The Angels limp back home today on the heels of an 0 and 6 road trip. What looked like two winnable series against the Royals and White Sox turned into an absolute dumpster fire of blown leads and bad baseball.
This is not the worst start in franchise history. No, that was the 1999 team. This squad compares to that one in some ways and not so much in others. What is cool in looking at the 1999 team was the emergence of the core of the glory days. Erstad, Salmon, GA, and a very young Troy Glaus were surrounded by a bunch of guys we’ve forgotten. And Chuck Finley.
Perhaps the Angels are building another good core offensively. We have to happy about the early returns on Oswald Peraza and Vaughn Grissom, right? Add in Neto, at times Adell, and there are some good young players.
Is this sounding too optimistic? Give it a minute.
What I do really like is the development of the starting rotation. Soriano, Detmers, and Kochanowicz is a solid trio with Walbert Urena having potential. Mike Maddux is likely a big reason why.
I talked about all of this and more with Trent Rush last week. Please give them a read through with your coffee.
Ok, now let’s get to the bullpen and the ranting and raving.
The Angels bullpen is atrocious and we all know it. Why is it so horrible? Rant against Arte and Perry here.
And if you think I was going to take it easier on Arte and Perry with my new platform, hah. Here’s a piece on why the Josh Lowe trade was an absolute disaster that is hurting the team in three ways.
Maybe the bullpen gets better soon? This is promising:
And, yes, I’m still big on George Klassen. He looked good this week as well.
Klassen might be needed as Kikuchi is questionable for his next start with a shoulder injury.
From around baseball (and not from me I promise):
In hopes to save a 2027 season, MLB owners and MLBPA are going to start talks on a new CBA. A salary cap is the center issue but in my eyes it must be accompanied by a salary floor. It is insane to me that a kid in Pittsburgh or Green Bay can legitimately expect to see a Super Bowl win or two in their lifetime but not a World Series berth.
The NL East is a trip. The one feel good story come from Atlanta where after a brutal 2025 the Braves are back to winning games.
Speaking of the NL East, Philly fired their manager this week. Rob Thomson is out and Donny Baseball is in. It helps Mattingly’s son is a big wig in the organization.
Nick Kurtz was a really good pickup for the A’s and he just keeps on walking. 19 games in a row and counting.
What put a smile on my face this week? This play in which the Marlins pulled off a great double play to beat the Dodgers.
Hey, folks, I’m trying to keep this column going while manning my real job and covering SI. If you think it is falling off, feel free to call me out. It is less than 50% my content this week and I’ll try to keep it that way.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. It could not possibly be a better day for boxing tomorrow starting with Monster Inoue very early in the morning and ending with David Benavidez in the evening. I’m not going anywhere tomorrow. If you like pure action more than the sweet science, tomorrow night’s card on Amazon is for you. It is definitely for me.
Anyelo Marquez with another dong in RC last night. Where did this guy come from? Barely an unranked blip on Fangraphs’ last farm assesement: “Marquez had a little helium entering 2025, but the hit/power blend didn’t translate well stateside. He may lack a carrying tool.” But he’s really raking in 2026: 6 HR/1.026 OPS in 80 AB.
Signed for $600K out of the DR in 2023 (same period as Morrobel and Flores) so not exactly an unknown commodity, at least to the Angels. Listed at 6-foot, 166 pounds but looks bigger than that on film: https://www.milb.com/rancho-cucamonga/video/anyelo-marquez-homers-6-on-a-fly-ball-to-right-field-hayden-alvarez-score
I like his swing… compact, short cast. There’s also film of him making some nice defensive plays at second last year in the ACL,
TBW has been high on him lately. Kid is crushing the ball right now.
Dax Whitney….
“ Whitney is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery with Dr. Keith Meister, according to ESPN, citing an anonymous source.”
Sounds like the FanDuel Sports Network name has been abolished. Looks like it’s now called ABTV or Angels Broadcast Television. No change in what cable channel it’s airing. Just a name change
Awful Bullpen TV?
Correct.
Moncada still batting third. Sheesh! trout will get a few more walks tonight.
