Angels take 3 of 4 in New York, can they continue it at home?

Jared Tims and Nate Green discuss the Yankees series and more

what is going on guys welcome back to another episode of Talking Halos i’m your host today Jared Tims and I am joined alongside my co-host my partner in crime Nate Green nate how you doing doing well good to see you how are you i’m doing too bad not doing too bad hanging in there wondering how the Angels are continuing to win games i was just thinking that no no you literally look at the lineup and it’s like there are three guys hitting in this lineup and that’s it i mean in all seriousness like they outpitched the Yankees like they really did they they they kind of outplayed the Yankees too like I thought the Yankees played okay you know but I didn’t think they were the Yankees you know i thought they I thought the Yankees played terrible i thought it was one of the worst series I’ve seen from them in a long time i mean I I I didn’t think they played horrible horrible but yes i mean again it’s not the Yankees that we know for sure um so yeah there’s that i mean one- nothing that big one- nothing win start start the uh start this uh series off then they go 4 nothing yankees just don’t score haven’t scored any runs or anything like that the weirdest thing in the world um you know then the 3-2 win angels have a chance to sweep and then you know Sunday getaway day we’re on Washington refuses to win those games um Jo jokes aside though it’s what it kind of felt like with the lineup that he put out there you know you you looked at it and it was like ooh you know we’re going to see Kevin Newman and this guy and this guy and this guy and this guy and it’s like ooh that’s not what that’s not that’s not how you win it go win a series like sometimes you got to not give guys Sundays off and I I understand that but you know try to sweep go try to sweep a series go try to sweep a series but um but that being said Angels do take three of four against the Yankees in New York hell has frozen over i’m just kidding it’s It’s not that I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s that crazy i’m just still trying to figure out how this team is continuing to win series um this this year again out pitched the Yankees for sure um tip the cap to Kyle Hendrickx who shut down a a pretty good lineup that just hadn’t been hitting um Jose Soraniano was Sorano right soraniano shut down yeah Soraniano goes out looks like looks like an all-star i’ll say that and I mean Soraniano looks unbelievable he’s striking guys out all of a sudden he’s not walking guys um yeah he he looked really good and then even Jack Jack Hanowitz looked good too which you know he was okay better than he had been let’s say that is that is that fair to say the bar is very low but yes that’s fair when you’re statistically probably one of the worst pitchers in baseball over you know a month month and a half span you got to look better at some point and I’d say he looked better than he did um in in recent starts for sure but you got anything to take away from this series anything at all hey how are how is this team winning games it’s weird to me the bullpen’s been good i’ll say that bullpin’s been good minus uh minus game four but yeah what do you got but even even in game four like they never really had a chance to win the game they took the lead early anderson gave it right back then Anderson allowed him to get it to even more and then the bullpen kind of like game was out of hand and the bullpen kind of made it a little bit worse but it may maybe if they keep it you know four five then you know maybe the Angels have a shot but the Angels it wasn’t really this was the toughest game on paper to win because this was the the best starting pitcher they all week uh was Carlos Rodon so um yeah I think timely hitting um Christian Moore gets two hits his first two hits of the year um it I don’t know it’s it’s beginning to like th this week was one of those weeks where it’s like hey they made less mistakes than the other team and it worked out for him i mean uh Vulpey looked Vulp had two I thought Vulp had two really bad um plays I would say you know he had to play a chore stop that that cost the Yankees a run which gave the Angels the 3-2 lead which gave them the win in game three um Fulpy Fulpy chased a pitch with uh Dominguez stealing fouled it off with one strike and then with two strikes Dominguez steals again and Vulpi grounds it to third and Dominguez is out of third and that you know changes that inning as well so I mean the the Yankees are not playing good baseball and I’m glad the Angels were able to win this this series three out of four and that’s what you got to do like you got to take advantage of of playing teams at the right time and you got to win games and that’s you know that’s all that really matters you know we can look at all these numbers and be like they’re hitting you know 215 as a team or whatever it is i honestly don’t know what it is but like when you look at the the numbers from the five hitter four hitter down Taylor Wards hitting 209 um and then