Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / ANGELS MAILBAG: What would trade of Zach Neto look like? Where is Christian Moore? When will Halos return to playoffs?
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo territory.
- 0:11Speaker 2: I am Mike D.
- 0:12Speaker 1: Giovanna, former Early Times Baseball writer, host of the show,
- 0:16Speaker 1: joined by Mark Trumbo, the former Angel slugger, and my
- 0:19Speaker 1: regular co host. Well, it's that time again. We're gonna
- 0:23Speaker 1: break open the Angels mailbag. Always love to hear from
- 0:27Speaker 1: our fans. I really appreciate your input. Got a pretty
- 0:30Speaker 1: good batch of questions this time, too, so let's get
- 0:32Speaker 1: right to it. From Ed Halenski, what adjectives would best
- 0:37Speaker 1: describe this current Angel season? Mark, did you have to
- 0:41Speaker 1: break out the thesaurus for this one? Or do they
- 0:43Speaker 1: pop right into your head?
- 0:47Speaker 3: There's many things you could say about this current Angels season.
- 0:51Speaker 3: How many are fit for a print? I it's up
- 0:54Speaker 3: to those describes. I personally think it's as expected. That's
- 1:03Speaker 3: that's two words if you want one, probably a D
- 1:09Speaker 3: word of some sorts depressing, disappointing, disaster, desperate. But what's
- 1:17Speaker 3: the real answer. It's necessary for a team to to
- 1:22Speaker 3: actually do something different. I think Sam is going to
- 1:26Speaker 3: be the closest in his prediction record wise, and at
- 1:31Speaker 3: the time I said, I think this team's a little
- 1:33Speaker 3: bit better than that I think he had them pegged
- 1:35Speaker 3: for mid sixties something like that, and I was saying,
- 1:41Speaker 3: there's more talent, there's more talent, but the record is
- 1:44Speaker 3: what it is. It's not good. They have not been
- 1:47Speaker 3: playing well of late, and a lot of people were
- 1:51Speaker 3: traded and traded while enjoying an interesting day at Mike
- 1:57Speaker 3: Trout's Fantastic Golf Club, and Rosenthal wrote a piece for
- 2:01Speaker 3: The Athletic and it seemed like while they were in
- 2:06Speaker 3: theory and Mike had planned this prior to the season,
- 2:08Speaker 3: starting with the best of intentions and just in succession.
- 2:13Speaker 3: But from what Moe seems to have said, everyone handled
- 2:17Speaker 3: it well. I think that that usually indicates he handled
- 2:20Speaker 3: it well too on his side, because I've been traded.
- 2:25Speaker 3: I was traded multiple times and well multiple times by
- 2:30Speaker 3: the same guy and then once by Dave Stewart too,
- 2:34Speaker 3: So it does matter. And that was an interesting read.
- 2:37Speaker 3: So as far as adjectives, what do you think?
- 2:40Speaker 1: Yeah, I do want. We forgot to mention that story
- 2:43Speaker 1: on Monday's show. We had a lot to cover that day,
- 2:46Speaker 1: but kudos to Ken Rosenthal.
- 2:48Speaker 2: That was a great story. You know, just.
- 2:52Speaker 1: Trying to imagine, you know, being on the seven tea
- 2:55Speaker 1: boxs and he had a call from the gym. I'm
- 2:57Speaker 1: assuming when you got traded twice by Jerry too, you
- 3:00Speaker 1: weren't teeing it up for a four hundred and fifty
- 3:02Speaker 1: yard Part four?
- 3:04Speaker 2: Is that correct? Mark?
- 3:06Speaker 3: If I recall, I think both times I was mid
- 3:10Speaker 3: off season workout and I didn't love being disturbed, still
- 3:17Speaker 3: don't when I'm kind of trying to focus. But I
- 3:22Speaker 3: was told that it is, you know, the professional thing
- 3:25Speaker 3: to do as the player to take the phone call
- 3:28Speaker 3: and listen to.
- 3:31Speaker 2: What they have to say.
- 3:31Speaker 3: You're not going to do a lot of talking, but
- 3:35Speaker 3: you don't want to completely destroy any relationships either. So
- 3:40Speaker 3: it comes down to showing some maturity even if you're
- 3:43Speaker 3: not thrilled with And part of it too is until
- 3:46Speaker 3: you know where you're going. I think that's the biggest
- 3:48Speaker 3: worry guys just it could be anywhere, and sometimes it
- 3:52Speaker 3: is as far as you know around the country. But well, yeah,
- 3:57Speaker 3: never played Trout's golf course either. It looks fantastic and
- 4:02Speaker 3: they had a nice gesture by him having the guys
- 4:04Speaker 3: out there. Yeah, getting back to my adjectives, definitely depressing,
- 4:09Speaker 3: disappointing were the first two to come to mind for me,
- 4:12Speaker 3: and also frustrating, not because I expected this team to
- 4:17Speaker 3: compete for a division title. I did not, but frustrating
- 4:21Speaker 3: because it was just so much more of the same.
- 4:23Speaker 2: You know.
- 4:23Speaker 1: The there was a decent start, remember back in April.
