The analytic game changed baseball, and the Angels and Soth did not adapt. Between 2000 and 2015, the Angels had a plan. They won only one World Series Championship, and they lost two ALCS series, but those were the golden years of Angels baseball. Since then, they have been floundering, trying to catch up with analytics but doing it badly, not developing the farm system, buying high-priced free agents (the decline started in 2011 with the 10-year deal with Pujols and then the 2013 signing of Hamilton).
I think this is fairly accurate except for the fact that analytics aside, they have done very poorly drafting and developing even using old school methodology.
I think the miss here was not fully embracing the pivot from the Stoneman/Scioscia era to the Dipoto era. Agree that Stoneman/Scioscia had a PoV that worked for a time, and then it was coming to a close as the game changed.
I really think the Angels got their ‘next man up’ in Dipoto, but failed to keep him – a turf war developed between Scioscia and Dipoto, and Moreno sided with the old guard, as is his nature, when they should have just given full reins to Jerry after he delivered a 98-win team in 2014.
It’s pretty clear now that Dipoto had a very coherent philosophy (pro-analytics, pro-pitching pipeline), and he’s effectuated that philosophy in Seattle. His successes on the offensive side have been a mixed bag, but no one can question that he built a pitching factory in Seattle, and has created a pipeline than ensures Seattle’s contention window is longer than a year or two.
I still think that it was pretty bitchy for him to walk out midseason. That said, I would love to have him as the and/or president of baseball operations.
I kinda think the opposite. He felt strongly in his vision for the team as its GM, and wasn’t going to let Arte and Sosh make him the overseer of a direction he didn’t believe in.
I particularly regret not being able to see what a Dipoto-Maddon regime might look like. That could have been a creative brew.
It was bitchy, but he was Queen Bitch (to borrow from David Bowie), and he deserved the keys to the kingdom. You produce the best team in baseball, you should be able to determine protocols to deliver data and reports to pitchers, at a bare minimum.
Sometimes you gotta be a queen and a bitch to put the house in order. And if the hubby takes you for granted, that’s what no-fault California divorce is for.
I agree with you 100%, we just stuck with Soth about 5 years too long and in the power struggle between Soth and Dipoto gone with Dipoto. He did seem to have a plan for the future and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we keep Dipoto and let go of Soth, but who knows Arte might not of taken any advise from Dipoto anyway.
Being a fan of the Ducks, they did it the right way – embraced a multi-year rebuild that was difficult for us fans, but is now paying off and will over the next several years. I would love it if Samueli bought the Angels and ran them the way he’s running his hockey club. I bet he’d change the name back to Anaheim, too.
This organization hasn’t made good decisions for over a decade and it’s not likely that they will suddenly change their stripes. They are super difficult to watch as they are almost always outmanned. I still love baseball, so I try to focus on the moments rather than results. When that fails I move on to other things.
Hoping that Arte sails off into the sunset but even then it will be a minute before they are relevant.
We currently have 2 players leading the league, Neto in Ks and Schanuel in GIDP. So there is that.
one of my joys in life is seeing Mariners do badly. Cal Raleigh isn’t far behind Neto in whiffs and is hitting .157 with an OPS of .559, an OPS+ of 61.
I like Cal Raleigh though and would be happy to see him do well.
Quite honestly I don’t care anymore about this season.
Perry and Suzuki lie constantly and treat the fans like we’re stupid. Arte only cares about a safe and affordable ballpark experience.
This team brings me no joy. Life is hard enough, there’s no need to let this clown show take up any more of my time. I think it’s time to detach.
Sorry y’all, I’m passing off the crown of hopium to EHC. Hopefully he learns to spread positivity without antagonizing every member lol
Don’t go bro. We’re in this together. But I friggen get it. We are the Cleveland Browns of baseball.
At least the Browns win some games. I’d say we are the Washington Generals of baseball.
Browns are wasting Myles Garret. Sounds familiar.
The worst is yet to come and I’m getting out before it does.
They’ll be lucky to be 20-40 by June 1st. This is a 110 loss team
Be patient. The big league team is only bad because we’ve been trading our big league assets for prospects. The farm is full of incoming talent.
