Load Management

[BTH]

At what point do the Angels just abandon the strategy of load management (or rest days) and follow the Braves model where everyone plays everyday?

Atlanta has played 89 games. Acuña Jr, Albies, Olson, and Riley have played all 89. Arcia and Harris II had injuries, but have played every game when they’re healthy. Rosario and Ozuna had a rough start to the season, but they’ve played everyday since they got going.

Clearly, giving Trout, Drury, Rendon, etc. a day off here and there doesn’t help keep them healthy because freak injuries can happen. Why not just use them everyday while they are healthy?

Considering the Angels front office is from Atlanta, I’m surprised they haven’t been following suit.

Looks like they kinda gave up on it with Rendon. Could they do the same with Trout & everyone else when they’re healthy?

 

[Taylor]

Kelvim Escobar had experience in this.

[Revad]

On 7/12/2023 at 4:06 PM, Trendon said:

At what point do the Angels just abandon the strategy of load management (or rest days) and follow the Braves model where everyone plays everyday?

Atlanta has played 89 games. Acuña Jr, Albies, Olson, and Riley have played all 89. Arcia and Harris II had injuries, but have played every game when they’re healthy. Rosario and Ozuna had a rough start to the season, but they’ve played everyday since they got going.

Clearly, giving Trout, Drury, Rendon, etc. a day off here and there doesn’t help keep them healthy because freak injuries can happen. Why not just use them everyday while they are healthy?

Considering the Angels front office is from Atlanta, I’m surprised they haven’t been following suit.

Looks like they kinda gave up on it with Rendon. Could they do the same with Trout & everyone else when they’re healthy?

 

No, I’d imagine part of this is management of Trout’s back so guess he’ll still get some off days. I’d hope for 145 - 150 games at most.  I think the plan was to give that time throughout the season to reduce the need in the second half.  Also, we have stretches of 16 (7/25 - 8/9) and 13 (beginning Sept. 1),  those will be stretches I’d expect to see him get some days off.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Revad

[jsnpritchett]

5 minutes ago, Revad said:

No, I’d imagine part of this is management of Trout’s back so guess he’ll still get some off days. I’d hope for 145 - 150 games at most.  I think the plan was to give that time throughout the season to reduce the need in the second half.  Also, we have stretches of 15 (7/25 - 8/9) and 13 (beginning Sept. 1),  those will be stretches I’d expect to see him get some days off.

You're talking about Trout here?  I think he's gonna be missing all the games from 7/25 to 8/9.......

[Revad]

3 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

You're talking about Trout here?  I think he's gonna be missing all the games from 7/25 to 8/9.......

Ah well, that’s correct.  A bit of an odd situation since Ohtani does whatever he wants rest wise.  I’d definitely want Trout to get enough rest.  I guess they are going to play Rendon every day as opposed to five or six games only.

[BTH]

21 minutes ago, Revad said:

No, I’d imagine part of this is management of Trout’s back so guess he’ll still get some off days. I’d hope for 145 - 150 games at most.  I think the plan was to give that time throughout the season to reduce the need in the second half.  Also, we have stretches of 15 (7/25 - 8/9) and 13 (beginning Sept. 1),  those will be stretches I’d expect to see him get some days off.

I get that the load management with Trout is to try and protect his back, but we’ve seen that he’s not immune to other injuries.

So if load management doesn’t keep him 100% healthy, which it never will, might it make more sense to play him everyday while he is healthy?

I guess it comes down to whether or not the load management actually helps his back.

IMO, since players can get hurt anyways, I’d rather just use them to their fullest when they are healthy.

[Angel Oracle]

19 minutes ago, Revad said:

Ah well, that’s correct.  A bit of an odd situation since Ohtani does whatever he wants rest wise.  I’d definitely want Trout to get enough rest.  I guess they are going to play Rendon every day as opposed to five or six games only.

Escobar hasn’t exactly wowed with his sub .600 OPS.   At least Rendon put up an upper .600s OPS with the OBP.

Obviously, neither is whet you need from a 3B.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Angel Oracle

[AngelsLakersFan]

Aside from Rendon, most of the current group I’m fairly happy to see on the bench.

[OhtaniSan]

I think load management is great for guys coming off of serious injuries and guys that have reoccurring injuries of the same nature. Or even young pitchers with not a lot of innings on their arm. 

Trout's back is a pretty known impediment of his, there was even buzz about it having the potential to still be career-threatening. In Trout's case, i am all for load management because it has a specific target of back tension alleviation.

In Rendon's case, it's a different injury each time with little correlation to each other. If it's going to be a matter of time until he is hurt again with some random injury, then get the most use out of him while healthy. 

[PattyD22]

 

2 hours ago, Trendon said:

At what point do the Angels just abandon the strategy of load management (or rest days) and follow the Braves model where everyone plays everyday?

