Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / Inside the Tyler Skaggs v Angels trial; Sam Blum joins

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Inside the Tyler Skaggs v Angels trial; Sam Blum joins · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: Well, greetings Angel fans, and welcome to the debut episode
0:11
Speaker 1: of Halo Territory, the newest member of the Foul Territory Network,
0:17
Speaker 1: where we'll be talking all things Angels. We'll try to
0:21
Speaker 1: keep you informed, hopefully keep you entertained, and hopefully no
0:25
Speaker 1: subject will be off limits. My name is Mike di Giovanna.
0:28
Speaker 1: I'll be hosting the show along with Mark Trumbo, former
0:32
Speaker 1: Angel slugger.
0:32
Speaker 2: Mark. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Mike. I'm excited
0:37
Speaker 2: for this. I think that we have quite a few
0:41
Speaker 2: great topics to cover, and I think the Angel fans
0:44
Speaker 2: will really enjoy it all right.
0:46
Speaker 1: For those who don't remember me, I'm now a semi
0:49
Speaker 1: retired sportswriter. Spent forty one years at the Los Angeles Times,
0:54
Speaker 1: thirty of those covering Major League Baseball, twenty of them
0:57
Speaker 1: as an Angel's beat writer, and for the last ten
1:01
Speaker 1: years of my career, I went back and forth between
1:03
Speaker 1: the Angels and Dodgers. Mark needs no introduction, but for
1:07
Speaker 1: those who don't remember, he played ten years in the
1:10
Speaker 1: Big leagues hit I believe two hundred eighteen home runs
1:13
Speaker 1: and a fair number of those with the Angels. That
1:17
Speaker 1: went a long way so glad to have Mark aboard,
1:20
Speaker 1: and today we're going to talk about is Let's be frank.
1:25
Speaker 1: It's been a pretty uninspiring winner so far for the Angels.
1:29
Speaker 1: They've made five moves that will impact the big league roster.
1:33
Speaker 1: Four of them involve pitchers. Biggest move as they traded
1:36
Speaker 1: for Grayson Rodriguez, a young pitcher from the Baltimore Orioles,
1:41
Speaker 1: for slugger Taylor Ward. They also signed Alec Manoa, a
1:46
Speaker 1: former All Star coming off injuries. They signed Jordan Romano
1:51
Speaker 1: and a veteran left hander, Drew Pomerance, and they acquired
1:55
Speaker 1: an infielder from the Boston organization, Von Grissom. I've heard
2:00
Speaker 1: these moves in some places be described as lottery tickets
2:04
Speaker 1: in that they're cheap and they could pay off big,
2:08
Speaker 1: and in other places they've been described as reclamation projects.
2:12
Speaker 1: I do think most of them tend toward the ladder,
2:15
Speaker 1: but I will say, in Grayson Rodriguez's case, this could
2:18
Speaker 1: be a lottery ticket. Mark, you played with Grayson briefly
2:22
Speaker 1: in the Oils organization. What are the Angels getting and
2:26
Speaker 1: what is the challenge is going to be for this
2:28
Speaker 1: kid coming off a pretty major injury.
2:32
Speaker 2: Well, to be honest, when I saw the news of
2:35
Speaker 2: the deal, I know Taylor was a guy off the
2:39
Speaker 2: rumored to possibly be on the move at some point
2:43
Speaker 2: for the last few years, and I think some other
2:47
Speaker 2: teams made sense along the way. The timing, you know,
2:51
Speaker 2: could have made sense at any point. But I think
2:53
Speaker 2: the Angels did very well, and I was frankly quite
2:56
Speaker 2: surprised that they landed a guy like Grayson Rodriguez, who
3:00
Speaker 2: I was there when he got drafted and I remember
3:05
Speaker 2: probably watching his first outing and especially his first big
3:07
Speaker 2: league camp. A tremendous arm went healthy. His fastball is
3:12
Speaker 2: top tier, it's kind of plays from an upshoot delivery.
3:17
Speaker 2: It's going to be in the mid nineties, if not
3:19
Speaker 2: close to one hundred, and it's a premium offering. I mean,
3:23
Speaker 2: there's no two ways about it. He's a frontline starter.
