What an incredible week in baseball. That Padres vs. Brewers series was full on nail biters and was one roof beam away from likely going to a deciding game five. Meanwhile the Rays smoked the Yankees, who never even had a lead in the three game sweep. The only downside is the Dodgers advancing.
As of this writing, the game between Chicago and Cleveland has yet to start but former Angel and current great guy Jo Adell had a big moment in Game 3.
With Adell on the Guardians and Sean Newcomb and Randall Grichuk on the White Sox there are plenty of former Halos in this series. Due to the TV start times, I doubt many people have seen them, though.
So now we have to hope the Brew Crew can knock off the Blue Crew in the NLCS. On the AL side of things, I’d be happy with any of the surviving teams winning it all.
But, wait, this is an Angels blog. Not much going on around here, but let’s see what I can find.
The decision to retain Jolly and Mozeliak or do a complete front office makeover is far and away the top storyline to follow. Kroenke’s decision on this matter will define the organization’s future.
Whoever is in charge of building the Angels will have plenty of work to do.
The Yankees defensive meltdown in game two highlighted why it is so critical for the Angels to fix their biggest flaw. The Angels team defense was atrocious last season which is why moving Mike Trout to left field is a game changer.
Unfortunately, that means the Angels now need to solve a problem in center field. Do they go with an internal option or explore the weak free agent class?
With the off season under way, the topics to cover are pretty obvious. SI has a recommended calendar for guys like me to follow, but are there really many possible stories to cover other than who is going and who should come in?
Trimming the dead weight off the roster should be pretty easy. Lowe and Heineman have to be non tendered.
Dead weight gone, 100 loss season wrapped up, the next step is to identify the Angels biggest roster holes.
That’s a lot of text without a break. Let’s take a look at Arjun Nimmala’s majestic blast in the AFL.
Nimmala or Neto? Which one is the shortstop of the future. The Angels need to decide on that this off season and either extend Zach Neto or trade him for a haul of talent that will be big league ready about the time Nimmala and the rest of the Pandas are.
Once the front office questions are answered, I think the decisions on Neto and Detmers are critical. Extend or trade. But it must be done now and there really is no wrong answer.
Speaking of the Pandas arriving, Jake Munroe is also doing well in the desert. He looks more and more like an MLB regular. But I think the Angels need to sign a veteran give Munroe more time to develop and I have one in mind.
And in a piece that is guaranteed to make me look stupid next season, I predicted the Angels rotation for 2027.
Keep in mind, I think the team might spend a bit on some bats and bullpen given the fact the rotation is the current strength of the club.
And there are some internal candidates to help the bullpen. Not enough to make the bullpen dominant, but with the right free agent to anchor the unit, the bullpen could conceivably be decent next year.
Second base was a nightmare last season. How can the team patch that hole?
And in real news, legendary scout Bob Fontaine died this week. He was responsible for bringing in all of the greatest players from the Angels golden era at the beginning of the century. He was also a great guy I interviewed when TBW wrote a book about him. I’ve read the book and it was enjoyable.
Tributes poured in from across the baseball world. They were well deserved.
If there’s one thing I really learned this year with all the access my credential allowed is just how many people work behind the scenes at the Angels. People you do not see on TV or know exist but they all contribute to the team in some way and the vast majority are great and love what they do for a living. Bob was one of those people when the Angels were on top of the baseball world.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. I will be cornering a fight in Long Beach helping my charge exact revenge from a split decision loss earlier in his career. I’m so proud of how far the kid has come the last two years and I’m excited to see him get his hand raised in the center of the ring.
Outside of that it will be family time with playoff baseball on TV.