Atlanta has played 89 games. Acuña Jr, Albies, Olson, and Riley have played all 89. Arcia and Harris II had injuries, but have played every game when they’re healthy. Rosario and Ozuna had a rough start to the season, but they’ve played everyday since they got going.

Clearly, giving Trout, Drury, Rendon, etc. a day off here and there doesn’t help keep them healthy because freak injuries can happen. Why not just use them everyday while they are healthy?

Considering the Angels front office is from Atlanta, I’m surprised they haven’t been following suit.

Looks like they kinda gave up on it with Rendon. Could they do the same with Trout & everyone else when they’re healthy?

 

You could also add Freddie Freeman to that list of Atlanta Braves also that didn’t need many rest days, and he’s carried that over to the Dodgers.

Freeman has only missed 10 days in the last 5 seasons.  That’s pretty awesome. 
 

I guess winning games makes guys want to stay on the field more.

He’s not a Braves player, but Mookie Betts seems to find a way to play almost every game also, a year younger than Mike Trout.
 

Edited July 12, 2023 by PattyD22

[greginpsca]

Moving Trout to left field would help his load management. I don’t  want to see his career end like Mantle's. Seven more years to go on his contract. Three or four years in left field. And the last three or four at DH. 

[ELEVEN]

2 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Escobar hasn’t exactly wowed with his sub .600 OPS.   At least Rendon put up an upper .600s OPS with the OBP.

Obviously, neither is whet you need from a 3B.

Maybe this is why we just drafted 2 guys who have never played 3B and listed them at 3B

/sssss

[ELEVEN]

2 hours ago, OhtaniSan said:

I think load management is great for guys coming off of serious injuries and guys that have reoccurring injuries of the same nature. Or even young pitchers with not a lot of innings on their arm. 

Trout's back is a pretty known impediment of his, there was even buzz about it having the potential to still be career-threatening. In Trout's case, i am all for load management because it has a specific target of back tension alleviation.

In Rendon's case, it's a different injury each time with little correlation to each other. If it's going to be a matter of time until he is hurt again with some random injury, then get the most use out of him while healthy. 

Rendon will come up with ways to meet his tee times, load management or not.

/sssss

[Slegnaac]

11 Weeks and 3 days remaining on the schedule.

The Angels have 9 off days remaining.

6 games

Off day

3 games

Off day

16 games

Off day

6 games

Off day

6 games

Off day

6 games

Off day

13 games

Off day

3 games

Off day

9 games

Off day

3 games

Regular season over.

Maybe some players will get a rest during the 16 and 13 stretches, but otherwise I would expect to see the A squad every game.

[Jeff Fletcher]

They already said the plan was to give Trout fewer off days in the second half. That’s because of the way the schedule breaks and also just because that’s what they were saving him for by giving him days off in the first half. 
 

of course now that’s all out the window. By the time he comes back it’s going to be crunch time so I figure he’ll play just about every game. 

[Blarg]

4 hours ago, greginpsca said:

Moving Trout to left field would help his load management. I don’t  want to see his career end like Mantle's. Seven more years to go on his contract. Three or four years in left field. And the last three or four at DH. 

Trout isn't an alcoholic.  

[greginpsca]

19 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Trout isn't an alcoholic.  

I meant all the leg problems he had during the last several years of his career. He continued to play cf in Yankee Stadium that was one of the biggest center fields to cover. I don’t want to to see Trout have to go through something  similar.

[arch stanton]

They'll abandon it when Trout and Rendon turn 26 again

[BTH]

5 hours ago, greginpsca said:

Moving Trout to left field would help his load management. I don’t  want to see his career end like Mantle's. Seven more years to go on his contract. Three or four years in left field. And the last three or four at DH. 

I wonder when they make that move.

Maybe if/when they feel fully confident with Moniak in CF?

They were gonna make the move when they had Marsh, but there was no obvious guy to push him off until maybe now with Moniak?

[Angelsjunky]

[T-angel]

I can stomach load management for positional players. However, it's trickier when you try to load manage bullpen arms. In my opinion, there were times this year the Angels should have pushed the envelope on usage of certain guys, instead of pre-ordaining a second day of rest. Also, there was also an instance of going with a starter after it was obvious they were mentally out of it instead of pushing the bullpen to come in earlier. Only to allow 4 more runs to score and then losing by a couple of runs. Not that the game could have still been won if things were done differently, but I can't help but think if a win is within reach and winning a game will secure a series win, then I would push the load there and deal with tired arms by getting fresher arms from the minor leagues optioned in and out. 

[Taylor]

2 hours ago, T-angel said:

I can stomach load management 

Gross

[Angelsjunky]

4 hours ago, Taylor said:

Gross

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Plus, the players need load management, just like the rest of us.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

I thought this was a Luis Polonia thread.  

[Stradling]

14 hours ago, The Ghost of Bob Starr said:

I thought this was a Luis Polonia thread.  

You spelled Chad Curtis wrong.