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LA Angels Wednesday News Crash: Union Drama

February 18, 2026

Morning Angels fans. Have some links.

Angels News

ST games will start soon, with the first one for the Angels being this Saturday vs the Dodgers. We will have Gamethreads here, as usual. But no postgame as these games don’t count and with how many players will be subbed in, would make it a nightmare to write. (Talking from experience) So they will stay up, with a title change to reflect the score.

Around Baseball

The MLBPA was about to meet when Tony Clark, the executive director since 2013, resigned. He had “an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law” who he nepo hired in 2023. This is the kind of scandal that the owners dream of, as it now leaves the Union leaderless and in bad light right when people will start paying attention to Baseball again.

Some players even think a Lockout is inevitable. And I don’t blame them.

Twins continue to be cursed, as Pablo Lopez is out for 2026 with an elbow injury. Poor Twins fans.

Harry Potter signed with the PR team Guaynabo City Mets. No, it is not a promo, that is his actual name. AND he has glasses!

Kris Bryant is the good twin of Rendon. he wants to play, but as he is injured again, he refuses to retire, wanting to make it back eventually.

Anything I miss? Post below for upvotes!

52 Comments

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Legend

GrandpaBaseball

20 minutes ago

What a day so far for MLB, Tony Clark strikes out not once, but three times. Embezzlement, nepotism, and disrespecting his family all leading up to resigning from his position as Union leader. Angels in the second biggest TV market can’t figure out how to get on TV, that’s an all-time low. Be kool if the Angels are in 1st or 2nd place on the 4th of July 🚀

Member

Omahalo22

21 minutes ago

Thank you for sparing me the “privilege” of watching halos ST. Don’t stop there. If only they wouldn’t broadcast the halos regular season. We are blessed being halos fans. LOL. Always was and is a toilet owner.

Legend

Fansince1971

19 minutes ago

Reply to Omahalo22

This goes beyond the owner. This indicates the level of interest that most people have with regard to this franchise. Gauging from what we’re seeing, it’s almost zero. If people (other than we losers) wanted to watch Angels spring training on television, it would be on television.

Legend

Angels2020Champs

1 hour ago

Key additions: OF Josh Lowe, RHP Grayson Rodriguez, RHP Kirby Yates, LHP Drew Pomeranz, LHP Brent Suter, RHP Jordan Romano, 3B Yoan Moncada (re-signed), RHP Alek Manoah

Key departures: LF Taylor Ward, LHP Tyler Anderson, RHP Kenley Jansen, RHP Kyle Hendricks, 2B Luis Rengifo

One thing about the Angels: They always do something. They’re also the franchise that prefers to play in quicksand rather than just enjoying a nice day at the beach — every move just seems to sink them a little bit deeper. The Angels have 10 non-arbitration players under contract for 2026. The ages of those 10 players range from 31 to 39. You’re not going to win with that, unless you have a superstar group of young players, which the Angels don’t have. What’s even more amusing is the list of players signed to minor league contracts: Jose Siri, Jeimer Candelario, Hunter Strickland, Trey Mancini, Nick Madrigal. There’s no harm in giving those players a look, but, as always, it just raises the question: What is the plan here?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47956584/mlb-2025-26-offseason-moves-final-grades-all-30-teams#laa

Legend

Angels2020Champs

1 hour ago

Reply to Angels2020Champs

Only teams to get same grade: Athletics, worse grade: Twins

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

30 seconds ago

Reply to Angels2020Champs

But the A’s had a great trade deadline and most experts like to love their draft.

Without doing much of anything, they’ve still had a better few months than the Angels.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

56 minutes ago

Reply to Angels2020Champs

Slow tear down. That is what the plan looks like. You don’t add meat to a soup you plan to throw out.

Wouldn’t it be rad if Arte has no plans to sell the team at all and is instead going to wait out the rest of Trout’s contract and then…. RELOAD?

Trusted Member

milehigh

34 minutes ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

This slow.

