Mark Gubicza's LA Angels take will make you more optimistic

Recently, I interviewed Mark Gubicza and he made me feel far more positive about the LA Angels than I have in a long time.

Gubicza reiterated to me three times about how he thinks the Angels are going "in the right direction." He gave me many reasons why, but two stuck out to me the most.

The first was when Gubi brought up Perry Minasian's 2021 MLB Draft strategy, where he drafted all pitchers. All 20 picks were pitchers, proving that he was committed to strengthening the staff as much as possible through the draft. SOMEBODY has to pan out if we're taking 100% pitchers, right?

Well, Gubicza put my mind at ease on that when he told me what he's heard.

"You just need to build around the pitching staff, and Perry knows that. He communicated that with everybody for a period of time–that’s why they drafted all the pitchers they did last year. And from everybody I’ve talked to from both in the organization and outside the organization, they’re very high on the pitchers the Angels drafted in 2021…I think the team is in the right direction"

Mark Gubicza, LA Angels Color Analyst

LA Angels Bally Sports West color analyst, and former Halo Mark Gubicza sees the team on the road to success.

That's not the only reason Mark Gubicza feels this way about the LA Angels, though. He feels very confident about the bullpen's current prospects--a position group on the Halos that has a case to be underrated right now. People forget that many of the younger starters who will not make the rotation this spring certainly could make a nice impact on the bullpen.

Alas, here's what Gubicza had to say about one of our two studs in the pen:

"Bringing Iggy back was huge," said Gubicza. "I mean he had an incredible season last year, and I think he’s only going to get better. I mean, he’s a guy to give you three to six outs in a save situation."

And he certainly did have an "incredible season last year." Recording a 2.57 ERA to go along with an 0.929 WHIP and 34 saves, Iglesias confirmed that he is indeed one of the best closers in baseball.

"And you got Loup in there," said Gubicza. "I mean this team is going in the right direction because they know how important that pitching staff and the depth in their bullpen is to be successful."

Further proving that the team knows how important pitching is for the future of this club was Minasian signing seven international free agent pitchers this past weekend. He clearly knows what Anaheim needs, and is quite honestly dying for. Now the question is whether he can make a couple moves for more impact guys once (or if) this lockout finally ends.