Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / CLEANING UP: Zach Neto responds to lineup switch with three-run homer in Angels' win
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: Well, Hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo territory.
- 0:11Speaker 1: I am Mike D. Giovanna, former Early Times Baseball writer
- 0:14Speaker 1: and host of the show, joined by my regular co
- 0:17Speaker 1: host Mark Trumbo, the former Angel slugger, and stop as
- 0:21Speaker 1: if you've heard this one before. The Angels avoided a
- 0:25Speaker 1: three game sweep with a four to one win in
- 0:28Speaker 1: Baltimore on Thursday. Hey, good for them. So big news
- 0:33Speaker 1: of the day is Zach Nedo moved from the leadoff
- 0:36Speaker 1: to the cleanup spot and he hits a three run
- 0:39Speaker 1: home run. Ned It was in a five for forty
- 0:42Speaker 1: slump with sixteen strikeouts, and he hadn't homewarn since July fifth.
- 0:47Speaker 1: And the part about this move that I really like
- 0:50Speaker 1: Wade Meckler to the leadoff spot. He reached base twice
- 0:53Speaker 1: and scored both times. Mark, what do we think of
- 0:56Speaker 1: the switch? I've been advocating for Meckler that leadoffs, but
- 1:01Speaker 1: I think a week or two after he got called up,
- 1:04Speaker 1: I love the move personally. What would you think?
- 1:08Speaker 2: I think it makes sense. I've seen quite a few
- 1:11Speaker 2: people raise their hands on social media or otherwise saying
- 1:17Speaker 2: that they called it. I who couldn't. It's quite obvious
- 1:24Speaker 2: that the fit wasn't exactly working out for Well, the
- 1:29Speaker 2: former leadoff hitter, and he had a better game today
- 1:32Speaker 2: despite well that first hit. I don't think he thought
- 1:36Speaker 2: it was going to drop and failed to hustle got
- 1:39Speaker 2: his single. I guess it was one of those things fans.
- 1:45Speaker 2: Here's the thing, though, I can say, you know these
- 1:48Speaker 2: things people notice, but a lot of fans are seen
- 1:52Speaker 2: it the same way now. Maybe they weren't before. And
- 1:55Speaker 2: for a ballplayer, you don't want too many fans getting
- 1:59Speaker 2: on the other side of the things where they questioned
- 2:02Speaker 2: the work ethic, the attitude. He gave some interviews today,
- 2:05Speaker 2: if you want to call him that, very short, no
- 2:09Speaker 2: comment or something on one of them, bizarre kind of
- 2:13Speaker 2: I don't know if someone told him to do that
- 2:15Speaker 2: or what. He very stressed out about the trade deadline,
- 2:19Speaker 2: and I guess glad that's over. I guess the question
- 2:23Speaker 2: that was brought up was did Moe ask him or
- 2:29Speaker 2: convey to him that he would be a piece to
- 2:31Speaker 2: build around and he just didn't have an answer or
- 2:35Speaker 2: wasn't prepared to answer that question. What do you think?
- 2:37Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't comment on that
- 2:40Speaker 1: and that you know what you're referring to as a tweet.
- 2:43Speaker 1: I think it was from a podcast at Alden Gonzalez
- 2:47Speaker 1: so VESPN was on claiming that Mo told Netto he
- 2:51Speaker 1: doesn't want to trade him. He wants to build this team,
- 2:55Speaker 1: if not around him, with him in the future. Still
- 2:58Speaker 1: not sure where they stand on that, because Mice going
- 3:00Speaker 1: into the trade deadline, that was that they were very
- 3:02Speaker 1: open to trading Neto, and I think they'd be wise
- 3:06Speaker 1: to remaining very open to trading Neto this winner, especially
- 3:11Speaker 1: depending on how this kid they got from the Blue Jays,
- 3:14Speaker 1: you know, the shortstop prospect. Turns out he's only twenty.
- 3:19Speaker 1: They sent him to Double A. We'll see.
- 3:22Speaker 2: But two for two tonight, three RBI's.
- 3:24Speaker 1: Good start for Nemala. But in terms of Zach leading off,
- 3:29Speaker 1: you know, I said it weeks ago, it's the square
- 3:34Speaker 1: peg in the round hole. I think Neto could actually
- 3:37Speaker 1: be a really good leadoff hitter with some more plate discipline.
- 3:40Speaker 1: You know, he and the strikeouts. You know what is
- 3:43Speaker 1: it now, one hundred and sixty strikeouts leading the American League.
- 3:48Speaker 1: You have to you can't strike out that much and
- 3:50Speaker 1: be a leadoff hitter. He's hitting two thirty with a
- 3:53Speaker 1: seven forty three ops. I think when this kid looks
- 3:56Speaker 1: in the mirror, he sees a cleanup hitter, So why
- 3:59Speaker 1: keep fighting this thing? You know, hit him clean up?
- 4:02Speaker 1: Who else he going to back clean up? Now that
- 4:04Speaker 1: Jorge Solaire is gone, Joe Adell is gone. You know
- 4:07Speaker 1: this line of scoring what I think? They scored four
- 4:10Speaker 1: runs or less. And I wrote it down somewhere something
- 4:14Speaker 1: like twenty three of twenty eight games and they went.
