100 games left

[Hubs]

47 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

And currently just 3-7 against those two, with 16 games remaining (10 of them on the road)

And 7-3 Against the other two teams.

[gurn67]

Looking at the offensive side of things, I only see Moniak, and the catchers as a group, overperforming what was expected prior to the start of the season. At some point, many of those other guys are just going to have to start hitting near their career norms, and this offense is going to be dangerous. 

On the pitching side, Estevez has been way better than anyone could have possible thought possible. Devenski and Barria would be the other major surprises there. Moore pretty much did this last year, so you can't say it's a fluke.

So, that's maybe about 20-25% of the roster that has overperformed expectations. There's a few others that are pretty much where we expected like Drury, Ohtani (offensively, not pitching wise) and Urshela. 

There's at least 50% of this roster that has performed below expectations. The entire group of starters, other than Barria and Ohtani early on, fit that category. This is a definitely a playoff team if a lot of those guys can just got out and do what they've proven they're capable of doing in the past. They need to continue playing better through the Seattle and Texas series and prove it though!

[Duren, Duren]

It will be hard, but not impossible. The trade deadline will be the critical moment. 

A lot of decisions will have to be made, which will be affected by what the standings look like by that period. 

Which implies that they have to play really good from now to then. And hope at least a couple of other contenders go into slumps. 

In fact, what things look like then can have a big long term impact.

If things do not look promising, it could lead to a domino effect. Trade Ohtani? Think more of the future by playing the younger players and bringing up Addell and other prospects? Trade other veterans? More lineup experiments? Don't obsess over mistakes and slumps. Accept them as part of the learning curve? 

If they are realistically still playoff competitive then maybe trade for more veterans? Even with expiring contracts? Stick with Ohtani and hope for the best, or accept him leaving? Keep the lineup mostly the same day to day and don't worry about resting players? More risky, bold in game strategies? Treat every game with desperation? 

Or, just stick with the status quo.? No dramatic changes, just hope it's good enough and that other teams fade down the stretch?

The trade deadline is actually an existential period for the franchise. But it may not be that easy to determine what direction to go. If they are around five games behind and the field is narrowing then I would go all in. If things are clearly pessimistic and then think long and hard about priorities.

As a footnote: I have Orioles/Brewers game on in the background. The Brewers were up 3 - 0 through seven. Then the Orioles started hitting homers, and are now up 4 - 3 in the bottom of the eighth. Gaining ground on half a dozen good teams won't be easy. A lot has to go right with the Angels and wrong with some other teams in the next hundred games. 

 

[Stradling]

My opinion:

Priority one:
We need to pitch better from innings 1-7.  If you squint and work your way backwards, it looks like this:

9th: Estevez is solid/great

8th: Moore has been very good

7th: Devenski looks very good

6th: Lots of intriguing options with very good stuff: Soriano, Joyce and Bachman.  
 

Garbage time or down a couple runs and you can’t go to the “A” team each night: Loup, Webb and Davidson

Now in the rotation the three who’ve looked the best are Barria, Canning and Ohtani and it might be in that order. After that I have faith in Detmers and Sandoval. Anderson at worst should give you innings and keep you in games 3 out of 5 times. In 6 or his 11 starts he’s given up 3 ER or less with another game where he gave up 4 ER. 

 

[Stradling]

Priority two:

Do the little things better.

Situational hitting: get the guy to third when he hits a leadoff double.  Steal a bag. Continue to put the best defensive team out there in the 8th and 9th innings. 

[Swordsman78]

10 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Priority two:

Do the little things better.

Situational hitting: get the guy to third when he hits a leadoff double.  Steal a bag. Continue to put the best defensive team out there in the 8th and 9th innings. 

So basically continue doing the things they have been doing well the past couple games.

[Stradling]

7 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

So basically continue doing the things they have been doing well the past couple games.

Do it much better than at any point this season. 

[Stradling]

Twice yesterday they had a guy on second no outs and the runner didn’t score.  That scenario didn’t happen the two games before, and on Monday it happened twice and the runner scored once. 

[Swordsman78]

6 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Twice yesterday they had a guy on second no outs and the runner didn’t score.  That scenario didn’t happen the two games before, and on Monday it happened twice and the runner scored once. 

Most everyone except #27 and #17 have done a pretty good job in situational hitting over the past couple games.  

Should we have those two  "choke up", or bunt and focus on moving the guy to third?

 

[Stradling]

7 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

Most everyone except #27 and #17 have done a pretty good job in situational hitting over the past couple games.  

Should we have those two  "choke up", or bunt and focus on moving the guy to third?

 

Couple of games?  No, they haven’t.