Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 294 | Los Angeles Angels | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: March 7, 2021

You guys ranked the Los Angeles Angels the #17 team in baseball! Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe preview their 2021 season Presented by DraftKings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yeah, time for another team profile and projection on talking baseball, which is brought to you by Draft Kings. We are doing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, except they don't do the of Anaheim anymore, but I kind of like saying it still, so I'm going to continue to say it. They are going into their 11th season with Mike Trout. They have finished with a winning record four times of the 10 seasons they've had the best player to ever play baseball, potentially probably on their team. Jake, they had a losing record last year. 26 wins, 34 losses. They finished fourth in their division.

Did they get better? Did they make changes? What happened? They lost some guys, Jim. Andrelton Simmons, who dipped on them a little bit last year. Trevor Ploof's best defensive shortstop of all time and heads to Trevor Ploos, Minnesota Twins. Hansel, that Hansel is so hot right now. Roblaze.

also went to Trevor Pluston. They changed up a lot of guys in the bullpen. Ramirez, Middleton, are gone. Julio Tehran. We kind of got excited about him last year. He's gone. Jemai Jones in the trade for Alex Cobb, who will join that pitching staff

as they try to make a Dylan Pundi 2.0. Jose Iglesias, you know, they say if you want to get better, add as many Orioles as you can. Ryssel Iglesias. We like that trade. The guy who'd been closing for the Reds for a while. Jose Kentana.

They add him to the staff. Dexter Fowler and that salary dump. That'll be nice for them. Kurt Suzuki, Aaron Sledgers, the big boy from the raise and Alex Claudio. So a few bodies out. A few bodies in. Trevor.

I'm kind of liking the lineup again. We're getting to that point where I'm looking at him and I'm liking them. Start with the catcher position. Max Stass. He had a great year last year. slash 278, 352, 533, all career highs. He's behind the dish. A little bit of Kurt Suzuki mixing in back there.

I like that. First base, we got Jared Walsh, you mashed last year. Second base, David Fletcher, shortstop, Jose Iglesias, who's got some sick glove work. We all saw it firsthand in spring training. And third base, they have the best third baseman in the game right now. Anthony Rendon, yes, I said it, best third baseman in the game right now. Left field, Justin up.

in centerfield some guy named Mike Trout in Wrightfield. Former Oakland A? Dustin Fowler? That's who's penciled in right now. Dexter. Dexter. Dexter. Dexter. The sheet is wrong, and I just read it

like I was Ron Burgundy. Wow. My sheet says Dexter. Mine says Dustin. Mine says Dustin. So, you know, no big deal. Dexter, he's on our Hot Boy list. Obviously, I know Dex. My guy. B.H slash starting pitcher slash some people say the most talented player in all of baseball,

Shohay Otani. So we can't wait to see what he does this year. Jim, now we've got to move it to that rotation. Sharing the bump with Otani. You have Dylan Bundy who served bugs on a silver platter to Jake last year, broke out with a 329 ERA. Andrew Haney. He's a lefty.

Jose Cantata. He's a lefty. Griffin, Canning. they think can stabilize the rotation. And then you have Alex Cobb, like Jake said, and Otani. If he's pitching, which I think he is, Reissel Iglesias, they got him. He's going to be the closer with Mike Mayors, Felix Pena, Thai butt tray.

That's what they got. Now, a lot of people expected them to go get one of the big pitchers that got moved. Snell got traded, Darvish got traded, Bauer was out there, Tanaka was out. out there. O'Darizzi was out there. Paxton was out there. Taiwan Walker. They didn't get any of them. They picked up Griffin Canning, Jose Cantana, and Alex Cobb. As of right now, Oda Rizzi is still a free agent as we record this. So they could do that. Yeah, no, I mean, we wanted the big splash. It's been the same issue for this team. The past decade. The pitching hasn't been enough. And they brought in some

