Tag Archives: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

October 22, 2025

Angels Tap Suzuki

ESPN reports the Angels hired former catcher Kurt Suzuki to manage the team:

Suzuki spent his last two seasons, 2021 and 2022, as a backup catcher with the Angels and drew rave reviews for his handling of the pitching staff. He now becomes the organization’s fifth manager since Mike Scioscia ended a 19-year run in 2018, following Brad Ausmus, Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin and Washington.
ESPN.com

The article implies that LAnaheim possesses a decent offensive core and that the pitching side needs the work. The did end the season with 5.17 runs allowed per game, the highest in the AL. They only scored 4.15 runs per game, twelfth in the AL. Both sides of the game need to improve by half a run per game just to get the team to .500.

Note that his reputation as a good handler of pitchers is not corroborated by hits numbers. Except for a brief time early in his career, his defensive number tend to be negative. It looks like he was a poor pitch framer, for example. It’s quite possible he was a good strategist, calling a good game. If that’s true, he might be a good choice to turn around a team.

As a hitter, his strength was putting the ball in play. Note that he did not put the ball in play with authority, so he had get wood on the ball a lot to make up for his .270 BABIP. He does know the team, having worked in the Angels front office since he left the playing field.

September 30, 2025

Two More Vacancies

The Rangers and Bruce Bochy agreed to part ways:

“Bruce Bochy is one of the greatest managers in baseball history, and he will forever hold a place in the hearts of Ranger fans after bringing home the first World Series title in franchise history in 2023,” said Young, then their general manager and now the Rangers’ president of baseball operations. “Boch brought class and respect to our club in his return to the dugout, and we will always take pride in being part of his Hall of Fame career.”
ESPN.com

It seems he only had one miracle in him for Texas. It’s possible the Giants bring Bochy back with Bob Melvin gone.

The Angels decided to move on from Ron Washington:

Ron Washington, who missed the majority of the 2025 season after undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery, will not be returning as manager of the Los Angeles Angels in 2026, a source confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

Interim manager Ray Montgomery also will not get the full-time manager role in 2026, a source confirmed to ESPN, as the Angels will search for their sixth manager in nine years.
ESPN.com

I’m old enough to remember when the Yankees were a laughing stock for their constant managerial changes.

August 29, 2025

Javier No-No

Cristian Javier of the Astros just completed six hitless innings against the Angels. He walked three and stuck out six so far, throwing 85 pitches. While the Astros have five hits, they have not scored, as both sides are throwing shutouts.

Update: The Astros do not score in the bottom of the sixth inning. Enyel De Los Santos comes on in relief and gives up a double to Yoan Moncada.

August 25, 2025

Washington’s 495

Angels manager Ron Washington underwent quadruple hear bypass surgery eight weeks ago:

He made the announcement while visiting the Angels for the first time since the operation eight weeks ago in California. He is not returning to manage this season, but he hopes to have that opportunity next year.
ESPN.

I’m glad the surgery went well and hope his recovery continues the same way.

June 28, 2025

Washington Rests

An illness put Angels manager Ron Washington on the sidelines for the rest of the 2025 season:

Washington, in his second year managing the Angels, experienced shortness of breath and appeared fatigued near the end of the team’s four-game series at Yankee Stadium, which ended June 19. He underwent a series of tests upon returning to Southern California the following day and was placed on leave for the weekend series against the Houston Astros.

Washington was still a notable presence in the ballpark then. The broadcast cameras caught him eating chicken wings from one of the Angel Stadium suites during last Friday night’s game, delighting social media. On Sunday morning, he was on the field for pregame workouts and spoke optimistically about his chances of returning. But further testing prompted the team to extend his leave through the next three-plus months of the season.
ESPN.com

Here’s wishing Washington a speedy recovery.

June 17, 2025

29 Innings

The Angels beat the Yankees 4-0, as New York’s offense is shutout for the third game in a row, a total of 29 innings without a run. In the three games they struck out 33 times with eight walks and 17 hits, only one of those coming with runners in scoring position.

Giancarlo Stanton picked up two more hits tonight and is hitting .500 in his first two games. One would have thought that performance would have lifted an already great offense higher.

