Six reasons why this is the most disappointing season (for me) since 1995

[Angelsjunky]

1. They started so well: 24-13 on May 15. Yes, they started 2018 13-3, but that's only 16 games, not 37, which is almost a quarter of a season - enough to get a basic sense of how good a team is.
2. They didn't just come down to earth, they splatted. If they had simply regressed to the expected mean and merely played .500 ball since, they'd be 46-35 after today's game, with a wildcard berth; instead, they utterly collapsed, going 13-31 over their last 44 games. 13-31!!!!
3. This was supposed to be the year that we'd have a superstar trio. Namely, a healthy Trout and Rendon to go along with peak Ohtani. Instead, Rendon is out again (and veering towards bust territory), Ohtani isn't quite as good as last year (though has been improving), and Trout is, well, 0-11 in his last 3 games with 9 Ks, just a few weeks after working out of the worst slump of his career. Meaning, it might be time to start worrying.
4. The Promised Ones--Brandon Marsh and Jo Adell--have both disappointed. Adell still has the same problems with little sign of improvement, and Marsh has been terrible for most of the year, at least with the bat.
5. The bullpen still sucks. After years of terrible bullpens, Perry Minasian spent some money and, well, it is even worse than last year. How is that possible?
6. Our General Manager sucks (again). Speaking of Perry Minasian, he was supposed to break the streak of bad general managers, but literally none have turned out well. He didn't fix the bullpen, but instead made it worse for more money, and he didn't adequately address the depth problem. Every single one of his offseason acquisitions has been bad or simply underwhelming. 

So, yeah, this is the most disappointing season in memory - as far as the overall, regular season goes - and possibly all the way back to 1995. For me, @Blarg.

And it may be the first season in awhile that, mid-way through, I kind of wish was over.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Angelsjunky

[OregonLAA]

This franchise is in shambles. Arte only cares about big names but he’s not investing in the minors or scouting or just having a good foundation. He’s a terrible owner. There’s a reason the Cardinals and Astros can lost star players and still be in the playoffs every year. This is awful to watch and care about. 

[tdawg87]

I'm only disappointed because I stupidly bought into them when they were 24-13. 

There aren't enough graves in the world to fill with all the time I've killed caring about this garbage.

Edited July 3, 2022 by tdawg87

[bloodbrother]

It's really discouraging to know that those running things clearly have no answers and haven't for years, so it's hard to have any faith that they'll figure things out any time soon. Franchise has just been running in circles since their last playoff berth

[Angel Oracle]

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

7 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

 

trade proposal: Arte Moreno for Steve Balmer 

[AngelsLakersFan]

13 minutes ago, SurfWriter said:

I agree with you.  This team has fallen into a loser status for different reasons, but the failure of the pitching rotation is definitely one.  There's no excuse for the management believing this cobbled-together gang of question marks and subpar talent, excluding Ohtani, could have been expected to keep the team competitive.  They started out on a high, with everything working well, but it couldn't last and a funk has set in.  Their series against Houston tells the story in depressing reality:  three losses to a much superior team, a total of eight hits in those three games, and mostly poor pitching from the starters.  Mike Trout struck out almost every time he was at the plate.  Houston showed what a good team looks like:  strong starters, confident hitters getting the job done, and a winning culture.  I think one thing the team lacks is a strong leader in the clubhouse, though the pitching staff is the biggest problem.  I wouldn't even pay attention to the team if Shohei Ohtani wasn't on it.

The starting pitching has probably been one area that hasn't been completely terrible this year. Not great (13th in MLB in ERA) but acceptable.

[cysomeawfulpitcher]

At least we finished above 500 that season.

[Angel Oracle]

This team needs a change of attitude and philosophy.

Minasian needs to bring in a manager who is big on getting a team to forget the past 7 years history and focus on the present, someone who will assemble a coaching staff that emphasizes balance in approach.

No more striking out left and right, by taking pitches down the middle and swinging at garbage

No more relievers fooling around with the strike zone 

Ingrain winning philosophy from day one.

 

[Angelsjunky]

Maddon: 27-29 (.482)

Nevin: 10-15 (.400)

Clearly firing Maddon was the solution.

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, Angelsjunky said:

Maddon: 27-29 (.482)

Nevin: 10-15 (.400)

Clearly firing Maddon was the solution.

Looks like you and @cals are finally on the same page about something!

[budice0]

Its a long season, but there were hints of where this team stood even before it started.  Items not addressed and continue to not be addressed.  Certain teams just have playoff talent levels which exceed the Angels.  Until some of the underperforming areas are addressed, it will continue to be a .500 ballclub with a large payroll.

[Angelsjunky]

17 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Looks like you and @cals are finally on the same page about something!

Well, we've been on the same page about that for a couple weeks. I understood firing Maddon as a "someone needs to be held accountable/shake things up" move, but even when it happened, I didn't think it would really change anything. And it didn't. The Angels stopped their losing streak, but were due to anyway. 

If anything, I think firing Maddon had an overall negative effect, in that it broke the "we're all in this together" vibe. They might have been much stronger for pulling out of the losing streak as the team (and manager) that had gone 24-13. But we'll never know.

[AvsBroncosAngels05]

The 2019 team was my least favorite Angels team in recent memory of mine but this year is catching up. The first month and half were looking promising and I had hopes Minasian knew what he was doing. But right now he looks like a chicken with his head cut and not knowing how to stop the bleeding. Bringing in Jonathan Villar is just a slap in the face. He got released by the Cub and he's a flat out loser. Teams like the Orioles put Villar out there everyday so they could tank for a high draft pick like they did with this piece of shit 3 years ago. If anything thinks he's going to help this shitshow I have some ocean property here in Denver to sell you. I've checked out of this team probably since the Phillies loss a month ago, but I appreciate this board gives me a sympathy group of sorts. I haven't worn any Angels gear in months and I'm just flat out embarrassed by the team right now and don't even have a clue where this goes from here after this nightmare of 2022 ends. 

