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Angels Mailbag: What changes are needed to turn things around? · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Play Angel fans, Welcome back to Halo Territory on Mike
0:13
Speaker 1: Di Giovanna, former La Times baseball writer and host of
0:17
Speaker 1: the show, and glad to have my co host back,
0:20
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo. How are you doing today? Mark?
0:22
Speaker 2: Hey? Okay, everything's cool.
0:24
Speaker 1: Good to hear. Hey. We're gonna do our first Angels
0:28
Speaker 1: mail bag today, So I want to thank a lot
0:32
Speaker 1: of the viewers and listeners in advance. Got a nice
0:35
Speaker 1: little batch of questions. As you might suspect, a few
0:39
Speaker 1: of them are centered on the owner, Artie Marino. So
0:43
Speaker 1: we'll try to get to as many of them as
0:45
Speaker 1: we can today and we'll be doing mailbags regularly. So
0:49
Speaker 1: if you don't hear your question today, I'm sure we'll
0:51
Speaker 1: get to it eventually. So first question from Mike Trout apologist,
0:56
Speaker 1: what needs to change to turn this thing around? Is
1:00
Speaker 1: our only hope that already decides to wake up one
1:03
Speaker 1: day and sell the team? Mark, what do you got?
1:08
Speaker 2: I think that's an interesting question. I don't think necessarily
1:12
Speaker 2: the answer is going to be needing to sell. Although
1:18
Speaker 2: I assume this will be a reaccramed question, I actually
1:22
Speaker 2: know what will be. But I think that to get
1:27
Speaker 2: this thing moving in the right direction, and I maybe
1:30
Speaker 2: someone can convince me otherwise. Excuse me, but building a
1:34
Speaker 2: better farm system it just seems imperative these days. It
1:37
Speaker 2: seems like the blueprint. If you're not going to be
1:40
Speaker 2: a team that's spending a ton of money, that's the
1:43
Speaker 2: way to go. Maybe thes were the pioneers of it,
1:46
Speaker 2: at least in the recent trends. But I was looking
1:49
Speaker 2: at the Brewers today, for example, and how are they
1:51
Speaker 2: able to get it done? A year in and year out.
1:53
Speaker 2: They consistently put a win product on the field, a
1:56
Speaker 2: number of division titles, and it seems like they have
2:00
Speaker 2: some things are excellent, a developing pitching, bringing in the
2:03
Speaker 2: right guys that maybe similar to the Halos sometimes cast
2:09
Speaker 2: off elsewhere. I don't cast offs is kind of rough,
2:11
Speaker 2: but that's what it is. And they seem to be
2:14
Speaker 2: doing a very good job. So I would kind of
2:15
Speaker 2: look at a team like that and try and steal
2:18
Speaker 2: some of their moves if I were somebody in charge.
2:22
Speaker 2: What do you think?
2:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a there's almost an elegance to
2:25
Speaker 1: the simplicity of this question because there is no easy
2:28
Speaker 1: answer for the first part of it. You know what
2:31
Speaker 1: needs to change to turn this thing around. And I
2:33
Speaker 1: don't think already just selling the team is a simple answer,
2:37
Speaker 1: because even if he wakes up tomorrow and decides to
2:39
Speaker 1: sell the team, that's going to be a you know,
2:41
Speaker 1: months to year long process where there's going to be
2:44
Speaker 1: transition and there's going to be a lot of uncertainty
2:47
Speaker 1: and you just don't know what's going to happen, and
2:49
Speaker 1: you don't know who's going to buy the team. But
2:52
Speaker 1: short of already selling the team, certainly, I think there
2:55
Speaker 1: needs to be an overhaul of the player development system.
3:00
Speaker 1: Totally agree with you. And this team's finished with a
3:02
Speaker 1: losing record for ten straight years. They've had a couple
3:05
Speaker 1: of ninety lost seasons in there. How is it when
3:08
Speaker 1: you're picking in the top ten to fifteen and even
3:11
Speaker 1: in the higher in the draft almost every year, you're
3:14
Speaker 1: not able to turn that farm system into a top
3:17
Speaker 1: you know farm system. They've been ranked in the bottom three,
3:20
Speaker 1: I believe in many of the rankings for five straight years.
3:26
Speaker 1: And when you're consistently losing like that, how have they
3:29
Speaker 1: not been able to turn you know, some of their
3:33
Speaker 1: veteran valuable pieces. We've talked about it before, show Hey,
3:37
Speaker 1: Ittari and twenty two and twenty three classic example, could
3:41
Speaker 1: have turned them into a lot of prospects. You know,
3:44
Speaker 1: they've done a couple of those deals, but certainly not
3:46
Speaker 1: enough now in arties. What has been twenty one twenty
3:52
Speaker 1: two year tenure of owning the team, there's sort of
3:54
Speaker 1: been three tenants to his ownership. One he refuses to
3:58
Speaker 1: tank and rebuild. He just has never liked that idea.
4:03
Speaker 1: Two he despises paying a luxury tax. I think he's
4:07
Speaker 1: only gone over that thing once by about a couple
4:09
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars in his entire ownership. And Three,
4:13
Speaker 1: he's willing to spend money, as we've seen with many
4:15
Speaker 1: of these contracts, but he takes great pride in operating
4:19
Speaker 1: in the black. And now things are starting to fall
4:23
Speaker 1: apart with those at least a couple of those things.
