ThisismineScios

Wash has stopped starting Hicks at least. Needs to stop starting Moniak except to spell. Let Jo play 5x a week. I really want him to have consistent time. He has such elite speed he just needs to make better choices. He’s like top 5%

Just have to follow up with some interesting info from metrics: Sano is murdering the ball -- but his OBP is higher than his SLG. Rengifo is not squaring up the ball at all. Not even a little. No barrels, and is chasing almost exactly at the worst rate in the league. Defense has been awful Adell's offensive numbers are very solid except for his Chase/Whiff. But I'd live with that if his OPS stayed around .800. .250/.320/.480 with 25HR and 25SB would be golden with him batting 7th. Sandoval has solid peripherals, he's due to revert to the mean (average). Drury's numbers are very solid for a guy hitting .203, I think he will revert back soon. He's been great fielding wise. *I think their ideal lineup right now with how guys are performing is Schanuel Trout Rendon Ward O'Hoppe Sano Drury Adell Neto

In hindsight, I don't think the Adell base running thing was AS stupid as I originally thought. He was trying to make something happen on a backhand/long throw and needed a perfect throw from first. It was a poor decision but not as completely idiotic as I originally thought. I think that's why he keeps trying to steal (Wash implied it's been Jo's go) -- he wants to show he can contribute badly. But by golly, taking strike 3 was a massive error. Just atrocious with 1 out. Neto too -- what good does Ball 3 do in that situation? Protect the plate; also, you're losing! That's when you should be more aggressive. Neto's 1st AB told me all I need to know about where his head is right now. Thought it was strike 3 looking, turned around and started marching to the dugout. Called a ball, he came back...and struck out. He expects to strike out right now. Ever since he tried to hit everything out in Miami he's been wildly inconsistent at the plate. And his Defensive Metrics are actually pretty bad, surprisingly. Finally, I find it pretty odd that Rendon, Sano, Neto, and Rengifo all have 0 HR. You'd think they'd luck their way into one over 20 games. I know HRs across the league are way down, but still odd that all those guys haven't punched one out.

The game yesterday (I definitely didn't scare my Dog with my yelling) was interesting. The top of the lineup--who has completely carried us--was 2-19. And we still manufactured some runs. If Trout or Ward have their ball fall in, like they have been doing, game's over. So I think in some ways it was a positive offensive game in that Moniak, Neto, and Sano were the ones that helped get runs across. I hate saying that. Yesterday was "Classic Jo Adell Game" Case no. 44. Crushes a 113 mph single, then gets the absolute latest start to 2nd, is out by 10 feet. Broadcast tried to call it a H&R, but here's the thing -- Jo has been awful on the bases, and Neto has been whiffing and chasing with the worst of them. You're going to call a H&R with those two involved? Don't buy it. I think Jo went on his own, was late on the jump and didn't bail. That's three straight awful, awful base running decisions the last 3 times he's been on base. And he clearly is just trying to make up for the last one each time. After this, he struck out 3 times in 3 really bad at bats. My point is I have no idea if he's going to be a positive or a negative, and as a huge Adell fan I am starting to think it will always be like this. Whereas guys like Drury, Rengifo, and even Neto we know are going to come around at least some. Moniak you can see starting to make better swing decisions. But Wash just gave Adell 3 straight starts. He went 2 - 10, got caught stealing twice, and K'd 4 times. He continues to be puzzling in his ability to crush the ball, show incredible speed...and then make a really awful play that hurts the team. .

Good to see Estevez was back to his old self -- blowing multi-run leads and then afterwards saying it either wasn't his fault, the guy got lucky, or he has absolutely zero concern because he's the man and he will be back out there again soon. I never understood spending big money on RP from non-competitive teams. Estevez, Cisneros, and Garcia were not in many high leverage situations and were on fairly bad teams. Is it really any surprise they have been wildly inconsistent? Since the All Star Break last year Estevez has been really bad. It wasn't fatigue, it was teams figuring out that he has very poor control and throws 80% fastballs. Starting to really think between the draft picks, rushing guys all over the playce bullpen signings, not pursuing a single starter/hitter, and the trades that Perry is not as good of GM as we hoped he would be.

