The Official 2021 Los Angeles Angels Spring Training News & Notes Thread

[greginpsca]

1 hour ago, tdawg87 said:

Will the bullpen be

Or

Somewhere in between. I think a couple of guys have pretty good years. and a couple pitch themselves out of jobs. The first 2 months might be up & down, then it should be respectable the rest of the season.

[Jay]

2 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Will the bullpen be

Or

[Inside Pitch]

Some interesting stuff in here..

 

[Angel Oracle]

3 hours ago, Trendon said:

What's interesting about the battle for the Angels last few bullpen spots is that a lot of the contenders for those spots haven't pitched.

Bard is injured. Claudio was injured and still hasn't pitched in a ST game. Quijada hasn't even arrived at camp. Rivera was late to camp and his velo was down in the B game. Slegers has had back spasms. Chavez signed late and has only pitched in 1 game so far. Guerra arrived late and has only pitched in 1 game. McCurry and Reyes had TJ. Naughton got shutdown from throwing for a bit. Peters also had back spasms.

Bad luck or misreading relievers?

[Angel Oracle]

3 hours ago, Trendon said:

I think there's a lot of guys who Maddon sees as multi-inning options. Not all of these guys will make it, but the multi-inning options figure to include:

Jaime Barria, Mike Mayers, Felix Pena, Jose Alberto Rivera, Patrick Sandoval, Aaron Slegers, Jose Suarez, Jesse Chavez, Jake Faria, Junior Guerra, and Thomas Pannone.

Keeping Mayers on a more set-up/1 inning type role would likely be the way I'd go, but it sounds like the see him as a multi-inning option.

Mayers did well in multi-inning outings in September.

[tdawg87]

2 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Bad luck or misreading relievers?

Yes.

[BTH]

19 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Bad luck or misreading relievers?

Some of that is just bad luck. It's definitely bad luck for the guys with visa issues: Quijada, Rivera, and Guerra. Some injuries are going to pop up and they have.

[Angels 1961]

4 hours ago, Trendon said:

I think there's a lot of guys who Maddon sees as multi-inning options. Not all of these guys will make it, but the multi-inning options figure to include:

Jaime Barria, Mike Mayers, Felix Pena, Jose Alberto Rivera, Patrick Sandoval, Aaron Slegers, Jose Suarez, Jesse Chavez, Jake Faria, Junior Guerra, and Thomas Pannone.

Keeping Mayers on a more set-up/1 inning type role would likely be the way I'd go, but it sounds like the see him as a multi-inning option.

Mike Mayers, if he is anything like last year is huge for halos. Right now I see we have a closer and rest of bullpen up grabs.

[ThisismineScios]

I keep thinking I’m being too optimistic with the different storylines going on. To name a few:

-Cobb has looked great 
-Ohtani
-Upton
-J Iglesias
-Solid ABs from Walsh, Fowler, Ward 
-Lagares
-Adell’s walks
-Quintana

I realized though that coming in my expectations were really low. And I have been very impressed with the defense, starters, and solid hitting. I think there a lot of good things going on, bullpen integrity notwithstanding. 

[Warfarin]

9 hours ago, ThisismineScios said:

I keep thinking I’m being too optimistic with the different storylines going on. To name a few:

-Cobb has looked great 
-Ohtani
-Upton
-J Iglesias
-Solid ABs from Walsh, Fowler, Ward 
-Lagares
-Adell’s walks
-Quintana

I realized though that coming in my expectations were really low. And I have been very impressed with the defense, starters, and solid hitting. I think there a lot of good things going on, bullpen integrity notwithstanding. 

I think we are seeing the impact of several things:

1.  Continuity with Maddon, who is a progressive manager that has a lot of experience working with analytically-inclined FOs (Friedman for many years, then Epstein)

2.  Minasian working in tandem with Maddon to help bring a blend of analytics and traditional scouting, and utilizing that information to help players perform better

It seems to me that during the offseason, Minasian and Maddon likely reached out to a number of players and provided them with guidance as to how they could potentially improve.  In terms of the players we have acquired (Cobb, Iglesias, Quintana, etc) - you gotta give credit to Minasian for finding intriguing candidates who fit in the lines of what he is trying to build.

It's early, and players will inevitably struggle, but I'm very bullish on Minasian (and Maddon) in terms of what they are building here.  It'll take time to complete their vision, but seeing a number of players improve upon their performance wouldn't surprise me.

The Braves are one of the best run teams in baseball, as Anthopolous is a fantastic POBO who learned from the greatest in the game (Friedman).  What a POBO or GM brings to the team is way, way more than just acquiring and drafting players - it's the whole team infrastructure that is built, from scouting, analytics, player development, access to medical information and technology, etc.

To me, the hiring of Minasian was by far the best move we made this offseason.  I look forward to the upcoming years of Angels fandom.