4:26
Speaker 1: The TV contract for one, we had evandrelis to the
4:31
Speaker 1: Athletic on the show two weeks ago. They're losing maybe
4:35
Speaker 1: thirty to forty percent of their annual revenues. That's like
4:39
Speaker 1: forty to fifty million. So now he's losing money, So
4:43
Speaker 1: now he doesn't want to spend money, and it's this
4:45
Speaker 1: terrible cycle that they've been in for a long time
4:48
Speaker 1: now where we're getting all these free agents signings like
4:52
Speaker 1: we have this winter. You know, a lot of reclamation projects,
4:55
Speaker 1: a lot of guys on the rebound, a lot of
4:58
Speaker 1: guys you're hoping and praying and wishing have bounced back
5:01
Speaker 1: years and as the Dodgers, well, it's unfair to compare
5:05
Speaker 1: any team to the Dodgers right now, but look at
5:08
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays last year. They went from worse to first.
5:10
Speaker 1: How they do it? You've got to have a couple
5:12
Speaker 1: of stars and a lot of great complimentary pieces, and
5:14
Speaker 1: a lot of things have to go right and right now.
5:18
Speaker 1: You know, Mike Trout is not that star Zach Netto
5:21
Speaker 1: could be. But I don't see any other stars in
5:23
Speaker 1: this team, and to me, the complimentary pieces are just
5:27
Speaker 1: not elevated to a point where they're going to bring
5:29
Speaker 1: this team in the playoff contention. Ah from Scott t
5:36
Speaker 1: this gives you an idea of some of the fans
5:38
Speaker 1: we have. Why follow this team when will already sell?
5:42
Speaker 1: Why can't they do anything well? I will say they
5:45
Speaker 1: do one thing really well, and that's strikeout. They struck
5:48
Speaker 1: out I think the second most times in Major League
5:52
Speaker 1: history in a season. I forget the exact number is
5:54
Speaker 1: somewhere around fifteen or sixteen hundred. That's crazy to me.
5:59
Speaker 1: But I mean they'd do a couple things, well maybe
6:02
Speaker 1: mark and expand on some of those, But in terms
6:05
Speaker 1: of following their team, I mean, heck, they're the Angels.
6:08
Speaker 1: They they break your hearts, They've they've thrilled you over
6:13
Speaker 1: the years when they were in the playoffs almost every
6:16
Speaker 1: year back in the two thousands, and you know, that's
6:19
Speaker 1: how it is when you're a baseball fan. You know,
6:21
Speaker 1: you got to live through the hard times to enjoy
6:23
Speaker 1: the good times.
6:25
Speaker 2: I would agree if you're still around after the last
6:29
Speaker 2: handful of years and you know experienced, you know, if
6:33
Speaker 2: you're old enough some of the bad times and what
6:36
Speaker 2: they're going through now, you just have to hold out
6:41
Speaker 2: hope that there is a plan. I think at the
6:43
Speaker 2: end of the day, that's what I would want as
6:45
Speaker 2: a fan. That is kind of on the fence. Possibly
6:48
Speaker 2: the phrasing of the question. I think there was some
6:52
Speaker 2: rhyme in there as well. You know, it's your choice,
6:56
Speaker 2: you can watch this club or not. We don't work
6:59
Speaker 2: for the so you know, all I can say is
7:03
Speaker 2: there are some good players out there. There are some
7:05
Speaker 2: intriguing draft picks from this most recent season, and I
7:09
Speaker 2: think there's a couple guys in the minor leagues that
7:11
Speaker 2: actually have more upside than maybe they're getting. But at
7:16
Speaker 2: the end of the day, you got to go out
7:18
Speaker 2: throwing ball games. We sent it on the last episode
7:21
Speaker 2: with Caleb Joseph, which is quite good if you guys
7:23
Speaker 2: didn't get a chance to watch it. A little under
7:25
Speaker 2: the radar, but we cover some of those things about
7:28
Speaker 2: the Blue Jays and their recipe for success, and I
7:31
Speaker 2: think that gives more insight into the way that at
7:34
Speaker 2: least that club is doing it and how the Angels can,
7:38
Speaker 2: you know, like I said before, steal some of these
7:40
Speaker 2: things the other teams that are operating now. The Blue
7:43
Speaker 2: does have a bigger payroll, but the Brewers do not,
7:46
Speaker 2: the Rays do not, the Guardians do not. So let's
7:50
Speaker 2: look at what they're doing and see if we're matching up,
7:52
Speaker 2: especially on the pitching development side. I'd say that's a
7:55
Speaker 2: big key yeah.
7:56
Speaker 1: And I don't know exactly what the Tiger's payroll is
7:58
Speaker 1: off hand, but they're caught up in the same FanDuel
8:02
Speaker 1: Sports TV situation that the Angels and a bunch of
8:05
Speaker 1: other teams were, and they just signed for Amber Valdez
8:09
Speaker 1: for what one hundred and fifteen million for three years
8:12
Speaker 1: the other day or yesterday. I mean, it's not impossible.
8:15
Speaker 1: You do have to have an owner as willing to spend.