3:27
Speaker 2: One two went healthy, and he's got a really nice
3:31
Speaker 2: split finger to compliment it. I think the question mark
3:34
Speaker 2: is going to be his slider, or it has been,
3:37
Speaker 2: but I think that's where you pair him with a
3:39
Speaker 2: guy like Mike Maddox, with a tremendous amount of experience
3:43
Speaker 2: working with all types of pitchers, but some really good
3:46
Speaker 2: ones and you know, hopefully he can take a look
3:49
Speaker 2: at it and you know, see something that you know
3:51
Speaker 2: may make sense. Maybe it's simplifying the pitch, or maybe
3:54
Speaker 2: it's you know, something outside the box too. But I
3:57
Speaker 2: think the biggest thing for Grayson is going to be
3:59
Speaker 2: staying healthy. And you know, he does have a fair
4:02
Speaker 2: amount of injuries that for a young player is not great.
4:06
Speaker 2: But he doesn't have a lot of wear and tear
4:08
Speaker 2: on the arm either, which I think is you know,
4:10
Speaker 2: a huge upside And if this pans out, you know,
4:13
Speaker 2: it could end up looking like a steal for the Angels. Yeah.
4:16
Speaker 1: The obvious subside here is he's still young. He's in
4:20
Speaker 1: his twenties and four years of club control, and as
4:25
Speaker 1: we know, you know, developing good young pitching has been
4:28
Speaker 1: a struggle for this Angels organization for a few years.
4:32
Speaker 1: Taylor Ward, on an expiring contract, had a great year
4:35
Speaker 1: last year, but he was hitting free agency. How important
4:40
Speaker 1: was the four years of control aspect in this deal?
4:43
Speaker 1: And could this kid be their ace eventually?
4:50
Speaker 2: From what I've seen, and I've seen quite a few,
4:52
Speaker 2: you know, pitchers over the years, he does have the stuff.
4:55
Speaker 2: He's got the look and he's got the demeanor too.
4:58
Speaker 2: I think that's a big deal too. I saw a
5:00
Speaker 2: guy that wasn't afraid whatsoever. He wanted to go out
5:04
Speaker 2: there and battle each and every you know, time he
5:07
Speaker 2: took the ball. True competitor, also quiet, you know, which
5:12
Speaker 2: is at times which you know you want a young
5:15
Speaker 2: player listen more than you speak. But he's going to
5:18
Speaker 2: mature into a guy that you know is going to
5:20
Speaker 2: be counted upon. And as far as the contract and
5:24
Speaker 2: years of control, it's all upside. I mean, he's extremely
5:28
Speaker 2: affordable right now, he's got four years under team control,
5:32
Speaker 2: and then you know, hopefully blossoms into a premier starting pitcher.
5:36
Speaker 2: And there's a hard decision down the road there as
5:39
Speaker 2: far as Ward, you know, you're going to have to
5:42
Speaker 2: make up a lot of the power production that he
5:44
Speaker 2: provided somewhere, and then we can get into kind of
5:50
Speaker 2: where that might be. But I'm not sure it's going
5:53
Speaker 2: to come from the existing guys on the field necessarily.
5:56
Speaker 2: So that'll be interesting for a team that relied heavily
6:00
Speaker 2: on the home run last year to you know, score runs.
6:03
Speaker 2: But I think that frankly, that I'd rather have a
6:08
Speaker 2: premier starting pitcher, which is what you know, likely we
6:13
Speaker 2: can get in Grayson Rodriguez and fill an outfield need elsewhere.
6:17
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a couple of the reclamation projects. Alec
6:21
Speaker 1: Manau was an All star a few years ago with
6:23
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays coming off Tommy John surgery. You know,
6:27
Speaker 1: at his peak, he I think he went sixteen and
6:29
Speaker 1: seven and two twenty four ERA and thirty one starts
6:32
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, one hundred and eighty strikeouts and
6:36
Speaker 1: one hundred ninety six innings. Those are pretty good numbers.
6:39
Speaker 1: But it's been a while. What do you think of
6:43
Speaker 1: this signing and where do you see this guy fitting
6:46
Speaker 1: in the rotation? Assuming he has a pretty healthy bounce back.
