Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / A COMPLETE 180: How quickly can Angels turn things around under new owner?

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A COMPLETE 180: How quickly can Angels turn things around under new owner? · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Well, hey, Angel fans, and welcome to Halo Territory. I
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: am Mike DiGiovanna, former L.A. Times baseball writer and host
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of the show. Joined today by Mark Trumbo, the former
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Angel slugger and my regular co-host, and our regular Halo
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Territory contributor, Sam Blum. Guys, thanks for joining us on
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: this Labor Day. Really appreciate it. We're going to continue
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: our coverage of the massive news that broke last week
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Rams, agreeing to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: purchase controlling interest of the Angels for $ 4 million from
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Artie Moreno.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: We did want.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: To address the weekend in Pittsburgh, a very interesting weekend.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: The Angels gave up three runs, count them, one, two, three,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: in an entire three-game series and somehow managed to lose
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: two out of three. I thought this was a pretty
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: rare occurrence until Mark actually looked it up. The Reds
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in 2025, in early April, gave up three runs in
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: three straight games to the Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers and
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: lost each game by one to nothing. So as rare
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: as that seems, it's not as crazy as what happened
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: to the Rangers last year. Mark, what were some of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: your takeaways from the weekend in Pittsburgh?
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Excellent start in pitching and minus the game in the middle,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: no offense.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: No thump.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Uh, no, nobody's really driving the ball. Now they face
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: some premium, premium arms. So that is part of the deal.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Pittsburgh is a club that I think they're hovering right
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: around 500 and they do a lot of things. Well,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I think Don Kelly, um, has them playing a nice
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: style of baseball. It seems like they get after it.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I think the one, uh, somewhat problematic player in center field,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: O'Neal Cruz. Looked like a good version of him, covering
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: a lot of ground and hustling. Sometimes he's one of
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: those guys that chooses when he wants to go hard,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: but it seems like he's matured. Connor Griffin, where we
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: watched Paul Skeens on Sunday, now it's not the best
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: version of Skeens. He only struck out four as social
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: media loves to point that out, but he did produce
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: a quality start. And the Angels were unable to do
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: anything to help Walbert Ureña, who threw an eight-inning complete game.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the starting pitching, as you mentioned, was outstanding. Ryan
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Johnson on Friday night, six innings pitch, four hits, one run,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: two walks, six strikeouts. And Yusei Kikuchi, this was great
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to see. You know, six innings, five hits, no runs,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: three walks, six strikeouts. Really his first solid performance since
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: he came back from that arm injury. And Urania, first
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: complete game for the Angels all year. Granted, it was
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: eight innings, but three hits, one run, one walk, four strikeouts.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: We'll get into this a little more when we talk
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: about the ownership change and what the Angels have to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: build on. But Sam, this rotation, you know, I think
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: we went into the year, I always felt like Reed
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Detmers was maybe a solid number three, maybe a number two.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: We didn't even really know who Albert Urania was.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: We toyed with the idea of Jose Soriano being the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: ace he's gone, but in Urania and Detmers, do they
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: really have some real building blocks here in terms of
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: starting pitching going into the winter?
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think if you were to like, look
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: around the AL West, you might actually be like, I've
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: picked the angels rotation over anybody at this.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Point, which is kind of funny. Even the Rangers.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, the Rangers, like, you know, I mean, some
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: of their horses are like older and kind of not
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: really lasting. So, And, you know, Mackenzie Orr isn't really
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: panned out at all. I wouldn't say at all, but
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's not having the year that I think they.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Hoped for in the trade form.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, I mean, I look at the Angels rotation.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: I mean, one thing you mentioned, Kikuchi, him finishing really strong,
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: I think is important because, you know, not necessarily for
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: a 2027 rotation, but I think he could be very
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: valuable in the trade market. There's not a really robust,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: you know, free agent market necessarily on the pitching side
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: or on the heading side even either. So, someone like
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Kikuchi who's proven that they're, you know, back to all-star
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: form that he was in in the first half of
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: last season would be valuable to some extent. And I
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: think if you're the angels, you're not necessarily saying we
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: need to really build out a great rotation for next year,
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: but looking big picture long-term. So I would say that
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: him pitching well is, is more important than, uh, you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: just getting Kikuchi back healthy and, and, you know, ready
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: to go for the off season. Um, Man, but yeah,
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: what a series. It reminded me of the Rockies series
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: from 2023 where they beat Colorado like 25-1 in one
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: of the games. And they outscored the Rockies by 20
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: runs in that series and still lost two out of
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: three games. So, you know, it's just the 2026 Angels.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: They're not very good. But they have a really good rotation,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: I feel like, that you can build on for next year.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: And that's, you know.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: I think given everything we know about the kind of
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: situation with the Angels right now, they're actually in a
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: very advantageous spot with some good young players and an