I think it was a major mistake to draft guys with the *idea* that they could come up soon. Baseball is so different, and there's a reason this concept has not been practiced by good teams. College hitters -- I would think especially small school college hitters -- are not ready to face major league pitching. Schanuel, Neto, Bachman, and Joyce are evidence of that. They were all rushed to the major because of a desperation to compete. And now Bachman is completely off the radar, Joyce is struggling in the minors, and Neto and Schanuel are Livan Soto and Kevin Padlo. These guys are so young, it's actually kind of sad to watch their at bats. Schanuel gets frustrated at every strike he guesses wrong on, and when he gets fooled at strikes out looking, he stands there for 2-3 seconds in shock. Neto looks like he knows he's going to strike out, and when he does he just turns and storms back to the dugout. Their confidence at the plate is shot. This will likely go down as one of Perry's greatest mistakes because this has nothing to do with Arte. We could drafted Spencer Jones, Cam Collier, etc...but instead we took a guy we thought could play right away. There is still plenty of opportunity for these guys to become good major leaguers, but the point is that doing this really hindered their growth by putting a ton of pressure on them and in turn putting a major roadblock in the way of their development. 1B and SS were easy positions to fill well we let guys develop. Just so frustrating.

I think they have both settled in to kind of who they are. The thing is, with video and analytics what they are, if you don't have movement and deception, hitters are not going to be fooled. There is just zero way the Red Sox didn't figure Canning out. Canning has been barreled/hard hit every year. His FB doesn't move, his Change sits at 88-89, and he regularly rides his slide in the middle of the zone. I watched that first Red Sox game. They had him figured out. Even today, they didn't hit it as hard but they made tons of contact. He just doesn't miss enough bats, and even when he is guys are squaring up the ball when they make contact. To me, it's more like the batter is guessing wrong than not tracking the ball. I think this year they are tracking and he may be tipping a bit. Sandoval also has a stupid flat fastball, but his problem is location. Even if he could just locate it, pair it with his Change and his Slider and you'd had a functional arsenal to be a #3/4 guy. Besides his walks, he actually hasn't been a horrible pitcher. But his Fastball is close to the worst pitch in the majors. It's been absolutely awful. It gets crushed, he doesn't strike anyone out with it, and overall it has horrible metrics. To me, Sandoval has to do something different with his FB. Likewise Canning needs to make a change. His FB is actually as bad as Sandoval's, and his Slider has been a worthless pitch so far this year.

And I think it is wrong of him to do that, but we will see. I only say he is acting like a playoff contender because it doesn't seem everyone (Perry and Arte) are fully on board with that notion. Spending and signing didn't seem to indicate it was a "go-for-it" year.

I get it, and it's very very early. But it speaks to a complete lack of direction with those two in particular. They didn't sign a single starter because they wanted to see if their own guys could bounce back under new coaching, and they're all still pretty young. They didn't sign a quality INF or JDM/Soler/Turner because, in theory, they wanted to free up at bats for quote "some guys that are out of options" (Perry). So to bring in Hicks when OF was your positional strength and you have two young talented guys that are out of options, just doesn't make sense.

I get the premise of the article, but Ron Washington is certainly not managing like someone intent on "seeing what they have." Otherwise you're playing Adell and Moniak over a so far awful Aaron Hicks. And mixing Adell in with Sano, and finding ways to get Rengifo at bats too. He has like 15. And 5 hits. Ron is managing in reverse--my vets can be trusted, my young guys need to earn playing time. That's what playoff contenders do, hoping to get a spark or catch lightning with a young guy. Just to emphasize -- Adell and Moniak are OUT OF OPTIONS. They either sit the bench watching Hicks go 0-4 with 2 k's every night, or they play. They can't send them down to get at bats. It's just plain silly to have brought in Hicks if this was your goal all along.

Hope we see Adell tomorrow. Glad to see Moniak drawing some walks. More he shows he can do that, the more he will get better pitches to hit. Not really understanding the Hicks thing. He's getting a lot of rope for a guy that has two young, out-of-options hungry guys behind him. Almost like the roles should be reversed--the young guys feeling the pressure of a vet looking to steal their time. He's not hitting and has struck out a ton.

Lol But really I think Ward could be a borderline All start this year. But what do they do with him? He's 30. Is he your LF for the next 4-5 years?

The thing that struck me as I was watching this game was how 7-8-9 we went O'Hoppe, Adell, Neto. Those are 3 guys that can hit. If Rendon can turn these liners into hits, the lineup is actually pretty deep. And you can PH Sano/Adell against a lefty or Moniak against a RHP, and Rengifo is just sitting there also. It's interesting.

Rendon is actually making good contact. I’m a little more annoyed about Adell losing ABs to Sano. But we will see.

