Reveille1984

I didn't realize Loup is our only LH reliever, weird

I guess when your first 20 draft picks are pitchers, statistically some of them are bound to work out.  Nice!

38 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Adell has 5 home runs in 11 games in Salt Lake. 

He started super hot, but he's now 1 for his last 15 with 6 Ks, so yeah let's just let him simmer a bit

Overall we've surpassed all expectations up to this point.

Our bullpen is still ass though, even before the Texas series.  They don't miss enough bats (bottom three in K rate) and give up a ton of hard hit balls which are turning into XBH.  These things are volatile and could shift at a moment's notice, but in these games where our offense doesn't show up we're going to have to clench our cheeks pretty hard.

17 minutes ago, HeavenlyHalos said:

I wouldn't say he's always destroyed in the minors. Last year he put up a .934 OPS but in 2019 it was .834 between three levels. With that said, I agree that I don't want to give up on him at all yet. His power is something we have not really had since Trout coming through the system and being 23 is still very young. Have to hope he somehow improves his defense at some point in left and his plate discipline at the major league level. The latter is the most encouraging sign of his quick start in the minors with 8 walks in 40 Plate Apperances. The negative being that he is also striking out at a 25% rate but we can obviously live with that with an increased OBP and high slugging %

He actually had a 22.9% K rate in 35 games last year with the big club, but I feel like that was him trying to hit more for contact than power (his SLG% dropped massively along with it).  

3 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Amazing what one of our talented starting pitchers can accomplish with a good homeplate ump behind the dish. 

Hell, they may even be able to throw a no-hitter. 

 

yeah, I watched the entire game last night and the umpire was really good.  Sucks that it has to be an anomaly more than commonplace.

OC is always a fickle fanbase, it's just the way it is.  Same with the Ducks.  We aren't a legacy franchise like the Lakers/Dodgers, and there's too much other shit to do around SoCal in the warmer months to care about watching a crappy baseball team every day. 

Even considering myself about as "hardcore" an Angels fan as you'll find, the past few years after the ASB I'd pretty much watch Trout/Ohtani ABs and then check out.  

whodafuq is Wallach

Fair enough.

If he can regain his AAA form and match or exceed those previous contact and walk rates (7%+) with much improved defense over a full season, I'll gain some more optimism. 

I think overall he just needs reps and confidence.  Sitting and platooning over the first 20 games was just a cycle of him playing a game, making a horrendous blunder, and then sitting and thinking about for two or three more days before playing again.  I think in general the stupid platoons with very young players trying to gain experience is another one of my Maddon gripes, but it is what it is.  But with Ward looking like he's emerging as the every day RF option, the problem pretty much took care of itself anyways and will hopefully allow Adell to stick around the Bees.

Is his ceiling even that high anymore honestly?  I get it, he's only 23, is smart and well spoken, has the power, etc. and I want to see our guys succeed more than anyone.  But I think the deficiencies he still has in his game at this point are too major for him to be anything other than "just a guy".

His defensive routes/reaction times are abysmal, and even when he's in the right spot he still makes the easy plays look hard.  His arm accuracy is low.  His contact rates even on pitches in the zone are among the worst in MLB, on top of his awful plate approach.  

I'd say just keep him in the minors the entire year, let him build back his confidence, and play him in LF/RF every single day to get the reps.  

He chose violence.. but our offense chose impotence

Erica wasn't bad for ... a human of that persuasion

Hopefully he can make some adjustments in AAA and get a bit of confidence back.  

The tough thing is that he basically sucked in every aspect of the game.  Not just his fielding, but his contact rate even against pitches in the zone is basically the worst in baseball.  When his only value at the plate is putting the ball in play, that's pretty much a worst case scenario.

This is starting to feel like one of those travel day throwaway games

Adell has to be the worst defensive OF in the game... yikes

I didn't realize Ward was already 28, feels like we just drafted him a few years ago.

