halodground

Fixed

Isn’t it time for the Halos to have a HOF player for his entire career?

Same old crap.  Different day.
Mike Trout is happy in Anaheim.  At least publicly. 
The Angels suck. 
Arte sucks.
Rosenthal sucks
AW rocks.
Next...

Their stats are eerily similar for their Angel careers.
 
 
 

Yes, even more than Fuentes. Fuentes sucked, but his suckage made sense to me. Estevez annoys me because A) he has some tools and the stuff to be solid but is emblematic of the general issue with the entire staff; he can’t or won’t stick to a plan and regularly implodes, I assume by overthrowing. Just throw fukin’ strikes. And 2) people seem to think because he throws high 90s he’s good and he gets way more credit for his save count than he should. 
 
 

There's a hundred things to look at here, but I just can't stand Estevez. He's been bad since the All Star Break, but he acts like he's a dominant closer. His quotes are just outlandish. I actually went back and looked at some Rockies ones from blown saves. It's always, "Look, Ok, it happens. Guys get lucky. Tomorrow's a new day. I am full of confidence." 
He has no confidence. I watched this guy end our season on a grand slam last year to a guy that is currently struggling in AAA. Quote? "It's tough, but we got a lot more games." And still, it's always excuses. The Rays blown save? "It's unfortunate we lost on a weak grounder." Giants? "Honestly I feel good. Felt really good." 
Tonight? Castellanos "Cheated fastball...he's really strong...and unfortunately it went out." Rojas, he of the 3 career HR? "It happens...hopefully next time I'll go out with the same mentality." 
The arrogance and ignorance just bugs me. You have an ERA over 7.00. As a closer. Have some pride and acknowledge letting Anderson, Rengifo, and your entire team down. 
 

Let me tell you the tale of a reliever named Brian Fuentes.

It was fun until it wasn't, which is something I feel frequently when Estevez closes. 

But the Angels just signed him? When did they cut him?

I don’t think there has been an Angel closer that I detest more than Estevez. Dude needs to go away.

We've now got the Dollar Store version of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
 

When he makes a bad play, it's so bad that it really stands out.  Overall though, he's good enough to be out there.  He's never going to be great because he's really not all that coordinated as odd as that sounds.  Reminds me of Upton in a way where he'd just fly to a ball getting to places that others couldn't but when it came time to move his hands and arms in a way to catch the ball it looked like he just got them.  
The awkwardness is never going to fully go away.  But he's fine and this team should have it's focus on improving in way more spots.  He needs to play every.single.day for the rest of the year.  

That picture makes Winslow look like somewhere you might want to spend some time. It doesn't really have much to offer. I'd put it on par with Barstow or Needles, just colder in the winter.  If you do find yourself in Winslow, definitely check out the Turquoise Room in the La Posada hotel.  Super cool vibe with excellent food. Lots of locally sourced ingredients and even some Navajo dishes.

I've probably mentioned this on here before, but the inspiration for the "Standin' on a corner" part of that song was a girl getting into a flatbed Ford on what is actually the corner of Switzer Canyon Dr. and Rt. 66 in Flagstaff, AZ. There used to be a Der Weinerschnitzel there, which is now the Dog Haus. Decent hot dogs, pretty good breakfast burritos. They always seem to get voted "Best in Flagstaff" for their breakfast burrito but its not anywhere close to the actual best breakfast burrito in Flagstaff. Anyway, Jackson Browne didn't like how Flagstaff sounded in it and I think the story goes that Don Henley suggested the Winslow line.

I've probably mentioned this on here before, but the inspiration for the "Standin' on a corner" part of that song was a girl getting into a flatbed Ford on what is actually the corner of Switzer Canyon Dr. and Rt. 66 in Flagstaff, AZ. There used to be a Der Weinerschnitzel there, which is now the Dog Haus. Decent hot dogs, pretty good breakfast burritos. They always seem to get voted "Best in Flagstaff" for their breakfast burrito but its not anywhere close to the actual best breakfast burrito in Flagstaff. Anyway, Jackson Browne didn't like how Flagstaff sounded in it and I think the story goes that Don Henley suggested the Winslow line.

That picture makes Winslow look like somewhere you might want to spend some time. It doesn't really have much to offer. I'd put it on par with Barstow or Needles, just colder in the winter.  If you do find yourself in Winslow, definitely check out the Turquoise Room in the La Posada hotel.  Super cool vibe with excellent food. Lots of locally sourced ingredients and even some Navajo dishes.

I've probably mentioned this on here before, but the inspiration for the "Standin' on a corner" part of that song was a girl getting into a flatbed Ford on what is actually the corner of Switzer Canyon Dr. and Rt. 66 in Flagstaff, AZ. There used to be a Der Weinerschnitzel there, which is now the Dog Haus. Decent hot dogs, pretty good breakfast burritos. They always seem to get voted "Best in Flagstaff" for their breakfast burrito but its not anywhere close to the actual best breakfast burrito in Flagstaff. Anyway, Jackson Browne didn't like how Flagstaff sounded in it and I think the story goes that Don Henley suggested the Winslow line.

He doesn't need,to go to SLC.  That place makes life miserable for anyone depending on movement to get outs and simply exists to break the souls of younger arms.

Oh, he will. 

Let him fuck up

We are in the tears tier.

I think you hope he shows enough to be traded for prospects in July/August. 
 
I’m convinced he’s too much of a headache to not need a change of scenery. 

I think Rengifo will improve with Washington's help. Give it time.

If 2024 wasn't primarily about taking stock, why didn't Perry spend more? He signed no major free agents - just a bunch of bench guys and relievers. As you say, they've got some trade fodder and the rest of the guys you mention are cheap filler. They're on the team because the Angels don't have enough minor league depth to fill a major league roster.
I agree that it is a "shitty team with ton of journeymen," but there's also some young talent. And again, who do you want to see playing that isn't playing? We can nitpick details, like giving Hicks playing time over Adell, but I'm guessing that will change eventually.
Or to put it another way, if they accept that they need to take stock and rebuild, what else could they have done? Rebuilding a team takes time; signing and developing young players takes years. The fact that the Angels didn't max out their payroll with (more) dubious free agent contracts is a good thing - it means they've accepted the fact that their approach of the last eight years hasn't worked, and they need to try something else.

Yeah, it is sort of disheartening. For awhile there it looked like they could go up over .500 and shoot for something like 85 wins on the season. Now I'd be surprised if they won 75. The team is a mess. Trout and Ward have been trending down the last week. I'm sure they'll bounce back, but we might also need to accept the likelihood that this version of Trout isn't a full renaissance. The pitching is a mess. Schanuel and Neto look under-cooked. Etc.
But, while it is disheartening, it isn't surprising. Their strongish start was more surprising. This is more what we should have expected.