Has your assessment of the Angels changed from where it was before the season started?

[ten ocho recon scout]

The AL east is so strong this year that a Wild Card is going to be tough, which sucks. But I still think this team is better than its looked. 

Trout is going to wake up sooner or later, and if a few other guys are doing well at the same time, it's a very good team, IMO.

[tomsred]

8 minutes ago, Stradling said:

You’ve missed how good the bullpen has been. Every team in the division is flawed but we only focus on the Angels flaws. 

I agree, the bullpen has been good after a short sluggish start.  The defense is perplexing, they make some really great plays, and have had quite a few really disappointing ones.  They have to find a way to have the starters go deeper into games without falling apart.

[Stradling]

10 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I mean an above .500 team at the time the Angels played the team.

That isn’t how it works. 

[notherhalo]

Definitely overachieving 

[Wisconsin27]

With the bp performing better than expected, I am surprised by the dip in our SP as I felt we had a better team than what has been shown.

With that said, we will do the most "Angels thing ever" and be just good enough to not trade Ohtani for the haul we could recoup at the deadline.  Even if we keep him and somehow make the playoffs, I don't see this team as currently constructed to be good enough to make serious noise if they get in.  Thus, we'll likely go into next year minus Ohtani and without the replacements we could have received to bring optimism to the '24-25 season.  

And I won't totally fault the f.o. because I am sure they feel as though their jobs are on the line.  Just an impossible situation to be in given the team's performance to-date.

 

[stormngt]

The team has literally given away 9 games this season.  We should have won the Toronto, Boston, Houston, and Yankee series. 

Hell they should easily have 26-27 wins.

If they improve to the point where they stopped beating themselves this team will be awfully good.

 

I am just not confident they they will stop beating themselves. 

Edited May 12, 2023 by stormngt

[drpiranha]

I'm a little disappointed at the start they've had. I thought that Urshela, Renfroe, Drury, Moore and Estevez were all good pickups that were badly needed.

Unfortunately Moore and Estevez had horrible springs and it took a couple of weeks before Nevin knew he could trust them. In the mean time, the pitchers he thought he could trust and/or was familiar with (Quijada, Loup, Tepera, and Herget) combined to contribute to many meltdowns during a weak schedule.

Trout and Ohtani, on the surface, look like they are performing Ok. However, games that could have been won with a clutch hit in the 8th or 9th inning, seemed to elude them pretty much all the time. I know Trout had the walkoff Homer (though it was Lamb that really had the clutch hit).

For the most part, we strike out to much either by chasing balls well out of the zone or taking called 3rd strikes that are near the middle of the plate.

The defense needs to tighten up and the 2 super stars need to start delivering in the clutch. I think the pitching will come around (both starters and bullpen) and the rest of the supporting cost has done fine.

[ukyah]

it took tom brady to change the loser dna of the patriots. the angels have two tom bradys and they still can't put together a winning team.

[Halo in Chicago]

I’m a little disappointed. It’s early and there’s plenty of time, but the starting pitching is way worse than I hoped it would be. Detmers and Suarez seem to have taken big steps backwards. Anderson is looking more and more like a one year wonder. 
 

The offense is still too reliant on the three run bomb, but I like the depth. 
 

I thought this was a playoff team. I think it still can be, but I’d feel better if we went on a bit of a run soon. 

[Taylor]

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

That isn’t how it works. 

How does it work then?

[Swordsman78]

6 hours ago, Trendon said:

 

 

The one saving grace is that IF they’re still hanging around in the wild card race at the deadline, I have to imagine they’ll be super aggressive.

The current roster may not be a playoff team, but maybe the roster in August/September will be.

Trendon with some really good takes in this thread.

[Swordsman78]

30 minutes ago, drpiranha said:

I'm a little disappointed at the start they've had. I thought that Urshela, Renfroe, Drury, Moore and Estevez were all good pickups that were badly needed.

Unfortunately Moore and Estevez had horrible springs and it took a couple of weeks before Nevin knew he could trust them. In the mean time, the pitchers he thought he could trust and/or was familiar with (Quijada, Loup, Tepera, and Herget) combined to contribute to many meltdowns during a weak schedule.

Trout and Ohtani, on the surface, look like they are performing Ok. However, games that could have been won with a clutch hit in the 8th or 9th inning, seemed to elude them pretty much all the time. I know Trout had the walkoff Homer (though it was Lamb that really had the clutch hit).

For the most part, we strike out to much either by chasing balls well out of the zone or taking called 3rd strikes that are near the middle of the plate.

The defense needs to tighten up and the 2 super stars need to start delivering in the clutch. I think the pitching will come around (both starters and bullpen) and the rest of the supporting cost has done fine.

