July 2008 Archives

Random thoughts while reveling in another Angels sweep of Boston...

• Possibly lost in all of the hoopla of the Teixeira signing on Wednesday was John Lackey's great game.  Should be a good confidence builder if the two teams meet again in October.  I can hear the talking heads saying during the pregame, "In his last start in Fenway, Lackey took a no-hitter into the 9th".

• It was billed as a tough road trip, but heading into a four game series in New York, the Angels are 5-1 during this east coast swing. 

• Not a great beginning to his Angel career, however short it might be, Mark Teixeira went 0-4 in the final game against Boston.  Teixeira stranded 3 runs and struck out twice before reaching on a walk his final at-bat.

• Today being the MLB trade deadline, there are a few interesting rumors swirling about.  One being verified by ESPN and Fox Sports is Ken Griffey Jr. going to the Chicago White Sox.  The White Sox are battling for the Central Division title and may be one of the Angels' opponents in October...that is, if both teams make the play-offs.  Another rumor has Manny Ramirez going to Florida in a three team deal.  If this trade goes down the Red Sox will likely have Jason Bay in left field for the remainder of this season.  Bay's a definite stepdown from Manny, but would offer less drama for the team as they focus on returning to the post season.

I'm on record as saying the Angels would never go out and make a deal for the big bat they desperately needed.  Well, they proved me wrong by swapping 25 year-old Casey Kotchman (and minor league pitcher Steve Marek) for the biggest bat available at this year's trading deadline, Mark Teixeira.  Angels' manager Mike Scoiscia stated Teixeira would be batting 3rd in the line up starting Wednesday night in the series finale in Boston against the Red Sox.  With Teixeira, the Angels acquire a switch-hitting first baseman capable of hitting 30+ home runs at the plate and gold-glove defense on the field.

With this deal the Angels not only acquire the bat they need, but creditability in the front office by showing the same aggressiveness and guts off the field as they do on it.  Previous years' inability or unwillingness to make a deadline deal appears to be a thing of the past as first year GM Tony Reagins made the biggest deal in recent Angels' history.  The Angel players, fans, and all of baseball have been put on notice the Angels are serious about this season.  They're not just looking to be contenders, but World Series champions.  Arguably baseball's best team just got better.

Angels' owner Arte Moreno had stated his unwillingness to trade minor league prospects for a rental player, but apparently the major league roster was fair game.  In trading Kotchman, the Angels lose a 25 year-old player having a decent season hitting and showing flashes of brilliance at first base.  While trading Kotchman frees up a defensive spot for Teixeira in 2008, there are no guarantees for beyond this season.  Teixeira has been clear he will become a free agent after this year, but also says his agent, Scott Boras, has an excellent relationship with Moreno and Reagins.  He's not ruling out re-signing with the Halos this off-season.  If Teixeira does leave after this season, the Angels have Kendry Morales at AAA who compares to Kotchman and is a few months younger.  Plus, the Angels will get 2 additional draft picks in 2009 as compensation for losing Teixeira.  I had written, after reading rumors of this deal, that I didn't like it mainly because I liked Kotchman and was worried about the team's future beyond 2008.  If the Angels win the World Series, or if they re-sign Teixeira I believe the trade is a good one.  Otherwise, it's a waiting games as to if Morales is a capable replacement at first base or the two draft picks provide adequate compensation for losing Kotchman.

I was wrong.  I NEVER thought the Angels would have the balls to pull off this type of deal.  I was wrong and I'm happy about it.

Some quick notes for today...

• I read the most ridiculous article from a "respected" source this morning.  The Orange County Register has an article online written by sports writer Bill Plunkett asking the question should the Angels trade Vlad Guerrero for Manny Ramirez.  Plunkett must have fallen out of his chair and smacked his head on his keyboard, desk, and trash can before finally hitting the floor to write this dribble.  Or else the room full of monkeys banging on typewriters in his spare bedroom finally came up with something and this gem was it.  Vlad is 5 years younger, $5 million cheaper for 2009, and 5 times the team player than "Manny being Manny".  There's an accompanying poll with the article asking readers opinion, the last I checked it was  NO - 76,  YES - 11.  I bet the Register is happy to see there are 11 people in Boston reading their crap.  Here's the link to the story:  Dumbest Trade Ever

• Recent trade rumors traveling the internet have the Angels sending Casey Kotchman to Atlanta for Mark Teixeira.  Mentions the possible addition of Juan Rivera in the deal.  I don't like this deal and hope Reagins doesn't do it.  I admit to be in favor of a trade, but not at the expense of a player such as Kotchman unless the Angels get more than a 2 month rent-a-player or if they get the right to negotiate an extension with Teixeira before pulling the trigger on this one.

