Meaningless Games Update

So how’s it going? For any one of a number of reasons, Scioscia is using some of the playing time strategies I've talked about before. Most likely it’s because those were pretty much his only options, since it’s not like I suggested anything radical. Either way, I feel smart, so let’s take a look at how guys are doing, roughly halfway through that four week period of the games not meaning much, before the Angels want to start getting guys back in the swing of things for the playoffs.

Let’s look at the bullpen first:

Speier: Can we just move on? He's bad. This wasn’t a huge gamble on my part, but I have several witnesses who will testify that when Speier came in the game on Saturday in the 15th, the first thing I said was, “I guarantee he gives up a home run this inning.” Sure enough, one batter later, Jim Thome hit a shot that might still be going. Speier has had some home run trouble in the past, but this year has been his worst year in that regard. I don’t know if his stuff got that much worse compared to last year, but man is he getting hit hard. This is especially puzzling considering that last year was arguably his best year as a reliever. There’s no sense in benching him entirely for the next 3 weeks, but I think Scioscia needs to take a long, hard look at some of the young arms the Angels called up, to see if there’s a more reliable 3rd or 4th option (VERY small sample size, but man did Bulger look good in his 3 innings on Saturday night).

K-Rod: I had a very, umm, “spirited” discussion with some folks over at haloheaven who were upset about someone’s statistical analysis of Frankie’s season. The conclusion of the analysis? That this is Frankie’s worst year, despite the fact that he now has 55 saves. I agreed with the analysis, mainly because while saves are nice (I don’t agree with the vitriol employed by a lot of stat people when talking about saves), they don’t really tell us much about how Frankie actually pitched. And his stats are significantly down this year, in almost every way. He’s giving up more hits, walking more guys, striking out less guys (this has been the most alarming decrease), and, furthermore, his velocity on his fastball and the break on his slider are both down, according to pitchfx data. Frankie is definitely still very good, but he’s vulnerable. Throwing aside stats for a minute, he really looks uncomfortable out there a lot of the time, like he’s afraid to use some of his weapons because they might backfire. He’s nibbling a LOT, and this is causing walks. It almost seems like he’s afraid of his fastball, which is allowing guys to sit on his changeup. He blew another save Saturday night, which led to the Speier incident, and I have to admit I’m worried. But at his best, K-Rod is still K-Rod, and if I’m Scioscia, I don’t change how I use him, at least not until the playoffs, when I use him for multiple innings, until he looks tired.

Okay, let’s look at the other guys now:
Wood/Rodriguez: Well…other than Wood’s clutch homerun to put the Angels up by one in the ninth inning Saturday, neither one of these guys has been worth a pile of baseballs. Wood at least looks like he can be dangerous, so I’m still optimistic he can string together a few good weeks. Time is running out, though. Rodriguez is lost. We need Kendrick or Aybar to get this guy out of the lineup. He looks like an 8-year old playing in a league of 14-year olds. He misses pitches by miles, which brings me to…

Jeff Mathis: Ugh. Obviously, you keep playing him every third day for the next couple of weeks to keep Napoli fresh, and hope against every shred of hope that he figures out what’s going on with his swing, but Mathis is bad. He’s been in the league for a few years now, and his swing looks worse than Rodriguez’s. Unless Napoli’s arms fall off in the next few weeks, I don’t see Mathis getting any starts behind the plate in October. His defense is not good enough to make up for the difference. Heck, it’s not like Napoli is Mike Piazza or anything, but Mathis really is that bad.

Those are really the major issues I see. Saunders had a nice outing on Sunday, so hopefully he’s back on track. Lackey’s had a few problems recently, but I’m not that worried. Santana has been very, very good, and I’m excited to see him strike out 10 guys in a playoff game. I see Garland as the odd man out of the rotation at this point once the playoffs get here. As for other hitters, Gary Matthews is still bad, but again, I don’t see him getting anything other than defensive replacement duties in October. We’ll keep plugging along and get another update right about the time Scioscia will start making decisions on how the roster/lineup will be set for the games that matter.