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LA Angels Thursday News Crash: Pitching Issues

March 19, 2026

In the Fangraphs positional power ranking for shortstop the Angels were in the top half courtesy of Zach Neto. Third base was still kind of abysmal. The Angels will need somebody they call the closer. Every now and then they will come into the late innings with a lead. On a related note, several Angels Pitchers are showing off some new pitches.

Veteran reliever Tommy Kahnle has gotten a minor league deal with the Red Sox.

Injuries

Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios has a stress fracture in his right elbow. He is pain and symptom free so they are talking about giving him a few days off before having him pitch through the injury. Hunter Greene will have bone chips removed with the result that he will miss half of the season.

Photo credit: Rex Fregosi

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Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

1 month ago

If nothing else describes this era on Angels baseball, “dead arm” absolutely is on point.

“Angels right-hander Grayson Rodriguez may begin the season on the injured list. Manager Kurt Suzuki told reporters, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, that Rodriguez has a “dead arm” and will be slowed down. With Opening Day now just a week away, that makes it possible Rodriguez starts the season on the 15-day injured list, depending on how things progress in the coming days.”

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 month ago

Reply to Senator_John_Blutarsky

Should not be surprise, he has not been healthy for a while.

Legend

Senator_John_Blutarsky

1 month ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

He’s not been healthy since signing a major league contract

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 month ago

2026 Projected Positional Power Rankings from Fangraphs look like this for the Angels for every position but RF:
C – 30
1B – 22
2B – 30
SS – 9
3B – 27
LF – 28
CF – 23

Just remember, the games don’t count so enjoy the baseball.

Editor

Legend

Turk's Teeth

1 month ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

To quote Han Solo in Shrinking: Woof.

Super Member

2pints

1 month ago

Reply to Roy Hobbs

That averages to 24.14 for the 7 positions. Simply amazing how bad this team is.

Last edited 1 month ago by 2pints

Trusted Member

jco

1 month ago

Hey admin folks. I tried to submit a fan post, but I’m not sure if it went through. Is there a way to find out?

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Super Member

Charles Sutton

1 month ago

Reply to jco

I can check. It will take me a few minutes. I still don’t feel great and everybody else in the office is absent. I need to mind the shop as well.

Author

Super Member

Charles Sutton

1 month ago

Reply to jco

I’m sorry we didn’t notice the one you made last year about third base.

Speak up you guys if you make a fan post. We have to go find them and put a picture on them and then publish them.

Super Member

2pints

1 month ago

Reply to Charles Sutton

Now we know why 3B has yet to be fixed.

Trusted Member

jco

1 month ago

Reply to Charles Sutton

No worries. I know it’s a basically volunteer gig.

Super Member

RexFregosi

1 month ago

Just got to Diablo for the prospects game 😎😇⚾️

Legend

Pineapple12

1 month ago

Silent C had a 43% swinging-strike rate on his changeup yesterday.

Overall this spring, 48% whiff rate on his changeup and 40% whiff rate on his slider. ***small sample size***

Intriguing development and worth giving him another shot and seeing if the whiffs carry on into the regular season.

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Awesome. The sinker is his primary pitch, right? He spotted it well last year… seemed to get a ton ground balls… but precious little swing-and-miss. If memory serves, the knock was the lack of an effective third pitch? Kick ass if that change continues to play.

Legend

GrandpaBaseball

1 month ago

News flash, after Shortstop the Angels starting position players are backups anywhere else. This season is a make-or-break year for Schanny and O’Hoppe’s careers. ⚾

March Madness is upon us, and this is a really fun time of the year for College Basketball, so if this is a fun sport for you as it is with me then sit back and enjoy. 🏀

Freeway Series is just around the corner too. ⚾

Legend

Pineapple12

1 month ago

Reply to GrandpaBaseball

I will not accept calling Trout, Adell, or Schanuel backups haha. The rest, sure

Last edited 1 month ago by Pineapple12

Legend

Fansince1971

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Adell and Schanuel probably are not starters on the vast majority of MLB clubs.

Legend

Pineapple12

1 month ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Amongst all 1st baseman last year, Schanuel was 6th in OBP, 17th in OPS, 15th in fWar and 20th in bWAR. He’s a perfectly good starter. If you want to argue “well, he’d back up Vladdy, Freeman, Harper, Alonso, etc” sure, you win.

Amongst all outfielders last year, Adell finished 6th in HRs and 20th in OPS. That’s not a bench player.

Last edited 1 month ago by Pineapple12

Trusted Member

grichmanpoorman

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Shhh. Piercing his negativity bubble.

Super Member

TrojanBoiler

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

PREACH!

Editor

Legend

Turk's Teeth

1 month ago

Reply to Pineapple12

Just to be a bit more apples-to-apples honest with these statistical citations, since you’re using one set of metrics to assess Schanuel, and another set to assess Adell, per fWAR:

Adell: 64th among OF fWAR, 42nd among RF fWAR.

The delta between HR and OPS is meaningful in Adell’s case, as is the defensive component.

WAR is also largely a counting stat, so players that get fewer appearances or operate as part of a platoon will have lower WAR. That’s where we tend to employ rate stats like wRC+. For players last season who logged at least 150 PAs:

Schanuel: 23rd among 1B
Adell: 51st among OF, 18th among RF

Both marks are directionally consistent with Fangraphs’ Projected Positional Power Rankings for this year, which show the Angels at 22 at 1B, and 23 at CF (where they still see Jo playing some games)…though they have not published their RF projections yet.

Personally, I wouldn’t characterize any of these marks as “perfectly good”. Charitably, you could call both players “second division regulars” – ie, starters on non-contending teams. With a bit more frankness, you’d call them “below average MLB players, with upside to the median”.

Super Member

Roy Hobbs

1 month ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Or the best of a bad group. You could have those guys on your team if everyone else was better, but when they represent your best, with the exception of Neto, It says a lot about your team.

I like Schanuel personally, but the problem is that he plays 1B and aside from solid K and BB rates, he doesn’t do much else. I’ve said this before but, if he were a 2B or a CF who ran well and was a plus defender, his offense would play a lot better. But being a below average defender at 1B who doesn’t particularly run well and slugs under .400, means he has limited value.

As many have said here previously, while he’s cheap and on this team, he’s one of the least of their problems. The fact that the club doesn’t have anyone to play 1B who can provide more value than Schanuel currently does, says all you need to know about the current state of this organization.

Trusted Member

jco

1 month ago

Reply to Fansince1971

Adell isn’t a starting CF on other teams, but he’s certainly qualified as a corner OF for most teams. He had a 111 OPS + last year and was basically average defense in RF. He was terrible in CF.