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: obvious ownership change, which is really the heart of all,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: you know, good things that are to come here. So, yeah.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: You have to say about the Angels, as bad as
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: they are, they do keep things interesting.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: I think Kikuchi's had two quality starts.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: That's true. He had another one.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: I think there was another one. And one question for you, Mike,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: do you think that, Is it addition by subtraction with
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: this improvement, maybe more so with Mike Maddox being removed
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: or with Logan Ohapi catching for, well, he's not catching
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: any longer, but playing for another club.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Or a combination of both? Yeah, I don't know how
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: you get around that. It's pretty clear.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: There's a pretty clear delineation of when this pitching staff, well,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I can't really include the bullpen in there because they
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: are really struggling from a lack of bullpen depth. But
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: when you look at these starters, I think, Reed Detmers
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: has benefited. I think Ryan Johnson has really benefited. We
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: were talking about him maybe moving to the bullpen. He
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: may be your number five starter next year for all
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: we know. But, yeah, clearly the change was long overdue.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Mike Maddox, great reputation, maybe wasn't as open to a
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: lot of the modern technology that was available to him
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: and the rest of the staff. So, yeah, you cannot
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: ignore that fact. So good point, Mark Trumbo. There's no
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: maybe in there. okay all right definitely yeah good point
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: hey let's continue let's continue to unpack this ownership change
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: story and i want to start by picking up where
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: sam blum actually left off for the foul territory crew
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the other day scott braun closed a segment with sam
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: by saying of the angels quote this is one of
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the easiest turnarounds but is it sam what do you
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: think i mean when you look at We'll get into
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: more of what's going to be on the free agent market.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: We'll go over some of the names, but I don't know.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: This doesn't look as quote-unquote easy as it appears.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: I think there's two things that can be true. There's
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: a lot of infrastructure. If you're the Angels, if I'm
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Stan Kroenke, I'm not just looking at the stadium in Anaheim.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: I'm looking at the mess in Tempe and the minor
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: league side playing in different areas in the major league.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: That spring training needs to be figured out. I think
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: the ballpark here needs to be figured out. I think
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: there's a long process to like really, you know, making
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: the angels kind of one of the premier big market
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: clubs in major league baseball. But in terms of like,
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: just like making cosmetic changes that I think will make
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: serious difference, that's, that can be immediate. I mean, spending
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: can be immediate, right? Like, you know, empowering your staff
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: can be immediate. I think like, This isn't that complicated.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: And so much of the failures of the Angels always
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: were frustrating because it was always so simple, I think,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: for a lot of people. You just mentioned the Mike
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: Maddox move, right? That's a very simple thing that, you know,
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: the Angels spent about four and a half months of
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: this season shooting themselves in the foot with a pitching
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: coach who, you know, clearly wasn't adapted to the times
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: based on everything we know now. And they make one
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: move and then all of a sudden they maybe have
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: the best rotation in baseball. So, I mean, I'll cool
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: my jets on that, but they're pitching really well. So,
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: you know, like sometimes these things aren't that crazy. And,
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: you know, you look at the free agent market, it's
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: a bad market. Like, I don't think there's a one,
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: you know, fix all here. But I think if you're
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: the Angels, they did the first move immediately, which was,
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: you know, selling at the deadline, rebuilding their farm system
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: a little bit. It will take a combination of that
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: and also spending a little more, both in infrastructure and
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: in free agency. And I don't think beyond that, like.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: What else?
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: You know, the media changes, I don't think, need to
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: be so complicated. I think that's really what it comes
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: down to. And then you'll you'll build around it. You'll
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: build an infrastructure in terms of like the stadium and
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: the spring training facilities.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: But, you know, and the.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Personnel, I think there can be upgrades in certain areas.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: But at the end of the day, it's not crazy.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: And I don't think it will take years and years.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Mark, what do you think when you look at the
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: landscape and in terms of being a more immediate turnaround
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: or is it going to take a little time?
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: I think it's a process. I think that, so free
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: agent market, I mean, we can cover some of these
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: guys and I think you have a chart that they will,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: but there are some attractive names or at least a couple.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: I think their biggest need is pretty barren as far
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: as that goes in the free agent market is bats
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: and impact bats. There's a couple of guys that this year,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: I know Rosa Reyna is one of them and Jazz Chisholm.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure he fits the blue collar mold that
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: generally uh works in anaheim but he is a talented
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: ball player uh gunner henderson in 2028 would be the
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: one that um and kyle tucker but uh well and
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: i think you're talking about you know these game names
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: that are going to come up when you when you
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: look uh and who is going to be available but
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: as far as building out, I mean, Sam, do you
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: have any idea how big their analytics department currently is?