6:52
Speaker 2: I think this would be a high upside candidate. Obviously
6:56
Speaker 2: there is some risk here too. I think when healthy,
7:00
Speaker 2: he is an indings eater, obviously has a big personality,
7:07
Speaker 2: seems like a very tough competitor, but he's got some
7:11
Speaker 2: issues as well that it's going to be up to him.
7:14
Speaker 2: I think, if we want to call it what it is,
7:16
Speaker 2: it looks like some maturity things at times, and being
7:19
Speaker 2: a professional that includes, you know, coming into camp in
7:23
Speaker 2: good shape. I don't think you can gloss over that
7:27
Speaker 2: it's a big deal for a starting pitcher. I think
7:29
Speaker 2: playing here in Anaheim, it's it's a little bit sneaky.
7:32
Speaker 2: It's a hot place to play. The summers are some
7:37
Speaker 2: sunt you know, unrelenting at times, and it's in my mind,
7:42
Speaker 2: very important to be in good physical shape to be
7:45
Speaker 2: able to go out there, especially on day games and whatnot.
7:48
Speaker 2: But if he's healthy, I see him. You know, the
7:50
Speaker 2: strakeouts are nice, but to me, he's more of a
7:53
Speaker 2: ground ball pitcher. And we turned I believe the most
7:56
Speaker 2: double play is in the game last year, and if
7:59
Speaker 2: you can have another guy that induces that kind of contact,
8:02
Speaker 2: that's great. But again, you know he's coming off Tommy John.
8:07
Speaker 2: He did return to play last year briefly, but for
8:12
Speaker 2: whatever reason, the Blue Jays decided to move on, and
8:15
Speaker 2: then I believe the Braves claimed him and they also
8:18
Speaker 2: moved on if I'm not mistaken, But you know, we
8:21
Speaker 2: got another guy that former All Star to slott in.
8:25
Speaker 2: I think he's making two million bucks or maybe a
8:27
Speaker 2: little under, So it's a lot of upside there too
8:30
Speaker 2: if it goes well. A lot of questions in this
8:33
Speaker 2: bullpen right now. The Angels lost Kenley Jansen to the Tigers.
8:38
Speaker 2: He was a pretty good signing last year. I have
8:40
Speaker 2: to admit I was very impressed with how Canley pitched.
8:43
Speaker 2: But they don't have a closer right now, and we
8:46
Speaker 2: just don't know about Ben Joyce. When the guy's healthy,
8:49
Speaker 2: he's throwing one hundred and five, one hundred and four. Great,
8:52
Speaker 2: he's your closer. But this team does not have a
8:56
Speaker 2: clear cut closer in my mind right now. And they
9:00
Speaker 2: did add at least to the bullpen with Jordan Romano
9:05
Speaker 2: as a former closer with the Blue Jays, but I
9:07
Speaker 2: don't think anyone's going to expect him to close.
9:10
Speaker 1: Drew Pomerantz a really nice bounce back year, A veteran lefty.
9:15
Speaker 1: He's thirty seven, but when you look at the year
9:18
Speaker 1: he had last year in Chicago with the Cubs, I
9:22
Speaker 1: mean you can almost kind of bank on him. Not
9:25
Speaker 1: so much a reclamation project in my mind. But Jordan
9:29
Speaker 1: Romano interesting guy, you know, an All Star closer with
9:32
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays just a few years ago. Really rough
9:35
Speaker 1: year of the Phillies last year. There were some elbow issues,
9:38
Speaker 1: there was a nerve issue with his finger. I just
9:41
Speaker 1: I don't know how much of that. You know, if
9:44
Speaker 1: he's healthy, how much better a pitcher he is. But
9:46
Speaker 1: I don't know when he was with the Blue Jays.
9:48
Speaker 1: I never even when he was closing and having good years,
9:52
Speaker 1: he never struck me as that kind of dominant closer
9:55
Speaker 1: you could rely on. What's your thoughts on these two guys?
