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    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Tank in AngelsWin Today: Five Take-Aways From Los Angeles Angels GM Perry Minasian’s 2024 Chalk-Talk   
    By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer 
    First and foremost, since we are opening the season in Baltimore, if you are reading this article, please take a moment to think upon all those who died on the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Thank you.
    Tuesday, before the Angels-Dodgers last game of Spring Training, Angels GM Perry Minasian met with season ticketholders for his annual “Chalk-Talk”. The event was moderated by Trent Rush, who did a great job, and asked most of the questions, although some fan questions were allowed. Perry spoke for about 45 minutes to the crowd and addressed the offseason and Spring Training.
    My cousin Ken and I attended and sat behind my good friend John and his friend Steve. Throughout and after the event, food was served, so, the 4 of us spent some time after the talk discussing what we had heard and any observations that we had. 
    When listening to a GM speak, one has to learn to read a bit between the lines to allow the narrative to unfold. It’s like trying to translate what a really skilled politician is saying: There is a definite art to it, which is part of what makes a GM’s job challenging and a reporter’s job even more challenging.
    Here are my 5 Take-Aways from the 2024 Chalk Talk.
     
    Take-Away #1: The Baseball People are Back In Charge
     For Angels fans who remember the Bill Stoneman years, you will be happy to know that Perry is following the same basic plan—except he identified it as the “Braves plan”. Really, it is the smartest and best use of team funds long-term. It isn’t “Money-Ball”. It’s about drafting well, developing waves of talent to provide depth, bringing in key parts that you may need, and finding success together. That’s what the best run organizations do, and that means the baseball people are back in charge. 
    If this is the plan, and the baseball people are back in charge, then that is good news for Angels fans, as long as we stick with it for 3-5 years. Don’t read this wrong: sticking with it does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years. I will repeat: sticking with it [the plan] does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years.  
    Instead, if we stick with the plan for 3-5 years, we will find tremendous success from it, just as the Angels did from 2002-2014 and the Braves and other teams have done since.
    Drafting and scouting well, and significantly improving our international presence, especially in Latin America, is a lot more effective and affordable way to develop a winning team than constantly chasing Free Agents. The same production from a 2nd or 3rd year player costs a fraction of what the same production from a Free Agent would cost.
    This was great news in my opinion, as previously, some of my main concerns about the organization have been about the lack of presence internationally, the lack of player scouting, and the lack of player development. We have needed to boost all of that to get back to where we were 20 years ago.
    Unfortunately, this immediately led to Take-Way #2. 
     
    Take-Away #2: 2024 Is a Transitional Year
    As many fans have realized, 2024 is a year for overhauling the team on the fly.
    But, that does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. Let me repeat: That does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. And it is NOT a bad thing. But, I cannot deny that it is a transitional year.
    Instead, what that means is that 2024 is a year to take stock of what we have in the organization, develop our future nucleus, and to see what holes we need to fill and how we can fill them. With the baseball people back in charge, they need to know answers about players and need to do a deep organizational analysis in order to transition into a championship team.
    Think of the “Big Board” in the War Room. Every organization has one, with the depth chart and the future timetable of development at each position. Players like Rada and Dana are quickly pushing their way up the timetables to join the current wave in the Majors. 
    All spring long we heard about Cole Fontenelle, a 3B, and how he impressed. Look at Perry’s and Washington’s actions, giving him at bats late in Spring Training, long after other players at higher levels in the Minors had been reassigned. That showed us that the Angels were really assessing him to see if he could be and when he could be in our future, and how best to develop him. If he can make it in the next 2 years, we will have essentially flipped the entire roster, except for 2nd base, where at worst, we have Rengifo. 
    This spring, Perry’s and Washington’s actions spoke so loudly, that we fans didn’t need to hear what they were saying (adapting one of Perry’s favorite quotes that he mentioned). At some point, the Angels had to do this, and this year is the year.
    While many fans wanted to sign Bellinger or Snell, signing either would have taken play time and development from our future. We won’t know how our young core really can do until we see it. Rada and Dana are doing things at 18 and 20 that almost no high school senior or juco player could do. Both could be ready by 2025.
    Would anyone really want to stunt our future’s development, while losing draft picks, all so that we could “win the offseason” and hurt our future?
    If Rada, Dana, Fontenelle, and others produce like many expect them to, we will get Bellinger’s and Snell’s production at a fraction of their cost. Those cost savings could allow us to get that final Free Agent who can take us deep into the postseason.
    As Jeff Fletcher has pointed out many times on AngelsWin.com, the best run teams only sign key free agents when they are one or two pieces away. This year, we aren’t that close, but we will still be competitive as we assess what we have. But we won’t know what is possible unless we let the kids play and take inventory. We have to transition. 
    That leads to Take-Away #3. 
     
    Take-Away #3: Ron Washington Should Be the Right Manager For Us
    This is yet another good thing for Angels fans. I do believe that Ron Washington may be the right manager in the right place for the right organization in need.
    Over the years, one of my other main concerns about the Angels, especially with all of the managerial and front office changes, has been the lack of a team identity. What is Angels baseball? Who is our clubhouse leader? Who is on field leader?
    In the past, all those questions were easy to answer, lately, they have not. If I were on the interviewing panel for the manager or GM, I would ask each candidate those questions along with many more.
    Under Scioscia, Angels baseball had a brand and style. From the time a player was drafted until the time he made it in the Major Leagues, the expectations for what the team wanted and developed were clear. As fans, we could identify it. And then, it changed. And it got lost. And forgotten. At the same time, so did winning.
    Some of that can be pegged to changes in the game, especially in analytics and training/coaching. More can be blamed on the several GMs that we hired and their different styles. And finally, yes, some of that, and ultimately all of that, is on the owner.
    But, that’s the past, and I’m looking forward to the future, both now and long-term.
    So far, it appears that Washington has earned the players’ respect, through his efforts on the field to how he teaches. I know I would respect a manager at his age hitting ground balls to me early in the morning.
    But what really separates him as the right coach for THIS team, a young team, is that he allows the players to make mistakes, then teaches him how to do it correctly the next time, and then holds them accountable for doing so. That is true teaching and providing real support. For a young team, that is how we can mold the players into champions. 
    Most people do better when supported in such a way as Washington has been doing so far. We saw it throughout Spring Training: Players were allowed to run the bases more freely, even if thrown out, to see if that would be an option for them during the season. Aggressive baserunning and stealing bases has been rediscovered, but it also led to some teachable moments.
    It will be interesting to see how he continues now that the season is starting and how he holds players accountable for playing his style of baseball.
    That leads to Take-Away #4. 
     
    Take-Away #4: Player Development Will Be Emphasized in 2024
    If the baseball people are back in charge, then playing time will change. Players will be allowed to make mistakes, but they need to learn from them. Younger players will not have to worry about carrying a team, like McPherson, or rushed to the Majors, like Adell. And when they get there, they won’t feel the pressure to hit for the moon every time, or strike out every batter, without considering it a failure. While failure won’t be encouraged, it will be used as a teachable event and won’t always be punished.  
    I do believe Washington has a brand and style of what Angels baseball should be and will be. That brand and style will be uniform throughout our entire organization, which is why he had all the Minor League coaches out in Spring Training. 
    Washington’s style will be different than Scioscia’s. As fans, it will take us time to truly identify Washington’ brand of Angels Baseball  (mostly because the majority of this team was put together by others, he will have to implement his identity with the players he has). But, the younger players will learn it quickly. Head out to one of our Minor League affiliates, like Inland Empire, and you will see much more of it. Next year and the year after, the team should be better at it.
    With our developing core of Adell, Moniak, Neto, O’Hoppe, and Schanuel, Washington’s emphasis on the fundamentals will help go a long way to molding our future. If they learn the fundamentals, and can execute them throughout an entire season, then they can do it on the next level in the Majors—the postseason.
    Over the course of the year, the younger players should earn more of the playing time over the veterans. We should see better fundamental defense and a stronger offense. As the defense improves and plays more fundamental baseball, we should see the pitching improve and trust the defense to make outs. We will win more games. Think about how the 2014 Royals developed and went on a run. Or the Braves. Or the Angels in the early 2000s.
    Perry talked about teaching the players to win each pitch, each count, and each at bat. For example, pitching efficiently, and using the defense, rather than pitching deep counts by going for strikeouts, using the whole team to get outs and trusting the defense to make the plays. Doing that allows the starters to go deeper into games and helps prevent overuse of the bullpen. Over the past few years, we had gotten away from that, and as fans, saw the results.
    In the past, when we had waves of talent in development, when we had an injury, we had a player in line that we could tap into who was better than replacement level. We didn’t suffer tremendous drops in production with an injury between  2004-2014, typically, because we had those waves of talent. 
    Because the baseball people were back in charge, we developed more internal depth. That allowed us to spend money more efficiently on Free Agents to fill in the holes that we needed with plenty of depth rather than trying to fill holes around what we had and leaving a lot of depth needed.
    This is why we are seeing Bachman, Soriano, and Wantz getting stretched out into starters. We know that they can get Major League outs for an inning or two.  We believe that they have the stuff to do so for more innings in games, so having them as starters ready to come up makes them far more valuable to us. No rotation will make it entirely through a season unscathed these days.
    That leads me to my final Take-Away. 
     
    Take-Away #5: Angels Baseball in 2024 Will Be Better and More Exciting
    Fundamental baseball is fun baseball. Runs should score more often, and not always on solo homeruns. Great defense is always worth the price of admission. Solid pitching that keeps games close means we will be watching into the latter innings, and partially explains the emphasis on building up the bullpen. As Perry talked about, and many of us noted last year, we were great in the first half of the games when we scored a lot of runs, and lost most a lot in the second half when we were shut down and gave up a lot of runs. .
    Look, like most, I was disappointed in this offseason. Not because of who we did or didn’t sign, but because of the mixed messages that we got as fans from the team.
    Early on, we were told that Perry could spend to build a contender (within reason). This was the same message as told to fans for the past several years. And it looked like were going to do more as he built up the bullpen. It seemed like the team could replace Ohtani’s production with Free Agents. 
    And then we were told that the plan all along was to cut the budget this year. That didn’t make sense if we were planning to spend on Ohtani, who alone would cost more. And, if we were going to spend on Ohtani, then why wouldn’t we spend on other available free agents to replace the loss of pitching and hitting?
    As a fan. I will admit: Losing Ohtani hurt. But, even I would never agree to the contract that Ohtani signed. That could be a franchising killing contract for all but a very few owners. The risk was too great. I wish him well with the Dodgers (even against the Angels as long as we win the game) but there is absolutely NO WAY that Arte should have matched that deal. 
    Personally, I think that the national media is a bit biased against the Angels for a variety of reasons (whether for lack of knowledge about the organization or for  other reasons). This team has been underrated, mostly because of losing Ohtani, and people forgetting how injured we’ve been over the past few years.
    This team can be and should be over 500 if the team stays healthy. And we have more depth than we’ve had in the past, at most positions, so we should be better than advertised. I’m not being optimistic, I’m being realistic. I’m excited and hopeful, and very interested to see how this year plays out. If done correctly, we’re not that far off from Washington leading us on extended postseason runs.
    In the past, we had to have everything go right in order to have a shot at the postseason. And, we did so without much depth in a challenging division. We haven’t had the entire tear down teams to beat up like teams in other divisions had, and we’ve had to contend with many championship teams. 
    That’s why it’s so important for us to get back to developing waves of talent, as we did in the mid-2000s, so that we can win more games than expected.
    Our future infield and outfield is mostly set outside of 2nd and 3rd base—with Fontenelle being one possible answer at 3B (let’s hope he does well this year). As for our pitching, we have one of youngest rotations (subtracting Anderson removes several years off the average of our starters).
    In terms of depth, I will admit, we are a bit weak on the middle infield and 3rd base. But, for other parts of the team, we have a potential surplus of outfielders and are developing pitching depth, especially for starters. Joyce and others will soon be in the bullpen, so we have parts to trade, and make better long-term decisions as we see how the kids develop.
    While our organization has been ranked as one of the worst overall in baseball, that hasn’t stopped us in the past from making some very shrewd trades, such as for O’Hoppe and Moniak. And, at the deadline, I believe that we will be active. But, the emphasis will be more on long-term acquisitions, rather than short term panic moves. Believe it or not, Arte does want to win. Unlike in the past, though, when we’ve been in win-now modes, the baseball people are back in charge and will make better decisions for long-term moves.
    I expect a lot of games this season that are much closer in score this year and fewer shutouts than we’ve seen over the past few years. That should lead to fewer multi-game losing streaks. And that is a lot more fun for a whole season!
    Think about the Angels-Dodgers game we saw after the Chalk Talk. Objectively, as a baseball fan, which would you rather see your team do: Have good pitching, play fundamental baseball, score 4 runs without in a variety of ways, or see your team have good pitching, play sloppy defense, score 3 runs on solo shots, and lose the game?
    I know which kind of game I’d rather see my team play. And I will see you at the ballpark or posting on AngelsWin.com this season.
    Play Ball!
    View the full article
  2. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Lhalo in OC Register: A look at the 175-year history of baseball uniforms   
    Baseball uniforms have been around 175 years and have undergone some changes. The new version has not been a hit with fans and players, but the league is working its way out of a jam.
    The uniforms might be new but they’ve been a long time in the making. Major League Baseball says it’s been six years since the league began working on these uniform changes, gathering input from clubs and players as they looked to optimize the outfits for the best performance possible.
    MLB and Nike teamed up in 2019 on a 10-year deal, with the apparel company taking over for Majestic Athletic, which had been making jerseys for the league since 1982.
    Pampers or Huggies?
    But the pants are the issue. Many players complained that when they wear white tops and white pants, the tucked-in jersey can look like a diaper because the pants are relatively see-through.
    Getty ImagesA cropped photo of Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes in spring training shows the sheer material of the new uniforms some players are unhappy with. The plus side
    MLB officials say these uniforms improve mobility by providing 25% more stretch and also will dry 28% faster. Nike says they incorporate more recycled material than past uniforms, lowering emissions from manufacturing.
    What’s next?
    One potential solution is that players could wear last year’s pants until the problems are solved. No decision has been made by the league.
    Subtle differences
    Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch, a blog dedicated to uniform design, described the 2024 changes: “Stretchier fabric, changing home jerseys from white to a subtle off-white, narrowing the placket (the vertical strip on the front of the shirt upon which the buttons sit), altering the belt loops, moving the MLB logo down on the back of the jersey and reducing the size of the last-name lettering.” Smaller lettering has fans complaining and players perplexed the most.

