As the postseason officially kicks off this afternoon, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around baseball today:
1. Postseason rosters to be revealed
All eight teams playing in the upcoming Wild Card round will announce their rosters for the first series of the playoffs. While expanded rosters in September allow teams to carry up to 28 players (max. 14 pitchers), postseason rosters revert back to a limit of 26 (max. 13 pitchers).
Any player who was on his current team’s 40-man roster (or 60-day injured list) as of 11:59 PM ET on August 31 is eligible to play in the postseason. In addition, a player who was in the organization prior to that deadline (but not on the 40-man roster or 60-day IL) can be added to the postseason roster via petition to the commissioner’s office if he is subbing in for a teammate on the IL who has already served the minimum amount of time required for activation.
2. Game two starter announcements
The pitching matchups are all set for game one of each Wild Card series, and while most managers have already revealed their game two starters as well, the Brewers and Rangers still have an important decision to make before Wednesday.
In the AL, Sonny Gray will toe the rubber for the Twins in game two against José Berríos of the Blue Jays, while Zach Eflin will start for the Rays against the Rangers. On the Senior Circuit, Aaron Nola will take the mound for the Phillies, facing off against Braxton Garrett of the Marlins, while D-backs ace Zac Gallen will take on the Brewers.
The Brewers have yet to name a replacement for Brandon Woodruff, who was ruled out for the Wild Card round yesterday with a right shoulder injury. Freddy Peralta is the most likely candidate, but manager Craig Counsell could opt to separate his righties with the southpaw Wade Miley, especially if Peralta was already preparing for a game three start.
As for the Rangers, it seems like little more than a formality that manager Bruce Bochy has yet to announce Nathan Eovaldi as the game two starter. While Eovaldi has looked the worse for wear in September since coming off the IL, his track record of regular and postseason success speaks for itself. Dane Dunning would be on short rest for a Wednesday game after starting on Sunday. After that, the team’s remaining options would be Andrew Heaney and Cody Bradford, both of whom spent most of September pitching out of the bullpen.
3. Perry Minasian to hold press conference
Angels GM Perry Minasian will address the media over Zoom on Tuesday to discuss the team’s brand-new managerial opening. The team announced yesterday that manager Phil Nevin will not return in 2024. As Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports, the Angels will begin the search for a new skipper straight away, and presumably, Minasian will talk about the hiring process later today.
The fact that Minasian is hosting this end-of-year press conference is a good sign that he’ll be keeping his job next season. Like Nevin, Minasian was on the hot seat after the Angels failed to make the postseason for the third consecutive season under his leadership. He is believed to be under contract through 2024. While contracts and extensions for executives aren’t always announced publicly, Minasian signed a four-year deal with Los Angeles ahead of the 2021 season.
No hope for the angels with Minasian!
Perry isn’t the problem. Arte is. Perry has actually done a great job with the roster in my opinion. The players just either under performed or got injured. No GM has a crystal ball and no GM could have seen the massive fall-off of Loup and Tepera or the insane amount of injuries coming. GM’s sign guys off of their last performance and Loup and Tepera were pretty darn good before arriving in Anaheim.
Loup and Tepera were the least of the Angels’ problems.
They have no depth and are snakebitten every year. On an annual basis, they churn through players who are castaways or has-beens.
I agree that Moreno needs to bow out.
No minor league investment = no depth.
Bare bones training staff = more injuries
Worst spring training complex = both.
All those are on Arte. Notice how Perry chooses polished college players and has them spend as little time in our system as possible. That’s a clear sign he knows how bad our infrastructure is.
Finally, someone who understands the issue.
Bro, Loup has been terrible since he came to Anaheim!
The Angels had 70 players that got in at least one game, a new, if dubious, MLB record. They had 38 different players go on the IL during the season. There is no possible way to provide depth to cover that amount of injuries.
This season Minasian added readl MLB quality depth. The backups were Drury, Rengifo, Urshela, and Thaiss. They would start on many teams. ALL of those guys ended up being the Angels starters and then getting injured themselves.