10:01
Speaker 2: Well, Palm Rance, I really like I think that I
10:04
Speaker 2: was a bit surprised that he chose to play here. Frankly,
10:11
Speaker 2: he's at the point in his career. He's had a
10:14
Speaker 2: great career, and I know personally he got me out
10:18
Speaker 2: a lot more than I got half my face and
10:20
Speaker 2: quite a bit at least, and you tend to remember
10:22
Speaker 2: those things. But I also know him a little bit
10:24
Speaker 2: off the field. He's a very nice guy, and he's
10:28
Speaker 2: at the point where he could choose to play anywhere,
10:30
Speaker 2: and oftentimes guys like that will want to play for
10:33
Speaker 2: a team that is likely to contend, which I you know,
10:38
Speaker 2: For being honest, I'm not sure that we're there. I'm
10:40
Speaker 2: not sure that we're all that close, to be honest,
10:43
Speaker 2: but things could align, and you know, a lot of
10:47
Speaker 2: things could be very surprising this year, so you can't
10:50
Speaker 2: rule anything out. But I think it's a guy adding
10:53
Speaker 2: like a guy like Drew is going to be nothing
10:56
Speaker 2: but good. I think he's incredibly reliable. He can get
11:00
Speaker 2: both right handers and left handers out, and it seems
11:03
Speaker 2: like his stuff is as good as ever. He's got
11:05
Speaker 2: a tremendous curveball which very tough to hit, let's say.
11:09
Speaker 2: And then Romano. I don't know about his health, and
11:15
Speaker 2: it seems like he's he fits into the mold of
11:21
Speaker 2: kind of a coin flip. I think when even when healthy,
11:24
Speaker 2: he was kind of one of those closers that would
11:26
Speaker 2: like maybe he wouldn't like to, but he made it
11:29
Speaker 2: interesting quite a bit. Some traffic on the bases, and
11:33
Speaker 2: as you know, a teammate and a defender, sometimes that
11:35
Speaker 2: can really wear on you a little bit. Sometimes you
11:37
Speaker 2: do like the clean ninth inning, and I think that's
11:40
Speaker 2: what Kenlee Jansen did an excellent job of. When he
11:44
Speaker 2: came into the game, you know, it was usually over
11:47
Speaker 2: and he brought a lot of veteran leadership and I
11:50
Speaker 2: think he did a tremendous job. And I think I
11:54
Speaker 2: was hopeful, I say ay, but I think the Angels
11:58
Speaker 2: fans were that he would consider coming back. It seemed
12:01
Speaker 2: like things went very well playing for the Angels, but
12:06
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, I think he's gonna play for the
12:08
Speaker 2: Tigers next year. Yeah, who do you see closing right now?
12:12
Speaker 1: If Ben Joyce camp, if he's not ready, certainly at
12:15
Speaker 1: the start of the season, you Ryan Zephyr John and
12:19
Speaker 1: guys like that.
12:21
Speaker 2: Moving back to the rotation. So yeah, I would actually
12:26
Speaker 2: say Kirby Yates makes sense for me. I know last
12:31
Speaker 2: year wasn't his best, but being reunited with Mike Maddox,
12:36
Speaker 2: who they were together in Texas and he had some
12:41
Speaker 2: very nice seasons there and his split finger was somewhat
12:45
Speaker 2: missing an action for what I understand last year, and
12:48
Speaker 2: that's his bread and butter for the most part. So
12:51
Speaker 2: it's one of those things where the field, you know,
12:53
Speaker 2: maybe just lost the feel to some degree and a
12:56
Speaker 2: little bit of confidence in it. But those things can
12:59
Speaker 2: change quickly too. And that would be my pick on paper,
13:05
Speaker 2: you know, as somebody on the outside. There could be
13:07
Speaker 2: somebody else that they have in mind internally though, so
13:10
Speaker 2: I don't know.
13:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, full disclosure. We forgot to mention him at the
13:14
Speaker 1: start of the show when we talked about additions. Another
13:17
Speaker 1: veteran guy when his split is right. I mean, he's
13:20
Speaker 1: really tough, but he was never right with the Dodgers
13:23
Speaker 1: last year. Really good dude, It'll be really interested once again.
13:29
Speaker 1: Another reclamation project, but a veteran arm who is not
13:32
Speaker 1: that far removed from some pretty good years with the Padres.
