Chico

The piitching is shit.

I'm a new poster and don't know Lou and have never read any of his posts. But looking at this thread it's clear that Lou is much loved. It sounds like the chips are down but nothing beats the power of the human spirit and the will to live. I'm cheering for a rally in the late innings. You never know!

Autrey created the L.A. Angels in 1961. Moreno is a carpetbagger.

I'm thinking Vegas Knights for gutting their farm system every year to go for it. It's a new style of management. Why not? When's the last time the Angels went for it? Can't remember. I hear they're going all-in to convince Ohtani to stay. How about Trout? He seems lost in space when it comes to talking superstar Angels anymore. I have to think with Trout's recent history (going back a couple years) he may not be a full-time player anymore and is entering Pujols Time in his hugely bloated contract.

https://nypost.com/2023/07/29/mets-rangers-agree-to-max-scherzer-trade-pending-his-approval/

I was wondering about the handling of Ohtani during this trade deadline...Is Ohtani not being traded a 100% done deal? If so, and this might be obvious but did Moreno personally decide that Ohtani was going to stay, or was this a Minasian decision? I wonder to what extent Moreno still gets involved in making personnel decisions after blowing so many others that involved mega-bucks? All this long-term decision making with an owner who in the not too distant past said "Now is the time" and was going to sell the team. Then a few months later he backed out without taking any bids.

Try picklejuice for cramps.

I never want to see him on the Angels again. I've seen enough.

I know the Angels are probably all set with O'Hoppe etc. as catcher so maybe Quero was expendable. Bush might become a G-VG pitcher. It's still early. Lopez and Giolito have not been performing up to par this year and are free agents after the season. They are bordering on their 30s...Still they might bolster the starting pitching and blowpen.

I'm also a fan of the Buffalo Sabres and it reminds me of the deal they made to acquire Taylor Hall, who was a free agent at the time. They acquired Hall to appease Jack Eichel, who wanted out because of all the losing at the time. They paid Hall $8 million for one year, an oversize contract for an inconsistent guy like him.  It ended up that the two had similar stat lines: Eichel: 2g 16a -9 in 21 g before shutting down (for the season before his trade) and Hall 2g 17a -21 in 37g before he engineered a lopsided trade to the Bruins. (Sabres fans despise Hall now).

So both Hall and Eichel departed the Sabres despite the move to "push for a playoff spot." The only difference is the Sabres got a bounty for Eichel (even as they got literally nothing -- Anders Bjork -- for Hall). Big problem if the Angels lose Ohtani for nothing and also lose Giolito and Lopez for nothing. 

Rendon needs to be Moreno's last solo adventure. Moreno for all his good intentions, is ruining the team.

Sometimes I wonder if the Angels and/or Moreno are going to be sued out of existence by the Skaggs family. The whole affair with Eric Kay revealed that something was/is deeply wrong with the Angels organization. Even though Kay has been sentenced (too light I think; I would have liked the Death Penalty) I wonder what the ultimate financial outcome of that is going to be. 

The Angels' curse, the old Indian burial grounds on the Big A, Moreno acting as GM, singlehandedly making big personnel decisions for the organization without the benefit of a plan or a GM, the parade of GMs and coaches since Scoscia, the neglect of a balanced roster because of these outsized Moreno personnel decisions...these are all factors contributing to to the instability of the organization and the health of the players.

Love beating the Yankees. But that third base coach has got to go. He sent two that were out by a mile.

Ohtani and Vlad Jr. at the ASG.

Who is the GM again? Oh yeah, Perry Minasian, a first-timer. Does he have any experience making big deals? Oh I forgot, Arte is the deal-maker around here.

Angels fan since 1971 here. As much as I love Ohtani and Trout (and to a much lesser extent, Rendon), it seems paying these three, representing over $1 billion in salary, is unsustainable. Paying these guys "what they're worth" is taking away huge chunks of salary in balancing the lineup with quality players.

I think those three need to be traded to balance the lineup, then we might see some consistency when it all gels. But with these three amigos, I'm afraid, as good as they look, the Angels are sunk.