Kyle Hendricks pitched six shutout innings, lowering his ERA to a still high 4.79. The Angels bullpen did not allow a hit.

April 10, 2025

Trout Season

Mike Trout of the Angels came into today’s action against the Rays looking more like Ken Phelps than of the greatest hitters in the game. He owned a .179/.320/.436 slash line, He drew walks and hit for power, but little else.

Thursday, the more traditional Trout emerged. He went two for five with two home runs, driving in three as the Angels take the game 11-1. The Angels go to and 8-4 record on the season without Trout hitting at his best. He’s up to .205/.327/.568, still Phelps like, but a few more two hit games could change that. A return of the .300/.400/.500 Trout gives this lineup plenty of upside.

April 2, 2025

Backstop Pop

Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera showed terrific on-base skills in 2024, collecting hits and walks. That allowed St. Louis to move Willson Contreras to the field and keep two good bats in the lineup. With three home runs in the 12-5 win over the Angels Wednesday afternoon, Herrera added a new wrinkle to his game. He hit five home runs in 72 games during the 2024 season, so three in one game puts him well ahead of his previous year pace. The big game left him with a .467/.529/1.200 slash line for the season

March 27, 2025

White Sox In First Place

The White Sox beat the Angles 8-1 on opening day. Chicago did not spend a day at or above .500 in 2024. Sean Burke gave them an excellent start, allowing just three hits in six innings. Five of Chicago’s nine hits went for extra bases. Overall, everything worked.

I believe this officially makes the Angels the worst team in baseball.

March 26, 2025

Division Preview, 2025 AL West

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The division previews finish with the AL West. To help with evaluations, a crude runs created per game is calculated from Musings Marcels projections for both batters and pitchers. I then average these for the core of the team. The nine position players, the five starting pitchers, and the closer. I weight the pitchers as 90% starters, 10% closer. The selection of players comes from the FanGraphs Roster Resource.

The bottom line is a Core Winning Percentage based on the RC/G of the core batters and core pitchers using the Pythagorean method. You can see the spreadsheet with the data here.

Note that the core winning percentage (CWP) is going to be high, often the core is going to be over .500. We are basically looking at the best players on the team. Don’t take that as a prediction of team winning percentage, take it as a way to compare teams in a division.

Houston Astros

Position Player RC/G Average: 5.44
Pitcher RC/G Average: 4.21
Core Winning Percentage: .625

The offensive core of the Astros projects to the highest RC/G at 5.44. Two big departures hurt the team a bit. Issac Paredes doesn’t quite fill Alex Bregman‘s shoes offensively. Cam Smith replaces Kyle Tucker, Smith making the team after a very brief career in the minors. Smith offers a great deal of upside, however. At 22, he was old for the low minors and smashed the ball there. He posted great spring training numbers, and is the source of upside for the Astros lineup. If he works out, the Tucker trade will turn out to be successful, as the Astros save themselves a lot of money for similar production.

Yordan Alvarez, the Astros DH, projects as the best hitter in the division at 8.82 RC/G. Note that this is a division with a number of designated hitters who can actually hit well. The move of Jose Altuve to leftfield, however, weakens the Astros up the middle, giving them just the second best RC/G there, mostly driven by Yainer Diaz at 5.45 RC/G as a catcher. The change from Martin Maldonado to Diaz turned an offensive weakness into a strength, and the pitching staff still performs well.

The pitchings, however, doesn’t look quite as strong as in the past. They have a whole rotation on the illjured list, and one of two of the elbow problems might resolve during the season. Until then, Framber Valdez remains a solid ace, and everyone else is good enough to win with the Astros offense.

All the pieces are there for another run at the division title.

Seattle Mariners

Position Player RC/G Average: 4.96
Pitcher RC/G Average: 3.78
Core Winning Percentage: .633

The Mariners rate ahead of the Astros in Core Winning Percentage thanks to their pitching. Note that this is a very strong pitching division, with the Mariners not only top in the division at 3.78 RC/G, but the best in the majors.

It is unusual for a team in these projections to have two starting pitchers under 4.0 RC/G, but the Mariners sport three. Their fourth starter by this ranking is Luis Castillo at 4.11. This rotation to a man does not walk batters. Their strike out rates are good, but they still need a good defense behind them. There is no clear superstar ace, but all will keep the team in the game. On top of that Andres Munoz projects as the most effective closer in the division.