In the OF the starters were Ward, Trout, and Renfroe. A good group. With Adell and if he went down Moniak as the depth. In a normal season that is more than enough. Not for this season’s Angels where Trout, Ward, and Adell all spent time on the IL.
It was insane what happened to what most thought was a team with depth to start the season for a change.
This is deeper than just Moreno.
IMO this dysfunction and bad luck has been going on for decades. The site of the big A is the only constant.
Stoneman and Scioscia just found a way to temper it for a while. The development system teardown wad largely done by Disney. DiPoto left it incomplete and 1/2 his way.
Arte has done nothing to correct any of this…YES.
The Angels system was absolutely STIFLED by the string of big ticket free agents they signed. They gave up tonnage of comp picks. One season they didn’t draft until about the 3rd round and then took a middling reliever. Lucked into Trout in his draft and could never draft around him. A very mediocre scouting dept
Actually the Angels had a strong front office and scouting director when they drafted Trout. The same front office that put together all the talent of the 2000s.
That front office was handed to Arte when he bought the team.
The first GM Arte’s regime installed fired that scouting director. It has been downhill ever since.
They lucked into Trout, though. They really did have a decent system for a long time. Their system indifference cost them their working agreement with Cedar Rapids after something approaching 30 years. Pujols, CJ Wilson, and Josh Hamilton were are a minefield. Yankees would have taken Trout with the next pick.
The same scouting director who “lucked” into Trout moved to Boston in 2007 and helped that team land a ton of great talent.
Winning baseball games has very little to do with “luck”. Do you think the Dodgers win the NL West every year due mostly to “luck”? The Angels have had numerous injuries the last 9+ years, but so has EVERY other Major League Baseball team.
Those aren’t my words. “Lucked” is the term given to me by a majn front office executive when overlooking the 2012 draft. Trout was #2 on the board with the Mariners…but Jack Z overruled his scouts. Trout had concerns coming from the NE.
@mlbfan. Having Mike Trout drop down to the 20s in the 1st round was luck.
I should have said started with Disney and took years of bad decisions to get here
Reagins?
List the other players drafted same year as Trout. Yeah, Bane knew something…
Whoa. Wait. Trout was drafted in 2009 with Grichuk, Skaggs, Richards, Corbin.
Did i miss any of them that made it to the MLB?
That 2009 draft was a monster for the Angels.
baseball-reference.com/draft/?team_ID=ANA&yea…
Yes and the first move the first GM Arte’s crew chose was to fire the scouting director who was in charge of that draft.
Geniuses, they are
It was awful to watch most of that scouting team get canned.
It was reported that Bane and scouts took money from buscones or Latin American prospects.
I believe the Angels took Grichuk with the pick right before Trout in the 1st round to help suppress Trout’s bonus. Weren’t they something like #21-22? The Yankees said they were taking Trout with the next pick. I think Minnesota was down there too and ready because they had a family connection to Trout.
Mariners very well could have taken Trout #2 but went with a college bat because Jack Z was trying to keep his job and was risk averse.
There’s no scouting dept alive that could build a real winner punting the first couple rounds due to awful free agent signings.
For years the Angels had the doomed strategy of taking raw athletes and hoping to develop them into baseball players while also paying the lowest minor league coaching salaries and providing the least amount of food and housing possible.
HalosHeaven, well atleast in the Midwest League the Angels had a solid A Ball team in Cedar Rapids. Very involved host families.
As to raw talent. Always worked for the Braves. Trout dropped because of fear of rawness.
Remember Dustin Ackley? That’s who the Mariners took 2nd overall instead of Trout. They took him OFF their draft board to go with the polished college bat. One that became a quick, yet marginal MLB talent. Low ceiling.
I’ve been regaled in that draft many times by other professional scouts. Once while watching Mike Trout bat in the minors.
You may want to read a little about Trout. They didn’t luck into anything. They found a gem in the NE, someone other teams didn’t even want to scout seriously because of where he played.
They also signed 4 other guys that draft that made it to the majors. That was a great scouting staff.
If they had, it was never reported in the media and all of them got jobs immediately after Arte got cheap and cut the staff to the bone.
