Los Angeles Times - 01.08.2019

L ATIMES.COM/SPORTS THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019D3

The Angels have made in-

cremental moves all sum-

mer, adding relief depth on

the peripheries of their ros-

ter and acquiring two catch-

ers in Anthony Bemboom

and Josh Thole, who are at

tripleA. They did not devi-

ate from that humdrum

norm ahead of Wednesday’s

trade deadline, acquiring

catcher Max Stassi from the

Houston Astros for minor

league outfielders Rainier

Rivas and Raider Uceta.

The transaction did not

fill the void in the Angels’

starting rotation, a need

that became even more ap-

parent when rookie Jose

Suarez lasted only 4^1 ⁄ 3 in-

nings in a 9-1 loss to the De-

troit Tigers at Angel Sta-

dium.

It wasn’t for lack of try-

ing. The Angels were aggres-

sive in pursuing pitchers

with multiple years of con-

trol. General manager Billy

Eppler said the team assem-

bled a few packages of play-

ers they believed provided

enough value in return for

them, but none were ac-

cepted.

He attributed part of his

team’s lack of success in the

market to the short supply

of available starters. The

number of National League

teams jockeying for playoff

positioning drove up the

price and effectively elimi-

nated the Angels from con-

sideration.

“We were open to mov-

ing” prospects, Eppler said.

“Just about every one of

them, but one, was talked

about in some form or an-

other.”

In a way, the Angels elimi-

nated themselves from con-

tention in a tough market.

They started the month 12-6.

They gained ground in the

wild-card race in the wake of

Tyler Skaggs’ death on July 1

by sweeping the last-place

Seattle Mariners, splitting a

four-game series with the

Astros and taking two from

the Dodgers a week ago.

With the lowly Baltimore

Orioles and Tigers awaiting

them at home, making big-

ger strides in the wild-card

picture seemed inevitable.

They instead went 2-5

against the Orioles and Ti-

gers, falling to six games be-

hind the Oakland Athletics

in the wild-card race after

their loss Wednesday.

The playoffs all but out of

reach, the Angels were con-

servative with their moves.

Their rotation for 2020

should feature youngsters

Griffin Canning, Suarez and

Jaime Barria as well as pre-

sumed No. 1 starter Shohei

Ohtani and left-hander An-

drew Heaney. They could

count on prospects Luis Ma-

dero and Patrick Sandoval

for depth. A winter acquisi-

tion, such as pending free

agent and Orange County

native Gerrit Cole, could

push them into contention.

“The circumstances

played out how they played

out,” Eppler said. “We are

not going to make short-

sighted or impulsive deci-

sions.”

So the Angels settled for

an alternative. Stassi could

be a key piece for the Angels

in the future. He is not eligi-

ble for free agency until after

the 2022 season. Plus, he’s af-

fordable, making just above

the league minimum. He is

not arbitration-eligible until

next season.

The move shores up a po-

sition of weakness for the

Angels. Jack Kruger, their

best catching prospect, has

not played above double A

since being drafted in 2016.

After struggling to hit at the

beginning of the season,

Kruger fell in Baseball

America’s rankings and was

named the Angels’ 22nd-

best minor leaguer at their

midseason review.

Scouts have praised Kru-

ger for his pitch-calling as

well as his receiving and

blocking abilities. But they

have knocked his arm

strength. With him behind

the plate, pitchers in the An-

gels organization have al-

lowed 258 stolen bases

throughout his 235 games.

Kruger has, however, thrown

out about 25% of base steal-

ers in his career, which is just

below the major league aver-

age.

Relying on Stassi, a Yuba

City native, makes for a solid

contingency plan as they

wait for Kruger to develop.

He was drafted by the Oak-

land Athletics in the fourth

round in 2009 and made his

way into the Astros organi-

zation following significant

injuries that kept him to 315

games through his first four

full professional seasons. Di-

minished playing time did

not deter the Astros from

calling up Stassi in late 2013

or from shuttling him back

and forth from triple A from

2014 to 2017.

Once out of options,

Stassi served as backup. He

batted only .226 with a .710

on-base-plus-slugging per-

centage in 88 games last year

and .167 with a .446 OPS in 33

games this year. His defen-

sive value transcended the

issues with his bat, though.

He has always been a solid

receiver. Despite being side-

lined for a month because of

aknee injury, Stassi’s 7.2

framing runs added ranks

ninth in baseball this year.

Stassi, 28, became ex-

pendable when the Astros

traded for former Angels

catcher Martin Maldonado

on Wednesday. Houston ac-

quired Maldonado last July

too. Maldonado became a

free agent, signed with the

Kansas City Royals during

spring training and was

traded to the Chicago Cubs

last month.

Since Stassi can’t go to

the minor leagues, the An-

gels must make a move on

their active roster to accom-

modate him.

Before the trade, they

designated catcher Dustin

Garneau for assignment

Wednesday so they could re-

instate veteran Jonathan

Lucroy from the injured list

in time for him to catch the

Angels’ series finale with the

Tigers at Angel Stadium.