On offense, none of the core project to superstardom, but no one is terrible. Julio Rodriguez offers upside, as 2024 turned out to be an off-year for him in terms of power. He will play 2025 as a 24-year-old, not yet in his prime, so it’s possible to see a huge improvement from him. The core is already the best in the division up the middle, and Rodriguez could put them way ahead of the pack. The team is already looking like the best in the division, and a superstar season from Rodriguez could push them past the Astros.

Texas Rangers

Position Player RC/G Average: 5.14
Pitcher RC/G Average: 4.39
Core Winning Percentage: .578

Jacob deGrom projects as the best starter in the division at 3.49 RC/G. Note that over the last three season, deGrom faced only about 400 batters, so his Marcels are highly regressed to the league average. He is capable of pitching much better than that projection. If deGrom stays healthy for the whole season, the Rangers might go 23-10 in his starts. Going a bit over .500 in the rest of their games puts them in playoff contention. Given there is plenty of upside in youngster Kumar Rocker, that scenario is quite doable. deGrom staying healthy is a big if, however.

Corey Seager appears to have made a deal with the devil, as he projects to 6.66 RC/G. Joc Pederson at DH gives them two 6 RC/G hitters. Wyatt Langford, at seasonal age 23, has some upside as well.

There is also the Evan Carter unknown. Carter played poorly in spring training after an autoimmune disease hurt his back in 2024. If he can regain his swing and return to the majors at full force, the offense may be more in line with the Astros.

The upside in Texas is good, but too many things need to go right in order to get them to the top of the division.

Oakland Athletics

Position Player RC/G Average: 4.76
Pitcher RC/G Average: 4.48
Core Winning Percentage: .530

Did you know there was another Max Muncy? The Athletics drafted the original in 2012, but did not get him to realize his potential, and he went on to a great career with the Dodgers. The new Max Muncy made the opening day roster at second base. Both players were born on Aug 25th, but the way.

The Athletics Muncy did a fantastic job of getting on base in the minors. The projection for him is league average of 4.71 RC/G, but there is plenty of upside there. There are no poor offensive projections in the core, but only Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker project to be good.

The pitching side is very similar. Only Jeffrey Springs projects to be good. I suspect there is upside to Severino’s 4.97 projection, as his poor 2023 still lingers in the background. Mason Miller looks like a solid closer.

Not a bad team, not a great team. The non-core players likely pull the team below .500. I expect some improvement, but the team in Sacramento is more likely to finish last than first.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Position Player RC/G Average: 5.08
Pitcher RC/G Average: 4.63
Core Winning Percentage: .546

I never seem to know where the Angels are going. They project to be better than the Athletics by a smidgen, but another injury to Mike Trout and that probably doesn’t happen.

The offense ranks third in the division, but the pitching is last. I don’t see much upside on either side of the ball. Most of the acquisitions were older, so they are unlikely to improve. If everything goes right, they should improve over the last place finish in 2024, but things seldom go right in Anaheim anymore. I’m not optimistic.

Predictions

Here is how I see the probabilities of the teams winning the division.

Seattle Mariners 40%
Houston Astros 35%
Texas Rangers 20%
LAA Angels 3%
Athletics 2%

This looks like a great two-way race between the Mariners and the Astros. Seattle looks a little stronger and Houston a little weaker, so maybe this is the season for the Mariners. Don’t count out the Rangers, as there is plenty of upside to that team if things break right.

Both the Athletics and the Angels look better than in 2024. Overall this is the division if you like pitching, so if that plays well outside the AL West, we could be looking a five teams with good records at the end of the season.

March 25, 2025

Straight to the Majors

ESPN reports that relief pitcher Ryan Johnson of the Angels will make the opening day roster without a game in the minors:

Johnson will be only the third player since 2001 to play in the big leagues without a minor league appearance, joining Crochet and right-hander Mike Leake (2010). Since the implementation of the draft in 1965, only 23 players before Johnson have been moved straight to the big leagues.
ESPN.com

The 1965 date is significant, as before that the Bonus Baby rules were in effect. In order to keep the Yankees from signing all the good amateur talent, any player signing for a large bonus had to go directly to the MLB roster.