- 4:27Speaker 1: The team seemed to show a lot of heart, a
- 4:31Speaker 1: lot of pretty good comebacks, a little bit of that
- 4:33Speaker 1: never say die thing. They were never out of the game.
- 4:37Speaker 4: You know.
- 4:37Speaker 2: I had a.
- 4:38Speaker 1: Almost really could have swept the four game series in
- 4:42Speaker 1: Yankee Stadium if not for some blown saves I believe
- 4:46Speaker 1: by the former but current Angel save leader Jordan Romano.
- 4:51Speaker 1: So yeah, just frustrating, and that at all just sort
- 4:53Speaker 1: of devolved from there. You know, the injuries you say, Kakuchi,
- 4:59Speaker 1: Ben Joyce. There you have two guys in the pitchy staff,
- 5:03Speaker 1: a key cog and the rotation your closer, both on
- 5:07Speaker 1: the shelf for a long period. Uh, There's been some
- 5:10Speaker 1: pleasant surprises, Walbert Urina being the prime one. Denzier Guzman
- 5:15Speaker 1: has at times looked like a pretty good young player
- 5:18Speaker 1: over at third base. But you know, just the loss
- 5:21Speaker 1: of started amount. Wade Meckler, we love Wade in the
- 5:25Speaker 1: leadoff spot. There's yeah, there's been some promising developments, but
- 5:29Speaker 1: on the whole, just more of the same. Can't keep up,
- 5:33Speaker 1: you know, even in a really weakened division. Uh, they
- 5:37Speaker 1: just had no chance. And then we saw what happened
- 5:39Speaker 1: to the trade deadline. So I guess once we get
- 5:43Speaker 1: to August third, I guess my adjective might be refreshing.
- 5:46Speaker 1: Refreshing to see a change of course, and uh an
- 5:52Speaker 1: admission on Artie Marino's part, and we'll probably get this
- 5:56Speaker 1: to this in the Arlater question and certainly on the
- 5:58Speaker 1: interim jam parts John Moseylock to realize and acknowledge this
- 6:04Speaker 1: team as it was currently constituted was not going anywhere
- 6:09Speaker 1: and change needed to be embraced. Speaking of sort of
- 6:13Speaker 1: piggybacks with our next question from sixty feet six, Realistically,
- 6:18Speaker 1: based on the talent in the organization, how many years
- 6:22Speaker 1: do you think it will be before they are competitive
- 6:25Speaker 1: for a playoff spot? Pretty darn good question. What do
- 6:28Speaker 1: you got, Mark?
- 6:31Speaker 3: I think speculative is the word. I've said rough estimates before.
- 6:40Speaker 3: I don't know, twenty twenty nine, twenty thirty. You could
- 6:43Speaker 3: see that it could be sooner. I am not a
- 6:47Speaker 3: fortune teller. I think that they are going to need
- 6:49Speaker 3: to supplement anything they do with spending on some free agents,
- 6:55Speaker 3: and hopeful that when it comes time to do that,
- 7:00Speaker 3: it's not maybe more of the same that we've seen here,
- 7:03Speaker 3: the big bats that fall a little flat, Josh Hamilton
- 7:09Speaker 3: and your favorite Anthony Rendon, and there spent some others too.
- 7:15Speaker 3: I still think investing in some starting pitching takes teams
- 7:20Speaker 3: to the next level. You got to pay to play,
- 7:23Speaker 3: and it's not my money, so I like to spend it,
- 7:28Speaker 3: you know, as I would if I had it, you know,
- 7:33Speaker 3: you know, try and buy all the starting pitchers, the
- 7:36Speaker 3: really good ones and have you know what do the
- 7:38Speaker 3: Dodgers have it? And eight and rotation or something.
- 7:41Speaker 1: I've lost track eight or ten or twelve. It's amazing.
- 7:44Speaker 3: Well, they're not winning too many games recently either, but
- 7:47Speaker 3: I think they they will when it counts.
- 7:50Speaker 2: Agreed.
- 7:52Speaker 1: You know, that's a really good question sixty feet six.
- 7:56Speaker 1: To me, the answer really hinges on what the Angels
- 7:59Speaker 1: do this winner. They could there's two courses they could follow,
- 8:04Speaker 1: and one is, as Mark lays out, they could look
- 8:07Speaker 1: to buy, you know, add some free agents. I don't
- 8:10Speaker 1: know that they have a surplus at any one position
- 8:13Speaker 1: where they could trade from an area of strength to
- 8:15Speaker 1: maybe shore up a weakness on the big league level.
- 8:19Speaker 1: But if they do decide to pursue trades of zach
- 8:24Speaker 1: Netta the shortstop and or Read Detmer's the pitchers, the
- 8:27Speaker 1: picture that to me will signal a deeper rebuild and
- 8:31Speaker 1: a longer timeline, a longer horizon for this team to
- 8:36Speaker 1: be competitive. It's possible, and we'll get to this in
- 8:41Speaker 1: the next question. Interestingly about zach Netto, it's possible for
- 8:47Speaker 1: them to trade both of those guys, maybe get a
- 8:51Speaker 1: young big league ready or you know, controllable big leaguer,
- 8:57Speaker 1: a pitcher and another infielder back in trades like that.