- 4:18Speaker 2: Four forty cold stretch.
- 4:21Speaker 1: But yeah, four for thirty one. The runners in scoring
- 4:23Speaker 1: position in that Baltimore series, where's the offense gonna come from?
- 4:28Speaker 2: Well, here's here's that play. Okay, he failed to hustle,
- 4:32Speaker 2: gets to first, the next two runners behind him reach.
- 4:36Speaker 2: They have bases loaded with nobody out and weren't able to.
- 4:40Speaker 2: I believe Siri punched, then Low punched, and Peraza flew
- 4:45Speaker 2: out to right field. I mean, I'm not into the revisionists.
- 4:50Speaker 2: Could have happened if he was you know, all these things,
- 4:52Speaker 2: but I do know they didn't score a single run
- 4:54Speaker 2: there with a pitcher that it was hard to watch.
- 4:58Speaker 2: I know he's better than that, But the Oils starter
- 5:00Speaker 2: I think was Young the ninety pitches through Lake. I
- 5:03Speaker 2: know we joke about it, but literally through three innings
- 5:05Speaker 2: or something, and Johnson was doing his best to match
- 5:10Speaker 2: five walks. And we can talk about him a little later.
- 5:13Speaker 2: Your question, how do they score more runs? Or what
- 5:16Speaker 2: was the question?
- 5:16Speaker 1: Yeah? Where's the offense going to come from at this point?
- 5:19Speaker 2: Well, I guess it starts with a guy that since
- 5:22Speaker 2: June twenty fourth, I'm stealing this from somebody. Sorry about
- 5:25Speaker 2: the lack of credit, but Meckler has hit three forty
- 5:28Speaker 2: eight with a four four to oh eight on base percentage,
- 5:31Speaker 2: and Wade Meckler gets on base. He's always proved to
- 5:36Speaker 2: get on base, and I personally would much rather have
- 5:40Speaker 2: a leadoff hitter. He has some power. He showed that
- 5:43Speaker 2: recently his book, as you call it, for a hitter
- 5:46Speaker 2: of who You've taken deep, quite impressive. Yeah, so is Zach's.
- 5:51Speaker 2: But Wade His game is patterned on getting on base.
- 5:55Speaker 2: Ornetto's game is patterned on slug and driving the ball,
- 6:00Speaker 2: and he doesn't cut his swing down often. He has
- 6:04Speaker 2: some the ability to do it a little bit. But
- 6:06Speaker 2: this is a much much better spot for Zach and
- 6:09Speaker 2: if he wants to view it, he can be the
- 6:10Speaker 2: second leadoff hitter if the first three batters get out.
- 6:13Speaker 1: So yeah, I think Kurtzuzuki also said Thursday that he's
- 6:18Speaker 1: not sure what we'll do against left handers. I would
- 6:22Speaker 1: leave Netto in the leadoff spot. Just let him run it,
- 6:25Speaker 1: run with it for a little while. You can always
- 6:27Speaker 1: bat Paraz a leadoff, maybe even von Grissom leadoff against
- 6:30Speaker 1: the lefty. So you would keep Netto in the four hole, yeah,
- 6:34Speaker 1: especially against the lefty, you know, So I would just
- 6:37Speaker 1: keep him there. So, as we talked about this week,
- 6:40Speaker 1: we had a pretty start to what we think is
- 6:42Speaker 1: going to be a pretty significant rebuild with a pretty
- 6:46Speaker 1: significant sell off at the trade deadline. I think the
- 6:50Speaker 1: majority of fans, at least based on the comments on
- 6:54Speaker 1: our shows this week, seem pretty happy about this. There's
- 6:58Speaker 1: a couple holdouts, of course, you know, while what are
- 7:01Speaker 1: we gonna watch the rest of this year? Why go
- 7:03Speaker 1: to the Angel games? You know we're gonna pay for this,
- 7:05Speaker 1: blah blah blah. But was that your sense Mark that fans,
- 7:11Speaker 1: for the most part, or at least on balance, we're
- 7:13Speaker 1: pretty pretty happy about this.
- 7:17Speaker 2: I think. So there are a few I'm gonna work.
- 7:21Speaker 2: We're gonna work hard to get Ben Golf's on board.
- 7:24Speaker 2: Uh Ben, that Ben can can articulate his points. He's
- 7:28Speaker 2: got some strong ones. A few peruse our YouTube comments.
- 7:31Speaker 2: He he's able to to make some logical arguments. But
- 7:35Speaker 2: you know, one of them was, what's the point how
- 7:37Speaker 2: are they gonna market this ball club without you know,
- 7:41Speaker 2: better ballplayers out there. I think they've always relied on well,
- 7:45Speaker 2: kind of going against the flow, but having a good
- 7:47Speaker 2: enough looking team to hey, you know, there's enough guys
- 7:50Speaker 2: out there that I know that name, and we'll go
- 7:52Speaker 2: and bring the family. And and maybe when you have
- 7:55Speaker 2: some of the guys that that we might see moving
- 7:57Speaker 2: further or forward a little bit harder. But you know,
- 8:00Speaker 2: they still have the blanket giveaways and you know, the
- 8:04Speaker 2: SpongeBob and things like that. So and it's not joking.