8:17
Speaker 1: And we talked about it before. It's hard to blame
8:20
Speaker 1: already for being a little gun shy after this Anthony
8:22
Speaker 1: Rendon contract. And unfortunately, you know, Mike Trout still has
8:26
Speaker 1: five years and north of two hundred million left on
8:29
Speaker 1: his deal. It's still a little bit of an anchor
8:31
Speaker 1: on this club. And when you factor in all these
8:34
Speaker 1: financial losses and Artie's inability to stomach those kind of
8:39
Speaker 1: financial losses, it adds up to a guy who's not
8:42
Speaker 1: willing to spend the money right now to feel the winner.
8:46
Speaker 1: And as Mark mentioned on a previous show, this is
8:48
Speaker 1: not the destination Anaheim was in the first decade of
8:53
Speaker 1: this century. You know, you have to overpay to get
8:58
Speaker 1: really good players here. And there's not a lot of
9:00
Speaker 1: good free agents coming on the market every year like
9:03
Speaker 1: there used to be because so many teams lock up
9:05
Speaker 1: their young stars. So it's a really tough situation the
9:08
Speaker 1: Angels are in right now. From Jordan Harris, should we
9:12
Speaker 1: trade Mike Trout for a lot of good prospects, What
9:16
Speaker 1: do you think, Mark.
9:19
Speaker 2: No, I don't think so, And I think it's an
9:24
Speaker 2: answer that most angel fans that are in tune probably
9:28
Speaker 2: are aware of. But Mike Trout's value is not at
9:31
Speaker 2: an all time high. This would not be selling at
9:35
Speaker 2: the optimum timing what the package or the return would
9:41
Speaker 2: be at this point part of the research I did,
9:45
Speaker 2: and it kind of coincides with what I thought, maybe
9:48
Speaker 2: a couple top ten prospects from an organization, maybe a
9:51
Speaker 2: major league ready player three for one type thing. But
9:56
Speaker 2: there's a huge issue with the contract and the money,
10:00
Speaker 2: you know, especially if Mike is unable to play the
10:03
Speaker 2: field and becomes a da tonally that creates some further
10:08
Speaker 2: trouble in that regard. So I think this is one
10:12
Speaker 2: of the rare opportunities to have a guy finish his
10:16
Speaker 2: entire career with the same club, which may not matter
10:19
Speaker 2: to some, but it's very rare these days. And he's
10:23
Speaker 2: had many opportunities, possibly to go elsewhere, he's chosen to
10:28
Speaker 2: be loyal to this club and he's put up incredible numbers.
10:33
Speaker 2: This is the tough thing with these longer term deals
10:36
Speaker 2: is sometimes you're looking at the back end of it
10:38
Speaker 2: and thinking that it's not equitable any longer. But if
10:42
Speaker 2: you were to look at what he did in the past,
10:43
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a first ballot Hall of Famer, no question,
10:46
Speaker 2: and I'd like to see him finish strong. I don't
10:49
Speaker 2: know if five seasons is reasonable to expect quality numbers,
10:53
Speaker 2: but I'd say if we can get three out of
10:55
Speaker 2: the five with respectable seasons, then that would be awesome.
10:59
Speaker 2: I'd be you know, personally, I'd be very happy with that.
11:01
Speaker 2: I think he would like to get more, but you know,
11:04
Speaker 2: he's not getting any younger. He's got some knee iss issues.
11:08
Speaker 2: And as far as trading him, I do not think
11:10
Speaker 2: that makes sense. You might have a different opinion.
11:14
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think I'd like to see the Angels
11:17
Speaker 1: trade Mic. The problem right now, as you mentioned, for
11:19
Speaker 1: him to generate even a decent return, he has to
11:23
Speaker 1: not necessarily get back to that Mike Trout level we
11:26
Speaker 1: saw when he was winning all those MVP awards, but
11:30
Speaker 1: he needs to get back to a level where he
11:32
Speaker 1: is able to play the field, you know, at least
11:34
Speaker 1: fifty to sixty percent of the time. Whether that's I
11:37
Speaker 1: don't know, if I'll go back to center, whether it's
11:38
Speaker 1: right or left. He needs to provide some value defensively,
11:42
Speaker 1: and he needs to you know, stabilize his offense once again.
11:47
Speaker 1: I don't think he needs to have MVP seasons to
11:51
Speaker 1: sort of you know, find that value again. But he
11:56
Speaker 1: has to, you know, get his ops over eight hundred,
11:59
Speaker 1: you know, hit thirty homers, drive in ninety to one hundred,
12:03
Speaker 1: you know, and maybe in year twenty twenty eight or something,
12:09
Speaker 1: if you're still not competitive and Mike still looks like
12:11
Speaker 1: he has something left, and it's clear that the Angels
12:14
Speaker 1: are not going to be a team that's going to
12:16
Speaker 1: contend for a while. Maybe at the deadline there is
12:19
Speaker 1: going to be a team that, hey, we need a
12:20
Speaker 1: right handed bat. You just never know, my you know,
12:23
Speaker 1: another team may see that value the other you know,
12:25
Speaker 1: the Angels are gonna have to probably use a significant
12:27
Speaker 1: portion of Trout's contract to even make a deal like
12:31
Speaker 1: that happen. But you know, I grew up a long
12:34
Speaker 1: time ago, and I love the idea of you know,
12:37
Speaker 1: Derek Jeter playing his whole career the Yankees. I was
12:40
Speaker 1: a huge Mets fan as a kid. When they traded
12:42
Speaker 1: Tom sever my favorite player. I think I was twelve
12:45
Speaker 1: or thirteen. I remember crying that day. You know, it's dramatic.