March 9, 2025

Team Offense, Los Angeles Angels

The 2025 series on team offense continues with the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels finished twenty eighth in the Majors and thirteenth in the American League in 2024 with 3.92 runs scored per game.

This season I am using FanGraphs Roster Resource Depth Charts as the source of default lineups. That Ron Washington batting order is plugged into the Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) using Musings Marcels as the batter projections. That information produces the following results (Runs per game):

Best lineup: 4.69
Probable lineup: 4.59
Worst lineup: 4.41
Regressed lineup: 4.33

Both FanGraphs and RotoChamp have Mike Trout and Taylor Ward hitting first and third respectively. That seemed odd to me. I found an article from mid February in which Washington indicates Ward batting first and Trout batting third. Looking at box scores from the last few games, Ward hits first when he is in the lineup and Trout hits third, so I swapped those two batters.

The LAT puts Nolan Schanuel leadoff, however. He projects to a .352 OBP and owns a .354 OBP at the MLB level in 738 plate appearances as he goes into his age 23 season. I suspect due to his youth and inexperience, the Angels don’t want to force the lead-off role on him just yet, but I really like the third best batting order of Schanuel, Ward, Luis Rengifo, Trout, and Jorge Soler. That group can generate runs, and if projections hold, the Angels could add half a run per game this season.

A lot does depend on Trout staying healthy. Somehow, the Angels tend to look better on paper in spring than they wind up being at the end of the year.

You can see the projections for the teams at this spreadsheet.

Previous posts in this series:

February 16, 2025

Changes, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Angels acquired the following players for their 2025 active roster:

Jorge Soler, designated hitter
Yoan Moncada, third baseman
Tim Anderson, shortstop
Travis d’Arnaud, catcher
J.D. Davis, first and third base
Kevin Newman, infield
Yusei Kikuchi, starting pitcher
Kyle Hendricks, starting pitcher
Kenley Jansen, closer
Garrett McDaniels, relief pitcher

McDaniels, a rule five draft choice, is the only acquisition without MLB experience. He enters his prime years this season, with good strikeout and walk rates in the minors.

Otherwise, these acquisitions could be a throwback to the Gene Autry era, when the Angels acquired names rather than ability. Davis, d’Arnaud, and Newman take backup roles, but I suspect that most fans have a positive impression of d’Arnaud and Davis. Soler and Anderson both had big seasons in the past. Moncada appears to be a last minute replacement for the injured Anthony Rendon.

Kikuchi and Hendricks are certainly well known, while Jansen is a bit of a Los Angeles area hero. None of this group is young. Moncada the youngest will play 2025 as a 30 year old. In other words, the expectation for each of these players is a decline from their recent history. Those nine players project to about eight WAR combined. That’s not going to put LAnaheim in contention.

They have some name that fans might come to see. They all strike me as place holders until the Angels farm system produces some talent.

November 25, 2024

Kikuchi Cash

The Angels agreed to sign Yusei Kikuchi to a three season, $63 million contract:

Overall, he had a 4.05 ERA in 2024, making 32 starts split between the two teams. He made 32 starts in 2023 as well while appearing in 32 games in 2022 and 29 games in 2021. That durability undoubtedly helped secure his current deal with the Angels.

The six-year veteran will be joining his fourth team after breaking into the big leagues with the Seattle Mariners in 2019. His best season came in 2023 when he went 11-6 with a 3.86 ERA for the Blue Jays, helping them make the postseason. His contributions to the Astros last season also helped them reach the postseason, something his new team hasn’t done since 2014.
ESPN.com

In 2023, Kikuchi reduced his walk rate to a very good 2.58 per nine innings, and continued that into 2024 with a rate of 2.25 BB per 9 IP. That made him worth 7.9 WAR over the two seasons. The Angels are paying him for about two WAR a season, which seems rather doable.

