The Angels Triple-A affiliate The Salt Lake City Dirty Sodas won the best new alternate identity for 2026. They narrowly beat out the Columbus Scrambled Dogs.
Red Sox Roman Anthony left game 1 of the Wild Card Series with hand soreness.
Here is a list of twelve players who just elected minor league free agency. Brewers righty Lyon Richardson elected free agency.
Here is the upcoming class of free agent center fielders.
Someone that has the ear of the new owner needs to let him/them know on CTPG we have at least 7 highly qualified GM candidates. Anyone of them can do the job. In Fact, I think I would be in the top 17-20 on this site.
Just for consideration.
Make it 21.
I will have us in the Playoffs in 2027 no doubt. Stan’s money will make us win so many games, you will get tired of winning.
Here’s some good news. At least the Angels are not in deep doo doo like Manchester City.
The last two Dodger owners are felons- it doesn’t get much better than that
we’re in limbo with new ownership coming after free agency. Hopefully Moz and Molly will be free to make deals because Stan K is good with them doing that. But it’s possible that nothing will get done until the sale is complete. Also, is there even going to be a 2027 season?
There are no free agents worth pursuing this year that are a fit for the Angels.
Not sure I agree with you on that. The Angels aren’t going to pursue Acuna or Skubal, nor should they at this point, but there are number of players that could improve the team by not sucking as bad as what got trotted out this year. If they can field a ball cleanly and have an OPS+ above 80, the team should take a look at them. As was mentioned before, this team offers players a better shot at making the roster than most and maybe Moz can find next year’s Meckler.
Believe it or not, it’s more difficult than it sounds. There aren’t a lot of empty places. If Neto is still here, he plays SS. I am assuming that Guzman needs to continue playing everyday at 3B and Schanuel is going to play 1B as long as he’s here. So in the infield, there is only 2B. Grissom is an average MLB hitter with 100 OPS+ but is a defensive liability. If you sit him, he needs to be replaced by someone who is at least an average hitter and plays better defense and you’ve gained nothing offensively.
Meckler plays 1 OF position and if Trout DHs, there are 2 open OF spots. But Siri is a decent defensive player and another average hitter. He’s a 1.5-2 WAR player if he plays everyday, so maybe you’re not replacing him. You have 1 OF position to replace Lowe and Teodosio etc. But there are people on this board that wanted to see Lowe next year with maybe better instruction. Does 22 year old Ballesteros get to catch every day? If not, then you’re not likely to find a catcher who hits much.
So, you have 2B, 1 OF, and maybe catcher. And you have Siri and Grissom who are already average hitters. The 80 and lower OPS+ guys were already replaced by Siri and Grissom. The only 2 players who were under 100 were Ballesteros and Guzman. Both of whom are 22 and need playing time. So what do you do. Really you only have 2B and 1 OF spot and the OF spot is only place where someone was under 100.
I’m not suggesting anything. I’m simply laying things out for consideration.
I personally would sit Grissom and get a new 2B that hits average and improves your defense and can run better since he’s not part of you rebuild future. I might sit Siri as well for the same reason and see if I could improve on his offense. Then you could add 3 players, a 2B and 2 OFs. That’s all the room you have. If you want to give the Guzman and Ballesteros playing time.
When all is said and done, you need to make sure that your manager is on board with whatever your plan is unlike Zuk who just played everybody with no apparent plan.
Different people see different things. So my first thought is “the Angels lost 100 games.” My second thought is “more than 3 or 5 players need to be added to improve the team.” Not necessarily all this next season.
So I maybe a hopeful power hitting RH first baseman to DH and/or rotate with Schanuel. Maybe a power hitting 3rd baseman that can field. Maybe a CFer and RFer. Move Siri to 4th OFer. Certainly a first string catcher. Mo Baller may get there, but he is not MLB catcher ready yet. And don’t get me started on the bullpen.
That is certainly one approach. I hope you get everything you want.
Yes this. I’m very patient till the new bosses come in. Molly and Mo should not touch a thing.
That CF list is so depressing. Varsho is really the only guy that could bounce back, and even then I’m a bit skeptical.
Rada makes the most sense as far as in house options.
Trade options:
A lot of us thought we would start from the get go in 2026 too.
Hopefully he can take that step up.
None of the CFs look like a significant improvement over Siri which says a lot more about them than it does Siri.
My approach for next season is (A) try to pick up one WAR for several positions ans (B) let the Kids percolate in the minors.
The Angels will have a difficult time signing “sustantial” improvement or better with only 1 year contracts. Again, I would be satisfied with “competitive” and wait a couple more years for “win it all.”
I agree. I guess all I was saying is that you make a decision as to what you’re doing with Trout, DH, LF, CF, and then you move from there. If he isn’t playing CF, then you decide whether to go with Rada or give him another year in AAA, and go with Siri or someone you sign for a year. Siri is a 1.5-2 WAR player as a regular and is likely cheaper than any alternative. Not saying that’s what you do, just saying that’s an option.
