I’m disappointed

[Stradling]

Just now, bloodbrother said:

A new manager perhaps

It’s always the manager, which means it might never be the manager.  

[tdawg87]

2 minutes ago, bloodbrother said:

A new manager perhaps

But

[eligrba]

10 minutes ago, bloodbrother said:

A new manager perhaps

When you have a large number of poor performing players, every move a manager makes is bad.  I am fine with Joe.  It's some of the players that need replacing.

[Justin]

I want back the manager we had back when I wanted the manager we have now!

[robblin17]

8 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

I was a little hamboned. Point still stands to a lesser degree. 

[Taylor]

If the Angels had a couple more quality SP and a couple solid bullpen arms, they'd easily be an above .500 team.

[Angel Oracle]

I think back to the poll I created, regarding what caused the mostly mediocrity from 2010-2020.

It now comes into focus.   Think about it.   Who hires the GMs?  Who likely gives the input into how to spend his money?

Arte Moreno 

The common theme over the past decade is three things.   Big money acquisitions that mainly flame out, lesser but decent enough acquisitions that swing and miss way more often than they should, and development of players in the org.

I am wondering now if Moreno is only interested in making a big splash and doesn’t think at all in a long term way, and skimps on the scouting and development part of the budget.

The ONLY times his way in the off-season truly worked were before 2004 (Vlad) and before 2008 (Torii).

Since he’s owned the team, has there ever been a true focus on long term success in a traditional baseball manner?

To restore the view for long term success, it may now be time for him to sell the team.  He is in his mid 70s.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Angel Oracle

[fan_since79]

The addition of Rendon was exciting, but when you have 7 or 8 other things that need a major upgrading, you're still not going anywhere.

Hopeful that we get this turned around by 2025 or at least by the end of the decade.

 

[kevinb]

24 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

The addition of Rendon was exciting, but when you have 7 or 8 other things that need a major upgrading, you're still not going anywhere.

Hopeful that we get this turned around by 2025 or at least by the end of the decade.

 

Honestly what 7 or 8 upgrades does this team need? Maybe an ace and maybe a shut down reliever. Other than that this team on paper should be legitimately a contender. We have 3 superstars trout Rendon Ohtani. Our infield is great except Pujols at 1st. Our outfield is great trout makes it so. Goodwin/upton is average adell will get there. This team should at minimum be above 500 I don’t know what it is about this team though. It’s just disappointing. 

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, Kevinb said:

Honestly what 7 or 8 upgrades does this team need? Maybe an ace and maybe a shut down reliever. Other than that this team on paper should be legitimately a contender. We have 3 superstars trout Rendon Ohtani. Our infield is great except Pujols at 1st. Our outfield is great trout makes it so. Goodwin/upton is average adell will get there. This team should at minimum be above 500 I don’t know what it is about this team though. It’s just disappointing. 

The team needs better pitching, that really is it.  So if you want to say they need to replace 7 or 8 pitchers, ok.  Sure Albert is not a useful player anymore but they could put La Stella there.  So they need to upgrade the staff, still.

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, robblin17 said:

I was a little hamboned. Point still stands to a lesser degree. 

I thought your rant was great

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

I also think they lack the that winning culture. feels like no really cares about wining other than a few guys. Secondly, feels like the club house lacks that leadership/ guy that keeps everyone in check.

 

Mike Scioscia cared....  But he wasn't quotable

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

It’s always the manager, which means it might never be the manager.  

Except this team has been less exciting, shown less fire, and failed to execute basics, a lot more since making their first managerial change in 20 years two years ago.   

[Stradling]

5 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Except this team has been less exciting, shown less fire, and failed to execute basics, a lot more since making their first managerial change in 20 years two years ago.   

So you think it has to do with the manager and not overall baseball philosophy?  You know how I felt about Scioscia, but I look at our team and I don’t see guys that have even shown the ability to do the small things, outside of Fletcher and Rendon.  I am telling you in a season like this a team that could do the small things and perhaps lay down a bunt or two a game to combat the shift, would win a lot of games.  

[Inside Pitch]

41 minutes ago, Stradling said:

The team needs better pitching, that really is it.  So if you want to say they need to replace 7 or 8 pitchers, ok.  Sure Albert is not a useful player anymore but they could put La Stella there.  So they need to upgrade the staff, still.

The pen has had its meltdowns but as a whole the pitching staff has been a near league average unit. 

This season has been characterized by meltdowns.... Load the bases, then three bad at bats.  Allow a baserunner, then the defense decides to mentally check out.  Take a lead, walk two, then give it all back.  Go 0-2 on a guy then proceed to throw a meatball.   I've never seen an Angels team fail at the most crucial times as often as this one has.  Whether or not that's something to be pinned on one guy or not -- I really don't know.   But it's been the theme of 2020 and honestly the longer it continues to happen the less it seems likely it's all just had luck.

I do think the bullpen usage has been horrendous but new manager still learning who he has so, I'm willing to give him a mulligan.  If I see Ward batting in the top 7 slots again I think I'll scream too, but that's not why they are losing.  I think with it being a 60 game season everything is magnified so it may just be a huge series of unfortunate events.... But this team is underperforming.