• Last night's win made it six straight victories over the defending World Series Champion Red Sox.  When the Angels swept Boston during their last home stand, some people thought the wins were "tainted" because the games were played in Anaheim and the Red Sox were without DH David Ortiz.  Well, shut up fools, the Angels won again...in Boston...with Ortiz.

• Interesting post on an Angels fansite I read daily, Halos Heaven.  One of the posters remarked about one of the similarities between this year and the nightmare season that was 1995.  After 103 games:

1995:
Record: 64-39
Lead: 10.5 games

2008:
Record: 64-39
Lead: 10.5 games

Uh-oh, don't start printing those playoff tickets just yet.

•  A few years ago I moved from Orange County to western Wisconsin.  I'd lived my whole life in California, except for a few stops in Memphis and Dallas, and really miss a lot of things about home.  Here in Wisconsin, its hard to get any sports news other than what Brett Favre did yesterday, what Brett Favre didn't do yesterday, where is Brett Favre, and who's this Aaron Rodgers (yeah, I watch a lot of ESPN News).  Mixed in with the Favre news we do get some baseball reports and I've got to say, that Ryan Braun guy is kinda good. 

MUNCIE, IN - According to Ronald McDonald, the Big Mac sandwich from McDonald's isn't fattening.  The keynote speaker at this year's Jenny Craig convention went on to add, "Just look at the sandwich!  It's full of heathy ingredients like lettuce, pickles, lettuce and umm, pickles.  So, go ahead ladies, dig in!".

Pat McGroing, chief media officer for Jenny Craig said the decision to have Mr. McDonald speak at the convention was "sort of a last minute thing.  I received a call yesterday morning while eating my Egg McMuffin that our scheduled speaker, Mary-Kate Olsen was in re-hab."

Apparently, things didn't go so well for Mr. McDonald.  The guest speaker was arrested shortly after his speech and charged with aggravated assault for allegedly striking Valerie Bertonelli.

Okay, so the above is obviously false, but it's more likely to happen before the Angels make a blockbuster trade for a "big bat" or frontline closer.  While numerous rumors continue linking the Angels to players such as Brian Fuentes, George Sherrill, Matt Holliday, and now even Manny Ramirez, the Halos continue to sit on their hands.  Mike Scioscia alluded that the team may make a minor deal for pitching help, "I don't think there's a manager in the game that doesn't go to sleep thinking about one thing and wake up thinking about one thing, and that's pitching."  Here's a link to the entire article: Scioscia Not Counting Out Trade  

And not in a good way.  It seems he's always one pitch or one batter away from blowing the save.  It's hard to complain about success, but I can't remember the last time Frankie went back-to-back games retiring the side in order.

Is it ability or luck that has gotten him to 43 saves?  Probably a bit of both, but to be considered a dominating closer a pitcher shouldn't rely too much on luck.  Looking at this year's stats compared to previous numbers:

                  #P/IP      BB/IP       K/IP        OBA
2008            17.3       0.60        1.04       .302
2007            17.9       0.50        1.34       .299
Career         16.4       0.45        1.30       .277

Yeah, he's not as dominating.  Looking a little closer to his numbers, there's been a trend away from dominance.  In his first full year (2003), his OBA allowed has gone from .262 to .302 this year increasing each year (except a slight down tick in 2004).  Not a good thing when entering your free agency, but will probably be overlooked because of his high saves total.  Some team will pony-up the $15 million/year he's demanding, but buyer beware.

Frankie needs to cut back on the fist-pumping, heaven pointing, and maniacal yelling when he closes out a game and get back to throwing strikes...if he's able.  To me it's comical to see a player barely hold on to the save and then act like he's just went out and blown away the other team on 9 straight, high 90's pitches.

The Angels should let Frankie walk after this year and take the 2 draft picks they'll get as compensation.  Trading for bullpen help, either with a deadline deal now or waiting until the off-season, should be a priority.  This would also give Arredondo another year pitching the 8th before closing games in 2010.