- 9:00Speaker 1: But most likely when you're trading those two guys, it's
- 9:04Speaker 1: going to be for prospects. It's going to be a
- 9:07Speaker 1: package like they got for Jose Soreano with the Blue Jays,
- 9:11Speaker 1: So you know, I know they really entertained offers. We've
- 9:16Speaker 1: heard some interesting rumors with the Twins that Moe was
- 9:20Speaker 1: looking for their best prospect in any kind of trade
- 9:23Speaker 1: for zach Netto, as he rightfully should have. So yeah,
- 9:27Speaker 1: to me, that answer will depend and hinge on what
- 9:30Speaker 1: they their next course of action.
- 9:32Speaker 2: Regarding Devers and zach Netto.
- 9:34Speaker 1: They were going to take a quick break for a
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- 10:44Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo territory with Mark Trumbo and
- 10:47Speaker 1: Mike dg Givanna, and we will continue with the Angels
- 10:49Speaker 1: mail bag from Colin Blecka. What would a possible package
- 10:54Speaker 1: for Netto look like in the off season? Interesting question.
- 10:58Speaker 1: I'll go first on this one, Mark, I think you
- 11:00Speaker 1: have to sort of start with that Jose Siriano trade
- 11:03Speaker 1: with the Blue Jays. You're gonna want at least one
- 11:07Speaker 1: really top prospect in the other teams organization, whether that's
- 11:11Speaker 1: a pitcher or a position player. And you know, some
- 11:15Speaker 1: of that could hinge on how Zach Netto finishes out
- 11:17Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. You know, if he puts up some
- 11:20Speaker 1: good numbers, continues to play some of the great defense
- 11:24Speaker 1: we've seen in recent days, you know, his value could
- 11:28Speaker 1: at least not appreciate in any way. So in addition
- 11:34Speaker 1: to getting one really good prospect, I think you have
- 11:36Speaker 1: to also bring back a very young, controllable, big leaguer
- 11:41Speaker 1: once again, whether that's you need a position player and
- 11:43Speaker 1: a pitcher.
- 11:44Speaker 2: To me, if you can.
- 11:45Speaker 1: Get one really good, young, controllable big leaguer and a
- 11:49Speaker 1: team's best prospect, you could do a two for one trade.
- 11:53Speaker 1: You could also maybe do a three for one if
- 11:55Speaker 1: you'd maybe do one of those two things. You know,
- 11:58Speaker 1: a top prospect or you know, a really good young,
- 12:01Speaker 1: controllable player, and then another throwing prospect by that's someone
- 12:05Speaker 1: in another words, top you know, ten to twenty whatever
- 12:08Speaker 1: it is, but not not like the shortstop they got
- 12:11Speaker 1: from the Blue Jays.
- 12:12Speaker 2: What do you think Mark.
- 12:15Speaker 3: The Angels would get a lot in return? I'm not
- 12:18Speaker 3: sure if Colin you're looking for exact players, it's extremely
- 12:24Speaker 3: hard to put packages together that would satisfy everyone. You
- 12:30Speaker 3: could throw out names that nobody's ever heard of, and
- 12:33Speaker 3: fans you know of the teams that traded them. Whatever,
- 12:37Speaker 3: you know, people think they won the trade, they lost
- 12:39Speaker 3: the trade. In Soriano, it looked like did all right
- 12:42Speaker 3: recently in his start. I think a better question is
- 12:45Speaker 3: what would it take to log zachnetto up if you
- 12:48Speaker 3: haven't traded them, and what would an extension look like?
- 12:51Speaker 3: And it wouldn't just be an extension, it would be well,
- 12:55Speaker 3: the extension would be the old way to cover his
- 12:56Speaker 3: arbitration years and maybe a bridge between that and free agency.
- 13:00Speaker 3: But if they want to build around him and commit
- 13:04Speaker 3: to him long term, you've got to find player comps.
- 13:08Speaker 3: I'm sure on his side and his agent's side they
- 13:10Speaker 3: would shoot high, as they should.
- 13:13Speaker 2: The team might.
- 13:15Speaker 3: Obviously want to not spend all of the money, but
- 13:20Speaker 3: I guess at some point we can run those a
- 13:22Speaker 3: little bit. You got to find, you know, pretty close
- 13:25Speaker 3: player comps and view it as what with these types
- 13:30Speaker 3: of things for young ish players. Now, Zackson his fourth year,
- 13:34Speaker 3: so he's not, you know, I just fresh fresh like
- 13:39Speaker 3: that projection is a little more limited because he has
- 13:43Speaker 3: experienced and how much more room is there in the
- 13:46Speaker 3: ceiling that's to be determined, But that part is intriguing
- 13:51Speaker 3: to me.
- 13:52Speaker 1: Yeah, that to me, getting back to the previous question
- 13:54Speaker 1: about how many years it's going to take before they're competitive,
- 13:56Speaker 1: that could be another indicator on whether the Angels believe
- 13:59Speaker 1: they can return to the playoffs sooner rather than later.
