Top 10 things wrong with this team

[tdawg87]

5 hours ago, PattyD22 said:

The combination of defensive shifts and the pitchers inability to pitch to the shift has been atrocious all season.  It works every once in a while, but it has been exposed more times than I care to count.  That’s on Maddon and the pitchers.

Also, the lack of executing simple fundamentals of baseball is inexcusable.  Not just the bullshit errors, but that crap Ward pulled last night should have got his ass benched.  I’ll give Renigfo a pass on his gaffe, but everyone who has played the game of baseball knows that the outfielder who is coming IN on a ball has the play.  Every time.  I know he’s out of position, but that play wasn’t a player being out of position.  That was a flat out bullshit play, coupled of course, with a bad shift by the defense.

Cishek hitting a batter with the bases loaded is just a microcosm of a pen that has been crap all year.  Unreal how bad it’s been.  
 

I almost went to the vent thread last night and channeled my inner Angel Oracle, but I thought better of it.  But son of a bitch, I’m getting close.  The last 4 games have pushed me from frustrated fan to pissed off fan.

 

 

I'm numb. 

I get pissed in the heat of the moment because I'm still a "fan" but this organization has literally killed my love for baseball.

It used to be fun. It's supposed to be fun. It isn't anymore.

If it weren't for this forum I think I'd completely detatch myself from baseball altogether. No reason to be invested.

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, tdawg87 said:

I'm numb. 

I get pissed in the heat of the moment because I'm still a "fan" but this organization has literally killed my love for baseball.

It used to be fun. It's supposed to be fun. It isn't anymore.

If it weren't for this forum I think I'd completely detatch myself from baseball altogether. No reason to be invested.

Pretty much how I feel. And I'm no longer supporting them financially by attending in person.

[fan_since79]

Arte needs to sell the team and go away.

Then a whole bunch of other firings and DFA's need to happen, with a total 3 to 5-year rebuild put in place.

[Chuck]

14 hours ago, failos said:

Ha, did you do this @failos?

[failos]

3 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Ha, did you do this @failos?

Saw it on Reddit, actually!

[WicketMaiden]

I watched the Rays feed of the game - a few choice quotes from their guys:

The Angels bull-pen have a 9.00 ERA against the Rays this year - (that was before today's runs).

The Rays bull-pen is 5th in all baseball, the Angels bullpen has a 4.83 ERA and is 14th in the AL and 25th in MLB.

"Oh that's just sloppy defense from LA. It's what we saw when we played them in Anaheim and it's starting to show here again".

Summed the Angels up pretty accurately.

[Angels 1961]

As Angel fans we all fell for We are on the cusp of winning

[Angels 1961]

Last Saturday halos were game over 500. Talk of buying, what a difference a week makes.

[ten ocho recon scout]

20 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Valentines day. Bummer.

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, Angels 1961 said:

Last Saturday halos were game over 500. Talk of buying, what a difference a week makes.

I was talking about selling.

[Angels 1961]

46 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I was talking about selling.

I was talking rebuild in April. Teams will have to come to halo thrift now.

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, Angels 1961 said:

I was talking rebuild in April. Teams will have to come to halo thrift now.

Was that before, after, before, or after, you told people "don't stop believing" again?    Did we win or lose that day?

[CanadianHalo]

It all begins with Arte. We can talk about the shifting, lineups, infielders playing the outfield but everyone and their dog knew Arte would hire Maddon the second he became available. 

We can talk free agents and who this team needs to sign but again, this organization has taken the same approach every offseason for the last 5 years. They refuse to rebuild and refuse to go all in, so they hover around or below .500 instead. All while achieving nothing in terms of building for the following year. 

I really do think these issues run a lot deeper than talent on the roster. Do people think that if the Angels signed guys like Gausman and DeSclafani they’d be doing what they’re doing in SF? I really doubt it. 

This offseason will show us a lot in terms of what to expect going forward. Although I didn’t agree with Minasian’s approach this offseason it makes sense in terms of allowing him to get a feel for what he has moving forward. If Perry/Angels take the same approach this offseason that they’ve taken the last 6 then I don’t even know…

[Revad]

2 hours ago, CanadianHalo said:

This offseason will show us a lot in terms of what to expect going forward. Although I didn’t agree with Minasian’s approach this offseason it makes sense in terms of allowing him to get a feel for what he has moving forward. If Perry/Angels take the same approach this offseason that they’ve taken the last 6 then I don’t even know…

Minasian entered in a unique year due to COVID and the impending end of the CBA.  Acquiring players with one year left on their contracts made sense to me.  Hopefully that changes in the near future.

[Stradling]

Hey @Jeff Fletcher have you come out and asked Maddon why he is using inexperienced outfielders instead of making the moves necessary to field a better defensive team? I am basically asking because some tool on Twitter seems to be calling you out for not asking the “tough” question.  I defend you because there have been plenty of times on here where you have set us (me) straight on such things.

[rottiesworld]

On 6/25/2021 at 8:39 PM, Jason said:

Imagine if they didn’t have Ohtani? There would be nothing positive to talk about 

No people at the game

[Jeff Fletcher]

12 hours ago, Stradling said:

Hey @Jeff Fletcher have you come out and asked Maddon why he is using inexperienced outfielders instead of making the moves necessary to field a better defensive team? I am basically asking because some tool on Twitter seems to be calling you out for not asking the “tough” question.  I defend you because there have been plenty of times on here where you have set us (me) straight on such things.

I did ask last week why Rengifo didn’t play more OF at AAA. This week the issue only became serious after Upton went on the IL. They played 3 games without Upton/Trout and then called up Schebler, who Maddon called “a real outfielder.”

[greginpsca]

This team doesn't do the little things it takes to win. They don't try to move runners into scoring position. I have heard several times they have had a runner at 2b or 3b with no outs. A bunt , or a ground out to the right side, or a sac fly would help. But no, strike out called ends the inning. Look at the extra inning games they have lost. Runner on 2b to start the inning, then left stranded. Fans can bitch all they want about Sosh, but he was really good at this part of the game.  For this team, unless someone homers, that runner ain't coming home.

[Don]

It seems to be a combination of so many things. The most identifiable part of it, of course, is going into every offseason with the same exact strategy and expecting it to play out differently on the field the following year. It's infuriatingly stupid. Of course there will be those that argue we really have tried to sign Cole and other top of the rotation guys in the last several years, but have failed. I get that, but at a certain point a front office has to do its job and get players capable of helping the team win. FA signings, trades, player development, whatever. Getting Ohtani was huge, but when's the last time before that that we acquired a number two or better starter? Dan Haren?

And so that takes us to the next, I think bigger, point. If we can't acquire good pitchers, then we have to produce good pitchers. And, well, we suck at that too. We haven't drafted, developed, and fully manifested a top of the rotation major league starter since Jered Weaver, and I think one can argue that he didn't really need any help from the organization on the development front. The sad part is that this seems like a really easy problem to fix. Just go poach everyone in player development that you can from the organizations that consistently do it well and let them run the show. The ROI on that strategy would likely be massive. And to be fair, I think PM is trying to do this right now. Really hoping the people he's bringing in on that front are the right people, and they have the freedom to do what is needed.