Los Angeles Angels Squander TWO Chances to Win in Loss to Rays, Will Kenley Jansen Return? AAA Moves

Los Angeles Angels Squander TWO Chances to Win in Loss to Rays, Will Kenley Jansen Return? AAA Moves

on this episode of Lockdown Angels. This obviously competitive team is obviously not fun to watch right now. They drop another series to the Rays. Man, this second half, Tyler Anderson, he’s bad. We’ve known this and it’s not helpful for the second half for the Halos. There’s a lot of trouble, friends, and we’re going to tell you all about it today. I’m Mike. That’s John. We’re the Super Halo Bros. And this is Locked On Angels. You are Locked On Angels, your daily Los Angeles Angels podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hey, thanks for making Locked on Angels your first listen of the day. You can find us anywhere you get your podcast, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, and SiriusXM by searching Locked on Angels. And if you’d like to get back to the Super Halo Bros for all the Super Halo content, leave us a rate and a review on Apple Podcast. Hit that thumbs up on YouTube, maybe that subscription button as well. We’re almost at 10,000 subscribers. And while you’re here, leave a comment. It’s one of the best ways to get in touch with John and I and be a part of the conversation. And before we go any further, we want to invite you to join us at the second annual Logan Hobby All-Star Bowl, Sunday, September 7th, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. You can help us raise some support for the YMCA of Orange County. Get your ticket by clicking the link in the episode description. And make sure when you check out, use the promo code Halo Bros. It’ll give you a discount. You’re welcome. Join us at the Logan Oppo All-Star Bowl Sunday night, September 7th, starting at 5:00 p.m. We’ll see you there. Thanks for being here for this episode of Locked on Angels, where it’s your team every day. You’ve got the Fresh Brothers here with you, aka the Super Halo Bros. My name is John, and that’s my brother Mike. And my name is Mike, and that’s my brother John. Hey, we’re here talking Angels baseball with you five days a week. On today’s show, will Kenley Jansen be back next year? Uh, who do the Halos move around in the minor leagues and specifically to AAA? Why does that matter? Who were they? Some big names in there. We’ll talk about them. But first, Mike, let’s give our everydayers the takeaways from yesterday’s game against the Rays. Angels dropped the series. They dropped the game 5 to4. Let’s talk about everything they need to know about this game from Wednesday afternoon. Yeah. First takeaway, in the words of Tyler Anderson after his last start, it’s the same exploitative uh start for 16 starts. Like he just he just hasn’t been good, right? And again, yesterday wasn’t good. Yeah. Four innings, five hits, two Ks, one walk, four earned runs. John, three home runs. Yeah. Three home runs. That’s been a trend for Tyler Anderson, especially in the second half. But last few starts, he is giving up the long ball a whole lot. Yeah. And two of those were off Junior Camro. You know, the 30 home run, the 30 home run guy the Angels could have received for two months of show Otani, but no, no, no. already wanted to get that Otani money for two more months before not signing him in the offse. Good grief. Yeah. And credit to Ray Montgomery and and his decision to know when to pull Tyler Anderson from the game. You got to know when to pull fifth inning. Conor Brogen comes in, gets the raise, one, two, three. Then Brock Burke, he works around a two-out triple to keep the game tied at that point. You know, I think Connor Brogden is one of the more un underrated pickups because he was a a waiverwire pickup. And so there’s somebody that they brought in. Um, and he’s been he’s been great. I know you look at the erra for bullpen pieces, it’s not always reflective of how effective they’ve been, but Connor Brogden for me has been great and as was Brock Burke, again, like you mentioned, working around that two out triple to keep the game tied. Unfortunately though, what happened? Ryan Zephr John gives up a leadoff go-ahead home run to Christopher Morell. This guy hadn’t put the ball in play all series. Yeah. Had seven strikeouts, right? And then when he makes contact, he crushes the ball. Yeah. And and listen, I know that the Angels are working with some of the young guys and developing this bullpen. If and when Robert Stevenson comes back, it might be Zephr John that actually leaves this this bullpin and gets sent back down to the minor leagues. I think in terms of who who has options, it’s got to be Zephr John. That’s why they sent Bachmann down, right? You know, because they picked up Garcia and Chaffen. Back to Tyler Anderson, Mike. Does he make it through the rest of this season? Or do we go to Kaden Dana or Samuel Deg Gary? What do you think? He makes it through the rest of the season. Here’s why. The Angels are just going to need to eat up some innings. They did