Give Perry an A for balancing the lineup

[gurn67]

Last season's lineup was historically bad from the 5 through 9 spots in the lineup. The entire infield including the catchers was as well. I know that was one of the top priorities in the off-season, and it was actually accomplished without spending a ton of money, or giving up any of the top prospects. If you take the 18 positions on the field and in the lineup, the Angels were 20th or worse in 11 out of 18 last year. This season it is only 1 out of 18. If Detmers, Sandoval, Anderson and Suarez had pitched about the same as last season, who knows where this team would be in the standings this year. I'm not even going to get into Rendon because at this point who knows if he will ever drive in 35 runs in a season wearing an Angels' uniform.

Positions on the field 2022 ranking in OPS vs. 2023

C 25th to 12th

1B 29th to 25th (the only black hole)

2B 26th to 12th

3B 20th to 18th

SS 28th to 11th

LF 29th to 9th (Ward hasn't been as good as expected, but he solidified this spot)

CF 1st to 3rd

RF 6th to 4th (Moniak really picked up the numbers here before Trout got hurt)

DH 1st to 1st (of course)

 

Positions in the lineup. The bottom half was tremendously improved.

1 8th to 15th (the only position that dropped and it's still average)

2 2nd to 1st

3 9th to 3rd

4 15th to 14th

5 21st to 18th

6 30th to 6th (the biggest overall improvement)

7 30th to 13th

8 29th to 12th

9 27th to 6th

[Make Angels Great Again]

Just the feelings watching the games is different when 2/3rds of the lineup isn't absolute dog water. It's quite nice.

[Make Angels Great Again]

Also, Marcus Thames for president.

[ten ocho recon scout]

It's like night and day. And that's with Stassi out for the year, as well as Walsh basically (being that they were pegged (gross) to be the starters there).

Still out Trout and Rendon, and we lead the AL in homers. Crazy.

 

I'd like to think Rendons 2 put us over the top there.

Missed Neto for a chunk, now Drury for a bigger one.

Speaking of, Drury has quietly been a pretty good pickup. We really need him back.

[Make Angels Great Again]

Well. Things changed quickly in 2 weeks.

[tomsred]

2 hours ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

Well. Things changed quickly in 2 weeks.

A trade deadline can do that to you, especially if you are active.

My grades on the players acquired so far (as of today):

Escobar - F

Moustakas - A

Giolito - C

Lopez - A

Cron - C

Grichuk - C+

Leone - B

[ten ocho recon scout]

51 minutes ago, tomsred said:

A trade deadline can do that to you, especially if you are active.

My grades on the players acquired so far (as of today):

Escobar - F

Moustakas - A

Giolito - C

Lopez - A

Cron - C

Grichuk - C+

Leone - B

I haven't been watching enough, but I think you have to grade with a curve.

None of the guys listed there, aside from Giolito and the RP who came with him were really "go out and upgrade" moves as much as "this is a hell of a lot better than anything else we got" after everyone got hurt.

The irony is we traded a C, and our best prospect, after losing our first two catcher options.

Escobar has been a total dud for sure. But Cron wasn't very expensive, and the option was him or Walsh...

Grichuk isn't a huge get, but it was him or Phillips, or Adams. 

And Moustakas was because after Urshela went down, and that other guy we have to play 3B is out, it was either him or call up Gonselin and see if he wants to come back.

So unfortunately, we weren't in a position to try to add and make a run, but one of "it's this or we have to play over the line"

[Angel Oracle]

At this point, Cron and Escobar are not re-sign candidates so far.

Giolito depends on if Ohtani re-signs and how Giolito does the next 7+ weeks.

Re-sign candidates so far are Moose, Moore, Lopez, Leone, and Grichuk.

[Taylor]

Quote

Give Perry an AJ for balancing the lineup

Fixed

[gurn67]

I figured I would do an update since it's been a little over a month. One of the worst stretches in club history. The Angels have gone 10-22 since then. Worst ERA in the majors since that span. Complete lack of clutch hitting. I can only focus on comparing where they are in OPS today versus where they were after the double header sweep in Detroit. They have gained slightly at one spot (2B) They have held in 3 spots, 2 of which because of Ohtani. They have dropped in 14 of the 18. Catchers and the entire outfield being the biggest culprits.

Amazingly, they are still 7th overall in MLB in OPS. Ohtani obviously is a lot of that. However, it shows that they actually have guys who have proven they can produce, they just all pretty much stopped 5 weeks ago except for Ohtani and Rengifo and maybe a couple others. At some point, these guys have to start producing again. Right?

First number is where they were after the double header sweep on July 27th. Second number is where they are today after their pathetic showing against the worst (2nd worst now?) team in MLB last night.

By position:

C 12th to 19th

1B 25th to 28th

2B 12th to 11th (Rengifo & Drury)

3B 18th to 23rd

SS 11th to 15th (Neto's injury)

LF 9th to 16th (Ward's injury)

CF 3rd to 10th (Trout's injury and Moniak going ice cold around that time)

RF 4th to 11th

DH 1st to 1st (of course)

 

Positions in the batting order

1. 15th to 15th

2. 1st to 1st (Ohtani)

3. 3rd to 6th

4. 14th to 18th

5. 18th to 23rd

6. 6th to 7th

7. 13th to 18th

8. 12th to 20th (Biggest drop here. Bottom of the order has looked like it did last season for the past 5 weeks)

9. 6th to 9th

[UndertheHalo]

What if we give him an F?