ONLY Billy Beane and the A’s were in on Trout that year. There have been hundreds of articles written about that draft and its not a question of why he went so low. Go read them. Start with ESPN. Then read the one in SI. Then Baseball America.
Outinleftfield.
No, I really don’t need to read on Trout. I’m absolutely aware of how that 2009 draft worked in real time. And I’ve heard it re-told by various scouts again over the years. I’m not saying the Angels were totally inept. But they had no idea what Trout was going to do. Just like the other 20 plus teams that COULD have taken him…including the Mariners at #2. The next real threat was the Yankees right behind the Angels. The Angels took the best player on the board. Trout was a 1st rd talent and that wasn’t debated. But it’s luck that he fell into the 20s. If Jack Z wouldn’t have been so gun-shy in Seattle and calling off his own scouts….Mike Trout would be a Seattle Mariner today.
I saw this in real time.
Outinleftfield.
That’s not true about Oakland. I watched the Mariners sweat that #2 pick. I was with another organization…but it’s a small world. Trout wouldn’t have gotten out of the 1st round regardless. If the A’s were the only team on Trout….why did they take Grishuk first to suppress Trouts bonus? They took them on order.
I’m not speculating on this. I literally watched it happen
Perry is the one who’s telling his managers how to manage and do this and not that. Maddon last year and nevin this year. He most definitely is the problem along with their incompetent owner
My God. These excuses for Minasian sounds like Gubuicza coming up with excuses fora Neto or O’Hoppe error. i.e. “He probably wouldn’t have gotten him out anyway” Plyers just underperformed? That’s his job. To sign guys who will have a better season and won’t regress. See Dodgers. See Tyler Anderson. No Gm has a crystal ball. So every GM gets a pass. It’s all good luck bad luck so basically anyone can be a GM. GMs sign off their last performance. No, only the ones like Minasian sign a guy after a career year and expect him to do the same. You’re supposed to sign the guys that have been underperforming too
Injuries…impossible to win when everyone of value spends extended time on the IL.
Angels opening day starting lineup:
Ward
Trout
Ohtani
Rendon
Renfroe
Rengifo
Drury
Urshela
O’Hoppe
Angels last day lineup:
Grichuk
Neto
Drury
O’Hoppe
Adell
Escobar
Stefanic
Fletcher
Phillips
Literally only Drury and O’Hoppe from the first lineup. Every one of those players from the first day ended up on the IL, and only two managed to come back. Tell me again how its Minassian’s fault, again? As much as I felt Nevin didn’t handle the the bullpen very well this season, I doubt there’s a single hall of fame manager that could have managed this team to a winning season.
While I admit there’s an element of luck with injuries there are also reasons for them.
The Angels largely depend on free agents to fill needs because our farm sucks. Free agents are older players and older guys get hurt more.
The Angels spend at the lower level in MLB for training staff. They wouldn’t even buy the anti gravity treadmill for Pujols, they rented it for a couple of months. We’re talking 70 grand to help a $240 million player.
The Angels spring training complex has been a mess for years over renovations that never seem to happen. While other teams are getting into great shape, our guys are sharing a minor league facility.
So, when you take a bunch of older players, don’t get them ready for 162, then skimp on the trainers when the season starts you kind of expect injuries.
A friend of mine made a comment recently about there being something wrong with the trainers if the most common injury on the team this season seems to be an oblique strain.. So yeah it makese sense.
Unfortunately it looks like you are stuck with him another year if he is holding tge press conference.
At least he wasn’t promoted like other GMs who are found wanting.
I think Minasian has, at least, one more year in his contract.
Cheapo Arte is not firing him to save money.
“Cheapo Arte”..I’m easily one of Moreno’s harshest critics, but you actually cannot call him “cheapo”. Overspending, in my opinion, is one of his greatest weaknesses. He uses the theory of “instant gratification”(buying premium, top tier free agents) instead of building something that is solid, durable and lasting.
You obviously have not been to their Spring Training facility.
I completely agree with your statement. One would think that Moreno’s philosophy isn’t entirely wrong though. Free agent proven talent should be more of a guarantee for success than unproven prospect talent. It just hasn’t panned out and the strategy has been costly. Beyond the money what real options are there when you’ve abandoned the concept of developing talent and having options in the farm system.
