Joe Kelly has stopped playing baseball for money, but don’t tell him he’s “retired.” He says athletes don’t get to retire. Andrew Heaney thinks otherwise.
Astonishingly, no Angels appear on this list of ten players who will define 2026. Of course, there is a former Angel on there. In other astonishing news, the Angels do not appear in this list of six teams whose fortunes are looking up.
And now for the good Angels news: There is no good Angels news. Um, they think Logan O’Hoppe can be an all star.
Mitch White and Guillermo Heredia re-signed with the SSG Landers of the KBO while Zach Eflin re-signed with the Orioles. The Orioles DFAd outfielder Will Robertson to make room.
Former Angel Andy Kosco passed away at the age of 84.
Nabil Crismatt got a minor league deal with the Rangers.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Either Mike Maddux will be the messiah or this will be a hilariously frustrating bullpen to watch
Suzuki is going to age in dog years during the 2026 season
The bullpen could be lights out, but we have hitters with low OBP and high strike out rates. The “launch angle” craze has them swing for the fences.
$5 million for Yates seems like a nice bounce back gamble. I’m good with the Pomeranz signing as well.
Just hope the training staff has lots of Icy Hot for the old arms.
Kenley Jansen = $11 mill
Pomeranz + Yates + Romano = $11 mill
2025:
Jansen bWar: 2.4
P+Y+R bWAR: 0.9 + (-.5) + (-1.7) = -1.3
even before this little look at Baseball reference, I would have rather had Hensley back.
Hensley Mullens…. huge prospect with Yankee hype in the early 90s. I miss him too.
I’d rather have Sherman Hemsley.
Leona Helmsley?
Rendon Himleave?
I remember Mullens. They also had another prospect Robert Kelly near same time. Was dumb and bought a grip of rookie cards of them that are now worth wooden pennies.
Robert Kelly or Roberto Kelly?
Sorry Roberto. He turned into a decent player
Speaking of wood. I have a matt shoemaker rookie patch auto card that’s made of wood. It’s a 1/1
Jansen vs the 3 Minasian amigos will be a subplot to follow
Damn straight
I would have saved the 5 million since in reality, he, Pomeranz, and Romano still don’t get the team to even sniff a .500 record at the end of the season. And the team has arms in the minors.!
But who will pitch out of the bullpen!
The only concern is when every addition to the roster comes with the disclaimer of “being reasonable on a bounce back contract”.
The likelihood of 10+ players having “bounce back” seasons seems unlikely…..
We’re only depending on Stephenson and Joyce staying healthy, Yates and Romano bouncing back, and Pomeranz not falling off a cliff.
Oh, and Trout staying healthy and playing like an MVP, Soler getting healthy, and massive improvement from O’hoppe.
I’d say the odds of all that happening are similar to my odds of finally dating Jessica Alba.
What always makes me laugh about this GIF is that Jim Carrey did, indeed, wind up banging Lauren Holly
I read somewhere ol jim was banging all the female leads in his movies
Buck Scott Foras. I really think I’d make my MO as an owner we don’t deal with him no matter how much we want the player. How many teams have good team deals with him?
Anthony “The Family Man” Rendone
257 games played
22 home runs
Sheesh, $245 million doesn’t go as far as it used to. Bad contract, bad production, bad vibes — good fucking riddance.
Oh no my friend. The bad vibes are still here. Rendon can leave, as have so many other “assholes” that failed to stay healthy. Hell, Arte can leave. Same fanbase. Same juju.
“Too blessed to stress”
Gawd the raging hate boners for Vernon. Who never negotiated a thing with the Angels, was brought over in desperation for missing Carl Crawford. Who was already an albatross. Yet hated on and blamed for every little thing that went wrong with the team. trAdition! find a brown face to rage on. Remember the very DEFINITION of “lazy” here is one of the better home-grown Angels.
I don’t think the rage about Vernone has anything to do with skin color. It has to do with the cost of his immovable contract that they took on and his pathetic performance. I would sit in the stands and call an infield pop out every time he came up to bat, and would be correct 80% of the time, or he struck out. They traded Napoli, Juan Rivera for that and took on his whole contract.
Yeah, he’s reaching. Plenty of players of color have been adored by fans here and this goes back decades.
Vernon came to symbolize the incompetence of Arte and as the guy on the field he was easy to identify and boo.
However, like Rendon, he also made some comments that were tone deaf at best. His “too blessed to be stressed” line is fine as a personal mantra but when a working guy drops 2-3 days worth of his work to take his kids to a game he’d like the $20 million guy to give him some bang for his buck.
The GA thing is a joke and he’s one of the most beloved Angels.
We’ve also hated plenty of white guys: Hamilton, Featherston, Harvey etc.
Coke head Hamilton is right on top of the stupidest Arte moves.
The family man is a good movie
Looks like we used that Rendon cache on Kirby Yates. Rejoice.
Why sign Kirby Yates? Because …. Angels.
Well, see, you need a closer whose name I have heard before so I feel like I have reloaded.
…because he was designated survivor to accept Arte’s pennies.