I’d rather wait until 20 games to overreact. The thing I don’t get is, “We aren’t signing any free agents because we have guys without options we want to see a lot of,” and then Sano and Hicks both against RHP.

In the minors. Without the discussion constantly centering around, “When will they make their debut?” EG this year if we need a starter, let Wantz, Soriano, Plesac, and Rosenberg pitch and let Dana and Bachman have 20 starts in the minors.

I remember making this observation early in the offseason, that we truly lack starting pitching talent. Which will inevitably lead to us overhyping Caden Dana and talking about him pitching in the majors soon. The prospect article said this year, which I truly hope does not happen. Nearly every Org has a Dana, if not 2-3. For once I wish we’d allow our prospects to play and get experience and not constantly worry about bringing them up. Let Dana, Urena, and Mederos be the next in line in 2026 instead of us figuring a way to squeeze them into our bullpen this year. I am glad they are slowly bringing Bachman back and letting him start. He needs to be a starter.

Yeah I actually believe him on a lot of this. Not 100%, because as GM I’m sure he wants to improve the roster any way possible. But it sounds like they didn’t want to give up draft picks lightly, and that they preferred giving the young guys a look over signing a veteran to replace them (Teoscar for example). He does mention “guys with option”, which makes the Hicks move a little inconsistent with that. Maybe him at the minimum was just too good to pass on.

Great point. For him it's long-term security, for them if he can't catch after 6 more years effectively, the money is spread out. I see how it's like a deferment in some ways.

The Angels go 81-81 and are eliminated 3 days before the season ends. They finish higher than Seattle. Detmers becomes the team's ace. By May, Adell has had a solid start in limited action and an injury to a contender's OF opens the door for a trade. He brings back a team's #8-10 prospect. Sano proves as valuable as Soler and JDM. He starts 110 games. Rada and Dana both crack the midseason Top 100. The Angels draft a college pitcher who is immediately a top 50 prospect. The Angels sell from a surplus of bullpen arms, adding 5 guys to their top 30. The Angels trade Drury at the deadline to give Rengifo the full-time 2B job. He brings back a top 15 team prospect. Neto gets added to the All Star game after 2 guys drop out. O'Hoppe and Trout also make it. Taylor Ward has a 3 WAR season. Hicks has a 2 WAR season. Moniak become a full-time platoon/late game PH option after striking out 35% of the time through June. Soriano becomes a full-time starter and starts 8 games. Estevez loses the closing job to Joyce in July.

10 year extension for a catcher is a bit risky, no? Maybe he takes over from Freddie.

Since this essentially has turned into Jeff Q&A... Do you think there is some foresight into only signing a bunch of relievers to 1-year deals with the idea that they can trade them at the deadline? As in, we're not going to spend big until we see what we have, but we'll sign relievers because we can/probably will move them for prospects that replenish the system? Or is it strictly, "Our bullpen stunk and we wanted to focus only on that" ?

I don't really care if people say, "Arte doesn't care." This is what I mean when I say the team is directionless. Why do we have to do a "masked" rebuild? Why not just do one? The most telling part to me, the way I know without a doubt Arte is exactly as I imagine him, is that Trout is constantly going to him and telling him to sign guys. Don't you think Arte would say, "Mike we're taking it easy this year. Not going to spend." The fact that Trout keeps going to him tells me that Arte isn't telling him the direction of the team. And look, I'm a loser fan on my computer. Trout is the franchise's greatest player ever. And Arte isn't telling HIM the direction of the team? And please don't tell me that he is, Mike would make these public statements and tell Heyman the quotes he did unless he too thought they would go after good players. This, to me, is what makes him baseball's worst owner: not even the franchise GOAT knows what the direction of the team is, to the point that he is now, for the first time ever, putting public pressure on the owner to sign players. And still no response from the owner and no moves made. Not a single move made since signing...Hicks? These are the times I wish this was the Yankees. I'd love for local media to ask Perry why he spent only on the bullpen. And I'd love a follow up with Mike about how happy he is with the offseason. We know our owner won't ever share with the fans what's going on.

Heyman said the Angels have an offer out to Martinez but it seems like it wasn't enough.

Its sounds like @Jeff Fletcher doesn't see them trading Adell. I just have a hard time picturing them carrying 5 OF just because of options. Unless Adell is going to DH? How do they rotate that when it's clear Hicks deserves the majority of ABs in RF? And are they really going to keep Suarez as a LRP?