Angels Fan Forever

After Maddon pulled Heaney there was a pause before they went to commercial and Vasgersian said "I don't like that" thinking they had gone to commercial.

Rengifo isn’t in the game for the Bees tonight.

I wonder if he’s getting called up…it’s probably a stretch but maybe Rendon is going on the IL. 

I'm not sure that Taylor Ward will stick in the Majors. Could be a AAAA guy. He still has options....

88 MPH fastball is not going to cut it. Bundy was hitting 94 in April.

4 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Why is the gap bigger than ever?

The lack of MiLB in 2020?

Actually, the article references the use of foreign substances when discussing the gap between Pitchers and Hitters in MLB versus hitters. And the consolidated teams were all lower level I think so it wouldn't affect AAA at this point. The lost MiLB year and the 26th roster spot could be a factor.

But the reality is the quote is coming from one unnamed player who is close to a dude who is struggling...

"But Hiura has never struggled to this degree at any level and he moved quickly through the minors, with one player close to Hiura saying “he had no reference of how to get back on track.” “The environment in the big leagues now, everything is hard on hitters,” the player said. “Never been a bigger gap between Triple-A and the big leagues. So that didn’t really help him on what he needs to do to succeed here consistently.” Perhaps the work with Haines, along with Major League Baseball cracking down on pitchers using foreign substances, will allow Hiura to bounce back."

Thank you Billy Eppler!!

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

He's been primarily at C, with games at 1B and 3B as well. 

I noticed this trend last night...

Thaiss went a stretch from 5/13 to 5/22 where he caught 6 of 9 games. Since then, from 5/23 through 6/7, Thaiss has only been the catcher in 3 of 13 games. Over that same stretch he has 3 starts at DH and 6 starts at 1B. He had a really rough night behind the plate on 5/22 and has 4 errors at catcher in limited starts.

And I think if a team has a 26 year old prospect who hasn't played catcher since college in 2016/5 years ago and you are looking at him to catch in MLB games I think he would be catching more than 3 of 13 AAA games over guys like Butera, Arcia and Bemboom.

Something doesn't add up.

I'm thinking they gave him a shot and they have backed off. Who knows why, I'm basing it on box scores and BR but something isn't right and I haven't seen anything with more in depth analysis. If Thaiss were a stock I wouldn't buy him as a MLB catcher right now but If he can replicate the hitting at the MLB level I think he can find a MLB home at 1B/3B/DH and as an ED player at either position with the right team.

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

 

Big night for Thaiss.

Interesting he is at DH...

37 year old prospect Drew Butera is at Catcher. 

Pujols makes that play look easy - Walsh struggled...

11 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

t might also be that the Angels have already seen enough of Thaiss at catcher and feel confident he can handle the job, thus playing him elsewhere as well. So his call-up could be sooner.

This makes no sense to me. He’s had 4 errors in only 11 games at catcher according to BR. I can’t imagine the Angels saying yep, your ready for the bigs now go play some first and third and DH. I think he’s a project. And so far the defense doesn’t look good. 

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

This doesn't make sense at all, considering that they just started having him catch again this year. Why else would they do that in AAA, if they didn't want to at least see what he can do there, with the hopes of him doing it in the majors? Meaning, the Angels don't have Thaiss' minor league career in mind; everything they do with prospects. is towards their future major league career, whether with the org or as a trade chip.

7 hours ago, m0nkey said:

Don't bury the lead.

Would you replace Suzuki with Thaiss? My response was to Blarg wanting this.

8 hours ago, Dochalo said:

I don't think it was ever about making him the primary catcher but if he can be the second guy then it's actually very useful.  I'm gonna forgive a highish k rate for anyone with an obp above .350.  

Where did primary catcher come from? I said I don't think the Angels see him as "a MLB catcher".

My response was to Blarg saying he wants the Angels to cut ties with Suzuki for Thaiss.

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

I'd really like to see Thaiss cut down a little on his strikeouts but his current slash line is pretty healthy at .302/.423/.512/.935. The sooner he can replace Kurt Suzuki the better the Angels will be. 

I don't think the Angels see Thaiss as a MLB catcher. Sure, they are experimenting with him there but he's only started 3 of the last 8 games at catcher. Overall he has had 4 errors in 11 games at catcher.

And you're right, the 30% K rate is an issue.

Nice win last night!! 

Great matchup tonight - Cobb vs. Kikuchi.

A win gets us to one game out of 3rd place.

15 minutes ago, rafibomb said:

There's no one complaining about Walsh being so low in the lineup?

Walsh is .213/.250/.393 vs. LHP’s...

2 minutes ago, Stradling said:

He’s making $590k

Thanks but strange it’s not showing on BR. 

Wonder why BR doesn’t have a salary section for Griffin Canning?

He's a great story. Drafted in the 39th round. I hope he can continue to play at this level.

Interesting side note - Dipoto drafted his own Son in the 38th round that year.

Wow. Walsh crushes RHP’s!!

27 minutes ago, Lou said:

Sounds like he made a mistake.

 Minasian?

I would give it some time. I like Gosselin. We will see.

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

Munch has a higher OPS than Albert this year against LHP. 

True. It's now .879 vs. .813 after last night. But Pujols had an OPS that was over 200 points higher when Friedman signed him and Walsh has continued to drop - he's at .604 now.

My point was and still is that I think Pujols has some value against LHP's as a starter or a pinch hitter. I still think it's a good signing by the Dodgers and I think Pujols will help them in his role. We will see.

But as I've said I think Minasian believes Gosselin is a better option against Lefty's than either Pujols or Walsh. It didn't work out last night but we will see.

17 hours ago, WicketMaiden said:

If you think Friedman based his assessment of Pujols on this year's stats you're a bigger fool than you sound.

Right. I’m certain he used the 3 year old 2018 stats you cited.

I get it. You have a narrative, Pujols sucks worse than Muncy or Walsh vs. LHP’s, so you dig deep to find a stat to support your narrative with stats from 2018. I’m certain that’s how it’s done...

7 minutes ago, failos said:

You don’t doubt Strad like that

3rd rule of Strad Club...

12 minutes ago, WicketMaiden said:

So you're ignoring the last few year's performance, you're ignoring Muncie having an OBP 140 points higher, and you're basing your assessment of Pujols' prowess against lefties entirely on the quality of Pujols' 10 hits in 36 at-bats against lefties this season.

Ok. 

Yes. 
Andrew Friedman did also. 

And. 
As I mentioned, maybe Minasian decided Gosselin is a better option at 1B vs. LHP’s than either Pujols or Walsh. He probably is. I think we may see Gosselin get more starts at 1B against Lefty’s. 

23 hours ago, WicketMaiden said:

No, he really isn't. All stats below are against LHP only:

 

 

 

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Pujols

2018 - .200 BA .674 OPS

2019 - .261 BA .830 OPS

2020 - .231 BA .627 OPS

Muncy

2018 - .255 BA .891 OPS

2019 - .268 BA .893 OPS

2020 - .239 BA .795 OPS

Walsh 

2020 - .324 BA .776 OPS

Small sample size (32 at bats) but Pujols has a higher BA than Walsh this year but trails Muncy's OBP by 140 points.

Batting Average? 2018?  Really?

I based it on OPS vs LHP’s for this year. Look them up. Pujols is a better option than Muncie and Walsh. 

Andrew Friedman made a solid move.