it last year. That’s why they didn’t trade him, right? They wanted to eat up innings. And I think that that’s what they’re going to do with Tyler Anderson. As long as he’s healthy, they’re just going to keep rolling it back out there because they’re not playing for anything. They’re just eating up innings. They’re entertaining the fans, quote unquote, right? And so I don’t think that they’re going to use Kate and Dana to replace anybody. If they use Kate and Dana, they’ll bring him up in a situation where maybe he’s a bullpen guy or maybe he has a spot start, but ultimately I think Tyler Anderson is on this roster until the end of the year and then he leaves and you’ve got nothing for him. Yeah. And you’re not going to give him a qualifying offer because those offers are expensive these days, right? And so it’s not even worth, you know, trying to get the draft pick there. Uh, takeaway number two, Mike, if if Trout isn’t cut looking at strike three, perhaps he’s figured out his swing. Mike Trout hit a game-tying three-run home run in the third inning, made it four to four. Jared Tims, our buddy over at Talking Halos. He needs to be on this coaching staff because here’s what here’s what he pointed out. A major reason why Trout is struggling, and he posted it on Twitter. Here’s what he said. When you watch Mike Trout swing, the first movement is his hip going towards shorts stop third base side. That’s why he’s struggling right now. And then Jared posted a great side by side of what he meant. And you can see Trout’s left hip is moving before everything else. Jared posted the home run from this game and everything about his hips and body much more in line, much more u uniform as opposed to that hip flying open first. So that made the game four to four, but the Angels completely failed to capitalize, didn’t they? Yeah, that’s our third takeaway. The Angels had two chances to take the lead and didn’t do it. Bottom of the fifth, the Angels had two on with nobody out. And I believe you tweeted at that point, okay, don’t screw this up. No, that was that was the bases loaded situation. Well, you were tweeting all day. It was great to it was great to follow. But so there’s there’s bottom of the fifth, the Angels have two on, nobody out. Teodosio reaches on an infield single. He stole a base. Then Zach Neto walks, but Shaunell grounds out for the first out. Teodosio goes to third base. And then Mike Trout strikes out and then Taylor Ward grounds out to third base. So that was an unsuccessful inning. But what happened later was I guess a bit worse, right? Oh, way worse because they were down 54 in the bottom of the eighth. Trout reaches on an infield single, legs went out. That was great. Ward takes a walk. Adele swings and reaches on catcher interference. You could hear the bat hit the glove. So, Mike against Griffin Jacks. Um, Griffins just drive me crazy, by the way. I’m I’m so sick of pitchers named Griffin. Um, bases loaded, no outs. There you go. Bottom of the eighth. You’re down by one. All you need is that tying run to cross the dish and it’s on third base. Yeah. Oh comes up, strikes out swinging. Reanhifo comes up, strikes out swinging. Christian Moore comes up, strikes out swinging. Three swinging strikeouts in a row. Nothing put in play. No bunt laid down to at least tie it up and get that run across. Even if you ground out the shorts stop, at least you tied the game, right? Yeah. So, you’d think you might see a bunt from a Renifo or Christian Moore. Uh but that was the last chance for the Angels to do. anything. Now, before I ask you this question, I want to point out that Griffin Jax was mixing speeds really well between the fast ball, sinker, sweeper, change up. This guy’s got a four pitch mix out of the bullpen and the lowest speed on his sweeper was 85 and then he’s ramping up a fast ball and a sinker to 96. So, he’s got a bunch of different looks, a bunch of different speeds. So, I can understand, yeah, okay, it could be difficult to get to that guy. But the question is, what’s the mindset for the hitters here? Are they trying to do all the damage with one swing? I don’t understand. Well, it’s what they do when they get down late in the game and they’re trying to come back. We’ve seen that multiple times, especially in the bottom of the ninth inning. They’re swinging for the fences. They’re taking humongous hacks. There’s no choking up. There’s no shortening up. There’s no I got to make contact. I I was watching uh the Angels 2002 World Series documentary, and I’ve shared this on this show before, but when they were coming back, Troy Gloss, who won the MVP of that series, he’s coming up, right? Big home run hitter, hit 47 home runs for the Angels, like just mashing, right? And he said in that video, somebody asked him, “What’s your mindset coming up?” and he’s like, “I’m just trying to hit the ball on the ground so that we can move the runner over from second to third.” That’s what he said. Now, he ends up hitting a double past Barry Bonds, which scores Shawn Figgins and Garrett