Since the All-Star break, Angels' manager Mike Scioscia has filled the third spot in the batting order with his shortstop platoon of Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar.  Although the Angels' record since the break is 5-1 and the team has scored 39 runs, the 3 hole as driven in a total of 3 runs.  Its not like there hasn't been anyone on base ahead of them, Figgins and Kotchman have a combined .327 OBP during those games (batting second, Kotchman has reached base at a .444 rate, but has scored only one run), and the duo has stranded 12 runners including 5 in the Angels' only loss.  Wouldn't it make more sense moving Kotchman down one spot and putting Kendrick batting second?  Kendrick might not be the prototypical #2 batter since he doesn't take a whole lot of pitches and rarely draws a walk, but he's a capable, contact-type hitter who's a doubles hitting machine with decent speed.  Kendrick is currently second on the team with 23 in only 208 at-bats (Kotchman leads the team with 24).  Kotchman is leading the Angels with a .289 batting average, but he's only driven in 48 runs having spent the first half of the season hitting near the bottom of the batting order.  Kotchman is also a high contact hitter, having struck out only 23 time in over 350 at-bats.  The batting order could look like this:

Figgins              3B
Kendrick            2B
Kotchman          1B
Guerrero            RF
Hunter               CF
Rivera             LF/DH
Anderson         DH/LF
Mathis Napoli      C
Izturis/Aybar      SS

As I wrote earlier, the Angels are 5-1 since the break, but I don't think its because of the new-look batting order.  I think they've scored 39 runs in spite of this line-up.  Scoiscia is notoriously slow in making changes, allowing his players the chance to prove themselves or work their way out of slumps.  Much like he did a couple years ago with Steve Finley and this year with Gary Matthews Jr., so we may be seeing this batting order for a while longer...or until they make a big trade.

With less than a week before the major league trading deadline, the Los Angeles Angels sit atop the American League west by 10 games. They also have the best record in baseball at 62-39, but I'm still worried. Although the Angels have made the post season 4 of the last 5 seasons, they haven't made it to the World Series since 2002 and have lost 9 straight post season games to the Red Sox. If the play-offs were to start today, the Angels would face-off against those Red Sox, and despite last weekend's 3 game sweep in Anaheim, the Red Sox are a team who've proven they can "turn it up a notch" once the post season starts.

For the last few years, we Angels' fans have complained about GM Bill Stoneman's inability to swing a trade for a "big bat". Now that Stoneman's stepped down to become a special assistant and Tony Reagins has taken over trade talks, 2008 looked like it might be the year for a deadline deal. Shortly after taking control of the Angels' front office, Reagins shocked us all by working out a deal and signing Torii Hunter at a Del Taco off the 91 freeway. Finally! We've got ourselves a "ninja" in the GM seat. However, with only a week to go before the trading deadline all of the rumors flying around the internet have the Angels standing pat. And I can understand their thinking. Best record in baseball, thinning farm system, pitching wins play-offs, etc., but I'm still worried. What should the Angels do? Here's what I think:

1.  Trade Brandon Wood. Wood's a great prospect, but where's he going to play? Figgins is at 3B. Move Figgins to 2B? What about Kendrick? Move Figgins to the already over-crowded outfield? Not unless the Angels are able to unload Mathews Jr.'s contract (and he waives his no-trade clause). Send Wood to Cleveland for Casey Blake and Rafael Perez. I'd much rather see Blake on the bench and filling in for Kotchman the last two month of the regular season and into the post season than Robb Quinlan. Or how about dealing Wood to Baltimore in a George Sherrill trade. K-Rod has stated he's filing for free agency after this season and after the year he's having in 2008, possibly breaking the all-time saves record, he'll command a hefty raise. One the Angels might feel they can't afford. With Sherrill, they'll have a replacement until Arredondo can step into the closers role in 2010. Or…
2. Go out and get Greg Maddux if he'd be willing to waive his no-trade clause. The Angels' starting pitching has been fantastic, but are showing signs of tiring. Jered Weaver left his last start with tightness in his back and John Garland was scratched from his last start due to neck stiffness. Would Maddux waive his NTC for a chance to play in the post-season? He's stated he'd consider a trade to a west coast team, and everyone thinks of the Dodgers. Last time I checked Anaheim was west coast. I think all it'd take to get Maddux would be a low level, grade C/C+ prospect. Or...
3. Do nothing. Breeze into the play-offs and take their chances. After all, they did just sweep the defending champs, minus Angel-killer David Ortiz (42 for 139, 12 HR against Angel pitching). Did I mention I'm still worried?

There was a recent trade rumor involving Atlanta's Mark Teixeira. The rumor was Robb Quinlan and Brandon Wood for Teixeira. Yeah, right. If the Braves are that desperate (which they're not) to make a deal, the Angels should jump all over it. I don't think a "blockbuster" is in the Angels' future, but hopefully they do something to improve their roster. Once October comes, it's a whole new ballgame...and I'm still worried.