Trusted Member

milehigh

30 minutes ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

This slow.
https://gifdb.com/images/high/implosion-of-nuclear-power-plants-animated-3kmluddx9px0ne11.webp

Legend

Angels2020Champs

24 minutes ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Regarding soup: there are plenty of times I put the rotisserie chicken carcass (with plenty of meat on it) in the crockpot to make bone broth.

re angels: I’m really unbothered. Just going to go to a couple games, loosely pay attention to the standings/news/players. I like the wall calendar and fireworks night, I tell myself it’s for the family when it’s really for me.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

8 minutes ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

That is exactly what they are currently doing. it’s actually worse than a tear down because they are not actually progressing in any direction.

Last edited 7 minutes ago by Roy Hobbs

Trusted Member

Terry

1 hour ago

No spring training Angel TV broadcasts? That must be a first, maybe since the earliest franchise days of the early 60’s. I still remember Dick Enberg’s first Angels TV broadcast, March 1969, in Palm Springs. He was announced to the fans, and walked out to a microphone on the field, introduced himself, wearing a loud plaid jacket and white buck shoes. It was a passage of late winter, spring training games on KTLA 5.

Member

EHC

1 hour ago

For a bunch of people (fans?) who are not interested in watching this collection of bad players, former decent players, players who are always injured, and players who will never be MLB caliber there seems to be a lot of sadness that no Angels’ spring games will be televised.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

59 minutes ago

Reply to EHC

But we will miss out on angry old farts explaining what players are doing wrong and how stupid the manager is…. we need that. I was looking forward to watching some kids pitch, but I’ll see em when the MiLB season starts anyway….

Super Member

ryanfea

3 hours ago

Since Angels aren’t broadcasting any Spring games themselves, here is a list of 10 games opponents will be broadcasting on mlb.tv
https://x.com/kylethemann_/status/2024179759757087205?s=46

Last edited 3 hours ago by ryanfea

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

2 hours ago

Reply to ryanfea

Thanks man. Good lookin out.

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

5 hours ago

Not so sure the owners should celebrate Clark’s exit. They ran roughshod over him the last two negotiating periods.

The guy likely to take Clark’s place just helped Skubal win his arbitration case and can actually negotiate.

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

3 hours ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Spot on Jeff. The League is going to pay mightily if the players bring in a seasoned negotiator. Think of how valuable it would be for the players to get a proven hammer.

Super Member

BannedInLA

2 hours ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Who has time for vigorous negotiations when you’re tapping your wife’s sister. Cut the guy some slack.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

2 hours ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

Yeah. Clark or no Clark I’m not sure why this is supposed to matter. It’s not like the players are gonna suddenly say “Golly, we need a salary cap, but who needs a floor? In fact, I make too much money!”

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

5 hours ago

We watched Tony Clark’s life explode in real time yesterday. The news feed basically went:

Clark unexpectedly steps down.
It is probably due to the fraud investigations.
Rehash of the charges of fraud.
Not it wasn’t that.
He was banging his sister in law.

In the span of hours the dude went from head of a powerful union to being blasted for fraud to making fraud the far lesser of two evils.

Feel bad for his family. But Clark is a piece of garbage.

Trusted Member

milehigh

5 hours ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

From what I have read the PA has known about the Justice Dept. investigations into monies that Clark allegedly had been trying to throw around and that the PA and Clark have separate lawyers for this. Kind of says that the PA and Clark were on the outs already.

From Jeff Passan:
“The federal investigation was triggered by a whistleblower complaint filed against Clark with the National Labor Relations Board in November 2024 that alleged self-dealing, misuse of resources, abuse of power and nepotism. Among the issues raised in the anonymous complaint: the construction by the MLBPA of a large office in Arizona, where Clark lives and where his sister-in-law worked following its opening in 2023.”

I’m guessing no family reunions in the near future.

Last edited 5 hours ago by milehigh

Legend

FungoAle

4 hours ago

Reply to milehigh

Nepotism…I see that everyday. It’s not illegal.

Trusted Member

toad2065

4 hours ago

Reply to FungoAle

No, but it is disgusting when deserving qualified people are deprived of opportunities to make room for the nepo baby. Even worse when the goal is to get laid.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 hour ago

Reply to toad2065

I must be weird. In this case the nepotism is not cool. But I’ve worked for privately held companies before. I don’t really have an issue with a guy who owns or started a company wanting his friends and family at the top of it.

