When you say they’re starting to jump ship, to what extent?

Not going to games? Not following them at all? Becoming fans of other teams?

Absolutely pathetic @theathletic.com

Great work, thank you.

It’s inexplicable to me that they keep leaning into this archetype despite having basically no success in developing these types.

I’m hoping Jared Hughes can get pitching dev on the right track, but unsure if he’ll have the resources to do so.

I’m clinging to hope that Jared Hughes can revamp a minor league pitching program that has been awful.

And if that doesn’t work, then the whole front office and player development apparatus may be gone at the end of the season.

I track the Angels milb roster moves and the AAA roster they have in the article is completely different than the end of season roster (and features a bunch of R5 eligible guys), so I figured it was accurate league-wide.

But apparently not.

The article said they “reverse engineering the various roster moves of the offseason so far, we have managed to put together the Triple-A rosters for all 30 MLB clubs”

Maybe they are wrong, or I am, but I took this to mean they attempted to find the actual AAA roster and not year end

bsky.app/profile/jjco...

The first two periods— the second in particular— has to be the best I’ve seen them play in at least the last half-decade

This piece was obviously about his defensive value, but curious what you think about Bichette’s offense… do you think it’ll hold up as he ages? Any concern about the low bat speed?

It feels like a slightly more expensive 2024 Zach Plesac-type flier.

We’ll see, but I don’t think this sets their rotation

My “big board” for Angels mid-tier free agent SP targets, in order:

Merrill Kelly
Chris Bassitt
Cody Ponce
Tyler Mahle
Zach Eflin
Adrian Houser
Zack Littell
Nick Martinez

Yep, he fits their needs perfectly. Just got to line up on a trade

I understand what you’re saying about there not being a single all-encompassing stat that’s a tell all.

I guess what I’m really asking is: what do you recommend people do to evaluate players? Is there a specific process to follow or is it just completely individual for each player?

My “big board” for Angels LHH OF targets, in order:

LF:
Lars Nootbar (trade)
Jesús Sánchez (trade)
Max Kepler
Mike Yastrzemski
Trevor Larnach (trade)
Michael Conforto
Mike Tauchman

CF:
Cedric Mullins
Alek Thomas (trade)

So what do you recommend people use to analyze pitchers (and hitters) in the year of baseball 2026?

My “big board” for Angels 3B targets, in order:

Kazuma Okamoto
Ronny Mauricio (trade)
Sung-moon Song
Nolan Arenado
Alec Bohm (trade)
Ramón Urías

Yeah, clearing Soler would be a big motive in this hypothetical. $15M in 2027 is a little too pricey for my taste.

But a GM not guaranteed to be employed in 2027 might prefer to take on less money in 2026 and more in 2027.

I was thinking maybe you swap Soler for him, but that only takes care of the 2026 money. I’d be hesitant to take on the full $15M he’s due in 2027.

Getting out of the extra 2 years is a massive win, imo.

I could easily see the Nimmo contract being an albatross 2-3 years from now.

Yeah, so the models are gonna like this for the Mets

Adding a solid SP3/SP4 would really help solidify things. They need some more innings certainty.

(That Dana projection makes me sad)

This feels right, though I think they’ll be hesitant to trade Adell/Ward. I could see them opting to keep both, not sign Mullins and go with Teodosio/Adell in CF (bleh).

That was an incredibly fun game. The Ducks are fun to watch again?!?!

This keeps happening and none of the managers in the playoffs are learning this lesson…

Toronto?

Four current/former Angels in the bottom seven…

Shameful development at the major and minor league levels.

The coaching— particularly what should be an improved PP and PK— gives me optimism they’ll be better.

This preview paints a bleak picture for their defenseman. A couple of the young guys need to step up and Gudas/Trouba need to be better.

And I just realized Kyle Hendricks is lined up to pitch in Coors.

Yikes.