Outahere Sports Review » Angels

Fortuño crushes 4 HRs

cfeedback — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:22:07 +0000

Benigno Fortuño of the Portland Scrappers led his team to an 8-7 victory over the Angels on Sunday, June 13th. He’s the first player this season to hit 4 HRs in a game.

His first three bombs were all solo shots, but the last was a 2 run HR in the top of the 12th inning which was the game winning hit. Since his monster game, he’s on a 3 for 22 slide.

Teams selling, but is anyone buying?

cfeedback — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Quite a few big names in the Outahere trade market this year, with teams such as these all looking to deal MLB talent:

Kansas City is pondering a full rebuild, but are rumored to have received little interest so far.
The Chicago White Sox are already in rebuild mode, looking to deal established talent.
Cleveland is trying to shed salary as they seem to be having some budget problems.
Philadelphia has some huge names on the block, such as Shiman, Thirkell, Obata, and Kelly.
Washington is shopping three time All-Star catcher Aaron Tikaran.
Baltimore has 1B Soichiro Yagami on the block, and he’s currently second in the AL in HRs.

The question remains, is anyone looking to acquire these players? Sources throughout the league tell OSR “not likely”. Most of the teams who were looking for upgrades are set now or tapped out. Some, such as Boston and the New York Mets, went on a spending spree during the off season, and others such as the Los Angeles Angels and St. Louis Cardinals upgraded both with free agents and with some big trades.

It may be that some of these teams looking to trade talent will have to accept less than they’d like in order to get these players moved or they could end up having to release some to free agency.

Galton trade blocked by league?

cfeedback — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:49:00 +0000

Rumors have been swirling over the past few days that the proposed blockbuster trade between the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves has been blocked by the league citing concerns over the amount of talent LAA was giving up for superstar right fielder Joe Galton.

Atlanta declined to comment, citing a policy on not discussing pending deals. A spokesman for Los Angeles told OSR that they were confident any problems with the trade would be worked out.

Interview with Angels’ GM Joshjaw

MogulMonster — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:06:00 +0000

A few days ago I was able to sit down for a few minutes to talk to Angels’ GM Joshjaw on various topics:

[16:58] Rangr288: Hello Joshjaw, and thanks for taking your time to take part in an interview for the Outahere Sports Review Blog.
[16:58] joshjaw83: I’m glad to be here
[16:59] Rangr288: My first question is regarding the future of your ballclub…where do you see them three years into the future?
[16:59] joshjaw83: hopefully with a winning record.
[17:00] joshjaw83: I have a few young pitchers that will susprise some people in the future
[17:00] Rangr288: Secondly, Brian Miller – he’s emerged as a great contact hitter over the last few years. Are you happy you selected him first when the Twins were taken apart?
[17:01] joshjaw83: [Definitely], he has been everthing I had [hoped] for. He is a staple at 1B for the Angels for years to come.
[17:02] Rangr288: What about his health? Has that ever been a concern for you?
[17:03] joshjaw83: Well he had come up in some trade talks recently and another GM gave me some advice and told me to trade him, but health is a risk I’m willing to take on a team in dire need of a Superstar.
[17:04] Rangr288: What about Mike Schore? He was selected first overall in the draft by you a few years ago, and he was placed into the rotation faster than most expected. Will he be placed in the rotation again next year, despite struggles, or will he go back to AAA?
[17:05] joshjaw83: He is #2 in the rotation going into spring training. Payroll is an issue with LAA right now as we try and get a new state of the art stadium built.
[17:05] joshjaw83: So no need for pricy SPs.
[17:06] Rangr288: As I looked over your roster, I saw that the most HRs on your team was 19, by Corey Hart. Are you looking to add some power threats to your lineup to fix this hole?
[17:08] joshjaw83: Well I’m hoping that Edwin and Alex can show some power this year but this year team is about small ball and not the long ball, as why Miller and Rolland are great contact hitters.
17:08] joshjaw83: They are highly valued on this team
[17:09] Rangr288: Since you’ve taken over as GM of the Angels, you’ve rebuilt a dry farm. Most of your top prospects are pitchers – Benji Nord, Mike Schore, Jorge Suazo – you seem to have plenty of pitching for the future, now are you starting to draft more on the offensive side of things?
[17:12] joshjaw83: Well I have been fortunate with the rule 5 draft and the Twins draft to take good hitters, but I [will] always take the best player(s) for our team. And if it is a pitcher, well then I could possibly trade them for hitters.
[17:14] Rangr288: Speaking of Edwin, since you said the Angels are on a tight budget, is he and his hefty 17 million dollar contract preventing you from signing some of the FAs you’d like? Is he holding up the process of building your new stadium?
[17:16] joshjaw83: Well yes and no. Last year we set a goal and signed the FA’s we wanted and [improved] the team’s record. We just recently looked into a new stadium this past year when we saw the attendence went back up over the previous year’s disaster. So fan support is there, they just want a better place to watch the game.
[17:16] Rangr288: Thanks, Joshjaw, for taking your time with us to answer a few questions. We appreciate it, and good luck this upcoming season.
[17:17] joshjaw83: Thanks for having me. Anytime.