     
    What they cost
    There are several price ranges for the new jerseys. The cost of what’s closest to what the players wear would buy you some very good seats to Opening Day.
    Nike Vapor Premier Elite Jersey | Authentic jersey, as worn by players on the field. | $355
    Nike Vapor Premier Limited Jersey | Inspired by the on-field jersey, it has an embroidered Nike Swoosh, heat-applied twill logos, a woven, heat-applied label, heat-applied sublimated twill player name and number. | $175
    Nike Vapor Premier Game Jersey | Replica player jersey with silicone printed heat-transfer front logo, Nike Swoosh and silhouetted batter, screen-printed back player name and number, heat-applied labels. | For purchase soon.
    Notable events in baseball uniforms

    Sources: Baseball Hall of Fame, Powers Sports Memorabilia, “Today” show, MLBcollectors.com, MLB.com, Uni-watch.com, The Associated Press, Nike
    View the full article
  3. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Chuck in AngelsWin Today: Five Take-Aways From Los Angeles Angels GM Perry Minasian’s 2024 Chalk-Talk   
    By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer 
    First and foremost, since we are opening the season in Baltimore, if you are reading this article, please take a moment to think upon all those who died on the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Thank you.
    Tuesday, before the Angels-Dodgers last game of Spring Training, Angels GM Perry Minasian met with season ticketholders for his annual “Chalk-Talk”. The event was moderated by Trent Rush, who did a great job, and asked most of the questions, although some fan questions were allowed. Perry spoke for about 45 minutes to the crowd and addressed the offseason and Spring Training.
    My cousin Ken and I attended and sat behind my good friend John and his friend Steve. Throughout and after the event, food was served, so, the 4 of us spent some time after the talk discussing what we had heard and any observations that we had. 
    When listening to a GM speak, one has to learn to read a bit between the lines to allow the narrative to unfold. It’s like trying to translate what a really skilled politician is saying: There is a definite art to it, which is part of what makes a GM’s job challenging and a reporter’s job even more challenging.
    Here are my 5 Take-Aways from the 2024 Chalk Talk.
     
    Take-Away #1: The Baseball People are Back In Charge
     For Angels fans who remember the Bill Stoneman years, you will be happy to know that Perry is following the same basic plan—except he identified it as the “Braves plan”. Really, it is the smartest and best use of team funds long-term. It isn’t “Money-Ball”. It’s about drafting well, developing waves of talent to provide depth, bringing in key parts that you may need, and finding success together. That’s what the best run organizations do, and that means the baseball people are back in charge. 
    If this is the plan, and the baseball people are back in charge, then that is good news for Angels fans, as long as we stick with it for 3-5 years. Don’t read this wrong: sticking with it does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years. I will repeat: sticking with it [the plan] does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years.  
    Instead, if we stick with the plan for 3-5 years, we will find tremendous success from it, just as the Angels did from 2002-2014 and the Braves and other teams have done since.
    Drafting and scouting well, and significantly improving our international presence, especially in Latin America, is a lot more effective and affordable way to develop a winning team than constantly chasing Free Agents. The same production from a 2nd or 3rd year player costs a fraction of what the same production from a Free Agent would cost.
    This was great news in my opinion, as previously, some of my main concerns about the organization have been about the lack of presence internationally, the lack of player scouting, and the lack of player development. We have needed to boost all of that to get back to where we were 20 years ago.
    Unfortunately, this immediately led to Take-Way #2. 
     
    Take-Away #2: 2024 Is a Transitional Year
    As many fans have realized, 2024 is a year for overhauling the team on the fly.
    But, that does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. Let me repeat: That does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. And it is NOT a bad thing. But, I cannot deny that it is a transitional year.
    Instead, what that means is that 2024 is a year to take stock of what we have in the organization, develop our future nucleus, and to see what holes we need to fill and how we can fill them. With the baseball people back in charge, they need to know answers about players and need to do a deep organizational analysis in order to transition into a championship team.
    Think of the “Big Board” in the War Room. Every organization has one, with the depth chart and the future timetable of development at each position. Players like Rada and Dana are quickly pushing their way up the timetables to join the current wave in the Majors. 
    All spring long we heard about Cole Fontenelle, a 3B, and how he impressed. Look at Perry’s and Washington’s actions, giving him at bats late in Spring Training, long after other players at higher levels in the Minors had been reassigned. That showed us that the Angels were really assessing him to see if he could be and when he could be in our future, and how best to develop him. If he can make it in the next 2 years, we will have essentially flipped the entire roster, except for 2nd base, where at worst, we have Rengifo. 
    This spring, Perry’s and Washington’s actions spoke so loudly, that we fans didn’t need to hear what they were saying (adapting one of Perry’s favorite quotes that he mentioned). At some point, the Angels had to do this, and this year is the year.
    While many fans wanted to sign Bellinger or Snell, signing either would have taken play time and development from our future. We won’t know how our young core really can do until we see it. Rada and Dana are doing things at 18 and 20 that almost no high school senior or juco player could do. Both could be ready by 2025.
    Would anyone really want to stunt our future’s development, while losing draft picks, all so that we could “win the offseason” and hurt our future?
    If Rada, Dana, Fontenelle, and others produce like many expect them to, we will get Bellinger’s and Snell’s production at a fraction of their cost. Those cost savings could allow us to get that final Free Agent who can take us deep into the postseason.
    As Jeff Fletcher has pointed out many times on AngelsWin.com, the best run teams only sign key free agents when they are one or two pieces away. This year, we aren’t that close, but we will still be competitive as we assess what we have. But we won’t know what is possible unless we let the kids play and take inventory. We have to transition. 
    That leads to Take-Away #3. 
     
    Take-Away #3: Ron Washington Should Be the Right Manager For Us
    This is yet another good thing for Angels fans. I do believe that Ron Washington may be the right manager in the right place for the right organization in need.
    Over the years, one of my other main concerns about the Angels, especially with all of the managerial and front office changes, has been the lack of a team identity. What is Angels baseball? Who is our clubhouse leader? Who is on field leader?
    In the past, all those questions were easy to answer, lately, they have not. If I were on the interviewing panel for the manager or GM, I would ask each candidate those questions along with many more.
    Under Scioscia, Angels baseball had a brand and style. From the time a player was drafted until the time he made it in the Major Leagues, the expectations for what the team wanted and developed were clear. As fans, we could identify it. And then, it changed. And it got lost. And forgotten. At the same time, so did winning.
    Some of that can be pegged to changes in the game, especially in analytics and training/coaching. More can be blamed on the several GMs that we hired and their different styles. And finally, yes, some of that, and ultimately all of that, is on the owner.
    But, that’s the past, and I’m looking forward to the future, both now and long-term.
    So far, it appears that Washington has earned the players’ respect, through his efforts on the field to how he teaches. I know I would respect a manager at his age hitting ground balls to me early in the morning.
    But what really separates him as the right coach for THIS team, a young team, is that he allows the players to make mistakes, then teaches him how to do it correctly the next time, and then holds them accountable for doing so. That is true teaching and providing real support. For a young team, that is how we can mold the players into champions. 
    Most people do better when supported in such a way as Washington has been doing so far. We saw it throughout Spring Training: Players were allowed to run the bases more freely, even if thrown out, to see if that would be an option for them during the season. Aggressive baserunning and stealing bases has been rediscovered, but it also led to some teachable moments.
    It will be interesting to see how he continues now that the season is starting and how he holds players accountable for playing his style of baseball.
    That leads to Take-Away #4. 
     
    Take-Away #4: Player Development Will Be Emphasized in 2024
    If the baseball people are back in charge, then playing time will change. Players will be allowed to make mistakes, but they need to learn from them. Younger players will not have to worry about carrying a team, like McPherson, or rushed to the Majors, like Adell. And when they get there, they won’t feel the pressure to hit for the moon every time, or strike out every batter, without considering it a failure. While failure won’t be encouraged, it will be used as a teachable event and won’t always be punished.  
    I do believe Washington has a brand and style of what Angels baseball should be and will be. That brand and style will be uniform throughout our entire organization, which is why he had all the Minor League coaches out in Spring Training. 
    Washington’s style will be different than Scioscia’s. As fans, it will take us time to truly identify Washington’ brand of Angels Baseball  (mostly because the majority of this team was put together by others, he will have to implement his identity with the players he has). But, the younger players will learn it quickly. Head out to one of our Minor League affiliates, like Inland Empire, and you will see much more of it. Next year and the year after, the team should be better at it.
    With our developing core of Adell, Moniak, Neto, O’Hoppe, and Schanuel, Washington’s emphasis on the fundamentals will help go a long way to molding our future. If they learn the fundamentals, and can execute them throughout an entire season, then they can do it on the next level in the Majors—the postseason.
    Over the course of the year, the younger players should earn more of the playing time over the veterans. We should see better fundamental defense and a stronger offense. As the defense improves and plays more fundamental baseball, we should see the pitching improve and trust the defense to make outs. We will win more games. Think about how the 2014 Royals developed and went on a run. Or the Braves. Or the Angels in the early 2000s.
    Perry talked about teaching the players to win each pitch, each count, and each at bat. For example, pitching efficiently, and using the defense, rather than pitching deep counts by going for strikeouts, using the whole team to get outs and trusting the defense to make the plays. Doing that allows the starters to go deeper into games and helps prevent overuse of the bullpen. Over the past few years, we had gotten away from that, and as fans, saw the results.
    In the past, when we had waves of talent in development, when we had an injury, we had a player in line that we could tap into who was better than replacement level. We didn’t suffer tremendous drops in production with an injury between  2004-2014, typically, because we had those waves of talent. 
    Because the baseball people were back in charge, we developed more internal depth. That allowed us to spend money more efficiently on Free Agents to fill in the holes that we needed with plenty of depth rather than trying to fill holes around what we had and leaving a lot of depth needed.
    This is why we are seeing Bachman, Soriano, and Wantz getting stretched out into starters. We know that they can get Major League outs for an inning or two.  We believe that they have the stuff to do so for more innings in games, so having them as starters ready to come up makes them far more valuable to us. No rotation will make it entirely through a season unscathed these days.
    That leads me to my final Take-Away. 
     
    Take-Away #5: Angels Baseball in 2024 Will Be Better and More Exciting
    Fundamental baseball is fun baseball. Runs should score more often, and not always on solo homeruns. Great defense is always worth the price of admission. Solid pitching that keeps games close means we will be watching into the latter innings, and partially explains the emphasis on building up the bullpen. As Perry talked about, and many of us noted last year, we were great in the first half of the games when we scored a lot of runs, and lost most a lot in the second half when we were shut down and gave up a lot of runs. .
    Look, like most, I was disappointed in this offseason. Not because of who we did or didn’t sign, but because of the mixed messages that we got as fans from the team.
    Early on, we were told that Perry could spend to build a contender (within reason). This was the same message as told to fans for the past several years. And it looked like were going to do more as he built up the bullpen. It seemed like the team could replace Ohtani’s production with Free Agents. 
    And then we were told that the plan all along was to cut the budget this year. That didn’t make sense if we were planning to spend on Ohtani, who alone would cost more. And, if we were going to spend on Ohtani, then why wouldn’t we spend on other available free agents to replace the loss of pitching and hitting?
    As a fan. I will admit: Losing Ohtani hurt. But, even I would never agree to the contract that Ohtani signed. That could be a franchising killing contract for all but a very few owners. The risk was too great. I wish him well with the Dodgers (even against the Angels as long as we win the game) but there is absolutely NO WAY that Arte should have matched that deal. 
    Personally, I think that the national media is a bit biased against the Angels for a variety of reasons (whether for lack of knowledge about the organization or for  other reasons). This team has been underrated, mostly because of losing Ohtani, and people forgetting how injured we’ve been over the past few years.
    This team can be and should be over 500 if the team stays healthy. And we have more depth than we’ve had in the past, at most positions, so we should be better than advertised. I’m not being optimistic, I’m being realistic. I’m excited and hopeful, and very interested to see how this year plays out. If done correctly, we’re not that far off from Washington leading us on extended postseason runs.
    In the past, we had to have everything go right in order to have a shot at the postseason. And, we did so without much depth in a challenging division. We haven’t had the entire tear down teams to beat up like teams in other divisions had, and we’ve had to contend with many championship teams. 
    That’s why it’s so important for us to get back to developing waves of talent, as we did in the mid-2000s, so that we can win more games than expected.
    Our future infield and outfield is mostly set outside of 2nd and 3rd base—with Fontenelle being one possible answer at 3B (let’s hope he does well this year). As for our pitching, we have one of youngest rotations (subtracting Anderson removes several years off the average of our starters).
    In terms of depth, I will admit, we are a bit weak on the middle infield and 3rd base. But, for other parts of the team, we have a potential surplus of outfielders and are developing pitching depth, especially for starters. Joyce and others will soon be in the bullpen, so we have parts to trade, and make better long-term decisions as we see how the kids develop.
    While our organization has been ranked as one of the worst overall in baseball, that hasn’t stopped us in the past from making some very shrewd trades, such as for O’Hoppe and Moniak. And, at the deadline, I believe that we will be active. But, the emphasis will be more on long-term acquisitions, rather than short term panic moves. Believe it or not, Arte does want to win. Unlike in the past, though, when we’ve been in win-now modes, the baseball people are back in charge and will make better decisions for long-term moves.
    I expect a lot of games this season that are much closer in score this year and fewer shutouts than we’ve seen over the past few years. That should lead to fewer multi-game losing streaks. And that is a lot more fun for a whole season!
    Think about the Angels-Dodgers game we saw after the Chalk Talk. Objectively, as a baseball fan, which would you rather see your team do: Have good pitching, play fundamental baseball, score 4 runs without in a variety of ways, or see your team have good pitching, play sloppy defense, score 3 runs on solo shots, and lose the game?
    I know which kind of game I’d rather see my team play. And I will see you at the ballpark or posting on AngelsWin.com this season.
    Play Ball!
    View the full article
  4. Thank You
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Chico in OC Register: A look at the 175-year history of baseball uniforms   
    Baseball uniforms have been around 175 years and have undergone some changes. The new version has not been a hit with fans and players, but the league is working its way out of a jam.
    The uniforms might be new but they’ve been a long time in the making. Major League Baseball says it’s been six years since the league began working on these uniform changes, gathering input from clubs and players as they looked to optimize the outfits for the best performance possible.
    MLB and Nike teamed up in 2019 on a 10-year deal, with the apparel company taking over for Majestic Athletic, which had been making jerseys for the league since 1982.
    Pampers or Huggies?
    But the pants are the issue. Many players complained that when they wear white tops and white pants, the tucked-in jersey can look like a diaper because the pants are relatively see-through.
    Getty ImagesA cropped photo of Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes in spring training shows the sheer material of the new uniforms some players are unhappy with. The plus side
    MLB officials say these uniforms improve mobility by providing 25% more stretch and also will dry 28% faster. Nike says they incorporate more recycled material than past uniforms, lowering emissions from manufacturing.
    What’s next?
    One potential solution is that players could wear last year’s pants until the problems are solved. No decision has been made by the league.
    Subtle differences
    Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch, a blog dedicated to uniform design, described the 2024 changes: “Stretchier fabric, changing home jerseys from white to a subtle off-white, narrowing the placket (the vertical strip on the front of the shirt upon which the buttons sit), altering the belt loops, moving the MLB logo down on the back of the jersey and reducing the size of the last-name lettering.” Smaller lettering has fans complaining and players perplexed the most.