[REDneck]

Man, we couldn't even get one from the Astros.

Just out classed.

Yeah disappointing.

[Angel Oracle]

Uhh Arte, you ain’t getting close to 3 million fans this season.

On pace for 2.5 million

Some fans have tuned you out.

They’re tired of you being all into star power and nothing else that produces winning teams.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Angel Oracle

[eligrba]

The Angels have 81 games left after today. If the Angels play .500 baseball from now to the end of the season, they will finish with 77 wins. If they continue playing at their current rate, they will finish with 61 wins. 
 

I didn’t realize how bad it could get when a team can have the 8th highest payroll at 190 million dollars until this season. Thankfully the Angels had that great start. Quite an achievement for the organization.  

Edited July 4, 2022 by eligrba

[eligrba]

51 minutes ago, SurfWriter said:

Will Ohtani choose to sign a new contract?  That's the looming question.

Anyone still wondering? Ohtani seems like a smart guy.

[greginpsca]

5 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Anyone still wondering? Ohtani seems like a smart guy.

Seattle has a shitload of money they could use to sign him. This past offseason, the mariners could have spent $150 mil  and still be under our payroll. Oh, and they're ahead of us in the standings.

[robblin17]

51 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Uhh Arte, you ain’t getting close to 3 million fans this season.

On pace for 2.5 million

Some fans have tuned you out.

They’re tired of you being all into star power and nothing else that produces winning teams.

This is the only way to *potentially* fix this terrible organization. Hit Arte where it hurts and the only place he cares about, his pocketbook. 
 

The guy is a snake oil salesman. My concern is he won’t sell the team because all he cares about is his mega development deal and the Angels help him get that done. Albeit losing and an empty ballpark doesn’t do him any favors. 
 

The franchise is run by the same group of clowns that have been there since day one of the Moreno era, Arte and Carpino. Until these guys go, or until Arte changes (which I doubt he will because he is clearly a narcissistic piece of shit) who manages the organization and where we invest, we’re fucked. 
 

 

[2112]

I have no words.  It's as depressing as hell.  I would even be ok with trading every one and tanking for a couple of years.  Of course that's impossible.  

 

Maybe the team could be dissolved and I can stop following baseball. 

[DMVol]

I think I’ve reached the “I’ll believe it when I see it” stage. I am normally pretty optimistic preseason but was hesitant this year. Just couldn’t buy in. I’ve got no answers, wish I did.

[Skankhunt42]

How about 7 reasons?

[Docwaukee]

the best position player season from someone they didn't sign to a contract of 5 years or more over the last 5 years is from...

Brian Goodwin at 2.3 WAR.  

The last acquisition to put up more than 2 WAR in a season for at least two years in a row aside from Simmons and Ohtani...

David Freese.  

In the last 5 years the team has had 23,632 PA.  We have gotten -17.7 WAR from 7293 of those PA.  So just for arguments sake, call it 1/3rd.  

In other words, we have averaged -1.2 WAR from three spots in the lineup for FIVE years.  

we've gotten 26.3 war from 0.72 lineup spots.  So the other 5.3 lineup spots are averaging 2.1 WAR

Meaning that effectively, our daily lineup is 

1. 0.9 WAR
2. 5.5 WAR
3. 0.9 WAR
4. 0.9 WAR
5. 0.9 WAR
6. 0.9 WAR
7. 0.9 WAR
8. 0.9 WAR
9. 0.9 WAR

 

 

 

[Erstad Grit]

15 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

1. They started so well: 24-13 on May 15. Yes, they started 2018 13-3, but that's only 16 games, not 37, which is almost a quarter of a season - enough to get a basic sense of how good a team is.
2. They didn't just come down to earth, they splatted. If they had simply regressed to the expected mean and merely played .500 ball since, they'd be 46-35 after today's game, with a wildcard berth; instead, they utterly collapsed, going 13-31 over their last 44 games. 13-31!!!!
3. This was supposed to be the year that we'd have a superstar trio. Namely, a healthy Trout and Rendon to go along with peak Ohtani. Instead, Rendon is out again (and veering towards bust territory), Ohtani isn't quite as good as last year (though has been improving), and Trout is, well, 0-11 in his last 3 games with 9 Ks, just a few weeks after working out of the worst slump of his career. Meaning, it might be time to start worrying.
4. The Promised Ones--Brandon Marsh and Jo Adell--have both disappointed. Adell still has the same problems with little sign of improvement, and Marsh has been terrible for most of the year, at least with the bat.
5. The bullpen still sucks. After years of terrible bullpens, Perry Minasian spent some money and, well, it is even worse than last year. How is that possible?
6. Our General Manager sucks (again). Speaking of Perry Minasian, he was supposed to break the streak of bad general managers, but literally none have turned out well. He didn't fix the bullpen, but instead made it worse for more money, and he didn't adequately address the depth problem. Every single one of his offseason acquisitions has been bad or simply underwhelming. 

So, yeah, this is the most disappointing season in memory - as far as the overall, regular season goes - and possibly all the way back to 1995. For me, @Blarg.

And it may be the first season in awhile that, mid-way through, I kind of wish was over.

Agree on all of this. 

I'd add 1995 we weren't supposed to be good.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Also the collapse was tied to loosing  Disarcina so I at least had a "reason" to point to which at the time made 1996 feel optimistic.