Help me write a story!

[Blarg]

How does our minor league coaching staff qualifications match up with our division? Why does a player like Rengifo swing like he can hit every ball out of the park when he is no Altuve in skill level. Shouldn't the minor league hitting coach be tayloring his practice to bat control instead of power? 

[beatlesrule]

Everything has pretty much been covered already. I also wonder why they don't utilize their speed. Guys like Ohtani, Trout, Wade, Marsh and Velaquez need to be running more and putting pressure on the opposing defense. I mentioned already that last night, Stassi should have laid down a sac bunt to move Rengifo over to 3rd since they only needed one run to win but that never happened.

[Angelsfan1984]

22 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

Everything has pretty much been covered already. I also wonder why they don't utilize their speed. Guys like Ohtani, Trout, Wade, Marsh and Velaquez need to be running more and putting pressure on the opposing defense. I mentioned already that last night, Stassi should have laid down a sac bunt to move Rengifo over to 3rd since they only needed one run to win but that never happened.

to play devils advocate here...Wade, Marsh and velasquez dont get on base enough. I'm ok if Trout and Ohtani arent stealing many bases to prevent injury. I would like to see alot more situational hitting. So many times ive seen lead off man get on and nothing comes of it. No bunt, no 1st to 3rd. 

[Dtwncbad]

2 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

To be clear, these need to be quantifiable things, so I can look up the numbers in relation to other teams.

Team SLG outside of Trout/Ohtani.

All of the real SLG danger is concentrated in those two players.  Opponents can manage to pitch through a lineup with just those two land mines and win, even if Trout or Ohtani has a good offensive game.

Other than Trout and Ohtani, the lineup really can’t hurt the opponent unless they string together a whole mess of consecutive hits. . . Which isn’t likely in todays game of .220-.230 hitters.

Those historically bad batting averages are only passable in todays game when they are offset by a higher SLG (or OBP).

The Angels have a lineup that simply has too many low BA, low SLG hitters.

 

[ScottT]

The bottom "half" of the lineup is horrible.   Tonight, that "half" starts at #3.  Brutal. 

[Revad]

Cost of the bullpen for performance obtained.

Cost of middle infield for performance obtained.

 

[TurboFan]

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

How does our minor league coaching staff qualifications match up with our division? Why does a player like Rengifo swing like he can hit every ball out of the park when he is no Altuve in skill level. Shouldn't the minor league hitting coach be tayloring his practice to bat control instead of power? 

Has anyone noticed Rengifo has a tiny hitch in his swing? It’s so small you have to study his swing to recognize it. Every time I notice it I wonder how that didn’t get ironed out in the many many years of minor league instruction. Only little leaguers can have a hitch (of any magnitude) in their swing. Never in the Bigs.

[TurboFan]

1 hour ago, Dtwncbad said:

Team SLG outside of Trout/Ohtani.

All of the real SLG danger is concentrated in those two players.  Opponents can manage to pitch through a lineup with just those two land mines and win, even if Trout or Ohtani has a good offensive game.

Other than Trout and Ohtani, the lineup really can’t hurt the opponent unless they string together a whole mess of consecutive hits. . . Which isn’t likely in todays game of .220-.230 hitters.

Those historically bad batting averages are only passable in todays game when they are offset by a higher SLG (or OBP).

The Angels have a lineup that simply has too many low BA, low SLG hitters.

 

This is why having Duffy replace Rendon hurts so so bad.

[crashx55]

Arte Moreno.

[HaloFan1986]

The bottom of the order is one of the worst in baseball. You can’t give regular at bats to Juan Legares, Andrew Velazquez, Kurt Suzuki, and Tyler Wade.

[AngelsFanSean]

Hi Jeff,

I wrote a whole long paragraph but deleted it as it's just a frustrated fan venting about issues with the team.

To keep it short the issues I believe to be plaguing this team are: 

1) Lack of consistent offense (scoring a ton of runs one night and shutout the next night)

2) Lack of consistent pitching (Thor throwing 8 innings of 1 run ball one start and then giving up 5 runs in 2 innings the next start)

3) Luis Rengifo batting 3rd and Mike Trout not playing....what the heck is that? 

edit: also Juan Lagares pinch hitting for Brandon Marsh in the 6th with 2 outs, just bad managing

[Nathan]

 

The infield is one of the least productive in baseball. The organization overvalues Rendon and Fletcher. Wade and Velasquez shouldn’t be in any MLB lineup. Duffy might be good enough to be a utility backup infielder on a bottom 5 team. Outfield is a different story but Walsh is the only infielder in the entire organization that has been productive at the plate at the Major League level this year.
 

I think an extreme lack of offensive depth is the core issue. The rotation needs an addition or two, but the pitching doesn’t feel like it’s been the problem.

Shohei had half of a good season at the plate last year and everyone started pretending the pitching was the only thing bringing this team down.

[maximus p]

Scoring less than the opponent

[Slegnaac]

I would be interested to know if the number of called 3rd strikes increased after game 44.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Slegnaac

[Torridd]

7 hours ago, tomsred said:

I would go with the weak offensive performance at 2nd, 3rd and SS, plus I believe the inconsistency of the bullpen setup arms is right up there as well.  Actually all of Minasian's off season signings have underperformed with the exception of Lorenzen.  Proper overall depth was not really addressed effectively.  Manager replacement should have been addressed in the coming off season with someone more experienced than Nevin.  Actually, when it comes down to manager this organization has had only four managers with records better than .500.  2000-2018 Mike Scioscia 1650-1428, 1981-1987 Gene Mauch 379-332, 1989-1991 Doug Rader 232-216, and 1976-1977 Norm Sherry 76-71. 

Don't forget catcher.

[Stradling]

I’ll be honest, I kinda think Fletcher should write his own story. 

[Lou]

I'll help as soon as someone helps me with my work. 

[Lou]

Damnit, Strad.

[Stradling]

[Jay]

35 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I’ll be honest, I kinda think Fletcher should write his own story. 

If he uses this thread it will be a shitty story.

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

If he uses this thread it will be a shitty story.

You should offer your expertise. Maybe he wants to do a story on Angel fans in Idaho?  

[Mark68]

Angels hitters are leading the league in strikeouts, but walk at league average. You would think that a team that takes as many first and third strikes as this one does would walk more, but that facet seems to have been exploited by opposing pitchers.  

 

Pitchers are averaging 2.55 K/BB, which is below average.

 

Their positional WAA (BB-Ref) is only above average at SP, 1B (barely: .1), CF, RF & DH. They're average at 3B & SS and below average everywhere else--including dead last at 2B (-1.3 WAA).

 

This team is just not well-constructed. They've been taking a stars & scrubs approach for years. While that might work in fantasy baseball, it doesn't work in real baseball.

[Jay]

19 minutes ago, Stradling said:

You should offer your expertise. Maybe he wants to do a story on Angel fans in Idaho?  

I did see one guy wearing an Angels hat but that was a few weeks ago when they were playing well.

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

I’ll be honest, I kinda think Fletcher should write his own story. 

[Tank]

It must be tough to type on top of a doghouse. Seems like balance and comfort would be issues.