79CAAman

7 minutes ago, Tank said:

guys on MLB.com . . . "they've (angels) have lost their sense of direction as a team."

no argument here. analysts think marsh is the kind of guy you keep as part of rebuilding.

I've been saying this for a while now... just queue the Benny Hill theme song, and it goes perfect with this organization and their moves.

3 minutes ago, nando714 said:

How happy is marsh ? No more Jeremy Reed ruining him 

YES!  He'll flourish in Philly with real coaching.  Just watch, likely a future all star.

We were leading the majors in strikeouts.  Number 1 at something!  With Marsh gone, we'll likely miss out on that title as well.

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

Where have you been? We've been talking about this for several years - its a running thread throughout the year.

There's a long version and a short version. The short version is that slippage from 2009 to 2010 led to a series of bad mistakes that snowballed. And here we are, seventh losing season in a row.

The longer version...well, I've gone over it many times before and don't quite have the energy to go through it again, at least in great detail. But I'll pin-point what I feel like are the key elements.

Basically it started when they didn't rebuild in 2010, after losing the core of their contending team over the previous year plus (first Francisco Rodriguez, and then Lackey, Figgins, and Vlad). After they fell from 97 to 80 wins, Arte Moreno wasn't ready to go through a few down years and pushed Tony Reagins and then Jerry Dipoto to acquire a series of albatrosses: Vernon Wells, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton, all within a span of less than two years. Couple that with disappointing contracts for CJ Wilson and Jered Weaver, and the Angels burned up a lot of cash for mediocre returns. Something like $600M for, I don't know, 20-25 WAR?

These albatross contracts crippled the franchise for years to come. They were actually decent for a few years more, winning 86, 89, 98, and 85 games in 2012-15, largely due to the arrival of the great Mike Trout. But even 2014's playoff season had a negative impact in that it let the Angels think they were better than they were.

In 2015 and more so in 2016, the team imploded - epitomized by the mid-season quitting of GM Jerry Dipoto in 2015. But on the field, a promising young rotation (Garret Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano, and Alex Meyer) all went down with major injuries, some (most?) requiring TJS.

The Angels didn't learn their lesson, though, and refused to buckle down and rebuild. Part of it was because they wanted to build around the best player in the game, and not lose him to free agency (due in the 2019 season). So new GM Billy Eppler did a yearly patch job that never held, and even doubled-down on the albatross model, first with Justin Upton and then with Anthony Rendon. 

But they did win the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes and extend Trout through 2030, but this further reinforced the idea that they didn't need to rebuild, and were always "a year away."

But it never happened, or hasn't happened yet. Albatross contracts, and an utterly atrocious record of free agent signings of all shapes and sizes not panning out (and some bouncing back a year later, after leaving the Angels), and the farm system not quite bearing the fruits that we hoped for...and here we are, seventh losing season in a row.

2022 was perhaps the most "Angelic" season of all Angels seasons. It started promising, both with the talent on the field in spring training, and the dreams of the trio of Trout, Ohtani, and Rendon, all in their primes and healthy at the same time. And for the first month and a half, things looked great - the team peaked at around 24-13, and actually had a fourth emergent superstar in Taylor Ward. Seemingly. But Rendon never got going and then went down with injury, Ohtani's hitting regressed, Trout struggled through the worst slump of his career, Fletcher didn't improve and then got hurt, Ward got hurt and never fully recovered (seemingly), the "dynamic duo" of Joe Adell and Brandon Marsh were both terrible disappointments, and on and on. A perfect storm of crappy things.

That's it in a nutshell, I think, though I glossed over a lot of details.

TLDR: Perhaps the most key element is a refusal to rebuild. First in 2010ish, then in 2015ish, then again in 2020ish...and the resulting poor acquisitions that continue to clog payroll. Oh, and a farm system that just doesn't seem to get better ("But there's a lot of talent in the low minors" has been the refrain for like four years now). Basically, the bottom line is that the team is poorly run, from top to bottom. 