Sure, we saw Succession and it tickled our envious biases. And yes, they are turds who wind up in charge, I’ve seen that. I have also worked for turds that were hired to tick a box. Most of them were even worse at the job. I’ve worked for strait hires that sucked. But two of the best guys I worked for were sons of owners. They’d both worked in their respective companies since they were kids and they were really good at their jobs and cared about the workers.

I’d say the nepo baby is about the same crapshoot as any other employee/boss.

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

4 hours ago

Reply to milehigh

Yes, those allegations have been out for a while. Early speculation yesterday was that Clark’s resignation was tied to those.

then a couple of hours later the sister in law came out.

I was commenting on the crazy news cycle.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

6 hours ago

Remember when an Angels player pointed out to a Rangers player that “we fly flags” after we lost a game to them and CoachDad had himself a new man crush who embodies everything he wishes he was?

It occurred to me last night. That was a Rangers team that took its shot at a WS, fell apart, did a rebuild, won a WS and is now ahead of our team on another rebuild.

But at least we got to watch Ohtani all these years and Arte provides us guys to watch so we don’t ever have to whine about having no one good on the team for a couple months or even, GASP!, a year. We reload people, cause this is the LA market. Go Reloads!

Thinking about this makes me kind of glad that we finally have a ST roster where “excitement” is dreaming on where Frazier can help most. Let’s finish the tear down Angels! Burn baby burn!

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

5 hours ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Tell us how you really feel.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

5 hours ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

I feel like we should finish the tear down. Burn baby burn.

Trusted Member

HaloLew

3 hours ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Is this a teardown or ineptitude?

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 hour ago

Reply to HaloLew

I think it’s a slow, awkward, still not really accepting that it’s happening tear down. Like when I try to eat that pickled Jewish fish… you do it, but it’s slow and sloppy and takes five times as long as it should.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

6 hours ago

Bryant is the good twin? I’d run that by a Rockies fan or two. Both Bryant and Rendon are sad cases… seem like solid dudes who were just totally derailed by boo boos. At least, in our case, we signed a 3B when we needed a 3B. In Bryant’s case it made zero sense because he couldn’t really play a position even when he was healthy. What’s more, Rendon was pretty healthy before we signed him. Bryant was already on the road to being on disability.

You look at how none of the teams seem interested in signing anyone short of Soto/Ohtani to ten year deals for huge sums now. I think these boys, among others, are the reason.

The MLBPA. For gah sake guys. Just say the owners can have a cap if you get a high salary floor, knock a year off arb control, and raise the MLB minimum quite a bit. The short term , mid term and 10% of super rich players all come out rich. I, along with many other guys I know, have been to TWO live games since the last work stoppage, and I’m the leagues “demo”. None of my nieces/nephews care about baseball… well one, sort of, but it ranks about 5th among his interests. Get it together sport.

The Padres are rolling out the gamble rotation with Bueller, Marquez and Canning. It will be interesting to see what happens with that pile.

The Angels. They are a group of men who all wear the same shirt and play baseball.

Speaking of our Seraphs of the Strike Out, who’s ready to be pissed off come draft time again? It would be great if a kid like Justin Lebron or Erik Becker fell to us and we converted them (or Neto) to 3B. It would be glorious if Ace Reese fell to us. There are also solid OF picks like Caden Sorrell, Sawyer Strosnider, Chase Brunson and other guys with names from the “moms raised on lattes and wine generation” that might be in our range.

It wouldn’t shock me if none of that happened and they end up taking a 3B like Chris Hosapian from Texas A&M, who is basically ranked a comp pick, with their #12 pick and then spend the money they “saved” on high school kids. They’d maybe go after a college CF in the 2nd round where there are some pretty good looking guys in our range.

There is a really good chance there will be more idiots on this site bitching about Arte “saving money” on the draft in 2026 even if that is still not how the draft works.

On the flip side. BPA. If BPA is a catcher, or even a pitcher at pick 12, do you do it?

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

6 hours ago

ESPN final offseason grade for all 30 teams.
At least we didn’t flunk.