Anderson. That’s not the mindset for these Angels. They either get nervous, they get overwhelmed, or they’re just trying to get it all back. And there’s no choking up. There’s no shortening up. There’s nothing. You had three opportunities. three opportunities to just slap the ball somewhere. Like swing and look silly when you hit the ball, right? Just swing it like you accidentally just barely hit the B button. Swinging bunt, right? Absolutely. And they couldn’t even do that. And and so this loss totally on them. Like there there’s no excuses. I’m tired of the after the after the game. Well, yeah. Yeah, it’s just frustrating as Yeah. Well, then do something about it, guys, because you had an opportunity to do that. and you couldn’t even make contact with three really good hitters in this Angel lineup in the bottom of the eighth inning and you couldn’t even couldn’t even tie the game. It’s just simply ridiculous. Yeah, just the fact that you came out of that without getting one run across to tie the game and make it interesting. And here’s what I think is going on with Oh, he swinging at the first pitch does not help. In fact, he had an he had an 0 and1 count in every at bat yesterday. every time he came up there, he was already down strike one and and that’s frustrating. So, uh, something’s got to be done about that as well. Takeaway number four, Mike, I wanted to point this out. Bryce Teodosio is something that I think the Angels have been missing. He may not have the best bat, but so far he is five for 13 with four stolen bases. He made an insane play in the outfield. Fully stretched out. Dove for it. Was able to catch it in left center field. Gives Taylor Ward a nice little chest bump. I like the enthusiasm and the energy. Then on Tuesday night, he’s climbing the wall like Spider-Man. He’s like, you know, doing a a Mario wall kick jump off the off the thing trying to catch a home run. Now, it ended up behind him, but just the fact that he’s able to do that and make it look easy. I think that says a lot about his really, really elite defense. But also, Mike, he’s beating infield singles. He’s getting on first base. They overturned a call because he was safe yesterday. So, in my opinion, here’s what I like. He’s forcing the issue on the bases. He’s playing great defense in center field. And by virtue of that, it moves Joe Adele back to right field where he’s best. And it prevents this merrygoround of, you know, Lamont Wade Jr. and Gustavo Compro, right? It prevents that merrygoround of guys playing right field. So, credit to Bryce Teodosio for at least trying to make something happen and adding a spark to this team. Now, he is a uh undrafted free agent signing by the Angels. So, that’s that gives you some some idea of who you can potentially get that doesn’t get drafted. And so, good on Bryce and I’m glad he at least uh showed some effort yesterday. John, fifth takeaway. If if today’s game wasn’t bad enough, I don’t know if you saw this every day, but the Beat Riders and the media, they they gathered in the media room for their conversation, their press conference with Ray Montgomery, and before they came in, the roof started leaking. Now, now Thomas Murray of the Sporting Tribune said it had, and I quote, “A distinct smell.” Oh, good. Yay. Yay. And And that wasn’t the Angels. It was just It was just the stadium that they play in. Now, Sam Blum posted a video and you know Sam’s going to be all over that. Sam loves to dump on this team. So, he posted a video. We retreated it. Dump. Dump is the key word there because you don’t know where that water’s coming from. You were picking up what I was putting down. So, th this this is just an example. It should tell you everything you need to know about the state of the stadium, the organization, ownership. Man, it was just a allaround smelly day for the Halos against the Rays. Right. Thanks for making Logon Angels your first listen of the day. Coming up, will Kenley Jansen be back next year? He shared his thoughts. We’ll share them with you and we’ll discuss, do we want him back? We’ll talk about all of that coming right up. Today’s show is brought to you by our friends at Prize Picks, the daily fantasy platform that lets you turn your football predictions into real rewards. Pre-season pre-season is already here and college football, I love this, isn’t far behind. It’s the perfect time to lock in your seasonl long more or less picks from the 2025 football season all before week one kicks off. 