12:49
Speaker 1: We don't see that as much anymore. But yeah, Mike
12:52
Speaker 1: Trout's been extremely loyal to owner Arti Marino in the city,
12:56
Speaker 1: in this franchise, and it'd be a much happier if
13:00
Speaker 1: he were to regain some of his form. But if
13:03
Speaker 1: they're in the same situation that they are now and
13:05
Speaker 1: trying to rebuild, and you know he's starting to, you know,
13:10
Speaker 1: show some flashes at that point, you might have to
13:13
Speaker 1: get what you can for. Okay, next question from Anna
13:19
Speaker 1: no whoever that is, why is it we hear from
13:23
Speaker 1: Arty about the Angels losing money and having to cut payroll,
13:26
Speaker 1: but we didn't hear much about the profits the organization
13:29
Speaker 1: made out of the Trout and poolhost years, or the
13:32
Speaker 1: Japanese sponsorships in the Otani years. Well, I don't expect
13:37
Speaker 1: people to read everything we've written over the years, but
13:40
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three I did write a story and
13:44
Speaker 1: was able to get this sourced out from pretty reliable
13:46
Speaker 1: sources that the Angels in the latter latter years of
13:49
Speaker 1: Otani were making between about ten to twenty million dollars
13:54
Speaker 1: extra a year in marketing revenue, so they were generating
13:58
Speaker 1: some money there. Bob Nightingale with the USA Today went
14:02
Speaker 1: a step further, I think right around that time he
14:04
Speaker 1: said they were making about twenty five million a year.
14:07
Speaker 1: Now at that time, when the Angels are still generating
14:09
Speaker 1: their TV revenue, you know, that was a nice little bump.
14:13
Speaker 1: But when you look at what the Dodgers have been
14:15
Speaker 1: able to do with Otani and the way they've been
14:18
Speaker 1: able to monetize him, it's not even close that you know,
14:22
Speaker 1: their reports that the Dodgers are making one hundred million
14:26
Speaker 1: a year just on Otani, and Otani alone is making
14:30
Speaker 1: one hundred million in endorsements, which is obviously why he
14:33
Speaker 1: was able to defer sixty eight million out of his
14:37
Speaker 1: annual seventy million dollars salary. So those things are out there.
14:44
Speaker 1: I think with the TV deal and the collapse of
14:46
Speaker 1: the TV deal right now there is more of a
14:48
Speaker 1: spotlight on the Angels losing money, and as we've said,
14:52
Speaker 1: already hates to lose money, but we have you know
14:56
Speaker 1: when the good times are rolling. We've reported that. I
14:59
Speaker 1: just think right now how they've fallen on hard times financially,
15:01
Speaker 1: and it's really reflected in the kind of winner they've
15:04
Speaker 1: had in free agency. Okay from Billy Bob eighty four
15:12
Speaker 1: seventy six. Do we have Kurt Suzuki as a fall
15:16
Speaker 1: guy this season? He is on a one year contract.
15:19
Speaker 1: I don't know how far you can fall with that deal.
15:21
Speaker 1: But what do you think, Mark, I don't think so.
15:24
Speaker 1: Kurts had a tremendous career in the game. I don't
15:28
Speaker 1: think that that would be a reasonable thing to do
15:31
Speaker 1: to a guy that, by all accounts seems like a genuinely,
15:36
Speaker 1: very nice person. He's well liked universally. And if that
15:42
Speaker 1: was or is your plan, I can't get behind that
15:46
Speaker 1: at all.
15:47
Speaker 2: I don't think that's good for business. And you know what,
15:50
Speaker 2: we got to see what he's capable of. This is
15:52
Speaker 2: a great opportunity for him. It's well, one year deal.
15:55
Speaker 2: I guess that's the way that you know it goes.
15:58
Speaker 2: It seems a little bit tough. I'm assuming most managers
16:02
Speaker 2: would want at least three seasons or more to prove
16:05
Speaker 2: what they have going or can do, but maybe this
16:10
Speaker 2: is the type of thing where you can really thrive
16:12
Speaker 2: if he thinks that. You know, not that he thinks,
16:16
Speaker 2: but it's it's going to be tough. There's no way
16:20
Speaker 2: to I guess that's what I'm trying to get that
16:21
Speaker 2: there is a lot of pressure with one season. If
16:23
Speaker 2: it doesn't go well, you don't have a lot of leverage.
16:27
Speaker 2: So I think for Kurt's sake, it'd be awesome if
16:29
Speaker 2: they were a competitive club at least most of the season,
16:33
Speaker 2: but I'd rather not. You know, it'd be pretty tough
16:36
Speaker 2: to see if he was just showing the door. And
16:38
Speaker 2: you never know when you're going to get another opportunity either.