[Angels 1961]

10 hours ago, ThisismineScios said:

I keep thinking I’m being too optimistic with the different storylines going on. To name a few:

-Cobb has looked great 
-Ohtani
-Upton
-J Iglesias
-Solid ABs from Walsh, Fowler, Ward 
-Lagares
-Adell’s walks
-Quintana

I realized though that coming in my expectations were really low. And I have been very impressed with the defense, starters, and solid hitting. I think there a lot of good things going on, bullpen integrity notwithstanding. 

I think this lineup is solid and starters will be fine. Depth in rotation with Barria, Sandoval and return of Ohtani. That being said I hope for an addition in pen is coming.

[jsnpritchett]

Sorry if this was already known and I just missed it, but I thought this answer from Jim Bowden on The Athletic about what the Angels were willing to give up for Snell was interesting. 

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Sorry if this was already known and I just missed it, but I thought this answer from Jim Bowden on The Athletic about what the Angels were willing to give up for Snell was interesting. 

That is interesting. 

[jsnpritchett]

 

[Angel Oracle]

22 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

Eight of the top 12 from three teams, Moncada is a bit of a surprise.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Angel Oracle

[Vlad27Trout27]

36 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

Robert and Torres should not be included in this list. 

[Vlad27Trout27]

Looking at our Bp

9th: Iglesias. We finally have a lock down Closer

8th. Mayers. Outside of one bad outing, he has looked great, plus the increase in Velo is a welcome

6th/7th: Pena/Buttery 

Rest; Barria/Sandy, Rivera, Slegers fill out the rest of the Bp.

I also think that Faria wins the last spot. 

Brady is another arm that could come up and help when we need it. 

 

Its not a bad Bp, 

[eligrba]

54 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

Some might laugh, but I would put money on Ohtani if he stays healthy all year.  We could see something from Ohtani that has never happened in modern baseball.  This spring, he looks comfortable and like he is having fun, for the first time. 

[Angels 1961]

1 hour ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

Looking at our Bp

9th: Iglesias. We finally have a lock down Closer

8th. Mayers. Outside of one bad outing, he has looked great, plus the increase in Velo is a welcome

6th/7th: Pena/Buttery 

Rest; Barria/Sandy, Rivera, Slegers fill out the rest of the Bp.

I also think that Faria wins the last spot. 

Brady is another arm that could come up and help when we need it. 

 

Its not a bad Bp, 

I worry about Buttrey bad 2nd half of 19 and bad 20. 

[Angel Oracle]

3 hours ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

Looking at our Bp

9th: Iglesias. We finally have a lock down Closer

8th. Mayers. Outside of one bad outing, he has looked great, plus the increase in Velo is a welcome

6th/7th: Pena/Buttery 

Rest; Barria/Sandy, Rivera, Slegers fill out the rest of the Bp.

I also think that Faria wins the last spot. 

Brady is another arm that could come up and help when we need it. 

 

Its not a bad Bp, 

It does need a third late innings guy.

[ThisismineScios]

5 hours ago, eligrba said:

Some might laugh, but I would put money on Ohtani if he stays healthy all year.  We could see something from Ohtani that has never happened in modern baseball.  This spring, he looks comfortable and like he is having fun, for the first time. 

I think there is a really good chance he gets votes if he's healthy. Imagine a year where he is worth 2.0 WAR pitching and 3-4 WAR as a hitter? That's incredibly valuable to a team. 

I think the other thing we don't want to jinx/mention is the playoffs. All bets are off in the playoffs. Let Ohtani pitch and hit in the same game. Let him be a super reliever (pitch every 3 days) and hit on those days also. The possibilities are really endless with a quality 2-way, something we haven't seen in the playoffs thus far. 

[John Smith]

• Rule 5 reliever Jose Alberto Rivera pitched in a "B" game last week, but he has yet to appear in a Cactus League game. Maddon said it will be difficult for Rivera to make the club.

https://www.mlb.com/angels/news/jose-quintana-building-confidence-in-spring

[rafibomb]

30 minutes ago, John Smith said:

• Rule 5 reliever Jose Alberto Rivera pitched in a "B" game last week, but he has yet to appear in a Cactus League game. Maddon said it will be difficult for Rivera to make the club.

https://www.mlb.com/angels/news/jose-quintana-building-confidence-in-spring

So he's going back to the Astros then. If that's the case we should have added Soriano to the 40-man.

[Billy_Ball]

8 hours ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

Looking at our Bp

9th: Iglesias. We finally have a lock down Closer

8th. Mayers. Outside of one bad outing, he has looked great, plus the increase in Velo is a welcome

6th/7th: Pena/Buttery 

Rest; Barria/Sandy, Rivera, Slegers fill out the rest of the Bp.

I also think that Faria wins the last spot. 

Brady is another arm that could come up and help when we need it. 

 

Its not a bad Bp, 

Also lefty Claudio.

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, rafibomb said:

So he's going back to the Astros then. If that's the case we should have added Soriano to the 40-man.

Absolutely!