OC Register: Swanson: Time for Angels and their fans to lean into the long game

[AngelsWin.com]

ANAHEIM – The Angels stink this season. And you hate it, right?

You shouldn’t.

If you’re a fan of the ball club, you feel hoodwinked. Duped and demoralized.

But please, don’t.

C’mon, you say. You heard Perry Minasian, the club’s general manager, say the Angels would be “aggressive” in the offseason and you leaned forward in your seat, eager to see what would come next.

You made peace with Shohei Ohtani’s departure (what choice did you have?) and took to heart the scuttlebutt about the Angels looking into left-hander Blake Snell and first baseman/centerfielder Cody Bellinger in free agency. You got your hopes up that they – or other comparable free agents – would end up in Anaheim this year, competent complements to (now injured) Mike Trout.

And then you watched the Angels’ biggest offseason signing be reliever Robert Stephenson. A shrug of a $33 million-over-three-seasons acquisition of a pitcher who’s injured and has yet to take the mound for the club whose 16-28 start is the second-worst in franchise history.

How are you supposed to be OK with that?

Because it’s going to be OK. Or, well, it could be OK – if the Angels lean all the way into the long game, which will require them (and you) to embrace the stink.

To accept the painful part of the growing pains happening now and for the foreseeable future.

To give these young guys – Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe, Zach Neto and Mickey Moniak, Jo Adell and Reid Detmers – some grace, to take some solace in their small victories.

To be OK with the type of delayed gratification you plan for instead of begrudgingly being forced to accept in real time, year after year.

Just because a team doesn’t climb atop the roof with a megaphone – testing, one, two, testing! – to proclaim a rebuild is a rebuild doesn’t mean it isn’t one.

Especially when you have Manager Ron Washington all but spelling it out: “I want to see us win more ball games, but you have to learn to do that, and this group I have, they are learning how to win,” he said before Wednesday’s 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, a teaser of what his group is capable.

“I recognize an ‘Aha!’ moment every single day,” Washington added. “They all have skill, they all do something out there on certain nights that you go, ‘Wow, I wish he learned how to consistently do that.’ But they just haven’t gotten the chance to do it yet – and now they have that chance, so we just gotta be patient. Gotta be patient.”

And I know I’m testing your patience now, Angels fan, because how can anyone expect you to put stock in a full-fledged youth movement when the club’s farm system smells like a farm; it stinks too!

It’s been well chronicled, how behind the Angels’ developmental system is. So no matter which experts are doing the gauging, FanGraphs, ESPN or MLB Pipeline, no one ranks it better than 28th of 30.

In 2022, Southern California News Group’s Jeff Fletcher did a deep dive into the array of developmental issues keeping the Angels from their goal, which, as Minasian once put it, is “to consistently put a contending product on the field.”

The Angels – who instead have had consistently losing seasons since 2015 – haven’t had suitable backup depth to fill gaps when their big leaguers get hurt. They haven’t had enough sufficiently tradable prospects to get the deals done. They haven’t had the technological capabilities to keep up with opponents, or the philosophical conviction on which to follow through.

And we all know why. It wasn’t a priority for club owner Arte Moreno.

“The genesis of the (player development problem) was Arte’s unwillingness to make big investments in that area,” a former Angels executive told Fletcher in 2022. “As Arte starts to get more and more excited by the ideas of flashy free agent signings, from (Bartolo) Colon to (Vladimir) Guerrero and leading to everybody since, there was just a shift in spending behavior or how the money was allocated.”’

Moreno has tried eating his cake and wanting more too; it hasn’t worked. Even with greats like Ohtani and Trout on the roster.

I don’t know what Trout’s appetite for it might be, but it’s time to bake this thing from scratch. Whatever Minasian needs, from personnel to technological upgrades to, yes, a contract extension past this season, give it to him.

Pick a lane – Minsasian’s “winning is a skill” concept – and live there; trust that your line of cars will start moving eventually.

Nurture guys like Neto while he grows up, this plucky 23-year-old Floridian, the 13th overall pick in the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft who’s now in his second Major League season.

He showed up early to the ballpark Wednesday with a smile, never mind the Angels’ poor record and three consecutive losses. Spotted his manager and told him: “Look who just got here? Big Papa!” And then went and drilled a home run over the left field wall before sidling up to Washington – told you so!

Zach Neto gets one back for the Angels with this home run! Pads the lead and puts the Angels up 4 again!

5-1 Halos!#RepTheHalo #GoHalos #Angels #LTBU pic.twitter.com/YYTHfnw8Uj

— Locked On Angels (@LockedOnAngels) May 16, 2024

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“Whether we win or lose, just keep coming to work and making it fun,” Neto said Wednesday night after the Angels won at home for just the sixth time this season, a baby step in what will likely be a long and arduous process – if the Angels do it right.

