I know its early, but...feeling very optimistic about this team

[Docwaukee]

did everyone miss the fact that AJ has and always will have magical jinx powers in either direction?  

dude.  WTF?

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

Some never saw them playing defense.

Or like me they didnt believe they would keep playing Davis in left or Semien at short ....  

[Inside Pitch]

5 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

did everyone miss the fact that AJ has and always will have magical jinx powers in either direction?  

dude.  WTF?

Our only recourse is to talk about an impending sweep at the hands of the Indians to try to counteract the bad juju.

But .... He's right about the vibe....

[Angel Oracle]

Johnson looks like he's a comeback POTY candidate on the relieving end, stuff and results both great this weekend.

Beyond him in the pen, a lot to work out.   Some potential, and some frustration, on the horizon as that gets worked out.

Billy may need to use some of that $25 million available under the luxury cap later on this season, on a proven late innings guy. 

Otherwise, the potential is there for very good results.

[Deek]

I continue to be impressed with Cozart and am becoming a big fan...

 

I'm glad Ohtani's first start came against a team scuffling on the offensive side.  He delivered and allowed everyone to take a deep breath.  He'll have his ups and downs this year as a rookie, but there were a lot of positives in this first step of the marathon...

[Hubs]

On pace for 931.5 runs scored, and 576 runs allowed. That's a 117 win season, basically.

It's early but...I'm impressed by the offense, impressed by the defense, and impressed by the starting pitching. Even Richards who has a 7.2 ERA pitched really well. The pen has been shaky. Upton didn't have a great series, neither did Valbuena. Pujols looked good.

Offensively they need to walk more. Defensively they are fine.

They could use one more reliever, even a shut down closer. Will be expensive to acquire one. But Frieri, Street, etc, shows it can be done.

 

[Jay]

It was fun starting the season in Oakland.

God they were awful.

 

[krAbs]

2018 Angels relievers have an ERA of 2.51, but a WHIP over 1.6 (by my calcs). Looks like we have gotten a bit lucky so far. Though, most of the WHIP is due to bedroisian and parker - without them, we are looking at a whip of 1.06, and an ERA of 0.79.

Moving forward, these come with huge error bars - my point is that our relief has actually not preformed that badly, and has actually been pretty stellar outside of parker and bedrosian (though, they are supposed to be the two best relievers...).

[GrittyVeterans]

2 hours ago, CanadianHalo said:

Lol 4 games...

Some of you need to pump the breaks. We have Cleveland, Houston, Boston and the Yanks this month. Let’s see what our record is at the end of April first.

At the end of April First, the record is 3-1

[HaloNArizona]

My impressions...

Skaggs looked very good.  Loved that breaking ball

Our pitchers nibble to much (Oakland has a very good eye)...too many 0-2/1-2 counts ended up being full counts.

Our BP is going to scare the sh!t out of us this year, unless MS makes some moves.  Parker needs to figure it quickly

Valbuena still sucks

Is this the season Marte figures it out?

I like the catching combo

Ohtani looked for good for his first game...very poised, nothing seemed to phase him.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Im still leary of the BP, and pitching as a whole.

But its the first time in years Ive been optimistic about this team. Even with kinsler out, its the first time we have multiple hitters that are interesting to watch. Not just trout, followed by calhoun "maybe" and simmons "wow, hes better than we thought with the bat".

Pujols should be improved. Cozart and upton can hurt you any time, and calhoun hopefully bounces back to what he can do.

Our payroll has some flexibility, our farm has hope. We are in better shape than in years. At worst, theres real hope this year and going forward.

[Troll Daddy]

The bullpen gave up 3 ER’s in 14.1 innings over 4 games.

Just turrble 

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, CanadianHalo said:

“I know it’s early, but...” doesn’t justify this thread 4 games into the season.

WTF is wrong with you emo Canadians? Is it the by product of not knowing if you are bastards of the French or English? 

When you are on a winning streak you celebrate not sit and fret in what may happen in the future. Not everyone lives the Blue Monday life you guys do, wallowing in past defeats.

Go Angels, win this home opener. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Blarg

[Deek]

44 minutes ago, krAbs said:

2018 Angels relievers have an ERA of 2.51, but a WHIP over 1.6 (by my calcs). Looks like we have gotten a bit lucky so far. Though, most of the WHIP is due to bedroisian and parker - without them, we are looking at a whip of 1.06, and an ERA of 0.79.

Moving forward, these come with huge error bars - my point is that our relief has actually not preformed that badly, and has actually been pretty stellar outside of parker and bedrosian (though, they are supposed to be the two best relievers...).

That may be how the numbers bore out... but my eyes saw different...  How many inherited runners scored and were charged to the SP...?

[totdprods]

Only 4 walks in 4 games is a little worrisome, but as a team they're making a lot of contact and not striking out much, so that's a good sign. 