I know you’re being sarcastic, but I like this move. Historically good relievers coming off a down year are some of my favorite low-risk moves
He’s fine. In a “who cares?” kind of way. Honestly I’d rather just give Bachman and Joyce the innings and spend Yates money on new uniforms.
Yates and his 1.8 ERA will be flipped at the deadline. I think there’s still room in the pen for Joyce, Bachman, and Silseth
I’m not sure 40 year-old RP’s will bring back anything useful in trade…..unless Tony Reagins gets a GM/POBO job next season and we’re dealing with him.
LOL
He gets to reunite with Mike Maddux.
whenever FA money goes to pitching, I rejoice.
seriously this makes me happier than a Belli signing.
So Rendon’s officially done and none of you poods have to see him anymore.
Can schadenfreude pitch?
Let us all welcome Mr. Okamoto to Anaheim!
FYI: you spelled “Rengifo” incorrectly.
Now Arte is into deferring money. Can’t make this stuff up.
It’s beautiful: the Dodgers use deferred money to add Ohtani, Yamamoto, and others. Arte does it to spread payments on a player that won’t suit up for the Angels.
I have faith in our ability to redirect.
I have bought one MLB jersey in my lifetime:
Rendon, City Connect.
it did not turn out like expected.
If we ARE going to spend money on a free agent (and I’m not convinced we will or should), I’d much rather see us go after Imai. Much better long term benefits I would think.
But he’d have to choose us too, so there’s that.
Yep. Pitching!!
I have no desire for any position player – from anywhere.
Japan, Korea, USA, DR, Venezuela, Cuba – just give us pitching.
Kazuma Okamoto to meet with the Angels. Is this going to be a meeting by post, or a real actual meeting with mutual interest?
He’s flying over from Japan for in person meetings and has to decide by Jan 4th. I doubt he’s giving meetings unless there’s a decent chance of a signing.
Goodbye Joe Kelly. Guy who seemed to always want to draw attention to himself thru antics like stare downs, throwing at guys, silly comments. A Dodger fan hero for hitting Astros players and wearing a Mexican charro jacket to White House. Best highlight ever is Howie Kendrick hitting that grand slam off him in the playoffs, sending the blue home. So you said “I’m only going to play if the Dodgers re-sign me or retire”, ……Ok then bye bye.
With UCR Highlanders in the Show few and far between, I grudgingly had to accept and tolerate his nauseous antics. I can only guess how Percy feels about him.
I get you on the college thing. I’m fortunate to grad from LBSU, where there are several MLB Star alumni, the latest is Red Sox Duran. It’s why I live going to the games wondering who could be next.
I’m all in for a Dirtbags game meetup. I caught up with Bigiswrth at a game last year.
College games are a blast. If there is a lockout in 2027 I’ll probably get season tickets to the Dirtbags.
You got some proud Bulldogs too.
Which Bulldogs: Gonzaga, Georgia, Fresno State?
I’m happy to try and set something up again this year. I’m going in on a box for Sunday games. We tailgate prior to the game in the parking lot and then head into Blair. Please let me know if you would like to attend a game. I still have some connections for tickets.
NY Post tagline: “Former All-Star Lucas Giolito hearing ‘crickets’ in free agency with Red Sox breakup likely: ‘That’s business, baby!”
Fool them once, fool them twice, fool them thrice…..
….which means we’ll see him in an Angels uniform soon
“Giolito said he’s prioritizing teams with clear paths to the postseason – and hopes to sign with a team sooner rather than later.” Good news. We’re out.
They probably aren’t prioritizing him though.
…well, Arte and Perry always make sure the team is “competitive”. 😂
They all say that until the well dries up, then they go to a bum organization like the angels to keep getting paid.
It will be interesting to see if Arte spends money on the team or takes the approach that he gave that money to the Skaggs family. Similarly, the inability to “buy out” Rendon might have an impact on the alleged budget also. A smart businessman would make some deals, spend some money, and allow the added revenue and marketing streams to pay off. It’s unclear if that’s where this group is heading.
I don’t think he’s going to spend any money at all and Perry just has a budget to sign has-beens and never-wases.
The tragedy of the Rendon deal is worse than even we here imagined as it appears it has led to turning off the spigot.
I think it may be the collective effect of decades of wasted money on free agents such as Wells, Hamilton, Pujols AND Rendon not to mention the lost nearly half billion on Trout. Under such circumstances even the most careless spender might become wary.
But we did it. Aren’t you happy? Arte is clearly losing money and has to tighten the belt. This makes us the winners. We spoke truth to power from a good safe distance for years and years. Now we get to watch the comeuppance. Sure, we get to watch that instead of a better baseball team. But we did it. We won.
The only winners here are Arte’s kids and the Moreno Realty Group:
This should allow them to purchase another strip mall in Gilbert.
Great point.
If he wants to maximize the value of the team – he needs to invest. He’s in a rich market, but a market that expects winners. I think he leans more to making it look like he’s trying win to maintain some fan enthusiasm – while not really extending himself and trying to win.
Framber!