- 8:07Speaker 2: People do like that. They go and that's fine too.
- 8:10Speaker 2: That's fine too. So the on field play, it's this
- 8:15Speaker 2: is our epitome of it today. You know, a little
- 8:17Speaker 2: serious salvage. We seem to have shows that are often
- 8:22Speaker 2: after these types of games and make the most of it.
- 8:26Speaker 2: You know, they beat they beat the ools, the Oriols,
- 8:28Speaker 2: are not a good ball club in my opinion. They
- 8:31Speaker 2: they really didn't, you know, Jackson Holiday. They had Johnson
- 8:35Speaker 2: on the ropes. I think he'd walk the first too.
- 8:38Speaker 2: Then he hit a guy and Holiday hits a wink
- 8:41Speaker 2: dink ground ball in the first pitch. You know, low
- 8:44Speaker 2: iq baseball plays. That doesn't mean he is, but that
- 8:47Speaker 2: play in particular, it kind of like we were talking
- 8:49Speaker 2: about with Palmer, maybe not watching close enough or thought
- 8:53Speaker 2: that that was a chance to pounce, but took him
- 8:55Speaker 2: out of the inning, and they kind of had they
- 8:57Speaker 2: had them on the ropes.
- 8:59Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break for word from our
- 9:00Speaker 1: sponsors and we come back. We talked a little bit
- 9:02Speaker 1: about a pretty interesting suggestion from one of our HT
- 9:07Speaker 1: listeners about Zach Netto, and we'll talk some about Mike Trout.
- 9:10Speaker 1: We'll be right back with a live.
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- 10:15Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbo and
- 10:17Speaker 1: Mike Dgievanna. Well, we may not respond to every one
- 10:21Speaker 1: of your comments on the Halo Territory page, but we
- 10:24Speaker 1: do read them, and we do appreciate them, and every
- 10:27Speaker 1: now and then we'll get something that kind of catches
- 10:29Speaker 1: our and this one was from public Animal number nine
- 10:35Speaker 1: finally sellers at the deadline. So good to see an
- 10:37Speaker 1: organizational rebuild starting. If the Angels do decide to keep
- 10:42Speaker 1: Neto and he wants to stay, I wonder if they
- 10:45Speaker 1: would consider moving Neda to third base and playing Themala
- 10:48Speaker 1: at short stuff. Neto does have quick reflexes, and third
- 10:52Speaker 1: base may suit him better than short stuff. Now, you know,
- 10:57Speaker 1: I look at Zach Netto and you probably do too,
- 11:00Speaker 1: and don't see the prototypical third baseman. You know, we're
- 11:03Speaker 1: used to the Troy glosses of the world here in Anaheim.
- 11:06Speaker 1: And but if this Themala kid who they got from
- 11:11Speaker 1: the Blue Jays turns out to be what they think
- 11:13Speaker 1: he could be, I don't know if he's a third baseman.
- 11:16Speaker 1: One of them can move the third but I kind
- 11:19Speaker 1: of like the idea and that I'm playing at third
- 11:21Speaker 1: base once again. It fits into his perception of himself
- 11:25Speaker 1: as a power hitter. You know, he'd be a corner infielder.
- 11:27Speaker 1: Twenty five home runs, looks pretty good at third base.
- 11:30Speaker 1: Looks good at short stuff too, who we couldn't But yeah,
- 11:34Speaker 1: I think defensively he's a really good short stop when
- 11:36Speaker 1: he is focused and wants to be. But Mark, he
- 11:40Speaker 1: played that old hot corner over there. Do you feel
- 11:43Speaker 1: like Zach's skills would translate as well over there as
- 11:46Speaker 1: a do it short stop?