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Roughly a number of the number of people that might be.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: A part of it. It doesn't stories on these.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: I couldn't tell you off the top of my head,
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: the number, but I mean, I think at the end,
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: you know, they're, they're low in numbers across pretty much
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: every department.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Um, that's kind of, I think you need to beef
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: that up big time. Like we're talking 20 to 30 guys,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: multiple disciplines, um, from fitness to the mental side of things,
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: which is a big deal, especially today with the lack
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: of ex-players coaching minus this team. And that really hasn't translated,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: but you need an R & D department. I think
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: they're going to need to create, I doubt they have it,
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: an internal scouting database. I've seen, been privileged to see
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: a couple of ones, the Blue Jays, the Cubs, and
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: they are advanced and they have all the medicals in there.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: They have all their scouting of their team, other teams.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: It is extremely extensive. You can find literally everything. That's
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: where you're going to see the video for hitters, pitchers,
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: all the advanced analytics as well. I have to assume
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: the Angels are going off of one of the older
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: systems that they're probably leasing, and they're way behind in
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: that regard. So all these things can be remedied, but
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: it's going to take a little or a lot of cash.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: in terms of you know getting it going can i.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Add one thing like i thought it was interesting just
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: the announcement that came the day before this sale which
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: was pair you know a lot of perry's top people
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: basically being either promoted or retaining their positions um you
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: know it's wasn't what i expected when john mosella came
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: in and took over and i honestly i don't think
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: anybody really knows where some of the personnel decisions are
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: going to go beyond this year but it's it says
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: to me like I mean, it's not a criticism of
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: the people necessarily, but it almost was a little concerning
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: to me that it looked like there was just a
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: lot of the same that may be coming, a lot
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: of the same people. And I think when you look
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: at changing your culture, it doesn't mean you got to
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: fire everybody, but I think it's surprising that a lot
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: of those same people are seemingly going to kind of
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: be running every department, every major department and being elevated
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: into higher positions now. like the two AGMs that were added.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: So I'd be curious to kind of see what happens
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: in the big picture. But, you know, maybe it says
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: to Mozelek, like, hey, these are talented people that were
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: just kind of being hamstrung by a bad system that
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: we can now address in a better way. But, yeah,
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: I still thought it was a little surprising just given
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: how bad everything really was under Perry and kind of,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: you know, you can't mistake how bad.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Like, it was terrible. Yeah.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: There's some positive signs, but it's surprising that this was
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: the route they went, at least for me.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: All right, we're going to take a quick break for
• 13:06
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• 13:07
  Speaker 1: going to get a little more into the weeds on
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: the free aging class this winter, assuming there is a winner.
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• 14:18
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Sam Blum, Mark Trumbo,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and Mike DiGiovanna. Well, I should clarify that last statement.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: There will be a winner.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Hopefully, it just may not look like the winner of
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: baseball that we're used to with the potential lockout coming
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: on December 1st.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Well, the Angels are— Thanks for clarifying that.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: You never know, right?
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: The Angels are expected to spend more freely under new ownership,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: but this winter's free agent class, as expected, John Moselock
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: did say in late August, is, quote, not the most
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: robust of all time. Let's take a look at the class.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: There is one huge name, obviously, at the front of
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: that starting pitcher list, Tarek Skubal. The list drops off
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: pretty considerably from there with guys like Nick Martinez, Casey Mize,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and Zach Gallin. There are a few guys, starting pitchers especially,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: with opt-out clauses, Michael King being probably the most prominent.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Now I look at the relievers. There's some pretty good
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: bullpen depth pieces, not the closer type that you're probably
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: looking for to maybe anchor a bullpen. But certainly when
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: you consider the depth, the lack of depth in this
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Angels bullpen, some of those names, you know, Brian Abreu,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: David Bednar, Adrian Mordhahn, those are pretty good names to
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: add to a bullpen. But as Mark said earlier, yeah,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Brock Berg, the position player group is really, really thin.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Randy Rosarena probably heads it. Jazz Chisholm, if he's your
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: cup of tea, is a pretty good get. Luis Arias,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: if you're looking for that leadoff type and a versatile infielder.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I kind of like Jake Bowers, the Brewers' first baseman.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: He's a local kid from Marina High School, would probably
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: love to come back here. Pretty good pop in a
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: left-handed hitting first baseman. A lot more pop than the
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: left-handed hitting first baseman the Angels currently have.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: But overall, as we say, it is not a.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: You know, a really huge field in terms of depth
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and impact once you get by Scooble.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: What do you think, guys?
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Can the Angels make some serious inroads by spending some
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: serious money this winter, or is that going to take
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: some time?
