Ron Washington, manager of the Los Angeles Angels, did not mince words regarding his team’ performance in yet another playoff-less season.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times this week, Washington stated that the franchise “forgot” to sign big-league players for the 2024 season.
“We’re going to get some baseball players who may not be superstars, but they know how to play,” Washington told the Los Angeles Times. “We forgot to add real baseball players to the organization. Nothing against those guys here, but they’re not big-league baseball players, and they certainly won’t help us win the championship.”
Washington provided a brutally honest evaluation.
The Angels’ only multi-year agreement this offseason was with relief pitcher Robert Stephenson, who signed for three years and $33 million. However, Stephenson missed the entire 2024 season due to elbow surgery on his pitching arm.
And let’s not forget the Angels’ failure to re-sign Shohei Ohtani, who signed an unprecedented 10-year, $700 million contract with crosstown rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ron Washington Tries To Walk Back Comments
However, in a separate interview with The Athletic, Washington admits he “misspoke.”
“I didn’t mean it the way it came out, where I’m saying the organization isn’t giving me big-league players,” Washington explained to The Athletic. “It’s players that have to grow into big-league players.”
Washington told The Athletic that he does not believe the Angels will spend heavily in 2024 free agency.
“When I say big-time acquisitions, I’m talking about going out and getting a pitcher that we’ve got to give $30 million to, or go and get a player, where we’ve got to give something like another contract like (Anthony) Rendon or Mike Trout,” Mr. Washington said. “That’s what I meant by that.”
Even though they were without Trout and Rendon for the majority of the season, the Angels have a youthful core to develop around in Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, and Logan O’Hoppe. According to The Athletic, the Angels have employed 64 players this season due to poor performance and injury.
With a record of 63-96, the Angels are in last place in the AL West entering Friday night. The Angels have not had a winning season since 2015, and they last made the playoffs in 2014.