Right? RIGHT?!
Quite honestly, I’ve enjoyed the dichotomy you’ve shown on the site and thought you were running a good line between Al
Bundy humor and hopium.
I am always hoping you will be right and not me. I want the team to succeed. Sadly, we can suffer through down seasons, it’s the clowns who are in charge.
I mainly keep up with the Halos through this site, hardly watch any games anymore due to how trash they are.
There’s no hopium to be had at the MLB level. Look at the arms on the farm for enjoyment as an Angels fan.
The only success the Angels can possibly have this year will be in identifying a couple of bullpen arms and perhaps seeing Rada and/or Raudi get a cup of coffee.
Sometimes you have to be a fan of the individual players, not the organization.
Mike Trout is on pace to put up his 10th 6.0+ WAR season. If he does, he passes Adrian Beltre to break into the top 40 all time WAR leaders and puts himself in position to break 100 career WAR over the next 1-2 years. That’s enjoyable all by itself.
I am always hoping for the best with the Angels. Even when they are playing poorly, they have always been my team, the last ten years have been really rough, back when the Cowboy owned the team even though many times they were not very good, I always felt that the Cowboy wanted to win so badly that he would try to do anything to get us over the hump, he just could not quite get us there. And they were like of the West Coast answer to the loveable bums from Brooklyn. After all they inspired the line “The Angels are like a box of Kleenex they pop-up one at a time.” They had a manager Lefty Phillips who looked like he stored batting practice balls in his pants. They had coach that could hit fungo balls anywhere he wanted to and roomed with Babe Ruth’s luggage. They had a professional bench warmer that had alligator skin covered seat cushions. How could not love that team.
Then there was the Disney years, always had hope then too, but for whatever reasons we just did not get over the hump. Then came Arte and I thought OK this is a guy that will do and spend what is needed to make the Angels a constant contender, but instead of bringing in good baseball people he brought in sycophants who told him what he wanted to hear and kiss his ass. However, I will still always love my Angels and hope still springs eternal, I guess I am still addicted to the hopium.
Welcome back dog face!
I’m always lurking around, just have to had much to contribute. But I always have hope, if they are going to do a rebuilt let’s go all in and get it done. If not figure out what we need and get going.
Soriano is a Wasserman guy. At this stage he’s a rental to keep us .075 higher in the in the W/L column. When he hits free agency – he’s going to be in the going rate for WAR range. It would be just like us signing him as a Free Agent. So we’re gonna be .375 with him or .300 without him. We’re not getting a home town deal – so you can pick him up or another pitcher for cash when he hits the market. We are way more than a year or two away. He’ll extract the most value now. Do it.
Would EHC approve?
We have Adam Frazier to trade…
Travis must have caught the plantar from Pujols. That must be part of his “personal services” contract.
He’ll likely be out a long time with that. I had that as an issue one time from too much walking and it took 6-8 months for it to go away with rest. I was older than travis and didn’t have access to all of the modalities, but none the less, it takes a while.
Oh yeah, and for a catcher, crouched down on his feet and having to somewhat stretch them, it is worse than just running or walking.
Given the way the Angels draft (to fast track guys to the big leagues, draft slots/values, incompetence, etc), at this moment they go with Flukey (from Jim Calliss), Helfrick (mlb.com) or Burress (Jeff Joiner).
Whoever it is, they’ll have to fit the Halo Way mold: mlb ready/polished; baseball IQ; high floor over high ceiling; resilience/competitive grit; aggressive; little to no time in minors before your first call up.
…and flames out into oblivion after a few nondescript seasons.
Yes, but what about the guy I wanted to take using revisionist history?!? I could’ve saved the team bro!
fwiw any draft take should be filtered into dudes you just like to watch and want to do a fantasy draft with dudes the angels will actually take.
Honest question here… last time an angels player climbed through A-AAA to the major and made an impact? The opposite of Ryan Johnson, who last year made our opening day roster despite never pitching a minor league inning.
Angels baseball.