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: I mean, Brandon Lau I thought was the best name
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: on that list, and he's kind of there toward the bottom.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: I mean, the year he's having, it's just, yeah, you're right.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: You've got to have to be creative. That's why I
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: mentioned the Kikuchi– you know, potential trade. Like I think there's,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: if you want to be competitive next year and I
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: don't think that's out of the question, you know, yeah,
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: you're going to have to spend a little bit and
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: you're going to have to maybe even, I'll be curious
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: to see if the angels are willing to part, part
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: with any like young players. They feel like they can
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: be competitive with, you know, some of their, you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: young pitching. I mean like actual trade, some of the prospects,
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't advise that, but you know, I just, I'll
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: be so curious to see how the new ownership group,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: you know, assuming they take over when it's still the
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: off season operates and, uh, before the start of next season.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: But you know, yeah, they haven't, they have a window
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: here to be competitive. I don't know if it necessarily
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: means spending this off season, but I think you can
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: start that process and maybe, uh, be selective and be
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: smart about it. But I, yeah, there's not a ton of,
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: there's not a ton of options there, uh, to really,
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: really improve your, uh, your team, unless you want to
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: go trade or assigned to Eric Scoble, who did tell
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: the LA times the other day. Um, I think the
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: angels are going to be, you know, a place people
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: want to go.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: So, He knows what he's doing.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Can't hurt.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Can't hurt.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: What did you think when you saw those comments, Mark?
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Are we getting the big left-hander in Anaheim next year?
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: The big left-hander is at least opening up the door
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: for a potential suitor, which there will be probably at
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: least 20 of them. This is a guy that's going
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: to be courted heavily and get to pick where he
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: wants to go. It's going to be one of those
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: monster deals. Michael King almost certainly will opt out of
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: his contract. He's the ace of the Padres. He's one
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: loss record. It's going to almost certainly due to lack
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: of run support. It's 10-9, but he's got a three ERA,
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: more strikeouts and walks. And I wanted him, and I
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: said wanted him, but I thought he'd be a great
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: fit for the Angels, I guess, going into this year,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: this previous winter. Signed a three-year deal with multiple opt-outs.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: So I think he would immediately make the Angels– what
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: they are already, their strength is starting pitching. And so
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: I would lean into that because I'm not interested in
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: any of the, the bats that are available. And one
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: of the issues too, as far as the position players,
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: a lot of these guys, Gunnar Henderson, for example, he
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: plays a position. The angels are pretty stocked at Zach Netto.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: You have no Mala in double a we'll see how
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: he progresses, but he looks very promising and, Really, they're
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: very light on outfielders. And Randy Rosarena, he's an interesting guy.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: He's having a nice year. Taylor Ward's completely fallen off
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: the planet, unfortunately. So not a guy the Angels would
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: probably target either. The left-handed pop, Jake Bowers, I believe
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: this is his first year. He's really blossomed. But I
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: don't know. I would do what you can to improve–
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: What I consider the biggest area of weakness is the bullpen.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: How many games have been unfortunately lost late in the
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: game and the extra innings, their record has to be
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: pretty pitiful. In addition, they don't have a single catcher
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: with a positive war. So we're talking about a team
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: and we did do a war episode. We scrapped it
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: as there was some other news that came about. But
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: this team as of early September team war is 23
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: and a half. And in that episode, we were talking
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: about a playoff team is going to, you got to
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: get somewhere in the mid thirties creeping up towards 40.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Now it's complicated subject, but essentially the angels have to
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: shed as many negative war players as they can. and
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: start finding guys that are going to probably creep into
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: that 2-3-4 win player, which is a solid everyday regular.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Denzer Guzman, Christian Moore, these guys are going to have
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: to take a big step forward because right now it's
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: very inconsistent. I don't see a lot of production from
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: either of them. Josh Lowe, there's many, many guys that
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: have not contributed significantly. And so the Angels are going
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: to need to find guys that do contribute to start contending.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: We are going to reprise that war episode one of
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: these days.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: You should have just pulled the trigger on it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: We literally finished taping it like 10 minutes before the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: news came out that Kroenke was buying the Angels. We're
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: trying to serve our listeners and viewers. Mark, just a
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: follow-up on Michael King. Why do you think he'll opt out?
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know Michael King. I don't think I've ever
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: talked to him. Is there something– I mean, what if
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: San Diego makes a deep postseason run? Is he unhappy
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: down there? You got some insider info we don't know about?
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Why would a guy opt out, Mike?
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Well, more money for one.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: A number of the questions you've asked on this show
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: can be answered with that same answer.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: We're trying to stimulate conversation.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: Here, Mark. Go ahead, though. He's got a nice deal.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: What was it, $ 375?
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. It's not terrible.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: Minus a year. No, no. It's very good money. It's
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: probably what you're making doing this show.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: And he....