- 11:48Speaker 2: Thanks for that. Yeah, as Palmer talked about there the
- 11:54Speaker 2: revised hitters to those that I too had a glove
- 11:59Speaker 2: over there. Uh, but yeah, he'll he could play it
- 12:04Speaker 2: with relatively is Zach. As far as manning third base,
- 12:07Speaker 2: that's that's not a big deal. As far as is
- 12:10Speaker 2: that a plan, I assume that that, well, they get
- 12:13Speaker 2: paid too, So if that was what they wanted to do,
- 12:19Speaker 2: I think that that would make sense, incentivizable a lot
- 12:22Speaker 2: more if you got that contract that you know, be
- 12:26Speaker 2: looking for. I think that that uh, you know, well
- 12:28Speaker 2: it's pretty obvious that's that's what is. Uh, you know
- 12:32Speaker 2: what a lot of players around the league, young players
- 12:34Speaker 2: are are signing these deals, and uh, you know, I
- 12:38Speaker 2: don't think it's unfair that he's looking around saying, well,
- 12:40Speaker 2: I'm kind of by myself. Uh, but the thing is
- 12:45Speaker 2: a ballplayer and I had a little bit of success
- 12:47Speaker 2: when I was a young player, and there was no
- 12:51Speaker 2: offers extended my way. The only offer was, you know,
- 12:54Speaker 2: now they're making more. But nominal raise the following year,
- 12:58Speaker 2: made an all start team my second year and got
- 13:00Speaker 2: an extra I don't know, twenty grand maybe, uh, and they, uh, well,
- 13:04Speaker 2: you know, go out there and earn it again. So
- 13:07Speaker 2: I was always kind of under the mindset, and you know,
- 13:10Speaker 2: from my agents and some others too, you go, you're
- 13:14Speaker 2: playing until free agency, until something changes, And I think
- 13:17Speaker 2: that it would be prudent to take that mindset. The
- 13:21Speaker 2: landscape of the game's changed. Younger guys are getting locked up,
- 13:24Speaker 2: but it has to be both parties have to be
- 13:27Speaker 2: into it. The Angels may not be looking to spend
- 13:29Speaker 2: all that much at least right now. Yeah, well, obviously
- 13:33Speaker 2: they're not. And I think the best you know, scenario
- 13:37Speaker 2: for Zach has put they put his head down, put
- 13:39Speaker 2: up big numbers, you know, keep the focus there. And
- 13:43Speaker 2: some of these leadership things, you know, it's easy to
- 13:46Speaker 2: talk about them, but you got to demonstrate them. And
- 13:49Speaker 2: it's uh, it'd be nice to see some change. When's
- 13:51Speaker 2: the last time you saw Troy Gloss like player third
- 13:54Speaker 2: days for the Angels? He referenced that you've seen one
- 13:57Speaker 2: in the last decade, two decades.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Third base. Oh well, they did sign this guy Rendon.
- 14:04Speaker 1: You might have heard him. He was supposed to be
- 14:06Speaker 1: that good, right, Dallas McPherson was a big boy. Didn't
- 14:10Speaker 1: pan out? Hey man, Troy Gloss is my reference point.
- 14:13Speaker 1: What can I say one more question on Zach You mentioned,
- 14:17Speaker 1: you know, put your head down all that stuff. Could
- 14:22Speaker 1: these next few months with the team basically not playing
- 14:24Speaker 1: for anything, if he were to really put his head
- 14:27Speaker 1: down and show some leadership and put up some big numbers.
- 14:32Speaker 1: Could him doing that in the context of these final
- 14:35Speaker 1: two months of this season maybe even increase his chances
- 14:38Speaker 1: of the team saying, yeah, this is a guy we
- 14:40Speaker 1: do want to keep, This is a guy we do
- 14:42Speaker 1: build around. Do you almost show more character in a
- 14:44Speaker 1: situation like this than you might, you know, if your
- 14:47Speaker 1: team's in a pennant race or something.
- 14:50Speaker 2: I think that logically that does make sense. And he's
- 14:54Speaker 2: got a general manager that sees reality, and yeah, it's
- 14:59Speaker 2: quite o yus Moe has been around a long time.
- 15:03Speaker 2: He knows what he's looking at. He's not afraid to
- 15:05Speaker 2: make moves. We've seen it already, some moves that were
- 15:08Speaker 2: quite uncomfortable for the previous regime. And he made him
- 15:12Speaker 2: quick and you know, and professionally and was did everything
- 15:17Speaker 2: the right way. But he's got no allegiance to anything,
- 15:20Speaker 2: and I think if he sees a guy that's not demonstrating.
- 15:22Speaker 2: And here's the thing too, he comes from the Cardinals.
- 15:25Speaker 2: There was a Cardinal way and it was professional hard
- 15:30Speaker 2: nos there to win. I can't remember a single player,
- 15:34Speaker 2: well maybe one, and I think he's in Laruss's book, Erasmus.
- 15:38Speaker 2: They didn't quite see eye to eye, only said the
- 15:41Speaker 2: one player. He wasn't able to get through too, and
- 15:44Speaker 2: he found a new team pretty quickly. So I would
- 15:47Speaker 2: assume that the Cardinal Way. And you know, you can't
- 15:51Speaker 2: argue with the success they had they put together some
- 15:54Speaker 2: really maybe in the recent years not quite as much,
- 15:57Speaker 2: but it was a good brand of a and I
- 16:00Speaker 2: know coming up they brought it. You were playing a
- 16:02Speaker 2: good ball club that didn't make mistakes, They didn't beat themselves.
- 16:06Speaker 1: They reminded me of Socials teams and the Angels throughout
- 16:09Speaker 1: that first decade of the two thousands exactly. Let's turn
- 16:13Speaker 1: our attention to Mike Trout now. In the wake of
- 16:15Speaker 1: the Angel's trade deadline sell off, Trout said that signs
- 16:19Speaker 1: of a rebuild quote haven't changed anything about his desire
- 16:23Speaker 1: to stay in Anaheim. This was an excerpt from Jeff
- 16:27Speaker 1: Fletcher's story the other day. We're not where we want
- 16:31Speaker 1: to be, so doing what we did helps our future.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Trout said, see where it goes. Uh. You know, this
- 16:38Speaker 1: has been a big topic on our show this year,
- 16:41Speaker 1: and I think it will continue to be, although maybe
- 16:43Speaker 1: not maybe Mike Trout seems to be doing his best
- 16:46Speaker 1: to kill this whole. You know, I want to go
- 16:49Speaker 1: play for a contender, but I just don't get it.