16:41
Speaker 2: So I think that's kind of the tough thing about
16:42
Speaker 2: jumping into the coaching side or managing side is if
16:45
Speaker 2: it doesn't go well, you know what, if it can
16:48
Speaker 2: be tough to rebound if you don't have anything tangible
16:51
Speaker 2: to say, hey, look what I did here.
16:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. It is his introductory press conference. He
16:56
Speaker 1: actually said he was okay with a one year deal
16:58
Speaker 1: because it gives him a chance of proved himself. And
17:01
Speaker 1: I think I don't forget the exact number of years,
17:03
Speaker 1: but most of his contracts at the end of his
17:06
Speaker 1: career were one year deals where he had to prove himself.
17:09
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody is expecting Kurt Suzuki to work
17:12
Speaker 1: miracles here. If they were to finish somewhere near five hundred,
17:16
Speaker 1: I think that would be a huge step forward. But
17:19
Speaker 1: I think they they've given him a chance to at
17:21
Speaker 1: least assemble a coaching staff that to me looks a
17:24
Speaker 1: little intriguing. I you know, getting a guy like Mike
17:27
Speaker 1: Maddox to coach your pitchers, that's a pretty good get.
17:30
Speaker 1: You know, really veteran, experienced guys. He's won at places
17:34
Speaker 1: in the past, very respected. Brady Anderson was a real
17:39
Speaker 1: I think out of the box, outside the box higher.
17:42
Speaker 1: It'll be really interesting to see what he does philosophically,
17:46
Speaker 1: approach approach wise with these hitters, and as far as
17:50
Speaker 1: game planning and you know, managing the game. I'm not
17:54
Speaker 1: sure what kind of guy Kurt is going to be.
17:57
Speaker 1: You know, he's a former catcher. Is he going to
17:59
Speaker 1: be a guy that sort of stresses things like Mike
18:02
Speaker 1: Sosha used to stress with situation hitting and a little
18:05
Speaker 1: more bunting. Maybe a hit and run here and there,
18:09
Speaker 1: contact I think is going to be a huge issue
18:11
Speaker 1: for this team in light of the strikeouts, and they
18:14
Speaker 1: all or nothing approached with the home runs and strikeouts.
18:17
Speaker 1: So it's going to be interesting to see if Kurt
18:22
Speaker 1: and his staff can at least get this thing moving
18:26
Speaker 1: in the right direction. And I think if they do,
18:29
Speaker 1: you know, I think he sort of sets himself up
18:31
Speaker 1: for maybe a three year contract at the end of
18:33
Speaker 1: the year, and you know, he'll have a good handle
18:35
Speaker 1: on his coaches by then, and who knows, maybe some
18:39
Speaker 1: of these guys will bounce back and have really good years.
18:42
Speaker 1: But I think it's going to be interesting to see
18:44
Speaker 1: just sort of direct the direction Kurt takes this team.
18:48
Speaker 1: And next question from Steven C. Smith, who I will
18:52
Speaker 1: acknowledge him in a long time follower of the Angels
18:55
Speaker 1: and a reader of the La Times, and I do
18:57
Speaker 1: appreciate this. He says, this is a tongue and question
19:00
Speaker 1: for each of you. Do you believe in the Angels curse?
19:04
Speaker 1: There certainly is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest it is real. Now,
19:11
Speaker 1: Mark grew up in Orange County. I moved out here
19:13
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty and I have to admit I didn't
19:21
Speaker 1: think there was some kind of curse in this franchise.
19:23
Speaker 1: Whether it was, I think Tim Mead actually went back
19:26
Speaker 1: and did the research and proved that it was not.
19:29
Speaker 1: The stadium is not built on an ancient Native American
19:32
Speaker 1: burial grounds, so if there's a curse, we're not sure
19:34
Speaker 1: what it is. But you look at just the amazing
19:38
Speaker 1: amount of tragedy and freak injuries that this team is
19:41
Speaker 1: absorbed over the years. I mean just you know, going
19:45
Speaker 1: back to Lyman Bostock getting murdered during the season in
19:48
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, Nick Idenhart getting killed in a car
19:51
Speaker 1: crash in two thousand and nine, Tyler Skagg's dying of
19:54
Speaker 1: a drug overdose in twenty nineteen. You have the Angels
19:58
Speaker 1: blowing two to two games none lead against Milwaukee, and
20:01
Speaker 1: the eighty two Alcs three games to one lead over
20:05
Speaker 1: Boston and the eighty six Alcs when Donny Moore gave
20:09
Speaker 1: up the famous homer to Dave Henderson. You have the
20:12
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five collapse my first year in the beat
20:15
Speaker 1: where they had an eleven game lead in early August
20:18
Speaker 1: and blew that. Oh, the bus crash in nineteen ninety
20:22
Speaker 1: two in New Jersey. How many teams. Does that happen to?
20:27
Speaker 1: Nineteen ninety six Broad Cruise daughter, eighteen year old Michelle
20:31
Speaker 1: died of leukemia. This is crazy one. Nineteen ninety nine
20:36
Speaker 1: Mo Vaughn literally the first game after signing a six year,
20:40
Speaker 1: eighty million dollar deal, goes for a pop out in
20:44
Speaker 1: the first base dugout. This is before they had the railings,
20:47
Speaker 1: falls into dugout, suffers a high angles prade is out
20:50
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks. We saw Kent Murker suffer
20:54
Speaker 1: a brain aneurysm on the mound while pitching in nineteen
20:57
Speaker 1: ninety two thousand and who can never forget Hendrey's morales
21:03
Speaker 1: hitting a walk off Grand Slam in twenty ten and
21:05
Speaker 1: just jumping in the home plate and shattering his ankles.