November 6, 2024

Hendricks to the Angels

The Angels pick up free agent pitcher Kyle Hendricks on an inexpensive one-year contract, $2.5 million:

Hendricks, 34, posted a 5.92 ERA for the Chicago Cubs last season but was better in the second half after a stint in the bullpen. His ERA was 4.41 from mid-July to the end of the regular season. He threw 7? shutout innings in his last start as a Cub in late September after spending the first 11 years of his career with Chicago.
ESPN.com

Starting pitching has been a problem for the Angels for some time. In 2024, they owned the third lowest average game score in the majors, but did post an okay number of quality starts. Note that Hendricks doesn’t strikeout a lot of batters, so the Angels will need to play very good defense behind him

November 1, 2024

General Brothers

The Giants promoted Zack Minasian to general manager. He is the brother of Perry Minasian, the general manager of the Angels. They are the first brothers to serve as GMs at the same time:

The 41-year-old Zack Minasian had been the Giants’ vice president of professional scouting since 2022, three years after he joined San Francisco following 14 years with the Milwaukee Brewers.

…

During his stint in Milwaukee, Minasian was special adviser for baseball operations, director of professional scouting, manager of minor league scouting, personnel/coordinator of pro scouting and baseball operations assistant.
ESPN.com

Although they both are GMs, Perry outranks Zack. Perry is at the top of the food chain in baseball operations with the Angels, while Zack will answer to Buster Posey.

August 24, 2024

Francis in the Ninth

Bowden Francis of the Blue Jays comes out to pitch the ninth inning with a no-hitter on the line against the Angels. He walked three and struck out 12 so far, throwing 111 pitches. He is scheduled to face the top of the Angels order, Taylor Ward, Zach Neto, and Kevin Pillar. The Blue Jays lead 3-0.

Update: Ward falls behind 1-2. He works the count to 3-2, then hits a home run to just the top of the centerfield wall. Francis gets a standing ovation from the crowd and his teammates as he comes out of the game.

From listening to the broadcast, Francis developed a split finger pitch when he was sent down to the minors this year, and it’s working well for him.

He also hit a batter in the game, to be complete.

Update: The Blue Jays win 3-1.

August 24, 2024

Bowden Oh-n

Bowden Francis of the Blue Jays held the Angels hitless through six innings. He found himself in his three previous starts, allowing three runs in 19 innings while walking one and striking out 22 batters. He walked two and struck out ten so far as Toronto leads 2-0 at the end of six.

Update: Francis walks one and strikes out two in the top of the seventh to keep the no-hitter intact. His pitch total stands at 97. He’s only in his third season, but he is seasonal age 28, so the Blue Jays might give him a chance to go the distance. He’s hardly a prospect.

Update: There were no handshakes or congratulations in the dugout, so it looks like Francis will pitch the 8th.

Update: It’s raining in Skydome as the roof is open.

Update: Francis gets three air outs in the eighth, and the no-hitter goes to the ninth. Francis is now at 111 pitches.

Update: Francis is in the dugout meditating. He is the current AL Player of the Week. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. just homered to make the score 3-0.

August 7, 2024

DBacks Sweep

The Diamondback took both games of the afternoon doubleheader at the Guardians. That temporarily moves Arizona into second place in the NL West, half a game ahead of the Padres, currently losing to the Pirates 3-1 in the third inning. That puts them in the top wild card slot in the NL.

With the Yankees winning game one of their doubleheader against the Angels, New York now owns the best record in the AL by 1/2 game.

August 1, 2024

Trout Really Out

A second meniscus tear ends Mike Trout’s season.

July 31, 2024

Trout Still Out

The Angels shut down the rehabilitation of Mike Trout.

Trout had surgery May 3 to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

“We’re going to shut down his rehab in general,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said of Trout. “He’s going to get reevaluated. He still doesn’t feel good, so we’ll see where that goes.”

Minasian did not reveal any details about Trout’s setback and did not specify how much more time the 11-time All-Star will miss.
ESPN.com

On top of that, Anthony Rendon returned to the illjured list.

In general, this is why I don’t think a team should extend player contracts past the age of 30. Let the contract run out, and see where the player is. The Angels spent a log of money of nothing.

July 20, 2024

Oakland on a Roll

The Athletics beat the Angels 8-2 Saturday afternoon for a three-game win streak. These games were not close as they beat the Phillies 18-3 going into the All-Star Break, and opened with a 13-3 win over the Angels. That’s 39-8 in their last three games. The out hit their opponents 40-19, out homered them 12-3, and are 16 for 25 with men in scoring position. They can still win 100 games. It would be nice to see them go out with a bang.