Seriously, the only investment needed to maximize the value of the franchise is to built AnaheimStadium2.0 with entertainment district.
Or would this smart businessman you reference decide that spending money on free agents is very expensive and risky and decide to lower the budget and focus on all the young and inexpensive players already on the roster increasing profits? Mix in a looming lockout and television revenue potentially disappearing or becoming much MUCH less. Arguably a smart businessman might not increase overhead in the face of such uncertainty.
And as long as the sheep keep buying tickets -,the capital keeps flowing in.
A smart businessman might also realize giving a new owner a blank canvas is pretty attractive.
If Arte was to sell right now the new owner would have a front office he can fire at will, only Trout as a long term contract, and essentially an entire coaching staff on 1 year contracts who could also be easily replaced.
If you wanted to buy a team and have the ability to immediately put your own stamp on it, the Angels are that team.
Jeff nails it again! This is why you are going to be a great SI guy. Skaggs issue-done. Rendone issue- done after 2026. Just Trout. And, no really long term lease on the stadium, so the team could be relocated anywhere, preferably on not city/county/state owned property of ANY city/county/state.
Trout is still the face of the franchise so it’s debatable how much of an “issue” he is even in his current state.
Yeah but I don’t really expect Arte to plan with my wishes as a road map.
Unless interested parties from the past sale attempt actually made noises about wanting the Skaggs trial and huge contracts and long term managers etc out of the way I doubt he’s making moves to go away.
Unless some billionaire is going to offer Arte $1-2 billion more than a few years ago, I don’t see it happening. And I think the team is arguably worth significantly less now with the television money in serious doubt.
The lack of TV revenue may be the exact reason why he chooses to sell the team though. The team will 20x his investment if he sells regardless of the TV money but if he stays, the team would need to morph into the type of organization hes proven incapable of being – smart, economical, lean, selling high and buying low, avoiding dumb expenses etc.
If he could be the Rays, the TV money loss wouldn’t matter. But he only knew how to compete by occasionally signing a free agent. He couldn’t even do that the past 5 years with Cohen type owners in the mix now.
I’d love for this to be the reasoning but I suspect its just actually preparation for a lockout.
But who knows – maybe the reality of how long this team will actually take to become competitive again is apparent to him and he realizes being a cartoon villain to a fanbase that hates him while watching embarrassing baseball is actually not what he got into the sports ownership biz for.
Thank you Mr. Caspino. Your perspective is noted.
You learn something every day. Today I learned that, if someone actually called me Carpino, I’d have a visceral reaction to it. Maybe head butt them or something.
That’s a lot of dislike…. I’m gonna have to find some aspect of Carpino to like. Maybe he trains seeing eye dogs or something…. I don’t want to get ass cancer from hating that guy too hard.
A’s and us flipping roles. They are drafting well,, signing a few strategic free agents and getting better. We are shedding salary, signing has-beens, drafting poorly, and are headed straight to a long trip to the bottom.
Arte can’t change, more importantly, he won’t change. Perry has zero control or input on the budget. Perry has known this for years, so don’t shed a tear for him.
If the player can’t be bought for pennies, they won’t be on the roster.
OK, I’ll bite. What are these added revenue streams you are talking about?
I understand that you want Arte to buy you some players. But the argument that there are any FAs out there that are really gonna act as “revenue streams” for a team that will struggle to reach .500 is a big stretch. Even if they did something truly stupid like signing Framber Valdez and Cody Bellinger, that’s supposed to bring out thousands of extra fans per game to watch a team lose? We may sign a Japanese player, but he won’t be Ohtani. Have you heard of the Sugano Effect? Neither have I. Thick streams isn’t much of an argument for spending.
The only major spending I would do if I were “smart business owner” is maybe pay Neto and Soriano long term to be fan favorites now that Trout is a wet fart. Otherwise I’m waiting out the labor strife and TV contract situation.
I don’t like it, but it was shown yet again last year. WINNING makes money. Even a sad sack team barely looking like maybe contending drew a lot of people last summer. And it is a likeable group of guys on our roster. That helps.
But the Angels have too many holes to BUY a winning team. Pissing away millions on looking like you’re kind of trying is what we all hate. It’s also a waste, in addition to what ever I am spending on Skaggs ladies.
And are we not buying Rendon out now? Though, was that ever really gonna save us much money? I don’t think the MLBPA will allow a huge discount. And the “we did some wrangling to save ourselves a few million in payroll this year via an agreement with Rendon” is the type of thing that helps a team that is a few million away from a title. What do we care? Might as well just stash that cash.
If I were smart I’d minimize spending. Why buy nice wheels for a Dodge Stratus with a bad transmission? Of course, if I were actually smart, I’d also sell high on assets I can’t use to win right now and I’d invest at least some of that money I am not spending on MLB payroll on the farm.
But yeah. I’m not buying the “If Arte were a smart business man he’d buy me some players I’ve heard of cuzz revnew streams” thing. That’s kind of what Arte already does and it sucks.
I have nothing to say.
But I rarely get to be first, so yay.
Go Angels
At least you were not 2GA2Post!!!