21:08
Speaker 1: So you add all that up, you think, my goodness,
21:11
Speaker 1: this is seriously curse franchise. But then you factor in
21:17
Speaker 1: two thousand and two, and well what happened there? Teams
21:22
Speaker 1: have to have a lot of luck to win a
21:23
Speaker 1: World Series, for sure. The Angels, you know they were
21:29
Speaker 1: I forget how many games two thousand and one, they
21:32
Speaker 1: were not a very good team. I forget their exact record.
21:35
Speaker 1: Two thousand and two, they just they sort of capture
21:38
Speaker 1: some peak years out of a couple guys like David Eckstein,
21:41
Speaker 1: Adam Kennedy, Brendan Donnelly. In the bullpen, they add an
21:46
Speaker 1: absolute bolt of lightning and Frankie Rodriguez that bullpen in September.
21:51
Speaker 1: They're veteran guys. Garrett Anderson, Troy Gloss, Tim Salmon, Darren
21:57
Speaker 1: er staid, you know all had great years and then
22:00
Speaker 1: you had some of the freak things. I mean, they're
22:02
Speaker 1: down five to nothing in Game six, and I believe
22:06
Speaker 1: the seventh inning Scott Betspizio three run homer, first, I
22:10
Speaker 1: had solo homer, Troy Gloss two run double. They went
22:13
Speaker 1: six to five, then win Game seven. So to me,
22:17
Speaker 1: if there was a curse, it must have either taken
22:19
Speaker 1: two thousand and two off or there's no curse anymore.
22:23
Speaker 1: You know, it may be another twenty five years before
22:25
Speaker 1: this team wins another World Series. But to me, that
22:29
Speaker 1: curse was broken in two thousand and two. What do
22:31
Speaker 1: you think, Mark is a guy growing up here, were
22:33
Speaker 1: you aware of that supposed curse and did you think
22:36
Speaker 1: it was it was real?
22:40
Speaker 2: No clue to be honest with you, maybe at an
22:45
Speaker 2: age that you know wasn't around for a lot of
22:49
Speaker 2: those things. I do remember, unfortunately for Kendris, but I
22:52
Speaker 2: remember it well because that's how I got a foot
22:54
Speaker 2: in the door, and sometimes that happens in the game.
22:58
Speaker 2: But as far as the other stuff, I would assume
23:01
Speaker 2: most teams have things that happen. Maybe the Angels have
23:06
Speaker 2: a lot more than the rest. But nice question, and Stephen,
23:10
Speaker 2: thank you. He documented our minor league journey. Yeah, ran
23:18
Speaker 2: a very cool website and as a follower of the show,
23:21
Speaker 2: so thank you for that question.
23:23
Speaker 1: All right from I can't even read this guy's name.
23:28
Speaker 1: If Deptmers goes back to the rotation, what does the
23:30
Speaker 1: pen look like seven eight and nine innings when trying
23:34
Speaker 1: to protect the lead? No more Kenley Jansen and a
23:37
Speaker 1: lot of questions, what do you think?
23:41
Speaker 2: I think you have a point, But I like read
23:45
Speaker 2: Deptmer's as a starter. I think that last year was
23:50
Speaker 2: a nice change of scenery for him going to the pen.
23:53
Speaker 2: It looked like his confidence was rebuilt. He got back
23:56
Speaker 2: to some of the things that I think makes him
23:59
Speaker 2: a very good starting pitcher. He wasn't a relief role,
24:02
Speaker 2: but he needs to pound the strikes on there's no
24:05
Speaker 2: two ways about it. Fastball command to me is number one,
24:08
Speaker 2: and then having a quality secondary pitch that you can
24:11
Speaker 2: land for strikes in addition to having to put away
24:14
Speaker 2: pitch and controlling those innings. He seemed to in the
24:18
Speaker 2: relief role really thrive, coming right at guys the bat
24:21
Speaker 2: was almost over before it started, where previously when he
24:26
Speaker 2: was struggling in the rotation, it seemed like he was
24:30
Speaker 2: not being as aggressive anywhere near as aggressive, especially with
24:33
Speaker 2: hitters that are hitting in the bottom of the order
24:35
Speaker 2: and stuff throwing odd pitches, and I think that that
24:39
Speaker 2: can be an issue, partly with him and maybe partly
24:43
Speaker 2: with the one putting the signs down. So I think
24:48
Speaker 2: that I didn't see a lot of chemistry, and I
24:51
Speaker 2: think that can be improved upon. I think Mike maddox
24:53
Speaker 2: is the perfect guy to do it. I think Reid
24:55
Speaker 2: needs a guy that's been there and done that. He
24:58
Speaker 2: seems to respond to guys with an experience. He seems
25:02
Speaker 2: like a very straightforward, kind of low key personality, but
25:05
Speaker 2: I assume he's a fiery competitor. You almost have to
25:08
Speaker 2: be to be a good big league player, So I
25:10
Speaker 2: like him in the starting rotation. How about Robert Stevenson
25:14
Speaker 2: coming back and you know, showing us what he's got.