Los Angeles Angels: D
Key additions: OF Josh Lowe, RHP Grayson Rodriguez, RHP Kirby Yates, LHP Drew Pomeranz, LHP Brent Suter, RHP Jordan Romano, 3B Yoan Moncada (re-signed), RHP Alek Manoah

Key departures: LF Taylor Ward, LHP Tyler Anderson, RHP Kenley Jansen, RHP Kyle Hendricks, 2B Luis Rengifo

One thing about the Angels: They always do something. They’re also the franchise that prefers to play in quicksand rather than just enjoying a nice day at the beach — every move just seems to sink them a little bit deeper. The Angels have 10 non-arbitration players under contract for 2026. The ages of those 10 players range from 31 to 39. You’re not going to win with that, unless you have a superstar group of young players, which the Angels don’t have. What’s even more amusing is the list of players signed to minor league contracts: Jose Siri, Jeimer Candelario, Hunter Strickland, Trey Mancini, Nick Madrigal. There’s no harm in giving those players a look, but, as always, it just raises the question: What is the plan here?

Legend

Pineapple12

8 hours ago

Our first ST game is Saturday and we still have no clarity on whether the games will be televised.

Legend

Pineapple12

6 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Looks like I have my answer. Arte is such a fucking (Feb) loser.

The #Angels will not televise any of their Cactus League games, the club announced. But they will be on Angels radio.

https://x.com/i/status/2024167797421723786

Last edited 6 hours ago by Pineapple12

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

5 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

WE WON! Arte doesn’t have an automatic source of massive TV dollars. In fact, no one wants to pay him to air these ST games when they could just rebroadcast “coaches corner” or something.

His comeuppance has cum! Doesn’t it feel wonderful Angels fans? No more easy money for Arte. Sure, there’s also no baseball to watch. But we can all just sit there staring at a blank wall thinking about how good it feels to have triumphed over the evil of our baseball team making money. Powers to the peebles baby!

Legend

Fansince1971

2 hours ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Only bright side would be he sells.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 hour ago

Reply to Fansince1971

That would be nice. But when it happens we’ll have a burnt out shell of a team to build from. Better hope we get Unicowner. And till then, hope we all enjoy the mustard sandwich of a franchise we’ve got ourselves.

Super Member

tanana40

5 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Will Terry Smith be in Arizona for the radio broadcast or will he broadcast from the Big A?

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

5 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Wow what a huge f-ing bummer that is.

Editor

Legend

Jeff Joiner

5 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Per the press release, they will be on Angels.TV if you pick up that service.

Looks like I’m going to. At least with the SI gig it will be a tax write off.

Legend

FungoAle

5 hours ago

Reply to Jeff Joiner

That’s what I read too, from MLB site:

To give fans a taste of the new award-winning service, when you subscribe to Angels.TV, Spring Training games will be available free as the Angels prep for the season at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

Legend

steelgolf

5 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 The cutting edge Angels marketing plans is to not televise games. If we make them rate, we can drive up the price artificially !!!!!

Trusted Member

ErSTAN

5 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Ugh…I thought this might happen. I was really looking forward to watching ST…

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

4 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

“Winners get to be on TV”

Mick Cronin

Super Member

ryanfea

4 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

What a joke

Legend

Fansince1971

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

It’s the 1930s all over again!

2026 becomes 1926!

Last edited 2 hours ago by Fansince1971

Trusted Member

ErSTAN

2 hours ago

Reply to Pineapple12

No spring training and no beer make Gerry something-something…

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

1 hour ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Perhaps we can get Rex to stream Spring Training from his iPhone on GameChanger. 😂 😂 😂

Whoops. The $14.95 GameChanger subscription is not in Arte’s budget. Never mind.

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

1 hour ago

Reply to Pineapple12

I literally watched Cal Poly vs Campbell on Flo Sports this weekend. And we can’t stream pre-season games. I think he might cut out salt on the popcorn at games.

Legend

gitchogritchoffmypettis

1 hour ago

Reply to HalosFanForLife

Shit. I hope so. Then we know we are totally absolutely winning. If we are lucky and really win he’ll start trading guys like Neto for grass seed and light bulbs cause he can’t afford the player or the stuff. Then we’ll have extra super shown him.

Super Member

HalosFanForLife

24 minutes ago

Reply to gitchogritchoffmypettis

Heck, I watched Cal Poly vs Campbell with no dog in the race. I’ll watch us play .400 ball too. Yes, I will be yelling at the screen which really gets under Arte’s nerves. He hates it.