     
    What they cost
    There are several price ranges for the new jerseys. The cost of what’s closest to what the players wear would buy you some very good seats to Opening Day.
    Nike Vapor Premier Elite Jersey | Authentic jersey, as worn by players on the field. | $355
    Nike Vapor Premier Limited Jersey | Inspired by the on-field jersey, it has an embroidered Nike Swoosh, heat-applied twill logos, a woven, heat-applied label, heat-applied sublimated twill player name and number. | $175
    Nike Vapor Premier Game Jersey | Replica player jersey with silicone printed heat-transfer front logo, Nike Swoosh and silhouetted batter, screen-printed back player name and number, heat-applied labels. | For purchase soon.
    Notable events in baseball uniforms

    Sources: Baseball Hall of Fame, Powers Sports Memorabilia, “Today” show, MLBcollectors.com, MLB.com, Uni-watch.com, The Associated Press, Nike
    View the full article
  5. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Redondo in AngelsWin Today: Five Take-Aways From Los Angeles Angels GM Perry Minasian’s 2024 Chalk-Talk   
    By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer 
    First and foremost, since we are opening the season in Baltimore, if you are reading this article, please take a moment to think upon all those who died on the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Thank you.
    Tuesday, before the Angels-Dodgers last game of Spring Training, Angels GM Perry Minasian met with season ticketholders for his annual “Chalk-Talk”. The event was moderated by Trent Rush, who did a great job, and asked most of the questions, although some fan questions were allowed. Perry spoke for about 45 minutes to the crowd and addressed the offseason and Spring Training.
    My cousin Ken and I attended and sat behind my good friend John and his friend Steve. Throughout and after the event, food was served, so, the 4 of us spent some time after the talk discussing what we had heard and any observations that we had. 
    When listening to a GM speak, one has to learn to read a bit between the lines to allow the narrative to unfold. It’s like trying to translate what a really skilled politician is saying: There is a definite art to it, which is part of what makes a GM’s job challenging and a reporter’s job even more challenging.
    Here are my 5 Take-Aways from the 2024 Chalk Talk.
     
    Take-Away #1: The Baseball People are Back In Charge
     For Angels fans who remember the Bill Stoneman years, you will be happy to know that Perry is following the same basic plan—except he identified it as the “Braves plan”. Really, it is the smartest and best use of team funds long-term. It isn’t “Money-Ball”. It’s about drafting well, developing waves of talent to provide depth, bringing in key parts that you may need, and finding success together. That’s what the best run organizations do, and that means the baseball people are back in charge. 
    If this is the plan, and the baseball people are back in charge, then that is good news for Angels fans, as long as we stick with it for 3-5 years. Don’t read this wrong: sticking with it does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years. I will repeat: sticking with it [the plan] does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years.  
    Instead, if we stick with the plan for 3-5 years, we will find tremendous success from it, just as the Angels did from 2002-2014 and the Braves and other teams have done since.
    Drafting and scouting well, and significantly improving our international presence, especially in Latin America, is a lot more effective and affordable way to develop a winning team than constantly chasing Free Agents. The same production from a 2nd or 3rd year player costs a fraction of what the same production from a Free Agent would cost.
    This was great news in my opinion, as previously, some of my main concerns about the organization have been about the lack of presence internationally, the lack of player scouting, and the lack of player development. We have needed to boost all of that to get back to where we were 20 years ago.
    Unfortunately, this immediately led to Take-Way #2. 
     
    Take-Away #2: 2024 Is a Transitional Year
    As many fans have realized, 2024 is a year for overhauling the team on the fly.
    But, that does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. Let me repeat: That does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. And it is NOT a bad thing. But, I cannot deny that it is a transitional year.
    Instead, what that means is that 2024 is a year to take stock of what we have in the organization, develop our future nucleus, and to see what holes we need to fill and how we can fill them. With the baseball people back in charge, they need to know answers about players and need to do a deep organizational analysis in order to transition into a championship team.
    Think of the “Big Board” in the War Room. Every organization has one, with the depth chart and the future timetable of development at each position. Players like Rada and Dana are quickly pushing their way up the timetables to join the current wave in the Majors. 
    All spring long we heard about Cole Fontenelle, a 3B, and how he impressed. Look at Perry’s and Washington’s actions, giving him at bats late in Spring Training, long after other players at higher levels in the Minors had been reassigned. That showed us that the Angels were really assessing him to see if he could be and when he could be in our future, and how best to develop him. If he can make it in the next 2 years, we will have essentially flipped the entire roster, except for 2nd base, where at worst, we have Rengifo. 
    This spring, Perry’s and Washington’s actions spoke so loudly, that we fans didn’t need to hear what they were saying (adapting one of Perry’s favorite quotes that he mentioned). At some point, the Angels had to do this, and this year is the year.
    While many fans wanted to sign Bellinger or Snell, signing either would have taken play time and development from our future. We won’t know how our young core really can do until we see it. Rada and Dana are doing things at 18 and 20 that almost no high school senior or juco player could do. Both could be ready by 2025.
    Would anyone really want to stunt our future’s development, while losing draft picks, all so that we could “win the offseason” and hurt our future?
    If Rada, Dana, Fontenelle, and others produce like many expect them to, we will get Bellinger’s and Snell’s production at a fraction of their cost. Those cost savings could allow us to get that final Free Agent who can take us deep into the postseason.
    As Jeff Fletcher has pointed out many times on AngelsWin.com, the best run teams only sign key free agents when they are one or two pieces away. This year, we aren’t that close, but we will still be competitive as we assess what we have. But we won’t know what is possible unless we let the kids play and take inventory. We have to transition. 
    That leads to Take-Away #3. 
     
    Take-Away #3: Ron Washington Should Be the Right Manager For Us
    This is yet another good thing for Angels fans. I do believe that Ron Washington may be the right manager in the right place for the right organization in need.
    Over the years, one of my other main concerns about the Angels, especially with all of the managerial and front office changes, has been the lack of a team identity. What is Angels baseball? Who is our clubhouse leader? Who is on field leader?
    In the past, all those questions were easy to answer, lately, they have not. If I were on the interviewing panel for the manager or GM, I would ask each candidate those questions along with many more.
    Under Scioscia, Angels baseball had a brand and style. From the time a player was drafted until the time he made it in the Major Leagues, the expectations for what the team wanted and developed were clear. As fans, we could identify it. And then, it changed. And it got lost. And forgotten. At the same time, so did winning.
    Some of that can be pegged to changes in the game, especially in analytics and training/coaching. More can be blamed on the several GMs that we hired and their different styles. And finally, yes, some of that, and ultimately all of that, is on the owner.
    But, that’s the past, and I’m looking forward to the future, both now and long-term.
    So far, it appears that Washington has earned the players’ respect, through his efforts on the field to how he teaches. I know I would respect a manager at his age hitting ground balls to me early in the morning.
    But what really separates him as the right coach for THIS team, a young team, is that he allows the players to make mistakes, then teaches him how to do it correctly the next time, and then holds them accountable for doing so. That is true teaching and providing real support. For a young team, that is how we can mold the players into champions. 
    Most people do better when supported in such a way as Washington has been doing so far. We saw it throughout Spring Training: Players were allowed to run the bases more freely, even if thrown out, to see if that would be an option for them during the season. Aggressive baserunning and stealing bases has been rediscovered, but it also led to some teachable moments.
    It will be interesting to see how he continues now that the season is starting and how he holds players accountable for playing his style of baseball.
    That leads to Take-Away #4. 
     
    Take-Away #4: Player Development Will Be Emphasized in 2024
    If the baseball people are back in charge, then playing time will change. Players will be allowed to make mistakes, but they need to learn from them. Younger players will not have to worry about carrying a team, like McPherson, or rushed to the Majors, like Adell. And when they get there, they won’t feel the pressure to hit for the moon every time, or strike out every batter, without considering it a failure. While failure won’t be encouraged, it will be used as a teachable event and won’t always be punished.  
    I do believe Washington has a brand and style of what Angels baseball should be and will be. That brand and style will be uniform throughout our entire organization, which is why he had all the Minor League coaches out in Spring Training. 
    Washington’s style will be different than Scioscia’s. As fans, it will take us time to truly identify Washington’ brand of Angels Baseball  (mostly because the majority of this team was put together by others, he will have to implement his identity with the players he has). But, the younger players will learn it quickly. Head out to one of our Minor League affiliates, like Inland Empire, and you will see much more of it. Next year and the year after, the team should be better at it.
    With our developing core of Adell, Moniak, Neto, O’Hoppe, and Schanuel, Washington’s emphasis on the fundamentals will help go a long way to molding our future. If they learn the fundamentals, and can execute them throughout an entire season, then they can do it on the next level in the Majors—the postseason.
    Over the course of the year, the younger players should earn more of the playing time over the veterans. We should see better fundamental defense and a stronger offense. As the defense improves and plays more fundamental baseball, we should see the pitching improve and trust the defense to make outs. We will win more games. Think about how the 2014 Royals developed and went on a run. Or the Braves. Or the Angels in the early 2000s.
    Perry talked about teaching the players to win each pitch, each count, and each at bat. For example, pitching efficiently, and using the defense, rather than pitching deep counts by going for strikeouts, using the whole team to get outs and trusting the defense to make the plays. Doing that allows the starters to go deeper into games and helps prevent overuse of the bullpen. Over the past few years, we had gotten away from that, and as fans, saw the results.
    In the past, when we had waves of talent in development, when we had an injury, we had a player in line that we could tap into who was better than replacement level. We didn’t suffer tremendous drops in production with an injury between  2004-2014, typically, because we had those waves of talent. 
    Because the baseball people were back in charge, we developed more internal depth. That allowed us to spend money more efficiently on Free Agents to fill in the holes that we needed with plenty of depth rather than trying to fill holes around what we had and leaving a lot of depth needed.
    This is why we are seeing Bachman, Soriano, and Wantz getting stretched out into starters. We know that they can get Major League outs for an inning or two.  We believe that they have the stuff to do so for more innings in games, so having them as starters ready to come up makes them far more valuable to us. No rotation will make it entirely through a season unscathed these days.
    That leads me to my final Take-Away. 
     
