Why Angels manager Ron Washington thinks ‘things can go way better than you think’
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TEMPE, Ariz. — His team lost 99 games last year, hasn’t made the playoffs in a decade, and before a pitch was thrown the owner said the Angels would lose “$50 [million] to $60 million, minimum” this season.
Still, manager Ron Washington says he’s optimistic.
“This is the greatest time of the year,” Washington said Thursday, sitting in a golf cart as his players loosened up in the mid-morning Arizona sun. “Spring training. You’ve got a chance to prepare. You’ve got a chance to get your skill set right. You’ve got a chance to come to the ballpark and work.”
And, he might have added, even the lowliest teams believe they have a chance to win.
Much like Lee Smith mentored Troy Percival decades ago, the Angels hope Kenley Jansen can teach hard-throwing reliever Ben Joyce a thing or two.
Spring is the season of renewal and rebirth, of new beginnings and new hopes. That’s especially true in baseball. The Angels may have lost 99 games last year, but they’ll start this one unbeaten.
“It’s always important to have a reset. And that’s what spring training is,” Washington said. “We’ve got a group that’s been impressive as far as going about their business. We’ve got a group that can execute things a lot better than the year before.”
Washington, a baseball lifer, still is perpetually upbeat, having spent 55 of his 72 years in the game. And in that time he’s seen a lot.
In Texas, he took a Rangers team that lost 87 games to consecutive World Series appearances three years later. As a coach in Atlanta, he watched the Braves lose 90 games, then win 90 the next season.
Things like that have happened before and can happen again. But if spring is all about that kind of optimism, when the season starts you need to back that hope with performance.
“You know you can talk,” Washington said, “but you’ve just got to walk the walk. In the game of baseball, it’s always about: What have you done for me lately?”
Catcher Logan O’Hoppe agrees.
“Everyone always loves a clean slate,” he said. “But we can’t win opening day today. We can’t win the division today. We can’t win a ring today.”
However, the Angels can imagine doing all those things. And O’Hoppe, who has yet to play on a winning team in three big-league seasons, says that’s the mindset in the clubhouse.
“We’re pretty present in this room,” he said. “Right now is my favorite time of year. A tough year last year brought us all closer. I learned a lot of lessons from last year.
“But I don’t ever want to go through it again.”
Still, Washington said, forgetting last year, when the Angels set a team record for losses — or even the last nine seasons, all of which ended with the Angels posting a losing record — wouldn’t be helpful.
“Last season does matter [so] that you don’t fall into where things didn’t go right,” he said. “That’s what you’ve got to prevent. And that’s the only reason it matters.”
A lot of things will have to go right if the Angels are to avoid a repeat. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, signed as a free agent in November, will have to solidify a starting rotation that had the worst earnmed-run average in the American League. Offensively, the team was third worst in the majors in runs and batting average and 27th in slugging percentage.
The most important person in turning it around may be Mike Frostad, the Angels’ head athletic trainer and the man responsible for keeping Mike Trout healthy. Trout, 33, a three-time most valuable player, played a career-low 29 games last season and has averaged fewer than 64 games over the last five. The Angels’ offense has sputtered as a result, despite young players such as O’Hoppe, shortstop Zach Neto and first baseman Nolan Schanuel showing promise.
“We need our core to stay healthy,” said Washington, who wasn’t including himself in that statement despite missing the last three days because of flu-like symptoms.
Angels manager Ron Washington names left-hander Yusei Kikuchi as the team’s opening day starter. The Angels open the season against the White Sox in Chicago on March 27.
“You know that means Mike,” he continued. “[But] that means [Jorge] Soler staying healthy. That means Taylor Ward staying healthy. That means O’Hoppe, Neto, Schanuel, [Jo] Adell. And if those guys do that, then, OK, we’re going to be able to help our pitching staff on the offensive side score more runs, we’re gonna be much more solid on the defensive end because of the professionals we have out there. That will equate to some extra wins.
“Now to put an amount on it, I don’t know. Sometimes things can go way better than you think.”
Or they could go way worse. All Washington knows for certain is the Angels will start the season with the same record as everyone else. And two weeks into spring training, he’s still optimistic this year will be better than the last one.
