Kingfish's take on the team

by cardinalwraith on Oct 7, 2007 2:01 AM PDT

Now before someone says something, I realize that the following quotes came from a Bill Plaschke article. I will be the first to admit that Plaschke (much like his Times compatriot TJ Simers) is a blithering douchebag. But even Plaschke's particular brand of ill-informed muckraking cannot detract from the wisdom imparted by the words of Mr. Angel himself:

"I love the way these guys won the division manufacturing runs," Tim Salmon said. "But why did we win the World Series? We won because Scott Spiezio hit a home run. We did not win because Scott Spiezio hit a single."
...

"It's frustrating to watch," said Salmon, who was careful to note that he was not being critical of the players or the manager.

"The players are great at what they do, and you'll never hear Mike complain about anything," Salmon said. "But you can't deny that every team in this position needs a couple of clutch hitters who, late in the game, can win a game in one swing."

...

As Salmon noted, manufacturing runs against different levels of pitchers during the regular season is one thing, but trying to do it against everybody's ace in the postseason is a different thing entirely.

"I think we saw the other night, maybe the only way to manufacture two runs against a guy like Josh Beckett would be to hit a two-run homer," Salmon said.

Angels are pretty much powerless

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Kingfish

Save it, Tim.

by Rev Halofan on Oct 7, 2007 1:57 AM PDT reply actions

He's not wrong.

The Hunt for a Red October ...and please keep telling Clutch to chill!

by cardinalwraith on Oct 7, 2007 2:01 AM PDT up reply actions

i agree..

He's just calling for that, ever elusive, bat that WE'VE ALL been calling for, for the past few seasons.

It makes sense to me.

MS-Society HERE to read more about it, and donate some money!

by sipperphoto on Oct 7, 2007 8:29 AM PDT up reply actions

Definitely Not Wrong

Wanted: Any position player with power

by gorams77 on Oct 8, 2007 1:58 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah...

Tim doesn't know what he's talking about. That 2002 team only had Glaus, Salmon, a healthy GA, Fullmer and to some degree a really hot Spiezio that could hit HR's.

This 2007 team has Vlad, a not-healthy GA and Napoli. The other power threat - Rivera - can't play his way into the lineup...

Timmy is right - power wins in the postseason, usually.

Let's go WTY.

Jimmuscomp

Haloville- Land of the Angels
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by jimmuscomp on Oct 7, 2007 12:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Now for my own opinion:

I think it's safe to say that Stoneman-haters and -lovers alike have come to the inevitable conclusion that this club is in desperate need of more pop in the lineup. This is, admittedly, not breaking news. Anyone who has watched Angels baseball over the past three years knows that. But even then there have been the naysayers who insist that "small ball" is enough to get us where we want to go. Small ball is enough and has been enough to win us the division, but I'm not sure if it can get us far in October baseball.

There is, sadly, little hope for more power in our farm system. "Help is on the way," as the senator from Massachusetts once chanted, but that help will likely not be ready for next season. Brandon Wood probably needs another year at Salt Lake to cut down on his strikeouts and improve his plate discipline. The same goes for Terry Evans. There are other prospects further down in the farm, but they are even more removed from a possible and meaningful appearance in Anaheim.

Trades are not a likely option since many clubs will likely want to raid our systems in return for superstars like Miggy Cabrera or Hanley Ramirez. This leaves only one possible avenue for improvement: the free agent market.

Any suggestions?

The Hunt for a Red October ...and please keep telling Clutch to chill!

by cardinalwraith on Oct 7, 2007 2:01 AM PDT reply actions

suggestion: make a trade

you said it yourself. help is a long way off in the farm system. a trade is the only thing that makes sense. the angels have the pieces to pick up any quality bat that comes available on the trade market. i'm not saying to overpay grossly, but realize that the argument that we shouldn't make a trade because they'll want good players in return is just silly. what good is a farm system if it can't either plug your holes on the big league team or be dealt in order to plug said holes?

by iLoveLamp on Oct 7, 2007 4:06 PM PDT up reply actions