- 16:52Speaker 1: He's got four years left in his contract, he's got
- 16:54Speaker 1: full no trade clause. He can dictate if he wants to,
- 16:58Speaker 1: if he goes somewhere. I do think think Artie Marino
- 17:00Speaker 1: would try to accommodate him if he did request a trade.
- 17:05Speaker 1: And we've seen it most Angel fans we see him
- 17:08Speaker 1: commenting on our show, they would like to see Mike
- 17:11Speaker 1: trug go somewhere and play some October baseball. He does
- 17:15Speaker 1: not seem inclined to do that. What gives here? Mark?
- 17:20Speaker 1: You said it many times. I don't think neither either
- 17:24Speaker 1: of us questions his desire to win. But I read
- 17:28Speaker 1: stuff like this and it makes me wonder, do you at.
- 17:32Speaker 2: All I this is a topic that to me, it's
- 17:40Speaker 2: just a I don't have any opinion on it. I
- 17:44Speaker 2: Mike's had a phenomenal career, headed for the Hall of Fame,
- 17:47Speaker 2: and currently not you know, producing at the level he
- 17:51Speaker 2: once was. I if you really want me to ask him,
- 17:56Speaker 2: I could try and broach the subject. I mean, I'm
- 17:58Speaker 2: assuming he'd give me more than he give the next guy.
- 18:01Speaker 2: And if the answer comes down to simply he wants
- 18:04Speaker 2: to play for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, I
- 18:07Speaker 2: think people are going to have to wrap their heads
- 18:09Speaker 2: around that. You can, you know, try and you know,
- 18:12Speaker 2: do math equations for days? And why, you know, how
- 18:15Speaker 2: can this and how is he not doing?
- 18:16Speaker 4: This?
- 18:17Speaker 2: Could be very simple. He's a simple guy. He likes
- 18:19Speaker 2: playing here and they don't. You know, how could he
- 18:23Speaker 2: like playing for a team that doesn't win a lot
- 18:25Speaker 2: of games. Well, you know, people like what they like.
- 18:29Speaker 2: I'm not saying he likes losing by any means, but
- 18:31Speaker 2: he might just really like playing for the team that
- 18:34Speaker 2: made a huge commitment to him financially. He knows what
- 18:37Speaker 2: he's getting here, may be a preacher of habit and
- 18:40Speaker 2: you know, look at the riots he went to the Phillies.
- 18:43Speaker 2: Look at all the you know, he's contributing, which is
- 18:45Speaker 2: a good thing, but multiple people had to switch positions.
- 18:48Speaker 2: He's at the center of focus getting you know, all
- 18:51Speaker 2: this stuff. Harper's got to go play another position, and
- 18:54Speaker 2: you know, if Trout went that, there could be shuffling.
- 18:56Speaker 2: And I don't think he wants that stuff. He doesn't
- 18:58Speaker 2: want all those stories. So he just does a good
- 19:00Speaker 2: job of putting out the fire and may not be
- 19:02Speaker 2: what reporters want to hear, and not much of a
- 19:05Speaker 2: topic to write about, but you know, he's been consistent
- 19:08Speaker 2: and you know as ops still you know, eight to
- 19:12Speaker 2: thirty plus. I believe so heavily buoyed a little bit
- 19:15Speaker 2: by the on base or a lot, but productive ballplayer,
- 19:19Speaker 2: and the Angels do need productive ballplayers, even if they're
- 19:22Speaker 2: going through a stretch for a you know, rebuild.
- 19:25Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to put this on a record, I
- 19:28Speaker 1: for one would not I'd be bummed if Mike Trout
- 19:31Speaker 1: went the Ernie Banks route and finish his Hall of
- 19:34Speaker 1: Fame career with zero playoff wins. At least he did
- 19:37Speaker 1: make the playoffs, they were swept by Case back in fourteen.
- 19:41Speaker 1: I just think it would really invigorate his career. I
- 19:44Speaker 1: would love to see him get on a contending team.
- 19:48Speaker 1: I would love to see how he responded to that,
- 19:50Speaker 1: how he reacted, how that would elevate his play If
- 19:53Speaker 1: it would, I totally get you know, Derek Jeter was
- 19:56Speaker 1: his idle. Derek played his what twenty year career with
- 19:58Speaker 1: the New York Yankees. Of course, they won a couple
- 20:01Speaker 1: World Series titles there that made it a lot easier.
- 20:03Speaker 1: I would like to see Trout go to Philly or
- 20:06Speaker 1: New York or wherever it is, and I would love.
- 20:09Speaker 2: To do you do you think of it? Like, just
- 20:11Speaker 2: do you think it would be best if he just
- 20:13Speaker 2: articulated this at some point, just from a strategic point
- 20:16Speaker 2: of view.
