Second Base

Most pitchers are beginning their bullpen routines right about now. Everyone is different and every off-season is different depending on free agency or if there's the WBC or Olympics. I know many here already know this, but for those that aren't familiar, this is the typical schedule for pitchers. 
October - Maybe pitching, maybe not depending on playoffs. If not, there's a ramp down, meaning light stretching and playing catch but no bullpens. 
November - Rest. No catch. Don't even pick up a ball. Light workouts. Focus on recovery. 
December - Regular workout routine, or if you're going to put weight on that you'll inevitably lose throughout the season, start gaining, focus on mobilization. Still no catch or bullpens. 
January - Ramp up workouts, make your gains, start playing catch. At middle or end of the month, get in a bullpen session once every 2-3 days, 10-20 pitches at 70% but make sure you don't develop any bad habits at this lower effort which is common.
February - Daily playing catch, more consistent bullpens but really pay attention to how body recovers or feels afterward to avoid injury. Still only 60-70%.
March - Expect to pitch at 100% once a week, along with one full rest day per week. The other five days, light/regular bullpens and tinkering with grips and new pitches. Focus on your timing because the pitch clock is here to stay. 
April - Season starts. 

Most pitchers are beginning their bullpen routines right about now. Everyone is different and every off-season is different depending on free agency or if there's the WBC or Olympics. I know many here already know this, but for those that aren't familiar, this is the typical schedule for pitchers. 
October - Maybe pitching, maybe not depending on playoffs. If not, there's a ramp down, meaning light stretching and playing catch but no bullpens. 
November - Rest. No catch. Don't even pick up a ball. Light workouts. Focus on recovery. 
December - Regular workout routine, or if you're going to put weight on that you'll inevitably lose throughout the season, start gaining, focus on mobilization. Still no catch or bullpens. 
January - Ramp up workouts, make your gains, start playing catch. At middle or end of the month, get in a bullpen session once every 2-3 days, 10-20 pitches at 70% but make sure you don't develop any bad habits at this lower effort which is common.
February - Daily playing catch, more consistent bullpens but really pay attention to how body recovers or feels afterward to avoid injury. Still only 60-70%.
March - Expect to pitch at 100% once a week, along with one full rest day per week. The other five days, light/regular bullpens and tinkering with grips and new pitches. Focus on your timing because the pitch clock is here to stay. 
April - Season starts. 

Seeing a lot of predictions for Rookie of the Year, and not a single one picks Nolan Schanuel. And I think that tells you everything you need to know.
They'll pick teenagers who aren't fully developed, or athletes with severe platoon splits and declare them the odds on favorite to win ROY.
Nevermind Schanuel who basically went straight from college to the pros and posted an OBP North of .400, which I don't think had ever been done. They'll make excuses for the blue chippers struggling in AA because they're "exhausted" yet Schanuel in his "exhaustion" looked like an MLB veteran at age 21. 
I'm not saying I'd bet against Jackson Holliday, he's incredible. I'm saying to not even bring up Schanuel in the conversation is BS. Furthermore, the kid still isn't getting love on top prospect lists.  #97 on MLB.com. How many of the guys ahead of him won't even be major leaguers? Yet here they have a kid, guaranteed top of the order big leaguer and they'll put 96 kids ahead of him. And oddly enough, this may impact the Angels because in order to get a draft pick for him winning ROY, he needs to appear on at least two lists. 

Seeing a lot of predictions for Rookie of the Year, and not a single one picks Nolan Schanuel. And I think that tells you everything you need to know.
They'll pick teenagers who aren't fully developed, or athletes with severe platoon splits and declare them the odds on favorite to win ROY.
Nevermind Schanuel who basically went straight from college to the pros and posted an OBP North of .400, which I don't think had ever been done. They'll make excuses for the blue chippers struggling in AA because they're "exhausted" yet Schanuel in his "exhaustion" looked like an MLB veteran at age 21. 
I'm not saying I'd bet against Jackson Holliday, he's incredible. I'm saying to not even bring up Schanuel in the conversation is BS. Furthermore, the kid still isn't getting love on top prospect lists.  #97 on MLB.com. How many of the guys ahead of him won't even be major leaguers? Yet here they have a kid, guaranteed top of the order big leaguer and they'll put 96 kids ahead of him. And oddly enough, this may impact the Angels because in order to get a draft pick for him winning ROY, he needs to appear on at least two lists. 

I just kind of feel like the words, "Woo", "Suk" and "Go" are the most commonly shouted phrases you'll hear from the stands. 
"Woooo! Dodgers Suk. Let's Go, Padres. 

The Padres and Korea are just trolling us now. That's not a real name, those are just random words. 

He was dealing with injury, a long layoff and subsequent rust, and Tri City being a place and a league where offense goes to die. 
AA is a better environment and if he's healthy that's the key. But he's also going to need to curb the swing and miss against better pitching, while still tapping into his power. 
Tough road ahead but it's why such a small percentage of prospects ever make it.

The Padres and Korea are just trolling us now. That's not a real name, those are just random words. 

The Padres and Korea are just trolling us now. That's not a real name, those are just random words. 

I think Anthopolous has been absolutely brilliant this winter. Losing Vaughn Grissom hurts because I think he's going to be legit, but they've been able to do what they're doing now precisely because of how well run they are.
They developed guys like Acuna, Albies, Strider, Harris and Riley and then traded for Olson and Murphy and then Anthopolous did what every GM should be doing, which is signing each and every one of them to lucrative yet team friendly extensions. This creates an extremely talented, cohesive unit that can be upgraded here and there by taking on guys like Chris Sale or even David Fletcher. 
I hope Minasian follow suit by exploring extensions with guys like Sandoval, Detmers, O'Hoppe, Neto and Schanuel. 

