In other news, four mysterious horsemen were seen wandering the earth…
The Angels scored 14 runs, and Frankie still got the save. Unbelievable. They’re going to start awarding him saves just for showing up to the ballpark. I gotta admire what Scioscia’s doing. Ride the kid’s arm this year since he’s probably not going to be back next year. I don’t actually think that’s what he’s doing, but it seems like he comes in two out of every three games.
The Angels aren’t going to score 14 every night, but is this a blind squirrel finding a nut or a sign that the bats are waking up? In other words, if you’re Tony Reagins, does this make you even more confident that you don’t need to add another bat, or do you treat this as an extreme outlier?
Well, let’s say the Angels should make a trade. Where can they upgrade? I’ll go through each position and identify guys from teams who are out of the postseason race and would trade whoever the upgrade is.
Catcher: Mathis and Napoli haven’t been great. They’ve certainly disappointed on the defensive end. Until Tuesday, teams had stolen like 492 straight bases on them. Of course a lot of that is on the pitchers, but still. When you’re not good on offense, shouldn’t you be good on D? Anyway, I don’t see many upgrades available. Most of the catchers above them are young guys who wouldn’t be on the market. The only two possibilities I see are Gerald Laird or Bengie Molina, and neither one of those is a huge upgrade.
First Base: I’m torn here. I really thought Kotchman was going to succeed this year, but he’s been pretty mediocre since April. He’s about middle of the pack as far as first basemen go. I still think he’ll be good, and he’s still young, so any team trading a stud first baseman is going to want Kotchman in return. And that’s just not worth half a season of Teixeira or Giambi. The rest of the guys above Kotch are pretty untouchable, plus Kotchman plays fantastic defense. So I guess we keep him and hope he turns it on, or at least starts walking a little bit more.
Second Base: Howie Kendrick. He’s good.
Shortstop: You know, the combination of Izturis and Aybar hasn’t been as bad as I’ve thought. Still, they’re not exactly lighting it up (even if Scioscia is hitting them third in the order). But who would the Angels get that’s an upgrade? Tejada? Old and declining - no. Jhonny Peralta? He’s a butcher in the field and not seemingly on the block anyway. Christian Guzman? Fluke season – no thanks. So we’re stuck here unless Brandon Wood remembers how to hit.
Third Base: Figgins has made himself into one of the best leadoff men in the game since he’s started to walk a lot more. We’re set here too.
Outfield: Vlad? Hopefully he’ll start hitting the way he has in the past. Hunter? He’s solid. Garret? Man, I love Garret, but he’s just not cutting it at the dish. He doesn’t walk, rarely hits for power, outfield range is pretty awful, and he may or may not be back next year. So who could we get? Holliday, even though he’s largely a creation of Coors, would still be a significant upgrade. But he’s going to hit free agency after this year. I would love to see the Angels trade Willits or Rivera and a couple prospects to get Jason Bay. He’s still 29, and he’s under control at a very reasonable price for next year. He’s a pretty big upgrade, and it seems like the Pirates are shopping him.
DH: Rivera/Matthews – I gotta think Rivera’s going to get most of these at bats going forward. Matthews is terrible, and of course, untradeable because of the contract. Yeah, we can definitely upgrade over these two, but we’re going to have a huge logjam in the outfield as it is. Any trade for a DH/OF is going to have to include Willits or Rivera. And I love having Willits on the bench as a defensive replacement, pinch runner extraordinaire. But I’d be willing to trade him if it makes our offense better. I just don't think anyone's available for this spot who I haven't already mentioned.
I’d love to get Teixeira, but the asking price needs to be reasonable, and if the Braves got Kotchman, we’d be without a first baseman when Tex walks in the offseason. To me, Jason Bay is the most logical upgrade we could make. He walks, he hits for decent power (he’d lead the Angels in homeruns if he joined them), and he’s an upgrade in left over Anderson. Plus we could probably get rid of some of our excess outfielders in the trade. It’s too bad Littlefield isn’t there any more. We might have been able to get Bay for Juan Rivera and Chris Bootcheck.
After all this analysis, my guess is that the Angels stand pat on the offensive side, as usual. They’ve got a lot of cheap, young guys who will hopefully get better. Probably not in time to help them win a Series this season, but we’ll see. If everyone hits the way they were supposed to hit this season, we may not need any help. But that's a big assumption to make.
