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Shaikin: Angels get a reminder about the perils of relying too much on core prospects

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Shaikin: Angels get a reminder about the perils of relying too much on core prospects

What are the Angels selling at Angel Stadium this season?

The waffles are pretty good — and, dare we say it, a bargain for ballpark food. For $12, you get a warm waffle, topped with strawberries and cream or S’Mores.

On the field, the last-place Angels are selling hope and faith, the currency of another bummer summer. Let the kids play, and hope the likes of Jo Adell, Logan O’Hoppe, Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and José Soriano blossom into the core of the Angels’ next great team.

With the Cleveland Guardians in Anaheim this weekend, the Angels need only peer into the visiting dugout for a reminder of the perils of counting on a core of prospects.

Joe Torres, the Guardians’ assistant pitching coach, was the Angels’ top draft pick in 2000. He was part of a touted core of Angels prospect two decades ago, along with infielders Casey Kotchman, Dallas McPherson and Brandon Wood and catchers Jeff Mathis and Mike Napoli.

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“As an organization, you just want to stack as many prospects as you can,” Torres said. “That’s all we are. It’s just a label, until you get to the big leagues and play.

“It’s a different animal up here. The game adapts to you. You have to find a way to adapt back, and quickly. It’s a tough game. It’s not easy. I don’t care who you are.”

In terms of prospect rankings, the Torres group ranked higher than the current group. Kotchman, Mathis, McPherson and Wood each ranked among the game’s top 25 prospects during his minor league career.

“It was a pretty talented group,” Torres said.

McPherson’s major league career was derailed by injury. Wood’s career was derailed by anxiety.

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Kotchman played for seven teams in a 10-year career. Mathis played for six teams over 17 years, a career .194 hitter cherished for his defensive wizardry.

Napoli enjoyed the best career of them all, most of it after the Angels traded him for outfielder Vernon Wells in an ill-advised and ownership-driven move. Napoli was the only one to make an All-Star team.

The 2000 draft class, to which Torres belonged, was not stellar. Of the 40 players selected in the first round, 17 never made the majors, and another 17 put up a career Wins Above Replacement below 2.0.

Torres was one of those who never made the majors. He also was one of those who was never as good after his Tommy John surgery, a reminder that no procedure has a 100% success rate.

When the Angels drafted him, Torres said, he threw as hard as 97 mph.

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After the surgery?

“I don’t even know if I saw 93 again,” he said.

The Angels released him in 2006. Over the next seven years, he played for minor league teams in eight states, and winter ball in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

He loves coaching, a second career that might never have happened if he had developed into a star.

“I think what I went through as a player,” he said, “the failures, the injuries, having been a top prospect and all, and then being on the other end of it, the grinder minor leaguer trying to find your way through it all, it felt like I had a lot of experiences and things that I could share and be able to work with players.”

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He has stories to share. Napoli set him up with his wife. He and McPherson coached a high school team together one spring in Georgia.

If he ever tires of coaching, he has an aptitude for scouting. In 2009, he was playing in the California League, for a team that wanted to make a pitcher out of one of its catchers.

“I was his first catch partner,” Torres said. “I’m older by that time, been around a little bit. I look at him and go, ‘Hey, man, I don’t think you realize how good you are. You might be in the big leagues next year. You’re that good.’ ”

Sure enough, Kenley Jansen was in the big leagues the next year.

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WNBA great rips media outlets over Angel Reese coverage after flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark: 'Nasty work'

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WNBA great rips media outlets over Angel Reese coverage after flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark: 'Nasty work'

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Swin Cash, a three-time WNBA champion and four-time WNBA All-Star, called out the media for its coverage of Angel Reese’s flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark during their matchup Sunday.

Cash wrote that some outlets were doing “nasty work” by only showing the Reese foul, despite it being the major talking point of the Indiana Fever’s win over the Chicago Sky.

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Swin Cash participates in MLK Sports Legacy Award and a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum on Jan. 14, 2018 at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

“To have the only highlight of Angel be that foul is nasty work by these outlets,” Cash, who is currently an executive with the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA, wrote on X. “U know what you’re doing while also questioning her intent is nonsense! They got it right, it was a flagrant 1 it was called by the refs & the players played on.”

