Rosenthal On Penny, Bay, Brandon Wood

They gotta get Wood into the lineup somehow. The kid can mash.

Considering the entire Astros team is made up of mostly old veterans, then that doesn't look good for ol' Coop...

That is sad about Coop, but you've got to have a guy who can motivate folks.

The best situation at this point is to keep Figgins at 3B and move/bench/send Aybar to Triple A while giving Wood a shot to be the everyday SS. Wood is an above average defender at SS and has the batting upside to be an absolute force. Think Cal Ripken-lite with a chance for more power. He isn't as good defensively as Aybar, but he is no liability with the glove and much better with the bat.

Meanwhile, Figgins is an elite level defender at 3B and provides something crucial to the Angels success. OBP. Outside Abreu, Vlad and theoretically Napoli, the Angels have a lot of high contact/low walk guys. Replacing him with a guy like Wood would hurt that dynamic.

As for Bellisario, where the hell did they find this guy? He has some of the nastiest stuff I have ever seen.

I'd love it if they let Wood start playing first in AAA.

I'm getting very tired of watching Morals suck balls at the plate with multiple runners on. I think he leads the league in Leaving Runners on Base!

Put Morales on the bench or back to AAA and don't trade away any depth.

Yeah, there's no way that you move Wood to first base. Just because he has power doesn't mean he profiles well there, and I'm not sure how you justify moving him there when he's already a solid defensive player at both positions on the left side of the infield.

And as good as Wood may be, he's no Cal Ripken-lite. Ripken was better defensively, and has much better plate discipline than Wood. I think that Jhonny Peralta is a pretty fair comparison for Wood, although Wood may have a bit more home run power.

In all honesty, there's no MLB player that you can compare Brandon Wood to completely because he's like none other before him.

He's like Cal Ripken in his build, but he has a stronger arm while Ripken has a better glove and more range.

He's like Hanley Ramirez offensively, except that Wood has more power and less speed than Hanley, though it should be noted Wood can swipe 20 bags a year.

Wood's like Jhonny Peralta, except better in pretty much every way...

If they keep Wood down in AAA for the full year he quite possibly could hit 50+ HR's which would set an Angels record. How many SS do you know have that kind of power? The answer is zero. Not since A-Rod moved to 3B.

In a full season in the bigs, right now Wood is capable of .260 35 DB 35 HR 20 SB.....as a relative rookie. Give him a year or two and we could see an BA closer to .280 and 40+ HR....from a shortstop. It's proof of his athletecism that he could shift over to 3B and still be sparkling on defense.

Scotty, you're overrating Wood, by a lot..

"He's like Hanley Ramirez offensively, except that Wood has more power and less speed than Hanley, though it should be noted Wood can swipe 20 bags a year."

Did you just compare Wood as a hitter to Hanley Ramirez, one of the very best hitters in the game? I was just thinking that Vitters looks like the next Vladimir Guerrero, too.. Come on..

Wood's plate discipline and pitch recognition can't touch Ramirez, and there's no way that Wood has nearly the contact hit tool that Ramirez has either.

"Wood's like Jhonny Peralta, except better in pretty much every way..."

Except for the fact that Wood has a career .212 OBP in the majors and Peralta was arguably the best shortstop in the AL last season.

When CAN be better than Peralta, but at this point you're claim is simply false.

"When CAN be better than Peralta, but at this point you're claim is simply false."

That has to be one of the worst sentences I've ever typed.

WOOD can be better than Peralta, but at this point your claim is simply false. There we go..

Apparently the guy had a bit of a bad reputation off the field and with his work ethic when he was a prospect in the Dodgers' farm system 6-7 years back, but his stuff has always apparently been pretty good, and he seems to have harnessed it right now. He could make that bullpen crazy good, considering they have a stud in Broxton anchoring it.

Actually, we were both wrong, I meant Florida. He was with Pittsburgh the past two seasons, but back when he was actually a prospect still, in Florida, he still had a big arm but there were whispers of character issues. If he's got those figured out, then apparently scouts have always thought pretty highly of this guys raw stuff.

Peralta the best SS in the AL? Really? Maybe for fantasy purposes. The guy is a garbage defender and needs to learn how to walk. Jeter was better both defensively (that doesn't bode well for Peralta) and offensively.

Anyway, Wood projects to be much better than Peralta at even 75% of his ceiling, if only because he actually knows how to play defense.

"same with their bench. great talent, but don't you think they could benefit from having character vets in that locker-room; guys like a jamey carroll or eckstein or maybe even a ryan garko."

They already have plenty of "character vets" in the locker room. Even Robb Quinlan fits that profile, and he can actually hit, while those guys are not particularly offensive weapons.