you look at the rest of it today it was like okay uh it was just for fun it was 209 sorry Taylor Ward hitting 209 uh Darno saying 210 Adele’s 221 Kingri 143 Wade who pinch hit 162 Newman 192 uh Rangifo 218 and Moore 167 it’s like and and this team took three out of four from the Yankees and I know Darno didn’t play um you know he played one game this series i know Newman played one game this series but Rango played most of the series he’s hitting 218 um Solair’s hitting right around that 218 as as well and he played a little bit in this series oh has been awful the last month he’s hitting he’s hitting close to two 220 as well and it’s like man this this lamp is really relying on a couple guys and those couple guys have been clutch uh Shanuel’s had a a good last month and a half neto’s been carrying the team trout’s starting to hit a little bit so it it is crazy to think about how this team’s winning baseball games hey but it’s fun i’m not going to lie like Angels being close to 500 at this point definitely playing better than a lot expected um two games out of a wild card spot right now uh and probably actually now that I say two games out of a wild card spot good segue into I got a question i have some questions for you and those on YouTube can go along and play the game with us if you if you’d like to um we’ve been talking a lot about the Angels selling even though they’re two games back in the wild card because that’s what we think they should do we’ll talk about buying we’ll talk about being buyers next podcast or podcast after that um because there there is definitely a time and a place for them to be buyers to an extent um to an extent Nate don’t get upset to an extent um they do have the best prospects in baseball to be able to go by so that that is huge you you definitely could um but we’re going to play a game called keeper keeper keeper cell we we’ll go with that keeper cell um you got a list of one two three four four five eight players on the Angels right now i have a feeling that you’re going to sell every single one of them um but there’s a couple on here that I think that have multiple years of um multiple years left on their contract that you can make an argument for them keeping and a couple names we haven’t really even talked about before but you could think about selling them uh first off Tyler Anderson selling them so I I don’t think anyone wants that guy i don’t know you You don’t get anything in return for him but sell him um yeah i I I really don’t know who’s going to be looking for uh the third worst RRA in Major League Baseball a guy that’s not going to make a playoff roster nobody’s going to be looking for that guy in July but sure so if someone will take him I’ll make a a counterargument here which I know you don’t like um he’s a veteran who’s been around the game a long time um it’s somebody that if you don’t get the right asking price not even right asking price if you don’t get anything for him you keep him around just because it’s Tyler Anderson he’s been around the game for a long time and statistically he may not be helping out the rotation but as a veteran he probably is so um no we’re not going into terrible nope we’re not going we’re not going into it we’re not going into it nope don’t go anywhere be helping the rotation that’s awful okay I’m not letting you go any further into this read Demer’s read Demer keep I I’d keep him i know that um his value probably can’t get any higher than it is right now um I know that teams called about him last year um but I would keep him just because I think Taylor Blake Ward has said this a lot for the Angels to be good long term Reed Deetmer needs to be good and he’s got so much time left on his deal that it’s like and we’ve seen him have real success you know I think we’re going to talk about another guy here who’s kind of been similar to Demer but hasn’t had as much success as Demmer’s has and so I I’m I would say keep Demer and just see like hey is he a starter find that out and if he’s a if he’s a lock down reliever like that’s fine josh Hater makes a lot of money to be as good as he is so um yeah we I’d keep him even if you’re planning on drafting Liam Doyle Jamie Arnold or Kate Anderson another draft I I wouldn’t draft Liam Doyle i wouldn’t draft Jamie Arnold uh I think Kate Anderson’s a little bit different um I think I would draft Kate Anderson in that spot but he’s like the third or fourth guy I would draft on the board not He would not be the first guy I would take um I would still keep Demer just because you really don’t know like just because the Angels have done this draft and put him in the bigs in 12 minutes doesn’t mean that Doyle is going to be good when you put him in the bigs right away it doesn’t mean Anderson’s going to be good when you put him in the bigs right away all these things like it it just I would rather have a guy that you know for sure is has had major league success on this team especially when you have said the window opens next year i don’t even know if that’s true but I know that you’ve said that you can’t be like rebuilding pieces