So we are sitting our 2nd and 3rd best hitters, batting a .183 hitter 3rd, and playing Lowe. In my family we would refer to one of our members whose behavior mirrors Suzuki’s line up construction as someone who needs to pee on the electric fence to learn that it will shock you. In this case though, Suzuki continues to pee on the electric fence even after being shocked.
So great of a way to describe his stupidity.
Oh, he just knows in his heart that Moncada is about to break out! 🤦
Got it in the mail. Hoping for some positive juju tonight. Guess I need to drink some rum.
Regarding Joyce, hoping he gets it ramped up again and is able to contribute. Angels would be smart to deal him after he has demonstrated he can match the fastball mph from before. His upper and lower body physique is not conducive to long term health.
The best thing that could happen is for us to have a lot of trade chips this year and trade them all.
Agreed, especially with the possibility of a shortened or canceled season next year.
There’s a growing pile of prospects in the minor leagues and we should add to it.
Great idea. Then IF he turns into a dominant closer for another team, we can whine about trading away a bullpen guy when we had NO bullpen guys. The logic is illogical.
We were not counting on you being a fan of this. His whole point is that Joyce is a serious injury risk and that we should trade him while he’s healthy and before he gets injured again. It makes perfect logical sense.
yeah, it is a damned if you do damned if you don’t scenario.
If he turns into a stud elsewhere we will kick ourselves. But if he spends most of the next 3 years bouncing on and off the IL as an Angel we’ll also be kicking ourselves.
I’m willing to bet his injury history hurts his trade value so the Angels will probably be best just hanging onto him.
That is a distinct possibility but you never know if someone is in a pennant race.
FYI: a bit of positivity
Should be interesting to see who the team protects in the Rule 5 draft.
Will Perry be around? If not, and no GM, who will decide? Could a new GM be found in time? Lots of questions.
Will there be a Rule V draft if there is a lockout? I think I will look into that.
I didn’t think about that. To protect a player they would be placed on the 40 man and that give the players union opportunity to add them.
Pretty bummed that Hayden Alvarez has struggled out of the gate in Low A ball this season. Was hoping he would come out crushing and display why he is a better OF prospect that Nelson Rada. Hoping for a stronger May, leading into summer. Let’s go.
Alvarez is an illustration of why it’s important to reserve projection on these kids based on ACL/DSL performance.
There was at least one commenter here last year who was furious that pubs like Baseball America didn’t have Hayden as a slam dunk top 10 guy in the org, if not testing the bubble of the national top 100. Despite showing little over the fence power, and falling roughly into the 15-25 range among hitters in the ACL.
Now over a longer stretch, in cooler weather, Alvarez has a 70 wRC+ in the Cal League, and his K rate has almost doubled. He’s pressing, and swinging for the fences a bit too often, when he should be focusing short bat-to-ball contact. He’s still an absolute menace when he gets on base, but he’s not doing it enough to maximize that potential at the moment.
Yeah, I specifically looked at his contact rate a couple days ago. He must be pressing. Last year in San Berdoo he displayed a much better contract hit tool. He’s still a pup and agree with your comments, needs to let the game come to him.
Yeah, yeah… it’s not the season debut I would have picked for him by any means… but sheesh. He just turned 19 and hasn’t been overwhelmed. He’s been mediocre at the plate, but consistently mediocre. He has hits in five of last six games and no sustained slumps. So maybe give him another 80 ABs before you hold him up as an object lesson in misplaced projection?
I was actually pretty bullish on Alvarez – but not “Baseball America is a piece of shit that doesn’t know the Angels system to save their lives” bullish.
I mean, they do have dedicated scouts on the Arizona backfields that watch almost every sim and squad match.
I’m not saying the professional projections on Alvarez are bad – they’ve been pretty good to date. I’m saying your visceral “Fuck BA” projection was a little over-the-top and not fully justified. But the enthusiasm is understandable. 🙂
I don’t know if Chase Shores trending downward is positivity. That was Perry’s stretch of a reach for a second round pick of last years draft.
For a guy who drafts lots of relievers he hopes will be starters, Perry sure has a lack of relievers.
