Ron Washington Clarifies Comments Saying Angels Don't Have 'Big-League Players'

In a year dominated by the futility of the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Angels have quietly been laying an egg of their own.

On Thursday, the Angels took a 7–0 shutout loss to the White Sox—their 96th of the season. That made this Los Angeles team the losingest in franchise history, breaking a tie with the 1968 and 1980 outfits.

The same day, ironically, Angels manager Ron Washington reversed course on comments earlier in the week where he said the team lacked "big-league players."

"I misspoke," Washington said via Sam Blum of The Athletic. "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."

Ron Washington made this notable comment to the @latimes, in a story posted yesterday.

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
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) September 26, 2024

Washington made his controversial comment Wednesday to Anthony De Leon of The Los Angeles Times.

"We're going to get some baseball players who may not be superstars, but they know how to play," he said. "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."

Whether one finds Washington's comments perceptive or indelicate, it's clear something needs to change as Orange County searches for its first playoff team since 2014.