like that a guy that that has a shot to be very good for this team next year um and like I said there’s another guy that we’re going to talk about here in a second i think it’s he’s in a completely different um spot reed Demers for me if the price is right if the price is right you trade him if somebody comes and says “Hey here is three top 100 prospects.” Not saying that that’s going to happen because that’s a lot but if I hear that happens all the time yeah if the price is if the price is right because Red Dead is under contract till I believe 2029 um the the asking price has got to be skyhigh uh but you never know weird weirder things have definitely happened kenley Jansen he’s gone i would ask we don’t even need to go into that he can go i agree especially with the as the the the deal that they got um for Carlos last year so Luis Reneo same thing he’s gone there’s really nothing i agree next next three guys have a good chunk of uh not a good chunk but multiple years left on their contract with the Angels starting with Taylor Ward multiple He’s got a year and a half he’s got a year and a half multiple years that’s not a multiple that’s this year and next year multiple years that’s a year that’s a year of control but okay multiple years um year of control but it’s okay uh he can go as well i I think that there are a lot of teams that are looking for a power hitting outfield right now san Diego being one of them uh Kansas City probably is in that as well if they think they got a shot which it looks like they have a shot to be a playoff team again you never know with some injuries and things like that so I think this is the best time to sell him i do not want to get into the same spot we are with Rango where we’re like man he’s at 218 he’s got a 540 ops he’s got you know a half a year of team control and you end up getting next to nothing where at least if you sell him now you’re going to get you’re going to get something for him because teams are in need of of him i’ll say Taylor Ward a lot more success than Luis Reno in his career i would assume I not looking at stats or anything but I would assume that Taylor Ward’s been a better player than Luis Reneo in his career um yeah I think this is the year you you have you got to sell him um at some point you have you have interesting depth in the out in the corner outfield spots i’m not going to say in the outfield in general but the corner outfield spots you got a guy like Joe Dell who we’re going to talk about here in a second Jorge Slayer who we’re going to talk about right now and Mike Trout um along with others so um and including you can probably start throwing in the mix a guy like Logan O’H um so yeah I I think that this is a fantastic year to sell him and I think that there are going to be teams chomping at the bit to get him no matter the asking price last year the Angels were offered a top 100 prospect i don’t know if they turned it down i don’t know what happened but they’re offered top 100 prospect so uh teams will give them players for Taylor a Ward and players that will contribute at the major league level so um next guy Jorge Cair no you’re not selling them no um this is literally the lowest value you possibly can sell him at um and and I don’t think his contract is good i don’t think there’s a lot of people that are going to want to add you know 13 mil next year plus you know sixish mil the rest of the way i I I just don’t see you getting enough where it makes sense maybe in the off season if someone’s like “Hey we missed out on Kyle Tucker we missed out on Alex Bregman we need a hitter.” and we’re okay with a DH primary guy over a whatever he is um then I think you would sell him then but right now I just don’t see it making sense especially with as poor of a season as he’s had yeah I I I agree with you i also like him in the lineup um I know he hasn’t had a great year but I’ll I like him in the lineup next year um over certain guys um so I’ll also say keep but uh but I mean again if the asking price is right um and you can get you know a a flailing prospect uh someone who was you know a top 100 prospect Jared Clinic type of guy I’d probably do it i don’t know if that would ever happen or anything like that but you get what I’m saying um last but not least Joe Dell yeah and that was the guy that I was alluding to when talking about Reed Demmer i feel like Demmer has actually had some like actual success in the big leagues of Dallas had streaks of success where it’s like “Oh hey he’s been good for a couple weeks he’s been good for a month but he hasn’t really put together a year where you’re like “Oh wow this was a good year.” Like last year everyone’s going to point to and be like “Oh man he was good last year.” No he just set the bar so low that he he had achieved the bar that was very low he had a WRC plus of 90 which is not startable that it is what it is um I think that it’s very similar to Brandon Marsh where it’s like hey if you’re able to get something like a a young third baseman that is blocked or a young center fielder that is blocked by someone like that would make sense