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Jeff Fletcher of the OC Register chatted with Kenley Jansen about his future and the possibility of coming back to the Halos. He said, “My goal is at least four more years after this season.” Four more years. Four more years. Where is that going to be? And Jansen said, “Well, I can’t predict that.” Uh, but he did share that he has enjoyed his time with the Angels. His family still lives. They still live year round in Southern California. So, I guess even after he went to Atlanta and to the Braves, they stayed in Southern California cuz why would you ever leave? Huh? Why would you want to leave Southern California? So, he said it wouldn’t be surprised uh if he resigned here. But when he was asked about it, Perry Manasian said, “Let’s get to the end of the season and look at everything and go from there.” So, for now, Jansen loves it here. He’s excited about what the Halos are trying to build. He said, “The message clearly shows that we’re building something special. I like the group of guys that we have. Everything is possible. I believe we can do it. We’re capable of doing it. So, it’s one game at a time, just not yesterday’s game.” Uh, we just got uh we just got to come and give it all our best. Mike, tell me, would you want Kenley Jansen back? And why would you want him back? Well, I I love that somebody’s loving the Angels right now because we’re all struggling with them, right? is obviously competitive team, but I I I would I would really like to have Kenley Jansen back. And here’s why. I think that if you take a couple of steps back and you look at this team compared to where they were last year, then what happens next year is that they would take another step forward the end of this year, they’ll probably get to, let’s say, 72, 75 wins. Maybe they put some things together and they get to 81 wins, right? I think their lid, their ceiling is 500. So, if they can get there, that’s a huge improvement over the year before. And I think it’s a narrative shifting season for them. And that’s what’s hard about watching these games yesterday is we have to take a step back and go, okay, they are getting better. The problem is this ownership organization, those in the front office, right? The problem is the narrative around that, you know, sewage coming from the building, like all that. There’s a lot of there’s a lot of problems. Allegedly, allegedly uh seemingly seemingly. And so I would love to have him back because I think what we have in this team for next year could be a team that actually could push to get to that third playoff spot, that third wildcard spot. Now, I say could potentially do that because obviously performance has to come and I think if they continue to add with some of the young players, then we’ll find ourselves in the running for that. And if Kenley can continue to be who he has been in his career and who he’s been this year, I think his presence is going to matter, I think his leadership is going to matter. And I also think you have two guys coming off major injuries that that are Joyce and and Stevenson, right, that you’re not going to want to rely upon fully to be the the back of the the bullpin guys for you. You’re going to want somebody that knows what they’re doing there. And so even if it’s just giving him a one-year extension, right, he they sign him for next year. They’ll probably sign him for two. I could see him doing one year with an option. And even even if you do that, I think what it does is it allows you to ease Ben Joyce and Robert Stevenson back into this bullpen and not put yourself in a position where, oh man, we have to rely on somebody who’s been hurt. We have to rely on somebody who hasn’t even pitched uh for the last two seasons, right? Like so. So, I think what we’re what we’re talking about here is a guy that you can count on and a guy that’s going to not just bring stats, he’s a guy that’s going to bring leadership. And that’s probably been the best thing about having Kinley Jansen out in that bullpen this year. All right, I’m going to do our second Seinfeld reference. Remember when Jerry is trying to convince Uncle Leo to move back in with his girlfriend? He says, “Look at you. When somebody’s interested in you, you hang on to her like grim death.” Which is not far off, by the way. When Kenley Jansen is interested in coming back to your team, you hang on to him like grim death because otherwise you’re going to be in the position that you just described where you’re relying on guys that you’ve already signed or you have in your system to be your closer and that’s all well and good and you can give it a shot and that’s fine. But if somebody is showing you that they want to stay here, that they’re okay with the things that have happened so far this season, maybe Kenley’s a lot more forgiving than some of us fans can be. But at the end of the day, he likes what’s going on there. He likes being here. So, you bring him back and you bring him back ASAP because if you have that spot secured for next year, just get that out of the way right now. Whether that’s an extension, whether that’s a new contract once the offseason comes and goes, right, get that worked out. I don’t like this idea of let’s get to the end of the season and and then we’ll go from there. Like, Perry, come on. Arty, come on. This guy wants to be there. Uh certainly RD Marino loves his former Dodgers and guys who have done, you know, great things throughout their career and he loves bringing those kinds of guy in. That’s what Kenley Jansen is. Mike, I I was texting with