- 14:02Speaker 1: Do we at least try to lock up a guy
- 14:04Speaker 1: like Zach Nadow and Ray Detmer's for that matter. Next
- 14:07Speaker 1: question from Jason Inman, another Zach Netto question. This is
- 14:11Speaker 1: the last one, we promise. Can you clarify as to
- 14:14Speaker 1: why you seem to insinuate that Netto is some sort
- 14:17Speaker 1: of locker room cancer. From the outside, he seems well
- 14:21Speaker 1: liked by his teammates and coaches, gets along well with
- 14:23Speaker 1: the media, and wants to win other than some bad
- 14:26Speaker 1: body language and on field struggles from a twenty five
- 14:29Speaker 1: year old trapped in a dysfunctional organization.
- 14:32Speaker 2: What else am I not seeing? Mark? You want to
- 14:35Speaker 2: try to tackle that one? Nope?
- 14:39Speaker 1: Is that a hot time? I don't know, Tory Hunter would.
- 14:41Speaker 3: Say, Jason, I assume Jason's a Zach Netto fan. That's great.
- 14:49Speaker 3: Can you clarify I believe he's talking to the host
- 14:51Speaker 3: of the show.
- 14:53Speaker 2: You Well, let's see, Jason.
- 14:56Speaker 1: I will say that I don't think any of our
- 14:58Speaker 1: criticisms of Zach this year have been about how he's
- 15:04Speaker 1: acting in the clubhouse. Now over the years, and I
- 15:06Speaker 1: have access to the clubhouse this year, there are times
- 15:10Speaker 1: throughout the season, Mark will the tests that guys get
- 15:13Speaker 1: the ass. At times, you know, they got the red ass.
- 15:15Speaker 1: They're pissed off about a slump. They're maybe not as
- 15:18Speaker 1: cooperative with the media as they could be. Maybe they
- 15:20Speaker 1: look like they're pouting a little bit or just perennially
- 15:23Speaker 1: pissed off about something.
- 15:25Speaker 2: But I don't think I've seen that in Zach.
- 15:27Speaker 1: I think pretty much all of our criticisms have been
- 15:31Speaker 1: confined to what we see on the field. You know,
- 15:33Speaker 1: some of the non competitive at bats, some of the
- 15:37Speaker 1: clear situations that are at bats where he's trying to
- 15:40Speaker 1: launch one four hundred and fifty feet instead of maybe
- 15:43Speaker 1: taking that outside pitch to right field maybe not you know,
- 15:47Speaker 1: where he's clearly not cutting down a swing in a
- 15:49Speaker 1: situation where they need more of a either to put
- 15:52Speaker 1: the ball in play or to get a base hit
- 15:54Speaker 1: and not a home run.
- 15:55Speaker 2: And some of the.
- 15:58Speaker 1: Choices in the field where he's maybe trying to be
- 16:00Speaker 1: a little more flashy instead of fundamental.
- 16:03Speaker 2: Uh.
- 16:03Speaker 1: And that's I think where mike criticism of Zachs has
- 16:08Speaker 1: been and I think we've said it many times on
- 16:10Speaker 1: this show. This kid has the talent I believe to
- 16:13Speaker 1: be a perennial All Star. We've seen it, not just
- 16:16Speaker 1: in flashes, We've seen it pretty consistently for longer stretches
- 16:20Speaker 1: at times, and I think if he cuts down the strikeouts,
- 16:24Speaker 1: adds a little more plate discipline, discipline, and some maturity
- 16:29Speaker 1: and consistency in the effort. Once again, we talked about
- 16:33Speaker 1: how Mike Trout. I'm surprised he has not rubbed off
- 16:36Speaker 1: on this kid a little more. If and when he
- 16:39Speaker 1: starts to approach a game like Mike Trout on a
- 16:42Speaker 1: daily basis, I think he got an All Star on
- 16:45Speaker 1: your hands. Mark, Since you pun him that question my way,
- 16:48Speaker 1: I'll give you a chance to follow up if you
- 16:50Speaker 1: have anything else to add.
- 16:53Speaker 3: I think the whole thing with Zach is I've heard
- 16:56Speaker 3: he treats the employees very well, and that goes a
- 17:00Speaker 3: long way. The people that work at the stadiums, both
- 17:03Speaker 3: in spring training, UH in Angel Stadium and elsewhere, with
- 17:06Speaker 3: a tremendous amount of respect, and that that shows a
- 17:09Speaker 3: lot of character. I have not referenced anything to do
- 17:14Speaker 3: maybe skipping out on some interviews recently seem like I
- 17:18Speaker 3: from what I gathered and it was accurate information that
- 17:22Speaker 3: sounded a little immature, and I said it so if that, Jason,
- 17:26Speaker 3: you don't you don't want to hear that. I'm sorry,
- 17:29Speaker 3: not really, but you know, zacha is the sky is
- 17:34Speaker 3: the limit with with what you see and the physical
- 17:37Speaker 3: abilities h and when he falls short of things that
- 17:40Speaker 3: are totally within his control, hustle and heads up baseball,
- 17:46Speaker 3: it is disappointing to see. It's like the coach that's
- 17:49Speaker 3: writing a player with a lot of talent. You wonder
- 17:52Speaker 3: why is he on this guy all the time. It's
- 17:54Speaker 3: because he sees a lot more. I wouldn't expect him.