Albert's slash doesn't look good, but outside of his ABs against Manaea, he has looked much improved over last year and that's huge. 

I still think Marte/Valbuena are going to wind up being a nice surprise combo this year, and Jefry has held up his side of that guess so far.

[Chuck]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Only 4 walks in 4 games is a little worrisome, but as a team they're making a lot of contact and not striking out much, so that's a good sign. 

Albert's slash doesn't look good, but outside of his ABs against Manaea, he has looked much improved over last year and that's huge. 

I still think Marte/Valbuena are going to wind up being a nice surprise combo this year, and Jefry has held up his side of that guess so far.

Marte has looked good all spring and in his starts so far in the regular season.

Still not sold on Valbuena, unless there's a category for bat flips that somehow help the team out. 

[krAbs]

8 minutes ago, Deek said:

That may be how the numbers bore out... but my eyes saw different...  How many inherited runners scored and were charged to the SP...?

That's a good question. As far as I know, this isn't really tracked, but...Bedrosian let a runner score who was Shoe's property, Richards closed out his last inning, Skaggs has an ERA of 0, and Ohtani's 3 runs come from the HR he allowed. But, part of the problem here is sample size - our relievers haven't had a lot of chances to prove they can save our starters in a rough inning, and they have screwed up when given the chance. So, you're for sure right on that count.

Edit - in fact, it looks like the only time we have had a starter leave with runners on was with Shoe, where half the runners ended up scoring.

[Ohtaniland]

5 minutes ago, Blarg said:

WTF is wrong with you emo Canadians? Is it the by product of not knowing if you are bastards of the French or English? 

When you are on a winning streak you celebrate not sit and fret in what may happen in the future. Not everyone lives the Blue Monday life you guys do, wallowing in past defeats.

Go Angels, win this home opener. 

I’m extremely pleased with the start our season. A’s or not the team effort was there. I will be joining @Tank on the field today for the pregame opening ceremony. Life is good!

[totdprods]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

Marte has looked good all spring and in his starts so far in the regular season.

Still not sold on Valbuena, unless there's a category for bat flips that somehow help the team out. 

I'm convinced Marte was playing hurt most of '17 - he was shut down with a stress fracture at end of the year. He's showing much-improved plate discipline this year too, spring and regular season. 

I won't fool myself and expect Valbuena to post anything much above a .230/.330/.440 slash, but I think it's still in reach for him, and so long as he isn't overplayed, that will be great. Only concern is that our thin bench will result in him getting way more ABs against lefties than he should.

[ten ocho recon scout]

8 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Albert's slash doesn't look good, but outside of his ABs against Manaea, he has looked much improved over last year and that's huge. 

 

This.

Ill be the fall guy here and probably get "Lou'd" later. But at least from the few at bats Ive seen, he does look better than last year. Better approach and swing.

[DMVol]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

....I won't fool myself and expect Valbuena to post anything much above a .230/.330/.440 slash, but I think it's still in reach for him, and so long as he isn't overplayed, that will be great. Only concern is that our thin bench will result in him getting way more ABs against lefties than he should.

He probably won't get many as long as Marte, Pujols and Young can handle 1b/3b/DH.....and when Kinsler gets back, probably drops his chances of hitting against a lefty even more (Scioscia could DH Cozart or Kinsler on occasion, if Pujols plays 1b)....

[Docwaukee]

12 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

The bullpen gave up 3 ER’s in 14.1 innings over 4 games.

Just turrble 

4er.  plus they let an inherited runner score.  the concern is for both Parker and Bedrosian.  

[totdprods]

Just now, ten ocho recon scout said:

This.

Ill be the fall guy here and probably get "Lou'd" later. But at least from the few at bats Ive seen, he does look better than last year. Better approach and swing.

He looks at least like '14-'16 Albert, and not 2017 Albert. He's moving a lot better and his defense, at least his instincts, are a lot better than what we got from Cron and Valbuena. They may have been a little more 'spry', but there's a steady presence Pujols brings at 1B that wasn't there before.

[HaloNArizona]

26 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I'm convinced Marte was playing hurt most of '17 - he was shut down with a stress fracture at end of the year. He's showing much-improved plate discipline this year too, spring and regular season. 

I won't fool myself and expect Valbuena to post anything much above a .230/.330/.440 slash, but I think it's still in reach for him, and so long as he isn't overplayed, that will be great. Only concern is that our thin bench will result in him getting way more ABs against lefties than he should.

Valbuena is my ASB player to be released....Let Fernandez come up and hang out.  He is a left bat who can handle multiple positions.

[CanadianHalo]

5 hours ago, Dochalo said:

did everyone miss the fact that AJ has and always will have magical jinx powers in either direction?  

dude.  WTF?

This is my real problem with this thread.

He always does this and every time it backfires immediately