Angels manager Mike Scioscia recently told Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times that the Angels are prepared to keep replacing Kendry Morales from within, even though the club is open to making a deal. The Angels have choices: they can keep relying on the players in their system, or they can trade for a corner infielder. It's time to hear your predictions.
How are the Angels going to replace Kendry Morales?
Seeing as they are over .500 and are 11-4 since he got hurt, I think they should stay in-house. It seems him getting hurt was the best thing for them.
They’re playing well at the moment. But they are a worse team without him. For now they’ll stick with what they have and when they go through another losing streak they’ll probably need to bring someone in.
Why not Ty Wiggington from the O’s? Could probably throw them a decent OF prospect and they’d take the deal.
Ty Wiggington would be a reserve player on the Angels. They’d prefer Maicer at 3B because he hits for average and plays much better D and is home grown and younger. They’d take Kendrick over Wigg at 2B for all the same reasons and Napoli at 1B for all the same reasons minus defense.
I still think they need a power hitting thrid basemen. Its a long term solution. Morales will be back at the end of the year and is thier first basemen for many years to come.
AL West is a win-able division and the Halos can do it with what they have now. Settle for the division title (now way we can go all the way with all the other holes we have) and spend the money we saved not getting a 1st baseman in the off season on someone like Crawford and/or a quality 3rd baseman and maybe some bullpen help.
Just settle for the division title, and get eliminated from the post-season in the first round? Although the Angels have a well-rounded pitching rotation, there is no true ace, which will show in the playoffs. Same story for the Twins.
Can I borrow your crystal ball?
The playoffs are a crapshoot. The best teams (talent wise) do not always win. You get a few pitchers who are hot and you can win it all.
As for no number 1 starter … Jered Weaver is OK right? I mean his FIP is sitting at 3.19. Sabathia is at 3.84 (Hughes is their best starter but he isn’t their #1), nobody on the Rays is below 3.88, Verlander compares well at 3.26. In fact, I would argue that the Angels have one of the best #1 starters among all AL playoff teams. Of course, the best belongs to the other team you slighted – the Twins. Liriano is posting a FIP at 2.09.
Playoffs are a total crapshoot Anyone who thinks otherwise either hasn’t studied the issue or has no evidence to back up their idiot claims. Unless you’re the Yankees and spend twice as much as any other team in order to make yours unstoppable, the best team simply does not win a World Series, it’s the hottest team.
The Angels won the World Series in 2002, but they weren’t the best team. The Yankees and A’s were both better and it was pretty close with the giants. But the Angels were the hottest team and had the best bullpen and it resulted in a World Series.
This year, Jered Weaver has grown into an ace, better than Lackey. Ervin Santana has recaptured the Black Magic. Their offense is fine, and their bullpen is fine after the 7th inning if it’s not tied. The Angels will probably make a move, though not for a 1B, and if they’re hot, they’ll be fine in the playoffs. If they go cold, it will be an early exit.
People seem to forget, this was still the 2nd best team in baseball last year.
And since last year the Angles have lost their #1 SP, their starting 3B, and their starting 1B, so expectations of what they can do should be lowered.
I agree that the playoffs are anybody’s game, I’m just pointing out that this isn’t the same Angels team that posted the 2nd best record in baseball last year.
Agreed, but you should also keep in mind that the man they replaced Lackey with (Pineiro) is performing just as good as Lackey, so no loss there. The Angels lost their starting 3B who is currently hitting .220 in Seattle, and have replaced him with Maicer Izturis who is doing better than Figgins, so no loss there.
The only loss that actually matters is the loss of Morales which has been minimized (but is still apparent) by the emergence of Mike Napoli at 1B. On a player by player analysis of the 2009 Angels vs 2010, you’d see the rotation is equally as strong, the bullpen is actually stronger and the offense is slightly weaker.
The Angels are still probably the 4th best team in baseball. They can’t compete with the Yankees payroll, but the Yankees are fine with buying World Championships and so am I. The Rays are just a better team than the Angels, they grew it themselves in a strong AL East and should be recognized for doing the impossible. The Twins are just one of those teams that plays strong baseball year in and year out and they certainly aren’t worse than they were last year.
Then you reach the tier that includes the Angels, Red Sox, Rangers, Phillies and Cardinals.
I’ll go ahead and disregard the little jab at the Yankees payroll and just say that you and I basically agree, I’m just not sure that the Angels will be able to get to the playoffs as easily as they have the previous few seasons.
Agreed, but to me that has nothing to do with the Angels and more to do with the West. The A’s and Rangers were so bad for so long, it was only matter of time before all those first round picks and Latin American players made it to the big leagues.
Good on the Rangers for developing Edinson Volquez and trading him for Josh Hamilton, and growing Feliz, Smoak, Davis, Andrus, Borbon, and some mediocre pitchers. Their system is over rated and those guys really won’t end up being superstars, but thy have grown a handful of legit role players, which is more than I can say for the Rangers during the A-Rod era.
See this is where your memory will do you in.
LAST YEAR … the Angels were coming off a season where their best hitter (by a mile) fled to New York. They replaced him with a 26 YO Cuban who had shown very little in the minors and during his trips to the majors over the past few years. A huge loss.
K-Rod coming off the all-time save record. Huge loss.
Adenhart – our #5 starter and best pitching prospect was killed in a car accident. Huge loss.
Santana and Lackey both start the season on the DL. Santana is horrible until September. Lackey pitches just OK. Escobar, being counted on as a #3/4 starter never contributes.
Guerrero, Hunter, and Rivera – the three best established power hitters all land on the DL.
And yet … despite everything the Angels were arguably the 2nd best team in baseball last year. So, when I look at this years team it’s hard to write them off. Expectations last year were very low as well. And they didn’t play particularly well until about this time last year.
I’ll say it again – if Mathis can hit (and that’s a big IF) and Napoli gets the bulk of playing time at 1st base the loss of Morales is manageable. Napoli with 600PA’s could easily hit 30 HR’s and walk 80 times.
What part of my memory did me in? I’m not sure what I said that is untrue. My opinion is that everything that has happened to the Angels (including all of the problems that you listed above) is going to catch up to them and they won’t be able to just waltz to a division title like they have in years past.
Dont fix whats not broken?
I don’t understand all these articles about the Angels acquiring a bat. The people who write them clearly aren’t Angels fans and lack a pulse considering the team. Here’s what I got….
– Has anyone seen Kevin Frandsen hit? He’s pretty good, the Giants let him go because of injury and depth. The Red Sox lost him because they needed more pitching. The Angel got him for free and we’re now seeing the #2 type of hitter that BA said he would become.
– Maicer Izturis is more than capable of handling 3B. He hit .300 last season, since when was he light hitting and not worthy of an everyday job? He plays great defense and I’ll take his lifetime BA over .300 with RISP anytime.
– The Angels will also be willing to give Brandon Wood some more time to develop at 3B, SS and 1B. He’s clearly not hitting major league pitching and I wouldn’t try to convince you otherwise. Take a look at his minor league numbers (which mean nothing) and you’ll see why the Angels will continue to give him chances. If he grows into the player he has the potential to be, he would be a monster clean up hitter. Chances are he’ll continue to struggle though.
– Mike Napoli at 1B just fits. He looks like a 1B and hits like one too. no need to debate that. When he plays catcher Frandsen or Wood will get the bulk of PT at 1B. The Angels also have Matt Ryan and Rob Quinlan, neither of which inspire confidence, but are acceptable once a week.
Agreed with everything except Rob Quinlan being acceptable. He seems like a nice guy but he has no place on a competitive baseball team.