ThisismineScios

Him and Stassi really kind of make me sad. Jared is a great guy and I really hope he can figure it out. They need his fire.

I actually love this idea. He'd get a ton of FBs in front of Ohtani, and he's not going to watch the first one down the middle and foul the second one off every single time like Ward does. I actually think the reason they're batting Ward leadoff is he is working counts, walking, and is absolutely atrocious with RISP. In one of my fits of rage a few weeks ago I looked it up on Fangraphs. He is essentially either the 2nd or 3rd worst batter with RISP in the majors depending on how you define a regular. I think he's criminally miscast batting leadoff. The idea is probably to let him see fastballs, but he's been a good run producer. I'd love to have him batting behind Drury and in front of Ward or O'Hoppe (sad face). In a perfect world, with a better Renfroe and a good 1B, he bats 8th in front of Neto and they turn over the lineup.

Yeah, I think Rendon is fine at #5 if you have a good producer following Trout and Ohtani. He can still work a count and put the ball in play nearly every time. I prefer Ohtani-Trout-Drury-Rendon since Trout isn't really walking as much anymore. Ward has been slightly above average for the last 35-40 games or so. He's lost his power, and that's a mystery. But he's floating around 10% BB and 14% K in that span. I like that lower in the lineup, not leading off. Not sure how you justify saying "at best" for Moniak. He's getting his first regular run. He's got a ton of swing and miss right now and very little BB, but he's got 1.7 WAR, 10 HR, and 28 RBI in 38 games. He plays great defense in all 3 OF spots. If he played the last 71 games like that, it'd be a 5 WAR season (Steamer). I doubt he does, but that's All-Star level production with where he's at right now. You can talk to me about the lefty-lefty part, but Nevin has given him a total of 13 ABs against lefties.

If you put aside the storylines about the Angels not making the playoffs (which is a big deal I know), is the following team in a much, much worse situation than the Dodgers? Moniak Trout Ohtani Rendon Drury Ward O'Hoppe Adell/FA/Cabbage/Adams? Neto Ohtani Sandoval Detmers Anderson Canning FA/Barria/Silseth/Bachman This could be their lineup for the next 2 years. I don't see how that lineup isn't appealing to Ohtani as a short-term contender. And if he's going to look at our health problems, then why not look at other Judge and Stanton's health? Dodgers SPs? San Diego's or the Cubs record? The only situation I think is truly, truly appealing is going to LA and slotting between Mookie and Freeman, and leading the rotation with Kershaw, Miller, Buehler, and Gonsolin. But I like our roster at full strength (not farm, just roster) just as much as the Dodgers.

I think he said “pressing” after the Cleveland comeback. He’s probably trying to will this team to a win streak. But he just looks bad. Pitchers clearly throwing him only FBs upper mid. Which means no BB because he’s getting almost all strikes.

This really concerns me. These are fast balls in the zone. 14 of 16 pitches today. He just doesn’t look the same.

No.

I keep wondering about why everyone is so hyperbolic about these games. Guess what? Everyone loses to everyone. Nobody finished perfect against another team in their division, and rarely against other teams in the league. Guess what? Last year, the Astros went 1-5 against the A's in July! OMG!! They must stink!!! No, actually baseball is weird sometimes. And the Phillies lost 3/4 to the Marlins and 2/3 to the Rockies in April last year. OMG season over!! They also went 11-14 and lost 5 straight twice in September. Why do we do this every year? For crying out loud, we were in first, firing on all cylinders, and rolling teams in mid-May last year. Then we had a freakish, unbelievable 14-game losing streak. The important thing is to figure it out early. The worst thing that happened to us last year was we got rolling into May, and the FO thought Velazquez, Wade, and all the other spare parts was good enough because it worked for 7 weeks. I am actually glad the Angels are struggling and have to resolve some major issues--bullpen, 4th/5th starter, Drury/Lamb/Rengifo/catcher--in late April. Think about when Ward gets going? When Drury is at least average? When they fine tune the pen? When Stassi returns (Lord willing)? Walsh instead of Lamb/Rengifo? Suarez or Silseth/Erla/Bachman/Crow earns that 5th/6th spot? That stuff hasn't happened yet...and we're at .500. Just like the Dodgers, Astros, Guardians, Phillies, and Padres. Struggle in April so you don't rely on Suarez, Lamb, Loup, Herget, Rengifo, et al in June when teams really start to separate. For goodness sake the Pirates are in 1st place.

I think the reason they are playing Rengifo in the OF is to show his versatility more than utilize his versatility. A team seeing a guy that hits LHP well, has good speed, and can play multiple positions dreams of a playoff roster. The Angels don't NEED him to play in the OF. They want other teams to notice. I think he's a major trade candidate so long as he keeps hitting lefties well. Remember, a lot of teams make trades not for overall stats but for platoon/playoff scenarios.

I think they are "Service Time Manipulating" their top guy. They could have called him up.

