RotoGuru Baseball Forum

View the Forum Registry


Self-edit this thread


0 Subject: Anaheim Angels Discussion 2

Posted by: Matt S
- Donor [47115618] Fri, Jul 12, 2002, 05:27

I guess "Angels discussion 1" got too long and Guru deleted it. ;-)

Well I'm back. Doing my duty as "The Only Anaheim Angels Fan Alive," to ramble on about how little respect the Angels get, regardless of their obvious potential.

They are 45-20 after April. That should be the 3rd best in baseball (just behind NYY and ATL). They are playing smart baseball and seem to enjoy playing under Scioscia.

To start things off, they have arguably the best outfield in baseball. Okay, maybe the Braves' are better, but who else? Garret Anderson has been one of the most consistent second-tier OF's for the last few years. Darin Erstad could be one of the best hitters in baseball. He's hitting .330 since May 1 and has stolen 12 bases in that time. Tim Salmon has also found his stride and is on pace for a more Salmon-Like season, maybe a return to his '95 form? If he keeps going like he is...

Now the INF: Not overpowering, but balanced. At third they've got Troy Glaus, who can only get better. At short, they have what I think is to be a top 5 SS in baseball for year to come. David Eckstein has all the tools to have a Vizquel like career, but with more speed. As his comfort level rises with the SS position, his defense will get better too. At second they have a good #9 hitter on their hands. Adam Kennedy hits for decent average and can go on streaks where he hits for power. That and decent defense are all you can ask out of that spot. At first/DH they have a formidable 3-Man platoon for those positions. Brad Fullmer has started to hit well, and could eventually live up to his second-tier 1st basemen potential. Fighting for time is the grinder, Scott Spezio (your typical #8 hitter) and Shawn Wooten who I think will eventually follow the 1B/C Mike Sweeney path to a respectable career.

Their starting pitching is possibly up there with the elite in the majors. They don't have anything like the Randy/Curt duo, but Ramon Ortiz and Jarrod Washburn are doing their best to become two of the top pitchers in the AL. Ortiz may even live up to his tag of "Mini-Pedro." The Lefty Washburn has won his last 10 decisions, making him the season leader in that category. Appier and Sele keep eating up innings, but if they could lower their ERA's a bit (4.69 and 5.03 respectivly) they could send the Angels over the top. Hopefully Dan Lackey can hold the fort as the #5 guy in the second half. I did't mind Schoenweis in the rotation, but I must say, I like the idea of a reliable righty in the pen, who can eat up innings in the middle of games...to replace Hasegawa that is)

I'm actually liking how the Angels pen is unfolding. When Levine gets back, all they'll need is a tough lefty (like Grahaem Lloyd) to make the pen as good as it was the last two years. Guys like Weber and Pote have come up to replace the departed Mike Holtz and Shigetoshi Hasegawa. And then they have one of the top closer in the AL in Troy Percival. I don't think the Angel's bullpen is as weak as all these 'analysts' seem to conceive.

They'll be in tough. Gotta get by two of Oakland, Seattle, or Boston, but they can definately surprise a few people with their explosive potential.

Just felt like writing. :-)
Matt S
1EdS
      Leader
      ID: 359313
      Fri, Jul 12, 2002, 11:44
Matt S,
Can I join your club? I was born in Anaheim have been an Angels fan for many years. Not quite as hard as being a Boston fan! They seemed to never be able to get over the hump. I agree with a lot of your statements. They have real good young talent, if they can keep them together for a few years we might be able to make our first appearance. A couple of problems I see
1) Third and fourth starter that can get them double digit wins
2) A club house leader
3) A true four hole hitter
4) 1B
5) Catcher
If they could solve the first three 4 and 5 could be overcome. 1) Appier and Sele have had better years (the curse of the Angels pick up a good player and they have their worst year ever, trade a good player and they have their best year ever), if they turn it around October could be fun for us. 2) I don't get any of their local news so not sure who the club house leader is, the only current player I see is Glaus, anyway they need a player that is Mr. Clutch for them. 3) Or a three hole depending on how you look at it. Again Glaus seems to have the potential, needs to up his SLG and HR's. 4) Spiezo need I say more, Wooten not much of a history, his age 30 brings some doubt, Fulmer he had a good year in 2000 with TOR, maybe he can pickup the pace in the second half and put up the same numbers. 5) Molina has potential, if he can get back to his 2000 numbers that would be great. They are in a tough division, all four teams could finish above .500 this year. With all that, it is great to be in the race, hopefully they will not fall apart.

EdS
2LTA
      ID: 221050301
      Sat, Jul 13, 2002, 02:07
Been away a while, but I just saw this and had to comment. I'm an erstwhile Anaheim supporter, as their AA team is here in my town, and I have season tickets.

