Uncertainty surrounding starting pitching is nothing new for the Angels … but it surely isn’t welcome. The still-unknown outlook for Griffin Canning is weighing on the team at the moment. That’s the backdrop for several of the latest notes regarding the Los Angeles ballclub …
- GM Billy Eppler says he doesn’t feel any added need to acquire a new starter — at least not yet — as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. That may in part speak to ongoing hope that Canning’s elbow woes won’t ultimately represent a major problem. But it also reflects the simple fact that, as Eppler notes, it just isn’t the best time of year to go out looking for a new arm. The open market’s best options are already taken and teams that have depth on hand are loathe to part with it at this juncture. A patient approach therefore makes sense, as the Halos’ precise level of need isn’t yet known and some amount of pitching supply is likely to free up later in Spring Training.
- The Angels will build up JC Ramirez as a starter in camp, manager Joe Maddon told reporters including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic (Twitter link). As Ardaya notes, that could put the righty in the running for some sort of a flexible swingman function throughout the season. Ramirez just re-joined the Halos after reportedly showing a bit of a velocity renaissance in winter ball. If he can get back to something approaching the solid form he showed in 2016 and 2017, he’d be an awfully useful part of the Angels’ pitching staff.
- There’s better news in the bullpen, where key righty Keynan Middleton seems to be showing well. As Fletcher tweets, Middleton was pumping 96-97 mph heat in his scoreless outing today. That’s a good sign given what we saw of him late last season, when he had only just returned from Tommy John surgery. While he allowed only a single earned run in 7 2/3 innings late in 2019, Middleton was clearly not in top form. He displayed a loss of over two mph on his average fastball and dished out seven walks to go with six strikeouts.
It’s almost like they Should of signed pitching instead of a hitter in the offseason.
Who knew?
I mean they acquired two starters.
“Should of signed”
It’s “should have signed” not “should of signed”.
zzzz,,
I suppose you say fixing to instead of fitnto
@Prov356
It’s “‘should of (sic) signed.’” You wrote “‘should of (sic) signed’.”
Periods always go inside the quotation marks.
And made that trade with the Dodgers
Boogaloo — I get such a laugh at comments like this. What else were they supposed to do?
They tried to sign Cole, but he wanted to be a Yankee and nine years is ridiculous.
Strasburg was never leaving Washington.
Wheeler wanted to be on the east coast.
MadBum wanted to be in AZ with his horses.
Ryu was an over-pay at 4 yrs/80mil.
Keuchel was also an over-pay.
Everything else is no better than Teheran, who they signed.
They traded for Bundy.
They were in the mix for Kluber, but CLE was asking too high a price from the Angels.
They inquired on Clevenger, but again the price was too high.
So genius, enlighten us all on what else they could have done??????
Signing Rendon did not stop them from signing any other pitcher
Kidnapping is illegal. They couldn’t force anyone to sign with them. They couldn’t get an elite starter, so they got the best position player on the market, plus 2 innings eaters. Such is life.
I guess replacing Canning with Suarez, Pena, or Sandoval isn’t a huge step down. But the rotation isn’t bright to begin with.
I’m seriously hoping Sandoval can do the job, but there’s too much “hope” to feel confident.
I think everyone other than Halo management is on the same page here. Halos did not adequately address their rotation, sure they got a upgrade at 3B, but they are not legitimate playoff contenders until they fit their rotation. Seems to me, they would have benefited from completing that Dodger trade.
What should they have done? The FA market for starters wasn’t exactly amazing. Stras was staying, Cole got a historic deal, Gibson signed quickly.
Lots of guys could’ve helped. Ryu, Keuchel and lesser ground ball arms that are still better than what they have at the back of the rotation. They snoozed they lost. Joc and strip for their third string second baseman would have been big. They are better than Texas and Seattle imo. But no playoffs of course.
Bruce, they really were not options. The Angles projected payroll for 2021 is 213 million dollars.
But Alex Wood was an option. Josh Lindbloom. Even Geo Gonzalez. It’s OK to take a flyer at the 5th spot and then go with Sandoval in case there is an issue. Once Sandoval became plan “A” instead of plan”B”, this team was walking a tight rope.
I like Sandoval, but I don’t like him as the fourth man in this rotation.
Bruce
Ross Stripling
Career
W 20 L 24 ERA. 3.47
Do you really think he would’ve put the Angels In the playoffs
Geno, why do you think Stripling taking the innings of Ramirez is a bad thing? Do I think he’s three wins better? . AT LEAST.