But yeah, pleasant surprise obviously.  If him and Marsh can be above average regulars on top of Trout/Ohtani/Rendon/Walsh being their usual selves, our lineup should continue to be one of the best in baseball.

Our starters aren't even the problem right now.  Our magical, revamped BP has sucked complete ass. 

Highest HR rate in the MLB, 28th in K/9 rate, bottom five in ERA... you can basically look up any stat showing "this is how shitty your BP is" and it includes the Angels.

Detmers really is ass.  Needs to kick around in AAA for a while.

19 minutes ago, mmc said:

 

This is the stupidest argument in baseball for lineup decisions.  It reminds me of the "but we have a winning record with Mathis" arguments from however long ago when he was hitting sub Mendoza line.  

We went 2-1 with Trout out of the lineup, guess we don't need him!

Duffy is basically Fletcher with better plate discipline... I feel like just letting Walsh play against lefties has a lot more upside.  But whatevs

5 minutes ago, totdprods said:

He was one of the guys I wanted them to sign the most in the offseason and he's looked every bit the part of what I had hoped to see. 

Would love to see him have a strong enough season that the Angels are able to lock him in to a deal around 2-3 years with an AAV of $10-$13m or so, kind of like what the Alex Cobb, Kyle Gibson, Alex Wood, Jake Odorizzi's of the world get. 

I'm not quite as optimistic that we see Syndergaard back here next year. If he has a really big rebound year it would be hard to afford him and Ohtani coupled with other needs, and he'll be among the top FA arms next winter. So I hope we get max mileage out of him this year. 

The velo an all of Syndergaard's pitches is down a few MPH right now, that's something that will likely be heavily scrutinized as the year goes on.  He's been good so far, but also a little lucky and isn't missing many bats.  

He could become old Thor and start ramping up to 97-98 again, or this might just be where he is now as an almost 30 year old coming off TJS.  

The good thing about the six man rotation is that guys like Thor and Lorenzen that haven't been starters for a while can get more rest and ramp up a little more gradually.  Hopefully it helps them continue to succeed.

7 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

If Fletch returns to his .376 obp of 2020, or even the .350 of 2019, sure, I'm fine with him leading off. In 2018, he was only getting on base at a .316 clip, though, and in 2021 he couldn't even manage a .300 obp. Those aren't lead off numbers. Last year, he was barely worth a starting job and it was solely based on his glove. He was a deficit on offense.

How much of that is the deader ball and how much is teams adjusting to him and Fletch failing to adjust back? I don't know. But if he doesn't figure it out and 2021 turns into the new normal, imo he should be seen as a defense-only guy and nothing more should be expected. 

It isn't the dead ball.  His biggest issue is that he literally has zero power, so pitchers have consistently been attacking him earlier in the count the longer he's been in the league.  

His first pitch strike percentage was top 5 in MLB last season (65% vs 55% in his "breakout" 2019 season), and his slugging % was bottom 3 in MLB.  Until he can actually punish, well, anything, he's not going to draw walks since he's getting pounded in the zone and might as well be up there with a pool noodle.  

I think I'd rather just wait and see if he can get through another season staying healthy and putting up big numbers.  It's not like his value is going to get much higher than it already is after a once in a century MVP season.  And he probably isn't super motivated to extend in Anaheim unless we start, you know, actually winning so it's probably a moot point anyways.

It is an interesting case study though since pitchers generally are a way riskier long term investment, and a good chunk of his value comes from being a high end SP.  If he can only be a valuable pitcher for say, half the contract, will he still want to try to be a starter or slowly transition to a permanent DH (maybe RF/1B)?  Will "position player" Ohtani still be worth $45M a year at that point?  And a guy that's throwing 100 on the mound on top of hitting in 130+ games you'd have to think is more prone to wear and tear than your average position player.  Looking at last year, his OPS dropped 200 points in the second half of the season and fatigue likely played a part in that.  

As much as I love the guy, I feel like 10 years would be a major risk.  He'd probably get it if he were a FA right now though.

Different year, same garbage pitching