- 20:17Speaker 1: To us, to the media, not necessarily.
- 20:19Speaker 2: To everyone who continues to ask like, hey, these are
- 20:22Speaker 2: these are this is where my head is that? Because
- 20:25Speaker 2: you know, we can speculate and answer these things over
- 20:28Speaker 2: and over and over. But uh, you know, I don't know.
- 20:31Speaker 2: I'm just trying to think from a player's point of view.
- 20:33Speaker 2: I don't think he really gains a lot by sharing that.
- 20:36Speaker 2: But he might get tired eventually of having an answer,
- 20:38Speaker 2: you know, what's the deal what's the deal, And maybe
- 20:40Speaker 2: maybe he would shed a little bit of light and
- 20:42Speaker 2: that would be enough.
- 20:43Speaker 1: It would only come if he really was sick and
- 20:45Speaker 1: tired of that. But I don't think Mike pays that
- 20:47Speaker 1: much attention to what we're writing. I think if it
- 20:51Speaker 1: is it does get to that point it knowing Mike,
- 20:54Speaker 1: it will be done quietly through the proper channels. It'll
- 20:57Speaker 1: go through the owner and boom, boom boom. You know,
- 21:01Speaker 1: we'll have a trade of Mic Trout, most likely over
- 21:03Speaker 1: the winner. We're gonna take one more break forward from
- 21:06Speaker 1: our sponsors and we'll be right back to talk a
- 21:08Speaker 1: little bit more about this current Angels club.
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- 22:14Speaker 1: And Welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbo and
- 22:17Speaker 1: Mike d g Vanna. Mark, you mentioned Ryan Johnson. He
- 22:20Speaker 1: had an interesting line on Thursday four and two thirds
- 22:24Speaker 1: innings pits, three hits, one on run, five walks, one strikeout.
- 22:29Speaker 1: He induced double playgrounders to get out of the first
- 22:32Speaker 1: and second innings. This kid got another shot to start
- 22:35Speaker 1: because Jose Siano was traded to the Blue Jays. But
- 22:40Speaker 1: does he really look like wrote a viable rotation candidate
- 22:43Speaker 1: to you.
- 22:43Speaker 2: Mark, not at this point. I not. He got very
- 22:48Speaker 2: you know, I mentioned earlier holiday getting him out of
- 22:50Speaker 2: the jam. I think that was a better ball club
- 22:53Speaker 2: that he was going up against today. And I guess
- 22:57Speaker 2: no offense to the Orioles, but well take it as
- 22:59Speaker 2: you well. They didn't do a very good job of
- 23:02Speaker 2: making him pay for nibbling. Got behind in many counts.
- 23:06Speaker 2: I was throwing a little bit harder, but just some odds,
- 23:10Speaker 2: you know, two to one sweepers to guys you know,
- 23:13Speaker 2: with Anemix stats and not pounding the zone, not attacking.
- 23:19Speaker 2: I think he talked about it too, maybe a little
- 23:21Speaker 2: bit nervous or something, which you know, he's getting to
- 23:23Speaker 2: the point now he's had enough experience with these things
- 23:26Speaker 2: that or I think a little gun shy about the walks.
- 23:30Speaker 2: And you can't be afraid to make mistakes. You got
- 23:32Speaker 2: to you got to be aggressive win in doubt, be
- 23:36Speaker 2: aggressive in pro sports because if he gets passive and
- 23:39Speaker 2: you know, I don't want to walk anybody, well where
- 23:41Speaker 2: do you go from there? You know, a walk is
- 23:43Speaker 2: not the end of the world. But did get some
- 23:47Speaker 2: ground balls. He's got his little cutter, and I still
- 23:51Speaker 2: there's nothing that I'm seeing that that scream starter. Uh
- 23:55Speaker 2: maybe there's a master plan in place, but it could
- 23:59Speaker 2: be just a thing where he's got. You know, he plays,
- 24:02Speaker 2: he doesn't outwardly look nervous or or you know, loses
- 24:05Speaker 2: his composure. But he could be still battling that type
- 24:07Speaker 2: of stuff, and more experience will help him. I still
- 24:10Speaker 2: think there's some promise there, but you know he's gonna
- 24:13Speaker 2: have to dial it in a little bit.
- 24:14Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed. The newest Angel, Moyses Biasteros, has one of
- 24:19Speaker 1: the coolest nicknames. I love how the fans are already
- 24:23Speaker 1: calling him mow Baller anyway. He acquired from the Chicago
- 24:27Speaker 1: Cubs for Ryan Zephyr John. He made his first start
- 24:30Speaker 1: behind the plate on Thursday. He threw a runner out
- 24:33Speaker 1: at second base from his knees, the old Benito Santiago play.
- 24:37Speaker 1: That was interesting, and he made a really nice play
- 24:39Speaker 1: in the eighth inning to cut down and run out
- 24:42Speaker 1: the plate. He'd you know, he's pretty short and stout.