- 17:58Speaker 3: He probably doesn't care for me whatsoever, But I've tried
- 18:02Speaker 3: to be fair and in what I've said, none of
- 18:06Speaker 3: this is overly personal. But with what he does too,
- 18:10Speaker 3: I mean, you wear the loud eye black. He's started
- 18:14Speaker 3: a number of scuffles. You got the ed Hardy T shirts,
- 18:16Speaker 3: you got a lot of flare, a lot of style,
- 18:20Speaker 3: and you're there's no way that you can kind of
- 18:23Speaker 3: operate like that and not expect that you might get
- 18:27Speaker 3: the attention. You're looking for the attention, So when it
- 18:29Speaker 3: comes your way and I you know what, he might
- 18:32Speaker 3: like the attention, good or bad, I might motivate him.
- 18:35Speaker 3: Many guys are motivated by stuff like this. You know, Mike,
- 18:40Speaker 3: Mike's comments, he could have a taped to his locker
- 18:43Speaker 3: and and and use it to you. Don't go out
- 18:45Speaker 3: there and have this guy. And I'm going to go
- 18:47Speaker 3: prove him wrong. And if he has mine up there, great,
- 18:50Speaker 3: you know, use it, man, I will more power to you.
- 18:53Speaker 3: But I think Zach has tremendously talented and and you
- 18:58Speaker 3: know there's some areas of his game. If he shores
- 19:00Speaker 3: them up, he'll be viewed like I think we want
- 19:04Speaker 3: and most fans want him to be viewed as a true,
- 19:08Speaker 3: well rounded, excellent franchise type player.
- 19:13Speaker 1: All right, Hey, we're gonna take one more quick break
- 19:15Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsors, and we will be
- 19:17Speaker 1: right back with more Angels mailbag.
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- 20:22Speaker 1: And Welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbull and
- 20:24Speaker 1: Mike d Giavanna. Back to the Mailbag from Steven C. Smith,
- 20:28Speaker 1: one of our regular contributors to the Mailbag. Appreciate it, Stephen,
- 20:32Speaker 1: certain quote old school unquote plays seem to have all
- 20:36Speaker 1: but disappeared. I can't remember the last time I saw
- 20:39Speaker 1: a hit and run or running hit. When players attempt
- 20:41Speaker 1: to bunt, most of them seem like they don't know
- 20:43Speaker 1: what they're doing. It used to be that everyone was
- 20:46Speaker 1: taught to slide feed first. Now everyone dives head first.
- 20:49Speaker 1: Risking all sorts of injuries. Are all of these considered
- 20:53Speaker 1: antiquated or just out of fashion? Are there any retired
- 20:57Speaker 1: players around who could teach these skills and spring training
- 21:01Speaker 1: or fall ball. You punted to me last time, Mark,
- 21:05Speaker 1: I'm going to do the same to you on this one, Steven.
- 21:08Speaker 3: Thank you for the contribution. As usual. I think where
- 21:14Speaker 3: do you want to start with this hit and runs
- 21:19Speaker 3: depends on the team. But with the team with a
- 21:22Speaker 3: lot of swing and miss, I don't know. If I
- 21:24Speaker 3: was managing, I would be in love with the idea
- 21:27Speaker 3: of putting too many on usually with a hit and
- 21:30Speaker 3: run or I know technically from a hit and run
- 21:33Speaker 3: you're not getting the same lead and jump as if
- 21:36Speaker 3: you're trying to steal. You want to come as close
- 21:38Speaker 3: as you can, but it's not going to be as aggressive.
- 21:41Speaker 3: So what tends to happen with those If the hitter
- 21:45Speaker 3: whiffs and the catcher has somewhat of an opportunity, there's
- 21:48Speaker 3: going to be a higher success rate and runners getting
- 21:51Speaker 3: thrown out. So that would be a win for the
- 21:55Speaker 3: defensive side, not for the offensive side. As far as slide,
- 22:03Speaker 3: I think I'll just kind of lump this in with
- 22:06Speaker 3: what Jim Palmer said, Like, how many times did Jim
- 22:08Speaker 3: say he's been invited to talk to the pitchers?
- 22:12Speaker 1: Unbelievably, I believe the answer is zero, which is stunning, stunning.