The unfortunate thing about the labor dispute is that it likely adds a year to the rebuild and makes both 27 and 28 years to evaluate young players. 2029 would be the first year you might field a real team, And I say might. 2030 is Trout’s last year, so 2031 seems like the first year you might be serious.
That’s why you trade both Neto and Detmers because both will be gone before the team is any good. However, before I trade Detmers, I would try to sign Skubal, and if successful I would extend Detmers, who along with Urania would give you 3 really good pitchers and by 2028, Bremner would be there. The problem is that right now you don’t know what you need other than everything so you will need 2-3 years to find out and you have to ask yourself if you really want to pay Skubal and Detmers for 3 years while you’re not good and finding out. These are things they will have to consider.
That is how I’m thinking too.
I see people thinking we should keep Detmers and get Skubal, but we are not going to contend until 2029 probably, so like you said we pay top dollars for guys to wait 2 years.
I’d much rather stock the farm.
I almost didn’t link that article because the Angels already have outfield options that hit like crap, field like crap, or both. No need to spend extra money for more crappy outfielders. But good links are hard to come by right now.
Pads v. Indians World Series would have my full attention
I meant Guardians. Old habit.
Would really like to see Padres-Dodgers match up for the pennant. Those two teams are as hard core enemies as you can find and not afraid to publicly say it. I’d even find my way to catch a game at Petco.
The San Diego Padres are the correct and appropriate surrogate rooting option for self-respecting Angels fans. Our NL mirror image, in a way. No meaningful or pre-existing bad blood between us. Current roster a bit douche-y, yes, but not to the extent that it overrides Gwynn, Nettles, Gossage, those guys, or the franchise’s long-suffering history. Stay classy and join me in supporting the Padres.
They seethe with Doyer hate. Which is righteous and acceptable to me.
Yes baby.
A worthy pick, but I’m sticking with the Brwers.
I’ll never forgive them for ’82.
Pretty much. Not as bad as Boston and I think I might even hate the White Sox the most in that category.
The only real blemish on the Padres is Steve Garvey
And my vote for minor league Best name has to be the Amarillo Sand Poodles. 😃
Yeah, it’s a good name… but derivative. Trash Pandas were anointed in 2018, AI tells me, and the Sand Poodles a year later after the former amassed a bunch of media love. So liking the Sand Poodles better is sort of like preferring Hydrox to Oreos or Bush to Nirvana.
Hydrox was before Oreos… and better, even if the name sounds like it’s a pool cleaner.
Stand corrected on cookie chronology. Overall point still sound.
Sod Poodles.
No love for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs?
The Akron Rubber Ducks have a fun thing going…. the Winston Salem Dash also have some fun with the “is it the act of moving fast? or a punctuation mark?” thing.
Do the Rubber Ducks play in the Rubber Bowl? It’s not called that anymore and I think that stadium was only good for football. But it was a great name for a stadium.
Kurt Suzuki’s one-year managerial contract with the Los Angeles Angels ended at the conclusion of the 2026 Major League Baseball regular season on September 28th.
There’s no need to publicly fire him; he’s already unemployed.
But what about my feelz a rye grins and hunger for other men’s comeuppance? Can they just SAY that he was horrible so they fired him? He wouldn’t bat Meckler first. I need to know he feels sad.
I believe they technically end at the end of October – but doubt he’s got much on his plate right now. 😂
I just checked, he’s out playing golf with Perry and Billy
We are still in a good spot on the whole. The Rays, Brewers, White Sox, Clevians, Padres, Braves, Phillies… all would make for a good World Series champ.
If the Rays beat the Yankees there will suddenly be twice as many Rays fans at their remaining games. That has to be the most pathetic fanbase in baseball. A fantastic underdog org that plays in a torture dungeon but makes the post season regularly? Nah, let’s just be Yankee fans. Hell, let’s let the Yankees keep a farm club in Tampa. I’m a little sad Tampa gets to keep that team. If they moved anywhere they’d be the hot ticket. Now they get to be Tampa’s team as long as the Yankees aren’t on… and Netflix hasn’t put anything new out.
I’m a little surprised the Cubs got beat so handily. I’m stoked for White Sox fans.
Can’t blame all the NY residents who wanted to leave that shit hole.
Having moved before, and loving sports, I don’t understand how more of them don’t get at least a little more involved with the Rays. I especially don’t understand how their kids don’t get into the Rays. Sure, if I move to New York I will still hate the Yankees…. I’ll still root for the Angels and start to follow the Mets. When I moved to Oakland I still loved the Angels, but I got into the A’s. It was natural, my friends up there were A’s fans, we went to A’s games, it was just understood that I’d root for the Angels when they were in town. Same with the Raiders, got more into them in Oakland.
But these fking Yawkers…. gotta rep hard at all costs.
That’s how I would be. I’d be an angels fan first and then support whatever local team was closest to me.
I lived this experience. Having become an Angels fan at 15 Years old, I later found myself living in the SF Bay area. I maintained my Angels fandom but got exposed to the Giants, who became my second favorite team. Along came 2002! Yes, I fully reverted to an Angels fan-boy and still am.
