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Originally Posted by olympia
this has been a good read. Enjoyed watching as you built the Angels up over the years. I'm sure there is some animosity that you jumped to the cross town rival Dodgers. Hoped to see a 405 freeway series
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Thanks! Sorry been away for a while. I came down with Covid for the 1st time. It wasn't physically terrible, but I had brutal brain fog and zero energy, so I have been taking my time with this season.
The Angels are doing their part this season, they are in first place. I have to admit, if I was going to stay there I was going to blow it up and go with youth. My replacement did the opposite, they traded ALL their prospects for immediate help. They are last in organizational prospect rankings, but they are in 1st.
And while we have the 2nd best record in baseball, we are 5 games behind the Reds who are 37-14. We are healthy and doing "ok", but nobody is playing great and a few players are underachieving.
Leadoff man Jeff Carter is .254/.323/.350 after hitting .293/.439 as a rookie last year. Brunansky is at .228/.309/.329 while everyone else is doing either as expected or just a little above.
As usual, the AI waived a player that would never be waived. I do my best to ignore those, I feel that's taking advantage of poor design. But this time I picked up Paul Assenmacher as we needed a 5th starter. He was a good middle reliever the last 2 years but was a starter in the past. If he can't fit the bill, he's a trusted bullpen arm and I could use a 2nd leftie other than Will McEnaney and Steve Howe.
Allen Sigler, who hit 71 home runs last year is only on a pace for 30 this year. The guy who is having the monster year is Montreal's 3B Larry Walker. Yes, third baseman. The 21 year old is on pace for .389/.439/.782 15.4 WAR 68 HR 182 RBI 42 steals.
That's a wrap up after 2 months, the Reds have a chance to be good all season. They are 1st in every major offensive category except home runs. They have:
22 year old Craig Biggio who could be as good as IRL
25 year old Ken Caminiti, same
28 year old Tim Raines who is a 2-time AS and 3-time Silver Slugger at 2B
24 year old 3B Mike Greenwell who led the league in batting last year
32 year old SS Robin Yount who will put up 3-4 WAR if healthy
23 year old CF Ron Gant who could be a little better than IRL
30 year old RF Brett Butler who averages a .380 OBP and 40-70 steals
They aren't great in the field or on the mound, so if they get injuries, they may be in trouble, that's what happened to them last year. And as I write this, Raines has an injury waiting diagnosis.