Oldhalo. I get the impression often that Moreno has been bidding himself up. At some point ita no longer bad luck. He pays for the downhill or careers without a lot of system talent to augment it. The Angels truly need a major reset. I’d deal Trout if he’d allow it.
The Angels hill is too steep to climb. It’s time to tear it down, clear the payroll and sell the team after ridding themself of the awful contracts. There’s your press conference.
Come to the Angels trading barn! We’re selling out to the bare walls! No reasonable offer refused! Open 24/7!
How’s that for a sales pitch?
The time to tear down was a year and a half ago. The Soto trade was a bit of an aberration, but Trout & Ohtani were each worth only slightly less than Soto. Imagine the haul the Angels would’ve gotten for the two.
The Angel fans that responded to that suggestion were often less than cordial.
But that was the decision, and this is the result.
I’m always cordial, but you’re wrong Joe, even with your always perfect hindsight after the fact. I’ll cut u a little slack thou, since you’re not an Angels fan, so u don’t know Joe.
Us Angels fans want Ohtani on the Angels as long as possible. Put the lifer Trout on that list to. He’s not going anywhere, nor do we want him to. Thanks for trying thou Joe, and thanks even more for your concerns for our team. Hahaha! 😉
Non Angel fans want to get rid of the best reasons to watch an Angel game.
20 years from know, more Angel fans will remember watching Trout and Ohtani than who won the games.
I want to see their statues at the front of the stadium.
Halo11Fan. I understand the desire to want to see the stars stay. But that’s kind of the place it is. Do you want to see a winner? They aren’t going to build one around Trout while he’s relevant.
The Angels are not going anywhere unless their young pitching comes through, Rendon is a useful player, they build a bullpen, and Neto, O’Hoppe and Schanule are solid major players.
That’s not going to change no matter what the Angels do with Trout and Ohtani.
The Angels are awful at acquiring talent. What makes anyone think that will change by leveraging Trout and Ohtani?
So give me the two players worth watching.
Halo11fan. I have no answer to a construct that supposes they’ll get nothing for Trout. (Ohtani is probably gone in FA). So you’re back to watching Trout when he’s healthy. Rendon? Rendon is certainly not a decent or reliable player at this point. But you set the construct up by creating a situation where a rebuild fails. Well…nope that won’t be fun to watch.
I’m just saying is that it’s post-Trout time in Anaheim to build a winner. The fans are upset now as is….might as well try to build a winner and jump it with some higher level talent.
Brewers should go with Miley, a bulldog who comes up big in important games.
Rooting for Sonny Gray to do well.
I think Peralta starts game 2 in Brewers lose today, or game 3 if they win. No way he’s left on bench if they lose today.
Reds-I’m rooting for Sonny Gray to do well for the next three years for the Pirates!
Congratulations on a successful year for your Redlegs.
Thanks, but I am hoping Gray comes back to Cincinnati!
I think our teams will be fighting it out in the division a lot the next few years.
I always appreciated it when you thought the Bucs had a bright future this year when they did so well in April.
Pirate fans knew it would not last.
At least they are not abysmal/ terrible any more.
With the Brewers peaking though and the Cards lacking pitching next year could be the one where one of us snatches the division title.
I was rooting for the Reds this year and apologize for our lame manager losing the first Marlins game.
That kind of mistake should get him fired,especially if he keeps on making them.
Search? I’d be shocked if Showalter is not the next Angels manager given his history with Minasian
Perry wanted him last time. If Buck wants the job, it’s his.
But with a lame duck owner and GM, why would he want it?
I would be thrilled if Buck is the new manager. I didnt know Perry and Buck had some history. Did they work together?
I don’t know if they worked together. I hate when people write they have a source, but I have a source. And I don’t blame anyone for not believing me. .
The same source says Arte did not get the offers he was expecting, that’s why he didn’t sell the team.
My sources were telling me Arte was asking for $3 Bil. And the buyers were asking him to be responsible for the suit.