    Take-Away #5: Angels Baseball in 2024 Will Be Better and More Exciting
    Fundamental baseball is fun baseball. Runs should score more often, and not always on solo homeruns. Great defense is always worth the price of admission. Solid pitching that keeps games close means we will be watching into the latter innings, and partially explains the emphasis on building up the bullpen. As Perry talked about, and many of us noted last year, we were great in the first half of the games when we scored a lot of runs, and lost most a lot in the second half when we were shut down and gave up a lot of runs. .
    Look, like most, I was disappointed in this offseason. Not because of who we did or didn’t sign, but because of the mixed messages that we got as fans from the team.
    Early on, we were told that Perry could spend to build a contender (within reason). This was the same message as told to fans for the past several years. And it looked like were going to do more as he built up the bullpen. It seemed like the team could replace Ohtani’s production with Free Agents. 
    And then we were told that the plan all along was to cut the budget this year. That didn’t make sense if we were planning to spend on Ohtani, who alone would cost more. And, if we were going to spend on Ohtani, then why wouldn’t we spend on other available free agents to replace the loss of pitching and hitting?
    As a fan. I will admit: Losing Ohtani hurt. But, even I would never agree to the contract that Ohtani signed. That could be a franchising killing contract for all but a very few owners. The risk was too great. I wish him well with the Dodgers (even against the Angels as long as we win the game) but there is absolutely NO WAY that Arte should have matched that deal. 
    Personally, I think that the national media is a bit biased against the Angels for a variety of reasons (whether for lack of knowledge about the organization or for  other reasons). This team has been underrated, mostly because of losing Ohtani, and people forgetting how injured we’ve been over the past few years.
    This team can be and should be over 500 if the team stays healthy. And we have more depth than we’ve had in the past, at most positions, so we should be better than advertised. I’m not being optimistic, I’m being realistic. I’m excited and hopeful, and very interested to see how this year plays out. If done correctly, we’re not that far off from Washington leading us on extended postseason runs.
    In the past, we had to have everything go right in order to have a shot at the postseason. And, we did so without much depth in a challenging division. We haven’t had the entire tear down teams to beat up like teams in other divisions had, and we’ve had to contend with many championship teams. 
    That’s why it’s so important for us to get back to developing waves of talent, as we did in the mid-2000s, so that we can win more games than expected.
    Our future infield and outfield is mostly set outside of 2nd and 3rd base—with Fontenelle being one possible answer at 3B (let’s hope he does well this year). As for our pitching, we have one of youngest rotations (subtracting Anderson removes several years off the average of our starters).
    In terms of depth, I will admit, we are a bit weak on the middle infield and 3rd base. But, for other parts of the team, we have a potential surplus of outfielders and are developing pitching depth, especially for starters. Joyce and others will soon be in the bullpen, so we have parts to trade, and make better long-term decisions as we see how the kids develop.
    While our organization has been ranked as one of the worst overall in baseball, that hasn’t stopped us in the past from making some very shrewd trades, such as for O’Hoppe and Moniak. And, at the deadline, I believe that we will be active. But, the emphasis will be more on long-term acquisitions, rather than short term panic moves. Believe it or not, Arte does want to win. Unlike in the past, though, when we’ve been in win-now modes, the baseball people are back in charge and will make better decisions for long-term moves.
    I expect a lot of games this season that are much closer in score this year and fewer shutouts than we’ve seen over the past few years. That should lead to fewer multi-game losing streaks. And that is a lot more fun for a whole season!
    Think about the Angels-Dodgers game we saw after the Chalk Talk. Objectively, as a baseball fan, which would you rather see your team do: Have good pitching, play fundamental baseball, score 4 runs without in a variety of ways, or see your team have good pitching, play sloppy defense, score 3 runs on solo shots, and lose the game?
    I know which kind of game I’d rather see my team play. And I will see you at the ballpark or posting on AngelsWin.com this season.
    Play Ball!
    View the full article
  6. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Slegnaac in AngelsWin Today: Five Take-Aways From Los Angeles Angels GM Perry Minasian’s 2024 Chalk-Talk   
    By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer 
    First and foremost, since we are opening the season in Baltimore, if you are reading this article, please take a moment to think upon all those who died on the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Thank you.
    Tuesday, before the Angels-Dodgers last game of Spring Training, Angels GM Perry Minasian met with season ticketholders for his annual “Chalk-Talk”. The event was moderated by Trent Rush, who did a great job, and asked most of the questions, although some fan questions were allowed. Perry spoke for about 45 minutes to the crowd and addressed the offseason and Spring Training.
    My cousin Ken and I attended and sat behind my good friend John and his friend Steve. Throughout and after the event, food was served, so, the 4 of us spent some time after the talk discussing what we had heard and any observations that we had. 
    When listening to a GM speak, one has to learn to read a bit between the lines to allow the narrative to unfold. It’s like trying to translate what a really skilled politician is saying: There is a definite art to it, which is part of what makes a GM’s job challenging and a reporter’s job even more challenging.
    Here are my 5 Take-Aways from the 2024 Chalk Talk.
     
    Take-Away #1: The Baseball People are Back In Charge
     For Angels fans who remember the Bill Stoneman years, you will be happy to know that Perry is following the same basic plan—except he identified it as the “Braves plan”. Really, it is the smartest and best use of team funds long-term. It isn’t “Money-Ball”. It’s about drafting well, developing waves of talent to provide depth, bringing in key parts that you may need, and finding success together. That’s what the best run organizations do, and that means the baseball people are back in charge. 
    If this is the plan, and the baseball people are back in charge, then that is good news for Angels fans, as long as we stick with it for 3-5 years. Don’t read this wrong: sticking with it does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years. I will repeat: sticking with it [the plan] does not mean that we won’t be contenders in less than 3-5 years.  
    Instead, if we stick with the plan for 3-5 years, we will find tremendous success from it, just as the Angels did from 2002-2014 and the Braves and other teams have done since.
    Drafting and scouting well, and significantly improving our international presence, especially in Latin America, is a lot more effective and affordable way to develop a winning team than constantly chasing Free Agents. The same production from a 2nd or 3rd year player costs a fraction of what the same production from a Free Agent would cost.
    This was great news in my opinion, as previously, some of my main concerns about the organization have been about the lack of presence internationally, the lack of player scouting, and the lack of player development. We have needed to boost all of that to get back to where we were 20 years ago.
    Unfortunately, this immediately led to Take-Way #2. 
     
    Take-Away #2: 2024 Is a Transitional Year
    As many fans have realized, 2024 is a year for overhauling the team on the fly.
    But, that does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. Let me repeat: That does NOT mean that we won’t be competitive. And it is NOT a bad thing. But, I cannot deny that it is a transitional year.
    Instead, what that means is that 2024 is a year to take stock of what we have in the organization, develop our future nucleus, and to see what holes we need to fill and how we can fill them. With the baseball people back in charge, they need to know answers about players and need to do a deep organizational analysis in order to transition into a championship team.
    Think of the “Big Board” in the War Room. Every organization has one, with the depth chart and the future timetable of development at each position. Players like Rada and Dana are quickly pushing their way up the timetables to join the current wave in the Majors. 
    All spring long we heard about Cole Fontenelle, a 3B, and how he impressed. Look at Perry’s and Washington’s actions, giving him at bats late in Spring Training, long after other players at higher levels in the Minors had been reassigned. That showed us that the Angels were really assessing him to see if he could be and when he could be in our future, and how best to develop him. If he can make it in the next 2 years, we will have essentially flipped the entire roster, except for 2nd base, where at worst, we have Rengifo. 
    This spring, Perry’s and Washington’s actions spoke so loudly, that we fans didn’t need to hear what they were saying (adapting one of Perry’s favorite quotes that he mentioned). At some point, the Angels had to do this, and this year is the year.
    While many fans wanted to sign Bellinger or Snell, signing either would have taken play time and development from our future. We won’t know how our young core really can do until we see it. Rada and Dana are doing things at 18 and 20 that almost no high school senior or juco player could do. Both could be ready by 2025.
    Would anyone really want to stunt our future’s development, while losing draft picks, all so that we could “win the offseason” and hurt our future?
    If Rada, Dana, Fontenelle, and others produce like many expect them to, we will get Bellinger’s and Snell’s production at a fraction of their cost. Those cost savings could allow us to get that final Free Agent who can take us deep into the postseason.
    As Jeff Fletcher has pointed out many times on AngelsWin.com, the best run teams only sign key free agents when they are one or two pieces away. This year, we aren’t that close, but we will still be competitive as we assess what we have. But we won’t know what is possible unless we let the kids play and take inventory. We have to transition. 
    That leads to Take-Away #3. 
     
    Take-Away #3: Ron Washington Should Be the Right Manager For Us
    This is yet another good thing for Angels fans. I do believe that Ron Washington may be the right manager in the right place for the right organization in need.
    Over the years, one of my other main concerns about the Angels, especially with all of the managerial and front office changes, has been the lack of a team identity. What is Angels baseball? Who is our clubhouse leader? Who is on field leader?
    In the past, all those questions were easy to answer, lately, they have not. If I were on the interviewing panel for the manager or GM, I would ask each candidate those questions along with many more.
    Under Scioscia, Angels baseball had a brand and style. From the time a player was drafted until the time he made it in the Major Leagues, the expectations for what the team wanted and developed were clear. As fans, we could identify it. And then, it changed. And it got lost. And forgotten. At the same time, so did winning.
    Some of that can be pegged to changes in the game, especially in analytics and training/coaching. More can be blamed on the several GMs that we hired and their different styles. And finally, yes, some of that, and ultimately all of that, is on the owner.
    But, that’s the past, and I’m looking forward to the future, both now and long-term.
    So far, it appears that Washington has earned the players’ respect, through his efforts on the field to how he teaches. I know I would respect a manager at his age hitting ground balls to me early in the morning.
    But what really separates him as the right coach for THIS team, a young team, is that he allows the players to make mistakes, then teaches him how to do it correctly the next time, and then holds them accountable for doing so. That is true teaching and providing real support. For a young team, that is how we can mold the players into champions. 
    Most people do better when supported in such a way as Washington has been doing so far. We saw it throughout Spring Training: Players were allowed to run the bases more freely, even if thrown out, to see if that would be an option for them during the season. Aggressive baserunning and stealing bases has been rediscovered, but it also led to some teachable moments.
    It will be interesting to see how he continues now that the season is starting and how he holds players accountable for playing his style of baseball.
    That leads to Take-Away #4. 
     
    Take-Away #4: Player Development Will Be Emphasized in 2024
    If the baseball people are back in charge, then playing time will change. Players will be allowed to make mistakes, but they need to learn from them. Younger players will not have to worry about carrying a team, like McPherson, or rushed to the Majors, like Adell. And when they get there, they won’t feel the pressure to hit for the moon every time, or strike out every batter, without considering it a failure. While failure won’t be encouraged, it will be used as a teachable event and won’t always be punished.  
    I do believe Washington has a brand and style of what Angels baseball should be and will be. That brand and style will be uniform throughout our entire organization, which is why he had all the Minor League coaches out in Spring Training. 
    Washington’s style will be different than Scioscia’s. As fans, it will take us time to truly identify Washington’ brand of Angels Baseball  (mostly because the majority of this team was put together by others, he will have to implement his identity with the players he has). But, the younger players will learn it quickly. Head out to one of our Minor League affiliates, like Inland Empire, and you will see much more of it. Next year and the year after, the team should be better at it.
    With our developing core of Adell, Moniak, Neto, O’Hoppe, and Schanuel, Washington’s emphasis on the fundamentals will help go a long way to molding our future. If they learn the fundamentals, and can execute them throughout an entire season, then they can do it on the next level in the Majors—the postseason.
    Over the course of the year, the younger players should earn more of the playing time over the veterans. We should see better fundamental defense and a stronger offense. As the defense improves and plays more fundamental baseball, we should see the pitching improve and trust the defense to make outs. We will win more games. Think about how the 2014 Royals developed and went on a run. Or the Braves. Or the Angels in the early 2000s.
    Perry talked about teaching the players to win each pitch, each count, and each at bat. For example, pitching efficiently, and using the defense, rather than pitching deep counts by going for strikeouts, using the whole team to get outs and trusting the defense to make the plays. Doing that allows the starters to go deeper into games and helps prevent overuse of the bullpen. Over the past few years, we had gotten away from that, and as fans, saw the results.
    In the past, when we had waves of talent in development, when we had an injury, we had a player in line that we could tap into who was better than replacement level. We didn’t suffer tremendous drops in production with an injury between  2004-2014, typically, because we had those waves of talent. 
    Because the baseball people were back in charge, we developed more internal depth. That allowed us to spend money more efficiently on Free Agents to fill in the holes that we needed with plenty of depth rather than trying to fill holes around what we had and leaving a lot of depth needed.
    This is why we are seeing Bachman, Soriano, and Wantz getting stretched out into starters. We know that they can get Major League outs for an inning or two.  We believe that they have the stuff to do so for more innings in games, so having them as starters ready to come up makes them far more valuable to us. No rotation will make it entirely through a season unscathed these days.
    That leads me to my final Take-Away. 
     