For the love of everything, just let this dude be a reliever. His body isn’t made for starting. Just let him throw 100 pitches a week and take what you can get. He’s already has two setbacks in ramping up. Better to have a great reliever than dream of a starter.

Everyone knew coming in the bullpen was not good. Moore and Wantz and Estevez should be the start, not the end. Also, why are we wasting a pitching spot on Davidson if they haven’t even decided if he’s going to pitch on Wednesday? Give him bullpen chances and see how he does. Otherwise he’s taking up another relievers spot. Just really bad roster management if they’re going to start Canning. Which they pretty need to or option him to AAA.

Really though we can’t just assume all these guys are going to comprise a good bullpen going forward. Nobody has good stuff, besides Estevez (slightly above average). Problem is Tepera and Loup, arguably the two worst, are expensive. Can’t option them and can’t trade them. Joyce obviously isn’t ready. Herget is no longer fooling anyone. What do they do? This is now 3 bullpen losses. That’s really bad.

You don't roster 4 guys that can play SS (1 well, 2 average, 1 in a pinch) to then use your final roster spot on a guy JUST to play SS defense. You also don't keep him to be your 5th OF/Utility guy when Walsh, Fletcher, and Urshela can all play a competent OF. It's a waste of a spot. Fletcher should be this year what Velazquez was last year. Walsh, Urshela, Drury, Rengifo, Fletcher, Rendon Thaiss - Stassi (my guess) Trout, Renfroe, Ward, Phillips (speed and D is what you need) If you're going to keep an extra guy, keep O'Hoppe or Lamb. Thaiss can also play 1B and bats L.

I would think him, Joyce, Marte, Silseth, and Canning all start in AAA?

I think I am more excited for this season than any of the last 5. All of the moves they made raise the sea level. And we are seeing clear progression from Sandoval and Detmers. The weakest spot in their lineup right now is either Fletcher/Rengifo or Stassi/O'Hoppe. The former are at worst solid hitters, the latter have power and average hitting upside with really good defense. I am a little uneasy about Davidson as the #6 guy. I don't like 5 lefties in the rotation, and I think putting Davidson in Barria's role and having Canning be the #6 is more useful. Barria has very average stuff and can't start. Davidson could easily slot in the rotation when needed. Barrias flames out after 2 times through like clockwork.

Yuck. If you need late game defense, put Fletcher at SS. Simple as that. Velazquez has no offensive value and his defensive value is matched by Fletcher. You can shuffle guys around as needed--Urshela can play 1B/3B/SS, Drury 2B/SS/1B/OF, Walsh 1B/OF, Fletcher SS/2B/OF, Rengifo 2B/SS/3B/OF. You don't need Velazquez at all.

I don't think so. He has yet to pitch on even 1 day's rest very much. You can't give a bullpen slot to a guy that needs 2 days rest. I think they start him, C-Rod, Canning, and possibly Silseth in AAA is likely. Bush and Bachman have been pretty absent lately.

I don’t feel they’ll sign another bullpen guy soon. If I were the FO I’d want to see how Rodriguez looks before signing someone. Interesting that they are already talking about a swing guy for #6 when Canning and CRod are seemingly good options.

I like this idea. You could even have Canning doing this and easing his way along.

The Angels are above .500 on July 4th. Rendon plays 5 games a week in the field and stays healthy. O'Hoppe is starting more than Stassi by May 15th. C-Rod moves to the bullpen and has an ERA under 2 through 20 games. Sam Bachman is hitting 100 mph consistently. Through 30 games, Hunter Renfroe leads the team in HR

No thanks to 4 years of Wacha (I know it's laden with options, etc.). He's not worth the hassle. I prefer their swing man idea, or an open competition between Canning, C-Rod, Silseth, Davis, and Barria.

I don't think it means anything. I think Heyman hung around the owners meetings and caught Arte. If I had to speculate, I'd guess Arte actually decided to talk to him because of this whole "rejuvenation" thing. He's ignored all media for 3 years and suddenly he has a 5-minute conversation with Heyman? A chat that seems to be pretty casual and open. I'd posit that there's something different, at least in his head. A 76 year-old doesn't turn down $2 billion because he's greedy. And remember, he's not leaving it to his kids, and they probably are already set up for life. I'm guessing he's more open to speaking with the media and will at Spring Training.

The greatest thing would be it's announced as New Balance for 8 years...and also Shohei Ohtani will be extended for 8 years.

Apparently they're in on Britton. Hope they don't expect Oriole's Britton. I like CRod as a pen piece. I also am very interested to see Weiss get his shot. His stuff is filthy. Steve Phillips actually brought up a good point on MLB Network today. They have 4 lefties right now in the rotation, 5 if a guy like Bush slots in. They don't necessarily need more lefty relievers when Ohtani is the only RHP in the rotation. They will bring in a righty after the starters (probably), and then play matchups. Already have Loup and Quijada as good matchup guys, so I'd say get the best reliever you can regardless if he's a lefty or righty.