July 5, 2024

Complete Steele

Justin Steele of the Cubs pitched a complete game two-hitter Friday afternoon to help defeat the Angels 5-1. He walked two and struck out seven.

That brings the complete game total for the season to 17. I thought that might be pretty good, but the CG rate is down again. The seventeen complete games came in 2621 starts, or in 0.64% of starts. Last season produced 35 CG, which worked out to 0.72%. That was down from 36 CG in 2022. CGs may disappear from the game faster than triples.

May 22, 2024

We’ll Always Have Paris

Kyren Paris of the Angels hit the first home run of his career Wednesday afternoon. The two run shot was all the team needed as Tyler Anderson and the bullpen held the Astros to one run in a 2-1 victory. Paris came into the game with more walks (eight) than hits (seven). Paris also drew a walk in the game to stay ahead of his hits.

Paris posted a .368 OBP in the minors. At seasonal age 22 he has plenty of time to grow into a good leadoff hitter.

April 30, 2024

Trout Kneeds Surgery

Mike Trout won’t have a healthy season in 2024:

Angels superstar Mike Trout, hoping for a fully healthy season after being significantly limited by injury the past three years, needs knee surgery, general manager Perry Minasian said Tuesday.

Trout has a torn meniscus in his left knee, Minasian said.

The procedure, which is believed to be scheduled for Friday, isn’t considered to be season ending. At this point, it is not known how long Trout will be out.
ESPN.com

For the last few season the Angels needed a healthy Trout and a healthy Anthony Rendon. Once again, both are on the illjured list.

April 21, 2024

No Starter, No Problem

Reds staring pitcher Frankie Montas left the game after three batters due to a line drive striking him. Six Reds relievers then shutdown the Angels for 8 2/3 innings to give Cincinnati a 3-0 win. Brent Suter took the long relief role, going 3 1/3 innings. Overall, the pen gave up six hits and four walks while striking out six.

Jose Soriano starter for the Angels, and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He fell apart, however, allowing three runs, two more than the Reds needed.

April 14, 2024

Return to Form

Tyler O’Neill of the Red Sox hit his seventh home run of the young season Sunday afternoon, also reaching base on a single and a walk as Boston downed LAnaheim 5-4. O’Neill seems to have returned to his 2021 form when he hit 34 home runs with a .352 OBP. His Musings Marcels projections put him at a .326 OBP and a .452 slugging percentage. This might turn out to be a very good trade for the Red Sox.

March 31, 2024

Angels on the Board

The Angels get a well pitched game from their staff to down the Orioles 4-1 and record their first win of the season. Reid Detmers allowed two hits in five innings, and the bullpen gave up just one more. The group did walk five batters, but two of those walks went to the red hot Gunnar Henderson which might have been a better strategy than pitching to him.

March 30, 2024

Dozens, and Bakers Dozen

Three teams scored at least twelve runs Saturday afternoon, one of putting thirteen men across the plate. The Braves and Phillies looked evenly matched coming into the season, but for the second day in a row Atlanta pounded their division rivals, winning on Saturday 12-3. Four separate Braves picked up three hits, including lead-off star Ronald Acuna Jr. and ninth place hitter Jarred Kelenic.

The Guardians posted a slightly larger margin of victory, with a 12-3 win over the Athletics. The A’s new catcher got a rude welcome to the majors:

Six Cleveland players stole bases off Kyle McCann, a 26-year-old catcher making his major league debut.
Chron.com

The Guardians collect four doubles, a triple, and a home run as part of their fifteen hits.

The Orioles continued the Angels pain with a 13-4 victory. Gunnar Henderson missed the cycle by a double, while Anthony Santander doubled and homered. Both drove in three runs. New Angels leadoff man Anthony Rendon has yet to reach base.

March 28, 2024

Charged Battery

Corbin Burnes of the Orioles pitched six innings against the Angels, striking out eleven and allowing just one hit, a home run by Mike Trout. Meanwhile, the Orioles hitters generated 10 hits and drew six walks on their way to an 11-3 win at home on opening day. Catcher Adley Rutschman led the offense with two hits and a walk.