to me um but I I I don’t know how realistic that is i don’t know if if anyone’s like chomping at the bit to go trade for Joe Adal i know he’s been really hot for the last you know monthish month and a half um but I if if someone’s going to give you something like a Logan Alhappy and Mickey Moniac type of thing you you do that in a heartbeat yeah over his last 39 games uh and now you said month and a half 39 games he’s batten and this is not including today uh 254 341 596 with a 161 WRC plus um 12 now 13 home runs on over that span um when you look at Joe Adele’s like behind the scenes stats bat speed all that fun stuff um he is quote unquote an analytical beauty i know he’s not a great defender but if you put him in an organization that knows what to do with that I think that he becomes a very very good player and Angels fans are going to be like “Oh he could have been that with us or look at the Angels traded away Joe Adell for this.” And at that point I don’t I don’t care right now his value is just about as high as high as it probably has been since he was the top a top five prospect in baseball and the Angels were you know we were talking about trading him for so and so or trading him for you know this guy or that guy um so I don’t know if this is really a bold statement or not i’d say that the Angels trade either Joe Adell or Taylor Ward in during this trade deadline i really I really do um they almost need to as well um and we’ll talk about them buying because I think that they could sell by if that makes sense i think they could do both um and get better for the future uh I know there’s not a lot of pieces that they have but there is enough pieces where you could go get guys under control um that could contribute at the major league level down the road um so I’ll do some research into that and see what the Angels could possibly could possibly do um yeah trade T trade Joe Adel though long story short Trey Joe Adele I’d say um let’s get on to the preview here nate you are four no you were three and a half and seven on the year i am 4-7 derek is 4 and seven um we did not get anything right last week though i was the closest to getting it right so I think I deserve at least a half point for that i know close doesn’t mean anything that’s fine at least you’re here so you you might you have a chance for points so let’s uh go ahead and preview this Astro series big series for it not even being July yet um Angels need to continue to win ball games um hopefully not fall too far back in this loss column after this series but um game one you say Kikuchi against Hunter Brown at least this is what ESPN gave us why pitching matchup wise mlb didn’t have it out yet but Kikuchi versus Brown in game one what do you got yeah I love Hunter Brown i think Hunter Brown is is really really good kikuchi has been able to keep the Angels in games but the Angels haven’t really won games that Kikuchi has pitched which you know is what it is kind of tough luck uh I think the Astros win game one just because I think Hunter Brown’s a really really good pitcher yeah Hunter Brown’s working his way towards uh starting the All-Star game I’d say uh just looking at looking at stats not looking anybody else but he’s got a chance to start the All-Star game for sure um man it’s actually kind of tough cuz I think Kikuji’s been pitching pitching decently well of late um so I think this is going to kind of be one of those games where you know we’re an hour into the game and it’s the you know sixth inning and you know 1 2 3 1 2 3 type of type of game it’s going to come down to the bullpen the Angels bullpen’s been pretty good lately i’d say uh I’m going to say the Angels lose i really want I was almost talking myself into like a walk-off win but I’m going to say the Angels find a way find a way to lose this game um it’s gonna be a close game though i I really do think so i think Kikuchi’s pitching well hunter Brown is just too good i think he’s gonna shut shut the Angels down for a while might be like a three nothing game or something something like that you know so game two Jose Soraniano against Brandon Walter i’ve been going back and forth because I I was looking to see Soraniano take it take that next step against the Yankees which I thought he did um two back-toback really good starts um man Walter’s been really good for the Astros i don’t know what the heck is going on there he Brent is Walter the one that only has one walk on the air 19 strikeouts or Yeah no Walter has one walk that’s that’s the thing that’s scary is the Angels are not a walk team and they’re a big strikeout team you put those two things together walter’s in for a really good game um and and the Astros are not an easy easy lineup to go through for best team in the West i know the West isn’t good but still the best team in the West yeah uh I I think the Astros win game two as well these next two games were coin coin flips for me even a Kyle Hendricks start who I know I blasted Kyle Hendricks and then he did what he did against the Yankees but um I got it right that’s all I know what i called that start