- 22:17Speaker 3: So X players are involved, but not to the extent
- 22:24Speaker 3: that I think a lot would hope to be. And
- 22:28Speaker 3: that's partly why yours truly is sitting right here. I've
- 22:31Speaker 3: done some coaching, but there's it's not a it's not
- 22:34Speaker 3: a great time to be an ex player trying to
- 22:36Speaker 3: get into the game. In that aspect, the pendulum may
- 22:40Speaker 3: swing back, but I think with maybe some of the
- 22:43Speaker 3: more analytics driven things and the team work more of
- 22:47Speaker 3: a corporate type structure. One thing I know, and with
- 22:51Speaker 3: certaint the X players' voices are very scary for organizations
- 22:55Speaker 3: that want the cohesive message. X players carry a lot
- 22:59Speaker 3: more weight at times as far as what they say
- 23:02Speaker 3: and their influence, And if you get someone who is
- 23:06Speaker 3: salting the recipe, so to speak, the players are going
- 23:10Speaker 3: to probably gravitate towards the X player over the team message,
- 23:14Speaker 3: and that doesn't always work. So, you know, these fundamental
- 23:18Speaker 3: things I can't remember. I would dive back to first
- 23:22Speaker 3: on a pickoff or something head first, but as far
- 23:25Speaker 3: as sliding into the base, and guys like it because
- 23:27Speaker 3: you can sneak your hand in there. But I didn't
- 23:31Speaker 3: wear the huge oven mid either. We've talked about Neto.
- 23:34Speaker 3: I think he's done a better job of feet first,
- 23:36Speaker 3: still probably doing some of the head first stuff. I
- 23:40Speaker 3: would love to see more of the old school plays.
- 23:42Speaker 3: I think on the broadcast they said the Angels had
- 23:44Speaker 3: two hit and runs recently. Well, you don't hit and
- 23:47Speaker 3: run with two strikes, so I think those were steals
- 23:50Speaker 3: with contact. Maybe you have some thoughts or.
- 23:54Speaker 2: I cover most of it in the Angel defense.
- 23:56Speaker 1: They have had ex players come in as a guest
- 23:59Speaker 1: instruct during spring training.
- 24:01Speaker 2: I believe they still do.
- 24:02Speaker 1: Tory Hunter is a pretty key member of the organization
- 24:05Speaker 1: and an advisory special assistant role. I know Chuck Finley,
- 24:09Speaker 1: Tim Salmon, Troy Percival, Jared Weeber all made appearances in
- 24:14Speaker 1: camp and temp B and that's great, but I don't
- 24:17Speaker 1: know some for some teams, and I don't know where
- 24:19Speaker 1: the Angels fall on these lines. They just yeah, there
- 24:21Speaker 1: hasn't been tapping into those types of resources enough. I
- 24:25Speaker 1: spent a fair amount of my time with the Dodgers.
- 24:28Speaker 1: Over my career as a baseball rider, went to Vero
- 24:31Speaker 1: Beach several times for spring training, and I always remember
- 24:34Speaker 1: Maury Wills every spring working with guys on how to
- 24:38Speaker 1: get that first step toward a stolen base, how to
- 24:40Speaker 1: take leads, how to read pictures. Mary Wills, of course,
- 24:43Speaker 1: one of the great base dealers of all time. Dave
- 24:46Speaker 1: Roberts credits Maury Wills with teaching him how to steal bases,
- 24:50Speaker 1: and I think I forget the exact quote, but Maury
- 24:53Speaker 1: always said to him, you know, the whole thing about
- 24:55Speaker 1: being a whole key to being a base stealer is
- 24:58Speaker 1: you need to be able to steal that base. Went
- 25:00Speaker 1: everybody knows you're going. And what happens in that two
- 25:03Speaker 1: thousand and four ALCS socks down three nothing games, so
- 25:06Speaker 1: the Yankees docs on first base. They're down by a run.
- 25:11Speaker 1: He steals second, you know, with Marion Rivera off the mound,
- 25:14Speaker 1: not an easy guy to steal off, barely beats it
- 25:17Speaker 1: head for a slide. True, that was probably a great
- 25:20Speaker 1: situation to use that, and he scores a tying run
- 25:23Speaker 1: the Red Sox and win an extra innings. They go
- 25:25Speaker 1: on to be the first team in MLB history to
- 25:28Speaker 1: erase a three nothing deficit in a best of seventh series. So,
- 25:32Speaker 1: you know, the Dodgers have always been great about guys
- 25:36Speaker 1: at spring training.
- 25:38Speaker 2: I mean, Tommy Lasorda.
- 25:40Speaker 1: Some of it was kind of it's funny and just
- 25:43Speaker 1: for the humor at times, but they always had ex
- 25:46Speaker 1: players in there working with the current players, and they
- 25:48Speaker 1: never I don't think you'll ever see a Jim Palmer
- 25:51Speaker 1: like quote from oral Ersteiser or you know, and Eric Carros.
- 25:56Speaker 1: These guys are asked for their input and for their
- 26:00Speaker 1: patient in spring all the time.
- 26:01Speaker 3: I think one last thing, Stevena, like, where has this
- 26:05Speaker 3: stuff gone? It's been replaced Exit Velocity, launch angle stuff,
- 26:10Speaker 3: plus all of Mike's favorite things. Those things are are
- 26:15Speaker 3: far more in fashion than these other things and probably
- 26:19Speaker 3: practiced more.
- 26:21Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 26:22Speaker 1: Next question from Matthew Johnson was Perrymnasium a toxic leader,
- 26:27Speaker 1: snake oil salesman. It's just strange to see Arty all
- 26:31Speaker 1: of a sudden allow Molly Jolly to bring in mo
- 26:34Speaker 1: and let them run the organization like a real team.
- 26:37Speaker 1: Did the dudes suddenly have a heart change, stop and
- 26:41Speaker 1: stop the meddling?