“The 40-year-old Minasian has been in baseball since he was an 8-year-old batboy for the Texas Rangers, where his father, Zack, was the team’s clubhouse manager. He became a clubhouse attendant and eventually an advance scout for the Rangers before serving as an assistant to manager Buck Showalter.”
My source is Perry and its all over the internet
Your source is the internet? Ok, my source is better. 🙂
There are plenty of web sites today that are reporting a fire alarm and a door handle are too similar to distinguish.
I honestly can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or disputing the facts?
MC, me?
I’m trying to be funny. Just commenting on how unreliable some of these stories are. I’m not disputing you at all.
I was not aware of any of this, which helps validates my source.
Halo. Gotcha. Thanks
Minasian got his 1st scouting job from and owes his career to Buck
Minasian’s dad was a close friend of Tommy LaSorda and brother Zack worked for Tommy in the minor leagues too. Perry and his family have been around man..
Buck as our manager would make Minasian more palatable.
Maybe they’ll work together to build a fu…..ing bullpen.
Minasian can’t do it on his own.
Maybe LaSorda could come out of retirement and manage the team.
That’s going to be hard to do since he died a couple years ago.
Scioscia is the next best thing. I don’t think he’d be successful without Maddon or Black by his side though. That’s kind of proven
Is your point we should hire Jim Fregosi instead?
Oh man Halo..dead managers for a dead team?
Well done Sir
I was going more towards a Lazarus movement. Raising a manager from the dead would seem like a good start.
Well the paranormal is nothing new to this team….why not try?
Aybar seems to know black magic…maybe he could come back and work some?
Gotta try something new.
What is the shared history of Minasian and Showalter?
Posted this earlier…
“The 40-year-old Minasian has been in baseball since he was an 8-year-old batboy for the Texas Rangers, where his father, Zack, was the team’s clubhouse manager. He became a clubhouse attendant and eventually an advance scout for the Rangers before serving as an assistant to manager Buck Showalter.”
Thanks, MC!
More facts…
Per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand..
Minasian: “My grandfather and Tommy Lasorda were best friends. Growing up, he was Uncle Tom. He’s my younger brother’s godfather and somebody we were always really close with.
Tommy brought my dad (Zach Sr.) along with him to Ogden, Utah to be his clubhouse manager. He then moved on to the Rangers for 22 years when LaSirda went to L.A..
I was lucky enough when Bobby Valentine managed the Rangers, he allowed me to sit in on advance meetings. I was eight years old; who does that? I’ve been so lucky to be around the people I’ve been around.
I was still in the clubhouse dying for an opportunity in the MLB when John Hart and Buck Showalter gave me that opportunity. I’ll never forget that and I appreciate that to this day.”
Check this out!…from NBC and USA Today..
Eddy Minasian, Perry’s grandfather, was working at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. on June 5, 1968, the night when U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Eddy was one of 3 who grappled the assassin Sirhan Sirhan to the ground after he shot RFK. …
Maybe this is the year Perry will finally make a move that will help the team.
Fourth year is the charm. You would think even a blind squirrel could find a nut every once in awhile.
He has intentionally been drafting low-ceiling, high-floor college players to fill the MLB roaster. I doubt he has any intentions to change.
How long does he roast them? 😉
Not nearly long enough lol. Which is why most GMs allow their prospects to mature in the minors & don’t rush them in a desperate attempt to make themselves look competent!
Halos- Fourth year wasn’t the charm for Ben Cherington.
We haven’t even played game 1. Are they sure they won’t need their #2 start to pitch today? Could be a barn burner requiring teams to pitch all their players today. Could go 100 innings.
When was the last time you saw a game go 100 innings?
@Manfred Rob’s Earth Band
Our beer league game.
“Wrapped up like a deuce…”
Going to be rooting for the upstarts. Would love to see the Diamondbacks and Marlins battle for the NL Pennant, and the Rays and Orioles for the AL. Doubt MLB would be happy with those matchups.
I appreciate the sentiment here, but how is Tampa Bay an upstart after 5 consecutive post-season berths including a World Series appearance? Minnesota and even Toronto fit the bill better. In fact, every AL team besides Houston is more of an upstart than TB right now.
