The Brewers and the Dodgers won their respective series to advance to the NLCS. The Mariners and the Blue Jays will play in the ALCS. Now that I got that out of the way, It looks like the Angels are seriously going to hire Albert Pujols as their manager.
Shockingly, Anthony Rendon has yet to resume baseball activities following his surgery.
The Giants are still considering a bunch of names for their manager opening.
Pete Alonso sets a pretty high bar for his expectations in free agency. I pass.
Another seven players elected minor league free agency. No Angels are on the list.
Gleyber Torres will have sports hernia surgery.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Wow! Nice Brewer double-play.
That was awesome and they got it right. The Angels could have never done that with Ward in LF.
It was hard to believe the runner at 3rd, Teoscar, could not score on that as he was tagging so it did not matter if a catch or a hit. Frelick threw the ball from the warning track, against the wall.
badly played by the Dodgers. Still, I’ve never seen anything like that.
Really gonna have to have a M’s vs Dodgers WS and see Ohtani win back to back championships? Ugh.
It’s happening……..😯
All Cactus League World Series
As bad as my disdain is for JeDi and his crew, in no way do I want a back-to-back WS champion in the Dodgers. NFW.
perhaps ballgame. 7-3 now
Rip Sandy Alomar Sr
My first “Favorite player”. I was six or seven, and he was the first Angel I got on a baseball card, so he became my fave.
Mariners…yuck
It’s Tied up now.
and not now ….. Polanco, having a time of it
Top 5 worst contacts in angels history.
1. Rendone
2. Pooholes
3. Josh Hamilton
4. Gary Matthews Jr
5. Mo Vaughn
Any others I’m missing?
Vernon Wells
Vernone is who I forgot. He was only here 2 years and produced more war (0) than pooholes last 5 years of negative war here.
But his contract was actually for four years (the Angels dumped the rest midway through), and an enormous $86M remaining (up to $26M+ in the contract’s final year).
Then you have to add the opportunity cost: Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera. Napoli in particular would savage the Angels each time they met for the next two seasons with the Rangers.
Gary Gaetti
He actually produced a higher war then wells 2 years here and pooholes last 5 combined.
Baldo, cost us Vladdy Jr.
No he didn’t.
He didn’t – not remotely. This is a misinformed myth that Angels fans just can’t quit.
Had the Angels not signed Baldoquin, they still would have had the smallest international bonus pool among those not facing the penalty, because they had the best record in baseball the year before. Vlad Jr and his representation made it clear that the bonus pool was material to them, and they took the largest pool on the table (one that would have been roughly double what the Angels could offer).
Vlad Jr wasn’t going to choose the lowest bonus just for feels, because his papa played for the team. And he wasn’t going to go to the Jays of all teams unless they could offer him bank. They did, end of story.
Hamilton’s was worse than Pujols, by far.
I disagree. If pooholes only played 5 years it would be a toss up imo. Pooholes last 5 years making 150 million was an absolute disaster
But he is definitely going to make up for it as a manager!!! 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪
Not looking forward to that. Dumb perry and arte think pooholes as a coach wi fill the seats.
I think time has let you forget how bad it was having Hamilton on the team.
10 years of poo holes and no playoff trips will do that to a fan
remember how awesome Hamilton looked at the plate the last time the team was in the playoffs?
🤣 I remember that. He looked completely lost and overmatched. Coming off an injury, no minor league rehab, and Scioscia puts him out there in a high leverage situation.
His at-bats during that series were some of the worst I’ve ever seen in my life.
Yeah. TBH, I don’t blame Cokehead for his shit performance in the playoffs. That’s all on Soth for running him out there like that.
you’re much kinder than I am. Even if he wasn’t ready and shouldn’t have been out there, he had absolutely no plan when walking up to the plate and looked like he wasn’t even trying.
I’ll concede that point.
Didn’t matter, the baseball gods were against us.
Hamilton was more dramatic. Pujols cost us more.
Yup. He was also signed to a shorter deal, coming off in mvp deason, for a position they needed to fill. He wasn’t a huge waste like I think signing poo holes was.
Actually they didn’t need Hamilton to fill any position. They needed pitching and whiffed. So to get fans excited they over payed for coke head and his accountability partner/coach.