Elvis Peguero vs. Elly de la Cruz. But was it fake or rigged?

I looked in awe as de la Cruz recently stole 2nd, 3rd and home on four pitches from Elvis. Showed the hilight to my girlfriend who said, it was rigged. The pitcher let him do it. The catcher soft-tossed the ball to Peguero, who stupidly, or deliberately turned his back on de la Cruz, allowing him to come home easily.

There are fake things in sports and MLB and other leagues are always looking for the new sensation. Does anyone think Peguero, a former Angels' pitcher and from the Dominican, like de la Cruz, allowed Elly to score? I know very little about Peguero. Is he the slug that he looked like in these clip? 

Mediocrity is the goal.

On 7/8/2023 at 11:45 PM, HanfordGuy said:

 

Where's the kabuto? This can't be good.

It's unfortunate the Angels are falling on such hardships and aren't deep enough to overcome their injuries. The Rangers and Astros are stumbling too at this point and the division seems ripe for the taking for the first time since the Astros became the AL West invasive species. 

Season: Over.

On 6/4/2023 at 10:50 AM, Taylor said:

100% he has.

On 7/5/2023 at 2:36 PM, gurn67 said:

You build a winning organization through the farm system. Once you have a roster filled with quality players, and depth, then you can add a few high priced free agents to hopefully get you a championship. Look at the teams that have been consistently competing for a championship lately. That's the way its been done, other than the Rays that can skip the free agency part because their scouting, and development are unbelievable. 

I've gotten to the point where if the Angels are going to win around 75 games letting the kids play, then fine. Trade Ohtani. Go into a full rebuild. Ask Trout if he's willing to go through that. If not, find out who he would waive his no trade to. They're stuck with Rendon. The only way they're getting rid of that IL machine is by DFA'ng him. Trade anyone else who's a free agent at the end of the season. Build around the young talent.

I like this Gurn. First, Moreno has to go. He just doesn't learn from his mistakes and I mean HIS mistakes. He probably thinks he's a perfect owner because of his massive ego. As defacto GM, he prevents anything good from happening with his shortsighted, impulsive moves. 

The Angels should raid the Rays scouting and development team. Pour the money into that area, not paying hundreds of millions into wash-ups like Rendon, Pujols, Hamilton, Justin Upton and CJ Wison etc. Trout needs to go too; he's the opposite of clutch. Ohtani is leaving. Rendon is staying. Thanks Arte. Moreno's ego has killed this team and the first thing that needs to happen to enable good progress, is that Moreno has to eat some big salaries and then sell the team.

Another area is coordinating consistent hitting, pitching and fielding. Unfortunately the way things are, when the pitching is good (rarely), the hitting is no good. When the hitting is good, either fielding or pitching is no good. With hitting, these guys glorify the HR. They put on stupid hats, they revel in the moment and then they lose. I've said it before. You have to string many hits together to overwhelm the other team, like the 2002 Angels did. The big inning. You can't just swing for the fences. So stupid.

That 25-1 pasting of the Rockies is case and point. 21 runs in two innings. It's not all about homers. But you may recall, the Angels lost that series. How!?!?!

Thanks again Arte.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/07/05/the-los-angeles-angels-sloppy-ohtani-trout-supergroup-just-cant-win

This is a good article about the Halos. The sloppy supergroup that just can't win. A couple things popped up here that I didn't know about...

Quote

Say Trout misses the next 40 games, a reasonable number given the history of broken hamate bones. That means in the past seven years he will have missed 31% of the Angels’ games. He hasn’t played in more than 140 games since 2016.

Quote

The Angels are down to a 10.6% chance to make the playoffs, according to Baseball Reference, but even that’s too high with Trout out.

Oh, and to make the task even more difficult, starting Friday the Angels play 29 of 39 games against winning teams (Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, Blue Jays, Giants, Rangers, Rays and Reds). They are unlikely to have Trout in that season-defining stretch.

Please get Rendon off of this team. He's the opposite of tough and a real distraction.

They need to start sweeping the very good teams. They need to stop splitting with bad teams.