13:37
Speaker 2: Very true all these guys, although Vermano I think is
13:40
Speaker 2: a little bit younger, but age is not necessarily on
13:44
Speaker 2: everyone's side, and I think that when you're dealing with
13:48
Speaker 2: guys that are in their mid to late thirties, it's
13:52
Speaker 2: not you never want to overuse a reliever, but with
13:55
Speaker 2: guys like that, you really have to be careful because
14:00
Speaker 2: you know, a thirty seven thirty eight year old body,
14:02
Speaker 2: it doesn't recover as quickly. You know, injuries probably have
14:07
Speaker 2: played a point if they've gotten to the point where
14:10
Speaker 2: they are still playing at thirty seven, thirty eight years
14:12
Speaker 2: old or older. And you know, those guys generally know
14:16
Speaker 2: themselves better and might advocate more, you know, for a
14:19
Speaker 2: day off when needed. So you're gonna need to find
14:21
Speaker 2: ways to pick up the slack and have some of
14:24
Speaker 2: those swing guys, maybe Zephyr John and others show multiple
14:28
Speaker 2: innings to make sure that you know health is maintained.
14:33
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about some of the guys
14:35
Speaker 1: still out there who I'm sure some angel fans would
14:39
Speaker 1: love to see, and frankly I would too. I mean,
14:42
Speaker 1: the Angels did clear some payroll room when they, you know,
14:48
Speaker 1: renegotiating Anthony Rendon's contract, cleared some of his money off
14:53
Speaker 1: the books, deferring his salary for a couple of years,
14:56
Speaker 1: so they appear to have the financial resources to make
14:59
Speaker 1: a decent move. To me, the guy who fits perfectly,
15:03
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this is going to happen. I would
15:05
Speaker 1: suspect it probably won't is Cody Bellinger. I mean, first
15:08
Speaker 1: of all, the Angels are a desperate need of left
15:12
Speaker 1: handed hitting, especially in the middle of the lineup rank
15:16
Speaker 1: right now, the only decent left handed hitter is Nolan
15:18
Speaker 1: shan Well, the first baseman. And while I'd probably rather
15:22
Speaker 1: have no other guy up there at the plate, if
15:24
Speaker 1: you need to get a runner in from third base
15:26
Speaker 1: with Nuneer one out, he's the guy. But I don't
15:29
Speaker 1: think he's ever going to hit more than fifteen or
15:31
Speaker 1: twenty homers in the big leagues.
15:33
Speaker 2: So he solves that.
15:34
Speaker 1: And there's a huge void in center field right now,
15:38
Speaker 1: I don't think you're going to want to put Joe
15:39
Speaker 1: Adell back in center. I know they don't want to
15:41
Speaker 1: play Mike Trout there too much. So if you could
15:44
Speaker 1: get a guy like Bellinger defensively, would really show up
15:48
Speaker 1: the outfield defense and allow you to keep Adell and
15:52
Speaker 1: Trout and if need be, Jorges Solaire on the corner.
15:56
Speaker 2: So how big of a move would that be?
15:58
Speaker 1: If they could somehow get into.
15:59
Speaker 2: The bidding, Obviously it would be great. This is one
16:07
Speaker 2: of these times where it makes almost too much sense
16:12
Speaker 2: unless you're the one having to cut the check. Yes,
16:15
Speaker 2: you know, as a fan, we have a need, we
16:20
Speaker 2: have multiple needs. Like you highlighted, his defense has always
16:25
Speaker 2: rated extremely highly, incredibly athletic guy, and he is that
16:31
Speaker 2: left handed power hitting back that is highly coveted and
16:36
Speaker 2: and for a team that you know, quite frankly is
16:39
Speaker 2: in desperate need of some left handed pop, he solves
16:42
Speaker 2: that need. But you know he's coming off another strong year.
16:47
Speaker 2: He's still young. He never seems to age, to be honest,
16:51
Speaker 2: He's always somewhere around twenty six or twenty seven. He
16:53
Speaker 2: could be a little older, but I don't know, I
16:57
Speaker 2: don't know if he has interest in playing here. I
17:02
Speaker 2: don't know him personally, so I can't answer that. But
17:04
Speaker 2: I do know one thing that can sway people's decisions,
17:07
Speaker 2: and you know, it's the same thing that always does.