We went to the Quakes game last night. The 3rd baseman, Gabriel Davalillo – who doesn’t look like a typical 3rd baseman because he has a stocky build, made 3 super awesome plays. Lose Moncada and call him up!
I’m jealous you went to Thirsty Thursday Rancho Cucamonga Quake game @ Loan Mart Field and had the opportunity for $2 beer.
$2 beer, yes we did! And what a fun ballpark!
But I believe it’s called Morongo Field
Oh, was not aware about the name change to Morongo Field. Looks like they also have a partnership with the new Ontario Tower Buzzers Dodger affiliate. The Morongo Tribe must have no scruples supporting any field where the Dodgers call home.
And by stocky build, we mean (snapshot from last night):
That is very McAnulty looking.
Yes, I was being kind. But he fields like someone with a svelte physique
I would take young Pablo Sandoval!
Big Sexy 2.0
Needs to shed a layer and reveal his inner John Kruk.
He may make mistakes, but please stop blaming the utterly garbage bullpen on Suzuki.
Perry set the coaching staff up to fail.
And Arte set up Perry to fail. The fish rots from the head.
Perry accepted the job knowing “who” Arte is and “how” he operates. Perry signed an extension after working for four years as an employee of Arte.
I have no sympathy for Perry. He’s an adult is 100% accountable for his choices.
The only reason to promote PTP from a “F” grading to a “D+” grade is he works for Arte. Trading Ward for an injured pitcher was not smart.
It was desperation.
Jeff, I don’t think anyone will question your commitment here. The fact that you’re writing articles for SI means you’re providing content here via links to those articles, so I don’t think you should feel iffy about including your links here. Link away!
Roger this 100%. Thanks, sir!!!
Yes. Please keep posting your articles. I share them with my friends that don’t come to this site.
Working 3 full-time jobs (day job, SI, dad/husband) ain’t easy and is commendable.
JJ, you are crushing!
Thanks. I feel intellectually lazy posting my own stuff but the content demands on SI are high. I’m adding a couple of helpers soon.
It’s not because you are also now one of the links
Nah, he’s a total slacker.
(sarc)
Playing off Pineapple’s farm update below… the minor league season is a month old and it seems likely the org will start moving pieces around. The three most likely mid- to lower-level promotions IMO, FWIW, yada yada.
• Bremner. It was uncharacteristic of the Halos to start him in High-A and for once they were proven overly-conservative, or just conservative enough, or whatever. The scouting notes on his sub-average slider inspired a quick dive on MLB starters who’ve excelled with two plus-pitches, with a rarely-used third pitch. It’s not a super-long or illustrious list: Robbie Ray, McCullers Jr,, Strider, to start. But here’s the thing: Those were/are all fastball-slider guys, which is typically a reliever profile, no? Bremner’s FB-change regime, with the slider as the grace note, comes out of the box as a better starter ensemble. The change will always be his out-pitch, even when/if that slider achieves mediocrity.
• Raudi Rod. Started slow, heated up recently, but the critical number here is 23. As in, he turns it in July. Developmentally, he’s been a steady one… but now that he’s excelled in the fall league, held his own in spring training, and enjoyed a sustained hot streak in AA, I could see the org giving him an age-appropriate promotion to SLC, which is a pretty hitter-friendly place, after all.
• Manny’s boy. The biggest surprise in the system by a furlong, I would say, even factoring his fine work in the WBC. 1000 OPS, batting .355… f*%$ing awesome. (And to think: He’s not even “officially” a Top 30 prospect in the system by MLB’s reckoning. Clearly, he will be the next time they re-jigger things.) At 20 and two years out of high school, he’s essentially a college-age sophomore and seems like he has the body of work to justify an early- to- mid-season promotion to High-A.
Raudi’s age is the only reason for apprehension imo and 22 in AA is normal. He makes consistent contant, strong EVs, some game power, plus speed.
His numbers are beginning to get me a bit irrational. I’m giving him a 2027 ETA. Not too shabby for a 19th round pick.
