During this past week, the Angels went 2-5 and dropped all three series that they participated in. The Angels beat Houston once, and Cleveland once. They dropped one to Texas, two to Houston, and two to Cleveland. Currently, the Angels record sits at 21-20 and they are in 3rd place in the AL West.
On the positive side, the Angels are showing a tremendous amount of fight. They are not getting blown out of games, except against Texas on 5/7 (16-8 defeat). The offense is showing a lot of very good at bats and the pitching has been above average at times from both the starters and the bullpen. Zach Neto has been fantastic with the glove. Hunter Renfroe has been excellent with the outfield assists. Gio Urshela has been a very good player all over the infield. The roles of the team seem to be solidifying and getting worked out so that each part knows their role. They also seem to be getting more comfortable in those roles. The teams that the Angels played this week should all be very solid by the end of the year. The Rangers are leading the West, the Astros are quality up and down, although missing a few important pieces, and the Guardians were excellent last year and essentially kept the same roster, but are just struggling a bit right now.
On to the negatives, the Angels seem to be playing to their level of competition. When a team is struggling it seems they always get healthy when playing the Angels. The Guardians, for instance, are certainly sub .500 by a good margin and yet they still won two of three from a team that is substantially better, at least by records. Another source of frustration for Angels fans has to be the way that the Angels are losing games. The bullpen has been surprisingly suspect in some games given their stellar performances in others. There have also been some games where the coaching and managerial decisions have directly led to losses. Defensively, Anthony Rendon has been more iffy with his throwing arm than his previous track record shows. The Angels have been playing teams closely all season long, showing a never give up attitude, but it would be nice for team morale and to rest the bullpen to have some easier victories from the Angels.
As far as injuries and roster moves, there are a few that have been made. Anthony Rendon is currently on the 10 day IL with a groin strain that all fans hope will be the 10 day minimum given his injury issues with the Halos. Ryan Tepera got DFA’d which costs the Angels some money but is a long term win due to Tepera’s poor performance on the mound this year. Aaron Loup is still on the IL and we will see what happens when he gets activated seeing as Loup has been subpar as well this season. Jared Walsh has started his rehab assignment which is great seeing as how Walsh has been a very good major league baseball player and will 100% increase the Angels depth and skill on the field. The Angels made a couple of Minor league signings that have had major league success in the past and could bolster the bullpen later in the season.
There are way more positives than negatives for the Angels this season. The depth and skill that Perry Minasian has picked up is doing what we expected if not more. The Angels are in a better place currently than they have been in a while with both the major league club as well as the minor league system. It will be an enjoyable ride to be an Angels fan I predict.
As long as come playoff time, they’re on top of their game.