“Just keep believing in each other, keep going out there every day, just keep grinding for each other. This game’s hard and we’re playing really good teams. … It’s just a matter of us being in those situations where we get to grow as players.”

Pan out, step back, commit to the bit and the Angels and their fans could learn to like the sound of that – despite this season’s stink.

View the full article

[Angelsjunky]

I agree. But.

The "but:" I'd like to see some sign that the Angels--well, Arte--are not only also embracing the stink, but willing to re-evaluate their/his approach and start doing the things that not doing got them into this mess. Namely, player development (and scouting).

So while I agree that it is advisable--if only for one's mental health--to burn through the stages of grief as quickly as possible, I don't think it is unreasonable to be frustrated until that point that it becomes clear that the Angels (and Arte) has taken a long hard look in the mirror, and recognized that a different approach is called for.

[DMVol]

Arte has to prove he’ll put money into development for it to work. We’ll see.

[eligrba]

Great read.

I see lots of young players trying to learn how to play fundamental baseball with little consistency.  It is an incredibly difficult game to play, let alone learn at the major league level.  Everyday is a new adventure.  I am enjoying watching the young players play and the enthusiasm they present.

[Angels 1961]

2 hours ago, AngelsWin.com said:

ANAHEIM – The Angels stink this season. And you hate it, right?

You shouldn’t.

If you’re a fan of the ball club, you feel hoodwinked. Duped and demoralized.

But please, don’t.

C’mon, you say. You heard Perry Minasian, the club’s general manager, say the Angels would be “aggressive” in the offseason and you leaned forward in your seat, eager to see what would come next.

You made peace with Shohei Ohtani’s departure (what choice did you have?) and took to heart the scuttlebutt about the Angels looking into left-hander Blake Snell and first baseman/centerfielder Cody Bellinger in free agency. You got your hopes up that they – or other comparable free agents – would end up in Anaheim this year, competent complements to (now injured) Mike Trout.

And then you watched the Angels’ biggest offseason signing be reliever Robert Stephenson. A shrug of a $33 million-over-three-seasons acquisition of a pitcher who’s injured and has yet to take the mound for the club whose 16-28 start is the second-worst in franchise history.

How are you supposed to be OK with that?

Because it’s going to be OK. Or, well, it could be OK – if the Angels lean all the way into the long game, which will require them (and you) to embrace the stink.

To accept the painful part of the growing pains happening now and for the foreseeable future.

To give these young guys – Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe, Zach Neto and Mickey Moniak, Jo Adell and Reid Detmers – some grace, to take some solace in their small victories.

To be OK with the type of delayed gratification you plan for instead of begrudgingly being forced to accept in real time, year after year.

Just because a team doesn’t climb atop the roof with a megaphone – testing, one, two, testing! – to proclaim a rebuild is a rebuild doesn’t mean it isn’t one.

Especially when you have Manager Ron Washington all but spelling it out: “I want to see us win more ball games, but you have to learn to do that, and this group I have, they are learning how to win,” he said before Wednesday’s 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, a teaser of what his group is capable.

“I recognize an ‘Aha!’ moment every single day,” Washington added. “They all have skill, they all do something out there on certain nights that you go, ‘Wow, I wish he learned how to consistently do that.’ But they just haven’t gotten the chance to do it yet – and now they have that chance, so we just gotta be patient. Gotta be patient.”

And I know I’m testing your patience now, Angels fan, because how can anyone expect you to put stock in a full-fledged youth movement when the club’s farm system smells like a farm; it stinks too!

It’s been well chronicled, how behind the Angels’ developmental system is. So no matter which experts are doing the gauging, FanGraphs, ESPN or MLB Pipeline, no one ranks it better than 28th of 30.

In 2022, Southern California News Group’s Jeff Fletcher did a deep dive into the array of developmental issues keeping the Angels from their goal, which, as Minasian once put it, is “to consistently put a contending product on the field.”

The Angels – who instead have had consistently losing seasons since 2015 – haven’t had suitable backup depth to fill gaps when their big leaguers get hurt. They haven’t had enough sufficiently tradable prospects to get the deals done. They haven’t had the technological capabilities to keep up with opponents, or the philosophical conviction on which to follow through.

And we all know why. It wasn’t a priority for club owner Arte Moreno.

“The genesis of the (player development problem) was Arte’s unwillingness to make big investments in that area,” a former Angels executive told Fletcher in 2022. “As Arte starts to get more and more excited by the ideas of flashy free agent signings, from (Bartolo) Colon to (Vladimir) Guerrero and leading to everybody since, there was just a shift in spending behavior or how the money was allocated.”’