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:45
  Speaker 8: Anyway.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah. he can almost certainly beat that. I think he's
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: a guy that teams wouldn't hesitate to give a four
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: year deal to a five year deal deal. And the
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: timing is right. Scooble is going to get, I don't know,
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: three in the first digit of four is going to
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: be a behemoth. I don't care. I do care. Great
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: for him. Great pitcher. I doubt the angels are the
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: ones that do it, but stranger things have happened. But
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: I think that this team, what's the easiest way to
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: get their pitching and defense. And I got to improve
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: on defense a lot, but, following the models of some
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: of these other teams, the Guardians, the Rays. We're not
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: talking about a World Series winning team. We're talking about
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: a playoff caliber team. And those are the areas there.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: The starting pitching is a strength already. Why not make
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: it stronger?
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: All right. We're going to take one more quick break
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: for a word from our sponsors.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: And when we come back, we're going to talk a
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: little bit more about what changes the Angels could make
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: under new ownership and whether Anaheim will become more of
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: a destination than it has been.
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• 23:47
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Sam Blum, Mark Trumbo,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and Mike DiGiovanna. Well, Anaheim has not been a big
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: destination spot for free agents in recent years, but we
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: do expect that to change pretty quickly under new ownership.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: We did talk to Zach Netto before they went on
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: this road trip about this very topic.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Let's hear what he had to say. Is that what
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Dylan said.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: About the track record? Do you think that makes this
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: a more attractive place?
• 24:10
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, who doesn't want to be in Southern California?
• 24:14
  Speaker 8: The weather is beautiful here. We have the best fans,
• 24:17
  Speaker 8: in my opinion. And, you know, we have a beautiful stadium. And,
• 24:20
  Speaker 8: you know, like I said, who wouldn't want to be
• 24:21
  Speaker 8: here and play in this organization, in this market?
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: You know, it'd be a no-brainer. You guys have heard
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: the chants from the fans.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: How much can this revitalize the fan base.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: And you guys in return?
• 24:33
  Speaker 8: Yeah, the fans are everything. Our energy feeds off of them.
• 24:38
  Speaker 8: We hear them every single day. We try not to
• 24:41
  Speaker 8: pay attention to what they say, but just a matter
• 24:45
  Speaker 8: for the energy. I think that's the most important part,
• 24:47
  Speaker 8: and knows that Angels baseball is important to them just
• 24:52
  Speaker 8: as it's important for us to win for them.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: I think it's very important.
• 24:59
  Speaker 8: Their voices are heard, and we hear them, and it
• 25:02
  Speaker 8: motivates us.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure quite what beautiful stadium he's referring to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: in that comment.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: But.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: The Angels do have a very loyal fan base that
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: is very hungry for a winner. And now they have
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: a deep pocketed owner in Stan Kroenke, who has won
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: championships in the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, and the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: English Premier League.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: I think we.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Know that Anaheim has already jumped up a few notches
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: for potential free agents in terms of a destination spot,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: but What do you think, Mark?
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: You were a free agent.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: How much more attractive is Anaheim right now, even considering
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the fact that they are very likely going to lose
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: 100 games and a roster full of holes, but with
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Stan Kroenke at the helm, how much more attractive can
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: it be and how quickly?
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's a complete 180. It's totally different. This
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: went from a team that I would have to assume
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: there's more than one player that probably had them on
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: a do not trade list. I think that the reputation
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: for years now has not been good under general manager
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Perry Manassian. Well, well chronicled ownership and so many negative
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: stories that we've covered on here. The publicity is that
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: for the team overall has been, pretty much non-existent. Uh,
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: you know, you have issues at the stadium with rodents
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: and air conditioning. And, uh, I mean, I'd have to, we,
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: the show would go for an hour, uh, you know, Aaron, the, the,
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: the dirty laundry, but that's not what we're intending to do.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: It's all of these things, uh, will almost certainly be
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: remedied in short order. Um, those types of issues should
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: have never, especially the air conditioning one. I just can't
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: get over that. That's, that is so rinky dink, but
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: I think that, uh, It's hard to put into words.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, what's changed? Everything's changed. And until we see
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: some more concrete things, it is speculative. But what did
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: you think about the part where he said, we hear
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: the fans, but we try not to listen to what
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: they say?
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: He's just being diplomatic.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: He hears it.
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: He agrees with it, I'm sure. I've seen Neto kind
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: of egg them on at times. What are they saying?
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: Sell the team? Yeah.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Not kind to Artie Marino, for sure. It's very clear.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: I don't think we know.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: We've been spending the whole season trying to diagnose what's
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: going on in Zach Netto's head.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: That's true. Well, I guess seriously.