    Take-Away #5: Angels Baseball in 2024 Will Be Better and More Exciting
    Fundamental baseball is fun baseball. Runs should score more often, and not always on solo homeruns. Great defense is always worth the price of admission. Solid pitching that keeps games close means we will be watching into the latter innings, and partially explains the emphasis on building up the bullpen. As Perry talked about, and many of us noted last year, we were great in the first half of the games when we scored a lot of runs, and lost most a lot in the second half when we were shut down and gave up a lot of runs. .
    Look, like most, I was disappointed in this offseason. Not because of who we did or didn’t sign, but because of the mixed messages that we got as fans from the team.
    Early on, we were told that Perry could spend to build a contender (within reason). This was the same message as told to fans for the past several years. And it looked like were going to do more as he built up the bullpen. It seemed like the team could replace Ohtani’s production with Free Agents. 
    And then we were told that the plan all along was to cut the budget this year. That didn’t make sense if we were planning to spend on Ohtani, who alone would cost more. And, if we were going to spend on Ohtani, then why wouldn’t we spend on other available free agents to replace the loss of pitching and hitting?
    As a fan. I will admit: Losing Ohtani hurt. But, even I would never agree to the contract that Ohtani signed. That could be a franchising killing contract for all but a very few owners. The risk was too great. I wish him well with the Dodgers (even against the Angels as long as we win the game) but there is absolutely NO WAY that Arte should have matched that deal. 
    Personally, I think that the national media is a bit biased against the Angels for a variety of reasons (whether for lack of knowledge about the organization or for  other reasons). This team has been underrated, mostly because of losing Ohtani, and people forgetting how injured we’ve been over the past few years.
    This team can be and should be over 500 if the team stays healthy. And we have more depth than we’ve had in the past, at most positions, so we should be better than advertised. I’m not being optimistic, I’m being realistic. I’m excited and hopeful, and very interested to see how this year plays out. If done correctly, we’re not that far off from Washington leading us on extended postseason runs.
    In the past, we had to have everything go right in order to have a shot at the postseason. And, we did so without much depth in a challenging division. We haven’t had the entire tear down teams to beat up like teams in other divisions had, and we’ve had to contend with many championship teams. 
    That’s why it’s so important for us to get back to developing waves of talent, as we did in the mid-2000s, so that we can win more games than expected.
    Our future infield and outfield is mostly set outside of 2nd and 3rd base—with Fontenelle being one possible answer at 3B (let’s hope he does well this year). As for our pitching, we have one of youngest rotations (subtracting Anderson removes several years off the average of our starters).
    In terms of depth, I will admit, we are a bit weak on the middle infield and 3rd base. But, for other parts of the team, we have a potential surplus of outfielders and are developing pitching depth, especially for starters. Joyce and others will soon be in the bullpen, so we have parts to trade, and make better long-term decisions as we see how the kids develop.
    While our organization has been ranked as one of the worst overall in baseball, that hasn’t stopped us in the past from making some very shrewd trades, such as for O’Hoppe and Moniak. And, at the deadline, I believe that we will be active. But, the emphasis will be more on long-term acquisitions, rather than short term panic moves. Believe it or not, Arte does want to win. Unlike in the past, though, when we’ve been in win-now modes, the baseball people are back in charge and will make better decisions for long-term moves.
    I expect a lot of games this season that are much closer in score this year and fewer shutouts than we’ve seen over the past few years. That should lead to fewer multi-game losing streaks. And that is a lot more fun for a whole season!
    Think about the Angels-Dodgers game we saw after the Chalk Talk. Objectively, as a baseball fan, which would you rather see your team do: Have good pitching, play fundamental baseball, score 4 runs without in a variety of ways, or see your team have good pitching, play sloppy defense, score 3 runs on solo shots, and lose the game?
    I know which kind of game I’d rather see my team play. And I will see you at the ballpark or posting on AngelsWin.com this season.
    Play Ball!
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  7. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Angel Oracle in OC Register: Angels manager Ron Washington eager to begin second chance   
    A half field sits beside the parking lot at the Angels’ spring training complex in Tempe, Ariz. In the previous three years when the Angels had their camp based in this part of the complex, the field was mostly vacant.
    Not this year.
    “I pull up to the clubhouse and he’s out there hitting fungoes at 6:45 in the morning,” center fielder Mike Trout said. “There hasn’t been a day that I’ve pulled up that he’s not out there.”
    Trout was referring to Ron Washington, the Angels’ new manager and something of a workaholic. Although Washington is 71, he has not taken to this job with any less verve than when he was a manager 10 years ago or a coach 20 years ago.
    “He’s got lots of energy,” outfielder Taylor Ward said. “And with all the young guys we have, he’s getting us all wound up.”
    You wouldn’t expect Washington to have any less energy, because he’s been riding the adrenaline of a second chance that he desperately wanted.
    “There’s nothing like leading,” Washington said. “There’s nothing like leading a major league baseball club. I’ve got that rush. But I don’t feel no stress.”
    When the Angels open the 2024 season in Baltimore on Thursday, Washington will be filling out his first lineup card as a big league manager since 2014. He led the Texas Rangers through eight seasons, enjoying the peaks of back-to-back American League pennants. The valleys included a positive test for cocaine and his eventual resignation, which included Washington’s admission that he’d been unfaithful to his wife. No other reason was given. He was hired the next year by the Oakland A’s to be their third base coach.
    Washington had two other interviews for managerial jobs, with the Atlanta Braves in 2016 and the San Diego Padres in 2019.
    Although the Braves hired Brian Snitker instead, they thought enough of Washington to make him the third base coach. He’d held that job ever since, and had a three-year deal still ahead of him when the Angels called.
    “I never thought (managing) might not come again, but you do have that little man on the right shoulder and a little man on the left shoulder going against each other,” Washington said. “I came to the reality with the fact and this is the way I dealt with it. I said, if it doesn’t happen, I’m in a good place. It wasn’t all or nothing. But I certainly wanted to do it again.”
    Since the Angels gave Washington that chance, he has vowed that he will not change from what worked when he was with the Rangers a decade ago.
    “I am who I am,” Washington said. “I’ve always went about my baseball business the same, whether I was leading as the head leader or a coach.”
    The players say the mood from Washington filters into the clubhouse, although they are quick to point out that the confidence never wavered under previous managers.
    “I don’t think the vibe of our clubhouse has changed,” left-hander Patrick Sandoval said. “We want to win. We’ve always wanted to win. It hasn’t worked out, but the will to win has never gone down at all. The optimism hasn’t gone down at all. I think we share the same enthusiasm as (Washington) has.”
    His enthusiasm nonetheless is palpable.
    “It creates an atmosphere of energy,” catcher Matt Thaiss said. “It’s just spring training games, but everyone has energy. Everyone is getting after it. It’s just a culture.”
    Beyond the mood, Washington brings five decades of experience in the big leagues. Sandwiched around his time with the Rangers, he was on the staff of the A’s when they were perennial winners in the Moneyball era, and the Braves won the 2021 World Series with him on staff.
    “I think he just brings a track record of winning baseball,” outfielder Mikey Moniak said. “He’s been a part of a lot of winning teams, playing and coaching. Obviously, as a manager he has gotten to the World Series twice and was one strike away (from winning the World Series in 2011).
    “He knows what it takes to reach the goals we want to reach. We’re just kind of trying to take in everything and be sponges. Learn from him as much as possible and be able to apply it once we step across those lines.”
    The way the Angels play between the lines will have Washington’s fingerprints.
    Aggressive baserunning has been evident throughout spring training. Washington has pushed players to work on their bunting and situational hitting skills, including two suicide squeezes in the final week in Arizona.
    Washington is expecting the defense, particularly the infield defense, to be improved. He and infield coach Ryan Goins drilled the infielders on fundamentals just about every morning – those 6:45 a.m. fungoes that Trout saw.
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    It’s all a part of Washington’s plan to turn around a team that won just 73 games last year by doing all the little things that will add up to big things.
    Washington said he’s grateful for the opportunity to do it again as a manager.
    “It means a ton, because I get a chance to transform again,” Washington said. “That’s the best part, coming into a situation where you get to help guys believe, and I love that.”
    UP NEXT
    Angels (LHP Patrick Sandoval, 7-13, 4.11 ERA in 2023) at Orioles (RHP 10-8, 3.39), Camden Yards, Thursday, 12:05 p.m. PT, Bally Sports West, 830 AM

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  8. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Angel Oracle in OC Register: Miguel Sanó makes Angels’ Opening Day roster   
    ANAHEIM — Miguel Sanó couldn’t wait to share the news, so the veteran third baseman took to Instagram on Tuesday to let his followers know he had made the Angels’ roster. In a photo, the former All-Star points to the sky.
    “For the first thing, I want to say thank you to God and to the Angels for the opportunity,” Sanó said before the Angels’ final spring training game against the Dodgers. “It’s great to have the moment and opportunity that has been given to me.”
    Sanó, a free agent, was among the last group of players vying for a roster spot. When the Angels optioned Livan Soto and sent down Willie Calhoun, Caleb Hamilton and Cole Fontenelle, it opened the door for him.
    “I’m going to take care of my job. I’m going to work hard every day to prove what I got every day on the field,” said Sanó, who reported to camp 58 pounds lighter and eager to show he could still swing the bat.
    Although Sanó batted just .186 and had a .695 OPS throughout the spring, his power and improved physical condition, along with a strong work ethic, impressed Manager Ron Washington. He informed Sano of his decision shortly after Monday’s game at Dodger Stadium.
    “He swung the bat well and did everything we asked him to do,” Washington said. “He worked his butt off and is very deserving of being on our roster and that’s why he’s here.”
    Sanó showed how he can still contribute by crushing a solo home run in the second inning on Tuesday night to give the Angels a three-run lead. He also reached base on an error.
    Sanó said the past few days have been nerve-wracking but always believed he could still contribute to a major league team after a near two-year hiatus.
    “I plan to work double, triple – all hard work every day that I come to the field,” Sano said.
    Sanó, 30, hit at least 25 home runs in four big league seasons with the Minnesota Twins, including 30 in 2021. In 2022, he hit .083 and was released.
    Sanó could play third and first and he can also be used as a DH.
    STRONG START
    Right-hander Chase Silseth struck out 10 but gave up back-to-back home runs through five innings of work, his longest outing of spring training.
    In an earlier spring training game against the Dodgers, Silseth gave up three hits in 2⅓ scoreless innings, striking out two. He got his lone spring training victory in his first outing, throwing two innings against the Cleveland Guardians on Feb. 29.
    READY FOR HIS ANGELS DEBUT
    On the cusp of the regular season, Washington sat in the dugout and declared he was ready to begin his 53rd year in baseball, his 42nd in the majors and first as the Angels manager.
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    “I’m ready to go. I’m prepared.”
    So is his team, he said. The Angels open the season Thursday afternoon at the Baltimore Orioles.
    “They better be. We just had six weeks of spring training, so they certainly are where I want them to be,” Washington said.
    Washington wants to shut down outside noise, the talk of finishing fourth this season after missing the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season. He wants to prove that this year’s squad possesses the talent to advance to the postseason.
    “They are ready to play baseball and the identity will make itself known,” he said.
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  9. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Tank in OC Register: Season Preview: 2024 Angels believe they will surprise the baseball world   
    The Angels have heard and read what the baseball world thinks of their chances this season.
    After winning 73 games and losing Shohei Ohtani, the Angels are widely expected to finish fourth in the American League West, missing the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.
    “No one in this clubhouse gives a (expletive) what they are saying,” left-hander Patrick Sandoval said. “No one cares what’s going on outside this clubhouse. Everyone has tunnel vision. I think that can only work in our favor. I don’t think we’re gonna give in to what the media, the fans, our fans, whatever they’re saying. We believe in what’s here. We believe in each other.”
    Catcher Logan O’Hoppe summoned a line from the film “Moneyball,” in which the upstart Oakland A’s were also dismissed after losing key players.
    “We’re like an ‘island of misfit toys’ that nobody knows about,” O’Hoppe said. “When we come together, we’re more powerful as a group. We can do more as a group. We’re coming together pretty well, and I’m really happy to be a part of that.”
    Mike Trout, whose Hall of Fame career has been tainted by the Angels’ perpetual losing, also sees the skepticism as something of a rallying cry.
    “We know what we have in here,” Trout said. “We use (the predictions) as motivation. The boys are hungry to get out there.”
    Certainly, optimism in spring training is expected. Professional athletes don’t get to be professional athletes without overflowing confidence, even in the face of daunting facts.
    Fact: The Angels did not add a player who produced more than 1.2 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference, in 2023, while they lost Ohtani, whose WAR was 10.0.
    Fact: The Angels’ best player, Trout, is now 32 and has not played more than 134 games in a season since 2016.
    Fact: The Angels have penciled in four players for significant roles – shortstop Zach Neto, first baseman Nolan Schanuel, outfielder Mickey Moniak and O’Hoppe – who have never played 100 games in a major league season.
    Fact: Tyler Anderson is the only Angels starting pitcher who has ever thrown 150 innings in a season.
    Fact: Last season the Angels ranked 23rd in the majors in ERA and 12th in OPS, and Ohtani was both the best hitter and pitcher.
    Fact: The Angels don’t care about any of that when it comes to 2024.
    “I don’t view what people have to say on the outside because they don’t see what we’re doing on the inside,” said new manager Ron Washington, who is known for his unflinching optimism. “They speculate on the outside. And I guess from what they’ve seen in the past, they have a right to feel how they want to feel. But I don’t take that into account at all. …
    “People can say what they want to say, but we will see what happens when we start to get between those white lines on a daily basis.”
    The Angels are building their hopes on the expectation that the players returning from last year’s team will be better and/or play more games, and the sum of that improvement will lift the team into contention.
    “We can do a lot,” Moniak said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys, and a lot of veterans who have been there, done that. We’ve got some young arms that can be pretty good. We can be one of the top, if not the top, staffs in the league. We’ve got speed. We’ve got power. We play defense. Our bullpen is solid. We’ve got a very well-rounded team.”
    As for the pitching, the Angels need only look back to 2022 to see better performances from Sandoval, Anderson and Reid Detmers, as well as relievers Luis Garcia, Adam Cimber and José Cisnero.
    The pitchers will now be working under a philosophy that emphasizes big-picture strategies of pitching, as opposed to focusing on how many inches of break or what type of spin they can get on their pitches.
    New pitching coach Barry Enright said the front office instructed him to say no anytime the analytics team tried to introduce ideas that didn’t fit with what those in uniform were seeing.
    “We know we need to step it up,” Sandoval said, “but we have the talent to do it. We’ve just got to put to together.”
    Enright hammered the pitchers all spring to throw more strikes, even if that meant accepting that the ball was going to be put in play. That is partly a strategy to get pitchers working deeper in games, reducing the bullpen workload, but also a reflection of Washington’s belief that the defense will be better.
    Offensively, the Angels clearly have plenty of room for improvement from the same personnel as they had last year.
    That starts with what they hope will be a reduction in injuries.
    Besides Trout, the Angels also played multiple months without third baseman Anthony Rendon, outfielder Taylor Ward, Neto and O’Hoppe.
    “The biggest thing, like every year, is staying healthy,” Ward said. “We’ve got to give ourselves a chance to see what we can do. That’s been the biggest issue the last few years.”
    Although it’s difficult to ascertain how much of the Angels’ injury woes were preventable, they have nonetheless replaced the top two staffers in the strength and conditioning department.
    For now, though, the most significant injury question going into the season is right-handed reliever Robert Stephenson, who is out with a shoulder problem.
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    Injuries to the everyday lineup or the rotation could cripple the Angels, which would leave them floundering in exactly the way the baseball world – and even many hardened, cynical Angels fans – expects.
    “At the end of the day, people are going to talk,” Moniak said. “Everyone is going to have their opinions, good or bad. As long the 26 guys in here and the minor leaguers have the same mentality of going out there and getting the job done and playing for one another and playing to win, the opinions on the outside are going to be what they’re going to be.”
    Moniak was then asked if there’s a unifying feeling to prove the skeptics wrong.
    “I would say more to prove us right.”