The Padres and Korea are just trolling us now. That's not a real name, those are just random words. 

The Padres and Korea are just trolling us now. That's not a real name, those are just random words. 

And silver lining, I think the Angels are in a perfect spot to be giving a guy like Silseth a guaranteed spot to work through things at the major league level. There will be hills and valleys throughout the six month season and if the Angels are unlikely to unseat Texas, Houston or Seattle, then Silseth can work through those so that come 2025, he'd be better off. 

I believe it based on his build and his career. And his fun little cameo in Mr. Baseball.

Around 10 PM on December 30th, Robert Murray broke the Angels 4th MLB roster transaction of the offseason, 28 year old right hander Zach Plesac.  Plesac wasn't a player very high on many people's radars - a large amount of his 2023 season was spent in AAA - which makes giving him a Major League contract even more perplexing.  Clearly, though, the Angels see something in him. Any baseball fan could look at his 7.59 ERA and label him as a lost cause, but the Angels saw something that they think could provide value in 2024.  Let's take a deeper look into who Plesac is and what they could have seen.
First off, the exact contract details haven't been revealed yet, but we can make a pretty educated guess based on Plesac's recent transaction history.  He was DFA'd on June 11th and cleared waivers, meaning no team wanted him for his $2.95M salary.  We can assume if the Angels wouldn't take that chance in June, they wouldn't give him that (or more), now. The minimum is $720K, meaning that Plesac's deal is more than likely between $720K and $2.95M a year.  If I was personally guessing, I would assume it's a 1 year deal worth something like $1.5 million.  Also, the term Major League deal doesn't mean he's tied to the bigs - he has 2 option years left so if he doesn't make a strong impression I would guess he starts in Salt Lake.
Diving into Plesac's stats, he hasn't been the worst pitcher in baseball over his career, far from it.  Since 2018, he has an above average ERA+, higher than that of former Angels Lucas Giolito, Andrew Heaney, and Alex Cobb. His 2020, although it was shortened, was exceptional, putting up a 196 ERA+ and 3.39 FIP across 55.1 innings. His 2019 was more complete and still respectable, with a 124 ERA+ over 115.2 innings.
His peripherals show both positives and negatives in his profile. He does a great job controlling the walk (terrible 2023 included), and he gets lots of swings on pitches outside of the zone.  The problem areas are, well, everywhere else. His best pitches are his off speed and breaking stuff, but his fastball - which he throws 40% of the time - isn't effective at all in terms of velocity or spin.  This leads to 1) lots of hard contact, 2) difficulty finishing off batters, and 3) Zach getting frustrated.  
Starting with contact, even at his best in 2020 Plesac's fastball was below average, leading to a 17th percentile finish in Barrel%. In his worse years, 2021-2023, he consistently finished at the bottom of the league in both Barrel% and Hard Hit%.  This has translated to 45 home runs allowed over the last 3 seasons,  in the top third of the league despite only throwing 21 innings in 2023. 
The biggest missing piece for Plesac seems to be his lack of K's. As stated before, he gets lots of chases out of the zone because of his solid breaking stuff. However, his fastball holds him back from becoming a high-volume strikeout pitcher. He's been near the bottom of the league in K% and Whiff% every year of his career except one - 2020.  It was the best year for his fastball (still not great), and his only above average year in getting strikeouts, which I don't think is a coincidence.  If I had to guess this is the key the Angels think they see - if they can get him to even a league average fastball he could be a solid rotation piece. 
Finally, his off the field stuff. Plesac's stellar 2020 was cut short because he was optioned by the Guardians after breaking curfew and violating Covid-19 regulations. In 2022 he broke his thumb punching the pitching mound, perhaps only surpassable in stupidity by when he broke his thumb in 2021 by "aggressively ripping off his shirt."  It seems like mostly short outbursts and a stupid decision during quarantine, but it's something to watch.
I think for the financial risk, this deal is nothing to worry about. I've seen people upset that it was a Major League deal, but I assume his role will be Triple-A depth starter and the type of contract was more of a tactic to get him to sign. The Angels process of  "low risk, high reward" applies here, but I'll add that given the track record of Angels pitching development, and Plesac's recent performance, I'll tamper my expectations on seeing that reward come to fruition. We'll see what Barry Enright and the new staff have in store for him come springtime.
 
 
 
 
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I like that Plesac didn't regret breaking COVID protocols since shelter in place was stupid and evil to start with. However, his pitching hasn't impressed anyone for a couple years now. 

Clay would’ve been a good president fwiw. 

Yup, I was wrong about Kyle Kubitza when he was a prospect 8 years ago. My bad. What a burn, Strad. 

I like that Plesac didn't regret breaking COVID protocols since shelter in place was stupid and evil to start with. However, his pitching hasn't impressed anyone for a couple years now. 

I like that Plesac didn't regret breaking COVID protocols since shelter in place was stupid and evil to start with. However, his pitching hasn't impressed anyone for a couple years now. 

I like that Plesac didn't regret breaking COVID protocols since shelter in place was stupid and evil to start with. However, his pitching hasn't impressed anyone for a couple years now. 

Bonus points for triggering the Covid Karen’s still living in 2020.  

I like that Plesac didn't regret breaking COVID protocols since shelter in place was stupid and evil to start with. However, his pitching hasn't impressed anyone for a couple years now.