This hasn't been a banner year for the Los Angeles Angels. They have extended the longest playoff drought in Major League Baseball and have clinched their ninth straight losing season. They are going to finish last for the first time since 1999 and their next loss will set a franchise record (their 95 losses right now tie the 1968 and 1980 Angels).
Manager Ron Washington is in his first year on the job with the ballclub and he's shown frustration at several points in the season. The latest one certainly wasn't a good look, as he offered up the following assessment to the LA Times earlier in the week:
"We're going to get some baseball players who may not be superstars, but they know how to play," he said. "We forgot to bring real baseball players into the organization. Nothing against those guys here, but they're not big-league baseball players and they certainly can't help us win a championship."
Not only is that a shot across the bow of the young players on the team Washington is tasked with bringing along, but it also sounds like he's speaking ill of the front office that hired him.
He tried to clarify a bit on Thursday to Sam Blum of The Athletic.
"I misspoke," Washington said. "I didn't mean it the way it came out, where I'm saying the organization isn't giving me big-league players. It's players that have to grow into big-league players."
The Angels have two very high-priced veterans, of course. Mike Trout only played in 29 games this year while Anthony Rendon appeared in 57. A lot of heavy lifting, then, was expected from younger players like Logan O'Hoppe, Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto and Jo Adell from the position-player pool alone. Those players are all age 25 or younger this season. There are several young pitchers as well.
Things have gotten worse for the Angels in the second half. They had a winning record in July and headed to August 47-61. So far in August and September, they've gone 16-34.