Cash then offered her support for Reese and told the WNBA rookie to keep her head up.

“Smh Keep Pushin & Competing Angel,” the Basketball Hall of Famer added.

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Reese swung her arm and hit Clark in the face while trying to go for a block. The Indiana Fever star fell to the ground. The referees upgraded the foul from a common foul to a flagrant-1 after a review.

The play caused a firestorm on social media.

Angel Reese on the bench

Angel Reese, #5 of the Chicago Sky, reacts to a basket from the bench during the second half against the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 16, 2024 in Indianapolis. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

ANGEL REESE STRIKES CAITLIN CLARK IN HEAD DURING LAYUP ATTEMPT, RECEIVES FLAGRANT FOUL IN FEVER-SKY REMATCH

“I can’t control the refs, and they affected the game, obviously, a lot tonight,” Reese said after the game. “Y’all are probably going to play that clip like 20 times before Monday.”

Reese finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. The Fever won the game, 91-83.

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“I think we went up really strong a lot of times and didn’t get a lot of calls,” Reese added. “Going back and looking, I’ve seen a lot of calls that weren’t made, I guess some people get a special whistle.”

Clark downplayed the incident after the game.

Angel Reese reacts during a WNBA game

Angel Reese, #5 of the Chicago Sky, reacts after fouling Caitlin Clark, #22 of the Indiana Fever, during the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 16, 2024 in Indianapolis. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

“It is what it is, you know, she’s trying to make a play on the ball and get the block,” said Clark, who finished with 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. “I mean it happens and then those free throws when you have to shoot with nobody at the line are kind of hard. So I was just focusing on making those free throws.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hernández: Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto injuries create a Dodgers trade deadline dilemma

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Hernández: Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto injuries create a Dodgers trade deadline dilemma

They were both learning to do something they’d never done before, Mookie Betts playing shortstop full-time and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching in the major leagues.

Their respective educations were suddenly paused on Sunday.

Betts broke his left hand when he was struck by a 98-mph fastball during the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Yamamoto was placed on the injured list with a strained rotator cuff.

Manager Dave Roberts said he expected the two players to return this season, but what he neglected to mention was how unlikely they were to come back as the players the Dodgers were hoping they would be.

How can the Dodgers count on Betts to play shortstop at a championship level in October after missing the next several weeks?

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How can they rely on Yamamoto to be their No. 2 starter in the playoffs after he broke down just two months into the season?

In both cases, they can’t.

This shouldn’t cost the Dodgers the National League West — they lead the division by eight games — but if they’re serious about contending for a World Series, they’ll have to strike a couple of deals between now and the July 30 trade deadline.

Here’s the problem: There might not be any deals for them to strike.

Willy Adames?

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The Brewers are in first place and are unlikely to trade their shortstop, even though he will be a free agent this winter.

Bo Bichette?

The two-time All-Star is having the worst season of his career and the Toronto Blue Jays might only want to move him if they have a fire sale.

The pitching market is equally, if not more, uninspiring.

Corbin Burnes and Dylan Cease, the two best pitchers who were expected to be part of the market, were already traded. Burnes went from the Brewers to the Baltimore Orioles and Cease from the White Sox to the San Diego Padres.

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Luis Severino of the New York Mets and Tyler Anderson of the Angels figure to be moved in the coming months, but neither of them is considered better than the pitchers the Dodgers already have.

The Dodgers shouldn’t be looking for quantity, of which they already have plenty. They should be looking for quality.

Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws against the Royals on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Their lack of high-end pitching cost them in recent postseasons, and the $500-plus million they invested in Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow was an indirect acknowledgment of that. Yamamoto and Glasnow, however, came with major risks.

Glasnow has never made more than 21 starts in a season or pitched more than 120 innings. He made his 15th start of the season when he pitched seven scoreless innings on Sunday, the most starts he’d ever made consecutively without sustaining an injury.