I agree with you on Manny’s kid. He’s hitting the cover off the ball and I would like to see him get promoted and get a 2nd crack at A+. Promising start to a career for a 17th round HS pick.
There’s also a kid in A ball named Anyelo Marquez that TBW is starting to like.
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/2048923636422365295?s=20
Manny’s kid is hitting a ton but walking every little. I wouldn’t mind him sitting put for a few more months and working on some patience.
Lucas’s BABIP is currently 166 pts north of his BABIP last year, and that was in some heavily offense-centric Arizona parks.
Some park-adventure caveats are due here. 🙂 But yes, he’s making some hard contact…when he finds the ball.
There’s nothing overly conservative about starting Bremner in A+. Hell, Gage Wood started in A ball, and Witherspoon is also in A+, and struggling.
Bremner doesn’t have a good third pitch at the moment, and he had a very light workload in college ball last year. Putting him in a cold weather league that’s a bit pitcher-friendly seems like the right move, and ideally they’ll not feel rushed to promote him to AA on the basis of <20 innings.
One has to look past the boxscore a bit on these guys. If you watched Tyler’s last start in Vancouver, some hitters were working long counts and managing some hard contact against him – doubles to the wall – often on sloppy sliders he hung. So there’s work to be done there, and if he’s sweating advanced AA at bats while he tries to do that work, I don’t think he’ll make the progress needed in an optimal environment.
In terms of Lucas Ramirez, there are a few stats to keep in mind. .509 BABIP – that’s insane and not sustainable – that’s a product of porous Cal League defenses and pinball-wizard park environments. There’s also that K rate that’s been hovering around 30%. Given how raw and immature Cal League pitching is, that’s simply not great. He’s showing all kinds of doubles power when he makes contact, but he shouldn’t be whiffing that much.
Last September, he hit .172/.257/.207 and looked completely overmatched at High-A, and that was only last September. He deserves another chance there soon, but no one should be surprised if he struggle a bit there – guys that strike out at a 30% clip in the Cal League are going to tend to struggle in the NW League, to be sure.
Yeah, I really don’t think it matters where Bremner and fellow draftees start out. Teams elevate when it’s time. I just hope for good health. TGA will probably get promoted by Independence Day if his success continues, Jordan right behind him. I got to go watch one game when TGA or Jordan is on the mound.
Frankly, the only thing good about the Angels right now is their minor league starting pitcher potential. The most thing fun to watch.
“Underlying metrics”… the emotional support animal of any cynic.
Yes, that BABIP is a doozy. And if by pointing to it, you’re suggesting that Lucas is unlikely to be a .355 lifetime hitter, well I’m totally in agreement, and I appreciate the admonishment. But I still think he’s not long the Cal League, barring a stat collapse.
BABIP is one of my favorite stats. Whenever a guy is having a hot or cold streak I look at BABIP first. Then I look at K rate. One or both has probably changed.
A guy with a solid stroke and good wheels like Lucas can maintain a solid BABIP. Not .500 but above average. Hopefully he can cut the K rate down and increase that middle B in the acronym.
A guy like Ramirez can sustain a .330-340 BABIP over a half season stretch – that’s not out of bounds.
I’m sure that first sentence sounded great to you when you typed it, but I have no idea what it’s trying to convey. Feels like an MFA student drunk-shadowboxing with his ghosts.
Every draft evaluator, FO op, minor league coach out there are looking at “underlying metrics” to evaluate prospects, especially in the context of extreme park environments and varied competition. Who is looking at batting average and ERA in small samples?
Watch some full games and judge for yourself. Start with last night’s match vs IE. He takes some pretty wild swings – struck out swinging twice in his first two ABs – seven pitches total between them, three whiffs. Against a pitcher with a .329 BAA, and a 1.76 WHIP.
The elevated K rate is not a mirage. As I say – Ramirez should be challenged at higher levels, but the Angels also tried that a few months ago, and he was very exposed. So it doesn’t surprise me that they dropped him back down to A ball to catch a ride.
Bremner is the first guy in a while where I feel like true development is the goal. The team kept him out of Cactus League games so it could work on the slider, which still needs work.