Moreno has tried eating his cake and wanting more too; it hasn’t worked. Even with greats like Ohtani and Trout on the roster.

I don’t know what Trout’s appetite for it might be, but it’s time to bake this thing from scratch. Whatever Minasian needs, from personnel to technological upgrades to, yes, a contract extension past this season, give it to him.

Pick a lane – Minsasian’s “winning is a skill” concept – and live there; trust that your line of cars will start moving eventually.

Nurture guys like Neto while he grows up, this plucky 23-year-old Floridian, the 13th overall pick in the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft who’s now in his second Major League season.

He showed up early to the ballpark Wednesday with a smile, never mind the Angels’ poor record and three consecutive losses. Spotted his manager and told him: “Look who just got here? Big Papa!” And then went and drilled a home run over the left field wall before sidling up to Washington – told you so!

 

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“Whether we win or lose, just keep coming to work and making it fun,” Neto said Wednesday night after the Angels won at home for just the sixth time this season, a baby step in what will likely be a long and arduous process – if the Angels do it right.

 

“Just keep believing in each other, keep going out there every day, just keep grinding for each other. This game’s hard and we’re playing really good teams. … It’s just a matter of us being in those situations where we get to grow as players.”

Pan out, step back, commit to the bit and the Angels and their fans could learn to like the sound of that – despite this season’s stink.

View the full article

 

4 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Great read.

I see lots of young players trying to learn how to play fundamental baseball with little consistency.  It is an incredibly difficult game to play, let alone learn at the major league level.  Everyday is a new adventure.  I am enjoying watching the young players play and the enthusiasm they present.

Angels into year 9 of long game. 

[Angel Oracle]

Didn’t think any of the off-season big FAs were worth the money.  All had some sort of issues the past few seasons.

This is truly the first season they seemed to adopt the longer road process since last contending in 2015.

[tomsred]

1 hour ago, Angels 1961 said:

 

Angels into year 9 of long game. 

What's happened in the past is irrelevant, except in analyzing mistakes, and quitting repeating them. What really counts is making positive changes day by day, and developing a plan that will set the stage for improvements.  I'm not sure Arte is ready to change, he thinks he knows what to do for success but he sure looks wrong.  The team doesn't have the resources to overcome significant injuries to key players that they have piled significant amounts of amounts of money to produce, (like Trout, Rendon, Drury).    Spending mistakes are killing this team, and making it harder to change.

[HeavenlyHalos]

4 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

I agree. But.

The "but:" I'd like to see some sign that the Angels--well, Arte--are not only also embracing the stink, but willing to re-evaluate their/his approach and start doing the things that not doing got them into this mess. Namely, player development (and scouting).

So while I agree that it is advisable--if only for one's mental health--to burn through the stages of grief as quickly as possible, I don't think it is unreasonable to be frustrated until that point that it becomes clear that the Angels (and Arte) has taken a long hard look in the mirror, and recognized that a different approach is called for.

Yes, this would have been much more palatable had they started it at the deadline. They did the opposite. I really hope they don't spend their first round pick on another near-MLB ready guy and swing for the fences, ala Jo Adell. Go for the high ceiling.

[bruin5]

4 minutes ago, HeavenlyHalos said:

Yes, this would have been much more palatable had they started it at the deadline. They did the opposite. I really hope they don't spend their first round pick on another near-MLB ready guy and swing for the fences, ala Jo Adell. Go for the high ceiling.

I supported trading Ohtani at the deadline, but I understand it may have been a no win situation. 

I think we’ve seen some small steps that maybe Minasian is having some influence with Arte. The minor league staff is much larger than I remembered. Renovations to Tempe are long overdue and hopefully in progress now. He has also (if rumors are true) stopped Arte from signing higher priced free agents. 

I would prefer to see Minasian be renewed. He has at least put together some young talent on the field, and made what appears to be some good international signings. 

But most of all, who would Arte hire as his replacement? Won’t be an experienced big name but rather a lower priced assistant (Reagins, DiPoto, Eppler, Minasian). 

[Duren, Duren]

Fletcher's original article is still the definitive analysis. Nothing since has changed the basics. 

"Putting money" into the infrastructure means finding and hiring the best available scouts, coaches, analysts etc. And having a plan from the top down that is followed through the rough transitional times. 

I'm not deeply aware of all the Angels off field and system personnel. But obviously the status quo isn't and hasn't been working well enough. Being ranked 28/30 speaks for itself. 