- 26:42Speaker 2: Uh?
- 26:43Speaker 1: I don't know, that he had a change of heart.
- 26:45Speaker 1: I do think when Already brought Moe in, it was
- 26:48Speaker 1: an acknowledgment that all the gms, all the all the
- 26:54Speaker 1: all the decisions that were being made were not working.
- 26:58Speaker 1: The just the dynamic between and the owner and Perry
- 27:02Speaker 1: and the team was just a little dysfunctional. In my opinion.
- 27:07Speaker 1: Coaches were too involved, well no, I'm front office officials
- 27:11Speaker 1: were too involved, you know, getting dressed in the coach's office,
- 27:15Speaker 1: A lot of input like that in the clubhouse. Very
- 27:17Speaker 1: strange things going on. And I think by bringing Moe in,
- 27:21Speaker 1: by tapping a thirty year veteran, a guy who has
- 27:25Speaker 1: been on everything from a scouting director up to president
- 27:27Speaker 1: of baseball operations with most track record in Saint Louis,
- 27:32Speaker 1: it's already saying, you know, listen, what we're doing is
- 27:36Speaker 1: not working. We're bringing you in. Take a look. I'm
- 27:40Speaker 1: gonna let you you know, if if there was an
- 27:43Speaker 1: Otani situation in Anaheim this year, whether it's to trade
- 27:46Speaker 1: O'tani or not, I think Already's going to be involved
- 27:49Speaker 1: in that decision no matter what. Maybe he was involved
- 27:53Speaker 1: and not trading zach Netto. I don't know for sure,
- 27:57Speaker 1: but I think when you get to those levels, there's
- 27:59Speaker 1: going to be some ownership input. But I think for
- 28:02Speaker 1: the most part, Moe was given the reins and said, here,
- 28:06Speaker 1: you need to do what you think is appropriate and let's, uh,
- 28:08Speaker 1: let's get this change under way. What do you What
- 28:10Speaker 1: do you think Mark? I think Perry, I don't know.
- 28:17Speaker 1: I like to give him the benefit of the doubt.
- 28:19Speaker 1: He didn't win me over. I think that's been obvious.
- 28:22Speaker 3: I I've heard that he hustles, he works very hard,
- 28:28Speaker 3: and he's always trying to find an advantage, but uh,
- 28:32Speaker 3: I don't I don't see too many advantages with the
- 28:34Speaker 3: current team. I think his comments were really what turned
- 28:37Speaker 3: a lot of people off myself. Included promises that I
- 28:43Speaker 3: don't know if you actually believed them or not, but well,
- 28:47Speaker 3: best baseball is ahead of us. That in age, well,
- 28:50Speaker 3: and he might have it seems like he was kind
- 28:54Speaker 3: of what he calls someone a punching bag sent out there,
- 28:59Speaker 3: maybe just really following orders more than than we think.
- 29:04Speaker 3: And then you bring a guy like Moen and maybe
- 29:07Speaker 3: the biggest change is really Molly Mollie uh coming in
- 29:13Speaker 3: and replacing John Carpino, who I think John had a
- 29:19Speaker 3: decent say, maybe more than a decent say, and operations,
- 29:23Speaker 3: and you know, he had a vision and maybe Molly's
- 29:26Speaker 3: vision is a little bit different, quite a bit different.
- 29:30Speaker 3: And uh, I think that it was nothing lasts forever
- 29:34Speaker 3: and time for a change. I think most fans like
- 29:38Speaker 3: what they are seeing, sad to see some of their
- 29:39Speaker 3: favorite players possibly depart, and maybe more to go. We'll
- 29:44Speaker 3: see on that, but I think the organization it was time.
- 29:48Speaker 2: Yeah, okay.
- 29:50Speaker 1: A couple of Christian Moore related questions, Hey, Mark Oh,
- 29:52Speaker 1: this is from James Owen, played against you in a
- 29:55Speaker 1: game versus Marina forever ago, always been a fan. Why
- 29:59Speaker 1: are the Angels having Christian Moore rotten TRIPLEA? No one
- 30:02Speaker 1: on this team has the answer or is the answer.
- 30:05Speaker 1: We're playing for nothing. It would be nice to know
- 30:07Speaker 1: what he has in the last two months of the season.
- 30:10Speaker 1: And then the two other more related questions, Mark, is
- 30:13Speaker 1: Christian Moore an everyday major league player?
- 30:15Speaker 2: He was hyped out of Tennessee.
- 30:17Speaker 1: Why not run him out there for two months to
- 30:18Speaker 1: make a decision for twenty twenty seven?
- 30:21Speaker 2: And from the.
- 30:22Speaker 1: Quiet Oh that was from Birchie six And from the
- 30:24Speaker 1: Quiet Bear, at what point will Christian Moore get another
- 30:27Speaker 1: call up or did he blow his chance with the
- 30:30Speaker 1: new GM with his clubhouse blow up?
- 30:33Speaker 2: What do you got Mark, He had a clubhouse blow up?