Right. It was at the time where it seemed like if Arte decided to spend big on a player, then missed out on them, he just blew the money on someone else even if it didn’t make much sense. If I remember correctly, they signed Hamilton immediately after they missed on Greinke, who went to the Dodgers.
Trout.
It’s just my smooth brain thinking but I suspect that the Pujols signing did the most damage to us as an org. When we signed him we went full “Sunshine Yankees” and had a way we were doing things and we were gonna prove we were right. That mindset lead into all the other bad contracts like Hamilton and Rendon…. and bled into the Trout Window… and then the Unicorn Hole… and so on.
If we had stayed at a level where we were gob smacked by signing a Vlad Guerrero every few years we’d have been better off.
Pujols accelerated the teams transformation to a station-by-station team vs OBA, contact rates, putting runners in motion. Early Scioscia teams were good with the latter approach.
Trout, Wells, Upton, Zach Cozart. Upton wanted to opt out, but we insisted on giving him a little more money and another year, and he proceeded to produce -2.6 WAR over the next 4 years for $88M.
To be fair, we have combined horrible luck with horrible decisions to monumentally hamstring the organization for 16 years.
Lady and Gentleman. I give you our corner infield and centerfield answers for this off season’s incredible reload upgrades. Actually, we should get guys like these, and trade everything we have of value for KIDZ. But that would hurt our tender little fans and owner way too big.
Trade Ward, Adell (The Guardians are desperate for OF help. Let’s trade them these guys for their AGM and a couple player development guys). Trade Neto, Soriano, Detmers and Schanuel too. Get me 12 fairly legit A+/AA position prospects. Trade O’Hoppe too if he becomes desirable. And any pen arms that look good. And Kikuchi. By the end of 2026 have like 15 fairly good position player prospects.
I want to watch Pujols manage Trout and a team of Bryan De La Cruz types that all cost 3M dollars each and every time he complains I want them to tell him it’s because he took all the money while demanding a “winner” be built around him.
Then, of course, I want to watch a pile of kids develop and eventually win.
LET’S GO! The A’s have clearly outrun us on our development track. The Mariners will be better than us for two or three years. Maybe more. The Astros will remain better than us because their owner knows how to meddle well. Texas also has a better team and better farm. Let’s face facts and take it in the face. Rockies, White Sox…. hold our beer. If you’re using a shot gun you don’t need to reload!
I just wrote a fan post laying out the CF options (or at least ones I see as potential options that hit left handed)
Going to start working on the 3b list this week
I hear that 10 of 30 major league teams are looking for new managers. How many of them are seriously considering Albert Pujols or Torii Hunter? I bet all my Ippei bucks that the number is zero! I consider myself to be an outside the box thinker, but Jeesuz Arte, get a grip!
Zero would be the correct answer, though The Twins would maybe consider Torii.
Dear Karen, I’m confused.
So we just want Arte to eat Rendon’s contract and Rendon to go away even if he still collects his money. Stop hogging a roster spot.
This is what has basically happened.
But now we are pissed because he hasn’t resumed baseball activities.
But why would he do that if he’s supposed to just go away and collect his money?
Why am I angry that he has just done…. what we said he should do?
Do I want him in tip top shape before he just goes away?
Do I want him ready to go play for another team while we pay him?
Not to mention that he’s under contract and is expected to rehab from yet another simple, easy, fun and painless surgery and then begin baseball activities. Then he can show up in Tempe and we can all see his face and be angry.
It’s October. If the deadline is March 1 is he supposed to be doing baseball stuff right now? I don’t know. He’s had so many needless luxury surgeries to avoid baseball that I can’t even remember what his current ailment is.
But if all he’s supposed to do is go away, why do I care?
Sure, the rosters reset. But we aren’t gonna be short of guys we can leave off the roster for a few months and still sleep fine even if we may lose them.
Karen. Please explain why I am angry right now?
It’s not gonna happen, but I will laugh my ass off if he actually rehabs, comes back, we cut him and pay him, and he goes to the Astros and has a positive OPS+.
you constantly railing against this blog of individuals as if its a single entity saying one thing suits you sometimes, but this rant sticking up for Rendon just doesn’t land.
He’s just being a Rendon.
I am indeed an asshole. This is true. Were you actually gonna answer my question? Or just go with the special needs response?
I was just joshing. Humor only intended.