a friend of ours and I said, “You know what I like about Kenley and I mean this in the best way possible. He just doesn’t give a hoot.” And I and you know, I censored myself and I I I didn’t say hoot, but I didn’t say the actual thing. Yeah. Uh he doesn’t care. And I mean that in the greatest way possible. You got a guy on second. Hey, I’m gonna b and move you over to third. Show move get over there. Uh, you got a guy on third base in yesterday’s game. N I’ll get around it. Right. Hey, infield, come in here. Let’s talk about this. Right? They’re waiting for Chandler Simpson to bunt. Doesn’t do it and ends up getting out of the inning. And I just love that attitude. I love that mentality. And he’s perfect for what this bullpen needs to be. He’s one of the few closing pitchers in baseball this year to go three days in a row, close out games, and get it done. and and he’s the last of that kind of pitcher, Mike, because so many of these guys nowadays uh can’t go two can’t go two days in a row and well, he threw a lot of pitches the other night like like let’s let let these guys do their jobs for crying out loud and Kennley is somebody who’s going to go no no no no I’m going in we need to win this game and I’m going in. So, the fact that he’s wants to be here, that he’s already had a successful season and he’s being a captain on that field for not just the bullpen, but being a captain for guys like Neto and Shaunell. Now, Christian Moore, right? Hey, you stand over there, you do this. I don’t care about that guy on third base. We’ll worry about him later. He’s not going to score because I’m either going to strike this guy out or I’m going to need you to stand where you are and get that ball over to first base. And that’s exactly what happened. So in my mind, I’m bringing back Kenley Jansen at least one more year, right? And you know, the benefit of that is you get his, you know, chase for 500 and that sort of thing. And that might take more than another year. But look, if he does that with you, that’s something that already can celebrate and market and do this and do that and get a bobblehead and make get a blanket and get a reversible Kennley Jansen bucket hat, right? You can do all that stuff, but at the end of the day, this is a good player. He hasn’t lost a step, and he’s exactly what this team needs. So, I’m all in on on Kenley Jansen. How about you? Yep, I’m in. And one thing that we didn’t discuss is really this idea of what happens when you have a veteran come in and actually perform, right? He he’s somebody that’s come in and he’s performing. And I think that that has earned him the ability to do whatever the heck he wants. Which is why he’s got the mindset of doesn’t bother me. Right? Because Kenley can go, “Hey, come out here and talk with me because I’m going to move this guy over and I want the defense to be here.” And oh yeah, I’m going out there for my third day in a row. You’re not going to tell me that. Right? And I think what we found with Wash when he was managing this team is that he was just going to go, “Kenley, what do you want to do? Let’s do that.” Wash is really good with vets. Now Ray Montgomery is kind of a bit of a pushover, I think, with vets and and he’s not going to push back if Wash didn’t push back. And so what I like about Kenley is he’s the only vet on this team that has actually really helped this team in more ways off the field and more ways on the field than anybody else on or off the field that has that label of being a veteran. Yeah. And you think about some of the hope that we had of, hey, you get Hendrickx around starting pitcher like Reed Demers, maybe he can help him figure some things out. Travis Darno around Logan O’Hy’s defense and and and behind the dish maybe game calling stuff but even that seems a little eh. So Jansen is the one veteran who really has brought something to the table as you said in both performance and behind the scenes. Every day we’ve all been there. We’ve logged on early, waiting forever for our concert tickets to go on sale only to lose out to maybe a bot because it took your spot in the lineup or you lost lost the feed or something happened, right? Live music should be about making memories, not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping and that’s why you need game time. They make it really easy for getting concert tickets faster and they are they make it really cheap for you. prices actually drop the closer you get to Showtime and you can save up to 60% off with their lastminute deals. With Game Time, you’re going to see the price and then you’re going to pay that price. There’s no hidden fees. And if you’re worried about if plans change, Game Time has the Game Time guarantee. They got your back with cancellation protection and so much more. So, take the guesswork out of buying concert tickets and going to shows with Game Time. You can download their app right now. Use our promo code locked on MLB. You’re going to get $20 off your first purchase. Some terms apply. So again, download the app and use