Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 95 | Los Angeles Angels | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 26, 2020

The Los Angeles Angels made some moves to help Mike Trout this off season. World Series Champ Anthony Rendon is on board. Ohtani is back. Will the Angels compete and make the postseason this year? We���re talking about it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 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.

another episode, another minisode, the Los Angeles, Angels, of Anaheim, but Jake and I actually just found out they don't go by that anymore. For like four years now. How about that? Welcome to the show. We are talking Angels baseball. Go halos. Jake's favorite team.

They got a new manager, Jake. They got a new third baseman. They got some new pitchers. and they got the same old Mike Trout, and he's fucking so good. So what is going on? Are you excited to talk about your angels? I am, man.

I actually kind of do like the Angels. I mean, well, I'm sure we're going to talk about the serial killer, Dylan Bundy. But, man, this team is so much better. And I know sometimes we reference Yankees stuff, but it's because we watch a lot of Yankees game. But Jim, when we saw this team at Anaheim in, what was it, May of last year, or even late April, I mean, you looked at the lineup and you were like, my word. My word. Help, help Michael Trout out a little bit.

And, man, when you look at the lineup coming into the season, they have. Obviously, Anthony Rendon was a huge signing. Hopefully, Shohay Otani can be healthy this year for them. Justin Upton was out of. all of last year. And I like that, you know, Andrelton Simmons was a guy. You love him in the bottom half of your lineup, especially, obviously for what he can do at shortstop. In the top half, e. And yeah, I've only got one one question with how Fangraphs currently has their lineup laid out. But this lineup has some depth, and I still would have liked that Jack Peterson trade for them,

which I don't know, I guess we won't talk about that. But this Angels team is a lot better than Angels teams from recent years. What is your question regarding the lineup via fan graphs? Is it the leadoff man? Yeah, right now they have Brian Goodwin in the leadoff spot, who had a really solid year for them last year, but not really a non-base guy. I mean, Tommy Lestella or David Fletcher,

I think I like one of those guys taking the lead-off role. Tommy Lestella's year last year was pretty fun. To all me Lestella. Until it was like wildly unfun for him. Right. If anyone doesn't know, Lestella came to the Angels. And before he got hurt, Jake,

damn. Before he got hurt on June 30th, he had a 356 on base percentage, a 304 batting average in 856 OPS in 855 games. Yeah. Then he broke his leg. clean break and he did get to play in two games at the end of the season so there you go yeah so where's he gonna where's he gonna where's he fold into this 2020s here um i mean right now i think

there'd be a little there's a little bit of a second base platoon um lestella and fletcher uh and your guy or in hefo trying to work his way in there um man looking at this it's honestly making me really mad that the Jack Peterson trade didn't happen, because that would make the lineup that much better. But they're going to be strong in the top half of their lineup. I mean, Trout, Rendon, Otani. I mean, that's mean they got little production from their catcher position last year, Jonathan Leek, Lucroy, Kevin Smith, who they just let walk. And Castro comes in after having a big year for them.

So the lineup's got some depth. It's got some meat to it. Yeah, this is a solid Angels team. Is this the best one-two punch? Trout Rendon. Is that one of the best one-two punches in the lineups in baseball? Yes. Because Trout's the best, 185 OPS plus last year.

Rendon 153 OPS. And like 153 is phenomenal. like really good and Trout's got him with a 185. We pulled up the stats before we started recording this and I just audibly went, holy shit. Every time you look at his numbers, it's amazing how good he is. It has 645 slugging percentage.

They both had OPSs that were one dots on the season. So is that the best one-two punch you think? Probably, yeah. I mean, coming into the season, you have to think so because nobody can go toe for toe with trout. I mean, if you want to make a fight for Yelly or someone like that, you can, but why bother? And then the year, I mean, the year that Rendon's coming off of, yeah.