new bodies, Kenton and Cobb, MLB guys. What do they still have in the tank? We'll find out. Cobb was nice to us for five minutes, so I like him. You would have liked to see them add the top end guy, so you didn't have to worry about that. Because right now, I mean, it looks like there's about six guys that you wouldn't mind having as your fourth starter. You know, Griff Canning Young and has done some decent stuff in MLB. Andrew Haney, solid. Just, solid. Dylan Bundy had that transformation last year. Hopefully he can continue that. Kintana Cobb, what do they got? And Shohei Otani, who's, you know, the most talented of that bunch, but they're going to handle him with kitty gloves. I mean, all-time kitty gloves as he's

coming off of a couple injury riddle season. So we'll see what that looks like. And yeah, you know, you'd like to see another name in the pen you're more familiar with. I know Mayers was good last year, but you'd like another another guy that you see on the mountain. You're like, oh, nice. Yeah. He gets dudes out. Yeah, everything is like, you know,

Haney had a ERA plus. We'll go to that because it's kind of easy to say average above average. 101 last year, 1% above average, 94 the year before that, 101 the year before that. Like the ERA is going to look worse than that. But it's just a lot of those guys were like, Hey, he could be a stable guy in the rotation, but no one, unless show hay's there and Bundy's doing it again. And everyone else takes a jump.

Like, even if Bundy maintaining last year for a full season, I think is an ask, not a given. I don't think they have a given in their rotation. I think Haney's a given, but it's just what is he given? That is going to have a 4ERA? Yeah. Like he's going to be. So they don't have a given under 3, under 4 ERA guy. No.

No, not under four. Well, that's not great, right? No. I think they'll have some guys. You'd like to at least rely on one guy, but you're not going to bet on it right now. At least you like to have one guy where the odds are incredibly high. He will have an under four year. If they're right, they should be a three, five.

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they don't have that. You know, we just, this is, we recorded the Brewers. So our fans ranked the Angels in front of the Brewers, and I'm just not so sure they're right about it. as I'm looking through this. It is odd in the middle. I don't know how many people are like really looking at that.

Interested to see this team's over under number because we do know the Brewers right now. And teams that are just built completely different. I mean, like we're saying, you know, the Brewers had those high-end starting pitchers. Angels have six. Since we are recording this before Odirisia signed anywhere, if he does sign, what does that do for this team? Does that then put him into that tier that we're talking about? No.

You don't think he's I think he's under four guy 100%. I think it gives him a leg up on the brus. Trev, that's that's, I mean, Oteresey's good, but he's only been under four once in the last five years. I like him. I like, I know, I like, I like Oterizzi a lot too. ERA is a bad way to do it. Like Otero Riz can can definitely improve this. squad. That year was 2019 and he has developed his slider a little bit. So there's some stuff there.

Yeah, yeah. But hey, it would be nice if he signed there. I don't know, man. It just feels, okay, so let's, we'll stop comparing them to the Brewers, but I will for this. Is that the Brewers feel like they make sense and they have their plan. That's kind of where I ended the Brewers episode. Like, we've got our guys, our good guys, that's what we do, go. the Angels, you wish they either had another bat to go with Trout or Rendon. You wish they had another starting picture. And, hey, maybe it is Odor Izzy, maybe it's not. Or you wish they had an – everywhere I look on this team,

I wish they had another, whether it's a bullpen guy, a starting pitcher, or a hitter. That's not a good feeling. Yeah, they have so much talent. They have Trout. They have Trout. Really high-end talent. Otani's interesting. He's throwing bullpens as of now.

we're recording this on February 26th. He's throwing bullpents. He's hit 97 mile per hour. I've always said he's way more valuable as a pitcher than he is as a hitter. If you're going to choose one or the other or baby him one or the other, and especially for the Angels as well, if you can go and Otani's in the starting rotation and pitching, that's way better than hitting if you had to make the choice.