our promo code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Mike, the Angels are making some moves. Not trade deadline moves. Sorry I keep bringing that up, but it was minor league moves. Uh last week, two big names went to AAA. The first one was Denzer Guzman. He’s been hitting around an average clip up until about mid June where he has a 102 weighted runs created plus and a 664 OPS. But he really turned it around in July. Reach base in 23 out of 25 games. A 192 weighted runs created plus. Again, remember that means he’s 92% better than league average and a 992 OPS. He was named the Southern League player of the month for the month of July. He had 333, had a 440 on base and a 580 slugging percentage, a 199 weighted runs created, plus nine nine doubles, one triple three home runs, a 19% K rate, and a 13% walk rate. Taylor Blake Ward uh not only locked on Angels Hall of Famer, but he also does a great job covering the Angels from all aspects. said Denzer’s glove will get him to the bigs, but the bat will dictate what he does and how long he stays. Now, who was the other player who moved around? Somebody we talk about a lot that fans know of, and that’s Nelson Rada. He had a 123 weighted runs created plus with Rocket City slashed 272 with a 380 on base and a 332 slugging. He doesn’t have power, but he does have a really good bat and he’s quick. NA had 34 stolen bases. was caught 12 times, but that’ll improve. Remember, he’s 20 years old. He’s going to be 20 years old in less than 20 days. And so, these are two names, John, that are intriguing. And I think the question is, are we going to see Denzer and Nelson Rada in the major leagues this year, or is it more likely that we’ll see them during spring training? What do you say? I say spring training because you can’t make I don’t know, you you have your 40man roster, right? And so you would obviously have to open up some spots for that, but at the same time, I think it’d be a lot of fun to see them come up. But I’m willing to wait until spring training before any of that stuff happens. But again, these are two of the bigger names in the Angels minor league system. I am happy that they weren’t part of a deal at the trade deadline. And you have often said, Mike, don’t mortgage the future. Yeah. For right now, especially this season. And the trades that they did make uh to get Luis Garcia and Andrew Chaffen, not terrible, not costly. And even Oswald PZA, right, PZA’s got years of control. They’re trying to figure out if they can make something happen with his bat. Um I mentioned it on yesterday’s show. I misspoke about the fact that his defense is actually really great. And so in in some ways I’m like well maybe he can be like a Bryce Teodosio in the sense that yeah we got to wait for his bat to come around but having somebody over there at the hot corner who can handle it like PZA I think that’s going to be exciting but again these guys Der Guzman in the infield Nelson Rada in the outfield he could be the center fielder of the future and with those kind of wheels again 34 stolen bases that’s going to be pretty significant once he gets up to the Angels, don’t you think? Yeah. I mean, the guy’s going to be quick on the bases and in his first game in Triple A, he stole second and he stole third. So, he’s somebody that they’re going to have to keep an eye on. And we really haven’t had a hitter like that that is a threat to steel since like a Shawn Figgins. And we can even go back to the early 90s. Luis Palonia when he played for the Angels was left-handed. Yeah. Left-handed outfielder. didn’t have a lot of power, John, but he was somebody that could spray the ball all over the place. Was a a 280, 290, sometimes 300 hitter, but every time he got on base, he would run. Like, you knew he was almost Ricky Henderson light because he was going to run. And I think that that’s going to be the value for Nelson Rada. If he can be somebody that can get on base, not just via the hit, but also draw walks, he’s going to be a threat for this team. Imagine him leading off and then followed with maybe Zack Neto and then Nolan Shaunell. I mean that’s that’s a really difficult one, two, three. And maybe you even switch some of those guys. The only reason why I put Shaunell at three is because Rod is a left-handed hitter and Shaunell is as well. And so you want to put a right-hander in between. But you have somebody who’s going to slap the ball around in Rada. Then you’ve got a Zack Neto who can really power the ball, has great slug, and then Nolan Showell who again can slap the ball around. I like that a lot because what happens with Nolan Shaw batting third and Nelson Roda hitting first, he’s going to be on the base path perhaps at second base and Shauna’s going to be able to move him over. He’s a guy that is going to make contact and move him over. And so I would love the Angels to have a prototypical leadoff hitter that is going to be a threat on the bases. I don’t know why they don’t run a whole lot more. There was all this talk about running and