that’s all I know i I next two were coin flips for me um I’ll go the opposite way of view i I’ll say that Brandon Walter throws too many strikes the Angels kind of hit him around somehow i I one walk on the year you know he’s going to be around the zone um which is which is a good thing for the Angels so I’m gonna say the Angels win this game you had a loss right yeah i have Are you gonna have them getting swept here i’m slightly worried about that so game three Kyle Hendricks against Ryan Gusto um from a statistical standpoint pretty similar pitchers this year to be honest when you when you go look at their stats u but there’s one glaring stat that worries me a little bit so uh Kyle Hendrickx against Ryan Gustau game three what do you got i’m scared with Kyle Hendricks pitching against the Astros honestly um it’s just it’s brutal because the Astros are always the most prepared team you have to play and I thought about that too going into this that that’s what like that’s why I’m like so like honestly co game two is a coin flip for me right i went Astros just because I I felt like they’re going to be more prepared than Tyler than the Angels will be and that’s why I went Astros but I could see Soraniano going out there and throwing seven shutty again dealing they go to Zephr John in the eighth he goes uh one two three and then Jansen gets the job done in the ninth i easily could see that happening but just from how good the Astros have been at at being prepared I think the Astros sweep and it again it scares me knowing that Kyle Hendricks is starting against this team because this is a team that’s going to absolutely sit there and just be like “Hey we’re going to take away the change up.” Don’t swing at the change up we don’t care just sit there look fast ball he’s not going to beat you with anything his his breaking ball is average at best the change up is what’s going to beat you just eliminate whenever you see change up eliminate it and and go from there so that’s the scariest thing to me i think the Angels lose one uh again they get swept here which is not a fun thing to talk about but that’s it’s a tough one yeah I I I I thought about all that i have the Angels losing this game just because the exact point that I made in the last podcast where Kyle Hendricks absolutely destroyed him maybe I’m I’m going with the opposite Ju Guu here and saying that um you know I cannot cannot right like think I I can’t say that the Angels are going to win a Kyle Hendrick start um as good as he’s pitched over the past let’s say month probably three four starts three starts three starts I mean he’s it’s still scary it it it really is um it’s going to be it’s going to be one of those games where I feel like it goes back and forth and it’s probably going to be a hot day in Anaheim on Sunday Sunday afternoon uh the ball could probably fly out a little bit and you know you get a couple guys that leave a couple pitches over the plate it could be a 98 ball game or something like that um when it when it comes down to it so um I’m going to say the Angels lose this game as well just cuz I cannot cannot do it i cannot say the Angels are going to win a Kyle Hendrick start um and I hope they do i really do but um that’s just my thought on it so Nate you got any final thoughts uh how’s Jose Soraniano doing jose Suarez you mean yeah he’s not on a 40man because other teams are smarter than the Angels um he’s in TripleA pitching which is where he should be proud of you look at you just it just is what it is um good huge series for the Angels to win three out of four that’s that’s big um I know we have the Angels losing to the Astros but this this is a big series for them like this this could turn them into I I still don’t think they’re buyers even if they win this series honestly but this could make it realistic of like hey wow we’re we’re like actually in this thing i don’t This is This is one of those series though where they got to win they They can’t sit here and go “Oh we went one and two against the Astros we’re we’re for sure buyers now.” Like no no no this is a series a must-win series for you to sit there in July and be like “Hey we are good enough to be a playoff team because if you can’t if you can’t beat these teams then you’re in trouble.” After this Yankee series would have been a good time to talk about the Angels buying um so I’m hoping that the Angels win two of three against uh against the Astros so when we do talk about the angels buying if it is a on Sunday or maybe again on Wednesday Thursday next week whenever we when we podcast again um it looks a little bit better than hey the angels are getting swept oh hey we should also talk about the angels being buyers so um cuz we will we will talk about that it’s it’s worth a conversation to be had um at the end of the day so yeah um thank you all for watching and listening here at Talking Halos you can go ahead and follow us on all our social medias X Instagram Facebook you can follow myself on exjar timnate at nate green34 guys thank you so much for listening and watching have a great rest of your day [Music]