Insider Believes this Early Trend from Angels Could Lead to Season Downfall

It's already cost them a number of wins.

The fact of the matter with the Los Angeles Angels is that they are learning every single game. I am actually quite pleased to see how many of the new guys are finding their role just a little under the first month of the season. 

It's super easy to jump conclusions and call for certain moves to be made whenever the Halos endure a bad loss. I mean, we just Zach Neto get bumped up to the big league roster after not many minor league games and David Fletcher has now been moved down.

9-8 is by no means a terrible start for the Halos in 2023. When you take into consideration the Anthony Rendon situation that happened right off the jump, adjustments to new rules, and a Spring Training that didn't involve everyone, we all see flashes of what this team could become. However, it is the late-game errors that are scaring everyone and they were most evident during the recent Red Sox series.

The Angels have lost the first three games of the series. Mistakes and errors have cost them all three games.

It's becoming a characteristic trend.

The Angels below .500 for the first time since Opening Day.

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) April 16, 2023

Early areas that needed improvement were the bullpen and offensive production outside of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. But lately it has been unforced errors that have killed LA and resulted in numerous losses.

With this being said, The Athletic's Sam Blum believes this could come back to haunt them as the rest of the season progresses.

"There’s potential for this to be a lingering issue. Probably not as pronounced as it has been over the last week. The Angels did build their roster this offseason with offense in mind — particularly on the middle infield — over defense. A mixture of actual errors and assorted miscues have cost the Angels four games this week. It’s not likely that the Angels will be the best defensive team, but they’ll need to be better than this. Two catchers interference calls in one inning on Saturday. Three errors on the infield the day prior. That won’t cut it. But they don’t need an elite defense to be a contender this year."

(Via The Athletic)

This is definitely something they should look to put behind them now.