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: Because it seems like at times he's been frustrated for
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: reasons that aren't always clear to us. And so if
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: I had to just guess, and it's my educated guess,
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: this is a guy that kind of wants to feel
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: like he has a lane here and like, there's a
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: winning opportunity here and there's a chance for him to
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: kind of like be the franchise shortstop here. And like there,
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: that has been challenged at times, both by, you know, the.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: Trade deadline, all that.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: And, and by Artie's comments about not necessarily viewing winning
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: as a priority and like, just like the fact that
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: he has never, as far as I'm aware, been offered
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: an extension to stay here. So I think there have
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: just been a couple of things and like, yeah, now
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: this is, now there's like this pathway, you know, to
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: like be, part of a competent organization i think that's
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: something that he values um and you know maybe be
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: there for a long time so i mean hopefully like
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: this is locks him in a little bit he's performed
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: better recently um but yeah uh that's what i felt
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: like that's what i took from it like this is
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: a guy who's who's internalized and has you know listened
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: to those chants every day and has kind of wondered
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: wondered where it's all headed.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah we're going to talk a little bit more about
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: these changes and we asked mike trout once again before
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: they went on the road trip about what changes he
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: feels like the Angels can make under new ownership.
• 28:55
  Speaker 7: Mike, given that they might ask your opinion on this,
• 28:58
  Speaker 7: what do you think is needed here from the new
• 29:00
  Speaker 7: ownership group.
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: To turn this thing around?
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of things.
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: I'm not going to get into specifics. I think just
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: a fresh start and a new mindset maybe just to
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: change some things. The trade deadline was... you know, a must,
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: you know, we did that. And, you know, Mo did
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: an unbelievable job with that. You know, that's a start. So,
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: and you look at the farm system, I think it
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: went from like 30th to.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: 14th or something.
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: So you can build off that. And, you know, I think,
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: you know, bringing new ownership in, you know, they're probably
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: excited to get this thing, you know.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: Flipped around. You talked about wanting to win here.
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: Did this year kind of maybe give you like that
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: vision of how you can get there?
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: No doubt.
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: You know, it's obviously been frustrating the last, you know,
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: I don't know how many years it's been, but just
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: to hear the news like this, it's, you know, like
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: I said.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: I'm super excited to have this, you know, new change
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: and Do you feel kind of like more rejuvenated, like
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: a fresh start.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: And what's ahead of you?
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, it's just, I think, you know, like
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: I said, I haven't talked to Artie at all, but
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: I think seeing the reaction from the fans and some
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: of the guys and just the whole vibe, I think
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: it was needed for a fresh start, I think.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll pick up this conversation here. I agree with Mark,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: a complete 180 degree change with a new owner. But
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: I have to say, I think we're already seeing a
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: significant cultural change with the firing of Perry Manassian and
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: John Mosela coming in. And I want to point to
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: something Trent Rush said on the broadcast, I believe it
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: was Saturday, over the weekend, about There was a game
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: apparently in August where Zach Netto did not hustle, I assume,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: down to first base. We've seen that a lot, not
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: just from him this year. And apparently, according to Trent Rush,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: John Moselock was sitting at Zach Netto's locker after the
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: game and said, hey, man, that can't happen here. You
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: need to hustle. You're a guy we expect to set
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: an example. Granted, he is one of the younger players,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: but he's one of the premier players. We can't have
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: that happen. I'm not sure if that happened really early
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: on and we're seeing that better version of Zach Netto
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: that we've seen in these last couple weeks. But, you know,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I think that's a really big shift on the part
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: of the Angels and Mosaic. What do you guys see
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: when you heard that comment, Mark, especially you?
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: You actually pointed it out to me on the broadcast.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: I think that's your watch again talking. It's got a
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: mind of its own. I think Well, I heard that anecdote.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: I recorded it and sent it to you because I
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: found it very insightful. And when you look at Netto's,
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: there was a clear change. An effort, intensity, focus, most
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: noticeable on the defensive side. How long ago? Fairly recently,
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: but it would probably coincide with something like this. And
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: I think that it took... a new boss, somebody different
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: coming in and saying, well, that's just unacceptable. That's not
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: the way that this team is going to play baseball
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: under my guidance. And in short order, I mean, that's
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: all it takes and all it took in this case,
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: a quick conversation, but one that probably wasn't Zach's favorite,
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: highly effective though. I mean, the proof is in the pudding.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I think it's highly impactful.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: And I think of a conversation like that and Would
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: we have ever even gotten to that point with Mike
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Socha at the.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: Helm as manager, Mark?
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: Never. I can remember like yesterday, he's telling me to
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: pick it up when we do the conditioning in spring.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: I hadn't fallen behind either. I still contest I was right.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: You follow the guy in front of you as you're
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: running around the cut of the outfield. I'm getting barked at.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: I'm right behind the guy. I think it was just
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: letting a young guy know I'm watching. We're watching closely.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: I want to ask you, Mike, why did Perry Manassian
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: not have this conversation? Why did he insist his players
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: play hard and hustle?