 

To summarize; not an organization with good ‘baseball’ minds and a non-existent, long term game plan. Starts at the very top. 
The top minor league prospects… Marsh and Adell. Really?

I’m pretty confident that his back ailment is going to spread to another body part. 

1 hour ago, eligrba said:

I think Langston made the observation this week that Adell begins each pitch in a flat footed position, unlike every other fielder.  That's the standard athletic position for a beer league softball player, not a baseball player who is reportedly being coached to play at a high level.

 

Adell is a mystery.  At his point, I have more invested in solving the mystery of what happens to one sock when laundry is done.

“Coached to play at a high level”?  It seems that there is very little coaching on this team/organization. 

Football just around the corner.  This baseball season can go in the dumpster where it belongs 

Only 10 strikeouts the past TWO games combined (Marsh w 3 of them in 5 AB’s).  Hard to win when averaging nearly a dozen strikeouts on offense per game.  
Only going to get better on offense with Fletcher back in the lineup. 

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Trout would be DH for sure 

What about the bulk of the season...

12 hours ago, Duren, Duren said:

The veterans haven't provided the leadership needed to keep the team afloat during tough times. 

The rest of the team look at Trout and Rendon's contracts and expect them (consciously or subconsciously) to be the leaders. And Ohtani too because of all the attention and publicity he gets. 

Not necessarily jealousy. But just leadership, clutch performance and big, morale boosting game changing moments.

They got a lot of that early, and it seemed to inspire others to play with confidence. Then it slipped away little by little.

Rendon suddenly was deleted from the lineup permanently. Trout hit an uncharacteristic cold spell. And seemed to be the victim of consistent bad ball/strike calls. Which may have affected his approach at the plate. Then he became streaky rather than consistent before his current injury.

Ohtani could not just pick up where he left off before last year's all star break. But started the season like he finished last year. Good, but not the expected MVP pace. 

And there are a number of other veterans who have been good in the past who haven't been able to lead by example. 

Ward, Marsh, Rengifo, Adell shouldn't have to be the leaders. They are still on learning curves of varying degrees of success so far.  The same with Sandoval, Detmers and the younger pitchers. Ohtani is a one man savior in the mound but he is literally expected to win every start.

The bullpen maybe have been the biggest collective disappointment. Right near the bottom for the worst in allowing inherited runners to score. You would think veterans like Loup and Iglesias would be dependable anchors. But they too got sucked into the negative spiral. 

A team with three superstars (Rendon being paid like one) just should never hit the skids so badly without some fight back and resiliency. And even Trout and Rendon in the dugout when injured should count for some inspiration and encouragement. 

Management and coaching are also big factors. But pride should kick in and an 'all for one' 'us against the world' attitude ought to kick in. But it hasn't. You see a defeatest attitude in the body language and facial expressions during games. Nevin's blowup had no effect either and seems like a desperate, futile effort to generate solidarity and emotion. The cowboy hat thing was a deception. Easy when winning. No help when losing.

I just see individuals out there. Not a team. 

Agree on many of your points.  Baseball is a simple enough game, first and foremost, you need to hit the ball, put it in play, something this team has had difficulty doing ALL season.  It's why I joined this forum, I had to bitch somewhere about the incredible amount of strikeouts by our batters.  Even before the losing streak, I knew the strikeouts were going to bite them in the ass sooner or later. 

Does the burden of all those zeros in your bank account have an effect on you muscle, tendons, and overall health?  Seems to have affected our highest paid player. 

3 hours ago, Duren, Duren said:

NFL training camps are here soon. Trout has extra time now to get his fantasy league in order. That's a league where he's safe from injuries. Possibly. 

I can see trout pulling a hammy cheering for his eagles

What I have a problem with is that it’s a ‘phantom’ injury. When did it happen?  I get the thump a few years back, sliding into second base.  You can’t suck it up when you’re making that kind of money? 