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  10. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Angel Oracle in OC Register: Logan O’Hoppe’s homer sparks Angels to exhibition rout of Dodgers   
    LOS ANGELES — As if the stats did not tell the story of how much Logan O’Hoppe needed his mammoth blast in the second inning Monday, his fist pump while leaving the batter’s box most certainly did.
    O’Hoppe’s three-run home run started the Angels toward a 6-0 victory over the host Dodgers in the middle game of the Freeway Series. The Dodgers won the opener, 5-3, on Sunday with the finale of the exhibition set for Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.
    Angels left-hander Reid Detmers finished off a solid spring with five scoreless innings, giving up three hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Detmers had a 2.45 ERA in five spring outings and appears to be headed toward the No. 3 spot in the rotation and a potential outing Sunday on the road against the Baltimore Orioles.
    “Can’t say I felt the best but the result is what I wanted and I got to do it here at Dodger Stadium against the Dodgers and it’s a pretty good feeling,” Detmers said. “Just fastball command was off. The last couple of weeks fastball command hasn’t been the greatest. I’m trying to figure out some stuff with that but everything else was really good.”
    For all of his success throughout the outing, the pitch that seemed to resonate the most was a fastball up and in to walk former teammate Shohei Ohtani in the fifth inning. Ohtani let out a sigh of relief as he staggered out of the batter’s box.
    “We got a little laugh about it, Shohei was laughing,” Detmers said. “I said ‘I’m sorry.’”
    O’Hoppe’s second homer of the spring came off Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone, who gave up four runs on four hits and a walk in 4⅓ innings with four strikeouts. Stone is projected to make his first start of the season Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
    Dodgers right-hander Daniel Hudson, who had just three appearances last season, gave up two runs while recording both of his outs by strikeout. Hudson made a scoreless appearance in the regular-season opener at South Korea last week against the San Diego Padres and picked up the win.
    In addition to his walk, Ohtani grounded out twice against Detmers as he played shortly after addressing the controversy around former interpreter Ippei Mitzuhara, who is accused of draining as much as $4.5 million from Ohtani’s personal account for alleged sports wagering.
    The Dodgers’ top three in the order of Mookie Betts, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman combined to go 1 for 8 with a walk. Freeman had the lone hit of the bunch, while Max Muncy had a pair of hits.
    ARM WORK
    On a busy day, Ohtani also did some light throwing in the outfield before the game, which is believed to be the first time he has town a ball since his elbow surgery in September.
    While Ohtani will not pitch for the Dodgers this season following his UCL repair, he did take another step in his rehab by making easy tosses from about 50 feet during a game of catch.
    The Dodgers have not ruled out Ohtani playing in the field later this season with Manager Dave Roberts saying he is willing to “have that conversation,” if Ohtani’s rehab is progressing well. The right-hander’s recovery timeline does have him potentially facing hitters in a closed setting by late September of this year.
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    Angels right-hander Robert Stephenson is progressing well from right shoulder inflammation and threw from 120 feet. After signing a three-year, $33 million contract in the offseason, Stephenson did not pitch in a Cactus League game.
    The 31-year-old delivered a 3.10 ERA in 60 relief outings last season for the Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays and is projected to pitch in the late innings in front of closer Carlos Estevez.
    In other Angels injury news, right-hander Sam Bachman (shoulder surgery) and left-hander Jose Quijada (elbow surgery) are continuing with their throwing progressions, while infielder Michael Stefanic (quadriceps strain) has resumed light baseball activity. All three remain in Arizona.
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  11. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Angel Oracle in OC Register: Angels’ top 5 spring training questions revisited   
    MESA, Ariz. — The Angels packed up this week from just the kind of spring training that a general manager enjoys.
    An uneventful one.
    With many of the regulars having left for Southern California a day earlier to prepare for the Freeway Series, which begins Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the Angels prepared for their final game in Arizona on Saturday. It was the culmination of 39 days with plenty of good vibes under new manager Ron Washington and little news.
    The most significant injury was right-hander Robert Stephenson’s shoulder inflammation. Stephenson will begin the season on the injured list, but there’s no timetable beyond that.
    The biggest headlines belonged to Anthony Rendon, who in the first days of camp said he puts his family as a higher priority than baseball. That shouldn’t have caused the reaction that it did, but Rendon has become a lightning rod for criticism because of his injuries and his public image.
    There are still a few roster decisions to be made during the Freeway Series, most notably if Miguel Sanó will make the team and if José Soriano will be a starter in the minors or a reliever in the majors.
    While we wait on those final items, let’s look back at what we learned regarding the five spring training questions we identified when camp opened.
    What does Arte Moreno have to say?
    Moreno spoke to the Southern California News Group early in camp and clarified the biggest question facing the organization, although perhaps not to the liking of many frustrated fans.
    Moreno, who in early 2023 pulled the team off the market, said he’s planning to stick around “for the long term,” with no plans to sell the team.
    Moreno also explained that it was the plan to reduce the payroll from 2023. He said they wouldn’t “spend money just to show that we’re going to spend money unless it’s going to substantially change the team.”
    The Angels talked to free agents Blake Snell and J.D. Martinez, but ultimately each signed elsewhere.
    How are Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon doing?
    Rendon missed a week with a groin injury, but otherwise the two are going into the season – or at least the Freeway Series – healthy.
    Both players have been injured for much of the past three seasons. Trout said he’s feeling as good as he’s felt in years. He’s also accepted the fact that he will be DHing about once a week, which could help keep him fresh.
    Neither player hit well in the spring, for what it’s worth.
    Trout had a .673 OPS in Arizona. He said he doesn’t think age is catching up to him, but that there’s a mechanical change he’s been working to make in order to regain his MVP form.
    Rendon’s OPS was .674, and that included a .424 on-base percentage. Washington is considering using him in the leadoff spot, a spot he hadn’t occupied since 2015.
    How will the outfield shake out?
    With Trout in center and Taylor Ward in left, the Angels came in to camp with uncertainty in right. They had Aaron Hicks, Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell vying for time in right or DH. Moniak and Adell are out of options, meaning the Angels would likely have all five on the roster.
    Hicks (1.235 OPS), Moniak (.810) and Adell (.804) all showed encouraging signs in the spring, which didn’t really clarify anything.
    When Washington was asked if it would be difficult to sort out the playing time, he said: “It’s not going to be hard, because whatever lineup I put out will be the lineup. They’ll get some playing time. Every single one of them. How I’m going to do it, I really couldn’t tell you now, but they’ll all get some playing time.”
    Will Ward return to form?
    Ward hadn’t played since suffering multiple facial fractures after he was hit in the face by a pitch last July.
    He realized early in camp that pitchers are going to pitch him up and in to take advantage of any discomfort he might still feel from last year’s incident, and now he says he’s prepared.
    Ward said he also feels like his swing is where he wants it to be in order to get back to the elite level he showed at the start and end of 2022. He had a .642 OPS in Arizona.
    Are the young players ready for increased roles?
    The Angels are counting on catcher Logan O’Hoppe, shortstop Zach Neto and first baseman Nolan Schanuel for everyday roles in 2024, even though none has played a full big-league season yet.
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    NOTES
    Nolan Schanuel (back) returned to the lineup to DH on Saturday, his first game since March 17. …
    Luis Rengifo (hamstring) had been penciled in to the lineup to play Saturday, but the Angels instead decided to give him one more day off. He is expected to play in the Freeway Series. Rengifo last played in a game Tuesday. …
    The Angels will have Griffin Canning, Reid Detmers and Chase Silseth pitch the three games against the Dodgers in the Freeway Series, in that order.
    View the full article
  12. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from HaloBronco in OC Register: Angels’ top 5 spring training questions revisited   
    MESA, Ariz. — The Angels packed up this week from just the kind of spring training that a general manager enjoys.
    An uneventful one.
    With many of the regulars having left for Southern California a day earlier to prepare for the Freeway Series, which begins Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the Angels prepared for their final game in Arizona on Saturday. It was the culmination of 39 days with plenty of good vibes under new manager Ron Washington and little news.
    The most significant injury was right-hander Robert Stephenson’s shoulder inflammation. Stephenson will begin the season on the injured list, but there’s no timetable beyond that.
    The biggest headlines belonged to Anthony Rendon, who in the first days of camp said he puts his family as a higher priority than baseball. That shouldn’t have caused the reaction that it did, but Rendon has become a lightning rod for criticism because of his injuries and his public image.
    There are still a few roster decisions to be made during the Freeway Series, most notably if Miguel Sanó will make the team and if José Soriano will be a starter in the minors or a reliever in the majors.
    While we wait on those final items, let’s look back at what we learned regarding the five spring training questions we identified when camp opened.
    What does Arte Moreno have to say?
    Moreno spoke to the Southern California News Group early in camp and clarified the biggest question facing the organization, although perhaps not to the liking of many frustrated fans.
    Moreno, who in early 2023 pulled the team off the market, said he’s planning to stick around “for the long term,” with no plans to sell the team.
    Moreno also explained that it was the plan to reduce the payroll from 2023. He said they wouldn’t “spend money just to show that we’re going to spend money unless it’s going to substantially change the team.”
    The Angels talked to free agents Blake Snell and J.D. Martinez, but ultimately each signed elsewhere.
    How are Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon doing?
    Rendon missed a week with a groin injury, but otherwise the two are going into the season – or at least the Freeway Series – healthy.
    Both players have been injured for much of the past three seasons. Trout said he’s feeling as good as he’s felt in years. He’s also accepted the fact that he will be DHing about once a week, which could help keep him fresh.
    Neither player hit well in the spring, for what it’s worth.
    Trout had a .673 OPS in Arizona. He said he doesn’t think age is catching up to him, but that there’s a mechanical change he’s been working to make in order to regain his MVP form.
    Rendon’s OPS was .674, and that included a .424 on-base percentage. Washington is considering using him in the leadoff spot, a spot he hadn’t occupied since 2015.
    How will the outfield shake out?
    With Trout in center and Taylor Ward in left, the Angels came in to camp with uncertainty in right. They had Aaron Hicks, Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell vying for time in right or DH. Moniak and Adell are out of options, meaning the Angels would likely have all five on the roster.
    Hicks (1.235 OPS), Moniak (.810) and Adell (.804) all showed encouraging signs in the spring, which didn’t really clarify anything.
    When Washington was asked if it would be difficult to sort out the playing time, he said: “It’s not going to be hard, because whatever lineup I put out will be the lineup. They’ll get some playing time. Every single one of them. How I’m going to do it, I really couldn’t tell you now, but they’ll all get some playing time.”
    Will Ward return to form?
    Ward hadn’t played since suffering multiple facial fractures after he was hit in the face by a pitch last July.
    He realized early in camp that pitchers are going to pitch him up and in to take advantage of any discomfort he might still feel from last year’s incident, and now he says he’s prepared.
    Ward said he also feels like his swing is where he wants it to be in order to get back to the elite level he showed at the start and end of 2022. He had a .642 OPS in Arizona.
    Are the young players ready for increased roles?
    The Angels are counting on catcher Logan O’Hoppe, shortstop Zach Neto and first baseman Nolan Schanuel for everyday roles in 2024, even though none has played a full big-league season yet.
    Related Articles
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    NOTES
    Nolan Schanuel (back) returned to the lineup to DH on Saturday, his first game since March 17. …
    Luis Rengifo (hamstring) had been penciled in to the lineup to play Saturday, but the Angels instead decided to give him one more day off. He is expected to play in the Freeway Series. Rengifo last played in a game Tuesday. …
    The Angels will have Griffin Canning, Reid Detmers and Chase Silseth pitch the three games against the Dodgers in the Freeway Series, in that order.
    View the full article
  13. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Angel Oracle in OC Register: New Angels pitching coach Barry Enright sees pitching as art, not science   
    TEMPE, Ariz. — When Barry Enright came to Angel Stadium last year as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ assistant pitching coach, he was surprised to see the scoreboard showed not only pitch velocity, but vertical and horizontal movement.
    Enright put that on the list of changes he planned after he was hired as the Angels’ pitching coach.
    “You’re not going to see those metrics on the board any more,” Enright said, referring to the movement numbers. “If you’re looking up there and all of the sudden you say, ‘Oh, my curveball doesn’t have the same depth today,’ you’re chasing a metric instead of chasing outs.”
    The Angels have been trying to find the answers to their pitching woes for much of the last decade, and they’ve now hired Enright as their fifth pitching coach in eight seasons.
    So far the pitchers have fully endorsed both Enright and new bullpen coach Steve Karsay.
    And much of what they like is the way the organizational philosophy has changed under Enright.
    “They’ve been awesome so far,” right-hander Griffin Canning said. “Just a different approach to things. They don’t really let us get super off track with trying to chase those numbers on our pitches.”
    Veteran left-hander Tyler Anderson said the emphasis is no longer slanted so heavily toward the Trackman.
    “He seems to be less about chasing stuff,” Anderson said, “which I felt was the M.O. last year, as opposed to pitching, which is what I like.”
    Make no mistake, Enright likes the Trackman and all of the associated data that has become ubiquitous around major league teams. He said he’s excited for the pitching lab the Angels are planning to build at their spring training complex.
    “That’s a great asset, a great tool,” Enright said. “But when you’re out there, you’re trying to win a baseball game, trying to get outs. … I’ve seen too many times where two people have the same exact slider on the Trackman and one gets whacked around the yard and one is really good. … Eventually, the hitter is going to tell you if it’s a good pitch or not.”
    Enright, 37, learned to have one foot in each camp – the old and new schools – during a nomadic pitching career.
    The Diamondbacks selected him out of Pepperdine in the second round of the 2007 draft. He reached the majors with Arizona in 2010, and pitched briefly for the Angels in 2012 and 2013.
    After that, Enright went between four organizations and Mexico, never returning to the majors. He was in Mexico when he got an urgent text from his wife: “Get your (butt) home.” She and their young children needed him, so Enright called the Diamondbacks to essentially beg for a job that would bring him back to the U.S. Enright said the Diamondbacks obliged, but it was really just because they wanted to get him in the organization to put him on a coaching track.
    After coaching for a few years in the Arizona system, he saw something that needed to change.
    “We were chasing movement,” he said. “I felt like in my soul that it was wrong. We had some combative arguments at times, going back and forth.”
    In 2022, the Diamondbacks hired Brent Strom to be the major league pitching coach. Strom is a veteran of nearly three decades as a pitching coach, including the previous eight years with the tech-savvy Houston Astros. If anyone could blend the new and old schools, it was Strom.
    Enright, who joined Strom’s staff as assistant pitching coach, found it to be a perfect mix.
    “I still view pitching as an art,” Enright said. “I don’t see it as a science. The science aspect helped us go in different directions with guys, but if you just chase the science, we’re dealing with human beings. We don’t have robots yet. You have to understand the heartbeat of that kid, what they can handle and can’t handle that day. Where their two feet are. That’s what I take pride in.”
    Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said Enright was good at balancing the art and science.
    “He’s right down the middle,” Lovullo said. “He knows what it’s like to toe the rubber and compete and a high level. There’s a time where you just go out and compete and not worry about pitch shaping and spin rate. But he can. He’s been educated in that area because all young pitchers are expected to get that information. He knows how to deliver that. I think he’s the perfect blend of understanding the new wave of analytics in combination with being able to go out and compete. He’s a great one.”
    Enright has been spending the spring drilling Angels pitchers on strategies that are focused on the big picture. He wants his starters to know how to navigate a lineup multiple times.
    That begins with throwing strikes and getting quick outs.
    Beyond that, Enright wants his pitchers to think about using their arsenals in a way that will make them effective deep into the game.
    “If you get two outs in the first inning on six pitches and the No. 3 hitter is up, and you strike him out by throwing seven sliders, when you walk off you should not be happy,” Enright said. “You showed him your best pitch seven times. Now what are you going to do when it’s the seventh inning, two out and the bases loaded and it’s the same guy?
    “If you’re in lower-leverage situations and you have four or five pitches, don’t give him your No. 1 pitch more than once in an at-bat. Let’s try to get through that with our second or third option. If we give up a solo homer, that shouldn’t beat us.
    “It sounds simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy.”
    Enright also said he’s been given the latitude to direct the pitching staff as he sees fit, even if it counters the ideas from the front office.
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    Finding a different strategy will be a key for the Angels, who are bringing back the same starters – minus Shohei Ohtani – from a unit that produced a 4.47 ERA.
    The Angels are hoping that a different type of coaching can lead to better results.
    Lovullo watched it happen with the Diamondbacks, all the way into the 2023 World Series.
    “He was on an unbelievable trajectory with us,” Lovullo said. “He’ll offer the Angels and (manager) Ron Washington everything he possibly can, with a great effort, great intensity and great willingness to learn. … He’s going to help those pitchers get better every single day in Anaheim. I can say that wholeheartedly.”
    View the full article
  14. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from HaloBronco in AngelsWin Today: Angels Cole Fontenelle turning heads within the organization   
    Ryan Falla, AngelsWin.com Staff Reporter
    It appears fortunes are changing in Anaheim.
    Where once was an organization laid bare of any internal development is now an Angels future full of the most young promise they've had since their glory days of fifteen years past. Whereas that legacy run was fueled by homegrown talents so too does this window look to be forced open by the quality of youth across the organization. This years Spring Training has offered a glimpse into the star studded future of 2025 and beyond with certain showcased talents making their names present such as Nelson Rada and Caden Dana among others. Among those hopeful cornerstones is the Angels switch hitting third base prospect Cole Fontenelle, coming into the organization as a 7th round pick in the 2023 draft. Cole Fontenelle is a true student of the game who’s diligence in studying the necessities in detail has fueled his meteoric rise to the Angels from TCUs resident super-clutch batsman. Not only is his mental in a league of its own, his physical tools across the board rate strongly for an organization readily searching for their third baseman of the future. Fontenelle brings with him a raw power often tapped into during the most critical of situations, an understanding of the strike zone that allows his power stroke the successes it saw in college, and most importantly a desire to absorb every analytic angle as if his future hung in the balance. As preparation and execution meet success so too does Cole Fontenelle breathe life onto the field with his attention to the game. 
    “I honestly didn't have a high expectation to be in big league camp at all this Spring. I got the call from Perry saying ‘You're gonna be in big league camp’, he just told me you deserve this and to go there, do what you do and soak up as much information as possible. I've been learning as much as I can from everybody; really studying how people work, seeing their routines, seeing a lot of the pre-work and post-game work they do. Absorbing everything I can.”
    Cole Fontenelle was an absolute menace at the plate in his short time with TCU as he logged a mind-boggling .352/.473/.640 slash with 14 HRs and 21 doubles in 65 games played, which would average out to about one extra-base hit every 2 games. The switch hitting Fontenelle worked the zone with exceptional proficiency from both sides as he balanced 45 BBs to 50 Ks in his lone year with the school pre-draft. His ability to pressure pitchers on the mound with his unceasing discipline was one of the bigger factors in his offensive success with TCU and will likely be the determinator of his success with the Angels. Fontanelle was no slouch on the base paths either as he wrangled 20 stolen bases with 66 runs scored, a mark that seemingly falls in line with the Angels re-geared organizational philosophies towards taking the extra bag and forcing runs in their favor. 
    “It's about treating every at-bat the same, whether it was a Tuesday night with nobody in the crowd or it was a College World series or a super-regional.  For me it was about having the same approach, doing the same routine on deck, walking to the plate the same way. Being super consistent and also being diligent in my preparation. It made it a lot easier to handle those big situations, and it made it a lot easier when I transitioned into pro ball. This is baseball, I've prepared the best I could so now all I can do is go compete.”
    Fontenelle quickly capitalized on his newfound professional opportunities post-draft by swinging for a .753 OPS in his first 38 games as a pro in Low A. His best qualities almost immediately shined through with the Angels organization as he displayed the clutch power genes brewing within on a daily basis. He opened his Low A debut with six hits and three RBIs in his first week of play before exploding mid-August with a sixteen game stretch that saw Fontenelle corral 16 hits and 15 RBIs with 8 XBHs; those being 4 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 HR’s. Fontenelle’s agile decision making at the plate and quick reads mixed with a swing that traces an elite path and bullies balls down in the zone were the biggest factors in his growing power successes last year. Furthered development should see Fontenelle continue acclimating to working the top half of the zone and beating secondaries in order to generate as many preferable pitches down his pipeline as possible.
    “I want to get deeper into some counts, sometimes my aggressiveness works against me. I want to get to my pitches, I know when I get my pitches I'll be able to do damage. I’m not setting any numerical goals per se; this amount of home runs, this amount of doubles, I’m just making sure I'm super consistent with my approach and preparation, doing everything I can to know about who we're facing, the arms that might come in the game, so I'm as prepared as possible to go compete. I'm doing really good this spring and I'm excited to get into the season. Knowing I can compete allows me to feel confident going into the game.”
     