17:11
Speaker 2: So I think if we're going to want to get
17:12
Speaker 2: a guy like that, we're gonna have to really pay
17:14
Speaker 2: for him. Maybe overpay, but yeah, sometimes that's what you
17:17
Speaker 2: have to do if you want to land the guy.
17:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, a great clubhouse guy, proven winner. I
17:24
Speaker 1: do know the Yankees have reportedly made a few offers.
17:27
Speaker 1: The Cubs are in the mix, the Mets are in
17:29
Speaker 1: the mix. So he's got some big market teams out
17:33
Speaker 1: of one that'll have you know, we'll have some great options.
17:37
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what it's going to take to sign
17:39
Speaker 1: Cody at this phase, but you know, you're looking at
17:43
Speaker 1: a nine figure commitment. Who else out there, especially maybe
17:48
Speaker 1: among pitchers, do you think the Angels should pursue right now, Mark,
17:52
Speaker 1: or is there maybe an Alex Bregman or Suarez type
17:55
Speaker 1: of third base who would be on your wish list
17:58
Speaker 1: right now?
18:00
Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you who I thought made a
18:05
Speaker 2: ton of sense and a little bit unfortunate was Michael King.
18:09
Speaker 2: I think he is a tremendous starting pitcher, ground ball machine,
18:15
Speaker 2: and compared to some of these other guys, maybe like
18:17
Speaker 2: Framberg or Soarez, more affordable for whatever reason. And you know,
18:25
Speaker 2: he already came to an agreement in December, a couple
18:28
Speaker 2: of weeks ago. So he's off the board. And so
18:31
Speaker 2: you get into other guys, and you know, Bellinger, Kyle Tucker,
18:37
Speaker 2: guys like that. You know, these are one A players
18:40
Speaker 2: that are going to command a ton of money. But
18:45
Speaker 2: beyond that, you know, it starts to look a little
18:47
Speaker 2: bit like slim pickings. A guy like Chris Bassett could
18:49
Speaker 2: make some sense if you're looking for more starting pitching
18:52
Speaker 2: depth on the relief side. Evan Phillips coming off injury,
18:57
Speaker 2: but you know, when healthy, all star caliber Arm a
19:02
Speaker 2: tremendous teammate as well. I know, you know from playing
19:05
Speaker 2: in Baltimore, and he really blossomed with the Dodgers, and
19:09
Speaker 2: we'll see what happens there. But centerfield is a big
19:13
Speaker 2: question mark. I think the glove of Tiodosio, Uh, you know,
19:18
Speaker 2: how can you not like it? Guys, Range is as
19:22
Speaker 2: much as I've seen, maybe too much so at times,
19:25
Speaker 2: but I think he's working on that with some of
19:27
Speaker 2: the guys. But that is, you know, it's a work
19:32
Speaker 2: in products, let's say. And you know, in this day
19:35
Speaker 2: and age, the premium defender automatic out at the plate,
19:41
Speaker 2: you just don't see too many of them, whereas you
19:43
Speaker 2: know maybe decades past, you maybe out of the shortstop
19:46
Speaker 2: position would be all right with that catcher center field
19:50
Speaker 2: not as much, but especially now, you just can't have
19:53
Speaker 2: somebody who you know isn't bringing a lot to the
19:56
Speaker 2: table in that regard.
19:58
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't that long ago where the Angels
20:01
Speaker 1: were always in the mix for big time free agents.
20:04
Speaker 1: I mean they signed Albert Poolholz and CJ. Wilson in
20:08
Speaker 1: one day back in twenty twelve, you know, over three
20:10
Speaker 1: hundred million in commitments, Josh Hamilton a year later, Anthony
20:18
Speaker 1: Rendon in two thousand, you know, before twenty twenty. And
20:23
Speaker 1: certainly you can't blame Ardi Moreno for being gun shy
20:27
Speaker 1: about dipping his toes into those waters. After this Rendon
20:30
Speaker 1: contract seven years, two hundred and forty five million will
20:34
Speaker 1: go down as one of the worst contracts in Big
20:37
Speaker 1: League history. So you really can't blame himlong those fronts,
20:41
Speaker 1: But you know they were in on Garrett Cole that
20:43
Speaker 1: year as well. Lately, you just don't hear the Angels
20:47
Speaker 1: mentioned even with some of these big time free agents.