Yeah. Crazy. Crazy. I mean, who did they add specifically, Jake? They added Rendon. Didn't they add some other people? They added a lot of pictures via trade, Bundy. they got Bundy they got Tehran that's what I was thinking I was trying to find his name

Tehran I like the Tehran signing a lot and yeah I think uh line up wise um before we close off some of that and and get to get to the angels pitching uh the guy we have to mention and uh I mean he's also their top prospect Joe Adele um everyone is crazy high on him he's an outfielder and hey maybe maybe he can be the bat that comes in and and helps stretch this lineup, whether it's they do one of the mid-April call-ups or if they save him for a little later in the year. But he's supposed to be a special player. And yeah, I know, I know Angels fans are excited to see him come up. So Joe Adele, man. He's from like that name. Joe Adele. Yeah, his name is Jordan, but he goes by Joe. Joe. It's from Lowville, Kentucky. First round

pick. 20 years old. Yeah. What did you do last year in AAA? In AA and AAA combined, you had a 289 batting average and a 359-0 on-base percentage with 10 home runs. Sure. In AAA alone, 264, 321 on-Base percentage. Hey, last year, this dude climbed the ladder, Jake. Yeah. He played in A plus, AA, and AAA last year.

that's the dream The dream is to play in the big leagues Yeah I think that's the prospect dream If you're starting off at high A You're telling yourself Well you know what I'm going to kill it at high A And then they're going to call me up to double A I'm going to rake there

And then I'll finish off a little bit of AAA Just to just to do it Do you know both their top prospects are outfielders There's Brandon Marsh Marsh He's pretty far away He's 21 But he's their second prospect

And he's an outfielder as well there's your trout help dude just we gotta wait two more years a bunch of outfielders um man he's starting he's starting in he's starting in double a behind joe adele that kind of sucks um but uh yeah i i don't know man i'm i wish i didn't know that the jock peterson thing was even an option because i just really would have liked him in this lineup um but uh it's it's a it's a good lineup Right. Yeah, I mean, the middle of it is so strong that you need those, you need the lead-off guy to be good.

Right. Otherwise, just lead off trout. Who cares? Solo home runs. And Otani, man. Otani. Lead off Otani. He's fast.

Sure. Lead off trout. Yeah, I don't care. I mean, why give Goodwin the most at-bats? That shouldn't happen. Anyway. Yeah. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's,

the fan graphs issue. But let's, uh, let's go to the hurlers. Yeah, it's still not. It's kind of like the Padres. Like it's, it's, it's still not impressive. When you just read it. Otani, sure, excited about him. Haven't seen it for a full season yet, but know that we've seen it in doses and it's real.

And shouldn't, shouldn't be ready to start the season. And even when he does, I mean, they are going to handle him with the most kiddie gloves you possibly can. Yeah. And you got Tayron. who they picked up. And he keeps coming off like a down year, right? I think Tehran, his free agency was one of the weirdest things I've seen. Because I think there's a lot of numbers there that say he could have got a better contract than he did.

I think this is just funny because the fan graphs page that we need to yell at someone now. They, I mean, they don't have Otani in the rotation, which is a mistake. and when he's right, he's their true number one. But right now what it's showing as their rotation is Tehran, Heaney, Bundy, Griffin Canning, and Patrick Sandoval, which, man, when you look at that, you just say that's not a good enough rotation. I know, just the gut instinct is like, wait, what? Dude, Tehran is another guy whose numbers are better than people think, I think.

Or maybe it's just because I don't know. Dude, in his last, how many years is this? One, two, three, four, five, six. In his last seven years, he's made 30 starts or more every year. I think that's commendable right there. Right. And I think maybe that's part of the reason he hasn't. He didn't get paid paid is because he's thrown a lot of bullets in that arm, which is ridiculous.

Because he's 29, but that's how things work. and and I don't know man I mean maybe Otani can be a one but I mean at best I think you're looking at like 140 innings if that and again I'll do another annoying Yankee comparison but Jimmer I think you agree with me that there's four guys in the Yankees rotation that would be the one on this angel staff right now

not including Otani yes I mean a lot of rotations I mean the Mets as well have four that would be the one. Right. So I don't know. I mean, I get worried about the pitching. Um, you know, I went on my Dylan Bundy rant. They gave up four mad prospects for him, which, you know, I'm sure there was some 40 man stuff and blah, blah, blah, but I thought the five million and the four prospects could have been better spent elsewhere. We heard there's some really good analytics on his slider. Maybe they can unlock him a little bit. Who's that? But, um, Dylan Bundy, my guy. Um, yeah. But I mean, in his last

last two seasons, 50 plus starts, he's, he's been a 5-ERA and he gets lit up. Maybe it's leaving Baltimore. I don't know. But yeah, I mean, just looking at this rotation and Griffin Canning is a pretty big time prospect. So if he puts it together for them, I guess that would be a big step. Andrew Haney, you kind of know what you're going to get. Which is not good.