When/if Bremner develops that third pitch they might promote him pretty aggressively. But until then, I think they keep him where they can work on it.
Enjoyed the conversation with Trent Rush but I’ve always thought he’s been too influenced by Roger Lodge. He needs to look at Schanuel’s and Adell’s numbers. He’s too much fan and not enough reality. I wouldn’t mind seeing Grissom and or Peraza hitting in front of Trout and Soler. You could drop Neto behind Soler or put him between Trout and Soler. You can adjust over time but for now why not put you 5 best hitters up 1-5 and let Schanny and Adell work things out hitting 6 and 7. It would make the line up deeper. I don’t disagree with you on Rada, but even without him, there are line up adjustments that should be made and Lowe and Moncada should rarely see the field.
Thanks. That interview was done on the Wednesday the Angels hosted the Blue Jays so some stats have changed a bit.
Schanuel’s only real value anywhere in the middle of the order would be slotting a lefty in between a bunch of righties.
Awesome picture and you’re doing great.
Thanks. I’m juggling a lot right now and feel like I could be doing better at all of them.
The feeling you “can do better” is a lifelong feeling for married men and fathers. That is a rabbit hole and a trap. Go home today and see what you have and realize you have done better. It’s okay to have a good feeling. Pat yourself on the back once in a while. That is okay, too.
Thanks. That is definitely a feeling that became more common once I became a dad.
Great stuff Jeff. Love the depth of your posts.
Thanks. I am absolutely buried right now and will get some help On SI.
Begging we stay off the gas with Bremner and let him focus on improving his slider. He’s gonna be so good, just requires a bit of patience.
Tyler Bremner, RHP, Angels
4 games started, 0-0, 16.2 innings, 2 ER, 12 hits, 25 strikeouts, 5 walks
Despite being the No. 2 pick in the draft last year, Bremner did not have the fanfare that fellow college draftees Kade Anderson or Liam Doyle enjoyed. But so far, the Angels’ top prospect has significantly outpitched Doyle and is neck-and-neck with Anderson.
Assigned to High-A Tri-City, Bremner has impressed across four starts and looks like he could see promotion to Double-A sooner rather than later. He has mixed three pitches in a four-seam fastball, changeup and slider. His fastball velocity is up from college, as he’s now sitting 96 mph and averaging 18 inches of ride, though his fastball plane is slightly steeper than it was previously. Bremner’s changeup is his most-frequently-thrown secondary, sitting 85-87 mph with good vertical separation and heavy armside run. His upper-80s slider has cut gyro shape, but is a well-below-average whiff-inducing pitch.
Bremner is throwing strikes and showing a nice fastball/changeup combination. His lack of a breaking ball, however, is a major concern.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/10-mlb-pitching-prospects-who-stood-out-in-april-2026/
Somebody has to take Kikuchi’s spot for a turn or two. Dana, Aldegheri, or Klassen are the likely candidates.
should be Dana. He’s ready
I don’t know man… great start last night, but did you see the one earlier in the week? Not sure what it is with him, in the head or what, but I have a theory they’ve been giving him a changeup quota and he’s still adjusting/learning.
But if anyone in the system deserves some quality time with Maddox, it’s him.
From Erica after Dana’s poor start prior to this one —
Caden Dana wasn’t feeling well last night which is why he was pulled. No injury.
https://x.com/i/status/2048152051306172634
Get him with Maddux ASAP. Got the 4-pitch arsenal and his velo is sitting 93-96. I still think he’s the MLB-ready of the Urena, Klassen, Johnson group
Agree with the Bremner assessment – and it’s consistent with the farm analysts’s assessments that I respect when he was drafted. Basically, you have a #2/3 rotation piece here if you work on slider development and FB shape and sequencing.
But he really needs a year or two in the minors to do that. He’s advanced for High-A ball (which in many ways is like the SEC/ACC), but AA is going to be more of a challenge, and he needs that third pitch to conquer more advanced hitters there.
