For the current players, criticizing the Los Angeles Angels is basically low-hanging fruit. The Angels exist in a state of constant disarray, so it wasn't exaclty surprising when starter Yusei Kikuchi blamed the team's overheated weight room for causing a hand issue that curtailed his final start of the season.
The weight room lacks air conditioning, and from the outside looking in, this definitely feels like minutia to at least some extent. It’s easy for fans to roll their eyes about this, but former Angels outfielder Kevin Pillar confirmed the problem in an article written by Evan Roberts of Halo Hangout.
Pillar made his anti-Angels comments on “Foul Territory,” and he didn’t mince words when he ripped owner Arte Moreno and the way he runs things.
"I believe it, I was there…,” he said. “The inner workings of the clubhouse, the weight room, the hot tub always had problems too...Arte definitely needs to spend some money and fix that internal workings of the clubhouse, the weight room, the locker room. I mean, it's a big selling point to get players and the Angels are very, very far behind from a lot of places I've been."
While Kikuchi’s comments may be a little suspect because of how unhappy he’s been lately, Pillar has no such issues. He had a 17-year career during which he established himself as one of the best defensive outfielders in the game, and Pillar played for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, and the Texas Rangers.
That’s a lot of teams, and Pillar was considered a dirt dog as a player. Some of his diving catches are borderline legendary, and he always went all out, to the point where it was a surprise when his uniform ended up clean at the end of a typical game.
Will this issue get cleaned up? Not likely. The spring training facilities did get a fix this year, but Moreno is focused on other issues right now. First and foremost is avoiding a billion dollar judgment in the Tyler Skaggs civil suit trial, and the owner actually announced the hiring of new manager Kurt Suzuki on the same day DH Mike Trout testified in the Skaggs trial to diffuse some of the bad publicity.
That’s lower than low, but it’s also vintage Arte Moreno. He’s got a serious Daniel Snyder vibe going right now, and no one wants to be mentioned in the same breath as the former owner of the Washington Commanders.