- 30:36Speaker 1: Yeah, it was actually the de Moe arrive. Remember he
- 30:39Speaker 1: got sent down. Yeah, he came into the clubhouse and
- 30:43Speaker 1: was not very happy. I'll answer that part of the
- 30:45Speaker 1: question first. No, I don't think that you know, it
- 30:48Speaker 1: was set in the heat of the moment. Did it
- 30:49Speaker 1: show maybe a lack of a mature a lack of
- 30:53Speaker 1: grasping the situation at the time. Yeah, but he's a
- 30:57Speaker 1: young kid. Was he twenty two or something? And his
- 31:01Speaker 1: emotions got the best of them. He's not the first,
- 31:03Speaker 1: won't be the last. If anything holds them back, It's
- 31:06Speaker 1: not going to be that in my estimation. But we
- 31:09Speaker 1: did look at you know, going into the week he
- 31:11Speaker 1: had a three or seven average with a nine to
- 31:12Speaker 1: fifty oh ps in in seventy eight games at Triple
- 31:16Speaker 1: A Salt Lake. We've talked about this before. Hard to
- 31:20Speaker 1: put much stock into those PCL numbers. They're all pretty inflated.
- 31:24Speaker 1: But one thing, looking a little more closely that I
- 31:27Speaker 1: really like and has nothing to do with the altitude
- 31:29Speaker 1: and atmosphere in the PCL eighty four strikeouts, sixty five
- 31:34Speaker 1: walks in three hundred and seventy six plate appearances and
- 31:37Speaker 1: during the week. That shows a lot more plate discipline
- 31:40Speaker 1: than we saw at the big league level. Hopefully it
- 31:43Speaker 1: bodes well for Christian. But yeah, I think personally he
- 31:46Speaker 1: should be here.
- 31:47Speaker 2: I don't know why.
- 31:48Speaker 1: I mean, Adam Frazier has always been a nice, you know,
- 31:52Speaker 1: complimentary piece. Parraza is not hitting very well. You know,
- 31:57Speaker 1: you need to start looking at what your future is
- 32:00Speaker 1: going to look like. And Chris Moore is a number one,
- 32:04Speaker 1: you know, first round pick, was the eighth or ninth overall.
- 32:07Speaker 1: I mean, let's see what this kid's got. I think
- 32:09Speaker 1: now's the time.
- 32:11Speaker 3: This is a weird one for me and I I
- 32:14Speaker 3: can only say that I think he needs to develop
- 32:16Speaker 3: a bit more, and I'm assuming it's with the glove.
- 32:18Speaker 3: I was it fair to put him out in left
- 32:22Speaker 3: field with that limited experience, No, I don't think so.
- 32:26Speaker 3: And it didn't he didn't show well. And why didn't
- 32:31Speaker 3: he show well?
- 32:31Speaker 2: Well?
- 32:32Speaker 3: He had literally no idea what he was doing. I'd
- 32:35Speaker 3: have to go back. I don't recall him having I
- 32:37Speaker 3: think he's always an infielder, and when you put an
- 32:39Speaker 3: infielder in the outfield, you get what you get. So
- 32:44Speaker 3: I think it's it's that part of it. The thing
- 32:46Speaker 3: with the bat, I mean, he can obviously hit. He's
- 32:49Speaker 3: had a very nice year. I'm sure he very much
- 32:52Speaker 3: feels like he should be at the next level. But
- 32:54Speaker 3: the Angels have too many infielders Vaughn Grissom. Where does
- 32:58Speaker 3: he fit into the plans? I think that they need
- 33:00Speaker 3: to answer that first, and to me, he's contributed. He's
- 33:05Speaker 3: had a nice year. As far as long term, I
- 33:09Speaker 3: don't know. I don't really see the foot speed in
- 33:12Speaker 3: the agility to man both positions. Up the middle, He's
- 33:16Speaker 3: played no shortstop. He seems adequate at third and at first,
- 33:21Speaker 3: also inexperienced there. The bat, little pop in the bat,
- 33:26Speaker 3: does seem to be a clutch hitter, below average foot speed.
- 33:29Speaker 3: There's a whole scouting report. But is he an impact
- 33:33Speaker 3: All Star type player. I'm not seeing that quite yet. Parraza,
- 33:37Speaker 3: I had higher hopes for the bat went to sleep
- 33:41Speaker 3: like Salt Lakes record and the Angels. You know, Guzman's
- 33:46Speaker 3: lost playing time. I'm not quite sure what the vision
- 33:49Speaker 3: is right now that is unclear, and I guess these
- 33:52Speaker 3: last couple of monthsod be if they have to move
- 33:55Speaker 3: on from a player that, even if a contributor, they
- 33:58Speaker 3: already did that with Walton, maybe necessary to carve out
- 34:01Speaker 3: some more playing.
- 34:02Speaker 2: Time for these young guys. Yeah, I agree.
- 34:04Speaker 1: Hey, we've gotten so many good questions this week, we
- 34:07Speaker 1: decided to break the Mailbag up into two episodes, so
- 34:10Speaker 1: we're gonna close today's show with that, and we will
- 34:14Speaker 1: see you later in the week for part two of
- 34:16Speaker 1: Angel's Mailbag on Halo Territory.