Angels don’t address

big issue at deadline

They get a catcher in

Stassi, but no moves

are made to improve

starting rotation.

DETROIT 9

ANGELS 1

By Maria Torres

MAX STASSIbatted

.167 in 33 games this

season for the Astros.

Jeff RobersonAssociated Press

In Wednesday’s 9-1 loss to
the Detroit Tigers, Angels
rookie starter Jose Suarez
fought command of his
changeup like he never had
before.
He threw his signature
pitch 27 times and hardly got
bites. One batter swung
through it, four others
fouled it off. The offering was
called a ball 15 times.
“I’ve never really not had
my changeup like that,” he
said in Spanish. “But today
it didn’t work and I felt un-
comfortable.”
The problem derailed
Suarez’s outing. After get-
ting through two scoreless
innings withminimal issue,
he stalled in the third. A
leadoff homer and an RBI
single put the Angels in a2-0
hole they could not climb out
of as Detroit’s pitchers held
them to five hits.
Suarez loaded the bases
with one out in the fifth, and
was replaced by Trevor

Cahill. Two more runs

scored on another single,

but Cahill prevented

Suarez’s line being further

damaged.

Suarez fell back on his

mid-70s curveball. The

breaking pitch, which he’s

worked to establish since

signing with the Angels as a

teenager in 2014, netted him

six of his 12 called strikes. It

wasn’t enough to get him

through five innings.

“I have to attack the

strike zone,” he said. “Today

I was out of control. I didn’t

feel good, didn’t feel 100%.

Tried to fight and keep com-

peting. I just gotta keep

working.”

Suarez was not able to

complete five innings in any

of his five starts in July. He

lasted 4^1 ⁄ 3 innings in his third

consecutive outing, under-

scoring the ineffectiveness

of the starting rotation. The

Angels failed to address that

weakness at the trade dead-

line, choosing instead to rely

on their pitchers to improve.

“We gotta throw strikes,

we gotta be able to throw off

speed for strikes in the

zone,” catcher Jonathan

Lucroysaid. “If you can’t do

that, you’re gonna have trou-

ble at the major league level

getting hitters out.”

Short hops

Mike Troutprovided the

Angels’ only offense when he

launched a towering home

run 405 feet to center field in

the sixth inning. The blast,

which reached a remarkable

height of 159 feet, was Trout’s

13th of the month. It set a

franchise record for July and

he became the first major

leaguer with 13 homers in

July since Hideki Matsuiin

2007. As the calendar turns
      to August, Trout leads the
      American League with 35
      home runs and 86 RBIs. ....
      Reliever Luis Garciagave
      up five runs in the eighth
      inning. It was his worst out-
      ing in a rocky debut season
      with the Angels. The 32-
      year-old has given up eight
      earned runs in his last
      51 ⁄ 3 innings.

STARTER JOSE SUAREZthrew his signature changeup 27 times in the Angels’
9-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, with the pitch called a ball 15 times.

Alex GallardoAssociated Press

ANGELS REPORT

Suarez struggles with command

By Maria Torres

Wave after wave of defen-
sive linemen lunged at a
blocking sled, pounding the
blue foam cushion with one
hand and then another. The
thudding was accompanied
by a gruff voice.
“Watch your stride,”
UCLA defensive coordina-
tor Jerry Azzinaro in-
structed the players before
nodding his approval at
their attentiveness. “That’s
good. There you go.”
Across the field, coach
Chip Kelly twirled a whistle
around his hand as he ob-
served a drill. Players scur-
ried from one practice sta-
tion to another. Whistles
continually blew.
The Bruins were a blur of
activity Wednesday as they
opened training camp on a
warm, overcast morning.
Hip-hop blared over loud-
speakers but it was as if the
players moved to their own
internal soundtrack, vigor-
ously thrusting their bodies
into foam cushions and one
another.
It was a first glimpse at
the 2019 Bruins, and a brief
one. Practice access to re-
porters was limited to 30
minutes of stretching, walk-
throughs and light drills.
Players were not made avail-
able to speak with reporters
afterward because of
UCLA’s final exam schedule
for summer school.
Coaches confined their
talking to giving pointers.
“A little wider,” inside

linebackers coach Don Pel-

lum told linebacker Shea

Pitts after observing his

stance as Pitts held a block-

ing cushion at the line of

scrimmage.

For the returning players,

the routine seemed, well,

routine. Kelly said last week

at Pac-12 Conference media

day that the Bruins would

benefit from an increased fa-

miliarity heading into his

second season.

“You don’t have to ex-

plain why we’re meeting at

this time or why we’re doing

this or why we’re doing

that,” Kelly said. “You can

rely on the older guys to

make sure the younger guys

understand it, so it’s huge.”

Senior linebacker

Keisean Lucier-South had

to deliver his input Wednes-

day while wearing shorts

and a hoodie. He will sit out

training camp and at least

the season’s first three

games while addressing aca-

demic shortcomings, but he

provided encouragement by

clapping as his teammates

completed a drill.