20:50
Speaker 1: Now you were a free agent, you're about a decade
20:53
Speaker 1: removed from free agency, but I know you keep up
20:56
Speaker 1: with the game, you keep up with current players. Like,
20:59
Speaker 1: what is the perception of the Angels organization right now
21:04
Speaker 1: in the eyes of you know, free agents and you
21:08
Speaker 1: know what could be going through their heads when they
21:11
Speaker 1: look at this organization, this team, and when they have
21:14
Speaker 1: that decision to make you know, is that going to
21:16
Speaker 1: help or hurt the Angels.
21:20
Speaker 2: Well, if we're being honest, which is I think what
21:23
Speaker 2: we're aiming to be on this show, it's not the
21:26
Speaker 2: most desirable destination currently. There's no other way to put it.
21:31
Speaker 2: It seems like, you know, the biggest thing, in my
21:33
Speaker 2: opinion is a former player, is what are the chances
21:41
Speaker 2: that you're in for a potentially very long season if
21:45
Speaker 2: things don't go well as far as the winning and
21:48
Speaker 2: losing goes, Because that can really wear on guys. And
21:51
Speaker 2: you know, once Junior rolls around and the team's you know,
21:54
Speaker 2: potentially already out of it, you know, it just is
21:59
Speaker 2: not not a great thing, and then you're going to
22:01
Speaker 2: possibly be dealing with trade talks and other things, so
22:06
Speaker 2: that's not ideal. It seems like hopefully the they're able
22:10
Speaker 2: to dial in the issues in the facilities. I know
22:15
Speaker 2: there were at least one one issue raised as far
22:18
Speaker 2: as the air conditioning, but I'm sure that's rectified by now.
22:22
Speaker 2: But you know, I think that there's some things that
22:24
Speaker 2: they could do to make it a lot more attractive
22:27
Speaker 2: living in southern California. People love it, you know. I
22:31
Speaker 2: yet to meet a guy that doesn't want to live
22:33
Speaker 2: near the beach, and the commute is usually quite reasonable,
22:36
Speaker 2: and things like that matter as well. So I think
22:39
Speaker 2: sometimes it's very easy just to think, you know, years
22:42
Speaker 2: and dollars, but free agency is a lot more than that,
22:45
Speaker 2: and you know, to echo your point. Some of these deals,
22:50
Speaker 2: especially the Rendoan one, it was a stinker. It didn't
22:53
Speaker 2: work at all. He didn't zero all stars, very little production,
22:59
Speaker 2: and it's very unfortunately they paid a fortune for a
23:03
Speaker 2: guy that provided next to nothing. I think he'll be
23:06
Speaker 2: known more for some of the unfortunate incidents with the
23:10
Speaker 2: cast and you know, getting in there with a fan
23:13
Speaker 2: in Oakland than anything he did on the field, So
23:16
Speaker 2: I don't want to be too critical of him, but
23:18
Speaker 2: you know, he didn't provide hardly anything to the team.
23:22
Speaker 1: Do you think I mean, we're talking about a team
23:24
Speaker 1: that has had ten losing records in a row, coming
23:28
Speaker 1: off a couple of ninety loss seasons, having made the
23:30
Speaker 1: playoffs since twenty fourteen. Is it just those factors that
23:36
Speaker 1: are weighing in the minds and eyes of these potential
23:39
Speaker 1: free agents? So is there something else about maybe how
23:42
Speaker 1: this team has been run over the last ten years ownership?
23:47
Speaker 1: I mean I wrote a story in twenty twenty two
23:50
Speaker 1: just looking at the lost decade, you know, the last
23:53
Speaker 1: ten years at that time, and you know, I think
23:56
Speaker 1: the term I used then was that they're in baseball purgatory.
24:00
Speaker 1: You know, they've sort of they've had these opportunities to
24:04
Speaker 1: sort of rebuild. The owner has refused to rebuild. To me,
24:08
Speaker 1: the year that really stands out is twenty twenty two,
24:11
Speaker 1: when Showhy was a full year and a half away
24:14
Speaker 1: from free agency. They could have got a boatload of prospects,
24:18
Speaker 1: maybe some you know, young major leaguers in a trade
24:21
Speaker 1: like that. I heard the name Jackson Merrill kicked around.