Three wins can easily be the difference between the wild card and watching the wild card game. And if you make the wild card, you have a chance to play in the World Series. I’ll take my chances with Ohtani pitching the Wild Card game.
I don’t know why that is so hard to understand.
I did like Alex Wood on a flier and he would have been a better fit with the Halos. He’s got a tougher road with the Dodgers
Agreed with above and we have no clue what the trade was.
I know right? it’s like they didnt even try to sign Cole by offering him a measly 300 mil…
There were plenty of options, not just Cole and they did next to nothing.
david, you are right.
They didn’t get Cole. They tried. Once the Angels signed Rendon, they couldn’t Keuchell and Ryu were too pricey. I’m not screaming about that.
But they were other things they could have done. I would much rather have Patrick Sandoval be plan “B” than JC Ramirez.
The Angels don’t have a lot of wiggle room and Eppler thought he could draw to an inside straight. There were low cost options out there that were a lot more appealing than JC Ramriez and company.
They did try really hard on Cole but Morenos comments were true no matter what they bid on Cole the Yankees were dead set on topping it. The Yankees paid handsomely solely because of the Angels. I do disagree on Ryu. He has a couple really good years left if he can avoid injury and pitch like last year. I don’t see him going from cy young candidate to garbage quickly. Less risk than Cole at the 8 years they offered. Sucks because they really needed Cole but nine years was just too much. Angels offer was too much really. I only issue I take is he chaise the Yankees over Anaheim because that’s where he wanted to be. I think they were just simply outbid
722 – “they are not legitimate playoff contenders until they fit their rotation.”
The season hasn’t started. Assess at the ASB.
The Angels are a wild card contender. The three teams contending for the 2 wild card spots will be the Angels, As and Rays. Should once of these under perform or have a rash of injuries,there are a couple teams a step below. Those teams being the Red Sox and Indians.
Realize I’m bias and overly optimistic, but actually feel like some of the 4-5 options are going to be better than expected. Suarez, Barria, Sandoval, etc. maybe a couple of 3ish levels instead of 4A types.
rpoabr – you’re right. We added 12 pitchers this offseason plus Ohtani in May and we’ve lost one. We’re in good shape. Our offense will make the rotation’s job easier.
I’ve heard good things about Calkaway and his approach in handling the pitching staff. Albeit it’s only 2 weeks into SP.
Maybe they shouldn’t have backed out of the Ross Stripling trade. He would be their ace right now.
More like Ace Ventura
Do you need A roll of toilet paper?
Eppler is the definition of insanity.
There were plenty of plan B’s and C’s and too much put into A when Cole had his sights set on the Yankees. When all your pitchers are coming back from a season with an injury don’t put your full truth in them.
Poor judgment
It really was the most obvious thing for a team to do, and he ends up with 2 back end guys. Heck, he could of added to the pen and built the staff that way.
They could of gotten 2 good starters and still added relievers. But they chose to go with another bat. They aren’t winning a thing with that pitching staff, unless Manfred changes the rules so 20 teams make the playoffs Trout will be home in October again.
That other bat is fine. We are lucky to have him. Finally a batter to hit behind Trout.
Can you name a better 2 – 5 in baseball. I can’t. I’d MUCH rather have Rendon than Wheeler.
Canning was the Angels #2. This hurts.
Lemethiu, Judge, Stanton, torres.
The Dodgers too, maybe the Astros
But is that really the point?
You arent winning without pitching, it’s unbelievable that you watch this team every year and still can’t figure it out. Take the blinders off. You need a good 1-9 with depth behind them and a good starting staff and pen.
“is there a better 1- 2 then Trout and Rendon”? Is that seriously what you care about or are you just desperate to not talk about the fact their opening day starter would have trouble making the good teams rotation at all?
Enjoy the non competitive season yet again, or just tell us again how THIS YEAR you’ll finally be right for once.
Really throwing glass man stanton out there lol, angels have the 2nd best lineup in baseball with not much else. I think angels lineup right behind dodgers in terms of versatility and offensive upside. Yankees strike out far too much to be considered game breaking in any list.
What really hurts is that the Angels were counting on a pitcher in his sophomore season and coming off a rookie campaign era just north of 4.5 to be a #2 starter.
They needed to have a better game plan for their rotation.
Man what are you smoking? The 2nd best lineup in baseball? Man they aren’t even the best lineup in their division.
Collin McHugh is available and cheap.