He's not good. No, but he, I mean, he's a solid lefty that's going to twirl it. I think you like him as a four-starter. You don't love him. penciled in the top half of your rotation. It just feels, for me, it's tough to picture this rotation holding up for half a season, never mind a whole season. Baseball savant does not favor Andrew Haney.

No. No, exit for Haney. Yeah, 12th percentile on exit velocity, 24th and hard hit rate, 41st in fastball velocity. He's got a lot of spin on his fastball, so he's got the spin rate. but his curve is nothing grades well on that and I mean his results haven't been great either not great not great he got the punch he's last year but that's it um yeah and the other thing i mean you know not not to an area we don't normally enter but i mean that the whole tyler skaggs thing last year i mean that was incredibly sad um and he was supposed to be a guy for them and now

especially you and I are getting pulled into this kind of California baseball world with our connect with ploof. And I mean, that's, that was crazy and kind of got overlooked for last year. And, I mean, for what this team would, does want to do this year. So that's why they have Madden to loosen everything up. They bring in the new manager. He's going to look great in red. You're going to bring the penguins in.

He's going to bring the magicians in. Spring training is going to be like summer camp for, for 10-year-olds. and they're just going to be as loose as they've ever been. Mike Trout's going to drink a million slushies. You know, Rendon's not going to enjoy a second of it. Right. I mean, you put a penguin in the clubhouse, Rendon won't notice it. Otani's going to have no idea what's going on.

Yes, he's going to think American baseball is weird. What do you guys do? Why is there a magician in my clubhouse, Skip. Skip, not feeling this. Yeah. I got a pitch today. We haven't talked about pool hosts at all. And do you want to?

I mean, a little bit. It ends up making me sad. I think, I mean, the stat line when you look at it is tough that that's the Albert pool host we're watching. I think it was funny when we did watch him last year. He's still a threat. Like, don't make a mistake to Albert because he will punish you. But that's kind of all he's getting to, man.

And, no, in 2018, his baseball savant numbers, like his exit velo, his hard hit rate. All of that was kind of good. Yeah, you make a mistake. Albert's got it, baby. But no, in 2019, all of those red dots skewed left and went blue. His sprint speed, he's got to be first percentile.

Who's slower than hour pools right now? No one. They have him as the third percent. They have him as a third percentile, and that's just a lie, baseball simon. He sets the bar. Yeah. Show random video?

Here we go. Danny Duffy foul to Albert Pooleholz, May 19th. Fowled it right back, Jake. And if you're one of our younger listeners and you didn't see Prime Poolhole, look up a couple videos, it's worthwhile. I mean, dude was a monster. I copied his stance when I played youth baseball. Huge mistake.

Didn't work on me. But, Jim, his stat lines now are funny, man. He had 43 walks last year and 68 strikeouts. Like the dude's not striking out. He's still putting up tough at bats. He just can't get it out there. Yeah. In his first 11 seasons, he had MVP votes.

Yeah. His first 11. And Trout and Trout's first one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I mean, and he won the MVP last year. So his first, they both have three to their name, I believe. And Poole said votes in his first 11 and Trout will, unless he like misses a season. He's going to have votes in his first 11 as well. And a line that you always say is that when our kids grow up and they're obsessed with baseball reference and they're going to

be like, holy smokes, two of the best hitters of all time were teammates for seven years and they never won anything? Never won a playoff game. And that's, it's kind of, it's one of the stories of the season for me is are the angels going to be real enough is is rendon and trout going to be enough of a monster to kind of carry this team to at least a wild card game or a series of some sorts because yeah i mean it's it's crazy how long those two have played together and not one a playoff game i think they went to one series and got swept um and yeah i mean it's it's obviously doing that series. It's skewed by, obviously, where Albert Poulos is in his career.