I have lived in the Bay Area for much longer than that and ever year makes me hate SF more and more, both as a city and as a team. Their fans are douchy and entitled and loathe everything SoCal, to the point of insanity. My rooting interest now is my own team and any team that is playing any team from the Bay Area.
I’ve lived in the Bay Area most of my adult life and I’m just neutral on the Giants, they are another ballpark I could occasionally see the Angels play. I always saw Oakland as a main rival and probably saw more games there than at Anaheim in my childhood. I’m really bummed they moved.
Big time shame the A’s moved
I want the Rays/Brewers so bad. But my first game was in the first year of the Padres – so I still have a little place in my heart for them. Ed Spezio, Scott’s dad, hit a home run and was instantly my favorite Padre.
Sparky Anderson was the Padres third base coach in their inaugural season, lived in my apartment complex, and his son was my best friend. Used to play catch with Sparky. When he took the Reds job – they became my favorite team. Moved to Orange County a few years later – and the Angels became my AL team. Then the Reds started breaking up, and I moved all in on the Angels.
One thing I see is the NL team will crush and sweep the AL team.
All the talent is in the NL now.
And all this fun speculations hopes and dreams ? You’re getting LA v NY.
Nice to see my roasting of Craig Breslow’s trade deadline moves aged well. The Adley Rutschman trade in particular was a special kind of terrible. Suck it Boston!
Disaster 2 games for the Cubbies. At least PCA will win the MVP, while the real MVP goes for his 3-peat. They gave up Mo Baller for 1 playoff inning of Zeferjahn (Zef has 3 more years of control).
Can’t wait for da Jo Show playoff edition to debut on Saturday!
That’s the trouble with “hot streak” teams. Is Breslow any good? I don’t actually think so, but they caught fire and made him look good. Then they hit the Yankees and are clearly not very good.
They still haven’t fired, nor will they ever actually fire, Kurt Suzuki. Hell, no one has even come out and held a press conference explaining how much Suzuki sucks and calling him out for his ern gaym derscherzuns. Is everyone gonna be OK today? There are hotlines out there if you need em.
I simply don’t care to talk about the Hawaiian man anymore. In my mind, there is 0% chance he returns as manager. I’ll crash out accordingly if I’m wrong lol
I don’t think the Angels will say anything about him. He’s not under contract. Saying much of anything can just cause trouble. They may just announce they are interviewing managers. Maybe they’ll say something about how great Kurt was. That will piss off the twelve year olds. Then it’s onwards to a new guy.
Please send me the numbers?
Well, I watched one game of the Wild Card round. Good job MLB. Well done. I literally spent more time viewing the coverage of Backpack the bear winning the Fat Bear Week competition in Alaska. He is in pole position to get through the winter in comfort and style.
What has happened over the course of four play off series? Don’t know. And I’m a fan who actually gives a shit and has been waiting for playoff baseball to start since the end of July. My nephews? They don’t even know it’s happening. Why? Because they too did not sign up for Peacock. But we don’t want boys ages six – seventeen getting into baseball anyway right?
This is how fking stupid baseball is. Even a guy my age thinks “Peacock? why would I sign up for that? WTF does Peacock put out that I even watch? Murder She Wrote?” I understand that streaming platforms will buy sports. But you look at, say the UFC going to Paramount. OK, you know what else Paramount airs? A bunch of “dude shows” that UFC fans are likely to also watch.
MLB took the cash and planted an important asset in soil that only grows 70 year old white ladies as an audience. Brilliant.
Yep, that is why I watched zero innings of the wild card round. And I think we have Peacock, and I know we have Apple TV, but every time they are airing a game, I simply don’t watch that game.
The good news is they can finish off their “Less Popular Than Soccer By 2035” plan at the MLB headquarters by kicking off a prolonged strike to start next season and making sure the Dodgers and Yankees are always in the World Series as much as possible.
YES THEY CAN!
Backpack is overrated, and I have it on good authority that he juices. Backpack is also a Dodger fan, he likes Arte and has a mad crush on Ohtani’s dog.
From this list of CFers, Angels will lose some hitting and add some defense. If you look at Trout replacing Soler, and one of these, it would appear to be a net gain. Plus these look like one year contracts at best. Maybe just a ST invite.
I know he’s hurt, but Dalton Varsho. Lefty bat. Platinum OF who is aging into just being very good. Can play anywhere on the grass. Has some power. Would likely sign for two years on a team like this if he knows he’s gonna play and get paid. We could do worse, unless of course he wants 20M a year.
My first choice is the guy that says “Yes, I will play for the Angels on a one year contract.” But seriously, I have watched Straw many games (Astros) and Cedric (Orioles). You don’t want either coming to bat in the bottom of the ninth needing a single. But they both can patrol the outfield. They both will turn 2026 singles/doubles into next season outs. I am sure there are others just as talented. My unprovable opinion is a vastly improved defense will reduce those run differentials – equaling Wins.
It will help with experiments too. Meckler insurance. Make up for Trout if he’s as good a LF as he was RF. Backstop any prospect struggles…. having a guy who can hit some dingerz and play all 3 OF spots isn’t waste of money on a rebuild team.