Another good take.  The new guys have brought some much needed offense that was lacking last year.  Trout and Ohtani have been striking out too much in high leverage situations.  Defense is same as last year.  Starting pitching has been poor, especially vs. teams with winning records.  Bullpen has exceeded expectations.

The keys to a 90 win season are: 

1.  Starting pitching improvement vs. teams over .500

2.  Trout and Ohtani putting up MVP numbers offensively.

[Angels 1961]

Starting pitching has been bad. Besides Ohtani and Sandoval other 4 need to step in up. Pitchers going 4 and 5 inn will kill this BP. Without big improvement from starters this team will be headed for another losing season.

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, Swordsman78 said:

Defense is same as last year. 

The Angels put together a lousy defensive team last year. 10th in the American league and 17th overall. Guess what? You're right, they rank the same this season. 

[Swordsman78]

2 minutes ago, Blarg said:

The Angels put together a lousy defensive team last year. 10th in the American league and 17th overall. Guess what? You're right, they rank the same this season. 

I am one of the few guys on this thread that have any understanding of the subject matter.

Too many here, just regurgitate what they read on twitter.  And even butcher that.  Sad.

[Swordsman78]

2 hours ago, ukyah said:

it took tom brady to change the loser dna of the patriots. the angels have two tom brady's and they still can't put together a winning team.

I watched Tom Brady,

Tom Brady was clutch. 

Those guys are no Tom Brady.

[Lou]

9 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

I watched Tom Brady,

Tom Brady was clutch. 

Those guys are no Tom Brady.

Or Maya Brady.

[Blarg]

49 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

I am one of the few guys on this thread that have any understanding of the subject matter.

Too many here, just regurgitate what they read on twitter.  And even butcher that.  Sad.

I pulled my information from the Fielding Bible. Where do you source your information from?

[Swordsman78]

3 minutes ago, Blarg said:

I pulled my information from the Fielding Bible. Where do you source your information from?

I stayed at the Holiday Inn last night.

[Blarg]

You must have slept on the floor. 

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, Swordsman78 said:

I am one of the few guys on this thread that have any understanding of the subject matter.

Too many here, just regurgitate what they read on twitter.  And even butcher that.  Sad.

Haha. No your understanding isn’t superior to the masses here. It’s quite the opposite. 

[Swordsman78]

4 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Haha. No your understanding isn’t superior to the masses here. It’s quite the opposite. 

You shouldn't speak about a "Premium member' that way. 

Alot of guys are bitching right now (nit picking EVERYTHING, but if prior to the season someone asked "would you be happy if the Angels were .500 or better after 40 games, the majority on this board would give a resounding yes.   But since you are the self proclaimed judge of all things Angels, tell me all the things in the previous sentence that are wrong.

[Docwaukee]

I haven't. 

I fully expect the SP to get their crap together.  

The defense is fine with Neto in there.  

I think the offense has more than it's shown.  

The bullpen is solid now that the kinks have been worked out.  

This really does remind me a lot of the 2012 team so far when Haren ended up extremely disappointing, Santana crapped the bed and Wilson was mediocre.  Except I think this pen is better and right now the SP is actually worse 

I was actually a bit of a perfect storm early on when the pen was still in tryouts yet they were playing just a crap ton of close games.  I agree that if the pen was aligned as it is now, I think we win at least 3 more games. 

I'm just annoyed that the SP has been so much worse than I expected.  The walks are a joke.   

[Stradling]

2 hours ago, Swordsman78 said:

You shouldn't speak about a "Premium member' that way. 

Alot of guys are bitching right now (nit picking EVERYTHING, but if prior to the season someone asked "would you be happy if the Angels were .500 or better after 40 games, the majority on this board would give a resounding yes.   But since you are the self proclaimed judge of all things Angels, tell me all the things in the previous sentence that are wrong.

Sorry but you spending a few dollars to be a premium member doesn’t exclude you from well deserved criticism. 

[imisstheCaliforniaAngels]

Worse is the answer.  Before the season, I was high on the Angels chance of making the playoffs.   I didnt think it was for sure, but couldnt find 6 teams better than they looked to be.  Outside of New York, Texas, and possibly the Toronto Blue Jays there wasnt a team in the A.L. i'd "for sure" put ahead of them. They looked to have a solid defense, top third of the league rotation, average or better pen and Trout & Ohtani to carry the offense on their worst days.  Shortstop worried me a little but the one biggest area of concern was the coaching staff.  Anyone who says a manager isnt important in this day and age needs to look no further than this team to realize they're wrong.  the Angels lead the league in errors, and they seem to have forgotten fundamentals on the basepaths, on defense, situational hitting, etc.  that's a direct reflection on the manager and his staff and the main reason my hope for this year has been downgraded considerably and thats before bringing in the multiple times Nevin has bungled a game or just watched as other teams stole their lunch.  I thought he was supposed to be "fiery"?