Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington didn’t mince words about how his players fared in yet another playoff-less season.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times this week, Washington claimed the franchise “forgot” to acquire big-league talent 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 LA Times. “We forgot to bring real baseball players into the organization. Nothing against those guys here, but they’re not big-league baseball players, and they certainly can’t help us win a championship.”
It was a brutally honest assessment from Washington.
The only multi-year deal the Angels handed out during the offseason was to relief pitcher Robert Stephenson — three years, $33 million. But, Stephenson missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing elbow surgery to his pitching arm.
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And lest we forget about the Angels failing to bring back Shohei Ohtani, who signed a historic 10-year, $700 million contract with crosstown-rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ron Washington Tries To Walk Back Comments
However, in a separate interview with The Athletic, Washington says 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 told The Athletic. “It’s players that have to grow into big-league players.”
Ron Washington made this notable comment to the @latimes, in a story posted yesterday.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) September 26, 2024
Today he said, "I misspoke. I didn't mean it the way it came out, where I'm saying the organization isn't giving me big league players. It's players that have to grow into big league players." pic.twitter.com/93V8VAHPUv
Washington added to The Athletic that he doesn’t think the Angels will be big spenders 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,” Washington said. “That’s what I meant by that.”
Even though they didn’t have Trout and Rendon for most of the season, the Angels do have a young core to build around in Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, and Logan O’Hoppe. The Athletic reports the Angels have used 64 players this season due to poor play and injuries.
Heading into Friday night, the Angels are in last place in the AL West with a 63-96 record. The Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015, and last reached the playoffs in 2014.