    “I do damage in that low part of the zone, especially with fastballs. If a pitcher can make a mistake down there that's what I need to jump all over. It's good for me to know that high velocity and top tier sweepers/sliders are pitches that I can handle.  I'm doing really good this spring and I'm excited to get into the season. Knowing I can compete allows me to feel confident going into the game.”
    There are many tools in baseball that will power an individual to the tallest heights of success, yet the more one studies the game the more it becomes apparent just how far being a consummate student can take you. His stark ability to absorb all the information spinning around him and amalgamate it into his own form has been on display long before his professional baseball days, or even his high school days. As a young baseball fan growing up in Seattle, Fontenelle enjoyed mimicking the stances of the Mariner standouts he looked up to at the time; those being Adrian Beltre, Raul Ibanez and Ichiro Suzuki, as he subconsciously developed his future professional form by imitating the batting stances of the Seattle trio. Success in baseball always comes down to the eyes, the way one sees the game, and likewise themselves in it, has the biggest impact on ones ability to succeed as a major leaguer. Cole Fontenelle is a talent full of soul, spark, and ingenuity both on and off the field; and with a bat and glove that plays as well as his mental it will only be a matter of time until he calculates his way to the highest reaches of success as a future Major League All-Star. 
    View the full article
  15. NO
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Taylor in OC Register: Ron Washington considering Anthony Rendon for Angels’ leadoff spot   
    TEMPE, Ariz. — With just over a week to go before Opening Day, Ron Washington still isn’t sure what he wants to do about the leadoff spot.
    The uncertainty pushed the Angels manager to try Anthony Rendon batting first for Wednesday’s exhibition game.
    “Just trying to find some things with the lineup,” Washington said. “I stayed status quo with the lineup throughout the spring and, to be honest with you, I wasn’t impressed with the top of it, the way it was working, so I wanted to try something else.”
    Washington said he wanted to try Rendon because he knew he would have a quality at-bat, including seeing more pitches.
    Rendon has a career .367 on-base percentage. Even in his mostly disappointing Angels career, Rendon has produced a .359 on-base percentage.
    Washington had said earlier in the spring he liked Rendon hitting cleanup – despite his lack of power – because he knew how to drive in runs. Now, it seems he’s more interested in his ability to get on base and see pitches.
    Rendon has hit leadoff 36 times in his career, none since 2015.
    “Our leadoff hitters are not prototypical leadoff hitters,” Washington said. “I need someone up there that I think will make that pitcher earn his first four or five pitches, instead of the first one being put in play.”
    Washington just last week expressed frustration that Luis Rengifo, another of his leadoff hitter choices, was making too many first-pitch outs.
    The other candidates in the leadoff spot are outfielders Aaron Hicks and Mickey Moniak.
    Hicks has a .524 on-base percentage this spring, with 10 walks in 42 plate appearances. He’s also hitting .375 with two homers, three doubles and a triple. Throughout Hicks’ career, his on-base percentage has been about 100 points higher than his batting average.
    “If Rendon is not in there, it would most likely be Hicks,” Washington said. “But Hicks can swing the bat. Hicks has been in situations where he can drive in runs.”
    There is still plenty of flexibility with the Angels lineup, even though Washington insists he’d prefer to have a stable group.
    “I want to try to make sure that I can maximize my lineup,” Washington said. “When you actually look at it, we’re not going to be a team that is going to be able to just bang with people. We need people on base when our bangers do come up, so we can maximize. I tried to run the lineup out there the whole spring trying to see how it works. Right now I’m trying some stuff out.”
    Shortstop Zach Neto hit leadoff at times in his rookie season, and he’s hitting .333 with a .370 on-base percentage this spring, but Washington said he still believes No. 9 is the best place for Neto.
    “He’s hitting ninth because of his experience, or lack of,” Washington said. “I want him to settle in. I want him to have fun. I want him to believe what he’s doing and if that time comes that I have to push him somewhere else, I’ll do that when that time comes. And when that time comes, he would have shown me that it’s time.
    “Right now his time is in the ninth hole. I want him to be successful. Not that he can’t handle the pressure of doing something else. But being in his first full year, I want him to relax and be successful. And I think he can down there because that’s what he wants to do. You never know. He might come to me and tell me ‘Hey, I can go lead off.’ And because he told me that I might do it. But right now, he’s right where he wants to be and he’s right where he needs to be.”
    First baseman Nolan Schanuel also hit leadoff last season, posting a .402 on-base percentage. Washington said he prefers Schanuel to hit second because his bat-to-ball skills make him a good candidate for situational hitting.
    RENGIFO UPDATE
    Rengifo, who came out of Tuesday’s game with left hamstring tightness, said Wednesday that he was feeling “way better.” He also said this didn’t feel as bad as when he hurt his hamstring earlier in camp, costing him about two weeks.
    “Hopefully it’ll only be a few days,” Washington said.
    If Rengifo would be unable to start the season, the Angels would have room to keep two players out of the three vying for the final position player spot: infielders Livan Soto, Miguel Sanó and Ehire Adrianza.
    STEFANIC SETBACK
    Infielder Michael Stefanic, who hurt his quad early in camp, had a setback this week after trying to run the bases.
    “It didn’t go very well,” Stefanic said Wednesday. “I felt it still.”
    Stefanic said an MRI showed the strain to be “worse than we thought.” He’s now been shut down from baseball activity.
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    Schanuel (back) went through some drills, but Washington said he hadn’t yet heard how he did. …
    The Angels have left-hander Patrick Sandoval scheduled to make his final spring appearance in a minor-league game Friday, instead of the big-league game. A minor-league game allows more leeway to control situations, ensuring that Sandoval can throw the number of pitches and innings he needs. Right-hander José Soriano, who had been scheduled to start a-minor league game on the off-day Thursday, is now scheduled to pitch Friday in the big-league exhibition. Sandoval is scheduled to start on Opening Day.
    View the full article
  16. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from OhtaniSan in AngelsWin Today: Angels Cole Fontenelle turning heads within the organization   
    Ryan Falla, AngelsWin.com Staff Reporter
    It appears fortunes are changing in Anaheim.
    Where once was an organization laid bare of any internal development is now an Angels future full of the most young promise they've had since their glory days of fifteen years past. Whereas that legacy run was fueled by homegrown talents so too does this window look to be forced open by the quality of youth across the organization. This years Spring Training has offered a glimpse into the star studded future of 2025 and beyond with certain showcased talents making their names present such as Nelson Rada and Caden Dana among others. Among those hopeful cornerstones is the Angels switch hitting third base prospect Cole Fontenelle, coming into the organization as a 7th round pick in the 2023 draft. Cole Fontenelle is a true student of the game who’s diligence in studying the necessities in detail has fueled his meteoric rise to the Angels from TCUs resident super-clutch batsman. Not only is his mental in a league of its own, his physical tools across the board rate strongly for an organization readily searching for their third baseman of the future. Fontenelle brings with him a raw power often tapped into during the most critical of situations, an understanding of the strike zone that allows his power stroke the successes it saw in college, and most importantly a desire to absorb every analytic angle as if his future hung in the balance. As preparation and execution meet success so too does Cole Fontenelle breathe life onto the field with his attention to the game. 
    “I honestly didn't have a high expectation to be in big league camp at all this Spring. I got the call from Perry saying ‘You're gonna be in big league camp’, he just told me you deserve this and to go there, do what you do and soak up as much information as possible. I've been learning as much as I can from everybody; really studying how people work, seeing their routines, seeing a lot of the pre-work and post-game work they do. Absorbing everything I can.”
    Cole Fontenelle was an absolute menace at the plate in his short time with TCU as he logged a mind-boggling .352/.473/.640 slash with 14 HRs and 21 doubles in 65 games played, which would average out to about one extra-base hit every 2 games. The switch hitting Fontenelle worked the zone with exceptional proficiency from both sides as he balanced 45 BBs to 50 Ks in his lone year with the school pre-draft. His ability to pressure pitchers on the mound with his unceasing discipline was one of the bigger factors in his offensive success with TCU and will likely be the determinator of his success with the Angels. Fontanelle was no slouch on the base paths either as he wrangled 20 stolen bases with 66 runs scored, a mark that seemingly falls in line with the Angels re-geared organizational philosophies towards taking the extra bag and forcing runs in their favor. 
    “It's about treating every at-bat the same, whether it was a Tuesday night with nobody in the crowd or it was a College World series or a super-regional.  For me it was about having the same approach, doing the same routine on deck, walking to the plate the same way. Being super consistent and also being diligent in my preparation. It made it a lot easier to handle those big situations, and it made it a lot easier when I transitioned into pro ball. This is baseball, I've prepared the best I could so now all I can do is go compete.”
    Fontenelle quickly capitalized on his newfound professional opportunities post-draft by swinging for a .753 OPS in his first 38 games as a pro in Low A. His best qualities almost immediately shined through with the Angels organization as he displayed the clutch power genes brewing within on a daily basis. He opened his Low A debut with six hits and three RBIs in his first week of play before exploding mid-August with a sixteen game stretch that saw Fontenelle corral 16 hits and 15 RBIs with 8 XBHs; those being 4 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 HR’s. Fontenelle’s agile decision making at the plate and quick reads mixed with a swing that traces an elite path and bullies balls down in the zone were the biggest factors in his growing power successes last year. Furthered development should see Fontenelle continue acclimating to working the top half of the zone and beating secondaries in order to generate as many preferable pitches down his pipeline as possible.
    “I want to get deeper into some counts, sometimes my aggressiveness works against me. I want to get to my pitches, I know when I get my pitches I'll be able to do damage. I’m not setting any numerical goals per se; this amount of home runs, this amount of doubles, I’m just making sure I'm super consistent with my approach and preparation, doing everything I can to know about who we're facing, the arms that might come in the game, so I'm as prepared as possible to go compete. I'm doing really good this spring and I'm excited to get into the season. Knowing I can compete allows me to feel confident going into the game.”
     