It's just for their team, 100% even for skill-wise lefties and throw 100 he's full go like he's full go I don't know I always think that because he's a left-to-hitter yeah and I was I was with you that was my stance when he came over that 2018 man he had a 925 OPS a 151 OPS plus 22 homers and 104 games like I feel like we've seen enough of it that you kind of can't harness that because then what if you are the angels and your season's going and you've you've decided you're only going to have Otani be one way there's always going to be that itch in the back of your head like let's get this guy in the lineup like oh we need a really good lefty bat well our stud pitcher might be that

guy so i don't know man they have two double digit strikeouts and his 10 games uh in 2018 with a you know, 127 ERA plus. You just hope that 2018 doesn't become a weird trivia question. Like, come back, start every six day, look good on the bump, and hit four out of the seven days a week or something like that. Because, man, what a special talent. What if Otani, like, doesn't want to do, like, one or the other anymore? Just feels immense pressure because everyone says he can do it

and no one, no one's been able to do this forever. And then he's like, I don't really want to pitch anymore. You don't think he likes it? I think he does. I think he does. But it's funny.

If you perform at that level, that high of a level, you want to do it. Like if he was getting knocked around and whatever, whatever, like, I know he had one bad start last year, but.

But his Vila was way down. He was sitting like 90s. Yeah, he was sitting like 93 on his festival. So we can get to 97. That'd be great. Yeah. The upside is really good.

If everyone, If everyone pitches a step above their level. Here's something I'll say. If everyone on the Angels pitches is... That's a big ask, man. Well, hold on, hold on. Let me finish it. If everyone pitches above their level,

Haney, Bundy, Kintana, Cobb, Canning. If everyone pitches one tier above their level, the Angels will have a great season, which is a huge ask and can also be said for 29 other teams. Maybe not 29 other teams Basically, yeah Not the Pirates Not the Pirates, okay

It just sucks that they put us in this mindset The places our brains Has to go for this team Is disgusting as a baseball fan Like in my head I just said Okay, what if Otani's the truth He gives them 20 good starts And he's lights out this year

And they sign Otorizzi There's your one too Neither of those are close to pro Oda Rizzi is still a free agent As we record this and it could be going anywhere else. Shohei Otani, you can't pencil them in for those 20 good starts because of injuries and everything else that goes on with him.

So it sucks that they continue to put us in this mental dance instead of going for the change impact piece in the rotation that would change this whole team's outlook. Do you think they'll ever be in first place this season? Yeah, past a week. like after April no I was looking at the last two years to see how quickly they got to five games behind

in 2019 it took them 14 games to get to five behind it's pretty quick why wasn't this team in on Darvish in 2020 it took them 14 games to get five games behind in the division

how long do you think it'll take it would be five back this year Two weeks again? Two weeks into the season, five games back. I'm not wishing that upon anybody. I'll put the evil on them. Why weren't they in on Darvish? Do you trust this team to do anything at the deadline? Do you trust if they're anywhere close,

are they going to go grab Trevor Story for the back end of the season? Like, they're not going to do anything like that. Are they? No, I don't trust them to do that. Go get a pitcher. In 2018, it took them 51 games to get the five behind. So there you go. New GM trying to make a splash.

You could see that. So hang around. They do have Joe Adele in the wings, top 10 prospects, struggled last year. Madden had the bad quote about him. Hopefully Dexter Fowler can kind of pupil mentor relationship with him a little bit. Also, Brandon Marsh, top 30 prospects should be available to them this year. So maybe there's a little bit of help on the way.

But they don't need that help. They don't need outfield depth. They need pitching. Do they have anyone, Jake, coming up? I just Joe Adele No no pitching I mean you want pitching coming up for them Do they have anyone

Like the fan base is excited about I think they're excited about Berea a little bit Jaime Berea he's young He pitched pretty well last year He had a terrible 2019 But he had a good 2018 So for a 24 year old

He's already got a good amount of big league experience And right now they kind of have him As their swing man So I don't know if exciting's the word. I don't watch a ton of Berea. I'd love to hear what the Angel fans say. What about Hector Yen? What about Hector Yan?

From the DR, very smiley. He's a lefty. Big time. He's five feet, 11 inches tall. Hasn't pitched above A ball yet. Yeah. But lit up. What's the FGW?

Florida Gulf West. Yeah, he lit up Florida Gulf West last year. It's huge. In 3.1 in England. That is big stuff. Hector Yen. Put them on your board. They're yen.

Just don't know, man. I just do not know. Stop calling yourself Los Angeles Angels, too. I think that's a step in the right direction. Okay. You think as soon as they're honest with who they are and where they're from, they'll be better. Orange County Angels.