- 24:46Speaker 1: He doesn't look like the most athletic defensive catcher. Both
- 24:50Speaker 1: runners on first and third, two out, sam and Natira
- 24:53Speaker 1: throws a wild pitch, carams off that brick backstop. Mowball
- 24:58Speaker 1: Baller corrols it and makes almost looks like a second basement,
- 25:02Speaker 1: starting a double play reverse backhand flipped to Nataro covering
- 25:06Speaker 1: the plate and they cut down Gunner Henderson. That was
- 25:09Speaker 1: a four to one game at that time, so things
- 25:11Speaker 1: could have got out of hand. What's your first impressions
- 25:14Speaker 1: of this guy? He DHD in his first game, got
- 25:17Speaker 1: a hit, just one single so far, I think in
- 25:20Speaker 1: seven at bats. What do you think, Mark, he's got
- 25:24Speaker 1: the look.
- 25:25Speaker 2: To me, it looks like he's, you know, all there,
- 25:29Speaker 2: all business, not intimidated. He's still I think, twenty two
- 25:32Speaker 2: years old. Like we said, you know, as far as
- 25:36Speaker 2: the physique, Benji Molina, I mean.
- 25:40Speaker 1: Ben was six foot something, but yeah, yeah, Benji was
- 25:44Speaker 1: a stout catcher as well.
- 25:46Speaker 2: I don't have any problem with the catchers being you know,
- 25:50Speaker 2: I think a lot of it for moballers. You know,
- 25:53Speaker 2: maybe the backside, but maybe that's the big pop. It's
- 25:57Speaker 2: got to come from somewhere. But he caught a winner,
- 26:00Speaker 2: you know, Yeah, these things other things, but he kept
- 26:04Speaker 2: his team in the game, and that's something that the
- 26:06Speaker 2: Angels have had a hard time doing well chronicled and
- 26:10Speaker 2: hopefully oh happies. You know, we did see some comments.
- 26:14Speaker 2: I don't know if we'll get to him, but about
- 26:17Speaker 2: about his early experience in Texas and maybe never really
- 26:20Speaker 2: feeling like the plan worked out for him here. But
- 26:25Speaker 2: unfortunately he wasn't able to get his pictures over the
- 26:28Speaker 2: hump many times, not just him. But it was nice
- 26:32Speaker 2: to see today because that game could have really been
- 26:35Speaker 2: lopsided the other way. I do think the Angels got
- 26:38Speaker 2: a little bit lucky. They also turned the double plays
- 26:40Speaker 2: they needed to and scored enough runs to win.
- 26:44Speaker 1: Yeah, he handled I can't imagine what it's like for
- 26:47Speaker 1: a catcher, even a really good defensive catcher, to come
- 26:49Speaker 1: into a new team in early August. You're handling pictures
- 26:53Speaker 1: you've never caught before. And I think there were four
- 26:56Speaker 1: or five different pitchers today, So yeah, I think it's
- 27:02Speaker 1: an interesting start for him. I hope he can catch more.
- 27:05Speaker 1: I think you're always adding more value as a you know,
- 27:09Speaker 1: when you can play two ways, both sides of the ball,
- 27:12Speaker 1: especially as a catcher. It'd be interesting to see how
- 27:14Speaker 1: he develops power wise as a DH. I didn't realize
- 27:17Speaker 1: he was twenty two, so you know, there's all sorts
- 27:20Speaker 1: of time for him to grow and work on the
- 27:22Speaker 1: physique as well. Another big story this week, Ben Joyce
- 27:27Speaker 1: returns The return of the closer. I think sixteen months
- 27:32Speaker 1: and a shoulder surgery since he last appeared in the
- 27:35Speaker 1: big leagues. He pitched Wednesday night through a scoreless inning.
- 27:40Speaker 1: Command was off, missing a lot arm side the run.
- 27:44Speaker 1: The tail on his fastball was pretty extreme. He had
- 27:47Speaker 1: a hard time controlling it, but he did hit one
- 27:50Speaker 1: oh two. I think the average around one hundred. Look
- 27:54Speaker 1: good to me, Mark, How should the Angels sort of
- 27:57Speaker 1: handle this guy moving forward? I personally can't see any
- 28:01Speaker 1: reason why you'd be pushing him in back to back games.
- 28:05Speaker 1: Just you know, it's been so long. You need this
- 28:08Speaker 1: guy moving forward. If you're going to have a competitive team,
- 28:11Speaker 1: you need him to close. I would just find some
- 28:14Speaker 1: way to get him through the rest of this year
- 28:15Speaker 1: healthy and then see what you got.
- 28:18Speaker 2: You need him to close and be the closer.
- 28:21Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, eventually. Yeah.
- 28:23Speaker 2: Everyone says that I I he throws really hard. I
- 28:27Speaker 2: guess that's I mean, but the other guys throw hard too.