they just haven’t done it. And I think running and stealing bags that causes so much chaos on the on the base path. And I think it actually will give the Angels I think plus seven plus eight in the win column because you’re forcing the issue rather than waiting for it to come your way. I also think it probably helps them in the strikeouts. And here’s why. because that pitcher is not necessarily fully focused on the batter. He’s focused on the runner at first base and so maybe he slips and throws a bad ball or maybe he’s not hitting the strike zone. I think chaos on the base path and a stolen base threat can actually help the struggles that the Angels have had so far this season. You know, there was a lot of conversation about the fact that, hey, they moved up to AAA like we’re what? We’re already doing that. Aren’t we rushing them? And I think that’s the what we do. Yeah. Right. Well, part of part of that I agree with because remember Nelson Rod didn’t have a great season in DA last year. But that’s also because he was 18 years old, right? And so he was overmatched and, you know, outwitted there. And so I was curious because a lot of people said, “Do you think he goes back down?” And I said, “You know what? I want to see him try it again.” Y at double A. And clearly it’s paid off with him being in double A this season. I think my one caveat though, Mike, is I would have liked to have seen him finish out the season at double A just so you have a large sample size of a full season’s worth of games at double A to see what he can do. But I think the caveat here is that by moving Der Guzman and Nelson Rada up to AAA, you get them against guys who could be in the major leagues or were in the major leagues. Like think about, I don’t know, Johnny Quaido, right? Like he’s he’s he’s somebody he’s not in the he’s not in the league anymore, but if if he were to be on a roster right now and he’s not starting for anybody, he would be waiting in the wings in Triple A to get called up. But in the meantime, he’s a veteran who needs to stay, you know, in baseball shape. Those are the kind of guys that they’re facing right now. So, it’s guys who have been there before or could be there right now. So, it is like a next level of competition where yeah, you you’re you’re facing young guys in double A who pitch pretty well. But if you want to get somewhat major league experience, we’re going to put you up against some guys who have been there before or on the cusp of actually getting there. Maybe they’re the sixth man in a rotation that is just waiting in the minor leagues to get the call up. So, yeah, I I I would have liked to have seen a a full year at DoubleA, but at the same time, I can understand that, hey, let’s let’s give them a little bit more competition that’s closer to what they might be experiencing in the major leagues, and I think that that’s a good move. Hey, thanks for making Lockdown Angels your first listen of the day. Make sure you’re subscribed to Locked On Angels on YouTube so you don’t miss any of this great Halo content, including the best postcast in the biz with Gavin Carlson. He’s live after every game right here on the Locked on Podcast Network where it’s your team every day. Hey, be sure you give us a follow at Lockdown Angels. Connect with Mike and I on Twitter at Instagram, Super Halo Brothers. You’re going to want to do that because what do we have on deck for tomorrow’s show, Mike? It’s a fan mail Friday, so we get to hear from you. You get to dictate the show, control the show. You can comment, you can DM us, or you can call us and leave us a 30 secondond voicemail. 714496396. love to hear from you on fan mail Friday tomorrow on Locked on Angels. Yeah, mercifully the Angels have a day off. They’re headed to Detroit Friday night. So, we’re looking forward to that series. They just got to face Terry Scooel in the first game of this year. No big deal. That’s going to be just just great. All right, friends. We hope you’ll come back and join us for Fan Mail Friday, but again, get in on the conversation. Comment on YouTube, send us a DM or a message on Instagram or Twitter, and uh we’ll do our best to get your question into the show. But until then, my name is John and that’s my brother Mike. And my name is Mike and that’s my brother John. Thanks for being here everybody and we’ll see you back here for a fan mail Friday. Look at you. You’re an Adonis. You should be swinging. He should be swinging.

What huge opportunities did the Los Angeles Angels squander against the Tampa Bay Rays? On Today’s Locked On Angels, the Super Halo Bros. give you the takeaways from the Halos’ series loss to the Rays, as Tyler Anderson struggled in his start, Bryce Teodosio adds a missing spark, and the team can’t capitalize on 2 situations where they could’ve taken the lead. Plus, will Kenley Jansen return to the Angels in 2026? And, what two prospects moved up to AAA, and are we surprised with the move? We’ll talk about it all on today’s show!

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