This is why you have to be saying to yourself and planning for the fact that 2028 or 29 is when you may be ready to compete so who is actually on the team now that will either still be here or you want to still be here, and it’s not Schanny or Adell. It might be Neto, Soriano, or Detmers, and could be Grissom and Peraza. But you have to think about whether it makes more sense to trade any of Schanny, Adell, Neto, Detmers, and Soriano for AA stars to match your time table.
It’s what the fans want…
https://youtu.be/_nD5uCvDKOQ
Farm Report 4/30
Caden Dana (AAA)
5 innings
1 ER
1 hit
1 BB
5 K
Call my boy up to fill in for the injured Kikuchi. I still believe in Dana.
Nate Snead (A+)
5 innings
2 ER
3 hits
2 BB
7 K
Dylan Jordan (A)
5.2 innings
0 ER
3 hits
2 BB
6 K
Raudi Rodriguez (AA) last 81 PA
.339 / .476 / .484
9 SB (82% success rate)
9 K
17 BB
Is this good? Seems really really really good. Raudi might be legit
Raudi’s numbers look awesome. That’s encouraging that we have an actual bat performing somewhere in this system (other than Rada of course).
Speaking of Rada, can we please get him to Anaheim soon? I am so tired of watching Lowe.
Turks is gonna have to come in from the top rope and humble me before I turn the comment section all about Raudi.
The kid is following up his 2025 breakout with a stellar first month in AA (yes I know super small sample size)
My projection for Raudi is similar to last year – potentially useful 4th OF, maybe 300-400 PAs per season for a second division team. Feels more like a 15 HR profile than a starter OF corner profile to me.
It’s good to see him cutting the Ks and really focusing on pitch discernment and patience. It’s a big jump to AA, and you can see that in the slow start, but he’s handling it well. The Fall League performance wasn’t a late season mirage.
But yes, small sample size (<100 PAs). Earlier in the month, folks were floating Nick Rodriguez as the next system breakout bat, but he’s come back down to earth.
Let’s check back in June, and see if Raudi has sustained this. If so, you could see a post-ASB call-up as a possibility, given how impoverished the team is in LF at the moment.
It’s good to see Jordan have a good night. His previous three starts were rougher, occasionally lacking the command and pitch efficiency we saw in fall of last year (though some of it is also some BABIP bad luck).
His underlying metrics still look good – he’s missing bats – but in the early going, there’s been some more hard hit balls in the air and less of the strong GB characteristics we saw most of last season.
I’m still not remotely sold on Snead as a starter. He has everything he needs to become a good SIRP – but I think they’re just repeating the Cortez gambit again with this guy and Shores.
The 1999 Angels had a bad start, but the 1969 squad was worse. After 32 games the 1999 team was 13-19, the 1969 group was 11-21. In ’69 team was 11-18, then proceeded to have a 10 game losing streak. At 11-28, the only Angels manager since team inception was fired, Bill Rigney. He rightly called the team “quitters”. Lefty Phillips replaced him and the team went 60-63 remainder of season. In ’69, there was a nucleus of good young players: Andy Messerschimdt, Clyde Wright, Rudy May, Ken Tatum, Jay Johnstone, Sandy Alomar and Jim Spencer.
Actually the ’69 team, after the first 32 games, was 10-22. Note: 1969 was Dick Enberg’s first season of broadcasting the Angels.
The New York Post, in their weekly rating of all 30 mlb teams have the Angels at 29th and Mets 30th. So this weekend, we have the Battle of the Basement series.
Add, the 29th and 30th ranked teams have a combined payroll of a half a billion dollars.
A lot of Angel players, including Trout, at Ducks game last night. Maybe excitement of seeing the playoffs and an engaged fanbase will motivate them!
So Anaheim has two pro teams, the Ducks and Yucks.
Saw that too. What a win, Go Ducks !!!
Wish the Samuelis would buy the Angels.
Since the Kings cannot win it, hopefully the sucks, errr, Ducks, can. Hell, they at least managed to bounce Edmonton AND make it past the first round. Now we need the Reign to win tonight!
GO REIGN GO!
Go Angels as well, but who am I kidding???
Hate the Ducks, must be something with the capital D, Ducks-Dodgers = hate. Kings and Angels forever, even if they can’t win.