Is this the longest year or what?

[Angel Oracle]

Only 4 DH starts per week these remaining 2 weeks

[Stradling]

12 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Only 4 DH starts per week these remaining 2 weeks

Why?

[steveuk]

12 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Why?

Mike Trout will be taking the others....

[fan_since79]

1 hour ago, Revad said:

He’d never say it but I think he’s exhausted 

Yeah, hitting all those 500-ft batting practice 'home runs' wore him out. 

[Stradling]

32 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

Yeah, hitting all those 500-ft batting practice 'home runs' wore him out. 

It only affected Ohtani then. Guerrero and Soto and Perez seem fine. Also Ohtani went one round.  This is another Canadian narrative. 

[Stradling]

Pete Alonso took the most swings in HR Derby.  He has the same stats pre and post All Star break.  

[Angel Oracle]

The HR Derby, given his double duties, was probably not the best idea.

Dude is closing in on 600 PAs and 130 innings pitched.

Seeing that he hadn’t ever done that, even in Japan, it had to eventually affect him.

The good news is next season, he will be used to a full season of double duty.

[Lou]

Interesting that his exhaustion only affects him the 4 times he bats (1 of which he didn't face a pitch) and not the 8 innings he pitched. 

Quite strange. 

[Blarg]

15 hours ago, Dochalo said:

To assume the defense is going to get better next year is just so difficult.  They could revamp their process and make a huge difference or they could be pig headed and force a similar approach thinking it will work next time.  

Defence in the outfield at the start of the year was okay then on a 1-5 scale it was a scrambled mess but these are snapshots.

Upton 3 Trout 5 Fowler 3

Upton 3 Lagares 3 Ward 2

Gosselin 2 Lagares 3 Rojas 2

Adell 4 Marsh 5 Lagares 3

Next season will probably start Upton, Trout, Adell and probably by mid season look like Trout, Marsh, Adell. That would be a huge upgrade in balls caught and runners kept in check. 

In the infield the absence of Rendon has created a rotation of below league average players both on offense and defense. Shortstop with Iglesias was not great but I'm with @Inside Pitch that defensive alignments often were situational imperfect. 2nd base with Fletcher is pretty strong so no change required. Walsh has really improved defensively at 1st base where I'd rate him above league average.

Backup catcher has to be addressed. Kurt Suzuki was a complete disaster defensively and the minors won't be providing a solution. This is another critical expense otherwise any pitchers acquired with be saddled with playing two games, one is against the offense and the other with their defense. 

So for the infield the Angels need a shortstop and catcher. I don't have faith that Rengifo can be a shortstop but serves the utility role well enough that Goose and Mayfield are expendable. Two players instead of 6 from a few years ago makes this off season workable. 

 

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, Lou said:

Interesting that his exhaustion only affects him the 4 times he bats (1 of which he didn't face a pitch) and not the 8 innings he pitched. 

Quite strange. 

The previous two starts after the 117 pitch outing were meh.

What else then has caused the big big drop since August 1?

Only other thing I can think of is what Walsh went through in July/August, before recovering in September?   A swing/approach adjustment?

Edited September 20, 2021 by Angel Oracle

[Lou]

5 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

The previous two starts after the 117 pitch outing were meh.

He only had 1 start after his 117 pitch outing before last night. He has averaged 101 pitches in his last 3 starts. 

He is not exhausted.

[Angel Oracle]

25 minutes ago, Lou said:

He only had 1 start after his 117 pitch outing before last night. He has averaged 101 pitches in his last 3 starts. 

He is not exhausted.

Something has affected the hitting greatly.

Can’t put it all on Trout’s and Rendon’s absence.   Walsh was able to rally in spite of that.

[Lou]

12 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Something has affected the hitting greatly.

Can’t put it all on Trout’s and Rendon’s absence.   Walsh was able to rally in spite of that.

Players slump.

[T.G.]

13 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Something has affected the hitting greatly.

It's called baseball.

[Angelsjunky]

But Austin Warren was reinstated!

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

Something has affected the hitting greatly.

Can’t put it all on Trout’s and Rendon’s absence.   Walsh was able to rally in spite of that.

It’s changing his approach.  

[ukyah]

5 hours ago, Stradling said:

Pete Alonso took the most swings in HR Derby.  He has the same stats pre and post All Star break.  

dad bod.

it's different.

[Torridd]

21 hours ago, Dochalo said:

The pitching has been middle of the pack this season.  It's actually a big step forward for the starters.  The pen was basically one guy for about 80% of the year.  The offense lost what should be their two best players.  

The defense cost this team 7-8 games at the very least.  Health and some better players might make a huge difference.  Or it might make a small one for the better.  

To assume the defense is going to get better next year is just so difficult.  They could revamp their process and make a huge difference or they could be pig headed and force a similar approach thinking it will work next time.  

When the team wasn't very good a few years ago, the process to make them better and the approach they took to do so was actually somewhat predictable and made sense.  

Based on what Minasian did this year and with how Joe manages coupled with Arte being Arte, I literally have no idea what direction this team is headed for.  It wouldn't surprise me if they won 95 games next year.  It also would surprise me if they lost 95.  That's pretty much how confused I am with this team.  

This team is not capable of losing 95 games unless they have an even worse injury rash next year.

[Torridd]

20 hours ago, mmc said:

I regret to inform you that not even the Pirates can claim that, they were above .500 in 2018.  The Phillies finished an even 81-81 in 2019, otherwise you could lump them in with us.  Same with KC finishing 81-81 in 2016.  But alas, they did not, so the Angels are actually the SOLE team to have all of their last 6 seasons be losing seasons (provided we finish with a losing record this year).  Just think about that.  We've had the best player in the league since 2012 and we currently hold this longest losing season streak.  

One player can't determine the win-loss record. We haven't had the pitching since Trout's arrived on the scene. I think the drought ends next year. 

[Slegnaac]

April 2, 2021 it started.

The #8 hitter for Chicago, with only 1 MLB at bat, goes 5 for 5 with 4 RBIs.  Currently this hitter is in the minors.

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, Slegnaac said:

April 2, 2021 it started.

The #8 hitter for Chicago, with only 1 MLB at bat, goes 5 for 5 with 4 RBIs.  Currently this hitter is in the minors.

And we beat them 3 out of 4.  

[T.G.]

Now there's a distant memory...

[Taylor]

2 hours ago, Slegnaac said:

April 2, 2021 it started.

The #8 hitter for Chicago, with only 1 MLB at bat, goes 5 for 5 with 4 RBIs.  Currently this hitter is in the minors.

I was at that game. The Angels still won, though.

[Taylor]

45 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Now there's a distant memory...

That one game where they all played together was great.

[Taylor]

Just now, Taylor said:

I was at that game. The Angels still won, though.

Oh wait, no they didn't. I must have been at the game the day before when Yermin Mercedes also went 5-for-5 (his MLB debut).