The practice was the first

in nearly a year for senior

linebacker Josh Woods, who

sat out last season and was

limited in the spring after

suffering a knee injury in

training camp.

Receivers Theo Howard

and Dymond Lee were the

only players wearing yellow

jerseys to signify they were

recovering from injuries.

Howard wore a cast on his

right forearm and Lee is still

rounding into form after be-

ing limited in spring practice

because of an ankle injury.

The group of quarter-

backs had doubled in size

since the end of spring prac-

tices, with presumed starter

Dorian Thompson-Rob-

inson and backups Austin

Burton and Chase Griffin

joined by newcomers Colson

Yankoff, Blake Kirshner and

Chase Artopoeus.

Thompson-Robinson,

who recently said he in-

tended to run more this sea-

son, appeared agile as he

rolled out and threw a tight

spiral.

The biggest body make-

over might have belonged to

defensive lineman Atonio

Mafi. He looked noticeably

slimmer and quicker than he

did in spring practices, ap-

parently having made fewer

trips to his favorite fast-food

restaurant in recent

months. Kelly recently said

that Mafi weighed about 360

pounds after reporting to

school last year at well over

400 pounds.

Coming off a 3-9 season

that gave the Bruins their

fewest victories in 30 years,

the team is embarking on its

own transformation. Kelly

said last week that he al-

ready has seen meaningful

changes.

“We’re getting more con-

sistent work on a daily basis

from our guys, and that’s

what’s going to pay off,” Kelly

said. “You can’t have really,

really highs and really, really

lows; it can’t be like this. It

has to be a slow, steady pace

and focus and concentrate

on what you’ve got to do that

day. But I think the players

we have now understand

that.”

UCLA DEFENSIVE LINEMANOsa Odighizuwa, center, and linebacker Lokeni

Toailoa, right, go through drills during the first day of practice.

Gary CoronadoLos Angeles Times

Bruins

are hoping

familiarity

matters

They open camp in

second season under

Kelly, looking to turn

around their fortunes.

By Ben Bolch

Last year’s USC-UCLA

game in mid-November drew

57,116 people to the Rose Bowl,

the smallest crowd for the

crosstown game since 1950.

Those who made the trek

to the foothills of the San

Gabriel Mountains must have

been determined to honor

tradition in the face of mount-

ing evidence there was prob-

ably something better to do

with their Saturday.

We all know what hap-

pened in 2018. UCLA, which

upended USC’s season and

helped keep the Trojans from

bowl eligibility with a 34-27

victory, finished with three

victories in Chip Kelly’s first

season.

USC finished 5-7, but its

first losing season since 2000

wasn’t enough to usher in a

new era at McKay Center.

There’s no reason to take

apart the wreckage of Los

Angeles’ collective disaster

any further, but it does raise

the question:

In 2019, will there be any

reason to care about college

football in this city in Novem-

ber? Or even October?

If USC and UCLA don’t

get things moving in the right

direction soon, they risk

looking up in a few years and

L.A. being a full-fledged NFL

town, focusing its football

energy on Sunday and leaving

Saturday clear for brunches,

scenic hikes and the like.

Not long ago, USC prided

itself on functioning as the

city’s pro football team, filling

the void of having no NFL

presence. But the Rams are

back and coming off a Super

Bowl berth. Nobody knows

that more than the Trojans,

who have shared the Colise-

um with their temporary

tenants until the Rams make

a permanent home in Ingle-

wood.

Here’s the bad news this

fall: USC and UCLA’s sched-

ules do them no favors.

The Trojans welcome

Stanford and Pac-12 Confer-

ence favorite Utah to the

Coliseum, and travel to

Brigham Young in the first

four games. Even if they start

4-0, perilous trips to Washing-

ton and Notre Dame loom.

A 4-2 start would give

them a shot at a Pac-12 title

and national relevance

down the stretch, but at that

point, many USC fans would

be fine with a few more losses

to push Clay Helton out the

door.

The Bruins’ schedule

makers are not aiding Kelly’s

rebuilding effort. With a

nonconference slate of at

Cincinnati, San Diego State

and Oklahoma, and games at

Washington State and at

Arizona to begin Pac-12 play, a

3-2 start would feel like a

monumental accomplish-

ment. It’s just as likely the

Bruins stumble out of the

gate at 1-4 a year after starting

0-5.

UCLA could be vastly

improved and still not get into

a bowl game with this setup.

Bruins fans need to keep

perspective and trust their

eyes rather than what the

record says this fall.

The same could be said for

USC, but there will be no

patience left for Helton after

last season.

If this year’s USC-UCLA

attendance Nov. 23 at the

Coliseum eclipses last year’s

number, it could be a sign

that something has been

restored for at least one of

these programs in 2019.

24 DAYS

TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Leading up to the opening games of the season on Aug. 24,

The Times each day will examine the top story lines for 2019

all the way up to the kickoff.

Will USC and UCLA have

anything to cheer about?

By J. Brady McCollough