On another note, Baltimore and TB cannot both go to the ALCS anyway, as the brackets would have them meeting in the ALDS if they both win their wild card series. Your best hope would be Bal-Min.
Is there a deadline for rosters to be finalized? Games are soon so I’m sure the teams and players know. Curious about some of those matchup based last guys on the roster decisions though.
I think the first round rosters are set, no? If you check the preview of each matchup it should have the rosters up.
Need to be official before the first pitch. I imagine each team will reveal their wild card round roster just before they submit the starting lineups for game 1, that was usually the trend in the past. Just about team is dealing with injuries and probably waiting to see how some players feel if they will be added to the roster.
Why on Zoom and not a live in person press conference?
That would be more difficult and he wouldn’t be able to do it from his room in Oahu. He’s preparing for PO (post-Ohtani) and that takes substantial mai-tais. Also, he’s running out of excuses with Trout staying and no Nevin.
Angels won’t improve until Arte sells the team to a group who invests in all areas of the franchise with the goal of putting a winning team on the field. Until then, losers every season.
The pandemic is over. To do this in Zoom is cowardly.
Pandemic is definitely not over. New strand of virus is sickening a lot of people. and the related death is still very high. What is worse is new kind of vaccine is unproven and not yet fully tested. Experts are saying not to get shots of new one and the best thing is to wear masks and to wash hands.
As long as there are politicians in need of crises the pandemic will continue.
Stop watching CNN, aragon, and live your life my friend.
Stop watching Fox that should have stayed down under. Corrupt republican senators changed the law that prohibited a foreigner from owning a broadcasting companies.
aragon –
1) i don’t watch fox.
2) huh?
do your own research on covid and masks and vaccines, etc. the truth is out there if you are willing to look…and not to CNN, FOX, et al.
My MD, PHD sister who was educaed in Johns Hopkins. Or my wife’s niece who is also MD, PHD who is a Harvard Medical School professor.
My wife found me unconscious in bed at 6:00 am early this year. I had to stay in hospital bed for a month of Covids and lung infection.
I work in a clean room 12 hours a day and forced to mask. I go thru intense training.
Most people have improper fit and handling of the mask which is the real reason for ineffectiveness. Operator error…
The masks work fine. But N95s are the way to go if you are serious and not just putting on a show.
Now go eat your vegetables mask haters.
Pandemic will go on forever!
Skipjutz??
Say what???
This is a bad joke…. right?
My previously healthy wife almost just died of Covid. Survived but will never be the same.
How dare you make that statement and why?
Remember how good it felt last year when Arte announced he was exploring the sell of the team and most of us thought he was really going to sell? Good times. Good times, indeed.
It’ll probably be the same BS. Faux me culpa from Minasian. He’ll say how “difficult” it was. He’ll talk about the conversation he had w Nevin. We should all be relieved they’re still friends. Faux sad emotion. He’ll act like how torn he is. Basically we’re supposed to feel sad for Niven and sorry for Minasian. He’ll say “I gotta do better”. But the “injuries” will be his excuse. Fake or real. But nothing will change really.
Usually when you schedule a press conference you give a time. What time is this? Typical Angels. Half-assed and last-minute. And if Minasian knew what he was doing he would’ve done this yesterday instead of the day of the playoffs. Moron.
I was not a Bauer defender- but it says a lot about this site that they were so quick to post about the accusation, but totally ignoring the new development. Well aware this isn’t the forum for this comment, but that’s the point. They are ignoring it.
Media now-a-days chooses to be “first to report” while overlooking accuracy. All for engagement purposes.
The Angels never sign the 1 year deal guy who has a career year and they lose him to a big multi year contract to another team where he’ll regress. Instead they sign the 1 year deal guy who they release to waivers and the next year they’re the team that gives the big multi year contract to the guy who had a good year on a 1 yr deal.
How does Trevor Bauer not make this segment?
Dysfunctional professional sports organizations are, in their way, just as entertaining as well-run organizations. And the Angels are the champions of dysfunction.
Impressive double-chin, Perry!
Arte: #SellTheTeam