25:18
Speaker 2: I know, earlier we alluded to the fact that he
25:21
Speaker 2: has not been healthy, but I think, you know, this
25:25
Speaker 2: could be a great time for him to hit the
25:27
Speaker 2: ground running, put together a really nice season. He could
25:30
Speaker 2: be the closer. Kirby Yates could be the closer. Sam
25:33
Speaker 2: Bachman could factor in. I'd like to say, I think
25:36
Speaker 2: he's got a lot more promise than he's shown so far.
25:39
Speaker 2: Jordan Romano, there's a long, long list of guys I
25:41
Speaker 2: don't think Ben Joyce were looking at for a month
25:44
Speaker 2: or so, So how about you know, Stevenson and guys
25:50
Speaker 2: like that, some of the ones I named, and maybe
25:53
Speaker 2: there's a couple others too, But I think Reed is best.
25:57
Speaker 2: Slotson is probably our number three starter, and that's where
25:59
Speaker 2: I think he.
26:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, I certainly think the seven, eighth and ninth innings
26:03
Speaker 1: are going to be really contingent on health. Certainly, if
26:06
Speaker 1: Ben Joyce comes back and he's healthy and shows, you know,
26:10
Speaker 1: the normal stuff he's had, he's your closer. Clearly, Robert
26:15
Speaker 1: Stevenson would be a great time for him to bounce back.
26:18
Speaker 1: He would certainly solidify whether it's the eighth or ninth inning,
26:23
Speaker 1: if he is healthy, because we've seen him just tying
26:26
Speaker 1: a little glimpses and you know, he's definitely got the
26:29
Speaker 1: stuff to do it. After that, I think you're looking
26:32
Speaker 1: at guys like Ryan Zephyr, John Drew palm Rantz. I
26:37
Speaker 1: don't know that he's a closer type, but he certainly
26:40
Speaker 1: should factor in on the seventh and eighth inning. And
26:43
Speaker 1: we've talked about Kirby ATE's here. You know, if he
26:45
Speaker 1: can refine that splitter with the help of Mike Maddox,
26:49
Speaker 1: who he had a great year within Texas a couple
26:52
Speaker 1: of years back, that would be huge. But to me, yeah,
26:56
Speaker 1: I totally agree. Stevenson is sort of that X factor
27:00
Speaker 1: out there. Even if Ben Joyce doesn't come back. He
27:04
Speaker 1: really adds a lot to that bullpen. You know, eventually
27:06
Speaker 1: they may have to mix and mach mix and match
27:08
Speaker 1: with the ninth inning and closing if no closer clearcut
27:12
Speaker 1: guy emerges, as is often the case, but Robert Stevenson
27:16
Speaker 1: can make a huge difference in this bullpen. Are going
27:19
Speaker 1: to close with a couple of questions related to Christian Moore,
27:24
Speaker 1: the young infielder. What spring training slash line gets Christian
27:29
Speaker 1: Moore the starting job at second base to start the season.
27:32
Speaker 1: That's from Timo and we'll piggyback that with another question
27:37
Speaker 1: from two thousand and two w S Champs. Should Christian
27:41
Speaker 1: Moore start in Triple A this season? What do you think, Mark.
27:47
Speaker 2: As far as the slash line, I think Christian Moore
27:51
Speaker 2: just has to look the part, go out there and
27:57
Speaker 2: give the impression that he is capable of playing in
27:59
Speaker 2: the leagues and holding his own. It seems like the
28:01
Speaker 2: job is his as of now. I don't see any
28:05
Speaker 2: body that is most likely going to leap frog him.
28:08
Speaker 2: He's a first round pick. They've already, you know, gotten
28:13
Speaker 2: him to the major leagues, promoted into the major leagues.
28:15
Speaker 2: So if he's already on the roster and he's I
28:20
Speaker 2: don't see anyone better than him. I think that it's
28:22
Speaker 2: it's his job to lose. I think some of these
28:25
Speaker 2: things too are predetermined by and large when even as
28:30
Speaker 2: a player, as a younger player especially, I really want
28:34
Speaker 2: to embrace the of winning a job in spring and
28:38
Speaker 2: that concept is really cool, But then you start to
28:41
Speaker 2: hear things like never be fooled in spring training or September,
28:46
Speaker 2: and you start to think what is that about? And
28:48
Speaker 2: as you go, basically what it means is, if you know,
28:52
Speaker 2: spring training is a bit unique, especially because the competition
28:56
Speaker 2: you're facing. Sometimes it's not that way anymore. But when
28:59
Speaker 2: I was first coming up, the starters were getting their
29:01
Speaker 2: work in and you got more good pitches to hit,
29:05
Speaker 2: and that's gone away to some extent, but it's still
29:11
Speaker 2: not the same as the major league season, and in September,
29:14
Speaker 2: with the rosters expanding, not quite what they used to
29:17
Speaker 2: as well, but you may not be facing the best
29:19
Speaker 2: of the best. So it's really that core thing. How
29:23
Speaker 2: a splash line, how about two fifty a couple of
29:26
Speaker 2: home runs and playing good defense and he's on the team.