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Good question. I don't know.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: And it's strange because as we mentioned on the show
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: and Sam has written about often, there was more of
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: a presence in that clubhouse and in the dressing room
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: of front office guys. You know, literally like they had
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: they were getting dressed in the coach's room. They were
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: seen in the clubhouse all the time. I don't know
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: if he just didn't think that was his job, maybe
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: expected the manager to do it, but clearly a lack
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: of leadership, I think, on somebody's part.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: Is there no space elsewhere? What are they, sharing lockers
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: with the players? What's that about?
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Well, they shouldn't even be down there to begin with.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Sam, what do you make of all that? I don't know.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: If Perry had in his personality to be that confrontational
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: maybe with a player.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: Maybe he didn't think he had the cachet. I don't know.
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think that, like, I don't think you
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: as a GM need to like tell players, you know,
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: pick it up possible. Like, I think what you want
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: is to have a coaching stat. You want to have,
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: you want to establish a culture where somebody's holding those
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: players accountable. Like it doesn't need to be you sitting
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: at the locker. I think clearly if, you know, if
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: Mosaic is doing that, it's because he felt like it
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: wasn't that message wasn't getting across that he needed to
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: be the one to deliver it in that moment, which
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: I would give him credit for. And I think like, yes,
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: that's a sign of an improved culture, my opinion, but
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't go as far as to say that I
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: feel like it's, it's, fixed or anything like I, you know,
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: to me, there's so many elements that, you know, need
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: to be addressed big picture that go beyond just, you know,
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: somebody telling someone they need to run harder, but that's
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: a start. And that wasn't happening before. It's at least
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: it's starting to happen now. I wonder if Kurt Suzuki
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: is the guy that does that. Cause I mean, there
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: have been numerous examples over the course of the season
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: where I fell or it feels like that wasn't happening,
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: you know, or players weren't hustling or they were making
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: mistakes that were unacceptable or, you know, whatever. And it
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: was just like nothing like, and then whatnot. It wasn't
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: even being addressed. It felt like, you know, behind closed
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: doors at all. And it's tough. I, we knew it
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: from the day that, that he was hired first year manager,
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: one year deal, managing a bunch of guys who he's
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: played with is like a horrible recipe for accountability. And
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: it has played out exactly as we thought it would.
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: No, no, I, I, one thing I usually agree with Sam. I,
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: even if I was teammates with a guy, You just
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: simply lay it out on day one. This is what's expected.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: We're going to agree with you.
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: But that's part of the issue with who they hired.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: Like they did.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: They put they put him in a bad position and
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: they hired the person that wasn't going to be able
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: to overcome that bad position.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: OK, so if you knew that he didn't have in
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: his makeup to police that type of stuff and you
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: have Moncada, Soler, you have you have a number of
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: candidates that might be guys that do this. then that
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: is not a good fit. That was not a good
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: fit at all. Albert Pujols would not allow anyone to
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: dog it down the line. I know that. You can
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: say whatever you want, but the Cardinal way is what
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: Albert knows. He ran as hard as he could. He
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: didn't have speed, but he gave his best effort, and
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: I think that's all he respects.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know that you needed a drill sergeant as
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: your manager, but I do think, Kurt, his temperament, his
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: personality has been a little too mild-mannered.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: For this team.
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: We're going to close the show with Sam's final thoughts.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Just elaborate, Sam. I know you've written a lot about this.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: What changes do you think new ownership can make pretty
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: immediately that maybe aren't all tied to, you know, spending
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: a ton of money on Tarek Skubal? What are some
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: of these infrastructure, foundational culture-like things, shifts that you think
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: can be, will be remedied or either changed immediately under
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: new ownership?
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: I mean, to me, I'm just very curious to see
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: what they do with the Tempe Stadium and the Anaheim Stadium.
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, when you say immediate changes, I'm honestly curious
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: about John Moselak's relationship with the Cronky Group. I mean,
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: if you think about it, Moselak spent a lot of
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: time in St. Louis where the St. Louis Rams used
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: to exist. So I imagine there's at least some familiarity there.
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: I'd be curious to kind of see, like, is this
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: going to be Moselak's team? Is he going to kind
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: of have the authority to continue doing what he was
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: doing in these last several months, or is it going
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: to be like somebody coming in and bulldozing the whole place?
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: You know, the immediate, it'll be fascinating, especially because of
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: the timeline too. In theory, these guys aren't officially taking
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: over until first quarter of next year, which might be
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: in the middle of a lockout, but it might also,
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: you know, it's going to be after in theory, they're
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: going to have to make decisions on coaching staff, front office.