Just do that. Oh, the OCA? I love that. I like that as well. Wow. And we didn't talk about Trout at all. I don't think we have to. He's really good. He's going to be really good. Trout, David Fletcher, Internet, favorite.

It's going to put it in play. Rendon, Trev, with the number one third basement. I do think that's debatable. The name that both of you guys kind of gave an eyebrow raise that was Jared Walsh. This guy was a prospect for them, and it kind of didn't click. And then he came up last year. And I think, you know, the light bulb went off or whatever you label it. in 32 games, which again, small sample size. It was half of last season.

He had a 971 OPS. So if he can be an impact piece for them, that changes things significantly. Would love if Fowler could do their thing? I don't know. This lineup can... You can talk yourself into eight out of nine guys in this lineup. Iglesias raked last year.

He started deaching for the Orioles. Justin Upton, I don't know, man, find it, find it, because right now you're hurting the Angels and hey, I'm no machine I just, Albert, potentially his last year with the team, he'll be juggling some time. He still hits lefties, I think, so I don't know, man, I don't know, go get O to Rizzi, have the Padres, Darvish trade canceled and trade for him, and I think we're on to something. Okay. Do you love how Trout said he had a bad year last year?

Yeah He was like Fifth in MVP voting And I mean It's all relative man Yeah Do you know how many fastballs David Fletcher

Swung and missed at last season 11 He faced 618 of them 12 35 Yeah it's around 35 to 40 6.7% Good bat to ball

ratio. Jake, question. Can this team win the AEL West? No. Okay. No. Okay. No. Okay. I'm looking at Mike Trout's baseball reference page and it's just, it's porn. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't even know that Max's fun stat had to do with WIF percentage, but this is fun for Angels. The offense is fun to watch. Among the seven players who whiffed at under 4% of sinkers they saw in 2020, three of them are members of the 2021 Angels infield, David Fletcher. Eglacius and Rendon. So all those guys have great bat to ball skills when it comes to the two-seem fastball. As for the over-under, which we talked about earlier, seeing how it related to the Brewers,

the Draft Kings over-under for this squad is 83 and a half. The Brewers was 82 and a half. So claps to our audience for just ranking their butts off. How about that? I'm taking the under. You want me to go? You want me to go? Please. I mean, put all the pressure on you then.

I am also taking the under because I'm sort of rooting for it to happen. I don't say that about a lot of teams, but you guys know my feelings. No, I mean, there's definitely energy with this franchise that, like, they need to, they need to almost kick the curse in a big way, and they just don't do the move that has the potential to do that. I'll go over. It would be the first time they won that many games since 2015, so it would be one to spend five seasons since they saw an 85 wins. I think they would have had a better chance last year.

They got off to a slow start, and then Rendon, Trout started to kick in a little bit. Anthony Rendon, man, I mean, that's an impact player in his prime. Otani, if he can bounce back. And you can talk yourself into a lot of this lineup, and more importantly, I do think the A's and Houston have taken steps back. So I'll take the over on them. I just don't like the pitching. Like I said, everyone needs to tick up.

There's no guy who you're like, that guy's going to go on and give you a season. Yeah, but I think... They can. Trust me, they can. Of those six names, I think three of those guys can work, and I think that might be better than where their staff has been. They're like a worse version.

Everything we said about the Rangers staff for the 20s, 2020 season is kind of what we're saying about the angel staff, but even a more worse version. I think higher, there was higher reward with last year's Rangers staff, some big names. Yeah. I think this staff has lower risk and lower reward. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. All right.

Hey, Griff, you're 24 and you've pitched decently figured out. Have some fun at least. Cobb? He's getting a little of that good goop from Bundy. That's why he improved too. Oh, yeah. They could use a pitching coach. That would help.

Yeah. That's big for any team. Yeah. Thanks for tuning in, guys. We'll be back tomorrow. Episode of day every day until opening day. That's what we're doing here. We're having fun talking baseball.

If you're an Angels fan, tell us what we got wrong. Please. Nothing.