On paper the Angels look like they should make the playoffs if not win a good number of games. You know, at least be respectable.
Alas, last year’s Angels did not live up to their on-paper-expectations.
Don’t get me wrong, the Angels’ offense was good statistically. Only Cleveland, Baltimore, Oakland, St. Louis, Detroit and Boston scored more runs. The rub here is the pitching prowess. Or lack thereof.
The Angels actually gave up four more runs (737) than they scored (733). Only cellar dwellers Houston, Minnesota, Colorado, Toronto, Seattle and Philadelphia gave up more runs.
It all begins with the starters, and the sad truth is that Anaheim’s starters weren’t that bad last year. Garret Richards and Jason Vargas both preformed moderately well. Jered Weaver didn’t win, or start as many games as he usually does, but he still had a good year. CJ Wilson posted a career high 17 wins. The quality is there. LA of Anaheim just needs… well, they could use a fifth starter for one. Jerome Williams was alright in his spot in the rotation, but if you want to contend for division and league titles you can’t have a starter who posts an ERA of 4.57 in your rotation. It simply doesn’t fly.
It’s not as if the Angels haven’t tried. Tommy Hanson hasn’t really stuck in the rotation. Joe Blanton was close to awful.
Accomplishing the goal of acquiring pitching may be easier said than done. The Angels have a ridiculous amount of money on the books (not necessarily Yankee money)in Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson, Jered Weaver and Erick Aybar’s respective contracts. This probably means the Halos will look for cheaper options. Cheaper, low-buy, not-a-lot-of-money-involved options generally tend to be hit-and-miss with an onus on the latter.
Which probably means that trading for someone is the likely route. No one wants Josh Hamilton and/or Albert Pujols’ respective contracts. If the Dodgers never traded for Adrian Gonzalez, then maybe you might be able to convince them to take Pujols away, but regardless, it’s not happening now. Aybar could appeal to teams as an option at shortstop, but his contract and the lack of middle infield depth likely rule that out. Both of the Angels’ catchers have been mentioned as targets of the Blue Jays, but I can’t see the Angels looking at any of Toronto’s starters as an upgrade. One of Toronto’s numerous quality relievers could be a fit, but Los Angeles might not want to trade from its only position of depth for a relief arm.
Mark Trumbo may be the only piece the Angels are willing to part with who could bring in an above-average-return.
They should not be doing this.
Sure, Trumbo is being shopped to find better pitching, but he shouldn’t be moved.
In his young career, Trumbo has shown that he can consistently hit for power and be a middle-of-the-order presence — Something that the Angels need because Pujols and Hamilton may be hard to rely on. Saying Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton weren’t reliable three years ago would have probably been as accurate as saying Thabo Sefalosha is/was a better basketball player than LeBron James. Nowadays, Sefalosha is still inferior compared to LeBron, but Pujols and Hamilton aren’t what they once were. It may have just been a year or two of down seasons for the two of them, but their collective three years in Anaheim have been below par considering their previous success.
Pujols hasn’t hit .300 or slug 40 homeruns in his tenure in Southern California, hallmarks of his years in St. Louis.Numbers-wise, Hamilton fell off a cliff from his last year in Texas. The numbers-
Josh Hamilton 2012 (with Texas)- 148 games played, 160 hits, 103 runs scored, 31 doubles, 43 homeruns, 128 RBI, .930 OPS.
Josh Hamilton 2013 (with Anaheim)- 151 games played, 144 hits, 73 runs scored, 32 doubles, 21 homeruns, 79 RBI, .739 OPS.
Staggering.
A foot injury that caused Pujols to miss almost half of the season further augments the instability in the middle of the lineup.
The last 200-odd words are basically longhand for “the Angels need to keep Mark Trumbo.”
The Angels need to keep what they have (i.e. Trumbo) as well as make additions to the team. They aren’t going to contend by taking two steps backward and three steps forward, in terms of additions. Sadly, the Angels probably need to spend to get where they want to be in terms of contending. Also sadly, they don’t have a whole lot of money thanks to their lavish signings (see Hamilton, Josh and Pujols, Albert among others). The Halos need to get creative to win. Getting creative to win with minor-league signings, low-buy trades, etc. isn’t always the easiest route. It involves a little luck sometimes. The Angels need that luck; otherwise they’re staring at another middling season.