Back spasms to rib inflammation to likely complete tear of some mystery muscle?Dude’s heart/head does not seem to be in the game anymore. Maybe his heart is on being a full time dad, absolutely nothing wrong with that. Wouldn’t surprise me if he retired prematurely. 
There is just too much smoke with last year’s “calf sprain”, all the strikeouts this year, and now this bullshit ‘injury’. Since when are pro athletes at optimal health this far into a season, in any sport?

1 hour ago, Support The Local Team said:

This is the 2022 version of Rodney's crooked hat. 

As stupid as Rodney’s crooked-cap look was, he was solid, for the most part. When you’re looking amateurish out there… yeah, some changes need to be made.  I would begin with sending the dude down where he belongs, at this point in time.  Need to salvage any trace of confidence he has left.  If, in the near future, this team gets a legit hitting coach, bring him back up.  

They are professional baseball players getting paid millions of dollars to go out and play... baseball.  They need to show some pride, most of them should been embarrassed at various points during the first half (especially their highest paid players).  Again, they are professionals.  I know their effing agents sure the hell portray them as such.  It costs several hundreds of dollars to take the family to watch them 'play'.  All I ask is put the freaking ball in play and stop looking like a bunch of drunk dudes at a softball game.  Like many on this board, I'm beyond frustrated.  Here's hoping they come out at least competitive in the second half. 

1 minute ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

So explain to me how he would be a good fit? So far you’re doing a bang up job selling it. The angels have an ass ton of money tied up on the top 2-3 guys on the team. His budget would be the same or less than it was in Miami. 
 

jeter the player and jeter the GM are universes apart.

Yes, the guy had to cut payroll and had to trade proven big-league talent for minor league talent that takes time to develop.  Yes, he traded away some huge names like Stanton and Realmuto, but he's brought in some talent (Alcantara, Jesus Sanchez).  I can't comment on the budget he had at Miami, it had to have been much lower than a budget he would  have in Anaheim.

He had little to nothing to work with.  The first thing they had to do was drastically cut payroll.  Big difference between ownership in Miami and here in Anaheim.  

I don't think I would have faith in perry to be involved in any offseason rebuilding of this team.  The guy has an eye for baseball talent?  If so, where is it?  If Arte is not willing to sell the team, I think he needs to bring in a whole new staff to head his organization.  At the very least, he needs an entirely new coaching staff.  This team needs significant changes in its philosophy, so why not bring in a guy like Derek Jeter into the organization?  The guy is a winner and did well with the limited resources available in Miami.  Drastic?  Yes, but we don't really want some of the same.  Maybe this shows Ohtani the Angels are serious about building a winning team.  

Trout may be taking this opportunity to secretly have his vision checked. Something has obviously been off the past couple of months. The Angels ‘coaches’ are obviously of absolutely no help. Maybe something is off with his vision and he comes back after the ASB with better vision and carries the team back to a level of respectability. 

3 hours ago, nando714 said:

Trout has quit 

If true, isn't this the worst single event from this season?  Last year's calf strain.  What was that?  I've watched the play in which he injured his calf last May (also against the Dodgers) and I can barely see how he "strained" his calf.  It should have been called a complete tear considering he never played another game last season.  This year, back spasms, and now rib-cage inflammation?  Curious what's next.  

I have to defend Fletcher a little here.  He does make contact with the ball, which with this team, is HUGE.  I DO think the team will be improve once he's back in the lineup.  

The team perry has assembled does not seem to be in the same league as the Dodgers.   I saw something earlier regarding player development… where is it? His recommendation to part ways with Maddon, yeah that didn’t solve a damn thing.  

This is what a group of testicle-less group of baseball players looks like. Just like this, just what we’ve witnessed the passes couple of months and especially the past two nights 

Athletes like Tom Brady and the late, great Kobe Bryant are the rare breed of athlete that are perpetually hungry. No amount of money or championships satisfy them. Chance of Soto being this type of athlete are slim. 
Still think we focus on Ohtani.