    “I do damage in that low part of the zone, especially with fastballs. If a pitcher can make a mistake down there that's what I need to jump all over. It's good for me to know that high velocity and top tier sweepers/sliders are pitches that I can handle.  I'm doing really good this spring and I'm excited to get into the season. Knowing I can compete allows me to feel confident going into the game.”
    There are many tools in baseball that will power an individual to the tallest heights of success, yet the more one studies the game the more it becomes apparent just how far being a consummate student can take you. His stark ability to absorb all the information spinning around him and amalgamate it into his own form has been on display long before his professional baseball days, or even his high school days. As a young baseball fan growing up in Seattle, Fontenelle enjoyed mimicking the stances of the Mariner standouts he looked up to at the time; those being Adrian Beltre, Raul Ibanez and Ichiro Suzuki, as he subconsciously developed his future professional form by imitating the batting stances of the Seattle trio. Success in baseball always comes down to the eyes, the way one sees the game, and likewise themselves in it, has the biggest impact on ones ability to succeed as a major leaguer. Cole Fontenelle is a talent full of soul, spark, and ingenuity both on and off the field; and with a bat and glove that plays as well as his mental it will only be a matter of time until he calculates his way to the highest reaches of success as a future Major League All-Star. 
    View the full article
  17. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Angel Oracle in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
  18. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from katie in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
  19. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Duren, Duren in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
  20. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Junkballer in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
  21. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from EdmontonAngelsFan in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
  22. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from ettin in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
  23. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Vegas Halo Fan in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
  24. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from James in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
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  25. Like
    AngelsWin.com got a reaction from Chitown27Fan in AngelsWin Today: My Takeaways from Spring So Far   
    With most of the major player reassignment done, the Angels Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.  While a few questions still remain, I think I've seen enough to feel confident in posting my opinions here. I want to make it clear that I'm not a professional analyst, nor a professional hater. The things I'm talking about here are things I've been seeing and thinking all spring, and as much as I love the players the Angels have I'm an Angels fan above that.  Anywhere I see shortcomings or inconsistencies on the roster I'll comment on it.  With that said, let's talk about the roster:
    Too Many Angels In the Outfield?
    The entire Angels outfield has been absolutely stellar this Spring - Mike Trout (.694 OPS) has actually been the worst, but he remains Mike Trout.  Taylor Ward (.753 OPS) looks to have left field locked up, new signings Aaron Hicks (1.314 OPS) and Jake Marisnick (1.164 OPS) have been outstanding, and the 25-and-under crowd have impressed as well with Mickey Moniak (.894 OPS), Jo Adell (.704 OPS), and Jordyn Adams (.844 OPS).
    That's 7 outfielders who have a chance at the 4 or possibly 5 outfield spots on the MLB roster. Getting the obvious out of the way, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward will be running center and left, respectively. Mickey Moniak has no remaining options, and has played great since his call up last May, making him the obvious choice for a potential platoon with recent Major League Signee Aaron Hicks in right. On the other hand Jordyn Adams appears slated to, at the very least, begin the season as a Bee. There's your 4 outfielders, however here's where things get tricky.
    Jo Adell has no options left,  limiting the Angels choices to either A. Field him on the roster all year, B. Place him on waivers, or C. Try to find a trade partner for him. Option A seems most likely, bringing the total to 5 outfielders active for the Angels. In itself this isn't a problem, seeing as Trout will likely be getting a lot of looks at DH and Moniak is far better equipped to hit off righties. However, if we're fielding 5 outfielders, I'd almost prefer the 5th be Jake Marisnick.  He's been outstanding this spring, is better defensively than Adell as well as better on the basepaths.  Marisnick's 5 stolen bases lead the MLB (Adell is 4/4 in stolen base attempts, to be fair), and his defensive pedigree gives him value as both a defensive sub and a pinch runner, providing much needed versatility to an Angels bench that will likely consist of Matt Thaiss, Aaron Hicks, and Ehire Adrianza/Miguel Sano.
    Of course, I understand why Adell will likely be the 5th outfielder, as Marisnick is on a Minor League deal, so there's no harm no foul with him starting in Salt Lake while Adell makes the opening day roster. I just really hope we get to see if Marisnick can replicate this spring performance in the bigs at some point this year. 
    Who Gets The 4th Bench Spot?
    Another internal battle is the battle for the 6th infielder/4th bench spot.  It seems to have been cut down to Miguel Sano, Ehire Adrianza, and *maybe* Livan Soto. While Soto's performance should give him a real chance, I tend to believe he won't get the nod simply because he's younger and less experienced.
    Miguel Sano is incredibly fun to watch, however provides 0 value defensively, especially if Wash is trying to fit him in at 3rd on occasion. Adrianza provides familiarity for Washington from the Atlanta days and better positional versatility, albeit at a far lower offensive output than Sano. Adrianza's career high is a 102 wRC+, achieved in 2019 in Minnesota. His teammate, Miguel Sano, posted a 138 wRC+ in that same year, his best in a season with at least 100 games played. 
    In my opinion, the spot should go to Sano, especially with the availability of DH at bats.  Adrianza certainly provides value, but Rengifo, Drury, and Neto in the middle infield leaves less room for Adrianza to show it. Sano's role will likely be DHing, pinch hitting, and potentially covering first in case of Schanuel struggling, which I don't think he will. My only issue with this is it leaves Rengifo as the backup shortstop in case of Neto needing a day off, but here's to hoping that under Wash's guidance Rengifo can improve his shortstop defense to make that less of a problem. 
    Who's the Closer?
    Last year, Carlos Estevez's first half was one of the most dominant Angels closer performances we've seen since K-Rod.  He followed it up with a fine, not great, second half, and thus far in spring he's been very unimpressive. I'm not saying he can't bounce back, but I'd much rather see Robert Stephenson be the go to guy in high leverage situations - 9th inning or otherwise. However, assuming he's not ready to start the season - or struggles with injury during - who's the guy?  We've seen Washington's teams close by committee before, with Gagne, Frank Francisco, and CJ Wilson sharing save opportunities before Neftali Feliz joined the team in 2010. Did Estevez's 2023 earn him the closer job this year? I kind of hope it didn't. There's too much talent in this group to be limited to traditional bullpen roles. I'd like to see Estevez, Stephenson, and Moore all get opportunities in the 9th.
    Rotational Problems?
    I will start this off by saying that, as a unit, the pitching has been incredible this spring, by Angels standards.  Whether it's the new coaching or the new players, they've been throwing more strikes and it's been great to see. Last year, despite winning the Cactus League, the Angels were bottom 10 in ERA and walked more batters than everyone but the White Sox and A's in the spring.  This year they've improved in both aspects, up to 17th in ERA and 22nd(!) in walks.  While it's not indicative of a top 10 rotation, it's a nice change of pace from the past. That being said, within the rotation I've had some concerns.
    Reid Detmers has had a good spring in terms of making hitters miss and getting ground balls instead of fly balls, however mistake pitches still haunt him.  Griffin Canning has looked excellent despite some control issues in a couple starts, but could be poised to make a huge jump this year.  Chase Silseth looks outstanding, I still truly believe he could turn into a 120 ERA+ starter this year if given the opportunity to do so.  Even Tyler Anderson has looked much better than he did last year, though time will tell with that one. 
    Patrick Sandoval, though, hasn't looked very good. It's sad, because he flashed so much potential in 2022, followed it up with a dominant WBC before a disappointing 2023 and a 10.29 ERA this spring.  Now, this is far from the end - Blake Snell posted a 5.62 ERA in spring last year and won the Cy Young. I bet Sandy will be very solid in our rotation this year, but it hurts to see this in terms of him becoming the ace it looked like he would become a couple years ago. A lot of his struggles seem rooted in getting behind in counts and getting frustrated with himself. Hopefully Barry Enright and Ron Washington can knock him out of that funk and get him into 2022 form again. Gotta root for the hometown kids. 
    As Washington said in a recent interview with Rhett Bollinger,  "Things can change where someone has to leave the rotation."  This leads me to my last question - 
    What Does Signing Blake Snell Do To The Angels Playoff Odds?
    Let me start off by saying this whole Snell situation is so very frustrating. If Heyman gets on a livestream and says "There's mutual interest between Snell and the Angels, but it's hard to tell if Arte is willing to spend" one more time I might delete Twitter. That being said, in this world we're gonna imagine Arte has a change of heart and the Angels sign Blake Snell. How much closer are we to the playoffs than we were without him?
    I think, honestly, quite a bit.  I'm very publicly a supporter of Blake Snell, but I see the qualms people have with signing him. Giving up the 2nd round pick would certainly hurt, especially since our farm system isn't very good, but you can only hope that a second round pick becomes Blake Snell.  Predictive stats and peripherals like Blake Snell more than results have even in his down years, and he's coming off a season where he won the ERA title by nearly 0.38 points, the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2007. 
    The Angels lost Ohtani, and watching the team this spring has done nothing but make me believe the offense can hold their own without him, but the rotation is gonna miss him.  Starting pitching is clearly the biggest hole this team has, and getting a clear top of the rotation arm fills that gap more than any other single player. We can throw 1 or 2 year prove it deals to players that used to be top of the line starters as much as we want, but to compete for a playoff spot in 2024 or even 2025, I think signing Snell now is the best chance we have.
    View the full article
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