Now that I have actually read your post (I just posted the initial to support my thoughts on a new lexicon – I had not actually read your post) my comment would be that if the Angels cut Rendon and he then went and produced somewhere else I would be fine with it. Sometimes you just gotta say goodbye. I think the Rendon years here are over – so might as well have that roster spot. He never worked out here (for lots of reasons) so might as well move on from him.
Did they ever really start?
There’s a difference between me thinking you’re kinda full of shit and me thinking Rendon is actually good. Just cause I won’t slip on my Uggs and join your sewing circle of rage doesn’t mean I think Rendon’s any good. You and Rendon can both suck at what you do at the same time and it’s two separate things.
You’re doing it again, assuming every person on this site does a thing you don’t like so you can be free to rail against it. I can’t remember the last time I commented something negative about Rendon, maybe early last season? Yet you just group everyone together so you can argue against a single entity. Its tiresome, and incredibly lazy.
There you go again, assuming I’m assuming, when really the only thing I’m assuming is that if someone doesn’t do what ever I am assuming a pile of guys do they are capable of thinking “he must mean someone else, I don’t do that.” I also assume that fellas like you are capable of realizing that, if I’m lumping a pile of people together like fake crab, it’s likely not about something that I’ve seen one person comment on. Maybe not?
Thus the question. Why am I supposed to be mad at Rendon NOW? Or am I just supposed to live in a perpetual state of being pissy about him? What is CtPG Guy’s line of thinking? Is CtPG Guy thinking? Can CtPG Guy think?
The marketing minds that brought you the shake weight and the California High Speed Rail system want to know. Maybe I’m lazy, but I at least manage to fart out an answer when someone asks a question most of the time.
I don’t care if you’re mad or not at Rendon, which is why I don’t have an answer for you. Be mad at whomever you want, or be happy. Me pointing out that your above rant didn’t land isn’t me trying to make you hate Rendon, so while I understand that you need someone to argue with about him, feel free to look elsewhere.
At least this is the last year on Rendon’s contract.
Meanwhile, Trout still has 5 years left at $37 million a year.
Just… terrible contracts.
Well, the rules of baseball don’t help. In the NBA from 2020-2024, Rendon’s expiring contract would be worth something along with the inevitable tank job by the team that took it on in terms of a higher draft pick. Not in baseball. It’s just dead weight.
Ideally, Arte has insurance for the deal. And he will make a quality deal for a replacement this year and not wait until 2027.
Who? How? What? Quality replacement for Rendon? Moncada is literally the 3rd best FA 3B out there… it’s a bleak landscape. It would have been cool to trade for some 3B prospects the last couple years, but then who would we have watched at the ends of the 2024 and 25 seasons? And what about meaningful competitive?
It’s almost like the baseball gods understand that the Angels and their fans are exactly where contracts like these are meant to happen….
What this org needs is Albert Pujols as manager…. and Josh Hamilton as bench coach. Just rub all that glory in our faces.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Bring in Jose Guillen for funsies.
Let’s be fair. Guillen performed, unlike some of those 9 figure contracts, but he had a 10 cent head, and got into trouble with management.
A seriously attitudinal dude, but if you’re going to bring these stats with your ‘tude, you have leverage:
.294/.352/.497
27 HRs, 104 RBIs
3.1 WAR
Rendon should become synonymous with asshole in any Angel fan’s lexicon.
“Man, my Rendon hurts after all that fire alarm chili last night.”
“That guy just cut you off! What a Rendon!.”
“You won’t lend me the money? What a tight-Rendon you’ve become.”
You get the gist.
I plan on being a Rendon at work today.
Well, given it’s a federal holiday, at least you’re getting paid time and a half, right?
-sent from my couch with a coffee and my pug while watching the Dan Patrick Show on this four day weekend
Nope. Not if you’re exempt.
My wife is a teacher, definitely not a holiday for her and our kids. Of course it isn’t for me either.
The schools in my area are closed today
So weird not having school off today. My kids were also in school today, but they had Friday off.
Rendone isn’t going to play baseball again. He is going to stay home and collect his check. If he started rehab for baseball today he still wouldn’t be up to speed until sometime after the All Star break, if even that soon. He hasn’t swung a bat and faced live pitching in years. Yeah, he done, he Rendone.
That Rendon (synonymous with asshole) is Redone.