 

 

[BTH]

It's hard as a fan to lean into the long game if the team isn't actually acknowledging that they're leaning into the long game.

[samwum]

Puff piece IMO.

The young players who were rushed to the big leagues are not as significant in quantity or quality as the young players other truly rebuilding teams have. There's also no wave of young players coming after the guys who are in the big leagues now.

If the Angels are rebuilding, they are not doing it properly or sufficiently well enough for reasonable belief in the "long game".

[REDneck]

Arte is just not this guy. I agree the past is irrelevant if you definitely would like to move forward in any venture, but I don't get that sense from Arte and the organization. He is what he is and now has an established track record of how he runs this franchise.

How much time does he really have left in life and as the owner of this team??

[Stradling]

We will have no idea if Arte/Angels are truly investing in scouting or in their minor league system. It’s just not a quantifiable thing unless you see them steal respected scouts from other teams. When they hired Swanson, wasn’t he respected?  I think this is something where the process will be solved way before we see the results. 

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

We will have no idea if Arte/Angels are truly investing in scouting or in their minor league system. It’s just not a quantifiable thing unless you see them steal respected scouts from other teams. When they hired Swanson, wasn’t he respected?  I think this is something where the process will be solved way before we see the results. 

“The Angels’ domestic scouting department is one of the more shorthanded groups in the sport. They’ve had to utilize their few pro scouts to cover the blind spots of their thinly staffed amateur group due to how few scouts ownership has on payroll.”

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/los-angeles-angels-top-24-prospects-2024/

[Docwaukee]

I really doubt the people in charge of this org are embracing the long game.  

my guess is that they're looking for ways to be able to claim they're competitive again.  

a quick to the majors pitcher, 3bman or OFer in the draft.  trade some expiring assets at the deadline for guys who are close to the bigs.  advance more guys through the minors at an overly aggressive pace.   spend big money on a multi year deal for a guy in his 30's next off season OR don't spend hardly at all and completely ignore a pool of players on short term deals where spending might net you more org currency.  

 

[Tank]

8 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

I really doubt the people in charge of this org are embracing the long game.  

my guess is that they're looking for ways to be able to claim they're competitive again.  

i don't think they're going to care too much about the long game until the avg. game attendance is hovering around 10-12k per night. 

when you look at the minors, the scouting, and the other associated parts of what is supposed to build up the franchise and keep it stocked for years, it's clear there is no overall team vision. 

[Stradling]

6 hours ago, BTH said:

“The Angels’ domestic scouting department is one of the more shorthanded groups in the sport. They’ve had to utilize their few pro scouts to cover the blind spots of their thinly staffed amateur group due to how few scouts ownership has on payroll.”

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/los-angeles-angels-top-24-prospects-2024/

 

9 hours ago, Stradling said:

We will have no idea if Arte/Angels are truly investing in scouting or in their minor league system. It’s just not a quantifiable thing unless you see them steal respected scouts from other teams. When they hired Swanson, wasn’t he respected?  I think this is something where the process will be solved way before we see the results. 

More scouts would be better at the same time that’s only part of it. We haven’t seen measurable improvement from having assistant hitting or pitching coaches, because it’s only part of the equation. Like I said the process will be fixed way before we see actual results. 

[Taylor]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

 

More scouts would be better at the same time that’s only part of it. We haven’t seen measurable improvement from having assistant hitting or pitching coaches, because it’s only part of the equation. Like I said the process will be fixed way before we see actual results. 

I think we can safely say the org and ownership aren't going to invest in development, based on years and years of data and anecdotes. 

[Chuck]

13 hours ago, BTH said:

It's hard as a fan to lean into the long game if the team isn't actually acknowledging that they're leaning into the long game.

[Angel Oracle]

Amazing that an owner whose net worth besides the Halos is over $2 billion can be so cheap with infrastructure spending 

[BTH]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

We haven’t seen measurable improvement from having assistant hitting or pitching coaches, because it’s only part of the equation.

Not sure what you mean by this.

They’ve had an assistant hitting and assistant pitching coach since 2011.

[Jay]

"Long game" implies that there is some sort of plan or strategy. I'm not really seeing it.

[Junkballer]

Knowing who Arte is, its more likely that this year's limited spending is saving for next offseason than allowing Minasian to truly rebuild.  He's more likely to try to entice Gerrit Cole to opt out and give the Angels a big splash than to take his hands off the GM and let the attendance decline linger.  I'll believe the sea-change in Arte's approach when I see it.

[Stradling]

4 hours ago, Taylor said:

I think we can safely say the org and ownership aren't going to invest in development, based on years and years of data and anecdotes. 

I think we can safely say they haven’t.  I have no idea if that will be the case moving forward.