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: So how involved are they going to be in that process?
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of things that we don't really know
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: in terms of how it's going to go about. But
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: to me, the number one thing that I think will
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: be changed, and we'll be very curious to see how
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: it's changed, is just the venues themselves. Spring training needs upgrade.
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: Anaheim needs an upgrade. I would think that they bought
• 38:06
  Speaker 4: this team in order to build a new stadium. That
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: would be my guess. I know Forbes decided to publish
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: a headline and then retract it that there was going
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: to be a new stadium. I have not reported that whatsoever.
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: but I imagine that this is a real estate play
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: that tends to be the case in these, you know,
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: for Stan Kroenke and like, he's got a history of it. And,
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: and Angel Stadium is just as, as you push back
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: on Zach Netto so adequately is not a nice ballpark.
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: So unless it's a really expensive refurbishment, I would think
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: that the play here is to buy the land, buy
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: the ballpark and build a new one.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally agree.
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: Two quick questions for you, Mike, two quick. Why did
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: Wade Weckler have to bunt with two strikes the other day?
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: Oh my God. That was a terrible move. I don't
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: understand what they're thinking. What was it, 1-0 at the time,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Trout had gotten on, leadoff single or something? And your
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: number three hitter now is bunting in a stadium where
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: right field is reachable. We saw he had a, you know,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: knocked a double to the gap in right center the
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: following day.
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: Wade Meckler.
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: He's the one guy who gets hit like every time.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: Outside of Netto, he's like your second best hitter.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: In the team. Why are you bunting him? I don't know.
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: I know that getting back to earlier should have mentioned it,
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: but I couldn't let that go because I sat there.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: You know, this is one of these things that looks
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: so forced and for no, I mean, This is your
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: highest average hitter. This guy can battle with two strikes.
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: and i didn't understand that.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: And we should note he bunted with he bunted with
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: two strikes and and struck out right didn't he foul it.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: Off i i think it popped up yeah or a.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: Strikeout whatever uh and then the second as far as
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: This team's, I mean, the media coverage is very small
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: compared to what it used to be. Do you think
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: immediately with Stan Kroenke on that side of things, some
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: of these newspapers, maybe your old employer, will be interested
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: in covering this team? No, I'm serious. I mean, it's hard. Legitimate.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: One paper. And, you know, the Athletic does cover it,
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: but not to the same extent.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. We do it differently.
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: The L.A.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: Times is who I'm asking about. Are they going to
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: cover this team with a full-time beat reporter?
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: I got that question in one of the comments on
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: our last show, and I answered by saying under the
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: current leadership at the L.A. Times, I wouldn't get your
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: hopes up because it's, you know, I've made little probably,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: you know, admittedly some snarky comments on this show throughout
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: the year. I When they pulled off the Angels' beat,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: I believe it was after the 23 season, I told
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: the sports editor at the time, worst move you could make,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: completely short-sighted.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Really, just, you know, you've got a Major League Baseball.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Team in your market, and you're not even covering its
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: home games, and you're relying on AP. And, you know,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Bill Shakin still does a great job with whatever he
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: writes about at the paper. I'm assuming he would probably
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: take probably– I don't know how he divides his job
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: up percentage-wise between the Dodgers and the Angels, but I
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: would assume the Angels would warrant some more coverage from
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Bill Shakin. But in terms of getting a beat writer,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: you're talking about a paper that has had massive cutbacks
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: in recent years, layoffs, buyouts.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: I don't care about that. Step it up.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Let's get back in the game. Hey, I'm not disagreeing
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: with you, Mark. I am not disagreeing with you. It's
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: a matter of priorities. And the current sports editor, has
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: a certain agenda that she's trying to put forth, and
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: right now the Angels are not part of it. You
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: can pose that same question to the Athletic, too.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: Do the Angels not send their radio guys or their
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: Spanish radio on the road?
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Which one is it?
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: Terry Smith and Mark Langston do not travel with the team.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: That's another immediate change.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: That's a change.
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of, I mean, I'll be curious. Are
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: they going to like, I would love to see them
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: retire a GA's number, especially Tim Salmon. These are like,
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: you think about, I mean, look at Steve Cohen when
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: he came in and took over the Mets, like the
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: easiest thing he decided to do was just, you know,
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: how do you just like make people make yourself popular?
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: You honor your former players.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: You honor your history.
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: That is what so many fans care about. They, you know,
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: you might be new to this as an owner, but
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day, like these guys have
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: been here their whole lives and, They love those players,
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: and no one should be wearing 15 or 16, I think, clearly.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: But that's just my opinion.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: We will close the show with that. Hey, thanks for listening.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate your support. Please like
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: and subscribe, and we will see you next time on
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: Halo Territory.