24:24
Speaker 1: Then you Look what the Washington Nationals got for Juan
24:27
Speaker 1: Soto a couple of years ago. I mean, that's a
24:30
Speaker 1: deal they might have even been able to make in
24:32
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three before Show Hey ended up signing with
24:36
Speaker 1: the Dodgers. Is there something beside, you know, just the
24:40
Speaker 1: losing and the perennial losing that has sort of held
24:43
Speaker 1: them back.
24:46
Speaker 2: I think that's probably the biggest thing. I think, you know,
24:51
Speaker 2: I think there's just an uncertainty, like you said, about
24:55
Speaker 2: where they look, what is the direction of this franchise
25:00
Speaker 2: bringing to a guy like Ron Washington. I was there
25:04
Speaker 2: for the introductory press conference. I remember a lot of
25:08
Speaker 2: energy in the room, some bold predictions that didn't quite
25:13
Speaker 2: get there, run down the West and whatnot, you know,
25:18
Speaker 2: last place. So it's not necessarily any any one person's fault,
25:23
Speaker 2: but I do know that it didn't really work, and
25:27
Speaker 2: from what I hear some of the tactics used. I
25:31
Speaker 2: remember they banned the cell phones, and as a former player,
25:35
Speaker 2: on the surface, I found that to be very juvenile.
25:38
Speaker 2: I know that there were daily classroom type settings that
25:43
Speaker 2: a veteran player really wants no part of. You don't
25:46
Speaker 2: want to listen to thirty minutes of talks on base running.
25:49
Speaker 2: That's a spring training thing. I know, with a younger team,
25:53
Speaker 2: maybe it seems imperative to for the teaching, but at
25:59
Speaker 2: some point these are grown men at the and they're
26:02
Speaker 2: going to have to, you know, go out there and
26:05
Speaker 2: get the job done. But they want to be treated
26:06
Speaker 2: as such too. And one of the big problems I
26:09
Speaker 2: think is, you know, you're rushing some of these guys
26:11
Speaker 2: to the big leagues, cutting out quite a bit of
26:14
Speaker 2: the development that used to take place, and so you're
26:19
Speaker 2: at kind of a conundrum where they're still in need
26:21
Speaker 2: of some of the basics. Maybe it's sliding, maybe it's
26:25
Speaker 2: you know, just simple core fundamentals that have been overlooked
26:29
Speaker 2: because of the haste to bring them up. And most
26:32
Speaker 2: of these guys have held their own for being honest,
26:34
Speaker 2: but there's nothing that can make up for the sheer
26:38
Speaker 2: amount of reps that guys quite you know, they used
26:42
Speaker 2: to get. At least when I was coming up, I
26:44
Speaker 2: was told you had to master the level. That was
26:46
Speaker 2: what we were told. What that means not exactly sure,
26:50
Speaker 2: but I do know what it equates to a lot
26:53
Speaker 2: of playing time, a lot of at bats, and a
26:54
Speaker 2: lot of experience and you cut, but you get used
26:57
Speaker 2: to it and you see all types of situations. So
27:00
Speaker 2: when you get to the big leagues, it's not your
27:01
Speaker 2: first time being exposed to some plays that quite frankly,
27:06
Speaker 2: don't happen very often, but for these guys, maybe it
27:09
Speaker 2: is the first time and sometimes you'll learn the hard
27:11
Speaker 2: way like that.
27:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, these are going to be some topics we'll explore
27:16
Speaker 1: later in the show. Certainly, player development a big issue
27:19
Speaker 1: with the Angels, so that will we'll wrap up this
27:22
Speaker 1: debut episode. Please like and subscribe and join us. Later
27:28
Speaker 1: in the week, we'll be talking to Sam Blum, the
27:31
Speaker 1: outstanding writer for The Athletic, about the Tyler Skaggs trials,
27:35
Speaker 1: so that should be very interesting. Until then, we'll see
27:38
Speaker 1: you next time on Halo Territory
27:44
Speaker 2: M