TORONTO — This is a brutal October for the Angels, and not just because they are defendants before a jury that must determine whether the team is guilty of negligence or ignorance that contributed to the death of one of its players.
On the field, baseball’s longest postseason drought extended to 11 years. They just hired their fourth manager in five years and gave him a one-year contract, which makes him a lame duck before he ever manages a game. Kevin Pillar, who played for the Angels last year, said on “Foul Territory” this week the team is “very, very far behind” in clubhouse facilities and amenities.
“It’s a big selling point to get players,” Pillar said.
In Toronto, the starting pitcher for Game 1 of the World Series Friday against the Dodgers: rookie Trey Yesavage, drafted last year from East Carolina University. The Angels, who have failed in developing pitching and have based their rebuilding strategy on drafting polished college players and rushing them to the major leagues, passed on Yesavage.
The Dodgers’ best hitter, Shohei Ohtani, offered the Angels and other teams the same $700-million, heavily-deferred deal he ultimately signed with the Dodgers. The Angels, who had employed him for the previous six years, passed on that offer.
The Blue Jays’ best hitter, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is the son of the only player who wears an Angels cap in the Hall of Fame. As the Jays advanced through the playoffs, his father was helping coach the Angels’ prospects in the instructional league.
Of course Guerrero Jr. should have been an Angel, but …
“I never had an offer,” he said here Thursday.
This is Canada, so the photograph you probably will see this week is one of father and son, simultaneously doffing their caps in the outfield at Olympic Stadium, when Guerrero played for the Montreal Expos.
Guerrero was the biggest splash in Arte Moreno’s free-agent spending spree in the winter of 2003-04, his first offseason as owner of the Angels. Guerrero Jr. was 5 when his father played his first game with Anaheim, 10 when he played his last game there.
“I remember it just because a lot of people played with my dad and told me I was running around the clubhouse,” Guerrero Jr. said, “but I don’t remember much.”
Dino Ebel does. Ebel, now a coach with the Dodgers and then a coach with the Angels, used to hit fly balls to Guerrero Jr. before games.
In Anaheim, Guerrero Jr. became friends with Ebel’s two sons. The three kids still text all the time, Ebel said, and Guerrero Jr. always goes out of his way to greet Ebel and his sons when the Blue Jays come to Los Angeles.
“So awesome to watch him grow up in a major league clubhouse,” Ebel said. “Now here we are, after he grew up watching his dad play in the big leagues, and he gets a chance to be a superstar himself.”
In 11 postseason games, Guerrero is batting .442 with six home runs, 12 runs batted in and a frankly absurd 1.440 OPS.
Ohtani leads the Dodgers with a .967 OPS in the postseason. He is batting .220 with five homers and nine RBI in 10 games.
Toronto pitcher Max Scherzer said there is one notable difference between Guerrero Jr. and his Hall of Fame father.
“Let’s just say his dad swung at a lot more pitches,” Scherzer said.
Dad never saw a pitch he did not like. He even swung at pitches that bounced. Beyond that?
“They’re similar,” Scherzer said. “They’re right-handed threats and, if you make a mistake, the ball is going to end up in the seats.”
Added Scherzer with a laugh: ‘‘It’s crazy that I can say I pitched against his dad and now I’m playing with his son. For me, it’s an awesome experience to have, to have as a notch on my belt that I’ve played with both of them.”
Guerrero is more than a slugger, even if that reputation precedes him.
“As good as he is, he’s not getting enough credit for being a well-rounded player, in terms of what he is doing defensively, what he does on the bases, all the IQ,” Scherzer said. “He’s playing some serious big league baseball right now.
“That’s the stuff that really makes me really appreciate his game, when he’s got his attention to detail, on all the little stuff. Then he can slow the game down and go do his thing at the plate.”
The Angels could use a player like that. Who couldn’t?
They did not make him an offer as a teenager because they had no reasonable chance to sign him, a circumstance entirely of their own making.
In January 2015, under general manager Jerry Dipoto, they spent $14 million in a signing bonus and tax penalties to sign infielder Roberto Baldoquin. At the time, Baldoquin was compared to fellow Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada by a prominent agent who represented neither player. As it turned out, the Angels had signed a tools-heavy player who could not play baseball very well and never made it to the majors.
The penalties for signing Baldoquin included restricting the Angels to no more than a $300,000 bonus for any other international prospects they might sign that year. In July 2015, Guerrero Jr. signed with the Blue Jays for $3.9 million.
“You could always hindsight and say, you missed a superstar,” Ebel said. “At the time, we didn’t think that.”
One other fact about 2015: It is the last time the Angels had a winning record. It has been a painful and lost decade since then, and the World Series will show the world one big reason why.
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