Couple of things:

1)The new #5 pitcher is JOHN Lackey, not Dan.
2)They really, really need a 1B. Spiezio is not the answer, Wooten is better suited as a utility player, ala Little Cat, only with the ability to play catcher in a pinch, and Fullmer has always been given black marks for his defense. They COULD move Erstad back to 1b, but that would be a waste. Barring any trades, and I doubt that they do much in the way of that, they don't have a whole lot in the minors to slot into this position. There is Rob Quinlan, but he doesn't have the power they look for at first. Mike O'Keefe, here at AA, is too far away to help this year. What they are likely waiting on is 2004, when Casey Kotchman makes it to the show. He has shown GREAT patience at Low A ball (.292, with an .851 OPS, 4 hr, 27 2b, 29/44 K/BB...yes, that is right, he has 13 more walks than strikeouts...in 257 AB). HE is likely what they are waiting on, and anyone else is going to be filler till he can pull himself up the ladder. Personally, I hope to see him here in AA to start next season...assuming we don't change affiliations, but I digress.
3)Catcher....they are just going to have to really, really like Ben Molina, barring a trade. No help there in the minors. Their most highly touted catcher prospect, Jared Abruzzo, has looked godawful so far this year in High A ball (.240, .700 OPS, 70/15 K/BB....yeah, he is not looking to bright).
4)As good as Eckstein has looked, he might be moving to 2b, and Kennedy might be leaving as well. The SS at AAA, Amezaga, is AWESOME with a glove, but mediocre with a bat. He's only batting .234 in AAA, with a 65/28 K/BB, so his bat is not all that hot. HOWEVER, I got a chance to watch him play here last year. His D was ready even then. If Scioscia decides he wants to go with defense at SS, and carry a Rey Ordonez, Amezaga will be there. He was making plays last year that I made me think that Vizquel was on the field. He's that good at SS.
5)As for their bullpen, yes it is pretty solid, no matter what the analysts say. I understand that they are making moves to try to trade for Kelvim Escobar, to be a set-up man. That would help solidify it even more. They do have a good righty flamethrower at AAA, Francisco Rodriguez. He was here this year, and got called up about a month ago. He was dominant in the Texas League, a renowned hitters league, and so far has been lights out in the PCL, an even more notorious hitters league. He has the stuff, it's just a matter of maturity and avoiding arm trouble with him. It's a shame he's not a lefty, though.

Anyway, enough rambling. I tend to follow them more on the minor league level anyway, so a lot of my thoughts here are more as to what they can do with what they have at their disposal already.

They are a fun team to watch, and it seems that Scioscia is making a pretty good name for himself by managing them as well as he has. I'll be rooting for them, even though I am physically several thousand miles away from them.

3Tim G
      Donor
      ID: 59126280
      Sat, Jul 20, 2002, 02:42
For all the Angels fans, especially Matt S who probably knows. The Angels beat the Mariners 15-3 Friday night and are now 2 games out of 1'st in the AL West.
4Matt S
      Donor
      ID: 47115618
      Tue, Jul 23, 2002, 02:54
:)

When I returned home, the first hightlite I saw was the Sunday Angels/M's game. I nearly exploded when I heard them say they swept them. They're definately playing some good ball right now.

Go Angels!
Matt S
5Matt S
      Donor
      ID: 47115618
      Sun, Jul 28, 2002, 21:56
Well, the Halos have won 6 of the last 7 vs. Seattle and are now in first place. This puts them 4 games back of Atlanta for the best record in baseball. But you know, they're just an average group of ballplayers. They don't have a hope at making the playoffs.

Woooooooo!!!!! Go Angels!
Matt S
6Slow Stick
      Sustainer
      ID: 206252911
      Mon, Jul 29, 2002, 12:00
Congrats to Matt S and Angels!

Since Mike Scioscia has avoided the dreaded June Swoon and the July Cry, we may actually have a team here. This is going to be fun.

If I can get out of here in time, will go see Boston tonight.
Rate this thread:
5 (top notch)
4 (even better)
3 (good stuff)
2 (lightweight)
1 (no value)
If you wish, you may rate this thread on scale of 1-5. Ratings should indicate how valuable or interesting you believe this thread would be to other users of this forum. A '5' means that this thread is a 'must read'. A '1' means that this is a complete waste of time.

If you have previously rated this thread, rating it again will delete your previous rating.

If you do not want to rate this thread, but want to see how others have rated it, then click the button without entering a rating, or else click here.

RotoGuru Baseball Forum

View the Forum Registry


Self-edit this thread




Post a reply to this message: (But first, how about checking out this sponsor?)

Name:
Email:
Message:
Click here to create and insert a link
Click here to insert a random spelling of Mientkiewicz
Ignore line feeds? no (typical)   yes (for HTML table input)


Viewing statistics for this thread
Period# Views# Users
Last hour11
Last 24 hours22
Last 7 days55
Last 30 days87
Since Mar 1, 2007872460