There were also questions about the durability of Yamamoto, who is listed at 5-foot-10 and pitched only once a week in Japan. Yamamoto rarely threw his slider in his home country, as he believed it led to discomfort in his elbow. He didn’t throw a single slider in any of his first six starts with the Dodgers, but the higher level of competition forced him to adjust.

Yamamoto threw the pitch a season-high 13 times during a recent start against the New York Yankees in which he registered seven scoreless innings. He pushed back his next start by three days. When he finally returned to the mound on Saturday, his fastball velocity was down and he lasted only two innings.

Was the slider responsible for his injury?

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“That’s a fair question,” Roberts said.

Does he need the pitch to be effective at this level?

Considering Yamamoto relies heavily on a four-seam fastball, splitter and curveball, Roberts said, “to have something that’s hard and turns to the left, it’s certainly another weapon.”

“But there’s a balance of, if that’s something that causes discomfort, then you gotta think long and hard about it,” Roberts said.

Yamamoto will refrain from throwing for the next couple of weeks, according to Roberts.

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“We’ll kind of see where we go from there,” Roberts said.

The timeline for Betts’ return was also undefined, though Betts said he should have a better idea after a scheduled visit on Monday with hand specialist Steven Shin.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulls down his cap after Blake Treinen walks a Kansas City Royals batter.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulls down his cap after Blake Treinen walks a Kansas City Royals batter in a Dodgers loss on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Shohei Ohtani said in Japanese of watching Betts crumple to the floor after he was struck by a heater delivered by Royals right-hander Dan Altavilla: “I think it was a tough moment for the team as a whole. I think he’s an indispensable player.”

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On offense, certainly.

However, on defense, Betts remains a below average shortstop. He last played the position regularly in high school and didn’t move there this year until shortly before opening day. Betts has tried to make up for his experience by taking grounders before almost every game.

Every game Betts misses will cost him a chance to make up the ground he lost while playing right field and second base during the previous 10 years of his major league career.

“While praying for his return,” Ohtani said, “I’d like for us to cover for him as a team.”

Ohtani didn’t say this, but the responsibility to do so isn’t exclusive to the players. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the small army of assistants who make up the front office share the burden. They’ll have to find players in a down market.

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Phillies manager Rob Thomson's screaming match with umpire leads to ejection in bizarre scene

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Phillies manager Rob Thomson's screaming match with umpire leads to ejection in bizarre scene

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Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson and umpire Mike Estabrook got into a wild screaming match that resulted in an ejection on Father’s Day against the Baltimore Orioles. 

The Phillies weren’t doing well in the top of the sixth inning as the O’s held an 8-2 lead at their home, Camden Yards, and it didn’t help matters when Estabrook reversed a call initially ruled a hit-by-pitch on the Phillies’ Garrett Stubbs. He did so after conversing with his fellow umpires on the field.

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Before Estabrook reversed the call and brought Stubbs back to home plate, Thomson was already fuming about his strike zone behind home plate on the day. 

Home plate umpire Mike Estabrook ejects Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson during the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. (Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports)

When Thomson emerged from the dugout and wanted an explanation from Estabrook, that’s when things got heated. The tipping point came when Thomson, who was clearly barking at Estabrook, pointed his finger at him and just missed poking him in the chest as he yelled. 

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That resulted in Estabrook turning around fast and tossing Thomson from the game, which sent the veteran manager into a frenzy. 

But what we normally see in these moments is the manager letting off steam and the umpire simply taking it. Estabrook thought differently as he started to give it right back to Thomson in a wild scene.

Mike Estabrook throws out Rob Thomson

Home plate umpire Mike Estabrook ejects Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson during the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. (Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports)

Umpire Laz Diaz let the argument unfold a bit before stepping in and sending Thomson to the clubhouse.

After things settled down, the play was brought to a replay review, and Estabrook bringing Stubbs back to hit was the right call because the ball did not hit him.

The Phillies went on to lose, 8-3, which marked their fourth loss in the last six games.

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Rob Thomson and Mike Estabrook yell

Home plate umpire Mike Estabrook argues with Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson during the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. (Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports)

Still, the Phillies own the best record in the National League even with the loss. They’re 47-24 on the season, though they’ve been worse on the road than at home, owning a 20-14 record in away games. 

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