29:29
Speaker 1: That's funny you mentioned that the spring in September my
29:32
Speaker 1: first I believe it is my first year on the
29:34
Speaker 1: beat back in nineteen ninety five. I forget which veterans
29:36
Speaker 1: scout told me that exact same thing might have been
29:39
Speaker 1: Preston Gomez. God bless them. Don't put too much stock
29:43
Speaker 1: into what you see in March and what you see
29:45
Speaker 1: in September. For those exact reasons. There's a lot of
29:48
Speaker 1: pitchers who are just throwing fastballs for their first two
29:51
Speaker 1: havings of spring and just trying to get a feel.
29:54
Speaker 1: So you can't put too much emphasis on that. Now
29:58
Speaker 1: that being said, there was a time back in the
30:00
Speaker 1: day where players did win jobs in spring training. I
30:03
Speaker 1: remember nineteen ninety six, Tim Wallack comes in veteran third
30:07
Speaker 1: basement at the end of the end of the career.
30:09
Speaker 1: They sign him. Everyone thinks he's going to be the
30:11
Speaker 1: guy George Arius. For those Angel fans who remember hit
30:16
Speaker 1: four h five with four homers and fifteen harbis and
30:19
Speaker 1: spring training won the job. I can't. They didn't release
30:23
Speaker 1: Tim Wallach, but he wasn't starting first uh twenty six
30:28
Speaker 1: games of the season areas hits one eighty four with
30:31
Speaker 1: a five twenty five ops, one homer, five RBIs, and
30:36
Speaker 1: is demoted to triple A. So what am I trying
30:39
Speaker 1: to say about all this? I think times have definitely changed.
30:42
Speaker 1: I don't think spring training. You know, we have so
30:44
Speaker 1: many numbers now and track man and now different ways
30:50
Speaker 1: to analysis analyze bat speed and exit velocity and you know,
30:56
Speaker 1: swing mechanics. I think for a guy like and more,
31:00
Speaker 1: as Mark said, you know, just put some good at
31:02
Speaker 1: bass together, make consistent contact, you know, use the whole field,
31:08
Speaker 1: play solid defense, And to me, that's not going to
31:11
Speaker 1: be reflected in any numbers in spring training, because his
31:13
Speaker 1: numbers could be anywhere. But what's the quality they bat
31:17
Speaker 1: you know, what is what is his range on defense?
31:20
Speaker 1: What are the scouts eyes telling them, what is the
31:22
Speaker 1: front office eyes telling them? Don't let numbers fool you
31:25
Speaker 1: in spring training, and I don't think they will. I
31:27
Speaker 1: don't think any teams let numbers fool you anymore. But yeah,
31:32
Speaker 1: I agree with Mark. I'm not sure what other options
31:34
Speaker 1: outside of von Gristom, maybe unless they're going to sign
31:37
Speaker 1: somebody else here before camp starts. But in terms of
31:42
Speaker 1: him starting at Triple A, yeah, I would love to
31:45
Speaker 1: start him at Triple A. Is that going to happen?
31:47
Speaker 1: Maybe not, especially in light of the way the Angels been,
31:50
Speaker 1: you know, rushing guys up to the big leagues in
31:52
Speaker 1: recent years. I wish they had the luxury of starting
31:56
Speaker 1: at Triple A because he probably benefit from that. Any
32:00
Speaker 1: final thoughts, Mark.
32:03
Speaker 2: I think that as camp approaches, we'll try and cover
32:07
Speaker 2: some topics. I wish that there were maybe some more
32:10
Speaker 2: positional battles that we could dive into, but I'm not
32:13
Speaker 2: sure there are that many the outfield situation. I think
32:16
Speaker 2: centerfield will be an interesting topic to cover. I know
32:19
Speaker 2: Mike Trout gave an interview the other day, I believe
32:21
Speaker 2: with Roger Lodge highlighting some things, and I think his
32:24
Speaker 2: intention is to play the outfield. And then you go
32:27
Speaker 2: on Fangraphs and they have I believe a Dell in
32:31
Speaker 2: center and Solaian left and low and right. So we
32:36
Speaker 2: can kind of cover some of these things. And what's
32:39
Speaker 2: the more realistic approach in my opinion, probably not having
32:44
Speaker 2: Mic out there all that often. And I think Soilaire
32:46
Speaker 2: said the outfield was a little bit rough on him too,
32:48
Speaker 2: So I look forward to kind of getting into that.
32:52
Speaker 2: We'll answer more questions that you guys have, keep them coming.
32:55
Speaker 2: We appreciate the ones we did. We did get and
32:58
Speaker 2: I think this was cool. All right, Hey, thanks for listening.
33:01
Speaker 2: Angel Fans for this edition of Halo Territory, please like
33:06
Speaker 2: and subscribe. And yeah, I really appreciate the questions guys.
33:10
Speaker 2: And if we didn't get to yours today, I'm sure
33:12
Speaker 2: we'll get to it in a future mailbag. We're going
33:14
Speaker 2: to try to do this pretty regularly throughout the season.
33:17
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us today. We'll see you next time
33:20
Speaker 2: on Halo Territory.