- 28:30Speaker 2: I think that that part of it. It's you know,
- 28:34Speaker 2: echoed every and it's not not incorrect that you wouldn't
- 28:37Speaker 2: see closer stuff with him, But that could be putting
- 28:40Speaker 2: a lot of pressure on him. I mean, he said
- 28:41Speaker 2: he was extremely nervous or you know, kind of uneasy,
- 28:46Speaker 2: maybe more nervous than even when he debuted in his
- 28:50Speaker 2: in his comeback, you know, after the long layoff, and
- 28:53Speaker 2: he's got the gas, but he's gonna have to put
- 28:55Speaker 2: it together a little bit the rehab starts. You know,
- 28:57Speaker 2: let's get in your feet wet again, but clunky at times,
- 29:01Speaker 2: and the command will need to improve. Hopefully it does
- 29:04Speaker 2: blossom into a great closer one day, but you know,
- 29:07Speaker 2: it'd be great if he was also a lights out
- 29:10Speaker 2: eighth inning guy sometimes. And I don't know, Sammy to Terror,
- 29:14Speaker 2: I believe that was a second save today. Four out saved,
- 29:17Speaker 2: four out saved. Yeah, each got the ability to punch
- 29:20Speaker 2: some tickets too. I don't know. I like left handed closers.
- 29:24Speaker 2: To Zach Rton's wine, it's not been a lot went
- 29:27Speaker 2: to Josh Okay.
- 29:30Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like the Terror has been really
- 29:33Speaker 1: impressive to me, And we've talked a little bit about
- 29:36Speaker 1: him on previous shows, but man, he is really seizing
- 29:38Speaker 1: a spot in that bullpen. Uh. It's gonna be interesting
- 29:42Speaker 1: to see how they how he continues to progress. Well.
- 29:45Speaker 1: Another young arm we talked about earlier this year, He's
- 29:49Speaker 1: coming back Friday, George klass And will rejoin the team
- 29:53Speaker 1: and start the opener of a series in Miami. He
- 29:56Speaker 1: made two starts in April sixth and runs four and
- 29:59Speaker 1: two thirds things. I think he was pretty nervous. Stuff
- 30:02Speaker 1: looked pretty good. Went down the triple A six and
- 30:05Speaker 1: six with the three nine six in the PCL. That
- 30:08Speaker 1: was in nineteen starts. That's not bad now. You know,
- 30:12Speaker 1: we saw what Walbert Urania has done just grabbing a
- 30:17Speaker 1: spot in this rotation looking like a huge part of
- 30:19Speaker 1: this future. Is this I don't I don't want to
- 30:24Speaker 1: put that kind of pressure on George either. I'm not
- 30:26Speaker 1: saying he's gonna do what Walbert did, but is this
- 30:29Speaker 1: a pretty good chance for this kid right now to
- 30:31Speaker 1: to claim a spot in the rotation.
- 30:36Speaker 2: Absolutely, he's PCL tough place to pitch, but he has
- 30:42Speaker 2: been doing extremely well. And I think that's very encouraging
- 30:47Speaker 2: because most times you look at the numbers and they're well,
- 30:50Speaker 2: pretty modest at least on the pitching side, or the
- 30:54Speaker 2: opposite of modest is inflated. But I like his stuff.
- 30:58Speaker 2: I really think he is a good one. Getting a
- 31:01Speaker 2: chance to see it, you know, on the big stage.
- 31:04Speaker 2: The results weren't great, but this is the type of
- 31:07Speaker 2: thing where you go down and he looks like he
- 31:09Speaker 2: has made an adjustment. The command is is like a
- 31:13Speaker 2: lot of guys you know, play for this organization. It
- 31:17Speaker 2: seems to be a reoccurring theme, big stuff, questionable command
- 31:21Speaker 2: at times. So I mean, I see, I see top
- 31:25Speaker 2: tier stuff with him. The ability to to strike hitters out,
- 31:29Speaker 2: get ahead, repeating anything close to what Walbert's done well that,
- 31:35Speaker 2: you know, good luck to anyone outside of you know,
- 31:39Speaker 2: some of those extremely special you know schemes types. Because
- 31:43Speaker 2: Urane has been ridiculous. But if George can just you
- 31:47Speaker 2: don't have a nice what are we less than two
- 31:49Speaker 2: months till the end?
- 31:50Speaker 1: Yeah, give him a runway, you know, give him two months.
- 31:53Speaker 1: Let him start every five, six, seven days, Let him
- 31:56Speaker 1: get comfortable, let him get some confidence. There's no pressure,
- 32:01Speaker 1: I hopefully. I mean, these kids are always gonna feel pressure.
- 32:03Speaker 1: They're in the big leagues for the first time basically,
- 32:05Speaker 1: but there's no pressure to win a playoff game, to
- 32:09Speaker 1: get a team in the playoffs. It's a good time
- 32:12Speaker 1: for him to show what he's got. All right, We're
- 32:14Speaker 1: gonna wrap it up, wrap our show up with that,
- 32:16Speaker 1: And I failed to mention earlier that Mike Trout turns
- 32:19Speaker 1: thirty five on Friday, so on top of everything we
- 32:23Speaker 1: talked about, he is not getting any younger, all right.
- 32:26Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in, Thanks for listening to Halo Territory.
- 32:31Speaker 1: Please like and subscribe and we will see you next time.