halodground

BSOHL = Best Shape of His Life
TSDATT = Transsexual Donkeys Ate Tony's Taint

During ST players are in the "BSOHL" phase
Anytime Angels are playing over .500 for a brief time in the season TSDATT posters come out

Things to be pleased about -
     -Taylor Ward seems like he isn't affected by the face trauma
     -Mike Trout doesn't appear to be washed and can still destroy a baseball
     -Bullpen results are improving
     -Starting pitching looked better past 4 games
     -Ron Washington has a plan
     -Neto, O'Hoppe, Schanuel, are off to not terrible starts
     -Soriano looked electric
 
Things to be concerned about-
     -Taylor Ward is super streaky
     -Mike Trout still hasn't made the adjustment to the high FB (his ability to make adjustments in game and over the course of a season is probably his most amazing talent) and is striking out a ton
     -Bullpen struggles to throw strikes, has a WHIP of 1.30, and the second worst K/BB ratio in MLB
     -Starters still struggle to get ahead of hitters, Sandoval remains an enigma, and Tyler Anderson has the best start of the year
     -Ron Washington's plan has to be a good plan AND be executed for 162 games
     -Neto and Schanuel are not off to great starts
     -Soriano looked electric for a grand total of 3 innings
     -The defense and fundamentals have looked meh
     -Anthony Rendon is 0-19. He's not worried though.
TLDR - Sample size is everything. At least it's been a good start. I wish that was a better predictor of the next 156 games.

Things to be pleased about -
     -Taylor Ward seems like he isn't affected by the face trauma
     -Mike Trout doesn't appear to be washed and can still destroy a baseball
     -Bullpen results are improving
     -Starting pitching looked better past 4 games
     -Ron Washington has a plan
     -Neto, O'Hoppe, Schanuel, are off to not terrible starts
     -Soriano looked electric
 
Things to be concerned about-
     -Taylor Ward is super streaky
     -Mike Trout still hasn't made the adjustment to the high FB (his ability to make adjustments in game and over the course of a season is probably his most amazing talent) and is striking out a ton
     -Bullpen struggles to throw strikes, has a WHIP of 1.30, and the second worst K/BB ratio in MLB
     -Starters still struggle to get ahead of hitters, Sandoval remains an enigma, and Tyler Anderson has the best start of the year
     -Ron Washington's plan has to be a good plan AND be executed for 162 games
     -Neto and Schanuel are not off to great starts
     -Soriano looked electric for a grand total of 3 innings
     -The defense and fundamentals have looked meh
     -Anthony Rendon is 0-19. He's not worried though.
TLDR - Sample size is everything. At least it's been a good start. I wish that was a better predictor of the next 156 games.

trout.mp4  
Thanks for the clip, @BTH!!
 

Mo Hanley sighting!   
Angels drafted him while he was coming back from TJ from a DivIII school (Adrian College).
Supposedly has crazy good stuff.

Please post anything and send everything related to the 2024 amateur draft in here. Anything from mock draft picks for the Angels and scouting reports to draft strategies and signing bonuses. 
Personally, with our first oick, we can draft JJ Wetherholt to be a lefthanded 2B to go with our young core. I think he could zip through our system, ev n with the time he's missed with a hamstring issue (hell, the fact that he's had a hamstring issue already makes him fit in with us already! Just kidding). 
Here's a profile on JJ:
https://www.mlb.com/prospects/draft/jj-wetherholt-802139
My strategy for the draft would be to focus on a finished college hitter with our first pick and then with our supplemental picks and in the second and third rounds, go after some high school players. 
This draft is considered to be generally weak, especially with college pitching and high school players in general. However, there are some good finds there, and with a few players moving up the boards a bit, I think that a polished college bat should be available to us. At worst, one of the better college arms should be available for us to take. 
After getting a more polished college player with our first pick with our supplemental picks and 2nd and 3rd round, I'd go after HS players to add a new layer of development for us. 
One player that I'm keeping an eye on is Slade Caldwell for our Shohei pick. He's a bit undersized, so he could fall to us in a supplemental round. 
Here's a profile on him. 
https://www.mlb.com/prospects/draft/slade-caldwell-815154

88f4d45498a965f17622671a093a2e0c.mp4

Baltimore is so good that this is what the guys who didn’t make the team are doing…

 
as such I’m not gonna put a lot of stock into those first two games against Baltimore, and against the last three games against a winless team. Or any 6 games. But anybody who was throwing in the towel after the first two games truly doesn’t get how good that Baltimore team is. Astros 2.0.

They won 4 in a row. I don’t care if it was against my nephew’s Little League team. Pull the sticks out of your asses and enjoy 

Nice to see the Angels string a few wins together even if it's against the Marlins.

all I know is that I enjoy watching them

I hate this thread so much

This thread skus

@Angelsjunky has entered the chat...

The mood swings in this forum are awesome.

This team will likely go 160-2.

The Angels started their season against two teams that were in the 2023 playoffs.  They're 4-2.
If they were 2-4, people would be bitchin' about it.  Nothing wrong with celebrating a good start.
 

The only "Aces" the Angels have ever had are probably Dean Chance, Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana, Mark Langston, Chuck Finley, and Jered Weaver....maybe Dan Haren for a year...and Oh And Bartolo for a year or three. Ohtani also for two seasons.
 
 

In the minors. Without the discussion constantly centering around, “When will they make their debut?” EG this year if we need a starter, let Wantz, Soriano, Plesac, and Rosenberg pitch and let Dana and Bachman have 20 starts in the minors. 

Yes.  They have the potential to have 2,3,3,3,4 but 3,3,4,4,5 is more realistic.