Did you know Albert Poulos is the all-time record leader in ground into double play? That's tough. That's mean. That's mean. That should not be the stat I shared. What's Trout's postseason numbers, Jake? So three games, they played against the Royals. Oh, no.

One for 12, John Boy. With the Homer, though. I mean, best baseball, best baseball player arguably ever, and he's won for 12 in postseason history. With a Homer. With a Homer, though, so. Yeah. All right.

I mean, boils it down to this. I don't believe in their rotation. Otani would have to carry them, like being their ace. And you have a bunch of other people to step up. But their lineup is really good. We like it a whole bunch. And you know what, Jeff? I'll make everyone a little bit of free money right now.

Mike Trout is your MVP this year. Oh, okay. How many games did we watch of Angels baseball where they don't even bother pitching to Trout? Yeah. Because it's just not worth it. So if they can just keep Anthony Rendon healthy and behind Trout all year,

I mean, the dude might do stupid stuff. He finally has someone to protect him. It's crazy. Guys on contract years, Tehran. Andrelton Simmons, Jason Castro, Tommy Lestella.

I think this is an interesting one because I don't think they can sell, man. Even if they're bad? I mean, you can flip Tehran. If he's good and they're bad, you can flip Tehran.

I mean, just think of the message. They signed Rendon to the big contract. You know, Mike Trout, blah, blah, blah. But if they're out of it, everyone will understand that that's the smart thing to do. They have to be big time out of it.

And I don't think they're going to, I don't think they're going to be enough out of it to be big time out of it. That's true, especially with the two wild cards now. They might, yeah, I don't, I mean, yeah. I mean, I don't think they're selling, right? They'd have to be so far out of it. Something would have to go so wrong, like a trout injury and an Otani injury. Right. Or Rendon won his World Series and just seriously doesn't care anymore.

dude didn't care while winning a World Series. Yeah. I just really is. Like, don't give a shit. And yeah, final note from my end, Jim, we've been looking at baseball reference projections, some fan graph stuff. And, you know, a projection is a projection.

It's supposed to be the middle area where, you know, if you have a good year, you could do better. If you have a bad year, you're a little worse. You know, that's how stuff works, people. Baseball reference projections for Mike Trout is for him to have a one. 0.046 OPS. Why not?

Raise it. If he's average, he's going to do that this year. Raise it. Raise it. Last year, Jake, they finished 72 and 90. They are projected to win. The over under by Vegas is 83 and a half.

Who's your do's, who's your don'ts. Um, going under, I'm going under. I think I'm going to go over. I think it's going to be tight. Are you just trying to win back the Angels fans? No, I think, um, I mean, I'm talking myself into Trout having an insane year because he has Rendon with him.

And if Rendon has almost an average year, I mean, that's so much more production around this Angels team than they've seen. And I think they're, I think they're like selling out to try to get to the wild card this year. So they'll, they'll be in it. They'll come up just short. Um, because I mean, the pitching's just not enough. Okay. I do like that, that, that they're going to, like, scratch and claw with their thing in the ass for that inch. Like, think we, we see these teams around the trade deadline that do the trades you're kind of talking about that it's like, hey, we're going to flip one reliever, but we still think our team can fight. Like, angels can't

do that. They have to fight. We have a fun fact here. It's that Mike Trout proposed to his wife with a skywriter. Of course he did. The dude loves looking at the sky. Yeah. That's a low. That's a layup.

That was, I mean, he was, he was born to be a weatherman and be part of nature in the sky. So of course he did that. What's better than, you know, proposing to your wife in the sky and seeing those cumulus nimbus clouds right next to it? Honey, come here. You got to check out the, the sky right now.

Oh, shut up, Mike. I don't care about your damn weather reports. No, but honey, these clouds are different. You have to come see them. I don't care, Mike. Please come out here. Okay, what? Look at that sky.

I will. They kiss and stuff. Beautiful. Very beautiful. Congrats, Mike. And that was a reenactment of their proposal. And it was awesome. Thank you guys very much for listening.

We appreciate it. And we'll be back tomorrow with another episode.