The truth is Arte Moreno doesn’t let Eppler do his job in other words Moreno too involved in baseball decisions on the field Can’t really blame Eppler
eppler chased every other top freeagent starting pitchers. even ryu who wasn’t the team’s target. they all signed with other teams. and i’m sure he did the right thing by not giving the 4th year to injury prone ryu.
Vizionaire, I agree with that take. There were two or three pitchers I would have loved to sign for less than what Cahill or Harvey cost the Angels last year, but for some reason, this team didn’t pull that trigger.
He didn’t chase Ryu, he wanted no part of the sort of contract Ryu got. That’s not an indictment imo.
he offered ryu 3/60. but jays offered him 4/70+. boras took angels’ 3/60 offer and got 4/80 from the jays. and i still think jays are going to regret it.
kinda like when he was involved when he signed josh hamilton over keeping hunter and greinke?
greinke left despite all the efforts from the angels. he is a pariah along with teixeira.
I think they made the room for greinke by letting haren & santana go, Then Arte went out and signed hamilton, Then Torii Hunter went off saying Moreno lied.
@Geno Yes there is truth to that. Arte is passionate but sometimes he does make errant choices. Vernon Wells being the worst. I would rather have Arte over someone that pinches pennies. For me personally, after we did not get Cole or Strasburg, I would rather have Rendon over Ryu, Keuchel, Mad Bum, or even Wheeler (even though he was already signed).
Eppler is not always right either. Boujos, Bour, Harvey, and Cahill were all busts last year. Those 4 cost around $25M last year. Could you figure out a better way to spend $25M than on that quartet? Also, Ausmus was a Eppler guy. Moreno wanted Maddon. If it was up to Eppler we would still have Ausmus as manager. . I feel much better with Maddon at the helm.
I really hope next offseason Moreno decides to spend on the pitching some good arms on the market.
8/300 on cole? wheeler wanted to stay close to wife’s home. indians wanted our top prospects that will man the outfield in short time.
i have been critical of eppler since he started making moves as an angels g.m. but this offseason he has done as much as he could do
If I was Cole , I would of taken either one of the L.A offers. Sunny weather in a pitchers park vs the cold weather in the east.
vernon wells had accrued 28.7 war with toronto. it wasn’t a risky trade. but he just bombed. it happens.
I’ve heard good things a out Calkaway and his approach in handling the pit hing staff. Albeit it’s only 2 weeks into SP.
Canning will likely end up needing TJ surgery. Ohtani won’t pitch until mid-may and no one knows how durable he is. Heaney is made of glass. The rest of the group is fairly uninspiring.
Angels continue to think signing hitters somehow makes their pitching better.
CRIMINE ANGELS! Are you wasting yet another year of solid Mike Trout, and now Anthony Rendon, with a dumpster patchwork of a rotation?
I know games are won on the field and not on paper, but it just seems like the writing is on the wall for this team’s problems.
That’s what I keep thinking. Mike Trout in his prime, now Rendon, and no playoffs.
Alot of Angel fans keep saying they should of signed this pitcher or that pitcher.
All.things being equal $$$$ who knows if any of them wanted to play for the Angel’s.?
On paper are SP is average at best. I love our offense and our defense is really good. Our bullpen is decent. I honestly think Maddon will make a big difference. With Players like Trout, Rendon, Simba and Fletcher it’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully Adell and Ohtani will have a good years too.
that’s what many can’t see.
It is NOW time to make that move…The schedule is tough enough in the 1st month as it is to go on with a depleted staff…
It’s up to the starters to go as long as possible at the start of the season. In 2019 the bullpen got taxed heavily in April and never recovered.
I agree totally and with pitch counts being lower it is a difficult thing to ask for as well…The hitting this season should help out quite a bit, but at some point The Halos need another mid level or above Starter…Waiting until July to pluck a Boyd or other top level starters will not only be costly, but with others such as the Yankees and those down an arm or two we will be trying to bid again and battling the spenders…
The Angels certainly seem to have an inordinate number of pitchers who have serious arm problems.
Any clue as to why?
they haven’t had a healthy rotation in a long time.
Angels need to trade some of their CF prospects,not named Adell to my Padres. Lots of extra cheap pitchers over here.Starters and bullpen pieces
Harold Reynolds said that they should trade Adell to the padres for Gore, I’ll trade Marsh and others for pitching, Adell is untouchable sorry.
Robles, Middleton and Buttery. Bullpen kinda coming together here…..
Can’t wait to see how long it takes Cole to need TJ. Thanks took the risk. Then they have to live with it