The Angels scored 14 runs, and Frankie still got the save. Unbelievable. They’re going to start awarding him saves just for showing up to the ballpark. I gotta admire what Scioscia’s doing. Ride the kid’s arm this year since he’s probably not going to be back next year. I don’t actually think that’s what he’s doing, but it seems like he comes in two out of every three games.
The Angels aren’t going to score 14 every night, but is this a blind squirrel finding a nut or a sign that the bats are waking up? In other words, if you’re Tony Reagins, does this make you even more confident that you don’t need to add another bat, or do you treat this as an extreme outlier?
Well, let’s say the Angels should make a trade. Where can they upgrade? I’ll go through each position and identify guys from teams who are out of the postseason race and would trade whoever the upgrade is.
Catcher: Mathis and Napoli haven’t been great. They’ve certainly disappointed on the defensive end. Until Tuesday, teams had stolen like 492 straight bases on them. Of course a lot of that is on the pitchers, but still. When you’re not good on offense, shouldn’t you be good on D? Anyway, I don’t see many upgrades available. Most of the catchers above them are young guys who wouldn’t be on the market. The only two possibilities I see are Gerald Laird or Bengie Molina, and neither one of those is a huge upgrade.
First Base: I’m torn here. I really thought Kotchman was going to succeed this year, but he’s been pretty mediocre since April. He’s about middle of the pack as far as first basemen go. I still think he’ll be good, and he’s still young, so any team trading a stud first baseman is going to want Kotchman in return. And that’s just not worth half a season of Teixeira or Giambi. The rest of the guys above Kotch are pretty untouchable, plus Kotchman plays fantastic defense. So I guess we keep him and hope he turns it on, or at least starts walking a little bit more.
Second Base: Howie Kendrick. He’s good.
Shortstop: You know, the combination of Izturis and Aybar hasn’t been as bad as I’ve thought. Still, they’re not exactly lighting it up (even if Scioscia is hitting them third in the order). But who would the Angels get that’s an upgrade? Tejada? Old and declining - no. Jhonny Peralta? He’s a butcher in the field and not seemingly on the block anyway. Christian Guzman? Fluke season – no thanks. So we’re stuck here unless Brandon Wood remembers how to hit.
Third Base: Figgins has made himself into one of the best leadoff men in the game since he’s started to walk a lot more. We’re set here too.
Outfield: Vlad? Hopefully he’ll start hitting the way he has in the past. Hunter? He’s solid. Garret? Man, I love Garret, but he’s just not cutting it at the dish. He doesn’t walk, rarely hits for power, outfield range is pretty awful, and he may or may not be back next year. So who could we get? Holliday, even though he’s largely a creation of Coors, would still be a significant upgrade. But he’s going to hit free agency after this year. I would love to see the Angels trade Willits or Rivera and a couple prospects to get Jason Bay. He’s still 29, and he’s under control at a very reasonable price for next year. He’s a pretty big upgrade, and it seems like the Pirates are shopping him.
DH: Rivera/Matthews – I gotta think Rivera’s going to get most of these at bats going forward. Matthews is terrible, and of course, untradeable because of the contract. Yeah, we can definitely upgrade over these two, but we’re going to have a huge logjam in the outfield as it is. Any trade for a DH/OF is going to have to include Willits or Rivera. And I love having Willits on the bench as a defensive replacement, pinch runner extraordinaire. But I’d be willing to trade him if it makes our offense better. I just don't think anyone's available for this spot who I haven't already mentioned.
I’d love to get Teixeira, but the asking price needs to be reasonable, and if the Braves got Kotchman, we’d be without a first baseman when Tex walks in the offseason. To me, Jason Bay is the most logical upgrade we could make. He walks, he hits for decent power (he’d lead the Angels in homeruns if he joined them), and he’s an upgrade in left over Anderson. Plus we could probably get rid of some of our excess outfielders in the trade. It’s too bad Littlefield isn’t there any more. We might have been able to get Bay for Juan Rivera and Chris Bootcheck.
After all this analysis, my guess is that the Angels stand pat on the offensive side, as usual. They’ve got a lot of cheap, young guys who will hopefully get better. Probably not in time to help them win a Series this season, but we’ll see. If everyone hits the way they were supposed to hit this season, we may not need any help. But that's a big assumption to make.
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