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HeavenlyHalos

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Posts posted by HeavenlyHalos

    Ron Washington hopes fans don't give up on the team

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    I will never give up on the Angels but I do have a hard time supporting it financially with Arte as the owner. Of course that is saying very little since I live in Northern California and use my friend's MLB.tv account. Pretty much, I just don't have the desire to take my annual SoCal trip to watch the team play or buy Angels merchandise. That will show Arte... absolutely nothing... but at least it makes me feel... in no way better.

    Brandon Marsh on playing for Phillies vs Angels

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    Arte must love John Fisher taking the heat away from otherwise being called out as the worst owner in MLB. This franchise is a complete shit show and has been for quite some time. What makes no sense, other than Arte changes his mind on his irrational whims of the moment, is deciding to go for it at the deadline and immediately reversing course in the offseason. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that they did reverse course but I'd like to think that Perry knew they should trade Ohtani and some others to build depth and start the rebuild last season but Arte stepped in to sink the franchise even further into irrelevance.

    I am trying to find the positives, mostly in that there are some nice young hitters that could develop but it is a really sad time to be an Angels fan. I can barely make it through three innings of a game and we are still in April. The best moments of the past decade all came outside of the on-field performance: Trout signing an extension, Ohtani signing, and when it was announced that Arte was pursuing selling the franchise. The worst moment, by far for me and I'd imagine many others, was when Arte again reversed course and decided to keep the team. Thankfully, I have Oregon football to look forward to in the fall at least.

    I was wrong. This is not a .500 team.

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    10 hours ago, Jeremiah said:

    No one is crying. The fact is Jo Adell has no MiLB options left. They can’t send him to SLC. This is the year the Angels need to fish or cut bait with him. So it makes no sense to play Hicks ahead of Adell, since Hicks is not part of the team’s future plans. Now is when we have to find out if Adell has what it takes to be an everyday player.

    Plus, Hicks is terrible.

    I was wrong. This is not a .500 team.

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, samwum said:

    It's not about what is best for their long term potential. It's about what's the best case scenario for Perry's argument for a contract extension at the end of the year. He needs to be able to point to Neto, Schanuel, and Moniak as success stories this season and sending them down won't accomplish that. 

    Point taken, but I was commenting on what is best for the Angels franchise, not Perry's future employment.

    I was wrong. This is not a .500 team.

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

    I suppose the silver lining is that the AL West sucks: The Angels are 9-13, but only 2 games behind 1st.

    But if and when the Angels fall further behind, it might behoove everyone to re-calibrate expectations and just focus on the rebuilding aspect of 2024 - and that includes Washington. Stop worrying about replacing Neto or getting production from any particular player or position. Start thinking about the usable pieces of the 2025 team and beyond. Given that, Neto and Schanuel are just as well served getting reps in Anaheim as they'd be in Salt Lake.

    2024 was always a taking stock/rebuilding year. At 4-2 and 6-4 it was hard not to dream of a nice story ala the Rangers from last year. But how realistic was that, really?

    So let's hope Washington re-adjusts soon and starts playing Adell more, and doesn't give up on Neto and Schanuel. See if Canning and Sandoval can turn it around. Continue to coax Soriano along. Etc, etc.

    I agree with most of this but an argument can be made that Neto and/or Schanuel would be better off developing in the minors to achieve their best possible long-term potential. Neto especially looks completely lost right now at the ML level, especially against breaking balls. Most fans agree that Adell was brought up way too early and it may have significantly impacted his development. That could also be the case here, of course it is hard to ascertain if that is the case or not. On the other hand, Adell is having the best plate appearance of the "future" hitters (0 WAR, 110 OPS+), sans O'Hoppe, and he has the fewest starts (7). Neto has 20 starts (-0.1 WAR, 37 OPS+), O'Hoppe has 17 (0.5 WAR, 134 OPS+), Schanuel 16 (-0.1 WAR, 52 OPS+), and Moniak 12 (-0.7 WAR, 39 OPPS+). I get that part of that is due to the respective positions they play and all but it is still pretty crazy, especially considering that Adell still has a high ceiling.

    I was wrong. This is not a .500 team.

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    Just now, samwum said:

    I've lost full confidence in Wash because of this one. I really appreciate the way Wash has emphasized defense, situational hitting, and baserunning, but if you aren't going to play the best players -- get the fuck out.

    Hicks was below average against RHP even in his prime. He is fully washed up -- the Yankees paid him ~$30mm to not play for them. Hicks playing against RHP, and hitting leadoff, is flat out fucking ridiculous. 

    Right, I didn't care much for signing Wash, but to be fair, it made some sense given how many younger players we are likely to see this year and next and a focus on those fundamental aspects your outlined. Of course, that also brings up the first point of needing to play Adell almost every game which likely will come from Perry DFA'ing him (which he should).

    I was wrong. This is not a .500 team.

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    Just now, samwum said:

    Very transparent chain of events that have lead to this situation, as I outlined below.

     

     

    To be fair, from the reports I recall, Arte forced them to be buyers at the deadline and the other two didn't break the bank. With that said, giving up our second for Thor made zero freaking sense at the time.

    In all, I don't really know how to judge Perry as he hasn't been given the same amount to play with financially compared to his three predecessors. This off-season he mostly gets a pass from me because I think the plans changed drastically after Ohtani left, and Arte decided to go into a rebuild and penny pinch. I hope attendance suffers a ton and Arte changes his mind (again) and sells the team. It really sucks having him as an owner when they are in such a large marketplace. Contrast that with the Clippers who have one of the richest owners in sports that is driven to win - he has failed to do so so far but he clearly invests in the franchise. 

    I was wrong. This is not a .500 team.

    in LA Angels | MLB Daily

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, budice0 said:

    If they do hit rock-bottom, it'll mean a high draft pick.  They've been doing .500 regardless of the payroll for so long.  Finally have a chance at top talent in the Draft.

    When your payroll and talent lags behind competitors, it leads to certain realities.  We know Rendon.  We know Trout.  If the others overachieve great, but the consensus is this is not a playoff-caliber team.  Ron Washington knows that.

    It'll be a long season, but the realities of a rebuild with possible ownership change are looming.  Hopefully for the better. 

    If Ron Washington does know that, it makes even less sense that Hicks has started over half of the games so far. He has a -0.5 WAR and a robust 27 OPS+. Just DFA him and start Adell 6/7 games, Moniak against all RHP starters and Sano between 3rd, 1st, and DH.

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