[fan_since79]

Bundy and Canning are the only two starters who give me any confidence going forward. The bullpen is also an ongoing problem with this team.

Upton is finished. Let's find a way to move him out. Pujols is just about done, but we have to platoon him at 1st until we get a replacement. Adell needs to grow up in a hurry and figure out how to play this game.

Ward, Thaiss, and Marsh? Forget it.

 

[fan_since79]

I like Joe Maddon but he seems too laid back and relaxed about his team which is in free fall mode. We could end up with the lowest season winning pct. of any Angels team ever.

[jonickell25]

Upton, Pujols, Ward are huge liabilities. Bullpen doesn't have one elite guy. Not even one "good" guy. In the next couple years you could see Marsh at 1st with Trout, Adams and Adellnin the outfield. That's exciting, but at least 2 years from happening. They have to start using high picks on elite arms.

[Inside Pitch]

31 minutes ago, Stradling said:

So you think it has to do with the manager and not overall baseball philosophy?  You know how I felt about Scioscia, but I look at our team and I don’t see guys that have even shown the ability to do the small things, outside of Fletcher and Rendon.  I am telling you in a season like this a team that could do the small things and perhaps lay down a bunt or two a game to combat the shift, would win a lot of games.  

I don't know what it is but I believe they as a team were 100% more focused, and better prepared under Scioscia.  Say what you will about the fat man he ate, slept, breathed, baseball.  But me saying that isn't based on anything concrete, I'm not in that clubhouse and I'm guilty of making assumptions built around what I did know about MS and things I don't know about Ausmus and Maddon.

As I said in my previous post, it's maybe nothing but dumb luck because it's not even been a month and you have a bunch of new coaches and potentially philosophies being put out..  We have seen teams have bad starts before then put it together, including last year's WS Champs, and this team could easily go on a run..   All I know is this team consistently finds ways to lose winnable games and that's NOT something that was common previously.

It's been the most frustrating Angels season in a long time..

[Stradling]

There’s WAY too many good players across baseball hitting under .200 for me to believe Upton is simply finished. 

[mmc]

54 minutes ago, Kevinb said:

Honestly what 7 or 8 upgrades does this team need? Maybe an ace and maybe a shut down reliever. Other than that this team on paper should be legitimately a contender. We have 3 superstars trout Rendon Ohtani. Our infield is great except Pujols at 1st. Our outfield is great trout makes it so. Goodwin/upton is average adell will get there. This team should at minimum be above 500 I don’t know what it is about this team though. It’s just disappointing. 

Our bullpen is one of the worst in the league, and while Bundy has been great, who else has shown that they’re more than a #4-5 starter on a true playoff team? They are not one starter and one reliever away.

[DMVol]

I am disappointed too.... but for perspective, we’re a little past the 1/3 point of the season and Miami is in first place and Baltimore is 2 games out....it’s probably wise not to draw many conclusions. But it does need to get better. If it doesn’t, Eppler isn’t a lock to be back.

[LAA Road Tripper]

2 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

The pen has had its meltdowns but as a whole the pitching staff has been a near league average unit. 

This season has been characterized by meltdowns.... Load the bases, then three bad at bats.  Allow a baserunner, then the defense decides to mentally check out.  Take a lead, walk two, then give it all back.  Go 0-2 on a guy then proceed to throw a meatball.   I've never seen an Angels team fail at the most crucial times as often as this one has.  Whether or not that's something to be pinned on one guy or not -- I really don't know.   But it's been the theme of 2020 and honestly the longer it continues to happen the less it seems likely it's all just had luck.I

I do think the bullpen usage has been horrendous but new manager still learning who he has so, I'm willing to give him a mulligan.  If I see Ward batting in the top 7 slots again I think I'll scream too but that's not why they are losing.  I think with it being a 60 game season everything is magnified so it may just be a huge series of unfortunate events.... But this team is underperforming.

A lot of accurate comments in this thread and I think IP is particularly spot on. Good clubs don't continually make mental errors, miss multiple opportunities, etc. especially in key moments. And that's just what's disturbing on the field.

The bigger picture is that there's just something missing from this franchise. A lack of urgency and accountability and a comfort level with mediocrity to begin with. This is not a mid-market team like many have mislabeled it. They're in the second largest market in the country and should act like it. One of the reasons I was excited about Maddon returning was that I thought this might be the start of a culture improvement. Granted, it's early but I don't like what I see so far. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I wouldn't read too much into this. This is far from a typical year. Spring training was abruptly suspended, there was no play until July, then things were almost as abruptly restarted without the typical pre-season preparation. It is no surprise to me that there have been teams and players that have been unexpectedly good or unexpectedly bad. The Orioles are two games behind the Yankees in second place. The Red Sox have the worst record in baseball at 6-15 (.286). Think that our pitching is bad? The Seattle Mariners have a -46 run differential in 22 games.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Vegas Halo Fan

[Claude]

6 minutes ago, Stradling said:

There’s WAY too many good players across baseball hitting under .200 for me to believe Upton is simply finished. 

Except that he no longer can catch up to a fastball like he used to. That’s a declining skill level that causes players to swing at bad pitches. He does a lot of that.